Balancing plundering and raiding. Patrols stop plunderers, empty islands are no longer free, Honour follows the Matron's seal

This update rebalances the two things players have talked about most: plundering and raiding. Patrols now really stop plunderers, and attacking an island nobody defends is no longer free. Every rule and number, before and after, is in the release notes in the handbook.

Plundering: patrols now stop plunderers

Before, a patrol only made a plunder run a little less likely to succeed, and a big enough escort could ignore it. Now a patrol with a fresh crew turns plunder runs back before they reach your shore, however large the escort. As the crew tires, more runs slip through, so send a fresh watch out from time to time. A spent crew sails home by itself. A run that is turned back comes home empty, but safe. The Plunder handbook has the details.

Raiding: empty islands are no longer free

Before, winning an attack on an island with no troops on it cost you nothing. Now some of your ships are lost at sea on the way home, as they are when you raid a wild shore. A small fleet loses little, a very large one loses a lot more, so send only what the haul needs. The loot is the same as before. The Raiding handbook has the numbers.

Balancing a game this size is tricky, and your feedback shapes every pass, so keep it coming. More balance updates are on the way.

Improved

• Rest the mouse on an island in region view to see who holds it
• A caught plunder crew loses a quarter of each kind of ship, at least one
• Sinking an island’s patrol no longer spares your fleet the sea on the way home
• Plunder reports keep the odds you sailed on and say what gave you away
• The Patrol tab shows one Crew Grit bar and says when to relieve the crew
• Striking a Governor who carries the Matron’s seal costs more Honour
• Beating off a Black Tide attack now counts toward your score
• A patrol that stops a raid at sea sends a short sea-fight report to both sides
• Many smaller improvements to reports, the Watch Tower, Black Tide raiders, portraits and the handbook

Fixed

• Defences won and lost on your scoring page were the wrong way round
• Recall Fleets turns back up to 500 fleets in one order, not 20
• On an iPhone, the buttons along the bottom of a dialog no longer hide under Safari’s toolbar
• Garrisons sent to an ally in need now count as Allies aided in need
• Taking an island no longer leaves its old owner’s garrisons counted as yours
• A new report no longer hides inside a group on the Desk you already read
• Handbook tables wrap on phones instead of cutting sentences off
• Lots of smaller fixes to Black Tide news, colonisation reports and the handbook

By the numbers

36 changes in this update. Since the last one:

• 6,713 raids
• 992 spy reports filed
• 614 Black Tide attacks beaten off
• 66 islands freed from the Black Tide
• 38 islands claimed
• 73 gods awakened

The Black Tide would like it noted that 148 of its raids got through anyway.

Thanks

Some of this release started as your reports. Thanks to Turtle Blues, August Heimmsmeyer, Flowkap, Prowling Brigand and Vinzent Zeppelin.