Kwatchi

Those are some nicely rendered of a very nice ship. Good job.

The Fluttering Petal is a yawl rigged junk, originally sailing out of the island nations to the south. Like all Towakan ships, it carries a carved figurehead of a kami, or spirit, chosen to act as a guardian for the vessel. In this case a golden carp is affixed on the prow, which represents one of the servants of the sea dragon god Ryujin in the Shinto religion. This junk was first used as a short haul rice trader, but was pressed into service by a wokou pirate clan upon being found de-masted after a violent storm. Unfortunately the pirate fleet had themselves fallen on hard times, and sailed north to find better hunting grounds in the Prio Seas. In October 617, the Fluttering Petal was part of an ill-fated attack on an armed trade convoy out of Charlatan Bay. It was captured during action in the environs of Corrington's Northern Reaches. After the smoke had cleared, the surviving crew was questioned and in a surprising act of clemency given the choice of swearing service to the convoy's leader. Once in port, a thorough inspection showed the junk's damaged hull unsuitable for the cannon weight it carried, and a number of the 9lb'ers were sold off. The subsequent space was redesigned to carry cargo securely and its new career as an armed trader was born. Sadly, the ship was sunk in June 623, having been mis-identified as a pirate by a Corrington misanthrope captain. ---x---x---x---x--- This ship represents the class 3 captured during October's TMRCA by the trade fleet that arrived in Elizabethville. I'll be licensing it (ed. note: for free. Yay!) once I get my trade company's application ruled on. For the record, Towakan was one of the three Asian inspired countries that @SkaForHire had in mind for the game, which I found out about from @MKJoshA. It was the in-game counterpart for ancient Japan, where Bai Pei represented China and Kaetem (sic) represented Singapore. Every other detail I inserted is purely from wikipedia surfing.

That first shot with the blurry background is great. And as has been said, those are some very nice palm trees.

That was a well executed half timbered wall, and first floor brick facade with columns is great as well. You have a good eye for colour. My favourite part though is the clothing rack; that is a clever solution.

He already had posted a notice about it in the Tortuga colony thread, so the solution may be as simple as treating it as a land-based property there and "locking it in place".

I like the MOC but I am a bit confused as to what is going on. Is Phred sister-shipping the vessel he already bought back?

I can’t answer your licensing question but I can say I enjoyed your story idea. Nice work given the short time frame!

I think you just proved my point for me. You have created an artificial ship market for "rich" players by making it more advantageous for a player to sister-ship rather than buy their own MOC back. Curious how these "greedy pirates" don't start bidding at 125% for everyone else so to get that maximum income... Unfortunately your last sentence just hearkens back to initial remark about punitive measures; your past personal experience should not affect the impartiality of game mechanics and now I have actual doubt about the motives behind all of this. However that's my personal issue to deal with, and as long as this system remains consistent in the future this will be my last word on the matter.

Best of luck! Pop in when you get back and I am sure we can help you out if need be.

Welcome back Bart

Fair answer on point 2, and 3 is up to an individual's temperament I suppose. I think a 3 day non-bidding grace period would have been a friendly thing to do. Point 1 is still a worrisome point for me as it will allow richer players to "bully" the game. For example: A small funded player who paid X to license last month, now has to pay X+25% this month to get their ship back or they'll lose a biding war to some of the well healed players who have more Dbs than cash sinks for them. It is a bad precedent in my eyes. Keep in mind I have no horse in this race. Ok, I am secretly cheering for Capt Wolf to get the Wolf II back, but that's keep that to yourself.

A few questions: 1) Why are the originating builder's being charged an extra 25% to buy their own MOC back? It seems punitive for no valid reason. They are already re-paying the not-insignificant cost of the license, and this seems just insult to injury. 2) Are Sea Rats paying their native rate when buying back their ships, or the regular rate? 3) Why are players already bidding on other player's builds prior to their 3 days grace period being up? It seems quite rude to me.

Very nice temple build in a classical style.

Considering no one has seen or heard from Benjamin Morgan (i.e. @Jacob Nion) since the end of era 1, I am guessing you'll find Mister Montoya in that same guest house playing his gazillionth hand of solitaire, politely waiting for talks to begin.

