Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
We’ve gotten a sampler and almost all of the Nexus Alliance’s capital ships, but there are others in the Farthest Shore! Today we have the first of the English!
HMS Arcturian
English
Points: 15
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3L-4S-4S-4S-3L
Cargo: 6
Movement: L
Ability: Armed Merchant.
Link: Captain Amellia SmolletFlavor: The Arcturian is a retired battleship, having seen her fair share of battles and glory. Now in the hands of Captain Amelia she still sees action from time to time, but is more of a goods ship now than a battleship.
Captain Amellia Smollet
English
Points: 7
Ability: Royal Officer. Captain. Parley. Pirate crew may use their abilities on this ship.
Link: HMS ArcturianFlavor: Amelia Smollett was promised to be an admiral, but a feud with Stafford Whitley has seen her career come to a halt. An able commander, Amelia will recruit whoever she can to see to it that her voyages are profitable, even the pirates that Whitley hates.
Keywords
Armed Merchant: Once per turn as a free action one of this ships cannons may shoot at one enemy target within range. The shot may not have it’s range or ranked increased.Royal Officer: When this crew is assigned with or on its linked piece, its point cost is not counted towards the point limit of the ship. The crew’s points still count towards the build total.
I could see AofA getting a cost increase, though I am in “CG4 mode” still. Seems likely she’ll have a World Hater crew aboard. The speed is really the only thing holding her back. Definitely a monster gunship.
I think a play-test would help, either in a campaign setting or in a “regular” game. The Alliance does have a few WH crew, though they could wind up on ships with better starting cannons, or on faster ships to get the first hit.
Last Nexus Alliance ships for the week! Tomorrow we’ll start seeing some of the other factions in Farthest Shore!
Apocalypse of Armageddon
Nexus Alliance
Points: 22
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3L-4L-4L-4L-3L
Cargo: 4
Movement: S
Ability: This ship’s cannons have two shots per mast. Enemy ships within S of this ship get -1 to their cannon rolls.Flavor: Dalgaard oversaw the construction of this ship personally, to ensure that it met her expectations and designs. With compact cannons milled by the Alliance and purchased from the Ionics, the Apocalypse carries more firepower than some battlegroups.
Nights Bane
Nexus Alliance
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cannons: 2L-2L-2L-2L-2L
Cargo: 4
Movement: S+S
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls when she reaches her cargo and point limit.Flavor: The ruling philosophy of the Night’s Bane is to make the Cursed and other fell things of the sea fear them. Doing so however, takes a significant amount of man and firepower.
Daily dose of Farthest Shore! Two more 5 mast ships for the Alliance!
Ranger
Nexus Alliance
Points: 18
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3L-2S-2S-2S-3L
Cargo: 4
Movement: L
Ability: If two or more friendly ships are within S of this ship at the start of her turn, she gets +S to her base move that turn.Flavor: The Ranger is aptly named, as she is permanently on scouting missions and patrolling the outer reaches of Alliance waters.
Wyrm
Nexus Alliance
Points: 26
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3L-3S-2L-3S-3L
Cargo: 4
Movement: L
Ability: This ship eliminates two masts with one hit. If this ship rolls a 6 on a canon roll, eliminate an extra mast from the target ship.Flavor: Named for the great serpents of old, the Wyrm was designed to be as destructive as the legendary beasts. Equipped with the best cannons the Alliance could muster, the Wyrm has lived up to her namesake so far.
Daily Customs continue! On Monday we’ll switch to seeing some of the other factions in Farthest Shore.
Joust
Nexus Alliance
Points: 16
Masts: 5
Cannons: 2S-3L-3L-3L-2S
Cargo: 4
Movement: S+S
Ability: This ship’s bow cannon has Extended Range. Chainshot Specialist.Flavor: The Joust is often compared to a spear, with special bow mounted cannons. The crew disagree, saying the ship acts more like a net, given all the equipment on board for ensnaring ships.
Knights Light
Nexus Alliance
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3S-2L-2L-2L-3S
Cargo: 4
Movement: L
Ability: This ship cannot be hit by L-range cannons. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against ships within S of her.Flavor: The Knights Light has a double layered hull, protecting her from cannons at long range. Because of this, enemy ships must come almost to point blank range to have a chance of damaging her, but at that range the Light’s cannons will rip almost any ship apart.
Daily Customs continue!
Carver
Nexus Alliance
Points: 19
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3L-3L-3L-3L-3L
Cargo: 2
Movement: S+L
Ability: Enemy ships within S of this ship get -1 to their cannon rolls.Flavor: The crew of the Carver live by their ships name, to carve their exploits into history and never be forgotten.
