Darnok

It is not the protest, but the way it is worded. Being called corrupt, on top of the accusations of raping, pillaging and looting is... well, let us just say you would jump at me if I did the same. Whose side are you on again?

Day 21 & 22 - Have yourself a merry little... horse sausage! Merrynight was fast approaching, time seemed to fly by. While in the past trees for Merrynight were hard to get or vastly overpriced due to low supply - sometimes the only option was a substitute! - these days trees were easy to get, even in Mesabi Landing. At a sales booth they were advertised loudly... ... which quickly attracted the first customers. . In another corner of the marketplace the WTC had set up a sale of their own. Horsages - horse sausage in a bun! Ever since Chef Curtis had invented his amazing sausage holder, the idea had grown bigger and bigger. Selling some Horsages on the Merrynight Market was a great opportunity to bring more attention to this ingenious snack, to take the Brick Seas by storm soon! And indeed, wether served with tomato sauce or mustard on top, or with the secret "black sauce", the Horsage was a great success with scoundrels and swell ladies alike. . ===== My very own "merrynight preperations" took this one off track a bit. Back on schedule for now, but the 24th might be late again... A shoutout to @dr_spock, @Elostirion and @Captain Braunsfeld: I used your great entries from the 2016 mini-challenge for my story. Also referencing @Mesabis "hotdog bun invention" again, finally introducing the WTC brand Horsage!

Quite a hostile attitude your character has got there. I suggest a much more friendly tone when addressing the WTC directly, or this might get ugly soon.

Very nice build, and an excellent story follow-up to the "Fatu Hiva incident". @Captain Genaro Just shortly: the WTC will take full responsibility for the event that is presented as a "raid" in the KPA - but in a way you/Oleon will most likely not appreciate. There will be an IC reply to this soon - even though it might take some more days. If you wish to get a first-hand response from the WTC, you will have to send a letter to Kadeus Mordo in Mesabi Landing, who is currently in charge of the WTCs local operations.

Nah, I think @Bregir deserves some rest and peace. And why in the Seven Frozen Hells would I want to attack Quinnsville?

Interesting, thanks. "Owe" is the wrong word. I for one love the build of the "Marlin", so with some slight recoloring of the sails I would be more than happy with her.

I beieve the best option to handle this is indeed a "special MRCA turn" just for this event. No interference from others (planned or not), no complications for the regular MRCA results, and most likely easy to handle. Maybe even before the next deadline - so the results of this can already be taken into account for the next turn. I hope we get the complete statistics of this event (stats of Quinnsville compared to Narwhal, odds involved on the different stages of combat, etc.). Licensing and using all of those would put quite a dent into your bank account. Are any of them for sale?

Day 20 - What a difference a day makes Snow in Mesabi Landing? Inconceivable! But so it happened... "Good job man. Since I have seen how well you removed the snow from the pathway here: move over to the Merrynight Market, and clear it too!" Over there Mr. Morrison - leaving his shop in Market Street closed for a while - had set up a booth to sell warm headgear for these cold days. The collection of woolen and furry hats and cowls on offer left quite an impression with some customers.

Nice. Thank you. May I ask why? I think either @Capt Wolf or @Legostone will have to manually change ownership of the ship ("WTC Bully Boy I") back to me then.

Just to avoid any confusion: you let the WTC Bully Boy I sail under my control from next turn again, without asking for anything. Correct?

[redacted]

