RECORD BREAKING GOLD. EXTORTION. ARMS RACE.
As always, VASSAL Campaign Game 4 continues to explode. The weekend of August 14th-16th of 2020 saw the biggest single-round total gold income I have ever seen or comprehended!! O_O
As always, it could be useful to have the Customs Database up for reference while digesting the events of the report.
We start with the Spanish, currently Xerecs’ most numerous faction. They launched a new set of native canoes (Savage Shores version).
Next comes the Conglomerate, another fleet that Xerecs launched things for on his turn. In a hugely newsworthy event, the Conglomerate have introduced another Copier into the game!! Mata-Nui! Helyrex is on the same ship with Reroll, meaning that if the Conglomerate wants to copy the Arcane’s ability, they’ll have two cracks at it, much like the other factions and pretty much identical to the Vikings’ Arcane rolling situation. This whole Arcane business is becoming a meta game within the game! XD
The English launched as well. They added an AA with Reroll combo. Here is a shot showing much of the northeastern chunk where 3 factions are in somewhat close proximity to each other. From west to east, the Pirates, Corsairs, and English. The Pirates have their own textiles island, while the Corsairs and English are sharing the one at the bottom of the picture.
Showing Off a Bit
Before Xerecs’ turn, the Pirates decided to randomly interject and reveal one of their new 10 master setups. Partly to remove any suspicions of the setup being illegal (not that anyone thinks I’m cheating), but also to serve as knowledge for the other factions to know how powerful these ships are looking. 🙂 Tee-hee! 🙂
Slave Revolt (from my Pirates of the Epic Seas custom set)
Crew: Havana Black (Sac Captain), Vincenzo Gambi (Massacre + World Hater), Captain Davy Jones (repossess the dead on 6’s; Fear), Capitaine Chevalle (Cargo Wrecking), Blackfoot Bill (WK unreleased-“When this ship is damaged, remove any crew member, except this one, instead of a mast.”), The Stump (2 point reducer) Grappleshot Specialist, helmsman, oarsman.
Equipment: Streamlined Hull (makes base move L instead of S)
In sum, the Pirates have a 10 master moving L+S with sac capability that utilizes a “sadistic recycling strategy”. The ship has multiple ways to kill a ton of enemy crew (Massacre with grappling for extra boards + Cargo Wrecking with 10 cannons that are essentially boosted to almost all rank-3’s or better via Gambi), and then comes the nasty part. CDJ can potentially repossess the victims, who are then sacced by Havana Black to further fuel the ship’s malicious intents. When the ship comes under fire, repossessed victims will be placed in the line of fire by Blackfoot Bill so enemy shots kill their own instead of taking any masts off. I may make a new name for this: the “zombie loop”.
(A few clarifications to avoid any future confusion- “This ability may be used when any crew is eliminated, regardless of previous ownership.” From the Code, meaning CDJ’s ability is voluntary as with most other abilities. Crew need to remain eliminated for effects to apply properly, so it’s good that I can’t loop it indefinitely with HBlack and Blackfoot Bill – their abilities require crew to stay eliminated)
The ship also gets +1 to her boarding rolls for every crew assigned to her, so with 9 crew aboard her base boarding roll starts at 19. O_O XD
This wild setup comes to 68 points total. The cargo comes to 37 points compared to the ship cost of 31, but The Stump subtracts 1 point each from the other 8 crew aboard for 26 points of crew (34 originally), bumped to 29 TOTAL points that count with Streamlined Hull at the modified cost of 3. The ship has 9 cargo spaces because Havana Black links to the ship, and 8 cargo that take up space (8 crew) along with the equipment and oarsman that don’t. Whew! XD (so somehow there is still technically room for 2 points and 1 cargo lol)
And now that I’m writing the full battle report… why not do a reveal of the Hera as well?! XD Some random abilities excluded.
Hera (from Epic Seas)
Crew: Red Legs Greaves (Captain+Helmsman), Cheng I (AA+cheerleading effect), El Castellano (Reroll+Parley), Kerkah (+2 to cannons and boards), Derrik the Red (Sac+World Hater), Jonah, oarsmen x2.