Serpent
Nexus Alliance
Points: 21
Masts: 5
Cannons: 4S-3L-3L-3L-4S
Cargo: 3
Movement: L
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against any ship. She gets +2 if she is assigned a captain and explorer crew.Flavor: Serpents and snake motifs adorn this vessel from bow to stern. Serpent patterns are carved into the hull, and twin snakes are woven into the main and topsails.
You may have posted it elsewhere, but what does the Guardian keyword do?
Whoops! I forgot about that.
Guardian: This piece is linked to all other pieces with this keyword.
Minor point on this one. You should move the sentence, “This crew takes up no cargo space”, ahead of “When this crew is revealed…”, so there’s no chance for confusion about which crew actually takes up no space. Where it’s currently placed, it’s ambiguous whether it’s Overton or the crew he pulls in that gets to take up no space.
To keep it more in line the established “recruiter” ability:
“This crew takes up no cargo space when revealed. When revealed, put a crew with point cost 3 or less from outside of the game onto this ship.”
Would that about cover it?
Daily Customs continue as we make our way through Farthest Shore!
Light of Imagination
Nexus Alliance
Points: 19
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3S-2L-2L-2L-3S
Cargo: 6
Movement: S+S
Ability: This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn.Flavor: Equipped with extra hull paneling, and a massive cargo hold, Dr. Overton considers the Light of Imagination to be the finest ship he has ever constructed.
Buccaneer
Nexus Alliance
Points: 15
Masts: 5
Cannons: 2S-2S-2S-2S-2S
Cargo: 3
Movement: L
Ability: Broadsides Attack.Flavor: Many of Harlan Storm’s former pirate crew have found their way onto the Buccaneer. Their prior experience has made the Buccaneer one of the most accurate ships in the navy.
Nice core power ships for the new faction!
Thanks! Those two are literally the first two ships of the set, by numbering. The Nexus Alliance has quite a roster, with 226 ships and crew. 0_0 Farthest Shore also has a full line-up of the big 6 WK factions, plus Mercenaries and the return of the Ionics….. Overall the set is LARGE. 😀
Will be fun to see how they integrate into the Conglomerate in CG4.
Indeed! However if any Nexus Alliance stuff makes it into the Conglomerate it will likely be stuff that is publicly visible, so ships and crew that I’ve posted here or on the Discord.
We continue with FaSh! Two more ships for the fledgling Nexus Alliance!
Sea Cutter
Nexus Alliance
Points: 16
Masts: 5
Cannons: 2L-3S-2L-3S-2L
Cargo: 5
Movement: L
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls if a captain and explorer are assigned to this ship.Flavor: The Cutter embodies the philosophies of Dr. Overton expertly, explore new lands, but be ready to defend yourself as well.
Winged Reaper
Nexus Alliance
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cannons: 3S-3S-3S-3S-3S
Cargo: 6
Movement: L
Ability: Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, give this ship may be given an extra action.Flavor: A converted merchantman, the Reaper has retained her massive cargo hold, allowing her to carry large amounts of either cargo or munitions.
I like the uniqueness of the named crew so far. Specifically, Dr. Albert Overton is a pretty wild combo of abilities.
He does indeed have an interesting combination of abilities, meant to be a “builder” of sorts, he’s not aimed at combat or gold running really.
Neat, how exciting!
You’re telling me! This is that set that I mentioned waaay back in…. 2021? 2020? When you came out to visit and we had that game at Applebees.
“It has been found, the last farthest unexplored shores. The imperial powers of the sea and the World race to get there first, to claim it and its treasures as their own. However, they find that the Farthest Shores are already occupied by a group calling themselves the Nexus Alliance! This so-called Alliance has sworn to fight the forces of evil and chaos, and to offer a home to those who need it, and they are not willing to cede their hard fought lands to outsiders.
While the “civilized” world grapples with the Alliance and each other, Pirates continue to run amok on the oceans, and the Cursed continue to spread, more aggressively than ever before. Hoist the sails, ready your cannons and weapons; do you have what it takes to test your mettle against the Farthest Shore?”A new Custom Set is on its way! My brother and I have gone in together on this one, and we bring you Pirates of the Cursed Seas, the Farthest Shore! This set follows after his Pirates of the Eldest Seas, and would these ever have been made into an actual expansion FaSh would have been teased in that set with a series of story inserts (read them all here) We are introduced to a new faction in this set, the Nexus Alliance, and here they are kicking things off!
Venture Explorer
Nexus Alliance
Points: 14
Masts: 4
Cannons: 3S-3S-3S-3S
Cargo: 5
Movement: S+S
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against Cursed targets.
Flavor: The Venture Explorer is captained by Sky Leighton, and when she is not present on board, Jett Lunan. Every Alliance sailor begins their training and journey on the Venture Explorer. Their cruises often bring them close to Cursed territory, giving Alliance sailors experience handling the terrors and horrors of the Cursed.
