World Conquest Online

"A Market is fantastic." Lucius commented to Dom as they headed away from the Market that had just spawned in. "If it can bring in additional items that we are missing, we could be on for a winner. Also did you hear that Makali? He can get us seeds and fruits! Imagine the crops we could grow."

"Where to next?" Shang Yang asked Dom, moving the conversation on before Lucius began rambling about farming and wanting to retire to his farm and pass on the Mayorship to Shang Yang.

"I’m unsure what the next two Random Buildings will be." Dom replied, "So I’m unsure where we should go."

"Well, historically the buildings you have placed have reflected the areas that they have been placed." Lucius replied, "So if we take that as a working process, we can plan ahead a little on the sectors we want the building spawns to be. So the question has to be, what do we need the most."

"If we are using that logic." Shang Yang commented, "We can rule out the Housing and Military districts for now. Leaving the Merchant, Farming and Manufacturing Districts. I would say that the Farming District is full of farmlands that have been cultivated and the two Animal Husbandries, the Merchant District has the Dock, School, Clinic and Market. The Manufacturing District only really has the Lumber Camp and does need some investment, however we do not have much need for none targeted growth in this sector."

"That is good logic." Lucius replied, "Reluctantly I would say that we should avoid the Farming District for now as we have a good growth plan in place and have limited resource. The Merchant District has really become more of any building that doesn’t fit in to the other districts area, and all of the buildings there are useful. I would say we should take a risk and place on in the Manufacturing District and one in the Merchant."

"I think that is a good tactic for now." Shang Yang agreed.

"Ok, I’ll go with both of your opinions." Dom said, "but seeing that we literally just left the Merchant district, lets head to the Manufacturing one first so we don’t look like we’ve forgotten something and have to turn back."

Lucius laughed, whilst Shang Yang smiled at Dom’s response as they headed off in the direction of the Lumber Camp and the Silver Forest. They came to a stop and decided that the open space they were in was a good location. Still flanked by Dom’s guards who also tried to keep a straight face after hearing Dom’s comment.

"System, please spawn a random building."

[Rolling for Random Building.....Building Selected.....Blacksmiths Forge]

The ground shook and a small single story wooden building appeared, there was a large chimney breast in the centre that exhaled smoke in to the air. Outside there were several wooden racks that had simple tools on them such as hammers and chisels.

"Show Stats." Dom asked, looking at the Forge.

[Riverside Blacksmith Forge

Forge Grade - S

Forge Level - 1

Riverside’s Blacksmith Forge will allow for the professionals within the trade to design, build, and reinforce weapons, armour and tools for the people of Riverside. Materials will need to be sourced externally, but can be ordered through merchants or mined. Quality of items created will be dependent on skills of the Blacksmith, however the Forge grade will increase the knowledge and skill opportunities of the Blacksmiths, as well as providing higher quality tools for use.]

"Is that a forge?" Shang Yang asked as they walked towards it.

"It is!" Dom exclaimed, happy with the new acquisition. They had blacksmiths already within Riverside, so now they had a place that they could allow them to ply their trade.

"This is great, we can use them to build some tools for the farmers and lumberjacks." Lucius commented, "This could be a big increase in the efficiency of those fields. They can also upgrade the weapons the Commanders use."

They soon reached the Blacksmith Forge and Dom had a thought. They had recently been excavating the Underground Ancient City, taking away many materials and even anvils from it. He wondered if they could be used within the Blacksmith Forge as well, increasing it’s capacity. He would have to get Lucius to speak with the Blacksmiths about it.

They opened the door and peered inside, seeing two shiny anvils and a giant forge in the centre. Tools adorned the walls and there were empty tables around the edges. Dom was excited to try something himself, and decided he would try this as a skill next time that quest appeared.

"I believe the Blacksmith family have gone with Gan Ning for a final day of excavating the Underground Ancient Cities Forge, I’ll speak with them later and get them set up tomorrow." Lucius replied with a smile, "This is a great addition."

"It is." Shang Yang agreed, "It will benefit us, rather than distract."

"Let’s head back to the Merchant District and spawn the final random building then." Dom commanded as they walked back to where they had started, with purpose.

"Have you decided what buildings to upgrade yet?" Lucius asked Dom.

"I was thinking the Legionary Hall, to even it out with the other Warrior Halls, and possibly the Docks or the Lumber Camp." Dom replied.

"I would advice the Lumber Camp." Shang Yang replied, "The docks will be key, but for now we need more materials to support our growth."

Dom agreed, and they soon reached the Merchant District. Dom then realised that he would have to head back to the Manufacturing District to upgrade the Lumber Camp and decided he should plan ahead better in the future rather than walking backwards and forwards constantly across Riverside.

At this point the sky was getting more grey as more clouds had appeared and the usual warmth of Riverside had dropped by a couple of degrees. It was still warm, but their was a cool breeze and it felt like it could rain at any point.

"System, please use the final Green Cube." Dom asked.