Equipment: Dinghy (This ship gets +1 cargo spaces. This equipment does not take up cargo space. This ship may explore an island or ship within S of this ship as a free action.)
Here we have a 10 master with (essentially) nearly all rank-1 cannons along with Sac capabilities and a Zeus-based movement bonus. She will have plenty of support.
Pirate Play Turn
The Pirates have so much going on every turn that I’ve made a spreadsheet documenting many of the ships in their fleet. It provides a quick and easy reference on each ship’s total speed, abilities aboard, and mission. For some of the ships it also includes current open cargo spaces, and cannons (if the ship has the Captain ability and especially if the cannons are modified with bonuses/etc).
At the southern part of the Pirate HI, a large number of resource gatherers go to and from the metals island. Plumb Point Lighthouse has its first turn in action! The light emitted L+L from its base immediately helps many of the cargo ships sailing about. 6 ships docked home resources for the Pirates this turn, netting them 112 gold. That included the Hai Peng, who returned with a lumber token from an island to the west of this area that the Jade Rebels have also explored. The Turbulence sped out towards the metals island and used Dinghy (which allows the ship a free action to explore a ship or island within S of it) to transfer the newest Military Port upgrade to the Cursed Blade. The Cursed Blade docked at the metals island and unloaded the token, giving the Pirates another Military Port! At the left, the Sapphire Sea is towing the captured Morning Star through the fogpool.
Just like last turn, Pirate ships near the northern part of their home island are told to stay away. The Pirates have something big coming. The still-damaged Darkhawk II simply heads south, with her captain figuring that even if he can’t repair at the first military port to the south, the ship can at least grab some textiles and take them home as normal. There is room at the home island for the Agnis Crystalis to dock and start repairing… but she hides in a fog bank instead. Ships heading home take in sail and avoid coming close enough to dock. These are strange times indeed… but for VERY good reason….
The Pirates are becoming more brash, with the newly launched Stormy Night using her ability to move the American ship Harlequin (far to the northwest) onto a sargasso sea. The Gale Force Nine revealed my Copper Sheathing equipment to boost her base move to L+L.
Off to the races! The new Pirate ships launched last turn from the textiles MP (Military Port) generally head east. The Splinter is the first to reach and cross the whirlpool… perhaps the Pirates are heading to attack the hated Corsairs? This extremely impressive squadron is just beginning. Above the Splinter, note the Harbinger continuing to head south while the Flying Dutchman turns around, pointing her bow north. At the lower right, hostilities between the Pirates and Corsairs recommence! This time it was the Pirates striking first, with The Leviathan teleporting broadside to the Golden Peacock and shooting 2/5 to knock a mast off.
Of course, the Pirates had already rolled for the Arcane. And Vesok, and Nuva. All three of them rolled for the Arcane’s ability to bring a UT into the game on a 6. For reference, the Arcane’s ability: “Once per turn, you may give this ship a move action, but do not move her. Instead, roll a d6. On a result of 6, you may place a Unique Treasure on any ship in your fleet.” Vesok is a copier on the Smoke’s Hand (a 5 master in the middle of the map at the Archipelago), and copied the same ability. Nuva allows a ship within S of Vesok’s ship to have one of their crew copy a crew from Nuva’s ship. This was once again a generic crew on the Black Pearl, copying Vesok to copy the Arcane in turn. And this is how the rolls went….
TWO SUCCESSFUL ROLLS!!!
FIRST THE PIRATES BRING IN HIDDEN TROVE…
AND THEN THEY BRING IN EVENSTAR!!!
From Xerecs’ Return of Davy Jones custom set:
Hidden Trove: Load this treasure face up, Hidden Trove is worth 2x the total number of ships in the game.
From Xerecs’ Fiends of the Blood Islands custom set:
Evenstar: Load this treasure face-down, it takes up 3 cargo spaces. When this ship docks at your home island, triple the value of the lowest gold coin, then remove Evenstar from the game.
O_O
They were both placed on the Shadow Thief. And she revealed….
SILVERBACK JOHN!!!
From JW Darkhurst’s Seas of Doom custom set:
Silverback John: Ransom. Cargo Master. Once per turn, when this ship unloads treasure at your home island, double the value of the lowest-value coin.
