author: Nicole J. LeBoeuf

As was announced last week, there will be a couple changes to the way blockades are scheduled. Starting November 6...

• The blockade drop window will be Friday noon to midnight Pirate Time. Blockades will all happen between noon and midnight on Saturday. (This will also shorten the window for Brigand King blockade times.)
• All breaks will now be 15 minutes, removing the long break between rounds 3 and 4.

Now, the Opal Ocean has always run on a slightly different schedule; you've probably noticed that blockades on the German-language ocean often start many hours before noon on Saturday. Accordingly, Opal's new blockade schedule will be different from that of the English-language oceans:

On the Opal Ocean, the new time frame for declaring blockades will be Friday 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM (11:00 - 23:00) German time. The start time of the blockades will correspondingly be Saturdays from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM. Again, this applies also to Brigand Kings.

This translation brought to you by Google Translate and my own copyediting skills. And according to timeanddate.com, when it's 11:00 AM in Germany it's 2:00 AM by Pirate Time/U.S. Pacific Time.

Speaking of time zones and schedules, U.S. Daylight Savings Time ends this week. In most U.S. locations, we set our clocks back an hour. The Pacific Time zone is no exception. Any blockades with start times later than 2:00 AM PT on Sunday, Nov. 1 may be represented inaccurately below--I still haven't figured out how to fix that for sure. I'll try to double-check the schedule sometime early after the time shift tomorrow morning and correct whatever needs correcting.

Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.

Doubloon Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 31 ***

3:00 a.m. - Doyle-Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Der Zorn der Götter
Attacker: Das alles verzehrende Feuer (1)

9:50 a.m. - McGuffins Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Chthonische Horden (1)
Attacker: Strawhats

11:05 a.m. - Tumult-Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Hort des Eiswurms (1)
Attacker: Strawhats

1:42 p.m. - Windward Vale, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Alria
Attacker: Coming Soon

2:00 p.m. - Raven's Roost, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Legacy of Life
Attacker: Corteezism

7:43 p.m. - Surtsey Island, Meridian Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Black Veil (3)
Attacker: Trap House

*** Sunday, November 1 ***

6:51 a.m. - Marlowe Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Fleet of his Imperial Scaled Highness (4)
Attacker: Coming In Hot

9:00 a.m. - Ambush Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Midknight Sun
Attacker: The Jade Empire (4)

11:00 a.m. - Arakoua Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: The Crazy Department
Attacker: The Jade Empire (7)

11:58 a.m. - Ventress Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Gunslingers
Attacker: Hysteria

11:58 a.m. - Wissahickon Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: This Means War
Attacker: Naughtiest Naughtiness

12:00 p.m. - Labyrinth Moors, Meridian Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Cream Pie
Attacker: Chthonic Horde (5)

12:00 p.m. - Doyle Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: This Means War
Attacker: Naughtiest Naughtiness
Attacker: Truth or Dare

12:00 p.m. - Bowditch Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Loose Lips Sink Ships
Attacker: Qlimax Telecom

12:00 p.m. - Alkaid Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: This Means War
Attacker: Qlimax Telecom

Subscription Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 31 ***

12:00 p.m. - Labyrinth Moors, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Mixed Nuts
Attacker: Babylon

1:00 p.m. - Turtle Island, Cerulean Ocean
Event: 7 rounds, nonsinking & no removal
Hosted by: Babylon

3:00 p.m. - Kirin Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Totalitarian principle
Attacker: Babylon

3:15 p.m. - Remora Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: The Phoenix Rises
Attacker: Undertow

6:00 p.m. - Islay of Luthien, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Tyr's Own
Attacker: Babylon

8:00 p.m. - Lagniappe Island, Cerulean Ocean
Event: 1 round, sinking!
Hosted by: Tequila Sunrise

9:00 p.m. - Cormorant Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Super Awesomeness
Attacker: Babylon

*** Sunday, November 1 ***

12:00 a.m. - Hephaestus' Forge, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Midnight Yacht Club
Attacker: Babylon