Link: Sky Leighton, Jett Lunan
Lord Duke Exeter
Nexus Alliance
Points: 4
Ability: Guardian. Loyal: Alliance. If any crew on this ship would be eliminated, eliminate this crew instead. If this crew would be eliminated, place it face down on your Home Island instead.
Flavor: An exiled lord, Duke Exeter founded the Nexus Alliance with his compatriots Albert Overton and Harlan Storm in the farthest shore. Declaring that the Alliance would be a home to those who no longer had one, either by circumstance or by choice. He has vowed to defend this world he has created with his life.
Link: All Alliance Ships
Dr. Albert Overton
Nexus Alliance
Points: 9
Ability: Guardian. When this crew is revealed, place a crew worth point cost 3 or less from outside the game onto this ship. This crew takes up no cargo space. When this ship is docked at your Home Island, you may eliminate a treasure. It becomes a 3S cannon that can only be eliminated when this ship sinks. If another crew on this ship would be eliminated, turn it face-down instead.
Flavor: Albert Overton is a genius unmatched. His creative and powerful mind have helped shape the vision that he shares with Duke Exeter and Harlan Storm. While the Duke and Harlan protect their haven, he intends to build it. The Nexus Tower is just the first of his “crowning achievements”.
Link: All Alliance Ships
Captain Harlan Storm
Nexus Alliance
Points: 6
Ability: Guardian. Captain. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls if four or more crew are assigned to her. This crew may use its abilities on any ship.
Flavor: Harlan Storm was once next in line to become a Pirate Lord. However he ran afoul of One-handed John and was forced to flee for his life. Running to the Farthest Shore he met Duke Exeter and Albert Overton, who told him of a vision to make a home for those who were lost. Storm was immediately captivated and his small pirate fleet became the forebears of the now mighty Alliance navy.
Link: All Alliance Ships
Amanda Dalgaard
Nexus Alliance
Points: 9
Ability: Guardian. Black Mark. Captain. Once per turn, one crew or ship within S of this ship cannot use its ability this turn.
Flavor: Amanda Dalgaard is the former pupil and disciple of the fallen fourth founder of the Nexus Alliance, Baron Typhonus. Since his betrayal, Amanda has taken it upon herself to understand how his greed and desire to control led to his deal with Davy Jones. While her borderline obsession with the unnatural and paranormal has only heightened suspicions of her loyalty, she pays them no heed. To her, understanding the enemy, and the cause of her old teacher’s fall, is the key to defeating the Cursed Empire and redeeming the corrupted Baron.
The distant horizon is upon us, chapter 9/9 of the Farthest Shore!
Nexus Alliance
Duke Exeter turned to face each of his compatriots. Dr. Overton looked worried while Storm and Dalgaard shared looks of grim determination.
“I have met with the Ionic Grand Admiral, the Mask Maker, Ekimu. He confirmed what we already suspected. The Imperial powers of the old world are coming.”
“How many?” Overton asked.
“The English, French, Americans and Spanish are already en-route. But there is other troubling news.”
“What else could be troubling?” Storm asked with a chuckle.
“Pirates are beginning to appear with more and more frequency, and not just on our borders. They’re finding their way in somehow. In addition to them, Cursed activity is beginning to climb, inside and outside the Nexus.”
Dalgaard and Storm both now had worried expressions.
“What are we going to do, Duke?” Dalgaard asked.
Exeter met her gaze. While he didn’t quite trust her and occasionally wondered at her loyalty, when he looked in her eyes he saw the scared woman hiding inside. He saw it in all the rest of them.
“We fight. We defend the home we have made for ourselves. We let them know that this is our land, and they cannot take it from us!”
He slammed the pommel of his sword on the table before him for emphasis.
“Speak with your followers and lieutenants; they will be here in days. Meeting adjourned.”
He turned and strode from the room, armor clinking with each step as he made his way to the docks of Nexus Tower. He was greeted there by Commodore Epsilon.
“Orders sir?”
“Deploy the fleet Beck. And engage all necessary defenses. Muster every soldier we have here, and at every outpost and base. We are at high alert.”
“Right away sir, how high alert are we?”
“Invasion, Beck. They’re coming for us.”
The Commodore’s eyes widened and he hurried to carry out the Duke’s orders. As he left, Exeter heard the massive portcullis behind him begin to lower, reaching the ground with a resounding boom. He saw the parapets of the tower manned, soldiers clad in armor with pikes and rifles standing ready. He returned his gaze to the docks where dozens of ships dropped sail and ran up their colors; then to the harbor beyond where hundreds more also dropped sail, and weighed anchor, readying for battle.Thus the story insert series is concluded! Pirates of the Farthest Shore will be debuting shortly in the Custom Ships thread in the main forum!