O_O
…
…
…
…
With both UT’s aboard, the Shadow Thief moved away from the home island… and simply redocked!! XD
As of the Pirate turn, there were 213 total ships in play. This means Hidden Trove was worth 426 gold.
Upon docking, Evenstar tripled that to 1,278 gold. O_O
Then both coins were automatically unloaded at the home island, triggering Silverback John’s ability to double the value… to….
2,556 GOLD.
O_O
The Pirates also had 112 gold from resources this turn, bringing their record-breaking single-turn grand total… to an unprecedented, dizzying, somewhat incomprehensible….
2,668 GOLD.
Two thousand six hundred sixty eight gold. O_O
We are in the end days…. O_O
Last turn was absurd. This turn is unbelievable. The Pirates are rich to a degree not even close to anything I’ve seen before in any of my games. 2,668 is a very large point total to reach in a campaign game of Pirates CSG, between all points in play from all the fleets. The Pirates just raked in that much gold in a single turn. XD O_O
This is becoming a sickening affair….
But Wait, There’s More
^That is now my catchphrase for this game. It applies to almost every turn I’ve taken this year and it only keeps accelerating – a trend that shows no signs of slowing down. The ludicrous gold income number may have been the craziest thing to happen this round, but it was far from the last exciting thing to happen in the game this turn.
With their GSP (Global Surveillance Program) allowing them to see just about all the face down treasures in play, the Pirates knew exactly what they wanted to try next. Davy Jones’ Key was on the middle Archipelago island. Pandora’s Box was on the island within the Turbulence area (southeast corner of the map). The Shadows Hand had fog hopped to the Archipelago originally to explore a different island of the Archipelago, with the eyes of her crew set on a pretty decent UT. However, a far more interesting and important mission now presented itself – especially now that the Shadows Hand was within docking distance of the middle island of the group. She had come out of a fog bank ready to assist in the fight against the Spanish, but wasn’t needed there. Now one of her cargo, originally meant for that other island, would prove incredibly useful.
From my Pirates of the Epic Seas custom set:
Bomb Box: This equipment takes up no cargo space. When this ship explores a wild island, you may eliminate this equipment to eliminate or remove from the game any Unique Treasures on the island before their effects are applied.
This is a neat little 1 point equipment designed as an option for gold runners that are often ruined by extremely negative UT’s like Plague, Runes of Death, and Natives. Here it would prove even better.
For reference, here is the Archipelago after last turn. The Shadows Hand is the northernmost ship, just south of the eastern canoes.
The Shadows Hand docked at the island and was given an AA (Admiral’s Action) to explore it. She swapped Davy Jones’ Key for Pandora’s Box, triggering a climactic event:
Pandora’s Box: When revealed, each player must choose and put a unique treasure from outside the game aboard this ship.
O_O More UT shenanigans!!!
Here is the full Pirate Code entry on Pandora’s Box, which proved to be extremely important: (emphasis added)
Pandora’s Box
-When this unique treasure is revealed, starting with the player to your left and ending with yourself, each player chooses and reveals one UT and places it on your ship. After all UTs have been chosen they are resolved per the standard rules.
-If a chosen UT can be loaded facedown it is not revealed until used.
-All UTs received from Pandora’s Box are treated as if they were on the island when it was explored.
-A UT chosen for this ability may duplicate one that is already in play and/or one that has been chosen by a preceding player. The “no-duplicates” rule applies to UTs only when placed in the treasure pool during setup.
By “player to your left” I’m going with the next “player” in the turn order, which is The Cursed. Keep in mind it says “REVEALS”. Meaning that everyone knows what each fleet gives to the Pirates, and the Pirates know which UT came from each faction. The Bomb Box is being used here as a way to throw out the negative UT’s before they can do anything. That is where the third point from the Code comes into play – since they’re treated as if they were on the island when it was explored, the Bomb Box can be used to eliminate any UT’s before their effects are applied. O_O 😀
Mass Extortion on a Grand Scale
The Pirates would like to make it clear that they will simply throw out ANY AND ALL negative UT’s. In addition, if they are given a negative UT from a faction, that faction may be subject to extremely harsh punishment in the extremely near future. Aka, possible annihilation. If a faction gives the Pirates a bad UT, they might get slaughtered! You might as well be nice!! XD There is no anonymity to hide behind here. So make your choices wisely and consider the pros and cons of paying tribute to the all-powerful Pirates. “Now line up! And offer me a tribute.” LOL!
