rogueranger1993
Landlubber
First post here after downloading the game and playing the mod - and I gotta say, I've really enjoyed it so far, you guys have probably created one of my all-time favorite games, even among those not of the pirate genre! So, with my intro now out of the way, below is a list I have made of new features or changes I woould like to see implemented in future versions of the New Horizons build mod. Some of them could be pretty ambitious, and I don't have any real experience with coding (besides a tiny bit of HTML in my youth, now mostly forgotten) or game design, so take everything I talk about with a grain of salt. That said, I would like to hear other people's opinions on the things I mention, and if possible why or why not such a thing would not be possible or not a good idea.
#1. Online Co-Op Multiplayer: This is probably the one thing I most want to see so long as it can be properly implemented. I don't want the game turned into an MMO, but the ability to jump into the world with a friend to go pirating together would be very fun. I know things like this have been done before (I personally know of a mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that does exactly this), and it may not have to be too complex or difficult a task, either. I know that games can support this without needing a third-party server - if I recall correctly, they do it by linking the two computers and then using one of them (usually the one with the best connection) as a 'pseudo-server' that serves the same purpose as regular third-party server. I think this was a pretty common method in older games, so it may not be too difficult to implement, and there may even be examples using the Storm Engine that could be used as a basis for a comparable system in New Horizons.
#2. New Game Manual: I enjoyed the manual currently included with New Horizons, especially the 'story' portion. However, my copy of the game didn't come with the manual - something that seems distressingly common from the product desriptions on Amazon, despite the discs often costing near fifty dollars nowadays. That made the learning curve for my first playthrough rather steep, and I still don't understand certain things - among them a few of the displays, a full understanding of the economy system, or how/where to find diplomats so I can increase my reputation with the nations. So, long story short, I'd really like to have a manual that goes over the systems in the game - combat (personal and naval), the economy, reputation, etc., and giving the player an overview of how each of them works.
#3. New Ships Manual: Honestly, the current guides are okay at best for me. The Willemstead Builders Guide was somewhat useful, since it had an identification image for the ship and some information about how it sailed, but that was about all I could get out of it - it doesn't even include the full selection of vessels in the game. In addition, while the manual does look beautiful, it would run the ink in my printer dry, so a print-friendly version without the fancy parchment backgrounds would be much appreciated. I'd like to see a new ship manual that goes a bit more in-depth on the different vessels in the game. To me, such a manual would include all of the ships in the game, as well as the following information about each vessel;
· Name/Class & Tier
· Type (Navy, Merchant, Versatile)
· Periods in which the vessel is available
· Cargo capacity
· Speed & Turning rate
· Number of gun mounts & gun positioning
· Mountable gun types & calibers
· Min/max crew
· Hull strength
· Top speed & Best sailing direction
· Cost
#4. More Clear-Cut Naming for ships: To be frank, the current selection of ships is somewhat tricky for me to understand, mainly because there are so many that share the same name! There are two different brigantines, multiple pinnaces - it's hell to understand. Could we implement something like the class-name system used in modern navies to make the different ships easier to identify? Instead of just two different types of 'pinnace', there would be a 'Papegojan-class pinnace' and a 'Berlin-class pinnace' - much easier to identify.
#5. Better ship info at campaign selection: Honestly, I always have a hard time choosing which vessel to start my new game with - mainly because there's no really useful information about the ship when selecting my starting vessel, just a few pretty sentences.
WTF!?
Why don't I get a window showing the ship's cargo capacity, starting and max gun size, number of guns and where they're mounted, top speed and turning rate, crew requirements, and generally anything that would be USEFUL in making an educated choice about my starting ship? Not trying to be an @$$ here, but I feel it would be extremely helpful to include this kind of info about the player's starting ship choices.
#6. Friendly Fire OFF!: This really bugs the heck out of me. I once shot my gunner in the back (entirely by accident) when using auto-aim to try and hit the bugger he was fighting. Is there any way we can make a system that will prevent a player from shooting an ally by accident? Maybe 'ally' and 'enemy' tags for NPC characters?
