Mesabi

Alright, got some more work on the Second draft of the Judgement. Took a quick photo before leaving for class. Judgement progress by North White, on Flickr It's a bit blurry, but I was running late. I'll post some better ones when I'm back in my room. I've tried to take the suggestions into account. The center is set a brick lower than the front and back, the bottom deck now is a gun deck, and the second deck now slopes. Thoughts everyone?

Have any rules changed since the last TMCRA? And I'm glad to see a return to a regular MCRA

Nice Build @Bodi, But I didn't realize you had lost a ship! Good thing you captured one!

Fantastic build @Kwatchi! And a fantastic end to your story as well. I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Nice build @Sir Stig! it was great watching this build develop in the PM. I like every part of it! The ships are all very nice as well, and I like the use of the Yacht hull. Maybe I'll try using it sometime.

@Drunknok This was in another thread, but it should really be here. So, you've licensed like 6 builds this month, and you're only supposed to do 3 (Unfortunately) It's okay, you didn't know, but I think I have a solution that would fix things. By my count, you have 3 Weelond builds, 2 Mesabi Landing Plantations, and 1 Elizabethville plantation. Mesabi Landing would be willing to License the Plantations under the city, and I'm sure Elizabethville would do the same. That would get you the right numbers. But that's only if things need to be fixed.

Very nice build @Drunknok, you've really been cranking them out! I like the creativity of this build. The whole Fireworks idea was a great end to Oktoberfest.

Fantastic build @Ayrlego! What really stands out to me is the pattern you made with the 1x2 modified pieces. I like the use of the Disney Carriage wheel as well. I feel like the inside could use a bit more character, maybe some offerings or something. But all around, fantastic build.

To Rear Admiral Fletcher, The WTC Beacon and WTC Icarus Returning are at your service. We would appreciate it if you paid the 122 Dbs of operating costs to use the ships, but we are willing to help no matter what. Both are also loaded with mining supplies for the Grand Cocovia Railway, which could be repurposed if necessary. Regards, Agnes Mesabi OOC: Not sure if it's weird for me to put my two cents in, as I don't know if the WTC would be informed of anything, but you are free to use my ships.

Again! Nicely done. The Stevia plants turned out fantastically. I really like what you're doing with the plantations. Having two different ones to see if one of them gets the bonus is really smart. Way smarter than what I did!

Very nice build. I like your Agaves! I'm not sure if I'll use it, but it's probably better than mine. Nce call back to my story. And thank you for building in Mesabi Landing!

I understand the whole Upkeep thing. I used the calculator for everything. The thing is it's still a little prohibitive to run a big ship. The upkeep for a class "10" is 400 Dbs, when calculated. Let's look at a class 10 focused entirely on trade. This ship would run from Breshaun to Weelond, a fairly high trade value run. Range = 1 Maneuver = 6 Firepower = 6 Crew = 5 Cargo = 15 Hull = 6 Total Used = 39 277 + 435= 712 Dbs. multiply by 1.5 from the cargo stats and you get 1,068 Dbs. Cut 400 out of the profit and you get 668 Dbs. That sounds great, but this ship only has about the defensive capabilities of a class 6. A couple of class 5s could probably overwhelm her. (I'm not privy to how combat mechanics work when the ships are run. but for argument's sake go with me.) You can't really add anything to defend her without cutting into profit. Add a class 5? say goodbye to another 210 Dbs. I look forward to seeing the adjusted mechanics. But right now, it's a bit broken. Thank you! I agree Thanks! Shoot. I should have double checked my numbers. But, that skews the data even heavily further to small fleets. I didn't calculate in CHV bonuses or anything, this is really just an analysis of what combinations of ships worked and what didn't. I'm not sure if the Bonuses are on KPA. If so, then Ya'll won't be able to make so much again. And I'm going to disagree with you there. I see upkeep as so high right now, that it should be the main factor, not profit. As I showed above, big fleets have such high upkeep that the only thing people can do is go to high settlement values, like Breshaun. And I don't like those connotations. For example, The WTC operates out of Mesabi Landing, I would be weird for them to be going from a OL to an ESL settlement, from a gameplay standpoint, in my opinion. Sorry! Again, I didn't know if the bonuses were in KPA And thank you, I really enjoyed doing this.

