There's a new card in Custom Games. Sea of Stone puts you on one ship in the Corsair Isles, with a fishing rod, a hold full of fish that won't stay fresh, and a lot of people who'd like to sink you. When the Isles are done with you, you sail on to four more seas. It's new, so expect rough edges.
How it plays
- You sail with the keys: W and S for the sails, A and D for the rudder. The wind matters. Across it you fly, into it you crawl.
- Sail onto a buoy's ring and cast. The fight happens underwater in a side view: steer the hook, set it, keep the line out of the red.
- Your catch goes in a hold shaped like your boat. Fish go stale in about a day and ice keeps them longer.
- Every port pays its own prices, and a glut of one fish drops them. There are 42 kinds, some only at night, and every sea has its own, legends among them.
- Pirates patrol, spot you and come about. Q and E fire broadsides. Cripple one and you can board her for her strongbox.
- Pirate coves have shore guns and a vault. Silence the guns and the vault holds plans for better guns or hulls.
- Night is dark. Light your lantern and you see further, but so do they. Sail dark too long and worse things come.
- Seven kinds of ship, from your fishing boat to a man-o'-war, each port building its own people's hulls.
- Better rods, nets, crab pots, sails and figureheads, bought at the docks. You can dye your sails too.
- The weather turns. Squalls harden the wind, storms bring lightning that goes for the tallest mast, and the big fish rise in a storm.
The story
The Drowned Crown starts with your aunt's old boat and the four hundred gold she owed Tidewatch's harbour. Pay the debt, find out what she was really looking for, sail the Long Reach to Kellsport, and choose between the Harbour League and the Brotherhood.
Then the story leaves the Isles. Past the outer isles a passage between two runed stones opens onto the Shattered Atolls, and from there the seas run on: the steaming Ember Straits, the cold Bone Reef, and the storm round the Tempest Spire. Your ship, your hold, your gold and your story sail through with you, and each sea is harder than the last.
There's a sea serpent in the Ember Deep and something much bigger under the Drain. The game saves your voyage at every port, so you can pick it up from the setup screen.
If you'd rather just fish, Open Waters gives you a fresh lagoon every time. Calm Seas turns pirate attacks off, and Ironman means a sinking is the end.
The Salted Lantern
From dusk you can open your aunt's tavern for the night and cook for the harbour from your own catch. Fresher fish and better cooking earn more, and new fish add new dishes to the menu.
Every sea's home port also runs a regatta round its buoys, with medals for a fast time. At home you can keep fish alive in a pen, where pairs breed, and mount your biggest catches on a trophy wall. Guests come to the tavern to look at the legends.
With friends
The Sea of Stone maps in Community Maps have four seats, so you can host one and sail together. Pirate Waters is the same idea with every ship's guns live. Sailing on to the next sea is single player for now.
Set sail, or use the Sea of Stone card in Custom Games.
Adam