Privateers DLL-Diplo-Event (with other Colonial Nations) [IMPLEMENTED]

[raystuttgart]

Inspired by the "Privateers" event of the Original Colonization, I will implement a similar DLL-Diplo-Event.
(It is basically just a small flavour event without big impact in the game.)

How it will work / trigger:

When you have Ships with Hidden Nationality in the "Water Cultural Area" or adjacent to a Ship of another Nation (that you are at peace with) at end turn,
there is a chance that that other Nation will contact you.

The other Players Leader will accuse you of being behind recent pirate attacks and that he was told so by his King`s spies in Port Royal.
He will then demand - almost like in Original Colonization - that you withdraw all of your Privateers (back to Port Royal).
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It will generally be trigged by Ships with "Hidden Nationality".
(The only exception will be the "Smuggling Ship" - which will not trigger it.)

And it will also withdraw all Ships with "Hidden Nationality" currently on the Map.
(Except "Smuggling Ships" again - which will not withdraw.)
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Your options:

A) Deny that your colony supports any Privateers.
(Lie, but thy will not believe you.)

--> Attitude of the other Nation towards you will get worse
--> Attitude of the other Nation`s King towards you will get worse.
--> They will also acquire a Corvette (with 50% gold discount) to defend their own ships (if they have the gold)

B) Declare that this was just a misunderstanding and withdraw the ships to Port Royal
(Be honest and show good will.)

--> All your Pirates and Privateers will withdraw to Port Royal.
--> Attitude increase with the other Nation
--> Attitude increase with the other Nation`s King

C) Directly declare War at the other Player
(Be honest and attack directly.)

--> Well yes, you will declare war.
Comment: This will of course also indirectly worsen Attitudes by the War declaration.

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Balancing:

To prevent this to trigger every single time your Privateers attack other Ships (that you are not at war with), there will be:

1) A timer of e.g. 50 turns (so it may not occur for that time)
2) Random Chance of e.g. 25% (if the situation matches)
3) Of course also the min-turn for being allowed to attack must have passed

i.e. You should see this DLL-Diplo-Event trigger maybe only once or twice a game.

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Comment on AI:

This will be a Human only feature.
AI could not make such decisions reasonably.

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Well, it is just a small flavour DLL-Diplo-Event.
But it should be pretty easy to program.

 

[raystuttgart]

This is now implemented.

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For performance reasons it is only trigger if your privateers or pirates are in the water domain of another Nation at end turn.
Then the other Nation will contact you and demand / insist that you remove them back to Port Royal.

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You have 3 options:

1) Withdraw all your Privateers and Pirates to Port Royal (Attitude increase)
2) Keep all your Privateers and Pirates where they are (Attitude decrease)
3) Directly declare a War because you feel insluted (War)

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All in all it is just another small immersive interaction with your Colonial neighbours.
It is balanced so it should really happen not very often.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

Is there anything preventing me to get the better relations by returning all pirates to Port Royal - and then immediately sending them out again?

Or is there some duration in which I
-actuallly would have to stay out of the waters of that nation to not risk to lose my raised relations immediately again,
- are unable to send them out immediately again, e.g. a duration in which my pirate ships are immobile / undergoing repairs to enforce the truce?

 

[raystuttgart]

... and then immediately sending them out again?

No, just several turns of time lost until they arrive in Port Royal and sail back.
(Which can be a bit of annoying if you really want to catch some of their ships.)

That is good enough for me.
This event is just about flavour.

Let us please not make anything more complicated than it needs to be.
(It is a clean and simple implementation of a pure flavour event.)

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Then it can not trigger again until the counter is reset.
(Which is about 50 turns if I remember current balancing correctly.)

 

[NillerDNK]

I find it a bit odd that privateering can result in improved relations. Perhaps withdrawing pirates should be attitude neutral, while keeping them results in worse relations?

I enjoy the pirate part of the game and the addition of buccanners adds a whole new dimension and softens the ahistorical sharp destinction between war and peace. However, I find that Buccaneers are on one hand a bit overpowered, while on the other hand cannot fulfill their historical role. They are extremely effective as kidnappers (slavers?) as the opposing side cannot recapture lost colonists without use of their own buccaneers. Would it be possible to give captured colonists pirate status, until they are resettled in a colony? That way, the opponent will have a fair chance to recover his units. And maybe the captured colonists should be converted to slaves/indentured servants to represent their PoW status? In addition, buccanners should only be able to travel by pirate ships, so that the opposing side has a chance to keep them from its shores. Finally, buccaneers should be able to conquer/destroy colonies - as they were historically. They are weak enough to only pose a threat to small and unprotected colonies. Maybe give them an additional handicap against colonies, that illustrates their lack of artillery/logistics. They are after all lightly armed undisciplined infantry preying on the weak and defenceless. A simple stockade should keep them at bay.

