Storing ships

[Monarchco]

I read that stored ships can be captured when a port is raided (presumably you won't be able to find them again, so effectively destroyed and gone).

Two questions on this.

Does this also apply to unique one-off quest ships (say, the Mirage)?

Second, is there a consensus on the "safest" port to put ships at? Or do all ports have an equal chance of being raided, and have the same chance to defend themselves as any other port?

Story mode if it matters. I've only seen a single raid happen (attempt to happen) in my playthrough so far, and it was at Capsterville, so obviously the hub/faction main ports aren't immune from NPC raids.

[StormRangerX]

The only safe place to moor ships is Isla Mona, which you unlock during FTJR.

[Steinaar]

No not all harbors are equal. There are some harbors that offer you a side room from the shipyard where you repair and you can buy storage at. Those are safer bets overall. Like Port Royal has one and is a great place to shore up and store goods and ships alike. Not very often do ports change hands in the grand scheme but possible. I think even less possible are the capital docks that offer store houses.

If the harbor changes hands and you moored a ship with the harbor master, I think even the unique ships are lost. However I have not tested this theory.

[StormRangerX]

Any moored ship is lost when a port is sacked, and any port can be sacked.

[Darlandra]

Originally posted by Steinaar:

No not all harbors are equal. There are some harbors that offer you a side room from the shipyard where you repair and you can buy storage at. Those are safer bets overall. Like Port Royal has one and is a great place to shore up and store goods and ships alike. Not very often do ports change hands in the grand scheme but possible. I think even less possible are the capital docks that offer store houses.

If the harbor changes hands and you moored a ship with the harbor master, I think even the unique ships are lost. However I have not tested this theory.

That's for cargo, not ships isn't it?

[Steinaar]

SHIPYARD:
The side room from, selected not all but ones like Port Royal, the shipyard sells you a warehouse to store goods aka ship goods.

HARBOR MASTER:
The harbor master allows you to moore, anchor, dock w/e it's called in game. Store your ships, three ships per harbor aka port, for a nominal monthly storage free.

As StormRangerX said, all ports are subject to being taken over by another faction. However I feel these main harbors like Port Royal for the British might have a lesser chance. Even more so it's a low chance to begin with alas if they do you lose all investments at said port.

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by StormRangerX:

Any moored ship is lost when a port is sacked, and any port can be sacked.

Ironically, I was thinking that maybe Williamsted would be the safest, since its the dutch capitol, with the Dutch and French being the only countries with a single enemy, instead of two enemies.

However, immediately after thinking this (before putting any ships there), the British sacked it lol.

I guess a relevant question would be if there's some sort of port cooldown. Like will the British now go after every other port before attacking Williamsted again? Or is Williamsted just as likely as every other port to be attacked, even though it was just sacked 5 minutes ago.

[StormRangerX]

I don't know much about siege logic. I would say as a general rule you're best off mooring in French ports as those can only be attacked by the Spanish and they don't generally do that. There's no safe option but that's been my best experience.

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by StormRangerX:

I don't know much about siege logic. I would say as a general rule you're best off mooring in French ports as those can only be attacked by the Spanish and they don't generally do that. There's no safe option but that's been my best experience.

Is there any exception/protection for Martinique while your brother is there? (assuming he eventually is freed)

[StormRangerX]

Maybe? I wouldn't really count on anywhere being safe.

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by StormRangerX:

Maybe? I wouldn't really count on anywhere being safe.

I saw someone mention a three ship limit to mooring. Does that apply to Isla Mona too?

There's way more than 3 unique ships in the game, and I kind of want to play collect-them-all lol.

Alternatively, is there a mod somewhere that removes ship loss from raids? The mechanic honestly seems more punitive and a PITA than something engaging, or that adds to the game.

[StormRangerX]

Isla Mona has even stricter mooring limits. No mods I'm aware of.

[Monarchco]

I think I may have found a potential solution to create a mod that would "work" - for the sole purpose of safely mooring ships.

I've not found any scripts that mention anything about deleting/removing moored ships after a siege, and did not see anything related to it in the siege script.

However, Colonies_init.c, has FortValue lines (which are definitely calculated in the siege script to determine an outcome of a siege. Altering these values could make it impossible for a fort to be defeated in the background calculation. I'm unsure if this would impact the player in any way during player sieges).

Additionally, there is a special line (written in russian, but translated roughly), that says Panama has no line for fortvalue, and has no HasNoFort=True line. It says that removing both of these lines prevents any sieges from trying to occur at Panama. Potentially that could be used to alter other ports to create a safe haven for ships.

Unfortunately, both of these methods would impact sieges for any specific "safe" town. And that's assuming they work. Honestly someone more familiar with the nuances of this game should be the one to create a mod if they can, as it's been a very long time since I've created any mods or altered scripts myself.

I'll keep poking around and see if I can find something as obvious as a script line that says "RemoveMooredShips=True" or something haha. But right now these two ideas are the best solutions I can come up with to protecting moored ships anywhere.

One final note, since I've only found this info in Colonies_init, both of these methods would likely require a new save to take effect, and this data is probably stored typically in a save file. - At least based on the file name.

Quick edit: Isla Mona has the "hasnofort=true" line, but it also has a "HeroOwn=true" line, that may be what prevents raids. Unclear. Its worth mentioning that the siege script did not list out specific attack locations, it is obviously pulling from a pool, and that pool appears to be no more specific than the nation/owner flag on the port. So when a French siege is generated, its no more specific than "spanish ports" as far as picking which port to siege. And Isla Mona **does*** have a PIRATE nation flag,

One more bit of info, Portobello and Williamsted both have a "DoNotCapture" flag, but obviously this doesn't prevent raids/sieges.

[Monarchco]

Yes,
HeroOwn flag specifically prevents sieges.

int SelectColonyForSiege(int ination) // выбираем колонию для нападения
{
ref AttakColony;
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
bool bb, aa;

while (i < 20)
{
j = rand(MAX_COLONIES-1);
makeref(AttakColony, Colonies[j]);
bb = sti(AttakColony.nation) == ination && !CheckAttribute(AttakColony, "HasNoFort");
aa = CheckAttribute(AttakColony, "FortValue") && sti(AttakColony.HeroOwn) == false;
if ( bb && aa && CheckQuestColonyList(AttakColony.id))

Unclear if that HeroOwn flag modifies anything else, or causes any problems if its applied to say, Port Royal.

[Monarchco]

FOUND IT!

These three lines were buried in the siege script, and I just missed them last time.

SetNull2StoreMan(rColony)// нулим магазин при захвате города эскадрой
SetNull2Deposit(aData.colony);// нулим ростовщиков
SetNull2ShipInStockMan(aData.colony)

[Monarchco]

Anyone who stumbles here, please let me know if this works.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3460270338

There's also a version that should protect both moored ships and bank investments during sieges, instead of only moored ships.