Coming back after almost 4 yrs…. wow. Anywho, today I bring you story number 8 of 9 of the Farthest Shore as we draw closer to that distant horizon.
Ionics
Ekimu was in a state of peace. Eyes closed, hammer in hand, he stood over the anvil where a mass of metal was waiting to be forged. He swung, hammer struck metal, and sparks flew, dancing before his closed eyes. He raised his hammer again, but paused. He sensed another approaching. Opening his eyes he returned the metal to the fire and the hammer to his belt.
“Mask Maker.”
Ekimu turned to find an officer at the entrance to his forge.
“Speak.”
“Mask Maker, the Duke Exeter has arrived.”
“Very well, bring him here.”
The officer departed, but returned shortly with a man in tow.
“All this on a ship?!” the newcomer exclaimed.
“Yes, good Duke. This is my home and sanctuary. Officer, you may leave us.”
The officer departed leaving Ekimu alone with Exeter.
“I am honored you have allowed me into your sanctuary Mask Maker, but I am curious as to your desire to meet personally.”
Ekimu met the piercing gaze of Exeter, then turned back to his forge and pumped a bellows.
“The outside world has found you Duke.”
Exeter blinked, not entirely sure he’d heard correctly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the old world powers have found out about your little Nexus. They are coming.”
“Are you certain?”
“Sleeper agents in every major power have confirmed it. The English, French, Spanish, and Americans are all coming. They don’t intend to be nice.”
Duke Exeter shifted from foot to foot.
“How soon will they arrive?”
“Their fleets are already underway, which is why I wanted to meet with you personally, Duke.”
“Oh?”
“Our peoples are allied, or at least are not enemies. We have experience dealing with them. Will you want our help?”
Exeter considered.
“We would not ask your people to fight the whole world with us, but will not turn away your aid, if you choose to give it.”
Ekimu finished pumping the bellows and fished a glowing piece of metal out of the fire with tongs, and drew his hammer.
“Excellent. You will hear from us again.”
He raised his hammer.
“Why offer the help, Mask Maker?”
Ekimu hesitated, then replied;
“I am proud of my people, my homeland, and I am tired of being treated as inferior, as lesser than one of them. It is time we showed them….”
Ekimu brought his hammer down.
“….Just what we can do. And then we will see who is inferior.”That concludes chapter 8/9 of the Farthest Shore! Final chapter and an announcement in the regular forum next week!
That should work. It is a little clunky, but there’s not a lot that can be done to clean it up more.
If it doesn’t have a base, will it be built more like a standard ship?
I guess it would be built more like a standard ship. I have a rough prototype for how these would look, I’m imagining them being a mega card ship, with about 3 mega cards to one Leviathan.
The piece labeled as a is the head piece. Every Leviathan would have a cannon printed on the head. The claws (4 and 2) are where the other cannons would be, depending on the Leviathan in question.
The entire repair option, regardless of how it works, might be better suited as a separate ability from the main keyword. That would give you even more flexibility with pricing, power levels, and even the specific functions. You could also make it so some of the smaller/cheaper ones can’t use it at all – similar to the four PotC krakens and Eternal.
I’d like to keep the repair option as part of the keyword, at least for now.
The first half of this sentence isn’t needed; it’s just repeating the “cannot be shot at” part in the previous paragraph.
Noted, revising.
I think you should still refer to this as a special type of “shoot action”, similar to how a Sea Dragon’s swoop attack is worded, to reduce the chance of issues with other abilities that refer to shoot actions and hits. It would contradict with the line earlier about not being able to shoot while submerged, but you can adjust that part to specify that it can’t do a “normal” shoot action while submerged.
Would this cover it? The wording for the lightning attack feels a little clunky, but I’m not sure how best to word it, as a leviathan doesn’t have a base like a Sea Monster or Sea Dragon.
At the beginning of your turn decide if a Leviathan is submerged or on the surface. If submerged, a leviathan can move, but cannot shoot normally or be shot at. A submerged Leviathan may ram another ship, the rammed ship becomes pinned instead, and it may board. If on the surface a Leviathan may move and be given shoot actions as normal, it may ram another ship, the rammed ship becomes pinned instead, and it may board.
….When a Leviathan is given a shoot action,you may choose whether that action is a normal shoot action or a lightning attack (it cannot perform both with a single action). A lightning attack allows a Leviathan to attack any one target (regardless of its submerged status and including submerged ships) with a 2L range and rank of 2, measured from the cannon on the leviathan’s head. If the attack hits, eliminate up to two masts from the target ship, as well as any other ship in the line of fire with the attack.