3:00 a.m. - Cochineal Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Static Before the Storm
Attacker: Babylon

6:00 a.m. - Cnossos Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: The Phoenix Rises
Attacker: Riding High

12:00 p.m. - Xi Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Crimson Tide
Attacker: Ice Wyrm's Brood (4)

It's Recovery Monday! I had a lovely time at Mile Hi Con, but it was a con after the nature of cons, which is to say, exhausting. I can't swear I got more than 5 hours sleep on either night, and the drive was pretty dang tiring for being "local." Now, I feel like a terrible wimp saying this, because goodness knows John had a convention weekend and a drive between Boulder and Albequerque, but there it is: Just attending a con that's an hour's drive away, or two depending on traffic, wears me out.

The shenanigans involving coordinating auto maintenance and a rental car on either side of the trip didn't exactly help, mind you.

So anyway, long story short (too late!), I slept in this morning.

I've been off skates for a week because of resting the foot/ankle Tuesday, having scrimmage called off due to rain Thursday, and playing truant in order to enjoy Mile Hi Con's Sunday programming, but today I geared up again to take my turn helping to train our Phase 1 training class. Great bunch of skaters, all terrifically determined to master their crossovers and transitions; the improvement and increased confidence just over the course of this one practice was amazing. And of course I did everything right along with them, which means I'm all worn out--a close focus on basic maneuvers for two hours straight is no joke, not even for an experienced skater. This on top of deciding to ride my bike to practice, and I was glad I'd slept in. I may in fact go to bed early tonight.

The bike thing was because I don't quite trust the car not to fail to start. Our usual mechanic discovered a failing ignition control module, which, seeing as how they'd just put that one in less than a year ago, they replaced at no charge under warranty. (This is why it was worth having it towed to the usual mechanic, rather than leaving it in the care of the very nice shop next door to the place I found myself becalmed on Friday.) They put the new part in and the car started up just fine--but when I tried to drive it home today, it wouldn't start for me. They coaxed some life into it, and it hasn't failed me since, but that was only this afternoon. If there's any possibility of it failing to start in the near future, I'd as soon not have that be on a friend's farm, as it seems unkind to inflict a tow truck upon her property and animals and all. So I biked. I thought it would take me 30 minutes; it took about 50. I was able to catch a ride back from a very kind skater who lives up the road from me. She was extraordinarily patient with the whole big production required to get my bike to fit in her car.

So, yeah, that was my recovery day. Not all that "recovery," now that I look back on it.

A quick bit of Puzzle Pirates content, since I once again didn't manage to put any YPP content up on Sunday: Brigand King sightings do not in fact appear to count toward the October Seal o' Piracy. I have hard data on this! Both Oshun/Meridian and Millefleur/Emerald failed to acquire the trophy after travel + BK, then were awarded the Seal upon completing a Buried Treasure expedition. Meanwhile, four of my other pirates got the Seal with travel + Imperial Outpost or travel + shipwreck/treasure haul. So I can only conclude that BK sightings do not count, but buried treasure, shipwrecks, and imperial outposts do. And traveling around the ocean, of course.

I'm still working on my Ice pirate. Perhaps I'll buy her a Viking Raid map that's small enough to be able to win solo (I'm usually the only person logged onto the Ice server, which is no surprise, because Ice) and see if that counts. I keep sailing her up and down the route between Wemadeit and Maelstrom, and all I get are these lousy Kraken Hunt maps. No expeditions and no effin' map to Mini Island, drat the luck.

Update: Teshka on Ice was awarded her Seal o' Piracy upon buying the Viking Raid map. That is weird!

The other YPP news is that apparently there will be changes implemented to a couple scheduling aspects of blockades, but I'll go into that on Saturday when it's next time to blog blockades. If you're curious, the info's here.

And that's all. I will go fall over unconscious now. G'night!

It's a friendly weekend in the blockade scene.

