User:Eugenius

Test of Isis' Bounty

The Test of Isis' Bounty challenges players to find pieces of that legendary ship named Isis Bounty in Egypt's waters. Pieces can be found while fishing from the shoreline, but the final pieces needed to pass will be found in the deep waters of the Mediterranean and Rea Seas. Players will have to learn to construct Small Sailboats. Small Sailboats are steerable but subject to prevailing currents and have a chance of breaking up at sea, depositing the player on a random shore. In order to learn to construct Small Sailboats, players will have to work together to research the Basic Shipbuilding technology. All ships are affected by currents and wind resulting in slow sea travel.

After passing the test, players will gain the ability to construct larger, sturdier, and more expensive ships, complete with cargo holds. In addition to finding pieces of Isis Bounty or other ships, other desirable and undesirable debris will be found. Players will also need to scour the seas for Treasure Caches, recovered with Winches, which may contain rare and plentiful booty. Players may continue to seek out even larger and rarer Treasure Caches once they have passed the test, using a Sturdy Winch installed upon their Master's Schooner.

Principles

• Find a piece of Ship Debris
• Find a second piece of Ship Debris
• Show a piece of Ship Debris to Scientists at SBody or UBody
• Learn Basic Shipbuilding
• Construct a Small Sailboat
• Install a Light Winch
• Salvage any Treasure Cache
• Find 1 Piece of Isis' Bounty

Passing the Test

In order to pass the Test of Isis' Bounty, players must find:

• 1 Fragment of the Foredeck of Isis' Bounty
• 1 Fragment of the Aft Deck
• 1 Fragment of the Mainmast
• 1 Fragment of the Inner Hull
• 1 Fragment of the Cargo Hold
• 1 Fragment of the Cabin
• 1 Fragment of the Gilded Outer Hull

Once a player has all these in his/her possession, they should be shown to the scientists at University of the Human Body for the zap. All seven fragments will be removed from the player's inventory when they do so.

Mechanics and Content

Unconfirmed rumors have been circling that possible desirable items include:

• Silk Cloth
• Linen Cloth/Sails
• Gold Foil
• Mirrors
• Rope
• Boards
• Ship Debris

Unconfirmed rumors have been circling that undesirable items include:

• Torn Bandages
• Decayed Cadavers
• Rotten Leather
• Broken Chariot Wheels

Pieces of ship debris may be brought to Schools or Universities of the Human Body for identification. The scientists there will take the piece of Debris and return either: a piece of Ordinary Ship Debris (item name), or a piece of Isis' Bounty. If it is a piece of Isis' Bounty, it will be labeled with the part of that ship that the debris came from -- so, for instance, the item returned might be named, "A Fragment of the Foredeck of Isis' Bounty". The odds of any given piece of ship debris being from the Isis' Bounty depend on where and how it was found:

• A piece of Ship Debris fished up from shore has a very low chance of being from Isis' Bounty. Only fragments of the Gilded Outer Hull can be fished up from shore.
• A piece of Ship Debris fished up from offshore has a decent chance of being from Isis' Bounty. Only pieces of the Gilded Outer Hull, Foredeck, Aft Deck, and Mainmast can be fished up at sea.
• A piece of Ship Debris found along with a Small Treasure Cache is likely to be from Isis' Bounty. Any part of the ship can be found in Small Treasure Caches, but there is a greater chance that the piece will be from either the Cabin, Inner Hull, or Cargo Hold than the other types.
• A piece of Ship Debris found along with an Ancient Treasure Cache is guaranteed to be from Isis' Bounty. Any part can be found in Ancient Treasure Caches, but there is a greater chance of the fragment being from either the Cabin, Inner Hull, or Cargo Hold.

The use of pieces of Isis' Bounty is detailed below. Pieces of Ordinary Ship Debris have the following uses:

• 777 pieces of Ordinary Ship Debris are needed to unlock Basic Shipbuilding at University of the Human Body. Once the tech has been unlocked, any player can learn Basic Shipbuilding 1.
  • Once a player has learned Basic Shipbuilding 1, pieces of Ordinary Ship Debris can be turned in at the University of the Human Body where the tech is opened in exchange for knowledge. The scientists will examine the piece of ship debris and offer to instruct the player further on building simple ships -- each time the player does so, his/her Basic Shipbuilding skill will raise by 1, up to a maximum of 49.

Ordinary Ship Debris has no further uses.

Small Sailboats

Once a player has learned Basic Shipbuilding (see Ship Debris section above), they can construct Small Sailboats. Small Sailboats are built water-side from the following materials:

   400 Boards
   3 Linen Sails
   30 Rope
   10 Tar
   100 Nails
   50 Iron (for the anchor) 

Unlike ferries, sailboats cannot be disassembled and moved: once they are placed, the only way to move them to a new location is to sail them there. Also unlike ferries, sailboats can be steered. Some points of order on how sailboats are steered and handled:

   Sailboats cannot go in reverse.
   Sailboats traverse water of all depths.
   Steerage is precise -- unlike airships, direction is easily specified, but like airships, sailboats' speed is slow 
   Sailboats can be anchored, and should automatically anchor when a player exits one or logs off aboard one.
   Sailboats should be able to be boarded from a few coords away from shore by clicking upon them.
   Waypoint/Expedition Travel/Spouse warp should not be allowed to/from ships.
   Fishing should be allowed from ships. Ideally, ships should not stop moving for a cast -- it should be possible to trawl from a moving boat. 

