Mod Release Build 14 Beta 2.4 Test Versions

[Hylie Pistof]

Same happened to me when a Spanish ship surrender and the entire enemy fleet became neutral. This was at open sea when joining a battle between the English and Spanish.
Happened in version 2.3. So I don't think it's a new bug.

Hammie! Long time no see. We are trying to get you some help.

 

[Skyworm]

By the way, I kept paying my crew on salary this time. Got a 45% bonus to leadership when I payd them the 2nd time in a row. From my impressionw ith this character, leadership is going up much better than in my last career. I greatly appreciate this, because without doing lots of quests, it was damned slow at all.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

By the way, I kept paying my crew on salary this time. Got a 45% bonus to leadership when I payd them the 2nd time in a row. From my impressionw ith this character, leadership is going up much better than in my last career. I greatly appreciate this, because without doing lots of quests, it was damned slow at all.

Indeed that is why we added the salary leadership functionality. Now all we need to know if it now goes up too fast.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Nathaniel Hawks show up when there is a bug with the character model code; that would need looking into at some point I suppose,
but I know the boardermodel code has always been dodgy at best. Please remember that issue and remind me again later.
I'm not familiar with that code, so can't afford to check it just yet.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Another question:
Now I have a military rank ... ermm ... Sous-Lieutenant de Vaisseaus it is ... I expected to have french soldiers when boarding enemy ships. do have french soldiers as crew when I am on my ships deck. But when I board, they all look like Nathaniel Hawke, wearing the cheapest armor (with which I just equipped them by putting lots of them into the wapons locker). Should I not have french soldiers as boarders? Not a big matter, I just ask.

Please try this. Open PROGRAM\console.c and find:

void ExecuteConsole()
{
    ref pchar = GetMainCharacter();
    if (!bSeaActive) ref lcn = &Locations[FindLocation(pchar.location)];
    ref ch;
    int i;
    int limit;

Below this add:

pchar.boardingmodels = "FRANCE";

Load your savegame, press F12 and see if you do get the proper models now.

If that works, try executing these lines instead:

                    pchar.boardingmodels = "Soldiers";
                    pchar.boardingmodels.sex = "man";
                    pchar.boardingmodels.nation = FRANCE;

From what I understand of the code, that should work too and be technically a better way to do this.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Some other things to keep an eye out for when testing:
- Do storekeepers and tavern owners give you Cargo and Convoy Quests when their nations are enemy to you?
- Do tavern owners' Convoy Quests ever go to towns that are enemy to you?
- Do you ever see ships going neutral at sea after a ship surrendered? (Other than the actual ship that surrendered, of course)
- Do you see any OTHER ships at sea that appear neutral, but really shouldn't be?

And of course also:
- Is that Leadership skill increase when paying salary too much? How should that be balanced?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

A) Cargo quests: Dunno yet. They do trade with me but they are French.

B) Have not done those yet.

C) Ayup! I described it at Martinique with pirates and it happened again today with French ships.

D) Nope.

E) I'm not getting much leadership increase at all when I pay them. I saw 175 XP once and also have seen nothing. Maybe it is because I'm using the Open Sea Mod.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

A. The quest availability is different from whether they'll trade with you or not. When you have the chance, please have a look.

C. Agh. I had hoped that might have been fixed now. Apparently not, then. Oh well, it was happening before as well.
Even Screwface didn't manage to fix it when he tried to look into it.

E. The Open Sea Mod isn't related to how salary is paid, so that shouldn't make a difference.
Were you playing with a multiplier of 1000 as it is in my code or 100 as I had suggested as alternative value?
PROGRAM\INTERFACE\salary.c:

AddPartyExpChar(PChar, "Leadership", sti(PChar.repeat_salary_payment)*1000);

Whenever I tested, I saw 750 XP points right at the beginning of the game after the first time paying salary. The second time should be double that.

 

[Skyworm]

Good evening Pieter!

First, thanks for the lines about boarders. The first thing worked.

Some other things to keep an eye out for when testing:
- Do storekeepers and tavern owners give you Cargo and Convoy Quests when their nations are enemy to you?
- Do tavern owners' Convoy Quests ever go to towns that are enemy to you?

No and no. Though while the storekeeper explicitely said he won't have work for me as long I sink his nations ships (well, to be precise, he was wrong: The english tavern keeper at nevis told me (being french) that he won't give me a mission as long as I sink french ships. Of course I dn't sink french ships, but english, but basically, the matter workeed as intended - he just mixed words) , the tavern keeper just gave me no mission.