On the Cerulean Ocean, Babylon invites Super Awesomeness to tussle over Cormorant Island because "they haven't had some PvP fun in a long time." Isn't that nice? It's very considerate. Also, they'll be using an entertaining selection of ships, and there will be a Halloween-themed raffle.

And on the Meridian Ocean, Legacy of Life hopes that a noon-time drop on Harmattan will fit the busy schedule of Imperial Coalition better than that of their previous drop on Raven's Roost. IC have graciously accepted their invitation to "a fun and relaxed cade." I like seeing flags play nice.

I'm only being a little sarcastic here: I'm used to seeing flag royalty at each others' throats on the forum, so, really, how long can this last? But flag drama is very much not why I love playing Puzzle Pirates. YPP is one of the cutest and friendliest MMORGs out there, and when people getting into serious snits at each other over it, it makes me uncomfortable. So: Yay friendliness!

All I'm seeing in Emerald Ocean Parley is a bit of a kerfuffle over messages left on Aimuarie housing news boxes. This is decidedly not friendly, nor is it really blockade related. What you want to know is that Brigand Kings are attacking Tumult and Marlowe today at noon PT, and Barbary tomorrow at noon. Also, tonight Illuminati and Hysteria will battle over possession of Pukru. There, isn't that much more useful then knowing who accused whom of leaving what message at Jonestown Houses?

I may or may not find time to job in blockades today, what with being at Mile Hi Con and all. So y'all will have to get out and have twice as much fun as usual--some for me as well as some for you. Thankee kindly!

Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.

Doubloon Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 24 ***

10:47 a.m. - Maia-Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Der Fluch (1)
Attacker: Glare

12:00 p.m. - Marlowe Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: No Offence Intended
Attacker: Fleet of his Imperial Scaled Highness (4)

12:00 p.m. - Harmattan Island, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Imperial Coalition
Attacker: Legacy of Life

12:00 p.m. - Tumult Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: The Explorers Guild
Attacker: The Enlightened (4)

12:00 p.m. - Ansel Island, Meridian Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Alria
Attacker: The Jade Empire (7)

12:58 p.m. - Edgars Wahl, Opal Ocean
Defender: Der Zorn der Götter
Attacker: Strawhats

8:14 p.m. - Surtsey Island, Meridian Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Black Veil (5)
Attacker: The Secret Service

9:00 p.m. - Pukru Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Illuminatti
Attacker: Hysteria

*** Sunday, October 25 ***

12:00 p.m. - Barbary Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Midknight Sun
Attacker: The Jade Empire (8)

Subscription Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 24 ***

12:14 p.m. - Cormorant Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Super Awesomeness
Attacker: Babylon

I have been meaning for some time to blog about the Olympian Class Sloop that was available for shipyard purchase in July and August. But I keep trying to do this on Sunday, and the problem with Sunday is that it starts with roller derby practice, and I don't generally manage much that's productive after roller derby practice. Generally I wind up flat in bed for the rest of the day. (That especially goes for Sunday practices where I manage to roll my ankle and inflame some sort of tendon in my foot. Stoopid foot.) Next thing I know, it's Monday morning, and I missed another Sunday, and the sloop I want to blog about came out three months ago, and when am I going to blog about this month's limited edition sloop (the Undead Class Sloop, available through November 1), huh?

So, whatever, here's a Puzzle Pirates blog post on Monday morning. You can pretend it's still Sunday if you want to.

Olympian Class Sloop: Gorgeous and Terribly Inconvenient

It is shiny and pretty in every way. But I have discovered that I'm less than happy with its layout.

Puzzle Pirates has many good things going for it, but movement around a scene is not one of them. Which is usually OK. Almost all of the action takes place in chat and in mini-games, after all. Your pirate avatar mostly serves the purpose of playing dress-up and showing off the results. So it's understandable that, of all the things the game designers could focus on, the user experience of walking around isn't a high priority.

