Kai NRG

Aaannd... I am saddened to announce (what should come as no surprise) that Mardier has won this build off. Practically speaking, that means that Mardier upholds it's decision to send out privateers against Eslandola. As diplomatic action has failed, it remains to be seen what response the High Council of Eslandola will make to this belligerency. For the interested: Of the single builds, Jacob Nion came in first place. Kai NRG came in second place. KolonialBeamter came in third place. Bregir came in fourth place. All others tied for last. The DBs for the successful Mardierians will be paid off as promptly as possible.

Great choice of expressions for the minifigures. The vegetation looks really nice too and the ship off in the background is a great touch!

Seconded! The minifigures and flags make this scene very lively!

Yes, you're right at both those points. So yeah, I didn't mean to say that it was exactly the same (or at least if I meant to say that it wasn't what I should have meant to say ); but they would be correlated much more easily. Though actually looking at the chart they're still a little complicated. Well anyhow, I'm not the one handling the automation so I don't know exactly how it's being gone about but I do know that it seems getting rid of the hinterland rule would make things easier.

Yes. But we we're actually discussing it and I think we might get rid of the whole hinterland thing as it would be much easier to calculate as Settlement Value and Town Bank would then be exactly the same. As to what that means for those of you/us who might have overdrawn a settlement bank account... I'm really not sure. To be on the safe side you could try to compensate the difference.

The size of this is amazing, and the shape is just epic! Love the trees and flowers! The carriage looks really nice as well, would be great to have more of a close-up focused on it!

Really nice outpost Marcu! I like how clean the base is; it sets off the textured building to a great advantage. The well is also fantastic; love how small it is and yet how you've managed to get a round feel inside and out! The dome roof is also excellent!

Thanks! The statues are holding... platters of whipped cream? Not quite sure really, but it was about the only sort of food-like piece I had in white. I didn't have one of those nifty minifigure sized mallets, so I figured a gargantium one would introduce a touch more humor. Mardier captured one of Eslandola's ships, while the two nations are supposedly at piece, so Eslandola is appealing to Mardier to please give it back. Which it doesn't seem like they're going to do. But thanks! Thank you! Um... actually... I don't think the pineapple took me more than fifteen minutes... it was the window that took ages! Thanks! There really isn't any reason for the two tiles. That's just where I put it. I did stick it there before I put the platform into place so I wasn't thinking of that when I placed it. Thank you Bregir! This was just sort of the first thing that popped into my mind with the whole pineapple affair, and I just knew it would be great fun! And we're more than happy to get Mardier's Viceroy in trouble too.

The shape of this ship is truly beautiful; love the gold highlights and the wavy flag up top!

Thanks Kolonialbeamter!

Thank you!

Really pretty ship here, the shape is great and I love the colors you've used! Rigging and sails are great as well!

Very nice watchtower SK; I'm not completely sold on the color combos but you've done a fantastic job on the texturing and the little cottage off to the side is great! And the interiors are really neat as well!

Okay guys! We're all paid up. Now I can go take that 1500 DB vacation I've been planning on. Nah... we should have that factory licensed shortly! Note: Because the 100x100 footprint rule was enacted after we had already announced our decision to build a factory, we are being given an extra month to comply with it. In other words, we can license in April, and present the footprint officially in May.

Fantastic build! Great take on everyday life in Breshaun (well, I guess it's not everyday that you celebrate a coronation, but you've got lots of ordinary stuff going on too!). Really like that tower and the other buildings are very nice too!

Really like the texturing you've got here Jacob, the various archways are great and so is the water! Great job cramming so many scenes on to this vig too with the underground section! I wish you a joyful second place! The clutter in the office is great. Looks just like what I envision all Mardier offices to be.

Maybe it shouldn't be; and as I said I hope I would never take it that way; but what I am saying is that some people might do so, and I really don't see how any of us can say, "Nope, sorry. This game is about having fun and building and if you just are here for the DBs then get packing." I don't think we want to say that, either. We're here to have fun; but if someone else is here to be on the top of the DB leaderboard, as long as he/she is playing fair, I think that should be respected and we should be aware that shooting down his/her class proposal will be annoying; and for that reason be careful not to do it unnecessarily. That's a pretty extreme case though; and I think you're putting too narrow of a box when you suggest that the only reason someone might be annoyed at a questioning of his/her proposed class would be because of in game advantages. Having one's decisions on such a subject questioned might be found annoying by some people even if there were no DBs involved. It's not pleasant, you know, to be told that you're wrong... especially when it's true.

