Dev Diary #9: Seafaring
By Jamie-san
“Eärendil was a mariner
That tarried in Arvernien;
He built a boat of timber felled
In Nimbrethil to journey in;
Her sails he wove of silver fair,
Of silver were her lanterns made,
Her prow was fashioned like a swan,
And light upon her banners laid.”
- The Song of Eärendil
Hey guys, it's your friendly neighbourhood Pikachu here with another Dev Diary. In this diary I'll be showing off a new activity that I've been working on over the last couple of weeks that we'll be adding in v2.2. So make sure your vessel is all-a-taught before splicing the mainbrace as we take a little look around.
Setting Sail
Sailing is a new activity that will be available in v2.2 to any ruler whose top realm contains a coastal province (e.g. Prince Angbor of Lamedon can sail as Gondor has coastal provinces, while King Théoden cannot). If your character doesn't have a vessel on which to sail the shores of Middle-earth, they will first need to charter a boat for the duration of the journey or make the longer-term investment to commission the construction of their very own ship for all their future journeys. Either way, your character will have the choice of three different sizes of sailing vessel: a humble boat, a sturdy ship or a mighty flagship. While more expensive, owners of larger ships will benefit from a greater bonus to their martial skill and offer them greater prestige among their peers. Larger ships will also ensure greater survivability should you be unfortunate enough to end up in a storm or fighting in combat against an enemy ship!
Readying for the Voyage
Before your character sets off for adventure on the high seas, they'll spend some time at port, killing time before their journey. The docks can be a pretty interesting place for a ruler to find themselves, so expect them to do anything from hiring experienced sailors to join their court and expedition, to having drinking competitions with overconfident crewmates!
What... is your quest?
Once all the dockyard shenanigans are done with, you'll get to choose what the aim of your journey will be. At the very least for the release of v2.2, I'm hoping to get exploration and piracy branches fleshed out, but I'd also like to add a hunting branch so that your ruler can enjoy their very own Moby Dick-esque saga! The piracy branch will hopefully add some extra flavour to corsair cultures and I'm sure we'll share more of those flavour events when we focus on them in a future diary.
Exploration - Seeking the Meneltarma
Rather than show you each and every event chain, I thought I'd focus on one of (what I find to be!) the most exciting event chains. After the destruction of Númenor, some among the Exiles believed that the summit of the mountain remained as an isle in the Great Belegaer Sea. Some Dúnedain are even said to have set sail trying to reach the isle, from which the legend held that one could catch a glimpse of the unreachable Aman. So too shall your brave (or foolhardy?) explorers have the opportunity to seek out and set foot upon the hallowed land. In the lore, no mariner ever managed to reach the Meneltarma, so don't think this will be easy and expect danger along the way - the voyage will test your skills to their limits!
But if you succeed where others have failed... you will be handsomely rewarded!
Mariner Trait
Of course, just like any other lifestyle activity, making a habit of sailing out to sea will grant you lifestyle experience, allowing you to level up your very own mariner trait which grants bonuses to martial, intrigue, prowess and health, as well as helping to tip the balance of chance in your favour when facing tests of your skills out at sea.
So make like Eärendil, unfurl the sails and set off into the great blue to adventure, exploration and plunder!
Mod of the Year
Finally as one last reminder, if you haven't already, please consider placing your vote for Realms in Exile in ModDB's Mod of the Year 2021. You've got just over a week left to get your vote in, so if you've had fun playing Realms and want a little way to say thank you, we'd be very grateful to have your support!
Top 100 - 2021 Mod of the Year Awards - Mod DB
Fellow Inklings: Join the Discussion
Not yet a member of the Realms Discord community? Join us here: Discord.gg
If you want to be pinged on Discord for when a new Dev Diary releases, go to the get-a-role channel and talk to Smeagol about getting yourself a new Loreseeker role. We swears you won't regrets it...