A possible balancing aspect I just thought of for this would be to only allow it to repair segments with cannons. The extra non-cannon segments it has (I’m assuming 2 or 3 at most) could then act more like defensive panels. You’d also introduce a subtle tactical decision for the player when the Leviathan gets hits, where they’d have to choose between temporary reduced firepower or keeping all cannons active but permanently losing some durability.
ADDED: Actually, the opposite might even be more interesting, where only the non-cannon ones can grow back. That would make it function more like an “ignores first hit” ability that was fully renewable as long as you didn’t take too much damage all at once.
That’s an interesting idea, I may implement that as an ability in addition to the keyword for one of the six leviathans that I have planned. One of those six will certainly have the full range of all 7 cannons, while I’m also fairly certain that a different one will be almost the opposite, with the head cannon being the only one it has.
I’m trying to work out the keyword before I start drawing up the stats for the six of them.
Version 3 of Leviathan! I’m not sure if I’ve worded it correctly, but I want it to be able to shoot at submerged ships, similar to Cadara and Shaihulud. I’ve also removed its unlimited movement when on the surface, and changed its durability a bit.
Leviathan
A game piece with this keyword is a Sea Creature.
Leviathans have 7 segments (six claws, one head); however Leviathans may not always have cannons assigned to all their segments. Only segments with cannons shown can shoot.
At the beginning of your turn decide if a Leviathan is submerged or on the surface. If submerged, a leviathan can move, but cannot shoot or be shot at. A submerged Leviathan may ram another ship, the rammed ship becomes pinned instead, and it may board. If on the surface a Leviathan may move and be given shoot actions as normal, it may ram another ship, the rammed ship becomes pinned instead, and it may board.
A Leviathan may target submerged ships with a shoot action, regardless of its own submerged status. A leviathan may be shot at only when it is on the surface; its segments cannot be eliminated unless the cannon roll is a 6.
You may give a leviathan an action (regardless of submerged status) to make one 2L range, rank-2 lighting attack, measured from the cannon on the leviathan’s head (it may make no other attacks). If the attack hits, eliminate up to two masts from the target ship, as well as any other ship in the line of fire with the attack.
After a Leviathan resolves a move action, as a free action it may repair any one missing segment.
Most of the individual pieces are fine, but the combination still seems like way too much. I completely understand wanting to make things as thematic as possible, but gameplay concessions often have to be made to keep things playable or they’re going to be on the express boat to banned item island.
Being able to attack while submerged already makes it nearly invulnerable, because that negates one of biggest flaws of Sea Monsters. With that option, the only reason a Leviathan would ever need to surface would be to make the unlimited movement, which can instantly put it out of reach of any potential threats.
I’m considering dropping the unlimited movement aspect, as they’re only ever shown flying once, and briefly, at the beginning of the source film. Additionally I think I’ll change its ability to give a full shoot action while submerged, likely removing that from the next version of the keyword.
The repair (without damage reduction) would work too, but it would be better as a full action, or at least not something that can be used on the same turn as an unlimited surface move. The sea creature restriction on repairing, regardless of how it’s done, doesn’t matter because this keyword would override that rule.
Does this become “better” if a Leviathan can no longer move with unlimited movement?
Second version of the Leviathan keyword.
Leviathan
A game piece with this keyword is a Sea Creature.Leviathans have 7 segments (six claws, one head); however Leviathans may not always have cannons assigned to all their segments. Only segments with cannons shown can shoot.
At the beginning of your turn decide if a Leviathan is submerged or on the surface. If on the surface, a leviathan’s printed base move becomes unlimited, it ignores all terrain, islands and ships when moving but cannot end any movement overlapping a ship; it cannot ram or be rammed, pin or be pinned, board or be boarded. If submerged, a leviathan moves with its printed base move; it may ram another ship, the rammed ship becomes pinned instead, and it may board.
A leviathan may shoot at other ships, regardless of its submerged status; a Leviathan may target submerged ships with a shoot action. A leviathan may be shot at only when it is on the surface; three hits in the same shoot action are required to eliminate one segment from a Leviathan.
When a leviathan is given a shoot action you may make one 3L range, rank-2 lighting attack, measured from the cannon on the leviathan’s head (it may make no other attacks). If the attack hits, eliminate up to two masts from the target ship, as well as any other ship in the line of fire with the attack.
After a Leviathan resolves a move action, as a free action it may repair any one missing segment.
If you really want (for thematic reasons) to keep the part about segments not being eliminated by attacks, some other major negative aspect needs to be added to the keyword make this remotely playable, like losing segments every time it moves or attacks, or something along those lines.
I do want to keep it, for now. The thing was hit with turn of the century torpedoes and didn’t flinch or show any signs of damage, what would an age of sail cannonball do?
