World Conquest Online

Dom and his growing entourage appeared at the empty space beside the Trireme shipyard, beyond it was empty land that headed towards the Silver Forest that was being cut down between Riverside and the former Gluttonous Chief’s Village. This area had been purposefully left clear with the hope to expand in this direction in the future. To the north of their location was the Mausoleum, and beside it the small graveyard for the fallen Warriors of Riverside, that although small in number, had sacrificed themselves to aid its growth.

"System, please use the Merchant Shipyard Cube." Dom announced as they walked away from the Trireme Shipyard, giving space for both Shipyards to be upgraded in the future.

[Would you like to re-roll or re-use]

Dom would have checked the stats of the Merchant Ships, but the agreement had already been made that they would re-roll for a Military use this time.

"Re-Roll please" Dom asked politely.

[Spawning Shipyard]

The waters of the Calm River began to shake and churn as a large Warehouse on the edge began to spawn, similar to that of the Trireme Shipyard. Dom suddenly had a thought as he looked to the east where the fishing ships were working and his small navy was anchored. As last time, a small wave had appeared from the River churning and headed down towards them, causing smaller boats to upend whilst those on the banks of the River were covered in water.

Thankfully the weather was calm and the sun was warm today and those that fell from their boats were quickly helped back in by others. Dom closed his eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that Helena and Ophelia who were chatting would most likely have been soaked again. Helena would definitely not be happy with him, and he saw a slight grin on Himilco’s face as he had also imagined the conversations to come.

"We probably should have warned them this time." Lucius commented as he admired the new Shipyard.

"Yeah, I will remember next time." Dom agreed, knowing that he would most likely forget, before looking at the stats.

[Shipyard of Riverside

Shipyard Grade - S

Shipyard Level - 1

Current Project - None, Please Roll or place Schematic.

The Shipyard of Riverside is the start of Riverside’s maritime accomplishments, allowing a place for vessels of different types to be constructed, either Merchant, Transport or Military. The more skilled the team of workers, the higher quality and faster that Ship’s will be made. Shipyard can supplement nearby Dock’s with additional Warehouse space if needed]

"Thanks System please roll." Dom asked.

[Please select, Merchant, Transport or Military]

"Military please." Dom replied, as those around him waited patiently. However Dom was surprised with another question appeared. Before he re-read the description. "Actually wait a second! What do you mean by place Schematic?"

[Unlike a Warriors Hall that spawns Humans, a Shipyard is a place for building, and therefore can be used to build any type of ship that Riverside has a Schematic for]

"So does that mean I have a choice of rolling again, or using the Trireme schematic again?" Dom asked the system, realising that this could save his decision on the Building Clone Cube.

[Correct]

"If I roll again, and decide that I want to use the Trireme schematic again, is that possible?" Dom asked again.

[You will have two Schematics, but can choose to have any Schematic in use]

"So if the Schematic isn’t what we want to use, I can use any of the current ones stored?" Dom clarified

[Correct]

"What Schematics do I currently have?" Dom queried, wanting to have all the information ready.

[Trireme - Grade A

Early Merchant Sailing Ship - Grade C]

"Roll again then please for a Military Ship." Dom ordered politely.

[River, Sea or Ocean]

Dom hadn’t expected this question, as his last shipyard had given him the Trireme directly. He didn’t have a need for a ship in the Ocean currently, not that he was aware what ancient ships would be worthy of the Ocean. So his decision was between the Sea and the River. His Trireme and Bireme were useful in both, however the long oars could potentially become unwieldly in small Rivers and they were ideal to be used in shallow Sea’s and wider Rivers. There current priority was defending Riverside and the new Port City that would be launched soon, and exploring the Rivers and Lakes around them.

"Sea." Dom replied, believing that the inner land was more important but River ships could be restricting if they needed to be redirected to defend at the Port. The direct area that needed defending could be done by his Trireme’s and potentially the Beast Hall. He hoped that by choosing Sea, the risk would potentially pay off that he could get something that could work in both situations. Part of him hoped for something like a Viking Longship that was speedy and tough or an improved version of the Trireme such as the later Roman Galleys or a high decked version.

[Rolling for a Military Ship.....Bireme]

Dom felt a bit deflated, having thought that he would at least get some variety, the Bireme was a downgrade on his Trireme. They were smaller and could be built faster, but in both strength and agility they were a downgrade on the Trireme.

"Show stats." Dom asked.

[Ship Grade - C

Bireme are an ancient Mediterranean Galley, originally used by Ancient Civilisations such as the Phoenicians and Assyrians, before being used by later Civilisations including both the Greeks and the Romans. They had two levels of Oarsmen. They were an upgrade on the single layered Penteconter. They were a swift vessel that ruled the Mediterranean ocean for over a thousand years. Some came in variations with Sails, were as others did not.

They were eventually replaced with their upgraded version the Trireme, but before that had served as both Sea and River faring nations around the Mediterranean.

