Now i know most people play with events , devoting around 20% of your fleet to them , maybe using Mermaids and Becalmed the most , with Foul Winds a close 3rd. But are they really neccessary? I don't think fleets like the Norvegia Build and treasure gunners require them.

I guess it really depends on the metagame , as such most fleets should be built with
1)Events version
2)Non events version

As it stands , most ppl include Oarsman on their main ships , to prevent the Becalmed effect. With Helmsman they move S+S after Becalmed. You can be sure that most of the time your becalmed will not work, it just stalls them a bit. A treasure runner will never stay undocked , so your mermaids will not see light of day.

I guess events are only used for punishing a rookie player for not being attentive enough. Or maybe i have not played enough games yet , but with an extra helmsman and oarsman in ships like Neptune's Hoard , and galleys like Star of Siam , both with multi action , can easily clear terrain and run towards wild islands in turn 1. I prefer a fourth ship(the third holds the ransomed) that can serve as an extra treasure grabber.

What about you?

*oh , i havent played much since Revolution came out , but i do know about current rulings like Highlander and stuff. Not that it concerns this discussion.

Also , a Hoard with Helmsman and Havana(the Triple H) moves S+S+S+S+L after Becalmed ... which is like S short of 4L , which means it should reach any wild island . Sure , it has 2 cargo ... with stuff like Buried Treasure and Rum you should haul around 6-7 gold ?*

I have found that divers makes a gun fleet viable again. Most games are over with very little gold on either home island. (Just more on mine!) The fleet was built specifically to counter a dual multi-action treasure runner, but it does well against most treasure runners. I include a Bon Marin and a couple of forts, but they rarely get set up.

Personally I think Events are a good idea, badly done. They're overpowered, and can spoil games at times -

In Multiplayer, Player 1 smugly turns to Player 3: "Right, I'm playing Mermaids on your last ship."

The other players turn their heads slowly to the victim...

"But...and...I...Grrr!" >Explodes in furious anger<

Rafts and Divers I think are great. Cheap, well-costed, don't change the direction a game is headed in, and certain conditions need to be met before the Event can be used.

A good player will plan for Events, but perhaps we'll see some crew or ships that avoid Events. E.g. -

"This ship's movement cannot be limited by any Events."

I don't like to think I have to plan around them though, which is annoying. Overall I reckon Events are good, but not overly powerful annoying ones, because in bigger multiplayer games when the points don't matter, they wreak havoc and make me go purple with rage. It's true that in standard 40pt games each player can only use an event once because of the no-dupes rule, and that they cost points, but it only takes one use of an Event to massively switch the game in someone's favour.

Events neccessary? IMHO...NO. I like the game much better without them.

It makes no logical sense that a player can pay for an event. It would make more sense if they were random happenings drawn from a stack. A player could seed the stack but what they add in could possible backfire on them.

...Or events need counters. Like a saving throw. Roll a 5/6 on a D6 and the event fails. Paying build points for an event to just happen without possible recourse is a lame rule. Again JMO.

-Q

Hmmmm...Stuff like weather I'd agree shouldn't be purchasable, but Rafts and Divers are directly related to what the ships do in that Rafts are man-made and Divers are actually men. So yeah, keep them as-is.

Perhaps conditions should be applied to them, such as "This Event must be played at least L away from any ship." so that it looks like the Foul Wind or Becalmed ocean has been stumbled upon instead of randomly appearing in a group of enemy ships.

Agreed.

Divers make sense...a bunch of bruthas jumping off the side of the ship to nab the sinking/sunken treasure. They could be crew as well, since I think it takes a special person to jump in the ocean with a knife in their mouth and swim down a hundred feet for booty.

Raft I can understand...since it's something that could be costructed hastily out of the ships materials as it sinks.

Maybe they shouldn't be called events though...rather "Reactions".

Buying weather events makes no logic.

-Q