Horry

you've been quite active in the pirates section already, so: nice to have you here!

Harr, that would be a bit too lenient towards our crews, wouldn't it? Battles of that time could last hours or just an hour, depending on the speed of wind and the maneuvers. What we could include is a change of day- and nighttime during longer games. And: I'll need to finish the sails for Centaur or else I won't be able to participate in my own game

I meself use Flickr and am quite satisfied with it.

aye, but I want to make it more custom so you can add the speficic speed of your very own ship, not just the class. a turn would represent about an hour and a square roughly 5x5 km Well, that's what I call bad luck! I'll try to finish it tonight, then. Everybody start taking aerial photos of their ships...

Just take a look at his topic: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11222&st=330 Brickshelf has been down for at least a day now.

aye, good questions. I am workin' on a small set of rules for the game hosts that have a randomgenerator as a basis. If damage is taken there's the chance that the program (in basic a 20 side dice) will give out number one = captain's blown to pieces! concerning uploading the template: I'd really like to but I want to finish the rules first so you don't have to do it all over again. For example I will try to make new rules regarding the speed (according to Phred's formula). Until now, I had just given every type of ship (rating system) a fixed speed. The same for the health points: there is a sheet that contains numbers that seemed appropriate to me for the different types of ships. They are based on how much damage by 24 pounders can be done before the ship would be probably destroyed. If you add additional details to your ship that make it reasonable to give it more health points, then they can be included (such as strengthened gallery for example) gun brig: 500 sloop O' war: 700 Post ship: 1500 6th rate: 2000 5th rate: 2500 4th rate: 3000 3rd rate: 3500 2nd rate: 4500 1st rate: 5000

A limit would be an interesting idea, I'll think about that. Folks, I have rewritten and re-organized the rules. Would you investigate if it meets your approval? I'll start on doing a paragraph on translating the ships into the game as soon as Phred's picture of his formula re-appears. I cannot see it right now for the server seems to be down There's also an example map and I'd like to know whether you think these graphics would be good enough to let your ships float around on them. PS: If some of you have baseplates from the classic pirates series, it would be really useful if you could make aerial pictures of them and upload them somewhere. I can only find shipwreck island 16x16 and this one I already have. But I'd like to include all baseplates in the maps.

Aye, that's a good point but I might have not presented mine well enough. I did not speak of racism, I spoke of structural racism and that is actually a difference (one, that almost nobody knows of because we political scientists are not really good in talkin' to people ) I totally agree on all that points you made about castle and the pirates themselfs and so on. But (1) they represent people of European descent what gives them the advantage of diversity. They can be pirates or city-folks or knights. Islanders have to be Islanders. That alone wouldn't be a problem but there comes (2) Why do Islanders have to represent a Eurocentric cliché of people on islands? Why not talking about their great fishing techniques and their brilliant ways of building boats and houseboats? That would be agreat way of doin' some interesting designs for Lego, anyway. You said it yourself: "a primitive culture" - that is no way to judge other people - because they don't use metals or writing they are not primitive but that is the picture media and culture in Europe are displayin' it. It's not meant to be an attack on you or anyone else liking Islanders - I assume that no-one here is racist. But we all inherited stupid cultural prejudices that we would never ever be allowed to be made upon our cultures. And Lego could do a great deal about this. So, you know what? scrap my idea! let Lego do a new Islanders wave but without clichès! That'll be cool. And now I shut up before I get problems with the mods

I can not disagree more. I have studied political sciences so forgive me in advance for my rant. The islanders have been a structual racist line that emphasised a "primitive" and romanticised view of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and Micronesia. There's more to "islanders" than bones in their hairstyles and some leafs as trousers. I generally like Lego's effort to try to present an enlightened view on humankind, but they utterly failed when presentin' "islanders" I promise I will not get political again, sorry. But his had to get off me chest

Okay, now that gives me somethin' to work with. If the folks around here are so deep into the whole stuff that talking about formulas is no problem, then I love it! Just didn't want to scare people away. I'd start programming a calculator for the ships based on Phred's formula if he gives permission to do so.