If anyone wants to see my analysis of the data, check here.

Hello Ya'll. So I put everything into a spreadsheet to figure things out. This is all the data. I calculated everything assuming your freebee doesn't pay upkeep on runs, which may be wrong, and drag you into more debt. Here's all the data. Name Ships Score Ships total Upkeep Profit Total Extra Ayrlego 10 2 122 230 108 Bastion 4 1 5 18 13 BlackDeathGR 8 3 55 273 218 Bodi 9 3 55 40 -15 Captured Ship! Bregir 34 9 712 308 -404 Lost a Class 4 Breshaun 5 1 5 109 104 Brickwolf 2 1 0 30 30 Capt Wolf 15 3 310 845 535 Captain Genaro 9 2 75 108 33 Charlatan Bay 4 1 0 13 13 Dukesc 41 10 1637 834 -803 Lost 2 class 7, class 2 Elyzabethtowne 0 1 0 22 22 ETTC 17 4 320 211 -109 Lost Class 3 Faladrin 5 2 0 35 35 Flavius Gratian 2 1 0 0 0 Sank Garmadon 5 2 0 230 230 gedryn_y 7 2 5 117 112 gulagurag 6 2 0 27 27 Lost Class 4 Kai NRG 8 2 40 192 152 Kaiju 7 2 5 83 78 Kings Harbour 2 2 0 14 14 Captured Ship! KolonialBeamter 40 6 1850 1439 -411 Lost Class 7 Kot_Z 7 2 5 25 20 Lost Class 5 Kwatchi 8 2 35 40 5 Captured 2 Ships! Legostone 29 4 360 1035 675 MAESTRO 8 2 50 461 411 Maxim I 9 3 25 439 414 MCTC 14 3 242 725 483 Lost Class 6 Mesabi 10 2 122 180 58 Is Awesome Mike S 9 2 90 116 26 MKJoshA 26 4 662 18 -644 Lost Class 7, 2 Phred 31 10 905 686 -219 Lost Class 6 Pombe 4 1 0 0 0 Lost Professor Thaum 6 2 0 81 81 Lost Class 4 Puvel 5 2 0 216 216 Rassilion 4 1 0 37 37 RNTC 14 3 227 338 111 Sebeus I 2 1 0 0 0 Sank SilentWolf 21 5 220 428 208 Lost Class 3 Sir Stig 7 2 5 35 30 Spud the Viking 2 1 0 34 34 Umbra Mantis 7 2 5 439 434 Link to my data https://docs.google.com/a/d.umn.edu/spreadsheets/d/1eJn44HDfrZswK7VEGfUn3r3HuOiL6g_n1FDaYzRNBG4/edit?usp=sharing Couple thoughts on the data. Again, not clear on the whole freebee upkeep costs. Second, losing a ship adds a lot of loss. And a lot of people lost ships... Finally, I didn't do data for the factions. Searats were the only faction with trade ships, but they certainly lost a lot as well. Here's a scatterplot. Notice how scores decrease as ship levels rise.... Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 1.38.47 AM by North White, on Flickr The highest profit by anyone was @Legostone, who did it with 29 ship levels. The Second and third place came from MCTC at 14 levels, and @Capt Wolf at 15. Additionally, MCTC lost a class 6 ship! The Secret? I'll get to that... Ship cost versus levels Screen Shot 2017-10-28 at 1.39.02 AM by North White, on Flickr Look how exponentially expensive having a large fleet is! So, thoughts. Earlier tonight I mentioned a strategy of having 2 class "2s" and a class 4. I'll refer you back to the first graph. Check out the three dots above the main pack. Those dots each made almost the same amount as adding another class 4 would. Thus, I give you the sweetspot. Any combination of ships that has an upkeep score of less than 125 before being calculated, should make a profit. I would propose 2 class 2s (one free!) and a class 4 to defend them. This gives you a score of 105 (Again, assuming no upkeep on one of them) which only takes 5 Dbs out of your profit. These can be supplemented with a few class "0s" or "1s" which could hold extra cargo points and perhaps generate more revenue. addtitionally, more ships means a less likely chance of losing your entire investment. The ships in the sweet spot I mentioned? @Maxim I: 4, 2 (free), 3. Total Upkeep? 25 Dbs MAESTRO: 4, 4 Total Upkeep? 50 Dbs @Umbra-Manis: 3, 4: Total Upkeep? 25 Dbs Obviously, we can't control external factors such as pirates, but we can control how we go to ports. And right now? Fleets of three are in. Additionally, the whole five or more rule prevents larger fleets without having to pay more. To have a group of five or more costs another 100 Dbs. I already mentioned this, but I think that operating large ships shouldn't be so prohibitively expensive, especially as they're currently functionally useless in a TMCRA. I mean with a one in seven loss rate, I can't afford to send out a big fat ship with high cargo stats. And, as anything above a "5" starts getting really expensive, I just can't seem to find a good way to get it to work. Maybe @Legostone has a trick... I might analyze the data further more to take into account for ports, but this is just going over costs for ships and whatnot. Please correct me if I screwed up. It's 2AM and I should sleep. Finally, Please note that this isn't me complaining or praising the game mechanics. This is just me plugging values into a sheet, and telling you what I make of them.

