Captain Jack wrote:Still, I am interested to see any full scenario idea with dynamic Blockades at a separate topic. As it was way too scattered for me to consider it.
OK, as requested, here's an attempt to visualise such a blockade. Not saying this necessarily is better than the original suggestion, but I DO like the idea of a blockade which lasts until it is broken. This is not meant as a new suggestion, just me trying to see how ideas discussed in the other thread would work in an actual scenario:
Background: The evil empire of Mexico, ruled by the dreaded Danik, currently controls the port of Baramas. This gives the Mexicans a lot of trade tax income, much to the dismay of other nice nations. Our hero, a Naval Combat Solutions Provider by the name of Haron, decides that it’s time to strike a blow to Mexico, and decides to block the port of Baramas (against only a fair amount of gold paid my the enemies of Mexico).
Planning: Haron decides to to involve in his plot, discusses the blockade with several groups and individuals, and together they make a plan. They set a start date of 12:00H on D-day, and all involved in the plans make sure to move their fleets to Baramas before this time. They also do not use those fleets for plunder or skirmish, both because they do not wish to show their presence, but also because they need their fleets to have no danger in order to enter the fleet.
Initiating: At 12:01 Haron chooses the port of Baramas, goes to Court, and selects «Blockade Port». He then gets a list of all his fleets in Baramas containing a MoW. This is only one fleet, the dreaded 6th Fleet. He chooses that fleet, and are prompted «are you sure?», which he is. A temporary blockade is now establish, so far with the 6th fleet as the only fleet in the blockade (the blockade will be public at the top of the next hour, 13:00). He now has some parameters to set for the blockade. He chooses that it is by invitation only (he does not yet wish to make public that a blockade exists). He may change this later. He also need to choose how to divide any income. Not yet sure exactly how to do this, but ideally Haron chooses «pay to blockade pool, divided manually when blockade ends». Hourly payment can be another option.
Start phase: Haron, and those he invited to join the blockade, now adds their fleets to the blockade. There are several 3 SoL 2 cutter fleets, but also some frigate fleets, and almost 75% of the fleets are cutters only. Before fifteen minutes have passed, twelve people have added a total of 250 fleets to the blockade. They also have combat fleets in Baramas in order to be able to plunder any ships appearing there. Haron gets a new «blockade menu». Here he can see which fleets are in the blockade (although not what ships are in each fleet), and their status: Unharmed, light damage, medium damage, heavy damage or destroyed. The other participants in the blockade get a similar menu, but can only see the status of their own fleets, not that of the other participants.
Blockade starts: At 13:00H, the blockade starts. It is noted in «Public Events», and everyone in the court of Mexico receives a warning (an «event»). Also, the port of Baramas is marked red on the map. The tax which would ordinarily og to Mexico, now instead goes to the «blockade pool». Most Mexicans still have siesta, but some of their allies note what’s happening, and start sending fleets to Baramas, and also discuss how to counter the blockade.
First blood: A friend of Mexico, the notorious Stan, is the first to reach Baramas with combat fleets. So far, he only knows that the port is blockaded, not who is behind it. He chooses «break blockade», and is shown a list of his available fleets in Baramas with a checkbox next to each. He checks every fleet and chooses «attack». Each of his fleets is then assigned a random fleet in the blockade, and a normal attack occurs. He has mostly medium strong fleets. All who face pure cutter fleets, win easily. He has some close wins against some tough frigate fleets, and some losses against some real monster fleets. All his fleets are now marked as «blockade breakers». Those fleets can be repaired, moved and attacked with, but they can NOT be used to attack the blockade again until that status is gone after 24 hours. Nor can any ships be removed from such fleets. In addition, Stan now goes through every battle report, to see who is participating in the blockade, and what fleets to expect. He notes lots of cutter fleets, and sees the name of Haron and seven other players in his reports. The battles were fought normally, with gold going directly to the victor of each battle. The only exception is that tail ships in the blockade never loses a level.