It only becomes a problem in two areas. One of those is walking around a large, uninhabited island; since you can't "teleport" to various areas via the buildings on the Dock map, you really do have to walk in order to find the horde of monsters waiting to be defeated or the island creator's inscription or whatever. And walking is nail-bitingly, knuckle-whiteningly slow. You click where you want to go, and then you wait for your pirate to get there, and then you right-click to shift the camera to the new area, and then you wait for the camera motion to finish, then you do it all over again. And again. And again.

The other problem area is walking around a ship, especially one with a lot of stairs and extraneous scenes. And in order to reach the booty chest an Olympian Class Sloop, you must navigate both.

Assuming that you've been performing the duty navigation puzzle (I always do), you start at the navigation wheel, up top the aft platform of the main deck. So first you've got to come down the stairs. I hate in-scene stairs. If you're already standing on the yellow arrow, you'll have to walk off it and walk back. And sometimes even then it doesn't work--instead of going down the stairs, your pirate simply stops at the top of the stairs. At this point, I'd usually click the other downstairs arrow--but on the Olympian Class Sloop there is only one set of stairs between the aft deck and the main deck. Arrgh! So I have to walk off the arrow and try it again.

Or I just skip the damn stairs. Right-clicking moves the camera over and brings the hatch into view. So I click on its little yellow arrow, and go downstairs into the main hold. Arrows that change scenes don't seem to fail at the rate that arrows for descending/ascending in-scene stairs do.

So now you are in the main hold, which is where most sloops keep the booty. But not this sloop. Oh, no. You must go down another level into the "Gorgon Den". And then you have to walk all the way to the other side of the Den, because the scene is too long to reach it by shifting the camera.

Now you can divide the booty. Finally. But then you'll have to go back up to the main hold if you want to then access the money and goods now aboard the ship. Arrrgh.

It's a cute narrative premise: The booty chest is buried deep in a stone labyrinth and watched over by the head of Medusa. Thus would-be thieves either get lost or turned to stone. Honestly, if the developers had seen fit to bring this narrative to life in a game-affecting way--say, giving the ship a modest functional bonus against gem thieves and the like--I'd complain less. But as things stand, it's purely a cosmetic thing which affects game play only by making booty divisions more of a pain in my butt.

Honestly, I'd prefer it if you could get to a ship's hold and booty via commands on the sidebar, just like you already do with the port/deport and sail/turn about buttons. But if they must be dependent on interacting with "physical" stations, can't those stations be made less inconvenient to get to?

It's not just the officer in command who has to deal with it. The Gorgon Den also houses the ship's two bilge stations and one of its carpentry/patching stations. So if you're a jobber switching from sails to something else, you risk getting yelled at to "station up, lazer!" when you're genuinely trying to do just that. If you're an officer moving your swabbies about, you have a long wait during which you might wonder if the swabbie will restation at all.

Pretty as it is, I'd as soon do away with the Olympian Class Sloop's main hold entirely--it's not particularly functional--and replace it with the Gorgon Den. Or just move all the functional parts of the Gorgon Den up onto the main hold, so that the room that's the hardest to get to is also the room that you need the least. Compare with the Red Room on the Dream Class Sloop. Clever hidden rooms and sub-basements are fun to look at and maybe throw parties in, but let's keep them strictly optional, yeah?

So there you go. It's a beautiful ship with a clever story behind it, and PixelPixie of the Cerulean Ocean deserves all the kudos for their contest-winning design. But the game developers have made it enough of a pain to interact with that I'd rather just leave ported at some island with an active market and just use it for executing shore trade.

So that's my rant. Meanwhile, I have just bought this month's Undead Class Sloop, which again is only available through November 1. Hopefully it turns out to be both really cool-looking and a pleasure to sail.

The flag CORSARIOS DE POSEIDÓN on the Jade Ocean hasn't even finished building a fort on Isla Ventress, but effin' Azarbad el Grande is already trying to take things over. If you wish to help us defend, that's going on at noon Pirate Time. Pay starts at 300 PoE/seg, which may seem low, but heck, it's Jade. The economy needs more pirates in it.

