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Fixed Assassin Storyline: Updates for Beta 4.1

I like the idea.

Just after Elting starting working for the Vice-Admiral, his relation with Spain should be at least 0. That would be logical. :shrug
Trivially easy. Just get rid of that 'SetRMRelation(PChar, SPAIN, REL_AFTERATTACK);' line as I suggested. Receiving the LoM puts Elting's relation with Spain to 0, and it stays that way if that line isn't there any more.

Meanwhile, the test play continues, and I'm now on the hunt for Roche Brasiliano. And that's when I ran into the next snag. After throwing an ether bottle at Lady Gaga and relieving her of her keys, I went round to the house, which stayed locked. A bit of investigating revealed why, and now the question becomes, how did I ever manage to complete this? Because in "PROGRAM\Locations\init\QuebradasCostillas.c", the house is marked as being closed for the night. And it's always been that way, at least since Beta 3 which is what I was running when I played the storyline (once in Beta 3.2, again in a later version, possibly Beta 3.4 or Beta 3.5). Perhaps last time I did it during daylight. This time it was night. Anyway, the solution was to add this line:
Code:
Locations[FindLocation("Charlestown_port")].reload.l12.close_for_night = 0;
into case "seguirladybis" right after the line to unlock the door.

Incidentally, if you kill Lady Gaga, a soldier rushes up and tries to arrest you. If you still have your weapon drawn then he can't, so he just stands there while you continue on your way. This nifty little exploit works in other situations, too - basically, if you have a weapon drawn then dialogs fail. Go into a fort and draw your weapon. The guards can't challenge you so you can wander around robbing every chest in sight. Just make sure no guard is near you when you want to sheath the weapon in order to talk to a civilian. Meanwhile, back in Charlestown, that soldier is an independent unit so killing him doesn't trigger a response from any other soldiers. In fact, I'd whacked Lady Gaga with a sandbag and hit her too hard, so along came the soldier to try to avenge her, couldn't talk while I was holding a sandbag, so I hit him as well, knocked him senseless, and took all his stuff. :rpirate

Before that, there was the modified "Hitman" quest", "A Worm in the Apple". In this version, Vito Leone is in Point a Pitre instead of Sao Jorge, but the tavern keepers haven't been told about the change in plans. So Duarte Correja still tells you that Vito Leone is waiting for you in the church and Albin Bonaventure does not. So I've created a story-specific version of Albin Bonaventure's dialog files and copied in the code from Duarte Correja. Duarte Correja already has story-specific dialog files so I've disabled that bit for him. Now it's Albin Bonaventure who tells you that Senor Leone is waiting for you.

Thinking ahead to the "Cannons of Isla Mona" section, it should easy enough to arrange for the Antigua admiral to give you a LoM, by copying the relevant bit of Salvadore Benavides' dialog into the admiral's dialog.c file and adding an alternative bit of text mentioning the LoM. But there may be a different way to handle this. As it would involve a minor change in plot, I will only do this if @Bartolomeu o Portugues explicitly approves! So:
1. By the time you're ready to do this mission, you're probably hostile to England. Perhaps have the admiral refuse to hire you while you're hostile. You can go and buy forgiveness from an English governor.
2. Instead of giving you a free LoM, perhaps have the admiral require that you already have one. You can buy forgiveness and a LoM from an English governor.
3. There's no story-specific dialog file for the admiral so all this is happening in the main game dialog file. Perhaps have him refuse to do any business with you unless you have an English LoM. The storekeeper and shipyard already do this. They can be bribed, but an admiral is going to be minor nobility and already rich, so either he can't be bribed or the bribe is going to have to be stupidly expensive.

And if you add this:
Code:
SetNationRelationBoth(SPAIN, FRANCE, RELATION_NEUTRAL);
to case "meet_thug3" then Spain breaks its alliance with France right after the "Alliance" mission concludes. As an alternative, perhaps put it at the end of the "Kidnapping" section, along with a bit of dialog from the vice admiral to the effect that the envoy has brought news that the new King was most displeased to learn of France's treachery (and amused to read about how Elting dealt with it), and has broken off the alliance.
 
Meanwhile, the test play continues, and I'm now on the hunt for Roche Brasiliano. And that's when I ran into the next snag. After throwing an ether bottle at Lady Gaga and relieving her of her keys, I went round to the house, which stayed locked. A bit of investigating revealed why, and now the question becomes, how did I ever manage to complete this? Because in "PROGRAM\Locations\init\QuebradasCostillas.c", the house is marked as being closed for the night. And it's always been that way, at least since Beta 3 which is what I was running when I played the storyline (once in Beta 3.2, again in a later version, possibly Beta 3.4 or Beta 3.5). Perhaps last time I did it during daylight. This time it was night. Anyway, the solution was to add this line:
Code:
Locations[FindLocation("Charlestown_port")].reload.l12.close_for_night = 0;
into case "seguirladybis" right after the line to unlock the door.