#7. Tactics Manual or Research Reference: I don't know a huge amount about useful tactics in the Age of Sail, only the bare bones basics. I'd like to see a manual describing simple, real-world tactics that we can use in the game, which would be a huge boon for new players. If not, then I'd at least like to see a reference sheet that provides us with a list of books, movies, etc. that we can use as a starting point from which to acquire such information.
#8. Trade Goods/Economy Tweaks: I like the function of the current economy system, but I'd personally like to see a few improvements. First of all, it seems like import/export lists effect an entire island, rather than individual settlements - which is a bit jarring if two different nations share a single island, since I doubt they would have the same interests. If possible, I'd like to see import/export lists effect single settlements, rather than entire islands - this would even allow for settlements on the same island to trade certain goods with each other, which could become a unique opportunity for a crafty merchant.
Secondly, I'd like to see a bit more diversity in the imports and exports of various towns - many settlements have almost the exact same import and exports (the Dutch colonies of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba being one example during my 1680s playthrough). Some repetition is obviously expected, but a greater amount of diversity would be far more appreciated than I can really put into words.
Thirdly, I'd like to see some tweaks in how contraband is handled. In the real world, the goods listed as contraband were hardly ever outlawed entirely. Instead, the settlement in question would charge a hefty import tax, or require that the trader purchase a special license, or perhaps even pay an official part of the proceeds. The goods were smuggled into these places in order to avoid the tax, the need for a license, or the need to pay off certain officials, since going the legal route cut into the overall profits of the venture. I'd like to see these situations represented in some way - perhaps smuggled goods could be sold for a minimal price at the store from the outset, and the perk that unlocks this in the current system could be tweaked to raise the sale price of these goods somewhat? This kind of implementation could provide the players with more interesting choices when dealing with contraband, rather than the current, relatively simplistic choice of 'smuggle, trade somewhere else, or dump'.
#9. More music tracks: The music already included is good, but it gets a bit repetetive because the number of tracks is limited. Adding more music would help alleviate this issue, and make the overall experience much more enjoyable.
#10. Additional voice acting: I'm honestly tired of hearing similar lines over and over again - "You're too stupid to be Dutch" is a line I hear in just about every tavern I've entered. So, I'd like to see New Horizons add in new voice acted dialogue to spice up what is already an amazing game mod. Replacing some of the original dialogue would be nice, too - I'd like to have two different voice lines when setting battle sails and all sails, for instance.
#11. More Sidequests: The current sidequest seem a bit sparse to me, so I'd like to see more of them being created and implemented. Things like guarding an expedition trying to find an ancient temple/treasure, leading a raid on a Spanish treasure port (anyone up for visiting Portobello a la Henry Morgan style, anyone?), wiping out a nest of bothersome bandits, acquiring a cargo of medicine for a settlement struck by plague, finding some poor woman's castaway father, getting a shipment of fine wine to the governor's important gala, spying on an enemy troop movement, all that good stuff.
#12. Sex & Romance: Yeah, this one's a touchy subject for a lot of folks. The Witcher series did a lot to push the presentation of this subject into mainstream gaming, and in a responsible adult manner as well. When I mention this, my main points are the presence of brothels and their services, and romantic relationships between characters - both subjects were quite prevalent in the time period we're recreating, and feature to varying degrees in modern RPGs. I'll go over each point separately;
· So, brothels and their services - they are included in the game, but the only one I've seen so far was in Charlestown, Nevis. Personally, I'd like to see them featured more broadly in the game, since every port town of the period was likely to have at least one, if not more, of these establishments. Perhaps we could even include a sidequest in one town where some prominent person wishes to close down the brothel, and the player is then presented with the choice of helping them run the place out of business, or fighting back and protecting the welfare of the women running the brothel.