Small Sailboats are somewhat flimsily constructed. This means that there is a chance that a small sailboat may come apart at sea. If this happens, the ship, and winch (if installed, see Winches and Treasure Caches section below) are lost, and the player is deposited on a random shore.

The quality of a Small Sailboat is determined by the Basic Shipbuilding skill level of the builder. At higher quality levels:

   Ships have a significantly lower chance of coming apart at sea.
   Ships last longer. The lifespan in days should be equal to the builder's Basic Shipbuilding skill, up to a maximum of 21 days. At Basic Shipbuilding 1, a Small Sailboat will disintegrate after 1 day. At Basic Shipbuilding 21 and above, a small sailboat will last for three weeks. This lifespan can be prolonged indefinitely with maintenance: selecting "Maintain this Sailboat" from the ship's menu will refresh the ship's timer. This will also update the ship's other properties to the player's new/current level of Basic Shipbuilding.
   

The Master's Schooner and Advanced Shipbuilding

Once a player has passed the Test of Isis' Bounty, he/she will learn the skill Advanced Shipbuilding 1. This will allow said player to construct Master's Schooners. The cost of building a Master's Schooner is:

   1000 Boards
   1000 Glossy, Rotproof Boards
   50 Linen Sails
   200 Rope
   100 Tar
   1000 Nails
   10 Pulleys
   100 Gold Foil
   50 Bronze Straps
   500 Iron (for the Anchor)
   5 Steel Cable (for the Anchor Chain) 

Master's Schooners obey the same mechanics as Small Sailboats (above), with a few exceptions:

   Master's Schooners never come apart at sea.
   Master's Schooners do not decay.
   .
   Master's Schooners may be fitted with Sturdy Winches (see Winches and Treasure Caches section).
   Master's Schooners have cargo holds.
   Either Advanced Shipbuilding (any level) or Basic Shipbuilding 21+ is required to operate a Master's Schooner. 

The base capacity of a Master's Schooner's cargo hold is 25000 Deben. This can be upgraded by a player with a high level of Advanced Shipbuilding. Advanced Shipbuilding 7 is required to upgrade the Schooner's cargo hold to 50000 Deben, and Advanced Shipbuilding 49 is required to upgrade the Schooner's cargo hold to 100000 Deben capacity. A nominal material cost may be associated with the first upgrade (to be determined). The final cargo hold upgrade should have a substantial material cost (also to be determined).

Higher levels of Advanced Shipbuilding can be learned by turning pieces of Isis' Bounty in to University of the Human Body after the test has been completed.

Winches and Treasure Caches

Both Small Sailboats and Master's Schooners can be fitted with Light Winches. Only Master's Schooners can be fitted with Sturdy Winches.

The cost to build a Light Winch is:

   2 Pulleys
   30 Rope
   5 iron (for the hook)
   1 1-output Gearbox, determined by the Sailboat 

The cost to build a Sturdy Winch is:

   5 Pulleys
   5 Steel Cable
   1 Large Gear
   10 steel (for the hook)
   1 3-output Gearbox, determined by the Schooner 

Winches allow the recovery of Treasure Caches. Treasure caches are spotted while at sea and appear as a shimmering surrounding a dark spot and have a relatively short visible range of around 10 coords. There are a couple of methods of finding Treasure Caches; the most straightforward is just to happen upon one. It is also possible, however, to narrow down the location of a Treasure Cache using an already-found Fragment of Isis' Bounty.

A player with a fragment of Isis' Bounty in their possession may examine it at any time. It will display one of three messages:

   "A rare artifact to be sure." In this case, there is no cache nearby.
   "The fragment shines even more gaudily than usual." In this case, there is a cache within 75 coordinates.
   "You get an uneasy feeling from this relic, as if it wanted something. Creepy." In this case, there is a cache within 25 coordinates. 

There are two types of Treasure Caches. An "ordinary" Treasure Cache can be fished up with either a Light Winch or a Sturdy Winch, and consists of an assortment of the following:

   1 Piece of Ship Debris 
   An assortment of any of: Mirrors, Silk Cloth, Gems of any size, Cuttable/Cut Gems, Gold/silver/alloys (either raw, bars, foil, sheeting, or wire), very old wine (10+ vintages, rare flavors possible), spirits (rare types possible), paints, high-quality blacksmith/glass blown items (8k hatchets, 6k distillation coils, etc.), raeli tiles (rare types possible), incense (higher qualities possible). 

The other type of Treasure Cache is the Ancient Treasure Cache. These should be substantially rarer and are only salvageable using a Sturdy Winch. If a player tries to recover an Ancient Treasure Cache using a Light Winch, they will receive a message that the cache is just too heavy to haul up using their winch. Ancient Treasure Caches consist of the following:

   1 Piece of Ship Debris (guaranteed to be from Isis' Bounty)
   Any of the treasure types found above, in greater quantities and slanted toward the rarer types (older vintages and rarer flavors of wine, more likely to have huge gems, rarer raeli tiles, rarer gem cuts, etc.).
   1 Rare Item 

Some suggestions for Rare Items found in Ancient Treasure Caches: very high-quality blacksmith/glass blown items (9500+ hatchets, 9000+ wineglasses, and so on), rare flax/wheat seeds with high yields, high quality knife templates, wings of Horus, rare flower bulb strains, portable cornerstones, lightboxes, and so on. The relative probabilities of each of these items should be carefully balanced so as to not disrupt the economy of Egypt. This would also be a good spot for placement of story items.