Flavius Gratian

Even though Jameston has grown rapidly in size, it's still a young city. Outside the city centre and away from "Montoya Street" the outskirts of Jameston sprawl. Here the streets are not cobbled but only lined with fences, if you are lucky, and the buildings are small, simple wooden houses for the new and poor residents who have not the time nor money to build the impressive stone and brick houses, characteristic of the large town. However, the booming city expands and even here the shacks are pushed away by new appartment buildings, and the jungle, still close by the town perimiter, will soon be crushed by brick and stone. But not yet; now Lieutenant Lavendwood's rescue expedition has assembled at the edge of town, ready to head out into the jungle to find the missing diplomat Samuel Barlow and the able seamen who joined him on his mission. As the men finish the final preparations, Lawliet discussed their route with Sergeant Ferris. "The reports of native activity together with the witnesses we've found, who saw Mr Barlow leave town, both point to this area being the likeley place of a native settlement", Lawliet said, pointing at the map. "Indeed, and this is the road Mr Barlow followed when leaving so I think we're on track, sir", Sergeant Ferris agreed. Before either of them could continue, they were interrupted by shouting from behind. "Sir, sir!" Midshipman Tom Swift shouted as he came running up to them, together with a tanned-skinned man with non-halosian facial features. He was clearly a native from one of the colonies, probably a Myzec from Cascadia, Lawliet thought. "Sir, I found one! I found an interpreter!", Tom said enthusiastically, while giving a quick salute. "Pushing it to the last minute, Tom, that's not how we do it in HM Navy", Lawliet said with an overly stern tone. When Tom looked concerned he added, with a smile: "It's alright, Tom! Now, who is this?" "This Ohtli, from Myzectlan", Tom introduced the stranger who gave a slight bow. "I thought it was exceedingly rare for Myzec to leave Myzectlan; what are you doing here?" Lawliet asked. He had read the reports of Dr. Albert Brickingstone with great interest, back when they were published by the Royal Society. Ohtli smiled in way that reminded Lawliet of how teachers looked when students asked certain questions. "You would be right to think so, Lieutenant", he said with surprising fluency, though he did have a noticable accent. "The Myzec prefer to keep to ourselves and preserve the old ways. However, ever since Dr. Brickingstone's arrival to our city, I have been fascinated by the outside world. All the knowledge he brought and the novel clothes and tools of his visitors." "Well, since you now had the whole world to explore, why did you end up just next door here on Celestia?" Lawliet inquired. Again, Ohtli smiled: "Our stories tell us that Myzectlan were once but part of a great realm, with cities sprawling across, what you call, Cascadia. Our people even travelled over the great water to other lands. Though we have long since lost contact with them, our stories maintain that across the sea our cousins still live. So when news reached us that many travellers were exploring Celestia, I thought it would be a great opportunity to go there myself and try to find the remains of our people." "I see", Lawliet said. "So, you say you can translate for us; how do you know that, if the last contact with the island's natives was long back in distant history?" "Very astute, Lieutenant! I joined one of the expeditions a few months ago, and during our travels we encountered some natives. Although we didn't directly contact them I could hear part of their speech and it was indeed familiar, so I'm quite sure I can be of help to you." Lawliet realised he didn't like that smile. As he gave the paper he had been studing to Tom he said: "Excellent! We are leaving right now, so find a place in the column when we march off, preferably close to myself or Mr Swift!" Lawliet turned around to the assembled troops and gave marching orders. "Sergeant Ferris, I want your marines in the van and rear! Sailors form two lines and prepare to march!" _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I'm going to licence this as residence; since I don't think it quite qulifies as a medium, I'll just make two small properties. The wooden house: The stone house: Overview pictures with and without minifigs

Thank you! Though the sugar canes were, indeed, a pain, that was to be expected; it was all the other "unnecessary" details that took some mental resolve. I will look into Bluerender now that I'm free for summer, so hopefully I can get updated pictures within the forseeable future. I have sort of seen the neglect of Port Raleigh as an opportunity and plan to do some more builds. Thank you very much! I just havn't felt like spending the (probably small) effort to figure out Bluerender, but now when it's summer I think I'll have some time. Well, I know how to copy whole biulds, indeed I did so when building this, but they still need to be placed and not block each other, which takes quite some time. Thank you! Since I decided to to an LDD build I thought I should use the tool properly and try out some different challenges. Glad you think it worked!