Americans: Aegis Shield (The Vengeance of the Cadet Captain)
Mercenaries: Nightmare’s Knot (Fiends of the Blood Islands)
French: Garai (Pirates of Spherus Magna)
Jade Rebellion: The Ring (Seas of Doom)
The Conglomerate: Mask of Wisdom (Spherus Magna)
English: Neptune’s Figurehead (CC)
The Cursed and Vikings gave the Pirates what they requested. The Corsairs didn’t, instead placing Skull Spiders (from Spherus Magna) on the Shadows Hand, but it was immediately tossed out via the Bomb Box. ALSO: This should technically happen in real time on the Pirates’ turn. This means the Pirates would give themselves a UT before it even became The Cursed turn. The Pirates have given themselves Jailhouse Dog. Fair warning that negative UT’s brought in via Copiers/etc that would hurt the Pirates will be cancelled by the Jailhouse Dog. That is also likely to apply if someone tries to yank in Fountain of Dreams.
Also from the Code, regarding Jailhouse Dog:
-This ability may be used at any time during the game.
-This ability may be applied as an “interrupt” to avoid any immediate effects that would apply when another unique treasure is first revealed.
This was something the Pirates had been planning for a while. They were originally going to send a ship with a Bomb Box to the Turbulence island to trigger Pandora’s Box. However, once the Shadows Hand was already in the Archipelago, they figured… why wait? This way they could get a good look at where the other factions were at (regarding compliance… lol) and possibly speed up their UT plans….
I was listening to this mix during the Pirate turn and one of the songs is called Pandora’s Box and another is called Dark Tides (the name of one of JW Darkhurst’s custom sets) lol. Talk about ironic….
To finish off the Pirate turn, the Smoke’s Hand unloaded her fort upgrade to Skull Valley in the Archipelago. When combined with the new military port on their metals island, this means the Pirates will have four launch points next turn instead of two. O_O The horror…. 😉
Pirate Launch Period
With 2,668 gold at their disposal, there was almost no way to run out. The Pirates got busy, launching a ton of ships just as they did last turn.
Here are the ships they launched from their military port southwest of their home island, with custom creator name in parentheses. (in the picture, these go clockwise from the top starting with the ship pointed due south)
Scarlet Star, Lhikan II (both by JW Darkhurst), Plague of the West (the_grandmaster/Pointless Arrow), The Slash (JW Darkhurst), Acre (the_grandmaster/Pointless Arrow), Vortex, Kanohi Dragon (both by JW Darkhurst), Typhoon, Diamond Strike, Silver Casket (the_grandmaster/Pointless Arrow), Blue Heron (stats by Woelf for one of the 1 of 1 Ships in a Bottle).
The Slash carries my friend Captain Randy!! He is now in the game!! 😀
None of these ships are picked at random – in fact, the complete opposite. Each one is selected for a specific reason, and each one carries a complement of crew/equipment that will help to optimize the mission for each and every vessel in the Pirate fleet. Optimizing fleets is one of my biggest passions within Pirates CSG, and in a grand campaign with near-unlimited spending ability, I can really execute plans perfectly. There are so many moving parts to the Pirate machine that it will start to become unprecedented. Gunships, equipment placement, managing how many total rerollers there are (between Wizkids and customs), making sure I don’t miss any ships that should get launched, making sure each ship has a specific purpose, supply ships… the Pirates are always hard at work on their turns! In time the grand scope of their plans and launches will become more evident.
The Pirates didn’t have a lot of room at their home island, but managed to put two more AA w/Reroll combos in play; “Admiral” Scathe (JW Darkhurst) on the Stoneheart, and the Mammoth (vladsimpaler) with James Browne. Gotta throw some history curveballs in this crazy game! ;P XD
At the southern tip of their HI the Pirates launched the Smokescreen (Xerecs), Beast’s Belly, and Rhino (mr_awesome/JuliusPepperwood).