got done with the spreadsheet Name Ships Score Ships total Upkeep Profit Total Extra Ayrlego 10 2 122 230 108 Bastion 4 1 5 18 13 BlackDeathGR 8 3 55 273 218 Bodi 9 3 55 40 -15 Captured Ship! Bregir 34 9 712 308 -404 Lost a Class 4 Breshaun 5 1 5 109 104 Brickwolf 2 1 0 30 30 Capt Wolf 15 3 310 845 535 Captain Genaro 9 2 75 108 33 Charlatan Bay 4 1 0 13 13 Dukesc 41 10 1637 834 -803 Lost 2 class 7, class 2 Elyzabethtowne 0 1 0 22 22 ETTC 17 4 320 211 -109 Lost Class 3 Faladrin 5 2 0 35 35 Flavius Gratian 2 1 0 0 0 Sank Garmadon 5 2 0 230 230 gedryn_y 7 2 5 117 112 gulagurag 6 2 0 27 27 Lost Class 4 Kai NRG 8 2 40 192 152 Kaiju 7 2 5 83 78 Kings Harbour 2 2 0 14 14 Captured Ship! KolonialBeamter 40 6 1850 1439 -411 Lost Class 7 Kot_Z 7 2 5 25 20 Lost Class 5 Kwatchi 8 2 35 40 5 Captured 2 Ships! Legostone 29 4 360 1035 675 MAESTRO 8 2 50 461 411 Maxim I 9 3 25 439 414 MCTC 14 3 242 725 483 Lost Class 6 Mesabi 10 2 122 180 58 Is Awesome Mike S 9 2 90 116 26 MKJoshA 26 4 662 18 -644 Lost Class 7, 2 Phred 31 10 905 686 -219 Lost Class 6 Pombe 4 1 0 0 0 Lost Professor Thaum 6 2 0 81 81 Lost Class 4 Puvel 5 2 0 216 216 Rassilion 4 1 0 37 37 RNTC 14 3 227 338 111 Sebeus I 2 1 0 0 0 Sank SilentWolf 21 5 220 428 208 Lost Class 3 Sir Stig 7 2 5 35 30 Spud the Viking 2 1 0 34 34 Umbra Mantis 7 2 5 439 434

Well, I found the link to all the active ships. I think I'll spreadsheet the heck out of this tomorrow. The calculation I did was total. It counted what you made, subtracted the upkeep costs, and totalled it. I didn't account for individual ships unless they sank.