I do know that the handling of a ship changes accordingly if the ship is brought more into or against the wind and that having luffposition would be a key advantage. I've read your rule-theories and find them to be most fascinating and impressing. However, while I find these suggestions to be incredibly accurate, I created my suggestions for the sake of playability. It took a bunch of highly organized, well trained geeks for Star Trek like my RPG group half a year to realize, that sometimes it's more fun to simply add a rule than searching for the power coupling that would make it possible for the phasers to be more powerful in that tank. The rules I suggested are far from being complete and I do not mind at all if they are changed or dropped completely for the sake of another game. But I'd really advice to allow ourselfs a little artistic freedom here. Sailing is fun, but before anything else, it's frikkin' hard work and damn complicated, the bigge the thing gets. As for the officers: my bad, I didn't want to implicate that there are only four officers but only made rules for those

Yes, that'll be easy, using photoshop or somethin' similar! Okay, aerial view pictures it is, then! Continuing.... I am doing some battlegrounds including the classic pirates baseplates and I will completely rework the approved-vessels sheets for some eye-candy-effects.

Now, I need your help with the graphics. I have troubles deciding how to depict the ships that are used. There are some possibilities: (1) everyone taking part in the game has to make a photo of his/her ship in aerial view on white ground. the ship can be directly included in the batteground. (2) the ships are displayed in simple 2D - paint graphics that can be adjusted to resemble the ships accordingly. (3) we use LDD-creations of the ships - effective but loads of work. (4) we use micro-scale LDD versions of our ships. I've created a quick template that everybody could use to re-create a small representation of his/her ship. What do you think would be suited best? Do you have more ideas? Templates von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

Okay, the ratio does not look bad at all. If you wanted to fully man your ship, then you would have to have between 800 and 900 people on board - that would be quite a mess I'd say you stick to the 300 sailors and update a bit on the higher ranks: Typically, a 1st rate would have Officers: 1 captain 4 lieutenants 5 passed midshipmen (acting lieutenant) at least 21 midshipmen - one for every gun-deck section Marines: There would be a company of royal marines on a 1st rate 1 royal marines major 1 royal marines captain (not to be confused with a Royal Navy captain) 1-2 warrant officer(s) 2 colour sergeants 100 marines 1-2 marine drummer(s) 2 marine colour guards (one for every platoon) non-coms: around 60 to 80 non-coms (petty officers and warrant officers), including: 1 purser 1 carpenter 1 surgeon 600 Sailors, including: 1 cook 4 mess cooks 4 journeyman carpenters 1 sailmaker 1 livestock tender 2 surgeon's assistants 1 quartermaster

Ha, I cracked up at the sight of the bird, they're great! The tower on top of the building is also new, isn't it? Anyway, love your houses, as always!

I feel really terrible to say this, as I feel that you're on a great track there. Buuuut... well... if you would be trying to stick to historical and technical details, then I would have spotted a problem, I believe, a rather big one. You see, it would not be possible for a ship-of-the-line, especially not with three decks and 50 shots per broadside to have a parallel gunport-setting like your Britannia has. The kinetic energy of the recoil would be absorbed by the vessel's frame. If built in a good way, the ship might withstand the actual broadside. But in any case, the caulking would rupture and the ship would become seaunworthy due to all the incoming water. But it would be even more propable that the frame would simply break. That is why ships of that size have to have a chequered gunport-setting, as vissible on the HMS Victory. The recoil can be absorbed by the planking as well and that would make the ship much more stable... Now - this is only a point of concern if you are keen on technical details. It's still a great WIP and it looks great. So if this does not bother you, just ignore my posting

So, this definetly took a while. I had to prepare some data-tables and do some research, but here it is: This would be the examples of two very famous Lego-vessels around here: The Admiral Croissant's Vesta (with his kind permission) and Redbeard's Black Seas Barracuda (Well, I didn't ask him!) Example 2 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Example 1 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Now, I added some rules here and there up there (a third speed for example). I tried out some short games on paper and the rules seem to work, at least in a one-on-one game (haven't tried fleet combat, yet).