This is really a great build! I can't quite put my finger on why, but I think it works perfectly!

Thanks!

Excellent writing as always! Though I seem to have missed the Terraversan port duties, where did you find it?

Not to push you down when you've already redone the masts, but I think they're a bit short. I usually count them as being at least as tall as the ship is long

This is definitely a marked improvement fom the original! I think the slopes and new colour scheme really manages to hide her bulkiness and make look quite smooth. The raised fore and rear castle, strangely, gives a very classic lego pirates look; I like it! And the rear balcony makes much more sense at this lower level! My only criticism would be the lighting, which, sadly, makes it a bit hard to see her properly. Well done! Hope to see more ships in the future!

Thank you! Yes, I tried to put detail into every part of it, glad it's appreciated! I don't know whats it's called either, but it took me some effort to make it work since it's not completely symetric. Thank you very much! I will look into the links when I have time. I don't think it's very hard, I have just not felt able to spend the mental effort required to learn a new program. Thank you! I'm happy my madness is appreciated! I most certainly will!

I've finally finished the complete rigging with sails! Here are some photos: And a scene from a pirate hunt, I'm sure we cought them in the end:

Medium sugar plantation

Update: rendered pictures After experiencing a few months of success, Lavendwood Commercial Trading Agricultural and Manufacturing Enterprise Limited had finally built up a subtantial amount of capital. Hugo now belived it was time to invest and expand the the business. Therefore, he sent instructions to his man in Port Raleigh, Richard, to establish a new, larger sugar plantation. Richard overlooking the ongoing work together with the plantation overseer, at the management office A few workers going off to harvest And finally, an overview of the plantation ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I felt it was time to start investing in some buildings again. I hope to build more in Port Raleigh in the future as the town has been sadly neglected. I have replaced my previous sugar cane technique with Ayrlego's from his Royal Sugar Plantation and I think it works quite well. I was also apparently struck by madness when buildning and chose to do everything from the ground beneath the canes to the office house as complicated as possible, probably increasing the build time fourfold. But I am happy with the result, so I guess it was worth it. Sadly, I still havn't got around to figuring out bluerender so the pictures could probably be better. All comments and criticism are welcome! Original pictures:

Intriguing! I'm sure we're in for yet another incredible story arc, looking forward to it!

A really fine build! The minifig posing and camera angles really make it feel like a crowded street. I particularly like the detail on the building, all those 1 stud plates must have taken ages to finish! The roof is also nice, I can't remeber seeing that technique before.

Thank you very much! Please, help yourself! It's not like I came up with everything to begin with. Thank you! I'm pretty happy with the curtains myself, and flag was necessary as the wall just looked empty and dull otherwise. Thank you very much!

My adventures on Celestia continues:

When Lawliet was given command of the HMS Intrepid, he been ordered to pick up more crew, and in particular a boatswain. Arriving safely in the port after an uneventful journey, he sent his men to start looking fo the man in question, Mr Higgs. This seemingly simple task proved diffucult, however. He was nowhere to be found, and the general confousion caused by the recent race into Celestia's jungles did not help. After about a week searching they heard that Mr Higgs had apperantly been ordered to escort a diplomat in search of the local natives. To find more information, therefore, Lawliet and his midshipman Tom Swift went to the temporary diplomatic office. "Yes, it's true that a Mr Higgs and a few drydocked sailors were sent with Mr Barlow into the interior", the clerk explained. "Unfortunately, I cannot help you further, since Mr Barlow has now been missing for over two months." "You don't know anything else? Where they were headed? Maybe the governor has recieved some diplomatic correspondance?" Lawliet asked. "Sadly, as far as I know, Governor Allcock is himself still missing in the jungle. This search buisness has really turned the entire town upside down. However, you might actually be what we need, Lieutenant. Mr Barlow's long disappearance has started to worry us, and we have been thinking of organising a rescue mission. We havn't been able to find many men willing to do the job, but since you're now here with a crew and marines I think you could do it. Since Mr Higgs will most likely be with Mr Barlow you would thus also achieve your own goal." Lawliet thought about it for a minute and then said: "Well, considering nobody else is capable of doing anything else around here, I suppose that would be necessary. I will have to consult with my officers, but I expect we will leave in about a week's time." And with that, another expedition was to be sent into the jungles of Celestia. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Here's an overview of the build: And a closer look at the furniture: I don't build that many interiors, so it was fun to try out a few pieces of furniture. And to do the inside of a building that I've already built.