If you're free this evening, check in with Otherworld on the Cerulean Ocean, where Madam Yu Jian is trying to take control of Gaea Island, and we're gonna try out darnedest to stop her. The shindig gets started at 8 PM Pirate Time. Pay will start at 1000 PoE/seg and there may be a raffle.

Also on Cerulean, Napi Peak is being contested at Saturday noon. Adult Buffet wants to take it, The Coalition wants to keep it. Only one flag can have it. Which will it be? Vote with your job application and your puzzling skills! Pay starts at 2000 PoE/seg.

Plenty more blockade action on the other oceans. Opal and Meridian each have a Brigand King attacking something this weekend, and there's at least four blockades on Emerald today. Might be more - there's usually a last minute drop or two somewhere. Anyway, scroll on down for the full schedule, and have fun!

Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.

Doubloon Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 17 ***

11:01 a.m. - Maia-Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Glare
Attacker: Der Fluch (1)

12:00 p.m. - Isle of Kent, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Black Flag
Attacker: Jinx (4)

12:00 p.m. - Surtsey Island, Meridian Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Daunting Rewards
Attacker: Black Veil (7)

12:00 p.m. - Isla Ventress, Jade Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: CORSARIOS DE POSEIDÓN
Attacker: La Llama que todo lo consume (1)

1:05 p.m. - Ix Chel, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Fear No Monsters
Attacker: This Means War

2:29 p.m. - Arco Ascalón, Jade Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Courage
Attacker: Flota de su Escamada Alteza Imperial (1)

4:00 p.m. - Ilha da Aguia, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Eternal Glory
Attacker: Keep the Peace

5:03 p.m. - Manu Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: The All-Consuming Flame (3)
Attacker: Black Flag

*** Sunday, October 18 ***

12:00 p.m. - Ventress Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Hysteria
Attacker: Gunslingers
Attacker: Pirate King

Subscription Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 17 ***

12:00 p.m. - Napi Peak, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: The Coalition
Attacker: Adult Buffet

8:00 p.m. - Gaea Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Otherworld
Attacker: The Jade Empire (3)

I have no idea what to blog about tonight, so I'm going to cheat and blog about Puzzle Pirates. It's not that much of a cheat; it's what I would have posted yesterday, had not yesterday's roller derby practice utterly kicked my butt and temporarily jacked up my shoulder, such that I went to bed at four in the afternoon and more or less stayed there until this morning.

So. The October 2015 Seal o' Piracy! How to get it? By...

Completing two (2) actions to add to yer explorer reputation!

Sounds pretty simple, right? For the most part, it is. But I ran into a bit of a catch.

According to Yppedia, you can add to your Explorer Reputation in the following ways:

...visiting the Atlantis citadels, visiting the Cursed Isles, visiting the Haunted Seas ship graveyards, visiting the Kraken, completing expeditions, and traveling around the ocean.

So first thing I did was take all my main pirates a-sailing, because "traveling around the ocean" is the easiest thing you can do. Lazing aboard a navy ship is the easiest way to do it, but also the most boring. Mostly I took my main pirates on trading voyages while I did other things (like, say, writing--writing very very slowly, but writing nonetheless). I made sure to keep this up until each pirate's Explorer Reputation moved upwards. (It generally doesn't take many leagues.)

Then I took Oshun pillaging in hopes of scoring an Expedition. And, why, yes, I did! I scored a Brigand King sighting. So I engaged Admiral Finius in battle, won the swordfight melee, won some small amount of PoE and ship supplies and also a pearl pocketwatch inscribed in honor of my victory. Like you do.

What I didn't win was my Seal o' Piracy. I didn't win that until completing the Buried Treasure expedition that I acquired a couple of battles later.

So something's not particularly straightforward here. I'm guessing it's either that "traveling around the ocean" doesn't count toward one's Seal o' Piracy for October 2015, because it's too easy; or that BK expeditions don't actually count toward Explorer Reputation after all, since they already count toward Conqueror Reputation. Or that maybe the BK didn't move my Explorer Reputation enough to trigger the trophy, and that the Buried Treasure expo pushed it over the top?