In addition, I wasn't fond of the fact that I basically got a fade out-fade in when I chose to use the brothel services. About the only use I got out of it was the chance to rob the chests in the brothel bedroom. I want to see something with a bit more substance to it - maybe a cutscene showing my character and one of the females eating a quick meal together, before heading up to the room and then fading to black as you hear them laugh in enjoyment, then fading back in to show them sharing a kiss or hug before the female leaves the room, or something like that. It doesn't have to be explicit (and no one really wants that kind of thing, anyways), but something that provides these interactions with more substance, romance -whatever you want to call it - than the current setup does would be very much preferred to what we have right now. Besides, we already have an option that allows us to turn off access to brothel interiors, so what's stopping us from including this kind of thing if we can already turn it off if we don't like it?
· Many modern RPGs include romance, with the Witcher series being the prime example - both in its inclusion, and in how to handle it in a way that isn't totally irresponsible. It's a gameplay feature I've oft enjoyed when it's well written/executed (mainly because I'm a romantic at heart), and I'd like to see a number of romance questlines included in New Horizons, too - heck, I'd be willing to help write them, if I had to. I like to think that this would add more options for a playthrough, and it would also increase the diversity of content, something which helps to attract players to this type of game.
#13. More Ship Upgrades: This is something I'd like to see - the current upgrades are nice, but a wider selection that provides more gameplay choices would be really nice. Perhaps mods that make your cannons weigh less, or do more damage, or have longer range. Extra crew quarters to make room for more boarders at the expense of cargo space. Swivel guns that increase the amount of damage you deal to an enemy ship's crew . A broad rudder that increases your turning rate. Things like that.
#14. More alternate paint schemes for ships: I think it would be nice to see each ship get unique paint schemes for each different nation, and maybe a few more for the fun of it. This would probably take a lot of time, so it's not a high priority, but it would be a nice feature to see implemented.
#15. Tweaks to the ship's log: I would definitely like the ability to write longer log entries if it's possible - currently, if the entry runs on too long, pressing backspace to fix a mistake deletes the entire entry instead, which is seriously aggravating. Also, while we're at it, the 'write new log entry' button blocks the bottom text lines of longer entries, so is there any way to fix that? And could we change the clicking sound made when typing to something more like the scratch of a quill on parchment?
#16: Refined way to access personal item and trade good windows: I'm getting rather tired of having to initiate a new conversation with the merchant every time I want to switch between the trade good and personal item inventories - is there anyway we can streamline this so that we don't have to do this? Say combining everything into one menu, or perhaps having the player exit the menu to the conversation where you select which menu to look at?
#17. More NPCs in larger towns: The larger towns (like Cartagena) seem rather empty as is, and I'd like to see more NPCs populating these areas to give them a more 'lived in' feel. Perhaps we could make this an option that can be turned on/off, so that systems that can't handle the load don't have to just to play the game and others who do have the system capacity can have the additional NPCs.
#18. More Building Interiors: There seem to be a lot of doors that don't have anything behind them currently. Ideally, I'd like to have an interior behind every door in a settlement that would reasonably have one, but that takes time and effort that could be better spent on other projects, so this is kind of a low priority on my list of desires.
#19. More Shops: When I say this, I really mean that I think it might be fun to take the single 'store', and make it into multiple establishments. As an example, the base store would become a trading company that sells and buys trade goods; then, weapons would be sold at a weapons shop (and can be upgraded at a blacksmith or gunsmith), books and maps would be sold at bookstores, gems and other rocks at a jewelers, medical supplies at a doctor's office (which could also heal you), and instruments like clocks, sextants and compasses would be sold at a tool crafters. It's an interesting concept that might be a bit more realistic than the current system, but I don't know about how popular or practical it would be in game.
#20. More Settlements (Especially on the mainland): I enjoy sailing between various settlements already, but I think I'd really like to see a few more added - especially on the mainland, as that part of the ocean seems pretty empty right now. Places like Portobello, Panama, and other famous port towns would be very fun to visit or raid in this game, don't you think?