I've never doubted that a tremendous amount of work and care has gone into the game design, I just noticed an aspect that I think might be improved. However, I'd be interested to know what game balancing purpose the large ocean zones serve, and what the negatives of dividing them would be, because I can't think of them myself? I'm not sure I understand what you mean. That's true, but I think my main point still stands. It is, in my opinion, too easy to travel from the old world to the new without making port to resupply along the way. I wholeheartedly agree! @Mesabi has done a fantastic work! I really appreciate these meta analyses!

I actually think this points out a weakness in the zone design. Right now zones 13-15 each cover an equal distance of 3-5 zones in the colonised world, which seems unrealistic. Lore-wise the entire reason we can now travel across the sea is because Terraversa can be used as a staging point, but that is undermined by the fact that in-game it's quite easy to travel right across the ocean with even a small ship. I think those zone should be at least cut in two, preferably three, to more accuratley reflect this. I understand why it is the way it is, many zones that are never used may seem redundant, but isn't that exactly the point? That they are never used; you can't sail straight out into the sea. Could leadership possibly look into this, @Bregir for example?

Yes, I've had a quick look, it's very impressive! I don't think I have the dedication to spend that much time, so I'll probably stick to basics .

I should hope they're appreciated! I managed to drop my phone onto the ship while taking them, breaking the mast and everything Thankfully only two small string actually broke! Yes, I folded the edges and stiched the topsail to avoid them tearing apart. Ideally I'd have done the same to all the sails, but I didn't think about it until they were already cut out so they wouldn't have fitted. Also, it's harder with non rectagular shapes.

That's a very nice microbuild! I've no more praise that hasn't been said already! Those plants inside the museum look huge though

Thank you very much! I'm glad you like the name and I'm quite happy with the naval jack as well! I've always prefered the British blue squadron colours so I wanted to bring it to Corrington. Thanks! Glad you like it! Thank you! I wanted to add some detail to my otherwise sleek ship! Thank you! I'm also happy with the flag, glad it's appreciated! Thank you! What aspects would be a more advanced rigging? I agree with both of you, but couldn't figure out a good solution. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you very much! I wanted get some adornments in there as I usually don't have any. It's always fun to add some life to the build, glad it worked! I'm also happy with the divided mast. I feel particularly proud of using the grid for the platform (do they have a name, by the way?), though somebody else may have done it before. The sails and flags are just cut out of cloth, it's quit easy although they sometimes fall apart at the edges. The main jack consists of two pieces that I've just sewn together, one blue and the other white. Then I just painted the white one using textile pens, though it's not very good when you look closly because the paint keeps spreading where you don't want it. Both flags and sails are fastned using string: Hope they're usefull, I had some problems getting the camera to focus! I agree with most of it. She's straight because I find it hard to make ships more curve more when they're this small. I also used the base from the Western Wind so I didn't think about it that much. I hadn't realised about the topsail, I'll see if I change it, but will at least keep it in mind for the future. I had wanted to mount them as you suggest and looked at some of the pictures you've posted but I didn't have enough parts to make it work. I'll have to invest in some! Thanks again! I'll have to think about whether I'll keep it or give it to the Navy. I've become a bit attached now that I've worked on it!

I've posted a new ship for HM Navy: HMS Windblown

The Royal Navy continues its ship expansion in light of continuing pirate raids on merchant shipping. The latest vessel out from the shipyards, HMS Windblown, is a small cutter built for speed, armed with six 4-pounders, and served by a well drilled crew. She's thus perfectly suited for hunting down small pirates or smugglers, going on patrol missions, or carrying dispatches. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ OOC: I was inspired by the Sloops for the Royal Navy project but I wanted to build a smaller vessel so I don't think it quilifies. I'll probably licence it myself. This is my first time doing a complete rigging. I now understand why some of you consider such a hassle, but I thought it was fun and I'm happy with the result! C&C is appreciated!

By the Gods! 'Tis truly a great and fearsome beast! Excellent work Drunknok! With her(?) accompanying our navies the seas wil be ours! As to hull sections, I would say this is equivalent to 8 hull sections, but leadership can overrule me