That's as much as I know so far, which admittedly isn't much. I'll tell you more next weekend if I figure more out. But until then, this blog is returning to actual writing coverage. (Hence the name.)

I have no idea what to blog about tonight, so I'm going to cheat and blog about Puzzle Pirates. It's not that much of a cheat; it's what I would have posted yesterday, had not yesterday's roller derby practice utterly kicked my butt and temporarily jacked up my shoulder, such that I went to bed at four in the afternoon and more or less stayed there until this morning.

So. The October 2015 Seal o' Piracy! How to get it? By...

Completing two (2) actions to add to yer explorer reputation!

Sounds pretty simple, right? For the most part, it is. But I ran into a bit of a catch.

According to Yppedia, you can add to your Explorer Reputation in the following ways:

...visiting the Atlantis citadels, visiting the Cursed Isles, visiting the Haunted Seas ship graveyards, visiting the Kraken, completing expeditions, and traveling around the ocean.

So first thing I did was take all my main pirates a-sailing, because "traveling around the ocean" is the easiest thing you can do. Lazing aboard a navy ship is the easiest way to do it, but also the most boring. Mostly I took my main pirates on trading voyages while I did other things (like, say, writing--writing very very slowly, but writing nonetheless). I made sure to keep this up until each pirate's Explorer Reputation moved upwards. (It generally doesn't take many leagues.)

Then I took Oshun pillaging in hopes of scoring an Expedition. And, why, yes, I did! I scored a Brigand King sighting. So I engaged Admiral Finius in battle, won the swordfight melee, won some small amount of PoE and ship supplies and also a pearl pocketwatch inscribed in honor of my victory. Like you do.

What I didn't win was my Seal o' Piracy. I didn't win that until completing the Buried Treasure expedition that I acquired a couple of battles later.

So something's not particularly straightforward here. I'm guessing it's either that "traveling around the ocean" doesn't count toward one's Seal o' Piracy for October 2015, because it's too easy; or that BK expeditions don't actually count toward Explorer Reputation after all, since they already count toward Conqueror Reputation. Or that maybe the BK didn't move my Explorer Reputation enough to trigger the trophy, and that the Buried Treasure expo pushed it over the top?

That's as much as I know so far, which admittedly isn't much. I'll tell you more next weekend if I figure more out. But until then, this blog is returning to actual writing coverage. (Hence the name.)

So the news on the Emerald Ocean is that Qlimax Telecom is back and is blockading everything in sight. Or at least, everything owned by Illuminati. I sure hope that Illuminati is defending, because after reading that forum post, I not only have absolutely no desire to job for "cutie" (QT), but I also kind of need some brain bleach.

On Meridian, the headliner is Legacy of Life's drop on Raven's Roost, currently governed by Imperial Coalition. Legacy is looking for a new home for its "blockade pond" project, and will conduct today's blockade in a spirit of good will:

Raven's Roost is an outpost, and we are not dropping to try to kill IC, to win the island in one week at any cost or to personally target anyone. We would love to see a blockade that is allowed to be just a blockade, decided on the board at even jobbing and reasonable pay, and if IC decide to play that way, so will we. That is, however, not what we have seen in the past and we will play with what we get.

And on Cerulean, Iris is under attack by Vargas the Mad. Riding High has chosen not to defend, and is requesting that the island's new owners--should a player flag win this blockade--allow the pet elephants Ysabella and Mopp remain upon those shores, as they are a "living" memorial to two beloved YPP players who have passed away.

That's all I've got. Scroll down for the complete schedule. Get out there, have some fun, earn some PoE, sink some ships! Arrr!

Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.