Hear ye, hear ye! Eslandola and Mardier have each presented their case! Now it is up to you to decide. Which terrific trio will carry off the pineapple crown and win the day? Please base your vote on which group of three builds, taken together, is best. Consider the following criteria: The stories. The presentation. And most importantly, the builds. Several of these MOCs are more than meet the eye upon first glance; so we encourage you to check out each MOC's thread and spend a bit of time considering your decision. Also, please remember that each team was asked to incorporate each of the following in their total of three builds, and please take into consideration their effectiveness in doing so: l'Ollius Pineapples Prisoners Court Please do not vote based on: Your opinion of which side of the case is right in character. Your personal preference for Eslandola or Mardier. The poll has two questions: one is Eslandola vs. Mardier; the other pits all six builders against each other and is simply for fun. No DBs at stake, nothing at all except for the builder's ego. So, without further ado! Eslandola presents! 1) Kai NRG - Weird Marderians 2) Windusky - Eslandolan Prisoners 3) Umbra-Manis - The Demon That Haunts L'Ollius Mardier presents! 4) KolonialBeamter - Pleadings 5) Jacob Nion - Discovery 6) Bregir - Prospects Voting deadline: Friday, April 29th. Feel free to express your vote below and let us know why.

A very nice build KB, really cool courthouse scene there! The speech (or thought) bubble is very unique and was a bold move. Not sure it worked completely, but those microships are great! Good job incorporating pineapples here as well! Though Mardier has missed the point. If they're issuing letters of marque against us, then they're the ones declaring war! (We're just bringing them to court to see if they're truly at war with us or not!)

I really like the way you did the wall in that second build! Great work! The pineapple is pretty funny as well.

Yes; I've no problem with you guys giving a ruling if a ship is brought to you, which this one was, I'm just saying that there really wasn't any need for kabel to feel forced to bring it to you if he didn't want to. But I can see how some of the comments on his build would suggest that he had to or at least should bring the case to you. After he did so, of course, you guys giving your erudite opinion on the matter was perfectly acceptable and called for. Although of course it would be nice if everyone always agreed with me as to what class I wanted to license my ship as, I personally wouldn't really be seriously bothered by a half a dozen comment suggesting that I was totally wrong. I'd still go with whatever I felt was the right class though of course I'd take into account any good points brought up which might cause me to change my opinion. And I guess what we're really doing here is looking at two kinds of comments. One; the commentee doesn't really have any serious problems with the proposed class size and is just throwing out a bit of CC for consideration. Two; the commentee really thinks that the class size is wrong and absolutely needs to be adjusted. The problem is that it is super easy to mistake one of those for the other. In the second case, I personally think that a conclusion should be reached privately when possible. Although if we all had huge amounts of time it might be nice for everyone to express their opinion on everything, most of us don't have that much time and so listening to a whole bunch of builders each chime in with their own opinions as to what the size of your ship should be is just a little... well, put yourself in the position. It might get tiring. I don't speak from experience; I only built one ship and no one said boo about my proposed class size (partly, I suppose, because I didn't say what it would be, which in turn was because I didn't really want anyone questioning my judgement on the subject ); but I can see why kabel would get tired or disheartened by a whole bunch of different comments as to what he should or shouldn't do with regards to licensing his ship. As long as it is constructive, doing things out in the open is great. But when there's a risk that we might get derailed on trivialities and reasonably annoy some member(s), I personally think it's better to be on the safe side. For that reason, I think that it would be better not to directly question a builder's proposed class size in your comment. If you want to say, this doesn't really look like a cutter/galleon/whatever, and give a few reasons, by all means do so. That's constructive. And I'm not, of course, going to say, "You cannot question any builder's proposed class size!" I'm just saying that I'm not sure doing so is a wonderful idea. Neither am I trying to find fault with any specific comment(s)/commentee(s); just want to bring up the point that there is a fine line here between how things might be perceived from the builder's perspective. While you may (and probably are) just trying to offer some helpful constructive criticism, the builder may see you as nosing into his private DB concerns where you had no business. (Again, I personally wouldn't take a comment of this sort in this way; nor am I saying that kabel did; but I'm just saying that some people might.) As for your three points on what the naval court is for; pretty much what I was thinking and much more elegantly put.