Lady Gaga's house has always been closed at night. :yes

Personally - I find where the house is - then spend night in tavern and go back the following day.

:read
 
Thanks a lot, @Grey Roger! :cheers

What exactly was the in-story reason for you working for England again? Was that an undercover "fake" job?
I have thought before of adding some sort of "LoM" functionality, but without the "gaining ranks" option.
That could be used for story purposes here. But I have no clue if there is any point to that.
 
What exactly was the in-story reason for you working for England again? Was that an undercover "fake" job?
Exactly. To get to Isla Mona, you need to get a job from the Antigua admiral which gives you a valid reason for being there, as it's a military outpost which can't be visited by non-military ships.

I have thought before of adding some sort of "LoM" functionality, but without the "gaining ranks" option.
That could be used for story purposes here. But I have no clue if there is any point to that.
To some extent you already have that with governor ship-hunting missions, which are effectively one-target LoM's - you're authorised by that governor to sink that ship, so it's not piracy (although the ship's owning nation won't like it). Anyway, by the time you've finished with Isla Mona you'll have both English and Spanish LoM's, so good luck trying to hold onto both of them. :D (You can concentrate entirely on pirates, which isn't as lucrative. Or you can continue victimising the French, which will earn you points with England and won't cost you points with Spain any more due to the alliance being broken. Or you can attack Dutch ships, which Elting shouldn't really want to do, but Spain will like it and England won't mind.)

Last time I played this, I bought both Spanish and English LoM's fairly early, then attacked Portuguese ships to earn points with Spain and French ships to earn points with England. The new relations system, by which nations take notice if you attack their ally's ships as well as their own, put a stop to that! I still go after Portuguese ships early on as it earns points with Spain, but that turns England hostile, after which I go after English ships as well. And that's why I suggested that the Antigua port admiral might want you to be non-hostile, or possibly arrange your own LoM, before hiring you as a privateer - he's not going to give jobs like that to England's enemy!
 
To some extent you already have that with governor ship-hunting missions, which are effectively one-target LoM's - you're authorised by that governor to sink that ship, so it's not piracy (although the ship's owning nation won't like it).
That is handled extremely simply by excluding those specific ships from the Relation Updates. :cheeky

And that's why I suggested that the Antigua port admiral might want you to be non-hostile, or possibly arrange your own LoM, before hiring you as a privateer - he's not going to give jobs like that to England's enemy!
Could you remind me why you need a LoM from England again and why just being not hostile isn't enough?
Do you need to attack ships "in the name of England"? I can't remember now....
 
Could you remind me why you need a LoM from England again and why just being not hostile isn't enough?
Do you need to attack ships "in the name of England"? I can't remember now....
For one thing, attacking a ship, even a hostile one, without a valid LoM is an act of piracy. ;) Besides, up until this point France isn't hostile.

And yes, you will be attacking at least two ships in the name of England. The first job the Antigua admiral gives you is to sink a French ship near Guadeloupe. The second job is to escort an English ship which is to scout out Cozumel as a possible colony, only the French got there first and you fight a French warship on the way out.

But before you get to this point, you've probably been doing some free-play raiding on behalf of Spain. Vice Admiral Benvides tells you to do this, and there's a one month pause between the end of "Kidnapping" and the start of "Cannons of Isla Mona" in which you're told to improve your skills while attacking Spain's enemies. So by the time you get to Antigua, England probably doesn't like you very much. You then say "Admiral, I think you underestimate my abilities as Captain. I insist.. Let me prove I can REALLY work for you." Why would the English admiral agree to that if you're an enemy?
 
Indeed I do think the best way would be to force the player to make peace with England.
And since you have to sink ships in the name of England, indeed you'd need a LoM from them.

Alternative would be to exclude those specific ships from the Update RM functionality, but that is not a very nice solution.
As far as I'm concerned, your suggestion sounds perfect to me. :onya
 
As an alternative, perhaps put it at the end of the "Kidnapping" section, along with a bit of dialog from the vice admiral to the effect that the envoy has brought news that the new King was most displeased to learn of France's treachery (and amused to read about how Elting dealt with it), and has broken off the alliance.
It's also an option :)
Indeed I do think the best way would be to force the player to make peace with England.
When exactly? When we are with the Antigua admiral or before going to Antigua?
 
When exactly? When we are with the Antigua admiral or before going to Antigua?
@Grey Roger suggested that the Antigua Admiral won't let you work for him UNLESS you have an English LoM first.
So the player would manually need to make peace with England and buy a LoM.
That would need to be done then before going to Antigua.
 
Option 1 - easiest to code, but least realistic - the Antigua admiral gives you a free LoM so that your attacks on French ships for him are not acts of piracy.
Option 2 - the Antigua admiral will only allow you to work for him if you are not hostile to England. You must buy forgiveness from an English governor, then the admiral will give you the LoM.
Option 3 - the Antigua admiral will only allow you to work for him if you already have an English LoM. You must buy both forgiveness and a LoM from an English governor.
Option 4 - same as Option 3, but more general. The Antigua admiral won't even consider you for normal escort jobs unless you have an English LoM.