- Do you ever see ships going neutral at sea after a ship surrendered? (Other than the actual ship that surrendered, of course)

No. I just had a battle with 6 english ships, and when the first surrendered, no other surrendered. They did later after more broadsides, arr!

- Do you see any OTHER ships at sea that appear neutral, but really shouldn't be?

Haven't seen this, no.

And of course also:
- Is that Leadership skill increase when paying salary too much? How should that be balanced?

I'm not sure what you mean. I pay salary when my crew asks for, and nothing more. Leadership is going up at a good rate, better than before I think, but it's hard to compare since this character is also doing some governors missions. It "feels" better than in my last career though.
My character is now at level 10, and has 5 leadership + 90%. It looks balanced to me.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

First, thanks for the lines about boarders. The first thing worked.

Cool! Did you also try that second thing instead? I'd like to know if that works too.

No and no. Though while the storekeeper explicitely said he won't have work for me as long I sink his nations ships (well, to be precise, he was wrong: The english tavern keeper at nevis told me (being french) that he won't give me a mission as long as I sink french ships. Of course I dn't sink french ships, but english, but basically, the matter workeed as intended - he just mixed words) , the tavern keeper just gave me no mission.

Can you give me a savegame at that Nevis tavern? I'd like to see if I can fix up his words not matching up.

No. I just had a battle with 6 english ships, and when the first surrendered, no other surrendered. They did later after more broadsides, arr!

HA! Keep an eye out for unintentional neutral ships though.

I'm not sure what you mean. I pay salary when my crew asks for, and nothing more. Leadership is going up at a good rate, better than before I think, but it's hard to compare since this character is also doing some governors missions. It "feels" better than in my last career though.
My character is now at level 10, and has 5 leadership + 90%. It looks balanced to me.

How many game months have you played so far?
When I did a quick test, just executing the payment leadership bonus repeatedly through code, I got at a Leadership level of 10 after 12 times paying salary.
However, I'd need to know if in actual play it will take longer. Because there's some code in place to make skills increase quicker at lower character levels.
And also because you'd be developing other skills in addition to Leadership, that could slow it down during actual play as well.
Could. But I need confirmation one way or another.

Basically, I suppose if you're now at a high(ish) character level and your Leadership level is not excessively high compared to the other skills, it should be OK, I think.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I have just made the full changelog for my current Build 14 Beta 2.4 installation:

Build 14 Beta 2.4:
- Archipelago Map added in Documentation folder by Jaco
- Bug Fixes:
  . Worldmap encounters are no longer always skippable; this now depends on the relative speeds between squadrons by Pieter Boelen
  . Tier 1 Ships no longer give a penalty on characters with Leadership and Sailing skill of 9 and above by Pieter Boelen
  . Nation Relation related issues fixed, including Governor, Storekeeper and Tavern Owner quest availability by Pieter Boelen
  . Portuguese Soldiers in Period Revolutions and more modern fixed by Pieter Boelen
  . After declining Pirate Hunting missions, you can get another mission after three days by Pieter Boelen
  . Antigua Victualler now always accepts completion of Trade Quests by Pieter Boelen
  . Steam engines fixed for non-player ships by Pieter Boelen
  . Player boardermodels after French promotion fixed by Pieter Boelen
  . US design ships maximum calibre of 32 enforced by Pieter Boelen
  . Governor's Harbor (Eleuthera) governor Cole Arkwright slight dialog error fixed by Pieter Boelen
  . Barbados Lighthouse location name fixed by Pieter Boelen
- Code Updates:
  . CannonFX v3.0 mod added by Merciless Mark
    > Set the realism level in PROGRAM\InternalSetting.h with the USE_PARTICLES_CANNONS setting
  . Default controls modified:
    > Left Mouse Button for Attack and Right Mouse Button for Block
  . Repeatedly Paying Salary gives an increasing Leadership bonus each month by Pieter Boelen
    > Repeatedly Skipping Salary payment given an increasingly large morale drop
  . Pirate Hunting target ships generated at a random location around the island by Pieter Boelen
  . DirectSail disabled during Pirate Hunting quest to prevent target ship from disappearing by Pieter Boelen
  . Storm sea colour improved by Armada
  . Cannon fire sounds updated by priatnia
  . Corsairs III models enabled by agentad
  . Moving the camera to NON-player vessels disabled in Iron Man Mode by Pieter Boelen
  . Rush, Immediate Reload and Instant Boarding abilities disabled in Iron Man Mode by Pieter Boelen
  . Nation Relations text adjusted to display properly regardless of character's name length by Armada
- Ship Model Updates:
  . Yards can move further with the wind by Hylie Pistof
  . Stock game corvette completely remodeled to high-detail Aurora class Frigate by Armada, rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
    Applies to Corvette1, Corvette2 and RN_Corvette
  . Fast Merchantmen completely remodeled as scrapped navy vessels based on the Aurora class Frigate by Armada, rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
    Applies to Fastmerchantman1 and Fastmerchantman2
  . HMS Centurion 1732 high-detail custom model added by KrisWood and Captain Armstrong
  . Arcadia Xebec high-detail custom model added by Elessaria , ported by Rider88
  . British, Dutch and Portuguese skin of Trinity 2nd Rate high-detail custom model added by Noriruru
  . British, Dutch and French skin of USS Essex 1799 high-detail custom model added by Captain Armstrong
  . Amsterdam rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
  . Carrack, Apostol Felipe and Spanish Battle Galleon rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
- Texture Updates:
  . Brown interface textures improved by Armada
  . Brown Interface various display errors fixed by Armada
  . Loading Screen Tips textures updated by Baste
  . Flying Dutchman sails improved by Armada
- Storyline Updates:
  . ENABLE_CHEATMODE functionality added: Woodes Rogers storyline Blackbeard's Head added in opening cabin scene to allow skipping to various quest cases Jack Rackham
  . Woodes Rogers storyline various bugs fixed Jack Rackham
  . Master & Commander storyline navy aspects deleted to allow better free play by Pieter Boelen
  . Standard storyline Joaquin de Masse dialog error fixed by agentad
  . Standard storyline cursed pirate replaced with Ragetti from the Pirates of the Caribbean films by Pieter Boelen