Okay, so according to the chart, I should owe 245 DBs in upkeep. Then I put it in the calculator, and I got an upkeep of 167. I made 180 Dbs. And that's before I pay everyone off. Considering I owe 25% of the beacon to BoC, and 70% of the Icarus to an investor, I don't know how exactly to factor that in when Upkeep is paid in a lump sum. I started doing everyone else's to try to understand things. @Ayrlego had 10 ship levels running (Assuming LJ is a class 4) And he made around 108 by my calculations. @Professor Thaum had 7 levels running and made 56 Dbs, at the cost of his class 4... @blackdeathgr I can't figure out because I don't know his ship levels. I can't find his ship classes anywhere! @Bodi lost 30 Dbs and won a ship. (Unknown class) @Bregir My guess is you had about 1212 Dbs in upkeep. I can't find a couple of your ships at all. And you only made 308 Dbs. That equals a loss of 904 DBs, and a class 4 @Brickwolf launched one class 2? assuming it's free, he made 30 Dbs. Smart guy! @Capt Wolf 145 Dbs in upkeep. But, you made 845 Dbs, so 700 Dbs profit. Wow! @Captain Genaro made 98 Dbs. @Dukesc Lost a class 6, A class 2? and a class 3? and 1750 DBs, but made 834 Dbs. So, total loss of -916 Dbs, and three ships. ETTC lost money for sure. Fortunately they have a ton. I can't find their ship classes. @Faladrin I think you made 35 Dbs @Flavius Gratian Lost his free ship. @Garmadon made 113, and lost his free class 2 @gedren_y Made 117 assuming "Consort's Duty" is a free class 2. I can't find a link to her. @Gulagurag made 27 and lost a ship @Kai NRG against 25 upkeep, made 160 Dbs. @kaiju made 83 Dbs That's all I'm going to do for now. My numbers are probably fuzzy because I had to guess for ships I couldn't find (Which there was a lot of! I later realized there's a page on the account Summary just for ships ) So, my conclusions. Less is more. The age of big fleets is over, which was part of the MCRA II, but I didn't really realize that until now. So unless you're hitting a big port with high cargo stats, you ain't gonna make a lot. You're better off with 3 ships. A free class 2, another class 2, and a class 4. That translates to pretty much pure profit. I'd recommend making the freebee a sacrificial lamb, to maximize profit. Captain Wolf launched three ships, and made 700 Dbs. I should really take a day to enter all this in a spreadsheet to really calculate things, but I have two papers due this week. Maybe before the next MCRA. I came into this angry that I came out with such a loss. But I understand now this is the new meta. I can't send my Icarus or Beacon out because they won't make a profit. I need to do what I said. Make a class 2 that's free, another class 2, and a class 4. If I want to make a buck, that's what I have to do. When I saw the new ship classes, I was excited! We had all these new levels we could pile onto. Class 6s,7s,10s! But the fact is, they're only really useful for the AMCRA. They're just so gosh darn expensive. A class 10 costs 400 an MCRA to operate alone. Unless that bad boy has 15 Cargo points and hits bastion, it's just a cool build. So, consequences? I think that the new upkeep will be prohibitive for people to have large, cool ships. I'm trying to build two class 7s at the moment, but, they're an obsolete class. Maybe this is focusing on the game mechanics to much, but form follows function. Not vice versa. And while I'm here, I'll reiterate. Class 0s are overpowered. I would build a ton if I weren't lazy.

Figurehead for a ship I'm working on. I won't be able to finish her until Thanksgivingish (when I have a week to work at my house) But since I'm home ATM, I was able to build the figurehead, and start piling pieces for later. Destroying Angel figurehead by North White, on Flickr She's called the Destroying Angel. Thoughts? Does it need more separators to seem more awesome?

Well Welcome @Lazer We have gotten quite a few people recently. And I like it! Your story is fantastic, I honestly think Baldonia is underused. And don't worry about your English. I like Odysstudos (Although his name is probably never going to be spelled right by me) and his companion. Make sure someone adds you to the PMs, (all of them!) and I look forward to seeing your builds!