#21. More Places to Explore on Land: To me, the current areas beyond the settlements seem a bit sparse. I'd like to see more areas available for exploration on the islands - the mountain range of Jamaica, ancient ruins on the mainland, native encampments, gold and silver mines, large plantations, orchards, old cave systems, bandit hideouts, untamed jungles, farm fields, etc. We could even use the trade good lists as a reference when creating new areas to explore on the islands - a town exporting wood and gold would obviously have sawmills, logging camps and mines that we could explore.
#1. Online Co-Op Multiplayer: This is probably the one thing I most want to see so long as it can be properly implemented. I don't want the game turned into an MMO, but the ability to jump into the world with a friend to go pirating together would be very fun. I know things like this have been done before (I personally know of a mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that does exactly this), and it may not have to be too complex or difficult a task, either. I know that games can support this without needing a third-party server - if I recall correctly, they do it by linking the two computers and then using one of them (usually the one with the best connection) as a 'pseudo-server' that serves the same purpose as regular third-party server. I think this was a pretty common method in older games, so it may not be too difficult to implement, and there may even be examples using the Storm Engine that could be used as a basis for a comparable system in New Horizons.
#2. New Game Manual: I enjoyed the manual currently included with New Horizons, especially the 'story' portion. However, my copy of the game didn't come with the manual - something that seems distressingly common from the product desriptions on Amazon, despite the discs often costing near fifty dollars nowadays. That made the learning curve for my first playthrough rather steep, and I still don't understand certain things - among them a few of the displays, a full understanding of the economy system, or how/where to find diplomats so I can increase my reputation with the nations. So, long story short, I'd really like to have a manual that goes over the systems in the game - combat (personal and naval), the economy, reputation, etc., and giving the player an overview of how each of them works.
#3. New Ships Manual: Honestly, the current guides are okay at best for me. The Willemstead Builders Guide was somewhat useful, since it had an identification image for the ship and some information about how it sailed, but that was about all I could get out of it - it doesn't even include the full selection of vessels in the game. In addition, while the manual does look beautiful, it would run the ink in my printer dry, so a print-friendly version without the fancy parchment backgrounds would be much appreciated. I'd like to see a new ship manual that goes a bit more in-depth on the different vessels in the game. To me, such a manual would include all of the ships in the game, as well as the following information about each vessel;
· Name/Class & Tier
· Type (Navy, Merchant, Versatile)
· Periods in which the vessel is available
· Cargo capacity
· Speed & Turning rate
· Number of gun mounts & gun positioning
· Mountable gun types & calibers
· Min/max crew
· Hull strength
· Top speed & Best sailing direction
· Cost
#4. More Clear-Cut Naming for ships: To be frank, the current selection of ships is somewhat tricky for me to understand, mainly because there are so many that share the same name! There are two different brigantines, multiple pinnaces - it's hell to understand. Could we implement something like the class-name system used in modern navies to make the different ships easier to identify? Instead of just two different types of 'pinnace', there would be a 'Papegojan-class pinnace' and a 'Berlin-class pinnace' - much easier to identify.
#5. Better ship info at campaign selection: Honestly, I always have a hard time choosing which vessel to start my new game with - mainly because there's no really useful information about the ship when selecting my starting vessel, just a few pretty sentences.
WTF!?
Why don't I get a window showing the ship's cargo capacity, starting and max gun size, number of guns and where they're mounted, top speed and turning rate, crew requirements, and generally anything that would be USEFUL in making an educated choice about my starting ship? Not trying to be an @$$ here, but I feel it would be extremely helpful to include this kind of info about the player's starting ship choices.
#6. Friendly Fire OFF!: This really bugs the heck out of me. I once shot my gunner in the back (entirely by accident) when using auto-aim to try and hit the bugger he was fighting. Is there any way we can make a system that will prevent a player from shooting an ally by accident? Maybe 'ally' and 'enemy' tags for NPC characters?
#7. Tactics Manual or Research Reference: I don't know a huge amount about useful tactics in the Age of Sail, only the bare bones basics. I'd like to see a manual describing simple, real-world tactics that we can use in the game, which would be a huge boon for new players. If not, then I'd at least like to see a reference sheet that provides us with a list of books, movies, etc. that we can use as a starting point from which to acquire such information.
