Seafaring fantasies

[carmenara]

I'm still sailing to Curacao! This war galleon sure is quick downwind (and makes great "documentary footage") but she's still wind powered, y'know!

Gameplay tips? My arsenal of them is not enough :3 oh I will see what I can "borrow"!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Thanks Pieter, I hadn't seen that yet, I will incorporate them when I get the chance. Hopefully when we get our Christmas break from work I will be able to finalize a lot of it.

't Was on the main page of our ModDB profile; how could I possibly make it any more obvious?

I'm also planning on adding a section to the Build Mod History with basic modding tutorials. I ran across your conversation with Suraknar a couple of months back, and went through his links, there is some good stuff there! I sent him a PM asking his permission to use them, but haven't heard back from him yet. If I don't hear from him, I'll see if I can track him down over at the LIB.

The old PotC Wiki indeed does have some good stuff on there. Old, sure, but still relevant.
I don't think anyone would mind if we'd make use of it. It IS, after all, a PotC Wiki.

 

[Thagarr]

't Was on the main page of our ModDB profile; how could I possibly make it any more obvious?

Some times I am just not very observant, I think I skimmed past it, but didn't really read it before when I first looked at it. Plus I have been a bit distracted with the main page lately, and reading Pirate Latitudes, and working on the manual and the map ...I haven't had this much going at once for a long time! I am not a good multitasker! :

That makes sense about the wiki mate, but I was also hoping maybe I could get some inside info from him about the early days of the build, some of it I remember plain as day, like the brothel mod! Come to think about it, I really don't remember a whole lot after that ...

 

[carmenara]

Returning from the epic Battle of Havana, a strange war galleon with a hull and sails like swiss cheese delivered the New Horizons manual to the Dutch publishers on Curacao.

http://www.filefront.com/15140641/SWS%20Build%2014%20Manual%20-%20Draft%205%20-%2016-12-09.pdf

Someone mentioned parchment background?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The background and new font sure help a LOT to make it look much more appealing. Good job!

It appears you never found the high quality New Horizons logo, so please see attached.
Please do replace the one currently in the Manual, especially the one on page 9... :?

And it seems something went wrong with the picture on 34;
it has both the Colonies and 'Upgrade Ship' interface on the same picture. :wacko:

And I need to remember myself to edit the 'Hire' interface.
It appears to be half-blue.

Edit: Done. I RESOURCE\INI\NEW_INTERFACES\hirecrew.ini, find:

[HIRE_COUNTER]
command		= activate,select:HIRE_OK
command		= downstep,select:HIRE_OK
command		= deactivate,event:HireCancel,select:HIRE_BUTTON
command		= leftstep,event:DecreaseHire
command		= rightstep,event:IncreaseHire
command		= speedleft,event:DecreaseHire
command		= speedright,event:IncreaseHire
command		= click,select:HIRE_COUNTER
position		= 256,266,384,298
barWidth		= 108

Add this line:

group		= ICONS_NEW

The end result should look like:

[HIRE_COUNTER]
group		= ICONS_NEW
command		= activate,select:HIRE_OK
command		= downstep,select:HIRE_OK
command		= deactivate,event:HireCancel,select:HIRE_BUTTON
command		= leftstep,event:DecreaseHire
command		= rightstep,event:IncreaseHire
command		= speedleft,event:DecreaseHire
command		= speedright,event:IncreaseHire
command		= click,select:HIRE_COUNTER
position		= 256,266,384,298
barWidth		= 108

Could you redo the picture on page 35 with that? Otherwise it looks just plain wrong.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

See attached for an updated "Hire Crew" screenshot with the corrected graphics.

The "Build 14's officer system" link seems to have an error; it has a weird double-HTTP link,
though strangely does appear to work. :wacko:
I'm not sure if links to such threads are useful in the Manual though;
no beginning player is going to understand anything of what is posted there.
And the important aspects of that mod aren't mentioned clearly in that thread in the first place.

Did you ever end up using my comments from this post in the Manual?
http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?/topic/15014-seafaring-fantasies/page__view__findpost__p__351349
It seems that most of the things I mentioned are unchanged in the current release. :?

 

[Thagarr]

That's an awesome background SWS! Looks absolutely fantastic! Good work mate!

 

[carmenara]

Did you ever end up using my comments from this post in the Manual?
http://forum.pirates...post__p__351349
It seems that most of the things I mentioned are unchanged in the current release. :?

Pieter, you have assisted greatly by giving a third eye to the manuscript and I have modified the layout quite dramatically based on your input on what is necessary in the manual, and what is not, thereby greatly saving time not writing sections that will be cut. But we do need to consider a certain few details related to our aim of rapid prototyping. Rapid, as in, not start project, disappear halfway.