That said, I do realize that making it “invulnerable” is a problem. Suppose I went the opposite way, instead of the segments being impossible to remove/eliminate they simply “repaired”?
After a Leviathan resolves a move action, as a free action it may “repair” any one missing segment.
Given that a Leviathan is for now a Sea Creature, would specialized language be needed, since Sea Creatures can’t repair?
You wouldn’t need to have an extra blank mark for the non-cannon ones, you can just leave them unmarked entirely, and then simplify the text by saying, “Only segments with cannons shown can shoot.”
You don’t need the extra line about reassignment either, unless the segments with cannons are purposely left generic so they can be switched around.
I”ll adjust the wording accordingly. I was concerned about someone potentially trying to shift a cannon around if a segment was somehow eliminated.
If its segments cannot be eliminated, how do you defeat it without a canceller?
Would Broadsides Attack work, when its a viable target on the surface?
Can this be used while submerged? As written it can, but using lightning underwater raises some thematic questions.
Is there a reason why it’s written as “2L+L+L” instead of 4L? I’m assuming you didn’t mean that it’s a rank-2 attack with a range of 3L, because the following line specifies the die result needed.
Yes, it can use the lightning attack while submerged. I did mean a rank-2 attack with a 3L range. I was modelling the language off of the DJC monsters Tiamat and Leviathan. I’ll re-word to clear it up.
The keyword is based on this, hence why it can use the lightning underwater, can be shot at but not damaged (for now).
What do you mean by “in the line of fire with the attack”? Does the initial attack ignore line-of-sight so you can target a ship further away and also hit everything in between, or does the attack continue past the initial target to hit anything else in a straight line beyond it?
If it continues beyond, is there a maximum range or number of targets limit? Without limits of some kind, scaling quickly becomes a serious issue when playing on a larger table with a lot of players and/or ships. Even in a smaller game, this would create potential for sniping ships on the far side of the table if you lined up your initial shot correctly.
Does this attack distinguish between friend or foe when it comes to those secondary targets?
Yes, the initial attack ignores the line of sight and does continue beyond up to the 3L range of the lightning attack. The target ship, and any other ship between or beyond would be hit if the attack succeeds. Regarding the secondary targets, I’m going to say that for now it would not distinguish between friend or foe.
Cleaned up some wording, draft two of the keyword:
Leviathan
A game piece with this keyword is a Sea Creature.
Leviathans have 7 segments (six claws, one head); However Leviathans may not always have cannons assigned to all their segments. A Leviathan can only shoot with segments that have cannons printed on them.
At the beginning of your turn decide if a Leviathan is submerged or on the surface. If on the surface, a leviathan’s printed base move becomes unlimited, it ignores all terrain, islands and ships when moving but cannot end any movement overlapping a ship; it cannot ram or be rammed, pin or be pinned, board or be boarded. If submerged, a leviathan moves with its printed base move; it may ram another ship, the rammed ship becomes pinned instead, and it may board.
A leviathan may shoot at other ships, regardless of submerged status. A leviathan may be shot at only when it is on the surface, but its segments cannot be eliminated or replaced.
When a leviathan is given a shoot action you may make one 3L range, rank-2 lighting attack, measured from the cannon on the leviathan’s head (it may make no other attacks). If the attack hits, eliminate up to two masts from the target ship, as well as any other ship in the line of fire with the attack.
Finally have a keyword to go with the Leviathan template I made earlier in the year. Keyword is still in rough draft phase, nothing final yet.
Leviathan
A game piece with this keyword is a Sea Creature.
Leviathans have 7 segments (six claws, one head); However Leviathans may not always have cannons assigned to all their segments. Segments that do not have cannons assigned to them have a blank |_| where a cannon would be. Leviathans cannot re-assign cannons from one segment to another.
At the beginning of your turn decide if a Leviathan is submerged or on the surface. If on the surface, a leviathan’s printed base move becomes unlimited, it ignores all terrain, islands and ships when moving but cannot end any movement overlapping a ship; it cannot ram or be rammed, pin or be pinned, board or be boarded. If submerged, a leviathan moves with its printed base move; it may ram another ship, the rammed ship becomes pinned instead, and it may board.
A leviathan may shoot at other ships, regardless of submerged status. A leviathan may be shot at only when it is on the surface, but its segments cannot be eliminated or replaced.
When a leviathan is given a shoot action you may make one 2L+L+L lighting attack, measured from the cannon on the leviathan’s head(it may make no other attacks). Roll a d6, on a result of 3-6 eliminate up to two masts from the target ship, as well as any other ship in the line of fire with the attack.
It could work, but depending on how the ship model was designed and how the distinction between them was set up, the ability/keyword text explaining it could get pretty complicated.