#8. Trade Goods/Economy Tweaks: I like the function of the current economy system, but I'd personally like to see a few improvements. First of all, it seems like import/export lists effect an entire island, rather than individual settlements - which is a bit jarring if two different nations share a single island, since I doubt they would have the same interests. If possible, I'd like to see import/export lists effect single settlements, rather than entire islands - this would even allow for settlements on the same island to trade certain goods with each other, which could become a unique opportunity for a crafty merchant.
Secondly, I'd like to see a bit more diversity in the imports and exports of various towns - many settlements have almost the exact same import and exports (the Dutch colonies of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba being one example during my 1680s playthrough). Some repetition is obviously expected, but a greater amount of diversity would be far more appreciated than I can really put into words.
Thirdly, I'd like to see some tweaks in how contraband is handled. In the real world, the goods listed as contraband were hardly ever outlawed entirely. Instead, the settlement in question would charge a hefty import tax, or require that the trader purchase a special license, or perhaps even pay an official part of the proceeds. The goods were smuggled into these places in order to avoid the tax, the need for a license, or the need to pay off certain officials, since going the legal route cut into the overall profits of the venture. I'd like to see these situations represented in some way - perhaps smuggled goods could be sold for a minimal price at the store from the outset, and the perk that unlocks this in the current system could be tweaked to raise the sale price of these goods somewhat? This kind of implementation could provide the players with more interesting choices when dealing with contraband, rather than the current, relatively simplistic choice of 'smuggle, trade somewhere else, or dump'.
#9. More music tracks: The music already included is good, but it gets a bit repetetive because the number of tracks is limited. Adding more music would help alleviate this issue, and make the overall experience much more enjoyable.
#10. Additional voice acting: I'm honestly tired of hearing similar lines over and over again - "You're too stupid to be Dutch" is a line I hear in just about every tavern I've entered. So, I'd like to see New Horizons add in new voice acted dialogue to spice up what is already an amazing game mod. Replacing some of the original dialogue would be nice, too - I'd like to have two different voice lines when setting battle sails and all sails, for instance.
#11. More Sidequests: The current sidequest seem a bit sparse to me, so I'd like to see more of them being created and implemented. Things like guarding an expedition trying to find an ancient temple/treasure, leading a raid on a Spanish treasure port (anyone up for visiting Portobello a la Henry Morgan style, anyone?), wiping out a nest of bothersome bandits, acquiring a cargo of medicine for a settlement struck by plague, finding some poor woman's castaway father, getting a shipment of fine wine to the governor's important gala, spying on an enemy troop movement, all that good stuff.
#12. Sex & Romance: Yeah, this one's a touchy subject for a lot of folks. The Witcher series did a lot to push the presentation of this subject into mainstream gaming, and in a responsible adult manner as well. When I mention this, my main points are the presence of brothels and their services, and romantic relationships between characters - both subjects were quite prevalent in the time period we're recreating, and feature to varying degrees in modern RPGs. I'll go over each point separately;
· So, brothels and their services - they are included in the game, but the only one I've seen so far was in Charlestown, Nevis. Personally, I'd like to see them featured more broadly in the game, since every port town of the period was likely to have at least one, if not more, of these establishments. Perhaps we could even include a sidequest in one town where some prominent person wishes to close down the brothel, and the player is then presented with the choice of helping them run the place out of business, or fighting back and protecting the welfare of the women running the brothel.
In addition, I wasn't fond of the fact that I basically got a fade out-fade in when I chose to use the brothel services. About the only use I got out of it was the chance to rob the chests in the brothel bedroom. I want to see something with a bit more substance to it - maybe a cutscene showing my character and one of the females eating a quick meal together, before heading up to the room and then fading to black as you hear them laugh in enjoyment, then fading back in to show them sharing a kiss or hug before the female leaves the room, or something like that. It doesn't have to be explicit (and no one really wants that kind of thing, anyways), but something that provides these interactions with more substance, romance -whatever you want to call it - than the current setup does would be very much preferred to what we have right now. Besides, we already have an option that allows us to turn off access to brothel interiors, so what's stopping us from including this kind of thing if we can already turn it off if we don't like it?
