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Ship Module 1
by Mythion


If you grew up in Medievia V or stayed with the game over the years, you know all about shipping - the fun that can be had, the gold there is to be made, and the dangers lurking in the high seas. However, if you're one of those people like me who missed out on the fun when shipping first started and are just getting back to the game, you're probably confused and ready to give up. Whether you're looking to make your own ship or are already a shipper, you might find something useful in this article. We've tried our best to interview many of the game's sucessful shippers and have combined their perspectives below.

Module 1: Getting Started (Skip ahead if you already have a ship.)


The SHIPADMIN (abbreviated SHIPA), SHIP and JOB commands are the ones most commonly used in relation to ships, so we recommend that you read the help files associated with them (HELP DECKHANDS for information on the JOB command). We'll only discuss the relevant uses of those commands here. Before you create a ship, you will need ship privileges and a nonzero clanrank from your clanleader. This is because all ships belong to the clan and the expenses associated with shipping are billed to the clan's bank account. Once your clan allows you to ship, you have to register a name and await approval from the gods. SHIPA REGISTER Infinity's Kiss will send a request for the name Infinity's Kiss to be approved as a ship name for your clan. SHIPA LIST will show pending and approved ship names. Once you have your name picked out, you have to decide among the three classes of ships available to you: Sloop, Frigate, and Man O'War. As the first two classes are used only in limited circumstances at the present time, we'll stick to the Man O'War in this article, which is the primary ship for serpent hunting. SHIPA MAKE ManOWar Infinity's Kiss will create a Man O'War named Infinity's Kiss and places it at the Sea's End harbor (pictured below).

Ship Article 1

Once you have a ship, you can fly to it - FLY SHIP KISS in our case, transport yourself in from the nearby wilderness by typing SHIP GOTO KISS, or walk into it as it were a zone. You can use SHIP GOTO from anywhere in the wilderness to enter your clan's ship if it's already underway.

Unless you have thirty-seven friends willing to follow your orders in perfect synchrony for hours, you will need to hire deckhands. Deckhands perform a variety of vital skills on the ship including firing guns, moving ammo, repairing damage, pumping water, dousing fires, and working on the ship's sails. Their responsiveness and effectiveness at those jobs depends on their level which ranges from 0 to 100. They level once for every twenty minutes they spend on a ship that is underway.

Workers belong to a ship, gain experience on it, and sink with it. The maximum number of deckhands you can hire is 37, corresponding to the total number of guns on a Man O'War. To hire a full complement of workers, you can use JOB HIRE 37 (J H 37). You can view the levels of your workers and how much you owe them using JOB REVIEW (J R). The SHIP DISMISS DECKHANDS command, which can only be used when the ship is docked, allows you to activate and deactivate your newly hired deckhands. Active deckhands are needed before you can set sail - they perform tasks for you and also require payment. Deckhands are managed through the JOB MANAGE DECKHAND (J M D) command, where you can assign the deckhands in percentages to the following tasks - firing guns (G), raising or lowering sails (S), moving ammo (A), repairing (R), pumping water (P) and dousing fires (D). Here are some examples of how J M is used. Don't let the actual job descriptions confuse you - we'll discuss them further below.

· J M will show you what your workers are currently doing.

· J M D G 100 is what you would use while killing serpents. This allows all guns to be manned by deckhands.

· J M D R 90 P 10 or something similar is what you would use if the ship has sustained heavy damage and you are not fighting serpents.

· J M D G 60 D 20 R 10 P 10 might help you fight a fire and repair the damage that it is causing, while retaining the ability to fire at serpents.

Now that you have your first ship sitting in Sea's end harbor, we can begin to outfit it with guns and ammunition. There are three types of guns available: dartflingers, firecasters and bolt-throwers.

· Dartflingers are effective against small, large, massive, and mammoth serpents but not larger ones, and are not influenced by the weather. The majority of serpent hunting ships are outfitted entirely with dartflingers and are currently the most efficient way to get fae and gold. We recommend that you start with these on your first ship.

· Firecasters and Boltthrowers are effective against enormous and larger-sized serpents but not the smaller ones. Firecaster damage is tripled by firestorms and reduced by one-third in a lightning storm. Bolt-thrower damage is tripled by lightning storms and reduced by one-third in firestorms. Firecasters are very efficient at dispatching other ships because they tend to start fires and cause a spreading wave of damage. Several combinations are possible with these guns and will be discussed later.

Now that you know about the guns, it's time to buy some for your ship. There are 37 gun locations on the ship - 16 guns face larboard (above you on SHIP MAP), 16 face starboard (below you), 4 face the stern (to the left), and 1 faces the bow (to the right). It's important to not confuse "above you" and "below you" with cardinal directions like north and south as those are determined by the compass, which we'll discuss later. You can use SHIPADMIN BUY GUN to buy guns. For example, SHIPA BUY GUN DARTFLINGER LARBOARD 5 would buy a dartflinger at larboard position five. Once each gun slot has a gun, it's time to buy ammo. You can view your ship's ammo stores using the SHIP STATUS command. To buy ammo for your dartflingers, you can use SHIPA BUY AMMO MAGICMISSILE 500. We recommend that you have at least 3000 ammo on your ship at any given time.

You now need to hire deckhands to raise your sails, as all ships start off with sails unfurled. Use the SHIP DISMISS DECKHANDS and J M D S 30 G 70 commands to make this happen. Then climb up to the rigging and type SHIP RAISE FULL. You only have to do this once, unless you plan on converting your ship into a pirate ship which requires battle sails.

With sails raised and guns well stocked with ammo, you're almost ready to set sail. You just need to learn how to drive the ship. SHIP MAP provides a ship's eye view of the map (as opposed to casting the wizard's eye spell, which provides a game's eye view). On the map, your ship is always centered and always moves right-ward. The red letters represent the cardinal directions on the compass and show your true heading. To control the ship, you need to take the helm. Walk over to the helm and type SHIP HELM to take it. Once you have it, you can change the course of the ship by turning it clockwise using SHIP CO 90 or counterclockwise using SHIP CO -90. When you're happy with your heading, you can use SHIP CO 0 to stop turning. If you need to leave the helm, make sure you lash it so that the ship maintains its current heading using SHIP LASH. If you want your ship to turn continuously in a particular direction while you are away, you can use SHIP LASH 90 or SHIP LASH -90.
Ship Article 2

A ship is propelled by the wind and its speed is determined by the wind speed and wind direction. You can see the current wind speed and direction using SHIP STATUS NAV, which is an abbreviated form of SHIP STATUS. It gives you the most relevant details regarding the direction the ship is headed, its speed, and whether you are in safe or hazardous waters. It's recommended that you alias SHIP STATUS NAV to something quicker to type like nav.

Finally, you need to go through the following checklist before you set sail:

1. Make sure that workers are activated (SHIP DISMISS DECKHANDS) and are assigned to guns (J M D G 100).

2. Make sure that the ship is pointed towards the ocean (SHIP CO 90 or -90).

3. Make sure that the ship has enough ammunition (SHIP STATUS).

Once this is done, head down to the capstan and type SHIP WEIGH to begin weighing the anchor. It can take up to a minute to weigh the anchor. If you cast a spell or leave the room during this time, you will have to begin again. So, it's important to disable your spell triggers.

The next module will deal with basic navigation and serpent hunting. We hope you keep reading.
Ship Article 3

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