Lucky me to have gotten up that early this mornin'. This gave me the time to prepare an answer to this interesting discussion. I do not mind a comparison of the vessels on this board because this is what we do all the time here, anyway. We don't do it by system, we do not state it explicitly, but I'd say we all have thoughts like "oh, this looks alot like..." and "those sails are good, but not as good as..." It hardly matters for me as long as we stay focussed on being constructive. If the more experienced folks around here had not compared my creations to better ones and pointed out errors, I would never have gotten better in building. Now to the part where I got up early. The combat idea is a great thing and I took the liberty to prepare some suggestions. I am a member of a roleplaying game group (Star Trek pen & paper, that is) ans there we've got a complex 2D battle system for planetary fights (something for the evenin' after finishing the p&P game). I took some of the rules and tried to translate them into a system for doin' fights with our ships. Tell me what you think! I'll do an example in a few minutes. The rules are a bit complicated but they are fun! Rules for Rocks and Shoals Rocks & Shoals is a turn-based strategy game for Lego-ships. A game consists of turns in which both sides make their turns in terms of moving the ship, firing and doing other actions. It is possible for players to participate alone or in groups of players. In order to participate, players have to give aerial view pictures of their brick-built vessels and the specifications. While this gives a great opportunity to cheat, we assume that it makes just more fun to see how your ship would perform the way it actually is. Basic rules  Premises • The game host sets up the map with all the vessels and a wind direction (that will not change during game). • All players will give the co-ordinates of their moves or their actions in the thread and wait for the game host to alter the map. • If an opponent comes into weapons range, broadside, single cannons and muskets can be fired. The game host determines how much damage has been done. • A fight can be fought between two opponents or more. Before the game starts (done in a board-thread), players apply to the game host and present their ships and the relevant ship-overviews with the features required. The features are:  Attributes of a ship • Offensive • Officers • +marines • +sailors • +cannons • = attack • Defensive • hull • +structure • +equipment • = health • sails • speed in irons (against the wind) = no movement possible • close-hauled = slow movement • speed running (with the wind) • beam breach (45° angle of wind/sails) • additional • dinghy (enables to break free if the ship has hit ground) • flags (enables communication between allies) • music corps (boosts morale and increases damage) • special features, such as customized mini-figs, etc. (can boost different things – are decided by the host) • special crewmembers (can provide different bonuses)  Attack rules • There are different types of cannons with different attributes Attributes: damage|range|recharging time • 9 pounders (10|3|1) • 12 pounders (15|4|2) • 24 pounders (25|5|5) • mortar (10|10|5) - no movement • There must be at least 4 officers on-board every vessel. If they get killed, there are disadvantages • Captain killed = - 2 speed - 4 damage • Lieutenant killed = -2 range • Ensign killed = +2 recharging time (two ensigns) • There are different numbers of crewmen on-board different vessels. The more are killed, the less performance the vessel will give. • per 25% dead = -2 speed -2 attack +2 recharging time  Defence rules • The bigger a vessel is, the more damage it can take. • Certain equipment/crewmembers can provide additional health: • carpenter: regenerates +5 points every 4 rounds • ship's surgeon: can save an officer (chances 50/50) • bilge pumps: eliminate damage that occurs when hitting the ground • ship’s cook: can save a crewmember with a good meal (chances 50/50)  Special events • Hitting ground There are small areas where there are shoals. If a bigger ship passes them it can hit the ground. It will then take a total of 10 damage and must be gotten free by warping (five rounds without being able to move) If there is a dinghy onboad, the ship can come free within two rounds • Manoeuvres If a team has got signal flags, they can use it to make battle manoeuvres. Those manoeuvres must be announced at the beginning of the turn. In order to perform a manoeuvre, the opponent must be in range. A manoeuvre can be performed every three rounds. • Line of battle - there must not be more space in-between the ships than two squares - attack per ship +5 | taken damage per ship -5 • Suffren Attack - concentrating fire on a single opponent that must be announced - rate of fire per ship +1 • Eldin Attack - attacking an opponent that must be announced from the rear - attack per ship +10 | taken damage per ship + 5 The battlegrounds The maps used in the game are grid squares with coordinates using numbers and letters. Within the maps can be solid areas like islands and rocks and hidden obstacles like shoals. Solid areas cannot be passed; shoals can only be passed by smaller ships. The standard grid resembles a 16x16 baseplate. The compass rose on the right top shows the cardinal directions, the speed of the wind and the direction of the wind. The latter two will not change within a game but can change from game to game. There are a moon or a sun next to the compass rose. They indicate whether it is day or night. Day: full visibility. Night: Obstacles more than 10 grids away must be spotted by a lookout. Next to both symbols are the size of the map in studs and the name of the map. Example: exmple island von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