A home island too crowded and busy to dock at… even for ships coming home with valuable textiles, and there will be a resource change soon that could crash their value! A really weird sight.
The Black Jack (mr_awesome/JuliusPepperwood) is launched from the southern part of their HI with a town AND military port upgrade aboard… and the Blackleaf (Riz) has the same! The Wrath is now in play as well – one of my favorite customs I’ve made for Epic Seas. Her linked crew Bloodbeard is aboard, one of the fiercest to sail the seas. She is configured as a shooting and boarding monster. Here’s a little preview of my note taking from the spreadsheet document… after 9+ years playing big games of Pirates CSG, I like to abbreviate and put almost an inside joke type thing on most of the things I write for myself.
CHO. Massacre w/S Boarding and Grapple Shot. WH, so Cargo killing on 5-6. Currently at +7 to boards bonus with 5 crew.
The Pirates also went a little crazy with the Catapults (2 points each) from Xerecs’ Pirates of Spherus Magna set:
“This equipment may be used on an island or on a ship. If used on a ship; she gains one 4L cannon that can shoot from any mast (even an eliminated mast). If the cannon roll is a 1, turn this equipment face-down. You may give this ship a repair action to turn it face-up again instead of repairing a mast. If used on an island, this equipment becomes a 3L+L cannon that can only fire from one point on the island. To fire a catapult on an island, a friendly crew must be present on the same island; if the roll is a 1, turn the catapult equipment face-down and remove the associated crew from the game. Catapult must be loaded back onto a ship to be turned face-up again.”
The Pirates spent 300 gold to get 100 Catapults (!) and 100 oarsmen to crew them with. I consolidated all the Catapults into one equipment token and all the oarsmen into one crew token. This is to save space on the HI, but mostly to limit lag in the module. If combat/drama does ensue at the Pirate HI (good luck ;), I can adjust the numbers as necessary or even make a note in the module/etc to keep track of numbers. As it stands now they have near-unlimited firepower at their HI and have turned it into an insane stronghold. Any ships that come within L+L of the Pirate home island are likely to be dismasted (100 3L+L shots could result in 50 total hits).
A recap:
Hidden Trove: 213 ships in play x2=426 gold. w/Evenstar: 1278; w/Silverback John: 2556. +112= 2,668 Gold to spend!
Pirates spend 1072 gold!
592 gold on assorted ships and crew.
300 gold on 100 Catapults and 100 oarsmen to man the Catapults. (all placed on HI)
180 gold on 3 town and 3 Military Port upgrades. (one of each on home island)
20 ships launched:
Ships launched from home island: 8 (5 at northern half, 3 at southern half)
Ships launched from textiles MP: 12
Pirates have spent 1822 gold in the past 2 turns. O_O (750, and now 1072)
Last turn: 25 ships launched, 20 this turn. The Pirates have expanded their fleet by 45 ships in two turns!!
New record single-turn spending: 1,072 gold (a record as far as I know – I will certainly have to update that page this year)
This all in just two turns with two launch points. Imagine four launch points at the end of their next turn when they still have ~1600 left to spend!! I’m just not sure what will run out first – my time or their gold! XD
Now there are 233 ships in play.
Cursed Play Turn
The custom Flying Dutchman submerged and ducked into a fog bank. The Python and Tomb of Lucifer scattered from the home island, anticipating the end of turn events.
The Wisp fog hopped locally and ended her move action touching the whirlpool just south of the Cursed HI…
TO BUILD A FORT!!
Figlar Castle
10 gold
Cannons: 3S-3S-3S-3S-3S-3S
Ability: This fort can only be built on a whirlpool when a Cursed ship is touching the whirlpool. Starting the turn after construction, this fort can travel through whirlpools like a ship, but without having to roll for damage. Ships docked at the fort do not travel with the fort. Cursed crew can use their abilities in this fort.