I was thinking that some masts would have a cannon printed on them, while others did not. For example, a ship that has 3 total masts, but only has cannons assigned to 2 of those 3. I might expand upon this further in Custom Ships.
If a ship existed that tracked its cannons and number of masts separately from one another, would that ship be compatible with the existing rules, or would it be better in a differently structured game?
My thoughts on The Pirates who Never Met:
Le Bouscat could be a very interesting ship. Lots of cargo and already decent cannons with an ability that would incline me to put a captain on her, particularly her linked crew a SAC-captain. 15 points seems fair to me for her.
Chamount could be very good as a pure gunship. She’s arguably better than HMS Dreadnought, given her speed and cannons as well as a slightly lower point cost. Based on speed and cannons alone I’d consider upping her point cost to either match or maybe exceed the Dreadnoughts, as speed wins games. Granted, 24+ points is a LOT of points to invest in a ship before adding any crew. Given that I don’t think Chamount would see much action in 40-60 point games but would maybe see usage in higher point games or in campaigns.
Napoule is maybe better than La Magnifique, despite the cargo difference. 16 points seems fine for her.
Mons en Barcul is likely fine at 13 points, as she’s very similar to La Possession, at least to me.
SDDV is also likely fine at 10 points, though I could see the point cost dropping to 9, as the Dover and DHII are both better overall ships imo at 10 points.
Holy moly, Montemorency is a FAST ship, potential of 4S movement before any extra action. I’m not really a fan of faction specific cannon bonuses, but one against the Pirates is a bit of an exception, given that the Pirates are the most likely faction you’d match up against. Her point cost seems fine, given her overall good stats.
Libourne is a neat ship, likely fine at 7 points.
Lagny sur Marne is a gold ship, no questions about it, but could also be run as a hybrid ship, similar to Le Triton.
La Celle makes an interesting ship. Good speed, mediocre cannons, nice cargo for her size, and a situational helpful ability. She has the speed and cargo space to steal a treasure and not get mauled in the process, but can also be run as a pure gold ship with a helmsman and explorer. Seems fine at 11 points.
I’m not sure how often you’d be able to use the ability of SMsO. On one hand the ability is interesting and can be used to hit multiple islands, but on the other it relies on an island set-up that doesn’t follow the official minimum island distance of 3L. However, now that I think about it, you could still get some use out of it as a scout ship to aid in gold gathering. SMsO has a fast base move and a range of L, giving her an effective range of S+L+S+L to mark an island as explored. I think I’d need to see this one in action with standard island set-up to get a better feeling of the ability. Outside of her ability she has good speed and average cannons and cargo. She could be run as a hybrid with a captain and helmsman, as the L-exploring can be used at any point during her turn, which would allow her to get within range of an island, mark it explored, and finish moving to dock at the now marked explored island to load treasure. (Unless I’ve gotten my order of pirates operations mixed up and ships with abilities similar to this can’t do that)
Orvault is interesting and maybe too good. The only comparison is USS Springfield an 18 point ship from SCS. Orvault is arguably much better, as she has more cargo, access to much better crew, and better cannons. I could see this one going up a point or two (10 or 11), even though WK grossly overpriced many ships with this cannon bonus ability, it does pay off in larger scale games, and sometimes even in smaller scale games.
La Teste almost feels overpriced, but EA is a very good ability, especially when built into a ship with good to decent stats like La Teste. Still, I feel this could either stay as-is or go down to 13 points.
Montbeliard feels very similar to HMS Algiers(RV), however I think the Mont is better, based on speed and cargo space. Algiers is possibly over priced for what you get so I think the Mont is fine at 11 points.
Villiers le Bel is quite good. Nice speed and cargo for her size and a very useful ability, seems okay at 11 points.
Villiers sur Marne seems fine at 8 points, also very similar to Le Triton.
HSC is a nice flotilla tug. Excellent speed and nice cannons would incline me to run her as a small gunship, and paired with a flotilla.
Pride of Bordeaux is a weird one. Very fast out of the gate with no cargo, and doesn’t loose too much speed when she picks up some treasure or has a helmsman added. Likely fine at 10 points as she has very nice cargo for her size, an almost purpose built gold runner.
Speaking of a purpose built gold runner, Ris Orangis makes a very nice gold runner. Good speed and cargo, along with an ability that enables her to aggressively go after similarly sized pirate gold runners.
Even though she has a very nice point cost of 3, I’d struggle to find a use for the Bezons. Almost no cargo space and an in-accurate cannon. She does have decent speed, so she could be used to haul around a flotilla.
Bergerac is interesting. I dislike 1 mast ships with single base move segments, but she does have a nice defensive ability that will keep her safe from most ships, given the predominance of L-range cannons in the game. However, like all 1 mast ships, she’s susceptible to ram damage, and has average cargo for her size. I’d likely use her as a gold ship or as a very odd 1 mast gunship. You could probably bring her speed up to S+S and not need to increase her point cost of 5.