Does anyone have any comments on the above?

I'll be posting the complete file later today so people can test it over the weekend.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'll be going on "holiday" home this weekend and will probably not be very active on Saturday and Sunday, so I figured I'd give you people something to play with in the meantime!

Download: http://piratesahoy.net/build/b14_beta2-4_wip2.exe (45.9 MB)
Installation: Just extract on top of Build 14 Beta 2.3
New game: Should not be required, though it can't hurt to start anew at some point. After loading your savegame, press F11 to reinitialize.
Contents:

Spoiler

Build 14 Beta 2.4:
- Archipelago Map added in Documentation folder by Jaco
- Bug Fixes:
  . Worldmap encounters are no longer always skippable; this now depends on the relative speeds between squadrons by Pieter Boelen
  . Tier 1 Ships no longer give a penalty on characters with Leadership and Sailing skill of 9 and above by Pieter Boelen
  . Nation Relation related issues fixed, including Governor, Storekeeper and Tavern Owner quest availability by Pieter Boelen
  . Portuguese Soldiers in Period Revolutions and more modern fixed by Pieter Boelen
  . After declining Pirate Hunting missions, you can get another mission after three days by Pieter Boelen
  . Antigua Victualler now always accepts completion of Trade Quests by Pieter Boelen
  . Steam engines fixed for non-player ships by Pieter Boelen
  . Player boardermodels after French promotion fixed by Pieter Boelen
  . US design ships maximum calibre of 32 enforced by Pieter Boelen
  . Governor's Harbor (Eleuthera) governor Cole Arkwright slight dialog error fixed by Pieter Boelen
  . Barbados Lighthouse location name fixed by Pieter Boelen
- Code Updates:
  . CannonFX v3.0 mod added by Merciless Mark
    > Set the realism level in PROGRAM\InternalSetting.h with the USE_PARTICLES_CANNONS setting
  . Default controls modified:
    > Left Mouse Button for Attack and Right Mouse Button for Block
  . Repeatedly Paying Salary gives an increasing Leadership bonus each month by Pieter Boelen
    > Repeatedly Skipping Salary payment given an increasingly large morale drop
  . Pirate Hunting target ships generated at a random location around the island by Pieter Boelen
  . DirectSail disabled during Pirate Hunting quest to prevent target ship from disappearing by Pieter Boelen
  . Storm sea colour improved by Armada
  . Cannon fire sounds updated by priatnia
  . Corsairs III models enabled by agentad
  . Moving the camera to NON-player vessels disabled in Iron Man Mode by Pieter Boelen
  . Rush, Immediate Reload and Instant Boarding abilities disabled in Iron Man Mode by Pieter Boelen
  . Nation Relations text adjusted to display properly regardless of character's name length by Armada
- Ship Model Updates:
  . Yards can move further with the wind by Hylie Pistof
  . Stock game corvette completely remodeled to high-detail Aurora class Frigate by Armada, rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
    Applies to Corvette1, Corvette2 and RN_Corvette
  . Fast Merchantmen completely remodeled as scrapped navy vessels based on the Aurora class Frigate by Armada, rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
    Applies to Fastmerchantman1 and Fastmerchantman2
  . HMS Centurion 1732 high-detail custom model added by KrisWood and Captain Armstrong
  . Arcadia Xebec high-detail custom model added by Elessaria , ported by Rider88
  . British, Dutch and Portuguese skin of Trinity 2nd Rate high-detail custom model added by Noriruru
  . British, Dutch and French skin of USS Essex 1799 high-detail custom model added by Captain Armstrong
  . Amsterdam rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
  . Carrack, Apostol Felipe and Spanish Battle Galleon rigging improved by Hylie Pistof
- Texture Updates:
  . Brown interface textures improved by Armada
  . Brown Interface various display errors fixed by Armada
  . Loading Screen Tips textures updated by Baste
  . Flying Dutchman sails improved by Armada
- Storyline Updates:
  . ENABLE_CHEATMODE functionality added: Woodes Rogers storyline Blackbeard's Head added in opening cabin scene to allow skipping to various quest cases Jack Rackham
  . Woodes Rogers storyline various bugs fixed Jack Rackham
  . Master & Commander storyline navy aspects deleted to allow better free play by Pieter Boelen
  . Standard storyline Joaquin de Masse dialog error fixed by agentad
  . Standard storyline cursed pirate replaced with Ragetti from the Pirates of the Caribbean films by Pieter Boelen