Flavor text: The Cursed have built this monstrosity, which could spell doom for all humanity. They have now created a water-borne fortress that can harness the power of the sea to warp into various locales. Hearing of the shocking development, some sailors have already given up hope, preferring to simply stay on land.
O_O
Doom indeed!!
But before that even happened… I rolled some dice.
Remember how there’s always more in CG4? Here we go again. XD
The Cursed use a trio of +1 to d6 roll abilities to trigger another Arcane event!!!
The Cursed bring in Hidden Trove again!! Then they bring in Evenstar!!!
Both are placed on the Maman Brigitte! She redocks and The Cursed are RICH!!! Again!!
1,398 Gold.
233 ships in play. This led to Hidden Trove being worth 466 gold – tripled with Evenstar for 1398 gold!
The Cursed spent 780 of it! (1852 gold spent this turn between the Pirates and Cursed!!)
The Cursed managed to get both Arcane rolls to work, triggering another Hidden Trove + Evenstar event. O_O This netted them a massive windfall. The Pirates used Runes of Thor on the custom Flying Dutchman’s ability, forcing it to work. The Cursed placed a Nemo’s Plans on the Zeus.
This was not the first time the Pirates had played Runes of Thor for the Cursed… they also did it when the Devil’s Sneer blew up the Jarvis with Explosives. This also marks the second Nemo’s Plans given to the Pirates by The Cursed… this very turn.
Cursed Launch Period
The Cursed bought 9 ships. Here they are, listed counterclockwise from the top with the Chimera pointed almost due south. (not in order due to ships already at the HI)
Chimera, Divine Beast of the Apocalypse (A7XfanBen), Interloper (El Cazador), Devil’s Frenzy, Nemesis (both by A7XfanBen), The Rock (the_grandmaster/Pointless Arrow), Guichuan (southernmost 10 master), Howl, Devil’s Child (A7XfanBen), Gerudo Gale (El Cazador).
Another epic deckplate as The Cursed delve into my ship-ton of custom 10 masters they have….
The Cursed bought 10 Catapults along with 10 oarsmen to crew them for 30 total gold, placed on their home island.
They also spent a ton of money on island upgrades. 3 fort upgrades, 2 towns, and 2 military ports. O_O This could be bad….
I would love to give more details on The Cursed launchings… but by nature of the game, the future, and plans, it is best to keep things as secret as possible for now. In due time some of The Cursed stuff will be used and then some of the wild setups will come to light. Let’s just say that most of the ships are absolutely stacked. I have been consistently running out of point cap space before running out of cargo space or crew to use, so most of the gunships coming into play lately have as many points aboard as their point cost allows. This is the case for Chimera and the Devil’s Frenzy… which means 192 points between them. O_O
Cursed had 15 ships coming into the turn. 9 new ships brings them to 24 total.
242 ships in play brings the value of Hidden Trove to 484 gold.
The Vikings…
… didn’t get lucky! XD
<a7xfanben> – Jord copies Arcane
*** <a7xfanben> rolls White D6 -> [1] ***
<a7xfanben> – reroll
*** <a7xfanben> rolls White D6 -> [2] ***
They do have a pretty respectable resource gathering fleet for how underpowered they are compared to most of the other factions. Their deckplates are being pushed west by the rapidly expanding Pirate fleet.
The Barbary Corsairs Get In On The Festivities!
THE CORSAIRS HAVE A COPIER! They get some help from Woelf’s Gilded Figurehead equipment to pull in a UT!! O_O
The Corsairs get Hidden Trove!!!
It is worth 484 gold!! Combined with textiles from Marrakesh for 499 gold total!
This shows the entire Corsair fleet at the end of their turn and their general situation. Especially after giving the Pirates a bad UT via Pandora’s Box instead of what the Pirates were demanding, they are extremely worried that a Pirate attack from the west is imminent. Hidden Trove couldn’t have come at a better time!
The Corsairs with their version of a megalaunch!! They spend 331 gold to launch 8 new ships!
Counterclockwise from upper left: Nubian Prince, Sea Tiger (the_grandmaster/Pointless Arrow), Anubis towing Elephant flotilla (both by A7XfanBen), Crown Jewel (mr_awesome/JuliusPepperwood), Desert Wind, Sultan’s Bride (Riz; her flavor text by AlanQSmithee), Majestic.