Personally, I'd favour options 3 or 4 as they ought to be the next easiest to code - just put in a check that you have an English LoM and have the admiral tell you to get lost if you don't. You can hardly offer your services as a privateer unless you are, in fact, a privateer. xD
 
Maybe, you should also add in the first quest text of "the cannons of Mona" a hint explaining the player must have an English LoM before meeting the admiral.
 
Or have Pelagius Lizarraga explain it:
"He doesn't like to hire privateers, and he won't hire you at all unless you have a Letter of Marque from England. So, if you don't already have such a Letter, get one as soon as possible. Then you should insist if he refuses you at the beginning."

As for the port admiral, looking at "antigua_portadmiral.c" and "antigua_portadmiral.h", it seems that part of my work may already be done. If you show your face to the Admiral while you are an enemy of England, he's liable to say "?? You are known as enemy of the Crown! GUARDS!! ARREST THIS SPY!!" I just need to add a bit so that if you're not an enemy but don't have a LoM either then he'll suggest that you go and get one.
 
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Just to confirm, because I tried it in my last play session: the Antigua admiral does indeed call the guards on you if you are hostile to England. I'm not ready to start "Cannons of Isla Mona" yet (about to start the search for Roche Brasiliano's ship) but I went to Antigua anyway just to see what the admiral would do. As expected, despite flying a false English flag, the admiral called the guards. Of course, you won't get a LoM until you've first craved forgiveness, so Pelagius Lizarraga's hint ought to send you off to get properly prepared to meet the admiral.
 
So that means the player is forced to make peace already, right?
And the only extra requirement to be added is to have that LoM?
 
Right, here's what I have so far. The port admiral of Antigua will now require an English LoM to hire you for anything, not just for the "Assassin" storyline. You can also only get a routine escort job if you have an English LoM - as he says, why would he hire a privateer when he has the whole Leeward Islands squadron to do what he needs done? And if he's reluctant to hire even a licenced privateer, he's certainly not going to bother with anyone else - at best you're a privateer in someone else's service, at worst you're a pirate, or you're a peaceful sailor who won't be any use as an escort. This has yet to be tested!

Other differences:
Nicholas Butcher: minor spelling correction to one piece of dialog
Pelagius Lizarraga: now gives the hint that you need an English LoM
Duarte Correja: doesn't say anything about Vito Leone being in church
Albin Bonaventure: does tell you that Vito Leone is in church
Kidnapping questbook text: minor spelling correction
quests_reaction.c: line making Spain Wary to you at the beginning commented out. Spanish flag hoisted when you receive El Diablo. Spain breaks alliance with France at the end of "The Alliance". Lady Gaga's house opened at night when you have the key.
 

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So that means the player is forced to make peace already, right?
And the only extra requirement to be added is to have that LoM?
Yes. As well as Pelagius Lizarraga's hint, the admiral himself will tell you to get a LoM if you don't already have one (assuming I've done this correctly). That should also happen generally, not just in "Assassin".
 
You can also only get a routine escort job if you have an English LoM - as he says, why would he hire a privateer when he has the whole Leeward Islands squadron to do what he needs done? And if he's reluctant to hire even a licenced privateer, he's certainly not going to bother with anyone else - at best you're a privateer in someone else's service, at worst you're a pirate, or you're a peaceful sailor who won't be any use as an escort. This has yet to be tested!
I think you may have misunderstood the original meaning of that dialog.
He doesn't like this merchant continuously pestering him, but also doesn't want to waste his resources on him.
The destination for that quest is also hardcoded as Grenada which, at the time @CouchcaptainCharles added that, was as far away from Antigua as possible.
Based on the original intention, the Port Admiral would probably be happy to send that merchant away with anyone. As long as he'd be rid of him! :rofl
 
The admiral's initial reaction, assuming you aren't hostile and have just asked for a job, is "Oh, how boring. Yet another privateer who thinks the Caribbean is full of fat prizeships waiting only for him. Sir, I have the whole Leeward Islands squadron at my discretion, and every naval commander is only too eager to go on a cruise. Do you really believe I'd give any profitable mission to you instead of my cron.. (cough) loyal followers?" Only if you continue to pester him does he realise that he can get rid of two pests at once.

But he's not doing his job as admiral if he's going to send the merchant off with a pirate who's liable to rob the merchant, or a peaceful ship which is no use as an escort. Anyway, why would he be any more willing than anyone else on Antigua to work with someone who has no English LoM? The storekeeper and shipyard can be bribed, but the admiral is going to be minor nobility so either he won't take a bribe or it will be stupidly expensive.

Anyway, the code for the admiral to give you a free LoM when you do the "Assassin" job is still in there, so if you really object to the part where he requires a LoM in advance, feel free to take it out. Or move it elsewhere, perhaps to case "convoy" inside the check 'if (CheckQuestAttribute("veralmirante", "inicio"))'.
 
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