Post any relevant observations here as usual, please!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

New TEST version available. See here: http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/build-14-beta-2-4-test-version-2-available.20513

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Just woke up to a wall of text. Only comments I have now is that I made level 13 last night and my luck skill is better than my leadership skill. Luck is high 6 and leadership is low 6. Most all skills are in the 5-6-7 range. This is with the multiplier set to 100 instead of 1000. This is with all tattoos.

When the flagship surrenders all other ships go neutral just as always.

I presume you want a save game in a shipyard with a corvette or fast merchantman up for sale. Have not seen that combination yet.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Just woke up to a wall of text.

That's what one calls "keeping busy"!

Only comments I have now is that I made level 13 last night and my luck skill is better than my leadership skill. Luck is high 6 and leadership is low 6. Most all skills are in the 5-6-7 range. This is with the multiplier set to 100 instead of 1000. This is with all tattoos.

That sounds about fair enough. Then probably we should use the 100 value. Still doesn't explain why those quests can afford to hand out SO much experience points though.

When the flagship surrenders all other ships go neutral just as always.

Too bad. Oh well, that was a bit of wishful thinking since I saw that function I used being used in the surrender code.
At least it is not behaving worse than before, right?

I presume you want a save game in a shipyard with a corvette or fast merchantman up for sale. Have not seen that combination yet.

I could just give myself a Corvette or FastMerchantman through console and sell it to them.
Most important is that you would be in the same shipyard where you observed the high prices last time.

 

[Skyworm]

Errm ... how do you tell which ship in an enemy fleet is the flagship?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Errm ... how do you tell which ship in an enemy fleet is the flagship?

Not entirely sure if you can tell at all. In a line of ships, it would be the first one.
Otherwise, it is the one that, when she surrenders, causes the rest of the accompanying fleet to go neutral.

 

[Skyworm]

Ah thanks. That explains why I never get that information. Using iron man mode, I don't get any additional spyglass infoprmation but what I see. And the name, if close enough, but not any flagship information.
First ship in a row makes sense, I'll look for that when testing. But most ships I take are ships scattered around islands, and not ships I meet at the open sea. And I am not sure if the island traders are even technically a fleet.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

But most ships I take are ships scattered around islands, and not ships I meet at the open sea. And I am not sure if the island traders are even technically a fleet.

I don't think they are. DirectSail fleets work as fleets as well as worldmap encounters.
Using Iron Man Mode, surely you DO run into DirectSail encounters?

 

[Skyworm]

Yes I do.
The encounters I run into while direct sailing between islands are one of the most fun features I enjoy in this game, be sure of it.

I use iron man mode just to don't get any spyglass information. Recognizing flags is not that easy, depending on sight and direction of wind. And I really like those surprises, when something I thought being peaceful reveals being a blood thursty enemy squadron - just because I misjudjed the flag. I really like it.