Official:Carpentry
Carpentry
Contents
Carpentry is the skill o' piracy required to use handy planks to patch holes in the ship's hull. Other skills you'll need on a ship are sailing, rigging, bilging, gunnery and navigation.
With only three pieces to choose from at a time and four holes to fill, the carpenter's game is in assessing the board and slapping down pentomino planks to fill the gaps.
This is the duty station for the Carpentry puzzle, which allows a skilled pirate to repair damage to the vessel sustained in Sea Battles and due to general wear and tear. The vessel's damage determines the amount of bilge water that creeps in during sailing, so keeping a vessel free of damage will help ensure smooth progress on the high seas and success in Sea Battles!
Controls
Mouse controls for the Carpentry puzzle are as follows:
- Mouse Movement: Move Cursor
- Left Mouse Button: Pick Up or Put Down Pieces
- Right Mouse Button: Flip Current Piece Horizontally
- Mouse Wheel/Middle Button: Rotate Current Piece
The keyboard can also be used the play the Carpentry puzzle, but the controls are a little trickier:
- Arrow Keys: Select Piece/Move Selected Piece
- Space Bar: Pick Up or Put Down Pieces
- Space: Swap Pieces
- C, X: Rotate Current Piece Clockwise, Counter-Clockwise
- Z: Flip Current Piece Horizontally
- 1, 2, 3: Pick Up Corresponding Piece from Toolbox
- Q, W, A, S: Position Current Piece over Corresponding Hole
Scoring
Carpentry is scored based on how efficiently you fill a hole with pieces, with the primary objective being to avoid overlapping pieces with each other or the hull. On completion of a hole, you will be notified on your performance: a Masterpiece requires you to fill a hole without any overlaps, while a Booch uses many more pieces than necessary to patch the hole. Speed is factored into Carpentry scoring, but is less vital than efficiency. As with all duty puzzles, it is a balance of the two that produces the best scores.
Note that it's not always possible to complete a hole perfectly, so don't fret too much about achieving an absolutely perfect score. Your rating comes from the average of your performance during a carpentry session.
For a better idea of how ye be performing from moment to moment, the Carpentry performance indicator can be found on the right side of the board and looks like this:
The happy golden hammer is a sure sign that you're filling holes well!
Be Vigilant!
The ship's hull will constantly be taking scrapes and knocks, so be aware of the entire board while repairing damage. If you neglect an empty hole for too long, it will begin to blink red! This indicates that one of your next few pieces must be placed in the hole to keep it from becoming even larger. Once you've been notified of the impending danger, you'll have three turns to place a piece in the affected hole to prevent disaster. A hole that expands in this manner will no longer be able to be filled perfectly, so be sure to attend to any such warnings!
Similarly, neglecting a hole in which you've already placed a few pieces may cause one of the pieces therein to shimmy! Much like neglected empty holes, that's your cue to place a piece in that hole in the next two turns or the now-shaking piece will fly off and ye will have been deemed "Wasteful"!
Piece Rarity
To really brush up your Carpentry, you will want to consider the rarity of the pieces in this handy table. The table shows the pieces from most common at the top to the most rare at the bottom. Try not to leave holes for a rare piece that you don't have!
Putty!
You may occasionally receive a putty bucket in your toolkit. This special piece allows you to fill a hole of any shape, up to five squares in size (the normal size of a piece). Move it over the hole and click to apply. Use it wisely! One should always try to get a masterpiece with the putty bucket.
Blockades & Maneuvers
In blockades and other areas where maneuvers are enabled, Carpentry takes on an additional level of complexity. Pieces are still used to fill holes as usual, but in addition, if you are doing well, your pieces may have parts of maneuver shapes attached. The four corners of any such shape can be aligned in a hole so that once that hole is filled, you will help your ship to achieve the associated maneuver. If such a shape is aligned in a hole which is filled as a Masterpiece, the progress earned towards the maneuver will be increased. By a similar token, however, if the shape is in a hole which is not at least a Fair Job, no progress will be earned.
Although progress may be earned towards any maneuver, the navigator may request a specific maneuver from the pirates plying the ship's stations. This requested maneuver is shown in the maneuver indicator along with the current progress of the bilgers, carpenters, and sailors on the ship towards that maneuver. The progress bar for Carpentry is shown in red and is displayed wider than the others while you are in the Carpentry puzzle. Once each bar is filled to the top, that maneuver will be added to the navigator's tokens and the ship will perform its maneuver: moving with great speed or agility, firing powerful cannon shots, dropping flotsam behind the ship to slow and possibly damage opposing ships, or other amazing feats.
Carpentry Strategy
A masterful carpenter is one who can manage all four holes at once and makes certain to build holes that can be finished with common pieces. Working on all four holes at the same time means you have four times as long to try to get the pieces you need. It also helps you to maintain a good flow and keeps pieces from flying off or holes from expanding.
Another good strategy is to work a hole from the outside in. This gives you more control over what pieces you will need to complete the hole and is especially helpful when working on larger holes.
Finally, completing successive Masterpieces provides a slight, but compounding bonus for those who can manage it. That said, if you do end up having to overlap some pieces, don't just give up on the hole and finish it. Leave that last, small space open for one of those annoying pieces that you can never put anywhere.