· Many modern RPGs include romance, with the Witcher series being the prime example - both in its inclusion, and in how to handle it in a way that isn't totally irresponsible. It's a gameplay feature I've oft enjoyed when it's well written/executed (mainly because I'm a romantic at heart), and I'd like to see a number of romance questlines included in New Horizons, too - heck, I'd be willing to help write them, if I had to. I like to think that this would add more options for a playthrough, and it would also increase the diversity of content, something which helps to attract players to this type of game.
#13. More Ship Upgrades: This is something I'd like to see - the current upgrades are nice, but a wider selection that provides more gameplay choices would be really nice. Perhaps mods that make your cannons weigh less, or do more damage, or have longer range. Extra crew quarters to make room for more boarders at the expense of cargo space. Swivel guns that increase the amount of damage you deal to an enemy ship's crew . A broad rudder that increases your turning rate. Things like that.
#14. More alternate paint schemes for ships: I think it would be nice to see each ship get unique paint schemes for each different nation, and maybe a few more for the fun of it. This would probably take a lot of time, so it's not a high priority, but it would be a nice feature to see implemented.
#15. Tweaks to the ship's log: I would definitely like the ability to write longer log entries if it's possible - currently, if the entry runs on too long, pressing backspace to fix a mistake deletes the entire entry instead, which is seriously aggravating. Also, while we're at it, the 'write new log entry' button blocks the bottom text lines of longer entries, so is there any way to fix that? And could we change the clicking sound made when typing to something more like the scratch of a quill on parchment?
#16: Refined way to access personal item and trade good windows: I'm getting rather tired of having to initiate a new conversation with the merchant every time I want to switch between the trade good and personal item inventories - is there anyway we can streamline this so that we don't have to do this? Say combining everything into one menu, or perhaps having the player exit the menu to the conversation where you select which menu to look at?
#17. More NPCs in larger towns: The larger towns (like Cartagena) seem rather empty as is, and I'd like to see more NPCs populating these areas to give them a more 'lived in' feel. Perhaps we could make this an option that can be turned on/off, so that systems that can't handle the load don't have to just to play the game and others who do have the system capacity can have the additional NPCs.
#18. More Building Interiors: There seem to be a lot of doors that don't have anything behind them currently. Ideally, I'd like to have an interior behind every door in a settlement that would reasonably have one, but that takes time and effort that could be better spent on other projects, so this is kind of a low priority on my list of desires.
#19. More Shops: When I say this, I really mean that I think it might be fun to take the single 'store', and make it into multiple establishments. As an example, the base store would become a trading company that sells and buys trade goods; then, weapons would be sold at a weapons shop (and can be upgraded at a blacksmith or gunsmith), books and maps would be sold at bookstores, gems and other rocks at a jewelers, medical supplies at a doctor's office (which could also heal you), and instruments like clocks, sextants and compasses would be sold at a tool crafters. It's an interesting concept that might be a bit more realistic than the current system, but I don't know about how popular or practical it would be in game.
#20. More Settlements (Especially on the mainland): I enjoy sailing between various settlements already, but I think I'd really like to see a few more added - especially on the mainland, as that part of the ocean seems pretty empty right now. Places like Portobello, Panama, and other famous port towns would be very fun to visit or raid in this game, don't you think?
#21. More Places to Explore on Land: To me, the current areas beyond the settlements seem a bit sparse. I'd like to see more areas available for exploration on the islands - the mountain range of Jamaica, ancient ruins on the mainland, native encampments, gold and silver mines, large plantations, orchards, old cave systems, bandit hideouts, untamed jungles, farm fields, etc. We could even use the trade good lists as a reference when creating new areas to explore on the islands - a town exporting wood and gold would obviously have sawmills, logging camps and mines that we could explore.