 

[ArchdukeLiet]

From a gameplay point of view I agree that especially this would be a good addition: 'Would it be possible to give captured colonists pirate status, until they are resettled in a colony? That way, the opponent will have a fair chance to recover his units.' It seems now that at least the AI does not deal well with capturing colonists (i.e. not declaring war to the player to gain the units back).

Big question is if this (or an alternative) could be implemented with a reasoneable amount of time.

 

[NillerDNK]

Thanks. I know it's easy to suggest new features without contributing. I hope my suggestions are received as constructive. What you have achieved with this mod is nothing short of amazing and on par with mods like Europa Barbarorum for Rome Total War. It is impossible to play WTP without learning about colonialism. Including its darker aspects.

 

[raystuttgart]

I find it a bit odd that privateering can result in improved relations.

It does not.
Sending your privateers back to Port Royal does.

In those days basically every major colonial nation had privateers.
So having them was nothing special, not using them aggressively however was.

... while keeping them results in worse relations

That is already what happens.

Perhaps withdrawing pirates should be attitude neutral, ...

So there should be no reward at all for fulfilling a diplomatic request?

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There is a golden rule in game design:

Each feature should have positive and negative outcomes.
That is what I try to achieve with my features: balance.

Anything that just introduces negatives is received as punishment.
Anything that is just introduces positives is just received as "goody throwing".

So if your Privateers are removed from the Map for several turns, you should at least get a tiny compensation for it.
(Not having these Ships on the Map is actually much more punishing than the tiny +1 attitude change.)

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As I said:
In those days having Privateers was kind of "normal".
Fulfilling the request not to use your Privateers was not.

 

[raystuttgart]

Would it be possible to give captured colonists pirate status,

If somebody invests the effort for it ... for me it is simply not enough gameplay benefit to do so.
(The effort is easily something like a whole weekend of modding for an experienced modder.)

... as the opposing side cannot recapture lost colonists without use of their own buccaneers.

I strongly doubt that it will make a difference in single player. AI is not taught to "recapture" anything.
Most likely gameplay will not change at all because AI is simply not as smart as you imagine.

And maybe the captured colonists should be converted to slaves/indentured servants ...

That would totally destroy the benefit and fun of capturing colonists.
Who would want to acquire Buccanners to just capture e.g. Criminals.

In addition, buccanners should only be able to travel by pirate ships

Which would mean that AI is not able to transport them anymore.
AI is simply not smart enough to handle such edge cases.

Also considering immersion: A buccanner was hardly to be distinguished from a normal sailor or e.g. hunter.
Those people were not waving pirate flags and often lead normal lifes for most of the year until they went on raids.

So why should those guys have problems sailing on a normal ship if the ship owners would not even have a chance to know what they are up to.
For the ship owner they would most likely look like every other run down poor sailor or hunter and as long as they would pay he really wouldn`t care.

Finally, buccaneers should be able to conquer/destroy colonies ...

Which would mean 2 things:
1) Owning Nation of Buccanners would be discovered (when capturing) --> Considering Immersion: War would need to be declared.
2) Feature could heavily be exploited by Human against AI to destroy its early unprotected Cities (directly after founding it)

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I hope my suggestions are received as constructive.

You explained in a constructive and nice way.
(Just next time please start a new thread for a new topic.)

Still modding is about personal taste to motivate a modder to invest the effort required ... or not.
And nothing you have suggested is interesting enough for me personally to invest the effort required.

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But if anybody feels like investing the effort required he is welcome to improve the Buccanners.
However for me personally the feature is fine as it is considering gameplay and immersion.

Of course everything could always be improved or expanded.
It is just a question of time and motivation to invest the effort for it ...

In modding everything is all about compromises. And each modder makes other compromises.
(Gameplay vs. effort vs. immersion vs. balancing vs. technical limitations vs. AI vs. performance ...)

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Also months later after something was already implemented I normally do not feel like turning back to change it.
Usually I have already moved on and started to implement the next feature concept that I would really like to have.

Thus better be there when it is originally discussed instead of bringing change requests a year later.
Chances to influence what is implemented are much much higher when the implementation is not already done.

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But again, if somebody feels like investing time to change or improve details of Buccanners, go ahead.
And if somebody wants to expand the gameplay around Buccanners that would surely be nice to see.