Bireme’s had a ram on the front of them, similar to their younger brother the Trireme, as well as containing both the oarsmen and a small contingent of Warriors who would fight against other ships at close range.

A Bireme would on average take four thousand man days to complete, However as this Bireme would be in a Grade S Shipyard, this has been reduced to seven hundred man days. Therefore it would take fifty Shipbuilders, fourteen days to build one Bireme.]

"System, how long does it take to build a Bireme compared to a Trireme?" Dom asked, trying to calculate the benefits of having more smaller ships than the improved version.

[Around three Bireme can be built in the time of two Trireme]

Dom tried to weigh up the benefits, so he turned to Himilco who was beside him, waiting patiently to find out what they would be adding to the building schedule.

"Himilco, we can either build more Trireme or we can start building Bireme as well." Dom explained, as Ou Yezi, Aase, Lucius and Subutai listened.

"Trireme." Himilco replied with little time spent thinking, "They are better in every way and are more versatile. The Bireme would be excellent but they are a downgrade on the Trireme. If we had an excess in crews to sail the ships, then I would say Bireme as we can make them quicker, but we do not have an excess and are constantly having to find new crew members."

"How are the Hittites doing?" Subutai asked, around two hundred Hittites had joined Riverside after the Battle of Kadesh mission, as well as around six hundred civilians. Some of those had either decided to leave the Military and become Farmers or Lumberjacks, but the rest had become the first crew of the Galatea, with some of the Egyptian guards that had joined Riverside with Abubakar.

"They are natural sailors." Himilco replied proudly, "They are split across all of our ships, as we moved some of the experienced crews from the Bireme’s to the Galatea. We will do the same thing when the Enyo is launched. Once she is launched, we will then have to work through the Merchant Ship crews and Civilians to fill up the next ships ranks."

"What about the Warriors on those ships?" Lucius asked.

"They are mainly from the Hoplite’s, a lot of them have sea faring experience and have been a great asset. But it is best to speak with Commander Gan Ning about that." Himilco explained, before turning behind them, "It seems he is coming this way."

Dom turned and saw Gan Ning approaching, a happy smile on his face. Beside him was Helena who was dripping wet with water from the River. They soon approached the group at the second Shipyard. Helena stood beside Himilco and Ou Yezi, whilst Gan Ning stood beside Subutai.

"You look a bit wet my love." Himilco teased.

"Yes I am." She replied, before turning to Dom. "Thanks again Lord Lazarus for the unexpected opportunity to bathe."

"Pleasure as always." Dom replied cheekily, before taking a slight step back so that Subutai was between them. The group laughed and Helena shook her head with a smile. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"What are we building this time?" She asked excitedly. Between her and Himilco, the Navy of Riverside was built, maintained and docked.

"We are just discussing if we want to build more Trireme’s or Bireme’s." Dom replied honestly.

"Trireme." Gan Ning stated, "If we can have more of them then fantastic. I was hoping for more variety, but they have been excellent so far."

"Please use the Trireme Schematic." Dom announced, deciding he would discuss the option of building Bireme’s at a later time. His most senior Shipbuilder and Naval Commander had both agreed. He was also now aware that he could change the Schematics and what was being built at any time, so he would task his team to see if they could gather more related Schematics when trading.

"We could potentially use the original Shipyard to build more Trireme like the Galatea." Ou Yezi began, "And then use the new Shipyard to build more experimental ones such as the Enyo."

"That way, we have a steady supply of reliable warships as well as some that are more directed to certain situations." Himilco agreed.

"We could incorporate different ideas in to their decks, maybe having some that are built with more defensive measures so they can be the vanguard?" Gan Ning questioned out loud, "Or we could build some that could hide our secret weapons and surprise our enemies."

"That sounds interesting and complex." Himilco replied, "Let’s chat about this in a few days, I think we have enough to do in the first instance."

"I agree, let’s just build the first Trireme as standard and come up with some concepts." Dom agreed.

"Then we better go and inspect the new Shipyard!" Himilco exclaimed excitedly as he began to head inside, followed by Helena, Aase and Ou Yezi.

"Ou Yezi please wait, I may need your advice at the next building." Dom explained, stopping the Blacksmith from heading off.

"Do you still want to upgrade the Shipyard or save it?" Lucius asked Dom, as they had initially planned to upgrade the Trireme Shipyard.

"I expect that an upgrade will give us an additional space to build a ship." Dom replied, "But now we have four ships being built at once."

"Possibly, but we have a lot of new residents that we can train." Lucius countered.

"Five ships is better than four." Gan Ning added with a laugh.

"It would be handy if the next Warriors Hall was a Naval Unit." Subutai commented, "But we could continue to repurpose some Hoplite to man them as Warriors for now."

"System, please use a Wooden Token to upgrade the new Shipyard." Dom announced, the ground shook again as the new shipyard grew slightly to the side, causing a slight wave which splashed against the shore, hitting Himilco, Aase and Helena. The three turned and looked at Dom who quickly decided it was time to move on and spawn the Beast Hall.