Voodoo: Now, this is where it gets tricky. What should the voodoo rules be? Is all voodoo allowed against blockade fleets, no voodoo, or only some voodoo, possibly with restrictions? Stan wants to cast a «Spy Network» on each of the players he now knows takes part in the blockade, in order to find out what fleets are in there. He is also aware that there may be more players participating than the eight he noticed. He would also like to cast Worms on all of them. His own ships have Bless and Drums, as well as Favorable Winds (as do everyone in the blockade). He would also like to cast some Krakens, Fire Ships and possibly even Leviathans, but those should probably not be allowed.
Other Fights: The blockaders who have their fleets attacked get normal warnings about this. Haron can see in the blockade menu which fleets are gone, and which are damaged. Also, they now see Stan’s fleets lit in Baramas. Some of them decide to hit the weaker fleets for the plunder gold.
Next Hour: Haron decides to now open the blockade to everyone, as there is no longer a need for secrecy, and more people may want to join. The first propaganda posts from both sides appear in the forums. All fleets in the blockade gets a certain percentage repair, and can even get above 100% health eventually (maximum 300%). The fleets can NOT be repaired manually, though. And players in the blockade can not remove a single fleet from the blockade. Any player may, however, abandon the blockade entirely. All his fleets then receive 18 danger plus one danger for each hour it was in the blockade, and he may not reenter that same blockade again.
The fight continues: Mexico’s siesta eventually ends, and more and more fleets appear in Baramas. Each fleet can only fight once per 24 hour, though. As it nears server midnight, the blockade has taken a beating, but is still standing. Also, new players have decided to join, and some of Haron’s allies have moved fresh fleets to Baramas, ready to be entered into the blockade when needed.
Server midnight: As the port is blockaded at server midnight, all Mexican players now lose 10% of their influence in Baramas, rather than the usual 10%. Even if another nation should have taken over the port before midnight, it’s still Mexico who lose influence, as they controlled the port when the blockade started. In fact, if a new nation now holds the port, it is not unlikely that it was they who hired Haron in the first place.
Next day: The blockade continues, and every hour, the trade tax goes to the blockade pool. This amount has gone down, though, as around half the traders in Baramas have now rerouted their trade fleets to support Mexico. Most Mexicans used their fleets to attack yesterday, and are now waiting for their fleets to lose the «blockade breaker» status, so they can attack again. The blockaders have entered some new fleets into the blockade, but not many, as they already had commited most of their fleets. Eventually, the next wave of attacks begin. The blockader fleets that were damaged yesterday has gotten some repair every hour. Some are above 100% health, but most of the pure cutter fleets are gone. The following attacks severaly damages the blockade fleets. A few new cutter fleets are added at strategic times to prevent it from being completely broken. Everyone who attacks the blockade is now also being lit up with FFJs and HNs, to make them face the risk of losing ships, forcing them to increase their gold at hand, giving those who plunder their trade fleets a decent income. The blockade breakers decide to halt all trade fleets until the blockade ends, to reduce this risk.
Blockade ends: As it nears server midnight again, several things happen. Danik manages to strike a deal with two of Haron’s allies, causing them to abandon the blockade. He also has some «fresh» allies, who launches an attack just before midnight, to prevent another round of extra influence loss. Haron, on the other hand, has secured the aid of yet another player, butt his player is too late to the party, and Danik manages to break the blockade before server midnight. The blockade is now broken.
Aftermath: Everyone who had fleets in the blockade, now have 24 hours to abandon the blockade. Until they do, or 24 hours pass, their fleets are safe. Once they abandon the blockade, however, every fleet they entered into the blockade gets 18 danger plus 1 danger for each hour. In this case, the blockade lasted for 35 hours, so all fleets gain 53 danger. Haron now gets access to the «blockade pool», and divides the gold to his allies according to their agreements. He decides that those to abandoned the blockade after pressure from Danik, will receive nothing at all. The blockade is over, and it is impossible to start another blockade in Baramas for another 24 hours.