On their home island… the Corsairs placed Mons Meg!! O_O
(5 points) Only one of this equipment can be used per fleet. This equipment can only be used on islands following the Marine rules. This equipment has a cannon (5L+L) that eliminates 3 masts with one hit and can sink ships.
For additional home island defense, the Corsairs also matched The Cursed, buying 10 Catapults with 10 oarsmen to crew them with. This along with the new ships massively beefs up the Corsair HI defenses.
As with The Cursed, it would be unwise to reveal the crew setups of the Corsair ships. What I can say is that this is about the closest thing to a super squadron the Corsairs can assemble. Drawing on both Wizkids and extensive customs, the Corsairs have placed in the water a 10 master, two submarines, two “S-Immunity” ships, a canceller (the Anubis), and a cheerleader. The ships are stacked and loaded. The Corsairs are going all out in case the Pirates attack soon. Suddenly the Corsairs have become substantially more powerful, which is just what they needed.
A few other notes:
Corsairs started their turn with 15 ships. Launch 8 so now they have 23 total.
8 additional ships brings the grand total to… 250!! This means the next Trove will be worth 500 gold!! XD
Total gold spent on the weekend of 8/14-8/16: 2,183 O_O This is less than half of what was brought in. 2183/4565=47.8% (2668+1398+499=4565) Just absolutely staggering numbers. And more to come soon too… a point count is coming….
2183 new points in play. Point count in April showed 2067 points in play. So the game is definitely bigger than CG1 ever was!! (3516 official, likely topped 3700) Which means it’s already the biggest virtual/VASSAL Pirates campaign game of all time!
~~~~~
I could hardly believe it when Doragon the Magnificent appeared in the music mix! Maybe it’s a sign he should enter the game soon….
Here it is!! The whole ocean! With over 2000 new points of stuff in play, you can finally see some huge activity even when zoomed all the way out! The 5 Cursed 10 masters in the northwest stand out, while the northeast becomes even more of a hub than it already was. Click to see the full size version where you can zoom in easily.
Big News:
-At the end of today’s play on August 16th, the Vikings recommitted to their alliance with the Barbary Corsairs. Both factions see the need to stay together at a time when unprecedented and rapid growth of their unpredictable Pirate neighbors threatens their very existence.
-The Pirates and The Cursed have independently threatened violence against all three of the other factions with copiers (Vikings, Corsairs, Conglomerate). The messages basically said if you copy Arcane/etc to bring harm to the Pirates or Cursed, they will respond with immediate aggression. Even going so far as to say a faction that does the wrong thing may face extinction in short order. O_O
-The game is becoming more complicated from a diplomatic or political perspective. This crazy turn is resulting in more messages being sent among the factions than usual. This could mean a lot for the game going forward. Just what though, we don’t know….
Dang, the Pirates and Cursed beat the Conglomerate to it. 😀
If they weren’t the favorites already, then they most certainly are now. I don’t see how the Pirates can lose, especially with what seems to be an informal or unannounced alliance with the Cursed. Looking at on the surface, the Cursed seem like he only faction that could be a legitimate threat to the Pirates at this time, since they have similar set-ups with UT’s and whatnot.
Does the fog pool have both of the abilities of a fog bank and whirlpool? The Spanish Morning Star doesn’t have an oarsman, so taking her into the fog would result in a broken tow and the ship getting stuck there forever, possibly.
@Xerecs: Do you mean Evenstar? The Pirates and Cursed already beat the Conglomerate to Hidden Trove last turn. 🙂
Yes, the fogpool is both, as described in the rules. The Sapphire Sea is still towing the Morning Star. Per the Code the MS is not lost automatically.
Thanks for commenting!!
A7XfanBen
Yes to the Evenstar. Might as well tell some, the Conglomerate were going to pair HT with various gold bonus UT. Now that the Cursed and Pirates have done it, their plans may change.
Interesting….
Are the Denmark lads from the Back to War set part of the conglomerate, or are they almost sort of Dutch?
@Xerecs: Definitely part of the Conglomerate.