Thank you :-) Aaaand here's the next update: A claw-machine (don't know how they are called, but you collect the prices with a claw) Claw machine von HMSCentaur auf Flickr A swingboat in space-style! Swingboat von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Swingboat 2 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr An old truck for moving the funfair to the next city (just a sidekick) Old truck von HMSCentaur auf Flickr As you can see, there's a bumper car in the process of being built (will be finished next time) Funfair 2 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

This looks almost unsettling alive and organic, apart from the colours. Like lightningtiger says, loads of nifty connections, I like it!

They are not only well conceived, but also quite realistic. Could be a building right in my neighbourhood! Great work! And I love the guttering

Thank you both for your comments! As I mentioned before, the main sails are gettin' wider for the purpose of being rigged for more stability in stormy conditions. The wind has more sail area nearer to the mass centre of the vessel. That makes the ship being more stable in terms of pitching while being on broad reach in relation to the wind direction. But you are right about the jibs, I'll make them shorter. And there was a third jib, actually. It fell off during photographing, thank you for pointing it out

Thank you all for your comments! If it really gets up old memories from all of your childhoods, then I am on a right track Today I'd like to show you the sweets-shop trailer and the chamber of horrors. There is not so much to say about the new trailer, I built a variant of the aunt sally. The chamber of horrors... what to say, I never found those to be pretty impressive when I was a child (with one great ecxeption). So I tried to do a small one with some puppets and two poor guys that have to scare people. If they don't feel like workin', they sit at the back of the chamber of horrors and drink a beer. Sweets store von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Sweets store 2 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Chamber of Horror 1 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Chamber of Horror 2 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Chamber of Horror 3 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Chamber of Horror 4 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr growing von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

This is my 100-anniversary-post! So it seemed appropriate to use it for the same thing I started with: the HMS Centaur in the Class Pirates section I have done the layouts for the sails and attached them to the ship. As you can see, I have used a sails plan that reflects stormy conditions so there are neither studding sails nor water sails and the royals are being partially shortened. There are no moonrakers, yet, but I am thinking about doin' some for the Centaur. The course sails feature are of the same format as traditional topsails in order to enable the vessel to haul-close in stormy conditions. As the jibs are only made out of paper, yet, there is no need to attach the tack to the bowsprite. This will be changed, of course, once the sails are ready. At this point I'd like to thank all the folks that helped me coming that far, especially Aslak, Admiral Croissant and Captain Becker! It's always a pleasure to read your comments and they do help me alot while being respectful and friendly at the same time. It's great to be here, cheers to you guys! Sails 01 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Sails 02 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Sails 03 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr Detail von HMSCentaur auf Flickr