Jacques is well suited to being used on his linked ship, but would also see use on other large cargo vessels. Why is his point cost at 6?
Rene is a very nice addition to any gunship, as the trigger for their ability will stack with other more regular cannon bonuses. His price seems fine at 3, given that the bonus is conditional and doesn’t apply to all ships.
Charles Castel and Louis Pastuer are fine point wise, and add more to the already excellent French named crew roster.
I’d use Louis-Espirit on the DJC La Corse, to get a smaller version of the SM Acorazado. I don’t think the French have a 5 mast ship with that ability, but if they do I’m certainly putting him there instead. 😀
Why is Jacque Cartier 6 points? That combination would come out 5 points I think. Also, is he meant to be related to Louis Cartier from FN?
Whew! I’ll be getting to the rest of the set in due time!
What the subtle difference in the MKL does is un-break Le Jongleur (MI-209), which technically wouldn’t be able to use its built-in HI-Raider ability at all if you took them exactly as WK had them written. A side effect is that also allows you to put an Ex-Pat on some other ship with that ability and still use it, but that’s minor to the point of being almost irrelevant.
This would also apply to Ex-Pat crew that do have HI-Raiding as an ability, such as Yeshaji Angria, correct?
The Code, pg 3, “Derelict, Sunk, and Wrecked”
A ship is “sunk” when it is hit by a cannon shot and has no masts remaining that can be removed. A sunken ship is removed from the game, unless some ability or effect allows it to return to play.
–emphasis added–
The Code, pg 4, “Removed from the game v Eliminated”
“Removed from the game” refers to a game piece that has been taken out of play without necessarily being killed or destroyed. Once a game piece has been removed from the game it cannot be returned to play unless a rule or ability specifically allows it.
Ability text of Runes of Odin, Frozen North 096
Load this treasure face down. When revealed, place an iceberg from outside the game anywhere in the play area not within S of an island. If the iceberg touches any ship, remove the ship (and any crew and treasure aboard her) from the game. Then remove Runes of Odin from the game.
–emphasis added–
My question is; does Runes of Odin technically sink a ship, or is something else happening?
I don’t really like it being called “normal” or even “standard” when there’s a significant modifier added on immediately, but I think it gets the intent across fairly well. The alternative would be to go into much more detail about firing each/all cannons “using the standard rules, but…”
Hmmm. I think I’ll keep the S range for the mortar attack as well, seems less confusing and keeps the keyword for being very wordy.
The repair-move part is a little ambiguous. Is that meant to be a free move after repairing, or is it intended to be a full action that counts toward the increased action limit? If it’s meant to be a free move, you should use the exact same wording as the Reverse Captain so it’s clear what else works with it (specifically, not a Captain).
It is meant to be a free move action, not a full regular move. My main thought process was that you’d use a shipwright to help in a combat situation. I’ll adjust the wording. My original thought for that aspect was being able to shoot as part of a repair action, but I decided that would be too messy with timing and possibly create several problems.
The “no other abilities” text wouldn’t help in that case, for the same reason you can’t use BA against anything with the “Ships within S cannot shoot this ship” ability. If you don’t have a legal shot in the first place, you can’t apply any shooting abilities to it.
The way you have the keyword written above, I would assume the minimum range of S would still apply to the mortar attack.
~~~~~~
Does the mortar attack still obey the keyword’s base minimum range of S, or is it exempt from that because it’s specifically referred to as different from a regular shoot action?
How would the wording need to change to allow a mortar attack to target something within S of the ship?
Is that meant to be a free move after repairing, or is it intended to be a full action that counts toward the increased action limit?
Meant to be free, like the reverse captain example.
Does the mortar attack still obey the keyword’s base minimum range of S, or is it exempt from that because it’s specifically referred to as different from a regular shoot action?
I was actually going to ask you that, though for a different reason. I tacked on the Broadsides Attack “no other abilities” line to the very end. I’m not certain if that would “overrule” so to speak the S range requirement.
If this is going to be a unique (physical) ship type, you could indirectly prevent copying by having the keyword refer repeatedly to that ship type, which would prevent it from working on other types of ships, although a simple line saying “This keyword cannot be copied.” would work just as well and would be more universal.
At this point the keyword wouldn’t appear on a unique ship design, I’m envisioning a standard ship. However if I can finagle a way to combine a Bombardier and a Switchblade…….
Are there thematic/historical justifications for the increased action limit, the repairs while moving, or the boarding protection?
Thematic mostly. The base inspiration for the keyword is a suit of armor that was cool but not very battle effective. I’m still in rough draft mode, and haven’t decided anything for the final version.