Once again, I fail to see the point why we need to mince our words to attain Germanic technical precision. I far prefer reading books from the previous century, or at least pre-1980, because those classic manuscripts are often flawed, deliberately or due to technology/knowledge/culture of the time. Error detection from the part of the reader induces free thought and speech where the reader's perception is challenged. If I were out to write a technical manual be sure the language used, graphics, layout and presentation in essence would not be so... homely.

In this phase of the drafting operation it is critical to attain a very high energy and generate as much content as possible, as Thagarr as assisted brilliantly. On this note no one at this stage but myself knows how the manual will turn out when it reaches its 250-300 page full size, but honestly I am disappointed at the lack of response on the product of my conceptual brainstorming last night.

I mentioned that we are going to radically depart from modern-day publishing by employing hand-drawn art in certain parts of the manual including the ship recognition guide, which you have suggested we put in the wiki. As the wiki is completely non-operational at this point, and is difficult to publish with a certain flair I'm aiming to attain with this project, I've decided to draft ship schematics by hand.

We won't be dealing with all 177 ships and don't need to, the premise of a threat recognition guide being list of commonly encountered vessel classes with associated rigging types, and the deliberate inaccuracy of my schematics (which WILL be low resolution and will be scribbled on because it's a captain's notebook, not Jane's), which is definitely historically accurate and works to our advantage.

"Carmen's Fighting Ships" will no doubt be something that no other project, commercial or not can beat because unlike today where people go for the biggest, flashiest, highest-resolution... we went for how it's actually done. I've attached a rendered ship schematic below - it's great detail but looks a bit... too clean.

Should there be sufficient interest I can create a template to be printed out and drawn on by... anyone. I'll just scan the drawings/notes and underlay the parchment.

So I hope that Thagarr and I won't be told exactly what to say, and how, because I think we are both mature enough to chart a course to attain an object of achievement in literature; and we sure as hell can get there on time and on target.

That's not to say we don't want feedback, but quite the opposite. Don't you think that you're questioning the manual as I have designed it to do just that? :3

It appears you never found the high quality New Horizons logo, so please see attached.

Be sure that is the hi-res emblem, with a drop shadow added and resized so it doesn't eat up half a page. What will work better at that point of the documentation (because it is difficult enough to make non-square artwork fit on the parchment background) is a sort of Beatrice Devlin Russian style holding a huge welcome to NH signboard on it.

 

[Captain Maggee]

't Was on the main page of our ModDB profile; how could I possibly make it any more obvious?

I think I am going update the main FAQ with the link to the modDB page, cause Im not to sure how many people actually look at it here

 

[Thagarr]

That is one heck of a blueprint SWS! What I first conceptualized for a ship recognition guide pales greatly in comparison. I had originally thought to just put together a quick one or two page guide using much smaller drawings mainly just focusing on the hull outline and number of masts, kind of similar to the guides the US Navy issued during WWII, though those were just silhouettes.

Those hand drawn blueprints will not only give an extreme sense of authenticity to the manual, they will also help those who are not all that familiar with sailing ships, and the accompanying jargon, a place to easily reference exactly what part of the ship is being referred to! They are absolutely brilliant!

I read through your section of the manual a bit more thoroughly than I had previously since your last update, and I am very impressed! The link to the Russian Brig Mercury is fantastic! I had never heard her tail before, but that fits in perfectly in that part of the manual! These are exactly the kind of real world references game manuals should include, not only do they help describe certain situations, they help draw the reader into the game, and help to give a more authentic feel. There were some older games that did things like that, and those games were all the better for it! What they lacked in graphics power, was made up for by the imagination of the player. Having those references makes that imagination even more vivid, and it's easier to put ones self in the setting. It's really rather like the difference between watching a movie and reading a book, there are certain things you can "see" from a written description that get lost when the same scene is viewed on film.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I mentioned that we are going to radically depart from modern-day publishing by employing hand-drawn art in certain parts of the manual including the ship recognition guide, which you have suggested we put in the wiki. As the wiki is completely non-operational at this point, and is difficult to publish with a certain flair I'm aiming to attain with this project, I've decided to draft ship schematics by hand.

What do you mean with "the Wiki is non-operational"? As far as I am aware, it does work.
It's not complete or finished by any means, but it's something.
Anyway, I made that suggestion based on my assumption that you'd be dealing with all ships.

