Jacob Nion

Great layout! The arrangement of the structures makes it appear like an actual yard in a settlement. And great work on the backgroundstory of the civilization. The ruined building as remains of a more advanced era is a fantastic twist that makes the whole culture more believeable.

Good one! I like the elevation in the layout. It makes the whole layout more interesting than a monotonous field.

@Mesabi I have to agree with @Elostirion here. It is all about longtime balancing. If it would be that easy to establish larger properties with immense yield it would quickly destroy the game. And make smaller properties useless. And that would be sad, because it's the smaller builds one can finish in a few days or weeks of creative rush that keep this game alive. Imagine everyone would only work for month on extraordinary large dioramas. And another aspect. I'm sorry I have to talk like an Eslandiard now, but I think your argumentation lacks a realistic view on capitalism: The matter is not how fast your investment pays off. Instead it is about constantly increasing your monthly income. An explanation: Imagine you would own the 3000 db for a royal property. Following your argumentation it would be more reasonable to licence a few smaller properties instead because they pay off earlier than an RP. So you only invest 150 db and keep the rest. That means that 2850 db is dead capital! It is of no value for you to keep so much resources if you don't have a certain investment plan. But if you use it for the Royal Property it generates an immense yield of at least 500 db and that's god damn much! 500 db yield means that you can constantly licence new smaller properties every month. Or pay the upkeep for a solid fleet in the coming MRCA 2.0. And instead of talking about the six months it takes the RP to refinance, see it like this: only six months until a RP generates enough capital to licence a second RP. That's a phenomenal profit margin. How long would it take you to gain so much money by licencing only small medium and large mocs?

Ha, I knew it! Some Tintin like stuff going on with those ships. I really like what you did with the different map designs here, very clever!

What I can remember the best is several infamies regarding the queen's bower. And hasn't there been some gossip about a secretly born baby? With horns?

Thanks, lad! Ahoy, thank you! I found this a wonderful piece since it was introduced in ninjago- sadly at that time only in red. Luckily, those Nexo villains came with a black version. Main inspiration for the Zhao Lin character was our beloved Fire Nation princess Azula from Avatar.

Ahoy @Bodi ! First of all, I think nobody will ever forbid you to licence a vessel, ragardless of how realistic or unrealistic it is. Only question will be what class it will fit. I would place the wheel in front of the mizzen. And I think it is completely up to you whether to cover tge poop or not. But as far as I can see you started to build a cabin so covering it would be better I guess. But if the poop deck looks too high in the end I would skip that cabin and leave it on the same height as the main deck.

Fancy!

Harr harr! I already got a copy for 20€ ! Now I will be the first one to use the panther in a pirate moc! The new spider is also really enjoyable. It's great that the legs are bent downwards so it looks like it was crawling. Much more terrifying than the old one. On the other hand it's always sad when a classic piece fades away. Like the old crocodile. Now I'm looking forward to by the venus flytrap on BL. Sadly it only comes in the expensive sets. But I can definitely recommend the panther set if you can fet it for 20 doubloons laddeys.

Thanks all for commenting! This build was all about the story, so there's not too much exciting stuff here. But hey, sometimes in an rpg that's unavoidable. I promise, the next story part will be a blast of some kind Aye, the machete is from the new jungle sets. It's a great piece and a valuable addition to our amarment I think. There are also two or three other useful new parts I will include in the near future.

Cute! Do we actually have a gunpowder isle on the map? Sounds like a fun place to be!

Previous The Lady Arlene New Allegiance Note: this episode plays before the last MRCA! ______________________________________________ Welcome to the crew by Jacob Nion, auf Flickr „I hope you’re right about that Captain Morgan“ said Bo while he stared into the camp fire, „the crew won’t put up another month without prey.“Zhao Lin knew about the crew’s mood too well. It hadn’t been a week since she beheaded a one of the gunners who had spoken the word: “Mutiny. I know. And I know how to handle such affairs.” But Lin also knew that mere brutality could sustain discipline only for a while. To stay captain she had to be successful. So was the pirate’s way. “Zhao Lin!” Welcome to the crew by Jacob Nion, auf Flickr In an instant all guns and blades were pointed at each other. A group of three men came out of the forest and stopped in front of the captain. Their leader began to speak: “My name is Mubaku. I am the Queen Annetta’s Revenge’s quartermaster. Benjamin Morgan sends his regards.” Zhao Lin was surprised. “Where is your captain? I was told he would meet me here in person. I did not come all the way from Rassilon to speak to his subject.” She said. “There are no subjects in this crew, captain Zhao. Only free men unified under the colours of our captain. We honour the pirate’s code. And our captain apologizes for his absence; his plans changed. He set sail toward the east. More I cannot tell you yet. But Morgan offers you to sail with his Lady Arlene and several other ships on a trade voyage.” “Trade voyage? Earnestly? He wants me to play the escort for his merchant man? How dares he to slight us? We are no lesser pirates than your crew! We do not trade, nor do we fight for pay. We take what we want. I promised my men rich captures.” Lin had taken herself into a rage. What was this Morgan thinking? Welcome to the crew by Jacob Nion, auf Flickr The man called Mubaku had listened to her calmly. “Your quarrels with your crew are your problem, captain. Morgan offers you 100 doubloons for your escort. Won’t that be enough to please your crew for a month? Also, you can keep what you catch. Any ship you take as a prize on the voyage will be yours, as long as you defend the convoy. See it as a trial. Take this chance, earn his trust, and soon enough you will sail with Morgan. What say you?” Zhao had calmed down. This wasn’t what she had hoped for. But there weren’t many options left. A few of her men would be furious and take this as a humiliation. But 100 doubloons and the chance to sail with other armed ships weren’t that bad. And on the other hand, if she now returned to the crew without any deal with Morgan they would most likely become mutinous and maroon her on a lone rock somewhere on the open water. “Aye, we have terms. I will escort your convoy. But when we return, I want to talk to your captain.” Mubaku nodded with a smile: “Very well. Welcome to the crew of Benjamin Morgan."