As usual in BotBS, you should consider the in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC) side of any situation on their own. In this case this is a bit more complicated, since the OOC game mechanics are not made for a IC scenario like this. IC, there should be no conflict between the parties that honour the agreement made so far. What about other interests though? Since this can be considered public knowledge now - even "the media" has been invited to participate! - I can imagine that quite a few people in the Brick Seas would consider taking advantage of it. First of all we have some actual pirates, who will be more than happy to "interfere". NPC nations might act the same. Apart from those, we also have player-controlled groups or individuals that have no interest in the well-being of Quinnsville or any Sea Rat ship, and will happily take the opportunity to mess with one or both sides. Fiction provides some examples (a reversion of the idea is used in "Die Hard 2" ). OOC the Narwhal will start from Fatu Hiva, and can not reach Quinnsville without moving through zones 35 and 24. So anybody choosing the option to attack SR ships (assuming @Bart will handle this without using the Black Flag) and also moving through one of these zones will automatically attack the Narwhal. The same is true for any zone that is part of the Narwhals route. There are plenty of scenarios that include a player crossing any of those zones and choosing to possibly attack SR ships without the intention to specifically target the Narwhal - they would all lead to a fight with the Narwhal though. And then there is the possibility of a player who actually wants to take advantage of the situation, for whatever reason. I say: why not? I assume @Capt Wolf and/or @Bregir can handle these issues individually, but I also believe it will need quite a bit of messing with the results of the upcoming MRCA turn - i.e. a good chunk of work. Alternatively, this could be done by a "special MRCA turn" played out only between the Narwhal and Quinnsville, and letting the mechanics handle it seperately from the regular MRCA turn. This version has the benefit of no possible interference (and could be done at any point now, outside of the regular MRCA schedule). Quite a strong assumption... In all seriousness: there are legitimate IC and OOC reasons to take advantage of this situation for multiple parties. Some of them I have outlined above. Onl a few of them are actually "ungentlemanlike". And unless the behind-the-scenes work keeps the Narwhal out of the rest of the regular MRCA, there is simply no way to completely stay on the sides - you can not block a part of the map for "general traffic"! Same here. As part of the regular MRCA I assume it involves some headscratching and a lot of manual interference with the results. None, as far as I know. The only successful raid I am aware of at all is from last turn (on Acropolis, of settlement size 5). I for one am looking forward to the results! Is that a promise? As described above: depending on how this is handled in game mechanics, in some cases interference from third parties is inevitable. Independent of this OOC aspect, I question why "no backstabbing" is to be assumed in a game that is - as has been argued so strongly in the last days by some - to a big degree about piracy. Some might see that as a challenge.

Oh how is that? Seriously though, you have to come up with some plan that this becomes indeed only "Narwhal against Quinnsville" without being interrupted by others. The current system does not handle individual attacks too well, so you will have to arrange something.

Better make sure that nobody raids the raiders...

Great build, good minifig posing, nice story, and excellent photography - well done! Loving the architecture details as well as the overall setup. A really good and accurate depiction of a trial during that period! My favourite detail has to be the almost comically oversized judge chair - I guess somebody is compensating for something!

Day 19 - Warming ya tummy... and nuts! The unusually cold weather these days - there had been reports of snow in some parts of Mesabi Landing! - made unusual products a welcome addition to the Merrynight Market. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had set up a fireplace, over which they made and sold mulled wine and roasted nuts. The fire was made to burn slow and steady. That way the wine could be kept hot without cooking it, and the nuts were roasted over time, instead of burning them. Mr. Johnson was successfully selling cups of hot mulled wine to thankful customers: not only was the cup warming their hands, but the wine warmed their inside. Mrs. Johnson took care of the roasted nuts, which were sold in small paper bags. . Friends are made over a hot cuppa... ... and not everybody feels the cold the same way: a shirt?!

You mean serious?

As a Pirates enthusiast (and active BotBS player) I am looking forward to finally getting this one... many times! Some of the "modern" parts can still be used for vegetational builds, and most of the pack is really "pirate-y".

Was just about to link it here. Thanks for doing the review!

Good news! Great to have you back around.

When it comes to sistershipping and filling out the webform: do I link to the "sistership build" or the original ship MOC?

Sea Rats are a bunch of cowards, so I would delay that order of popcorn if I were you. Nope, this is nothing covered by the game mechanics. To be honest: I think it is better this way. If you want a game with proper strategy and tactics, there are plenty available on the market. For something set in the Age of Sail, with a great economic system and workable military and ship-to-ship combat, I highly recommend Anno 1503/1602/1701 (in that order).

Day 18 - The Wayfarers Bread Cut up 100g each of whole hazelnuts and almonds - pieces of irregular size are perfect! Sieve a pound of flour into a bowl, add a pound of sugar, the nuts, three tablespoons of cocoa, two teaspoons of cinnamon, one tablespoon of ground cloves and a tablespoon of baking powder. Mix with four whole eggs and 200ml of sour cream. Knead into a dough and roll onto a greased baking tray. In a preheated oven, bake at 200°C for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, mix 100g of sieved powdered sugar with one tablespoons of hot water (maybe add a bit more if too clumpy). Spread this icing over the baked Wayfarers Bread while still hot. Cut into pieces of about 2x5 cm. If these turn out too hard: put them into a container with some slices of fresh apple. They will get mellow after a night or two.

You would not stand a chance with all the ships of your faction combined.

I feel similar about Mesabi Landing - I would just love to see somebody try. On a related note @Bregir @Capt Wolf @Legostone @Phred: how is the "troop location" thing coming along? Right now I have no way of telling where all my troops are - makes planning a bit difficult.