Rofl

Part 3 - Deal with the Devil is here Ladies and gentlemen, a moment of your time please! As most of you are aware, the reign of Emil Meloche, the so-called Dark Bishop and Pirate Lord, has ended. His church has been destroyed and its ashes strewn wide so that it can never rise again. His associates have been identified and they will of course share his fate for the crime of heresy. But rest assured good people of Charlatan Bay that the Empire of Mardier does not kill wantonly and King Alphonse (may his radiance never dim) welcomes you into a new era of peace and prosperity. Rejoice! Friendship will be rewarded while the false... ...will have their just desserts. Ah! Mistress Amara, thank you for joining me Ma'am. Let me dispense with the melodrama . As a member of Meloche's inner circle, there were many who called for you to join your former comrades on the gibbet. I was not one of them Ma'am. Your actions during the Battle of Five Fleets are legendary and I salute you one true warrior to another. Based on my recommendation, you have been spared due to that extraordinary service to the Empire of Mardier. However Ma'am, that does pose me a problem; I cannot have you sailing freely anymore, as you are quite the menace to all that cross you. I propose to you this solution. While the great Mardierian navy suffered a number of set-backs, I find myself with a surplus of marines at this time. Captain Jardines here has been ordered to establish a nominal garrison in High Town in order to oversee the smooth transition to civilian rule (and to guarantee that religious cult of Hades does not rise again of course). He is not interfere with either commerce or the more... egregious actions of the various ships that make port, and has been instructed to avoid Low Town altogether. That does leave me the issue of establishing someone to run the colony as mayor; one who is knowledgeable of the locale is ideal. Perhaps you'd be interested in the job Ma'am? It would keep you permanently ashore of course, but I assure you Mistress Amara that the footing on land is far more solid that on the gallows' deck behind me. ---x---x---x---x--- Once again I envisioned something grander than my collection and time allowed me to produce, but I got something out in the end. Thanks to Gulagurag for lending me Captain Amara. For those politicos trying to decipher what this all means. 1) Gulagurag will be collecting the colony's mayor's salary starting in November. 2) Both he and I have retired our Era 1 captains and will be introducing new ones in the near future. Amara lost her 4th ship this past month, so she may be jinxed anyway. 3) Charlatan Bay stays a freeport/city state. The Mardierian army occupation of High Town is simply a potential plot device we may come back to and won't affect the colony's faction relationships, which will continue to be set by our whims. . Pictures related to licensing of small commerce: High Town Market Square. (Why not? :) )

We don't usually. If you look at the Sep TMRCA results, that becomes readily apparent. The only time we ever got organized as an entire group, two ESL fleets got sunk so it is probably a good thing. The "Who are the Sea Rats?" subject seems to come up roughly every six months. While I personally don't care all that much about perception, I guess I'll go into my take on things as a public service for the ERA 2 joiners. 1. Sea Rats are NOT the pirate faction, but a place for the independent minded to play. Ska's original vision for SR was more as the catch-all group. Yes, we do have most members playing buccaneers, under Letters of Marque when possible; but also free traders, Pombe's 'Ship of Fools', the Charlatan Bay mini-nation, etc.. The true pirates in BoBS are really the NPC ones. 2. We don't do joint efforts. Our only collaborative build attempt fizzled out. @MKJoshA does yoeman's work organizing trade fleets for the MRCA (which we are grateful for, because it is like herding cats tbh), but that is about the extent of our cooperation. 3. We each have our own politics. In fact, a number of us have non-aggression treaties with individual players negotiated privately. I'll give you a moment to let that tidbit settle in... 4. We tend enjoy RP'ing our story lines more than trying to "win" the economic game or doing challenges. 5. We are the smallest in terms of members, and most of us are part time players on top of that. It is what it is. Feel free to call us "dead" if you feel like it; our activity level is pretty much where it has always been. I will venture that it is not a beginner friendly faction or one for someone who is looking for a team concept, so that fact we don't recruit and/or retain many new members is somewhat expected. 6. We tend to talk amongst ourselves in private. So if you were wondering why our faction intro post is so quiet, now you know. Other Sea Rats may have a different take, but I think that just reinforces my overall point.

Thanks for the write up Capt Wolf. What a chaotic month... I love it! For results described with NPC (such as ‘Sunk by NPC’), are there NPC nations assigned already or are we to pick our own? For example, Charlatan Bay sent out a pred run against certain nations, so I’m obviously curious which one beat us up so we can send ... an appropriate response.

Just catching up now with all the AMRCAs and found this little gem. Glad to find nefariousness is going on in my colony!

Fun little ship. The cut sails look real good and the little details like the lanterns are noticed. Pretty empty for a trade ship, so hopefully you have some luck at the next port. :) That grill plate that the helmsman is standing on looks a bit precarious though. If you had the bricks to build up a back wall for it, I think it would improve things. If you look at a lot of the "higher end" ship MOCS, like the two recent Oleon first rates, a lot of the design fun is decorating the captain's cabin at the rear. I realize you can only work with the bricks you have (I know it constrains what I can do a lot), but this is one of the areas where you can be pretty creative. Bodi's recent Two Decker for example: It does not have to be that elaborate either. I am by no means a top end builder, but here are some pictures of some of my more recent ships (because my early work was pretty poor) to illustrate what I mean. (The Sirrus is actually eerily similar in size and purpose to the Copperhead ) In my humble opinion, I think that this is the next design challenge for you to try out and I think it will add a lot to your next ship.

A bit late but I needed to add my congratulations on a wonderful ship build.

Cute idea.

@Bregir Is it possible to get an index set up for all of these AMRCAs? Not all the builds ofc, but perhaps just the initial posts. They are all over place atm and I foresee they'll be pushed down-page a bit too quickly. I personally would like these to be showcased because I think they have the potential to be both a great addition to the lore and a source of great builds/stories too.

Very nice, clean building. The minifigs though are really well selected and is what caught my eye.

Clever idea. Though it makes light of KB's penchant for building dreadnoughts (which does worry me a bit atm).