Don't mind when I call the pics minimalistic; that's a great effect for this story. I'm curious who will be next.

The point MK and I are adressing is that piracy should have the same value that trading offers. It is the monthly commerce AND raiding action. To me that means both actions are main options for a player. Aye, I believe all of you that you honestly want piracy in the game to keep things exiting. But the Sea Rats are not a side quest for traders. We are a faction like any other. Except our goal is not to make progress by commerce but by raid action. What I want to say is that the pirate faction must have the same chance to "win" the game by playing it their way (piracy) than the other factions have by trading. Sure, regardless of faction every player can do all actions. But I guess that was not the intention when developing the factions. When a player decides to play as a sea rat that normally means he wants to do the pirate stuff. And our whole faction is intended to be the pirate faction. So please understand my point , there should be at least theoretically an equal chance of "winning", or lets say dominating the game by playing the pirate way as it is by playing as a regular trading nation. Of course leaving out aspects like amount of members and activity and the like, by theoretically I mean of course a situation where all factions would have similar resources. That is the balance we should aming for. I don't know yet how to achieve this. Of course the whole game is far more complicated and there is a large variety of actions possible beside MRCA. But on the long run we will need to find a balance that makes Sea Rats as only "raiding specialised" faction more attractive. I see it like an RPG where I choose a character class at the beginning, or a skill tree. Then Sea Rats would be the class "Raider" and the empire factions something like "trader". Both have advantages and disadvantages, but in the end both should have a good balance to each other.

Thanks! First I found it unlogic. But the word "renew" adds sense to it. Even if the troops die, their unit still exists and gets rebuilt with fresh men, to speak storywise.

Ahoy! I noticed that upkeep costs for my troops haven't changed, although two platoons were aboard the Queen Annetta's Revenge, which sank in the great battle. I thought that would mean a total loss of the troops. Or are they still active?

Perfect job on that field! But now I'm curious to read how the captain got that model!

That's the point where we have to wait for Ska's plans. But another problem I see is if I capture a trader in one of the first zones of his voyage I wouldn't be able to raid a whole lot. So even if a pirate gets the ship and a few doubloons it wouldn't pay off well. And to cover my upkeep expenses I would most likely have to sell the prize. Much effort. Not to forget the risk of being chased by pirate hunters a la Salazar. About the hull raiting: I guess that's upon yourself. If someone dares to send out a ship with low hull stats on a long voyage its more likely that the ship will crack I suppose.

Aye, that is an issue I was wondering about myself a lot. In general I appreciate the upkeep. It's just logical that when I plan a voyage for a ship I need to buy supplies and gunpowder and in case of a trade vessel or a royal warship pay the sailors and soldiers. I think Ska mentioned once that there would be an option to plunder doubloons from captured ships. I hope so, because without such a feature there would be no value in piracy anymore. And for game play I always felt that piracy should be a way of playing of equal value to trading. So, don't take me for someone who yells for better conditions for the own faction because I want advantages over the others. But if it turns out at some point that pred runs don't bring in enough I would suggest *shudder* lower upkeep for Sea Rats. But really only if we reach a point where pirating gets not lucrative anymore. You know all that piracy means a higher risk for the owner and its the thing that keeps the game interesting. Despite most of you just want to play an economic simulation without any surprises or thrill. And aye, it would make sense storywise, because a pirate crew gets no payment. It's no prey, no pay. And I think it's far more likely that a pred ship finds no prey than a trader not making any profit. Sure, it can spring a leak and return to port. But in many cases these ships made at least one or two ports, so there's still a bit income. I hope you see my point. Gamewise it is harder to hunt for a merchant vessel and steal its treasure than to simply make a trade voyage yourself and earn the doubloons directly. So, good people, have a heart for pirates

Only thing I can think of are the 4x4 round plates with 2x2 cutout. I was looking up the small hull pieces because I was hoping to combine the green/black hull of the 6250 cross bone clipper with those black top pieces. But it's only available in America. Does anyone know if this set was USA exclusive? Would be odd.

@Legostone looking great! Especiallay the use of the lifebelts is a beautiful touch. I think we haven't seen that often yet. And I see you changed the tops of the white hull pieces with those from the dark greay ones. Makes for a great colour combo.

Now that's distorting history! Not a single Sea Rat fled the battle that day. Or is this what Eslandiards tell their children? But great result moc anyway! And cheers for reproducing the events.

Aaaah, I understand

Congratulations! Since when do we say Kraaken? Always thought it was pronounced Kraken

There's a far more important question. When do we get the bounty for all these Eslandiard ships from Mardier? Where is me gooold???