Captains Log?

[Kingy]

Hi, have had game for some time but after a few years have dusted off and downloaded build 13 which Im finding great and has added bit more life to the old game for me,but I have a few problems though!

When I purchased the game I never got a manual so I am learning a bit as I go and have a few questions!

First, is there a manual on the disk anywhere? have looked but cant find a thing.

Second, is there any ship / captains log? I some times see messages appear on screen but dont seem to be able to read all of them in time occasionaly. Was hoping there is a history of events and messages somewhere.

Third, When boarding pirate ships I can never tell my crew apart from the pirates, am I missing something easy here or is there a way to tell the crews apart? Can I damage my crew?

Any answers will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If you like Build 13, you might want to give the latest Build 14 Alpha version a try.
Alpha 10 is soon to be released and it's been found VERY playable.
It's not a finished Build 14 yet, but the additional stuff more than makes up for the few detriments there are.
And we're still working on improving it further still.

First, is there a manual on the disk anywhere? have looked but cant find a thing.

No, there's not. And the replacement documents website doesn't have it either; I checked.

Second, is there any ship / captains log? I some times see messages appear on screen but dont seem to be able to read all of them in time occasionaly. Was hoping there is a history of events and messages somewhere.

No, there isn't. Pirate_KK intends to add it and even added a "Log" button to the Build 14 Alpha 10 interface.
However, he's now too busy to actually do any work on it. Maybe one day we will have such a feature, but not any time soon.
You can turn off lots of log messages with the L-key so only really important ones appear.
It's possible to change the scroll speed though; see this code excerpt
from the Build 14 Alpha 10 edition of PROGRAM\BATTLE_INTERFACE\LogInterface.c:

void CreateLogEnvironment()
{
//  CCC Make log message smaller and relocate  -->
ILog.Log.width = sti(showWindow.sw)/2;
ILog.Log.height = sti(showWindow.sh)-80;
ILog.Log.left = sti(showWindow.left)+1; // ccc maptweak original value +88
ILog.Log.up = sti(showWindow.top)+1; //+16
ILog.Log.font = "interface_small"; // interface_normal
ILog.Log.color = argb(0,255,255,255);
ILog.Log.offsetString = 14; //24
ILog.Log.speed = 0.1; //0.05		// LDH this is the scroll speed after the log fades - 03Jan09
ILog.Log.color_speed = 0.01; //0.02	// LDH this is the speed at which the log fades - 03Jan09
// NOTE the last two lines determine how fast the message disappears and scrolls. If you want to change this: INCREASING the values makes it vanish FASTER
//  <--  CCC Make log message smaller and relocate

Third, When boarding pirate ships I can never tell my crew apart from the pirates, am I missing something easy here or is there a way to tell the crews apart? Can I damage my crew?

I think the difference is clearer in the latest Build 14 Alpha version. Anyway, you can't damage your own crew.

 

[Kingy]

Thanks for replies Pieter, so I take it there is no easy way to tell my crew apart in build 13 when boarding?

I also have another question, in the relations menu I see you can raise a flag called "J.A. Flag" what does these mean and what effects does this option have?

I will install build 14 once I have completed my current game in build 13

 

[Pieter Boelen]

"J.A. Flag" is your own personal flag. If you fly that,
your relations to ships at sea will be the same as your REAL relations.
There is then no chance of being recognized for flying false colours.
The "J.A." itself are the first initials of your player character name.

 

[Sirten Deth]

As to the problem of recognizing your own boarders from the enemy.. there is a line in one of the ini files that lets you choose what your boarders look like. They can be one of several styles such as all "ladies", soldiers, marines in the uniform of the active nation (my choise w/ blue uniforms) as well as several others. Your hired officers will look as they do in their character portrait Off hand I cant remember which file exactly it is but I think someone here can tell you without having to go check and return....


Sinkem Awl

Go to: Pirates main install folder > open folder > look for: Buildsettings.H (First or second file listed below the progam folders) > open folder > scroll down to a heading about "Boarding" > enter your choise > save file. Voila

P.S. There are a lot of settings that can be edited in this file.


Sinkem Awl