[Rolling for Random Building.....Building Selected....Shipyard]

The ground shook in the distance beside the Dock, and the calm waters started to churn as a building appeared beside it. It was like a large warehouse, which was open on both sides. It was in the distance so it was hard to see if properly, but the shipyard was probable the tallest building in Riverside, even if it was just an open shell.

They soon reached it, and was greeted by the sight of a wet Helena who had just climbed up from the shore. She was standing with her hands on her hips as she glared at the Shipyard angrily.

"Hey Lord Lazarus." She welcomed through gritted teeth.

"What happened to you?" Dom asked gently.

"Once again, something appears and I get thrown in to the water." She said, "I was on a fishing boat, a small wave appeared and as I was leaning over with a net pulling out fish, I fell in!"

"I’m sorry to hear that." Dom replied seriously, whilst also trying not to admire her figure through her wet clothes that hung to her tightly. As he was not looking, he noticed that her daughter, whose name he still didn’t know had caught him not looking, so he looked even further away embarrassed.

"So what is this new building?" She asked.

"A Shipyard!" He replied, still looking away.

"Oh, that is great news!" She replied, "Let’s go have a look at it!"

Helena led the way and Dom, Shang Yang, Lucius and the guards followed her in to the building. It was long and empty, full of carving materials and silver pieces of lumber, similar to that cut from the forest. At the far end of the Shipyard was a long ramp that led in to the River. This would allow the built Ship’s to be pushed in to the River. Dom could easily imagine to medium sized Ships being build in here at the same time as the centre had two berths that seemed boxed off.

"Show Stats." Dom asked.

[Shipyard of Riverside

Shipyard Grade - S

Shipyard Level - 1

Current Project - None, Please Roll

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]

"System, please roll." Dom ordered, after reading what the information had said.

[Rolling for a Ship Type...Please select, Merchant, Transport or Military]

"What is the difference?" Dom enquired.

[Merchant Ships are those used by merchants to explore and conduct trade. Transport Ships are Cargo Vessels or Passenger Ships, which can have either peace or war in mind. Military ships are primarily ships for War]

Dom thought for a few seconds, Lucius had explained that the priority at the moment was Civilian growth, rather than Military, so he should go for one of the first two options. However after thinking it through, he wanted to control the River from Riverside up to the Sea, and having a Military presence would allow that.

"Military please." Dom requested, whilst Helena, Lucius and Shang Yang were exploring the Shipyard.

[Rolling for a Military Ship Schematic.....Roll Complete.....Trireme]

Suddenly in one of the two berths in the Shipyard, the skeleton of a Trireme appeared, whilst at the side of the room where a table was located, the large design schematics of a Trireme appeared. Dom headed towards it whilst asking the System to show Stats again.

[Shipyard of Riverside

Shipyard Grade - S

Shipyard Level - 1

Current Project -

Berth 1 - Trireme 30%

Berth 2 - Trireme 0%

Current Schematics - Trireme.

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]

"Can you show me the Trireme Stats please?" Dom asked.

[Ship Grade - A

Trireme, an ancient Mediterranean Galley, used by both the Greeks and the Romans. They had three levels of Oarsmen, with the bottom two rows being the speed, and the top to maintain or change direction. They were fast and mighty and could charge forwards or backwards swiftly.

They were the workhorse of any ancient Navy, and were sea worthy. This Trireme also come with a sail so that they can be used in calm open sea’s. The front of the Trireme has a ram attached which can easily pierce through an enemy ships flank during an attack.

Trireme would often crash in to an enemy ship with the ramp, before pulling back and allowing the sea water to pour through. Crew’s also used Grappling Hooks and would jump across and try to capture enemy ships.

A Trireme would on average take six thousand man days to complete, However as this Trireme is in a Grade S Shipyard, this has been reduced to one thousand man days. Therefore it would take fifty Shipbuilders, twenty days to build one Trireme.]

"This is amazing!" Helena exclaimed in the distance, admiring the skeleton of the Trireme that had appeared.

"It is." Dom replied, "However it will take fifty people around twenty days to build a complete one."

"Well you better find fifty people." She grinned. "Is this a Trireme?"

"We don’t have fifty spare currently." He replied sadly, "But yes it is a Trireme!"

"We have eighty ex Warriors with no current role." Shang Yang commented, "If we have an experienced Ship Builder and the Schematics, we could have them working on this within no time."

"Let’s add it to the list!" Lucius commented.

"We’ll also need a crew for it." Dom replied, "I’m sure they’ll need a lot of crew!"

"Around 170 rowers, and then around 30 actual crew." Helena said, rubbing her hands against the wood of the partially built ship.

"How did you know that?" Lucius asked.

"My father used to Captain one!" She exclaimed, "I spent much of my youth playing on one."

"Ok, so we may have found some partial builders, but now we need to find crew!" Dom grumbled.

"I’m sure by the time the first one is build, we’ll have found a solution." Shang Yang replied as they left Helena to her excitement at the Shipyard. Dom still embarrassed when he left at being caught not looking and Helena’s daughter was giving him a teasing look.

"Upgrades next?" Shang Yang asked.

"Upgrades next." Dom agreed happy to be out of there.