Many of these things have been done a while. A number were
done today, and announced to the seafarers of the realm
privately. Here is a synopsis of what's been going on in
the ship realm for quite some time, since reports from
that side have been rare:

- We've added ways to move adventurers and crew between
ships at sea via grappling hooks.

- We've also added ways to drop anchor at shorelines
and allow adventurers to disembark to or embark from
the wilderness map.

- A number of new islands and other places only reachable
by ships have been introduced, such as Zanzibaar, the
Clockwork Isle, Tapoa, and Tenwat.

- Ships' turning speeds and actual movement times have been
reduced (meaning, they are faster now), as have repair
times (repair mentioned later as well).

- Ships have been changed to allow both rowing and sailing
simultaneously. In some cases, sailing won't be much help
(heading directly into the wind, for example) and in some
cases, rowing won't help much, such as very rough seas
(see below for more on rough seas and rowing).

- Previously you had to stop rowing to turn, which you no
longer have to do. Much previous to that you had to stop
sailing to turn, and that was fixed too. For some time
now, there has been no conflict between turning and the
other two - rowing and sailing.

- Reasonably accurate winds have been put into place,
varying with the latitude to some degree in discernable
patterns, meaning that there are fairly consistent trade
winds if you know where to look. The polar regions are
not so consistent, though!

- Very realistic sailing characteristics are part of the
ships experience, which means that all of the elements
of sail are a real part of the world here - tacking,
being in irons, sailing close hauled, running before
the wind - and all with many of the more ancient terms
used just for fun.

- We began using the 16-point compass some time ago,
which is a heck of a lot of fun too. Sail NNE or
WSW, in addition to the main 8 directions!

- Ships now have a ship strongbox (SHIP STRONGBOX CHECK, etc).
Put money into it so that the crew can be paid. When pay day
comes around, which is every Achaean day, then wages will be
taken from the strongbox. If there's not enough, morale will
suffer (see below).

- You can decide when, if ever, you will be warned about
having too little gold in your ship's strongbox to pay
your crew. If you don't want to know, that's fine. Your
mutinous crew will eventually find a way to communicate
with you directly on the matter!

- Crew wages are set per crew type (this is not paid yet, to
give ship owners some time to get used to the idea, but
will be soon).

- Crew wages are likely in fractions of gold per day, which
is expressed in bits. A bit is a tenth of a gold piece.

- For crew wages - default base wages for the various crew
types are typically from 2 to 8 bits of gold per day. This
is a very low wage, and should distress some of you - yes,
even the super whiners - not at all. I believe we're seeing
total crew wages on even the larger ships at levels which
should be supportable by a newbie ratting about 10 minutes
per RL day in order to cover wages for an Achaean month.

- Crew has endurance. A lot of rowing will make them
tired which will slow down some other things too.

- Crew has experience. They all start as lubbers and
rise slowly over time. Adding new crew will dilute the
overall experience of your crew a bit as they mix in.
Other things will affect experience too, such as combat.

- Higher/rougher seas make rowing more difficult, based on
some pretty good historical data which said, in essence,
that it's pretty tough to row when the seas are rougher.
The first three (I, II, III) roughnesses are normal for
rowing. After that, rowing speeds drop enormously.

- Crew has morale, which is an overall value for all crew
members. Pay rates and promptness affect morale. Rations
will, and other things, when all is in place.

- You may dismiss crew at manmade harbours.

- CONFIG MAPSHOW OFF - if you do that, you shouldn't see any
updates as your ship moves. Make sure at least your captain
or the ship owner checks sometimes, to avoid embarassing
encounters with whirlpools, rocks, and other impedimenta.

- The second crew type - shipmates - are available for hiring.
These are skilled carpenters and sailmakers with whose help
you will be able to repair your vessel while afloat, and
without having to pay those gougers at the harbours.

- Later crew types are Marines, for combat, boarding, and
the like, and Swashbucklers - which are sort of heroic
versions of marines but with the same basic mission.

- Seems like there's been a lot more, and there probably has,
but this is getting too long already. More later!

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Phaestian, in the year 463 AF.