Of course if you're just going to deal with the general ship types,
then future added content will make no difference and it could go in the Manual just fine.
In that case, maybe you could find some use for the following information:

Doober has done a big job in Build 14 Alpha 10 to rename all ship types
so that there is only a small amount of different ship type names.
Before, almost each ship had it's own type name, which was confusing to say the least.
All the current type names used in the game can be found in RESOURCE\INI\TEXTS\ENGLISH\common.ini:

; Ships
string = Tartane1,"Tartane"
string = Tartane3,"Armed Tartane"
string = Dinghy,"Dinghy"
string = Gunboat,"Gunboat"
string = Bermsloop163,"Bermuda Sloop"
string = Cutter1,"Cutter"
string = Lugger1,"Lugger"
string = Brig1,"Brig"
string = LightMerchantman,"Light Merchantman"
string = Ketch1,"Ketch"
string = Sloop1,"Sloop"
string = Sloop2,"Sloop-of-War"
string = Barque1,"Barque"
string = Yacht1,"Yacht"
string = Galeoth1,"Galeoth"
string = Fleut1,"Fluyt"
string = Merchant1,"Merchantman"
string = Xebec1,"Xebec"
string = Schooner1,"Schooner"
string = Snow1,"Snow"
string = Pinnace1,"Pinnace"
string = Bermsloop263,"Bermuda Sloop-of-War"
string = Galeon1,"Trade Galleon"
string = Galeon2,"War Galleon"
string = Frigate1,"Light Frigate"
string = Frigate2,"Frigate"
string = Carrack1,"Carrack"
string = Indiaman1,"Indiaman"
string = Caravel1,"Caravel"
string = CursedCaravel,"Cursed Caravel"
string = CursedCorvette,"Cursed Corvette"
string = CursedPearl,"Cursed Pearl"
string = CursedDutchman,"Cursed Galleon"
string = Merchant2,"Armed Merchantman"
string = Frigate3,"Heavy Frigate"
string = Warship1,"Fourth Rate Man 'o War"
string = Warship2,"Third Rate Man 'o War"
string = Warship3,"Second Rate Man 'o War"
string = Warship4,"First Rate Man 'o War"
string = FlyingDutchman,"Ghost Galleon"
string = Bounty,"Light Brig"

I don't know what your exact intention is with your Ship Recognition Guide,
but possibly you can make use of some of these same ship types.

Be sure that is the hi-res emblem, with a drop shadow added and resized so it doesn't eat up half a page.

The one on page 9 looks like the correct resolution, but it's an old version of the logo.
The one on the cover page is the correct one, but seems to be of a lower resolution and is subject to JPG compression.
I remember you asked at some point for the high-res version of the logo and don't remember reading that you got it,
so I figured I'd just attach the correct version and make sure you have the right one.
Again, do with it as you please. At least I know you have access to the latest edition now.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

...honestly I am disappointed at the lack of response on the product of my conceptual brainstorming last night.

You are referring to the "SWS Build 14 Manual - Draft 5 - 16-12-09" file here?
I had a quick look through it, but not a very thorough one. This is what I noted at first glance:

- The parchment background and more "period" font have vastly improved the atmosphere of the Manual and I like the result very much.

- So far, I haven't thought much about the setup from your Contents page and none of my previous comments are related to this at all.
If you are interested, I will try to write up some comments based on this, but at the moment I have none.

- "Build 14 Features... in a nutshell"
Are you game for this text to still be changed? At the moment,
it looks like it's still heavily based on what I wrote up for the main page on the ModDB,
but that was never intended to be even remotely a proper overview of the new features.
If you want, I could try to come up with something better and more suited to be put in an actual manual.

- Your addition of the Config.exe and engine.ini tricks is a very welcome one.
"There are several debug options in engine.ini but unless you know what they do, don't touch them... it's for your
own good."
There is only one debug option in engine.ini that I would actually consider to be worthwhile: the debuginfo line.
If that is set to 1, error logging is enabled which is very useful in troubleshooting and bug hunting.
I'll leave it up to you whether you want to include anything about this or not, but for additional information to you,
I'll repost what I wrote on the subject in the new Build Mod and Forum FAQ thread:

4. I installed the Build Mod, but now my game doesn't work
Please "Enable Error Logging":
- Open "engine.ini" in your main game folder.
- Find the "debuginfo = 0" line and change it to "debuginfo = 1".
- Start the game and wait until the error occurs.
- Now find compile.log, system.log and the possible error.log.
- Post their contents in Build Technical

- The installation instructions and download links for Build 13 are removed, which I think is a good thing.
Are you intending to keep the Build 14 ones in?
I have given my reasons before on why I would think it could safely be kept outside the Manual.
Again, I will leave the final decision to you.

As far as I can tell, those are the major changes since the previous edition I recall seeing,
but if there are any other specific parts that you have changed and you would like to have some comments on,
please point them out. I recall you mentioned that you finished "The Final Battle of HMS London",
but it isn't in the latest Manual edition that I have, so I can't comment on that.

