I am an unabashed Treckie, I freely admit this. We all know that my Asian Merchant Junk was named Kobayashi Maru after that infamous ship in "The Wrath of Khan". While I am sure that an Enterprize is in the future for Black Rose, here is something I have been working on for a very long time, a replacement for the JRS Snow, the Reliant. I just cannot help myself.
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Not all testing of my ships goes according to plan. With Xi'an due to have it's approval at any time, we have moved on to the next ship to be released: The refit of Fortuna, our very first ship.
While not a popular seller for many reasons, many prefer to sail to larger ships, Mediterranean style ships can be a hard sell, and we were still saddled with Amber's ideas on how a ship should actually go about it's business, making Fortuna slower than most, especially when running before the wind. We fixed the last part, the fact that Captain's seem to prefer many guns to maneuverability and ancient looking square riggers is their own fault, but Fortuna's refit will see her looking better, having less land impact, and sailing at the very peak of perfection. Unfortunately, Six guns and lots of maneuverability can be a bit of a disadvantage in a battle. Yes, we have been "active" here in a the shipyards. Another take on the sloop class. This time a walk back to my Mediterranean "tartana" style ships. This one has a single bow gun, two on each broadside, and a single stern "stinger" to dissuade any enemy combatants from getting too close. Vespa means "Hornet", an old name in US navy ships, but apt in this ship's case.
A new sloop is on the way here at Black Rose Shipyards. This one is something I refer to as a "raider" as it has two forward chasers, a single gun on each side, and two aft chasers. Great for swooping in at an enemy, letting go with both bow guns, letting the single broadside cannon add some damage, and then turning away to hit with the pair of stern guns. Still some ways off in development, but we are ever building and improving! the name, Huoxing, is a bit of a in joke for us here. It means "Active". This will make the third ship we have named thusley .
Another in our line of Asian ships, Xi'an is schooner classed with a twist. While she does not have a true square sail, I have set her up with working leeboards that do the same thing. On such a shallow drafted vessel as Xi'an, leeboards would be necessary when going into the wind, but would do nothing but cause drag when running with it. By raising them up out of the water, she will gain some speed as her resistance to the water would be lessened. Forget to lower then when you turn into the wind and you will quickly find yourself slowing to a halt and drifting slowly back. While I expect to be battle testing her shortly, do not expect her to be released soon. I have two new ships and a refit ahead of her.
Insolenté has been a ship a long time in coming. A direct competitor to the RSS Mystique in both looks and cannon placement. Even though she competes directly with one of Angelic's ships, she was kind enough to lend me some help in paring down the Land Impact on some mesh I already had made done for this dignified ship. Angelic's work took the stern platform down from 60+ Land Impact to 7. A rather lot I might think. I will just let the pictures speak for themselves Rest assured, even though we are busy refitting out older ships to higher standards and working madly to bring out a line of ships from the Far East, we have not forgotten that we have a backlog of Mediterranean based ships to get out. The big ships are almost here!
I have made no secret that I have a second line of ships coming out to sell (and sail) alongside my Mediterranean style ships. Coming soon will be a feet of Asian styled SPD pirate ships. Of course I would have to include a new "freebie" merchant to go with it. So I give you to, the "Kobayashi Maru" As you can tell, she is not yet done, but getting closer to be all roughed out before being finished in my unique style of Mesh and Prims. Look for her in testing later this spring.
Do not think for a second that Black Rose Shipyards is not going to be releasing new ships, we have a whole fleet in various states of readiness to go out. Between releases though, we will be updating some of our older ships to more resemble their newer siblings in both looks and performance. The first to be done will be Furia, our venerable Schooner. Still a good ship, she will cut her land impact by almost half, increase her performance to match other ships in her class, and will be better looking to boot. I think that qualifies as a win all around. For those that already own one of my favourite ships, the refitted Furia will arrive free of charge. I am sure you will not want to use the old one once you try the new. Diligetne' will be soon after Furia, followed by Fortuna and the rest as time allows. Last week Amanda was kind enough to go Attivo a good battle testing. While she never stood much of a chance against ships with bow chasers, she put up a very good fight up until the very bitter end, being one of the last ships still afloat. Yes, Attivo is a smokey beast when incapped.
So far she has been approved in Antiquity, still waiting word from Pirates Destiny before I release her for sale to the public. |
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