Finally joined! Huzzah!
Super happy to have you here! Among other things, the forum is still under development and will probably see significant changes in the future eventually. However, for now I’m still building the master spreadsheet/database, and after that will be trying to save as much of the MT Pirates forum as possible. Happy to respond big-time here as I shouldn’t have to worry about my typed up post potentially getting nixed in a few months or whatever. XD (trying not to spend a lot of time writing big posts at MT anymore, sadly)
I do feel that the Grand Masque could be 21-22 points, as the Endeavour is OP and could easily be 24-25. As often happens with customs though, more a Wizkids mistake than anything else. XD
Ionics Fleau is simply fantastic, perhaps too much so. Reminds me of the excellent Pirate 4 masted schooners like Golden Medusa/White Rose/Neptune’s Hoard. Though I suppose her cost is fine given how new the Ionics are. Lately I’ve been doing a +1 to d6 rolls against “the Pirates” (or +1 to cannon/boarding rolls, etc) as a catch-all instead of listing ships/forts/crew. I think it’s a decent blanket term that helps abilities be a little more clear. (though there could be gameplay issues I haven’t discovered with that haha) For example, +1 to cannon rolls against the Ionics. Then it would cover any additional craziness like lighthouses or other “entities” that can be shot at, unless you do want some kind of restriction on what the bonus applies against.
Masque Royal is surprisingly balanced compared to the Battleships I’m used to seeing from you. 🙂
Grand Colisee’s shockwave ability might be too good, but the drawback is solid, not to mention the poor speed and massive cost. I’d have to play with/against this to suggest actual edits. I like how it will be pretty hard to pull off more than one shockwave, since the ship will be so dormant for a while after that opponents should be able to neutralize the threat (assuming they have stuff left over to do that with, on a large enough battlefield XD).
I like the Savant’s ability, don’t think I’ve seen it before. She could probably go to 7.
That small sub hunter reminds me of HMS Challenger, but similarly ineffective. The abilities are kind of expensive, but I could still see her going down to 7 as well.
The Chasseur definitely seems overpriced. Reminds me of the Grendel a little, 15 point Cursed-hating 2 master. 🙂 Abilities are good, but still not a great ship. I don’t think 10-11 points would be unfair. 13 points might work if it said “+2 to d6 rolls against the Cursed”, to include boarding/ramming/etc rolls. (if you want to make it even more anti-Cursed at least)
The Grand Cataclysme is one of those frustrating things where one lucky die roll can determine the outcome of too many games. Not very cost-effective, but too annoying for my tastes. I’m glad it should affect friendly ships as well, but I could still see a speed decrease or even just a lesser version of the ability. (within L rather than L+L, at maybe 15 points) I have very similar concepts coming for some of my craziest and most powerful fantasy stuff, but they have big drawbacks or “sacrifices” required to make the big ability happen.
The Chateau is really neat, especially since I find it interesting that as written it would apply to friendly ships as well. Looking forward to the flavor explanation there.
Hmmm… not sure that fog hopping should be on ANY crew. That just begs for OP setups… Umarak on the Celtic Fury (and turning it Cursed with Black Mark) or various other ships is rather disturbing. Fog hopping is still gimmicky, but I’d say it needs to be at a big premium if it’s going to be on a crew. Such as 8-10 points rather than 5-6. Honestly it might just be kinda “too good” though, but perhaps time will tell. (I would say that using 11 point copier DJ to copy fog hopping to a 10 master isn’t really even overpriced, and that requires a ship to copy as well, so for 6 points on a French/Cursed crew… uh oh!)
Phillipe Dubois should be more expensive. With cancelling at 5 and Fear at 2, 7 is the minimum here. Black Mark makes him a bunch better (again, turn the Celtic Fury Cursed with cancelling too? O_O). This is a case where I would “play” with the cost of Fear a bit – he’s a great named crew, so just putting him at 8 or even 9 would be quite reasonable to help avoid him becoming more OP.
Great idea for Amalie! I’ve done the “1 point reducer”, but changing it to 3 points and -2 is even more interesting. So you’d have to have only 2 other crew to get -1 overall… interesting. Definitely a crew I’d have to experiment with to see if I’d like using her, but I love these kinds of twists on existing abilities. Also neat that you’re continuing flavor storylines. That should help with future campaign games in terms of overarching stories/flavor themed stuff/etc.
Jan de Richelieu feels a bit strange, and possibly overpriced for what you’re getting. The +1 wouldn’t kick in until revealed, and 7 points is what I’d pay to get a canceller or maybe a WH captain. Don’t think I’d use her.
Louis St. Croix is an amazing crew for any gunship and should be 9 points. SAT=3, WH=4, +1 to boarding=2. Throw in the fact that SAT is worth more than 3, WH against ALL factions (including France) is arguably worth 5, and that you’re getting 3 good/great abilities in just one cargo space, and you could make a great case for him to be 10 points.
Huh, not sure why Bordeaux is underpriced as well. Doctor is worth about 4 (like Crew Protect), so 7 is fine.
LOVE the last line of Krakua’s flavor text. But the last line of the ability needs to be more clear. Can’t be used on consecutive actions, or consecutive turns? I would recommend both, as in no more than once every other turn. I’m glad the range is shorter, but I’m still a bit concerned of course. Would have to see in action to suggest further changes; I’m glad the cost is pretty high.
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Whew! I will continue my series. As I said previously, I plan to start posting fantasy customs again once I’m satisfied with the “resolution” of the MT crisis. (which could be 2+ months)
Historical Custom of the Day #222
James Carnegie
Pirate
Crew
3 points
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her d6 rolls against the French.
Link: Discovery, Henry Jennings, Leigh Ashworth
Don’t like having a faction bonus be so expensive, but the French are one of the Big 4 factions and the bonus would apply to cannons/boarding/ramming/etc, and would be solid against the OP Paradis fort.
Discovery
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: R
Type: Ship
Point Value: 4
Number of Masts: 1
Cargo Space: 2
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3S
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls against French ships.
Link: James Carnegie
You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas