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Feedback needed: Testing new captain generation system

T

Tingyun

Corsair
Storm Modder
For those of us using the latest patch, just released, we have a new AI captain generation system designed by Levis.

However, Levis needs testing results and feedback on several issues
WIP - Use Generic Captain and Ship Generation Functions | Page 4 | PiratesAhoy!

Could we request players do the following as they play?

If you end up in any situation where you can view the level of a captured captain, can you write down and then post here:

1)Where did you encounter the captain (direct sail/world map/coast or port/quest ship)?

2) What tier was his ship?

3) Was he navy/pirates/merchant/privateer/regular captain?

4) what level was he?

5) what level were you? (This last one shouldn't affect things, but best to make sure)

6) did the crew seem unusually weak, or strong, or did their level seem in line with the captain?

And also anytime your fight an enemy ship:

A) Did anything weird happen to you, like a captain not appearing in the cabin or having some very odd skills?

B) did everything seem right with the ship itself, cargo, guns, crew?

C) did everything seem reasonable regarding the loot on the enemy boarding crew and the weapons they have?

D) everything seem right on your own boarding crew and their level?

I will be doing the same, but I haven't actually had more than a couple of hours to play in the last week, so this is an area where we could really use as much people reporting in as possible! :)

If everyone could report a couple of different ship encounters, we could figure out whether everything is working correctly and Levis can better proceed to next steps in improving the mod even further! :)
 
@Levis

Boarded a tier 5 Pirate ship

1) It did not have max caliber guns for its class (max was 12, it had 9)

2) was carrying the sort of cargo I'd expect from a merchant ship, a large stock of leather and choclate. Should Pirates be loaded up with merchant cargo?

3) Also, are we sure player level doesn't affect enemy HP? The enemy captain had nearly 1500 HP. Seems high, but maybe swashbuckler can do that? I had a very high level test character, around 50, that's why I wonder about player level.

Couldn't get his level exactly, as he was a fight, not a capture. Will test more tomorrow.
 
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Pirate cargo should perhaps be random. Maybe he's already plundered a merchant - in which case, why is he attacking you? Or maybe he has yet to take anything valuable, which is why he is attacking you.

Ships don't always have maximum gun calibre. Merchants frequently don't. And the "reinforced hull" upgrade allows the ship to use the next calibre up, but NPC ship generation does not take that into account, it uses the basic maximum calibre as seen in "Ships_init.c". (Personally, I believe the upgrade should not increase the ship's maximum calibre. Reinforced hull or not, if you put heavier guns onto the main deck then the ship's centre of gravity would move higher and the ship would become less stable.)
 
Grey Roger said:
Reinforced hull or not, if you put heavier guns onto the main deck then the ship's centre of gravity would move higher and the ship would become less stable.
Click to expand...
That is true. Hopefully once the "cannons affect cargo space" feature exists, players may not actually want to make use of the highest calibre.
 
Grey Roger said:
Pirate cargo should perhaps be random. Maybe he's already plundered a merchant
Click to expand...
Exactly. They were on their way to sell their loot, but then Tingyun came along and took it for himself; which is clearly their own fault.
Of course, if he encountered them at a harbour and the fort shot at them then all hope is lost anyway. When they are too incompetent to hoist a false flag while trying to sell their stuff they deserve to go down.
Sounds realistic to me.
 
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Oh, the pirates attacked me, I was peacefully testing my new wind system. ;)

Ok, all of this could be explained, but I am trying to give Levis feedback on the new captain generation system, and in the thread where he asked 5 questions he wants answered, one of them was: Do you notice anything odd about the cannons or cargo of the ship.

So I'm not sure it makes sense to calibrate towards all the most generous explanatory assumptions, but instead it makes sense to give as much data is possible.

1) the pirate ship's base class could handle 12lbs cannons, it only had 9. If that was because it rolled an unlikely random chance, then it is fine, but if that is the general trend, then maybe not.

2) the pirate ship had a full load of merchant cargo. Maybe that makes sense, or maybe cargo isn't being sufficiently distinguished between merchants and pirates.

I think it is a good idea to report such things since this is a new system, so they can be looked into in the code to make sure everything is in order.

Because if pirates are generally getting full loads of merchant cargo and being given deficient cannons, instead of this being a random chance I rolled, then it is worth seeing if the new unified captain generation system is sufficiently distiuishing between them and merchants when it rolls up their ship.
 
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Tingyun said:
1) the pirate ship's base class could handle 12lbs cannons, it only had 9. If that was because it rolled an unlikely random chance, then it is fine, but if that is the general trend, then maybe not.
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Depends on what its default calibre is according to ships_init.c for that type of ship.

Tingyun said:
2) the pirate ship had a full load of merchant cargo. Maybe that makes sense, or maybe cargo isn't being sufficiently distinguished between merchants and pirates.
Click to expand...
That does sound weird.

Tingyun said:
I think it is a good idea to report such things since this is a new system, so they can be looked into in the code to make sure everything is in order.
Click to expand...
For sure! :onya
 
@Levis Raided a navy ship, captains level seemed in line with expectations for his tier 7.

Coastraider navy ship, seems to be working from the new formula correctly.
 
so for now only @ANSEL has problems with captains not appearing but for everyone else it works fine?
 
I have fought navy captains, they generate fine.

I never fought merchants in my tests.

(I know this question is old and the problem is already being worked on, just replying to provide correct information in all places).
 
@Levis

Using your new fix, just saw the captain of a merchant vessel surrender properly. He was level 25, and had a tier 5 ship. Tier 5 ship should be on avaerage about level 23 for a merchant captain, and 25 is well within the range of the random number.

Meaning, merchant captains seem to generate fine!

Meanwhile, his crew seemed to be appropriate level as well.

So far, except for the bugs that you are busy squashing, the new Captain Generation System is working GREAT! :)
 
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