 

[carmenara]

Update:

I've fixed the major issues with pictures out of alignment etc, improved the navigation, added a link to each page header "click to return to contents page" and will proceed to produce some content for this weekend. Obviously I will not release anything but major updates from now on due to the size of it all.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That sounds good. And I know what you mean with the filesize becoming excessive.
You don't need to release a new version every day anyway;
whenever you feel like releasing another one should be fine.

 

[carmenara]

Ohh I have lots of inspiration for this weekend.

Since the ship recognition thing isn't getting the attention I want it to get, I'll not start on it for some time

In the meantime I shall keep up my share of piratesahoy.net main page blogging as well. Hopefully Thagarr I can see some of your awesome writeups/reviews/news for this manual as well as the blog :3

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It might get attention once you get started on it.

 

[carmenara]

Pfft, no attention no work

http://www.filefront.com/15160871/SWS%20Build%2014%20Manual%20-%20d5cREL2%20-%2018-12-09.pdf

That's the reference version for this weekend. Fixed formatting, addition of hyperlinks and basic "return to contents" link on each page, a short chapter to wrap up the walkthrough section etc.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

What kind of attention would you want for your ship recognition guide? Maybe we can arrange some, eh?

 

[carmenara]

Next chapter: Arts of the Sea

Preface;

This section deigns to provide an extended overview of the sailing component in Pirates of the Caribbean and similar Storm Engine games, which while simplified,do require at least a cursory understanding of real-world sailing mechanics. While an arcade mode is available, the most satisfaction can be gleaned from NEW HORIZONS by way of manual navigation, fighting random and possibly adverse wind conditions with mastery of ship and sail.

The better you are at adapting to the weather in cruise conditions, the better you will beat attaining and keeping the weather gage in combat.

First, the chapter "Maritime Boot Camp" shall detail the mechanics of a real-world sailing vessel, dumbed down to encompass only topics related to actual gameplay. This shall include such as the physics of sailing, points of sail, and rig-specific sailing characteristics such that you may select a hull and sail configuration suitable for your skill level or in-game mission objectives.

Suffice to say, a square-rigged caravel with deep draft is not exactly a smart choice for combating a highly maneuverable fore-and-aft rigged schooner.Much of a ship's virtual handling characteristics can of course be gleaned from the Shipyard interface you're already familiar with, but you can't, unlike sci-fi games, use augmented reality displays to identify a target's capabilities in a tactical situation.

Actually, you can, using the trusted and proven Mark I Eyeball and the right application of historical maritime knowledge that will tell you to try and force a square-rigged opponent to sail against the wind, where she is disadvantaged, and a lateen-rigged one into a running broadside duel where her advantage of manoeuvrability and ability to sail against the wind, are negated.

The knowledge you will glean will open up new avenues of gameplay; you would want to start off with smaller ships that handle well at all points of sail, leading toa preference of fore and aft and lateen rigged vessels. In combat these are the PT boats of the historical period covered by NEW HORIZONS, small, fast and highly manoeuvrable requiring relatively few crew to operate; they are popular with real-world pirates.

More advanced players are not limited by choice to smaller ships; a scripted campaign may force you into commanding a vessel type which doesn't handle like a PT boat, or it may be that you have come to favour the size and power of a ship-rigged vessel over the limitations imposed by lesser classes;namely, a single gun deck, low capacity, and a fragile hull that maybe ill suited to high seas battle conditions.

Indeed... a caravel can be successfully employed as a commerce raider if you could compensate for her low agility and slow sailing speed. While the ship is provided on an "as is" basis in the unmodified game, NEW HORIZONS does give you the ability to conduct field modifications to you, the Captain's specifications. In concert with the historical interest we hope you gain from such discussions, there are a lot of interesting tactics you can come up with that don't just rely on the game AI's shortcomings for success.

If you ever went the path of Captain Alexandra in her "Battle of Liberty" series, you will most often be sailing on the defensive against more agile vessels... but are able to destroy them outright by forcing them to engage you in a broadside duel downwind – territory dominated by square-riggers with their excellent running characteristics. In that case, the heavier ship with the largest number of guns, wins.

Enough then, on the technobabble; suffice to say, you shouldn't miss out on this educational opportunity!

 

[Captain Maggee]

You do realise SWS that people DONT post in every topic that they read, just because the topic isnt getting heaps of recognition doesnt mean it isnt appreciated...

For example take a look at the Jack Sparrow topic I started in Alpha testing and brainstorming...
That doesnt get ANY attention and I know that heaps of people appreciate the storyline