Frankly - the person who builds a ship gets to decide how he or she will license it. That's the way it's always been. If and when made necessary by over-licensing, leadership will step in. But unless someone asks for opinions on the size of a class (which several have done, and which is more than fine), publicly giving unsolicited advice that conflicts with what the builder has expressed as planned is probably not the best idea. If someone feels that a ship is being seriously over-licensed, the best thing would be to privately speak to the builder or to some of the BoBS leaders. Honestly, this (La Salamandra) was not a case which should have been taken to the court. The court's purpose was to decide specifically upon the cases of ships that had been under-licensed before the new under-licensing rule came into play. Subsequently... I'm not really sure what the court is for, but I suppose if someone wanted to he/she could ask for a ruling, or if the court disagreed with a builder's license, it could mention that to leadership. You can see it right here - trying to micro manage things tends to drive people away. Let's not get too caught up here with all the technicalities. Try to have fun, and let others have fun too. The guidelines are meant to be loose to encourage creativity. We all know that kabel isn't trying to bend rules with his ship, and so far I don't think we've had anyone else doing so. If the effort is there, let's try to appreciate it!

An entry for Eslandola:

Guy paced the Mardier courtroom, trying to look important as he waited for the sitting to begin; but he only looked bored. Presently, however, he was surprised by the entrance of his Uncle. "Why, good day, Uncle! Whatever are you doing all the way out here in Mardier?" "I'm counsel for Eslandola. What are you doing?" "Oh, I'm Secretary of State, you know. Must take care of diplomacy, blah-blah-blah." Guy yawned. "Diplomacy! My foot! Sit back and see how it's handled." Guy laughed and took a seat as the courtroom began to fill. Not much can be said about the commencement of the trial, except that it was every bit as boring as it sounds. Then the counsel for l'Ollius stood up and made a long, flowery speech, full of poetical nonsense. Then Guy's Uncle arose. "Men of Mardier!" he bellowed. "Citizens! A horrible travesty of justice has been committed! By you! Eslandian shipping has been attacked! By you! Peace and prosperity has been endangered! By you! Stop! Return our ships! Punish this villainous privateer!" Guy's Uncle thumped his stick emphatically on the floor. "Justice demands it! Will you not stand by justice?" "Pineapples!" someone in the crowd shouted. And almost instantly everyone in the courtroom was on their feet, stomping and clapping and shouting, "Pineapples!" Guy's Uncle was unsure what to make of it. "Pineapples is Mardier-talk for, 'Hear, hear!'" Guy whispered. His Uncle shook his head. "These Mardierians are weird." "Order! Order in the court!" the judge exclaimed. Then he pulled out a giant mallet and knocked an unfortunately rowdy member of the jury on the head. "Order!" Guy's Uncle let out a low whistle. "These Mardierians are weird-weird." "The jury may now retire," the judge proclaimed, putting the mallet away. The jury promptly filed out and Guy and his Uncle sat down to await their verdict. "By the by, Uncle - what do you think of what's been going on recently back in Oleon? With King Fernando and all?" "King Fernando always does what is best," Guy's Uncle said determinedly. "Oh." Guy looked a little disappointed. "Then I suppose you don't like our little plan to..." "What is best for himself, as I was about to say," Guy's Uncle cut in severely. "Oh! Then, I suppose, you do like our little plan to..." "Yes." At this moment the jury returned, forestalling further conversation. After a short colloquy with the judge, the latter announced, "Gentlemen, the court is adjourned for the day. The jury has requested time." Guy's Uncle whistled again. "Time? Time is money, folks! These Mardierians sure are weird." Guy accompanied his Uncle outside the elaborate building. From the vantage point of the street, they both stopped to look back. Guy's Uncle stared in amazement. "These Mardierians are weird-weird!" And another shot of the interior (which technically is supposed to be the second story): This was a pretty fun build. That pineapple was a blast. Facade was very much inspired by Gideon. C&C welcome! Thanks for looking!

Really nice house Mike S, it does look a tad modern but so what? The roof is great. Love the curved stairs and curtains in the interior too! And the beach and plants give this a really cool look! Oh, and I really like what you did to the Oleon spies, too.