SERPENT

Serpents are large mystical creatures that inhabit the seas of Medievia.
At times, ships engage in large battles with these serpents. The battles
are notoriously fierce, and those involved in killing a serpent are rewarded
with huge amounts of FAE magic, SERPENT POINTS, and pieces of the serpent's
meat, which can be sold or traded, or chummed to attract more serpents.

The first signs of a serpent are usually when you notice it swimming under
your ship, banging around and pestering it. During this first phase,
your ship is not able to determine the color of the serpent. However, the
color is shown to nearby ships.

The color determines its speed and possible strength. Most serpents will
surface and swim next to the ship to check it out, at which point you know
its color and size. The RISK (distance from Medievia City) does not affect
serpents at all. They swim around wherever they choose.

Example Serpent:
    Colossal ruby triple eel headed whale with double barbed tails.

The total hitpoints of the serpent is determined by its size in 'rooms
long', times its strength, which is determined by its color. Different
body types also affect the serpents hitpoints.

Sizes:
    Small       1 to  6 rooms long
    Large       7 to 13 rooms long
    Massive    14 to 20 rooms long
    Mammoth    21 to 27 rooms long
    Enormous   28 to 34 rooms long
    Gigantic   35 to 41 rooms long
    Humongous  42 to 48 rooms long
    Colossal   50       rooms long
    Epic      100       rooms long

Colors:
    Emerald  takes 5 seconds to move -  400 HP Multiplier
    Gold     takes 3 seconds to move -  100 HP Multiplier
    Ruby     takes 2 seconds to move - 1000 HP Multiplier
    Violet   takes 1 second  to move -  500 HP Multiplier

A serpent may be one color or it may be a crossbreed and be two colors,
like an emerald violet or a ruby gold, etc. The stats will be the average
of the two colors.

If the ship you are on has never attacked the serpent and you do not fire
on it, it will eventually dive below and go on its way. It now counts your
ship as friendly and will not resurface next to your ship unless a lot of
time passes or you take your ship far away.

Ship Guns:
 Bolt Thrower:
  Triple damage in lightning storms
  Halved damage in firestorms
 Fire Caster:
  Triple damage in firestorms
  Halved damage in lightning storm
 Dart Flinger:
  Triple damage vs Mammoth and smaller
  Halved damage vs Enormous and larger

If you fire on a serpent it will then remember the ship you are on
forever. You may lose the ship to another clan and the serpent will still
attack it if it sees it.

Once you start a battle with a serpent it will continue to pester and try
to sink you until it dies or you sink. If your ship in such bad shape that
its just ready to fall apart the serpent may leave you alone for a little
while. You may be able to get away and repair or it may be just toying
with you, which is usually a very good time to call for some more ships to
help if any are nearby.

A submerged serpent can detect a ship as far away as 50-100 rooms
depending on the size of the serpent. Everytime a serpent surfaces next to
your ship you will have some expectation and excitement. If the ship you
are on has never fired on a serpent and does not have an insane amount of
Fae on-board, you will know you are safe. If your ship has a whole lot of
Fae, some say around 40k-60k, you cannot be assured safety, as serpents are
attracted to Fae. As the serpent surfaces you first see its color, then its
size. When it has completely surfaced, you get its full description. It will
then decide whether or not to attack.

You fire on a serpent via SHIP FIRE SERPENT from a gun that bears on any
part of the beast. You will automatically aim for the part of the serpent
that is the closest to your gun. Volley shots have a much better chance of
hitting. In fact, it is hard to hit a serpent without volleys as they move
and twist around so much. If your ship is turning even 1 degree in any
direction, your chance of hitting the serpent is drastically reduced. I
repeat, if your ship is not going DEAD STRAIGHT when you fire the gun, the
chance of hitting the serpent will be less than one third what it could
have been. Teamwork is the key.

To sum up in simple clear terms:
    Do not fire a shot unless it is part of a volley.
    Do not fire a shot if the ship is turning.

Shots fired from any bow gun do not take a non volley chance of hitting
reduction. So even just one pot shot from the front of your ship has a
decent chance at hitting the serpent.

When you kill a serpent the massive amount of Fae is added to your ship,
just like when you kill a MOBFACTION You also receive SERPENT POINTS
which go towards being a SERPENT HUNTER. When the serpent dies, it breaks
up into pieces. You can SNAG pieces as your ship goes by at the sides of
the ship via SHIP SNAG SERPENT These pieces of serpents are worth gold
when you snag them, the gold goes to the ships treasure chest.

Serpents can be tagged via the SHIP TAG SERPENT command. The smaller the
beast, the more likely it is to attack when tagged. It is easy to tag a
large serpent with a small ship, but small ships need to make sure not to
bite off more they can chew if they tag medium or small serpents.

The more guns you have, the better off you will be when going on serpent
hunts. When a serpent is on a ramming attack it will damage your ship if
it hits you. The only way to stop it is to be faster than the serpent,
which greatly depends on serpent color - your ship damage - and the
wind/weather, or you can stop the ramming attack by hitting the serpent
with a gun. It is then, as you can imagine, important to always have a
couple guns per ship side loaded and ready to go. If the serpent is on a
ramming attack and you hit it when its head is within 5 rooms from your
ship, the serpent will dive or turn away - thus avoiding the ramming
attack. This is a main and key part of serpents. A sloop cannot get rammed
or it will likely sink.

The amount of damage that is done when you are rammed is determined by the
speed of the serpent, not its size. Hammer headed serpents do much more
damage when ramming.

Some serpent attacks are just big gun battles as your ship is faster than
the serpent. You basically can often just pilot around and pepper the
beast with gunfire until it dies. Other attacks when your ship and the
serpent are the same speed have an entirely different feel, different
tactics and strategies. When you face a violet serpent that is faster than
the fastest ship the whole attack is different again.

Each serpent has a name that describes its size, color, heads, body, and
tails.
Examples:
  - Colossal ruby triple eel headed whale with double barbed tails
  - Mammoth violet double hammer headed eel with a fanned tail
  - Gigantic emerald sword headed serpent with triple scorpion tails
  - Massive gold double serpent headed eel with double dragon tails

Heads will appear in your ship if the head of the serpent is next to your
ship. These heads are there for man to man combat like any mob.
  - Hammer head has extra ramming dammage but does not enter room.
  - Serpent head bites and has poison. It can send players flying.
  - Eel head has biting attacks that can send players flying.
  - Sword head is backstab.
  - Dragon head spreads fire everywhere and has extra ramming damage.

Tails all do something special.
  - Scorpion tails send clusters of poison darts.
  - Serpent tails double the serpent speed if it is not a violet.
  - Dragon tails increases the serpents hitpoints.
  - Fanned tails blow wind, knocks players around, turns the ship.
  - Barbed tails send a blowing cloud of blinding poison at the ship.

Body type also affects things:
  - Whale body has extra hitpoints and slows speed down a tad.
  - Serpent body has extra speed and takes less damage
  - Eel body has less hitpoints and takes more damage

When you mix your ship class, ship damage, weather, other local ships,
serpent size, color, body type, head type, how many heads, tail type, and
how many tails -  you are left with a unique attack each and every time.
Serpent adventure is awesome fun!

See Also: MOBFACTIONS DM