The WTC Beacon, and WTC Icarus Returning was only an hour out of Mesabi Landing when a lookout spotted something WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr Two ships on the horizon flying black flags. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr The lookout scrambled down the ladder in alarm. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr Captain Carolina sat in her cabin. The Lookout burst in. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr "Captain! We've got two ships on our tail! And they don't look friendly." Captain Carolina frowned. "Get the semaphore to call out the Icarus. Captain Tyrell is in charge here. He'll tell us what to do." WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr There was a frenzy of activity on the deck. Men and women ran down the ship. The Semaphore stood on the front of the deck, and began calling out signs. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr S...H...I...P...S...2....E...N...E...M...Y...! The Relay was passed to Captain Tyrell aboard the Icarus Returning "Pirates! It's about time the WTC taught them a lesson. Not that they've ever really messed with us before, but I want to blow stuff up." Said Captain Tyrell BoC Officer Allen Landon responded. "Uh, is that a good idea? If we lose the battle, the Bank of Corrington would lose money?" "Is that all you care about old man? You sound like an Eslandolan. We're the WTC. We fight back! Bring her around boys! And also Girls!" The signaller from the Icarus responded to the Beacon WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr Both ships made sharp turns and faced the two pirates. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr Captain Tyrell and Landon walked on deck. "Alright! Let's give those guys a healthy broadside!" Yelled Captain Tyrell Both ships began firing WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr "Report?" Yelled Tyrell "Looks like some damage to their upper deck. They're gearing up to fire!" WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr The ship took a barrage of fire. Explosions hit several decks. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr "Fire Again!" Yelled Tyrell The crew rushed across the deck to put out the flames. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr "Blast! This ain't working!" Yelled Tyrell, as part of the forecastle collapsed. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr "We're hopelessly outgunned!" Yelled Landon "Maybe if you guys had made your ships firepower focused instead of using jack of all trade stats, you could beat them!" "Quit rubbing it in! Pull her around! Telegraph the Beacon, We're going to make a run for it!" WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr The Lifeboat snapped off as the ship turned. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr Both enemy ships kept firing as the Icarus and the Beacon made a break for it. "Well, that wasn't so bad. Was it?" Asked Captain Tyrell WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr Then the deck collapsed from structural damage. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr But despite the massive damage to the Icarus Returning Both ships survived and escaped. WTC versus the Pirates by North White, on Flickr Tune in next time, the Bank of Corrington tries to imprison the poor WTC's ships! FIN Thanks for viewing everyone. I'm home from college/university this week, so I was able to use these ships in a build, which was pretty lucky. What's it going to take for me to lose a ship though? I really want to lose one of them, so I can rebuild it. C&C appreciated, as usual.

In my opinion, it's okay as long as the character does not do anything significant to the other faction, (like attack someone, or declare something about said faction.) . That was the rule in Andromeda's Gates at least. @Bregir might have to yell at me again though.

@Phred Hey, um the property Licenses and Yields seems to be broken. It's completely blank for everyone ATM

Dear Edward Summerridge, The Unfortunate Decomission of the Suckefish for it's ugliness was informed to the Bank of Corrington earlier this month. Perhaps it got lost in the mail? Regardless all BoC staff were moved to the WTC Beacon, and profits from the WTC Beacon will replace those of the Suckerfish. I ask meekly that you release my ships, and allow me to pay you. And hopefully, we can resolve this situation with minimal bloodshed. And be glad I'm in charge right now. Not the Count. Regards, Agnes Mesabi OOC: Sorry folks, don't think this will be to much drama. There was a mixup in the communication.

@Bregir I have PM'd you with the details. I'm not here to start drama in a main thread. That is all I will say for the moment.

Hey. I know you're new here, and everything is super confusing, but if you could take a look at the rules, that would really help you out. I know they're long, and text heavy, but it's essential to playing the game. We don't really have battle fleets in BoBS. We mostly try not to go to war with one another. (Despite my constant objections) And these questions are better asked in the main BoBS discussion thread. Please post your ship as a new topic. Ask in that thread where we'd like your ship. And then we could figure it out. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me, or the leaders.