Doubloon Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 10 ***

11:00 a.m. - Edgars Wahl, Opal Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Der Zorn der Götter
Attacker: Das alles verzehrende Feuer (3)

12:02 p.m. - Ix Chel, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Black Veil (3)
Attacker: Fear No Monsters

*** Sunday, October 11 ***

12:00 a.m. - Raven's Roost, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Imperial Coalition
Attacker: Legacy of Life

12:10 a.m. - Paihia-Insel, Opal Ocean
Defender: Forcas Armadas
Attacker: Glare

4:00 a.m. - Sayers Rock, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Illuminatti
Attacker: Qlimax Telecom

11:00 a.m. - Pukru Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Illuminatti
Attacker: Qlimax

11:00 a.m. - Aimuari Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Illuminatti
Attacker: Qlimax

11:00 a.m. - Manu Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Black Flag
Attacker: The All-Consuming Flame (5)

Subscription Ocean Blockades

*** Sunday, October 11 ***

11:29 a.m. - Iris Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Riding High
Attacker: The Enlightened (6)

So Babylon is "back, and fourteen times more ready to blockade than before." Which is fortuitous, because when we last heard from them, they were not going to blockade anymore, and especially not against Dies Irae. Against whom they have declared no less than four blockades this weekend: on Turtle, Tigerleaf, Delta and Nu Islands. Yay?

Dies Irae have announced their intent to defend Turtle Island.

As always, the winner of this situation is ye humble jobber. Babylon have announced a rate of 1414 PoE/seg to start, which you can expect to go up at a rate directly proportional to how contested these islands are. And my guess is, given the long-term feud between these two flags, "how contested" equals very.

Meanwhile, following last weekend's blockade on Isla Ventress (Jade Ocean), that island now belongs to CORSARIOS DE POSEIDÓN, who have commenced construction of the first new buildings since el año dos mil mumble mumble. They're now hiring under the sign of "Navegantes," offering hourly rates of 25/35/44 PoE per basic, skilled, and expert labor respectively.

Continue reading for the complete blockade schedule for the weekend and the usual paragraph of blockade notes. Here come those notes now!

Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.

Doubloon Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 3 ***

10:03 a.m. - Accompong-Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Das Jadeimperium (1)
Attacker: Glare

11:04 a.m. - Tumult-Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Der Zorn der Götter
Attacker: Hort des Eiswurms (1)

12:00 p.m. - Moab Island, Meridian Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Alria
Attacker: Black Veil (6)

12:39 p.m. - Havoc Island, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Legacy of Life
Attacker: Blood Sweat and Beers
Attacker: Cannabis Nation

*** Sunday, October 4 ***

4:45 a.m. - Kakraphoon Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Hysteria
Attacker: The Crazy Department

7:26 a.m. - Wissahickon Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Chthonic Horde (2)
Attacker: This Means War

11:00 a.m. - Aimuari Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Illuminatti
Attacker: Blue Ice

11:50 a.m. - Ix Chel, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Black Veil (5)
Attacker: Fear No Monsters

Subscription Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, October 3 ***

12:00 p.m. - Turtle Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Dies Irae
Attacker: Babylon

3:00 p.m. - Tigerleaf Mountain, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Dies Irae
Attacker: Babylon
Attacker: The Coalition

11:34 p.m. - Delta Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Dies Irae
Attacker: Babylon

11:34 p.m. - Nu Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Dies Irae
Attacker: Babylon

*** Sunday, October 4 ***

12:00 p.m. - Zeta Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Black Flag Inc
Attacker: The All-Consuming Flame (3)

Today is an exciting day in blockades: On the Jade Ocean, uninhabited Isla Ventress is being blockaded.

Unlike the Emerald Ocean version, which is of course more populated, Jade's Pelican Archipelago only features three islands you can get to by Free Ferry: Isla Descartes, Isla Greenwich, and Isla Spaniel. But today, Isla Ventress is being blockaded--and presumably the winner of that contest will take control of the island.

This is not the first time Isla Ventress has been blockaded. Yppedia tells us the island was first opened up to blockades on May 7, 2010. It was contested throughout that summer and fall. And apparently there was going to be a contest for the island in the summer of 2012--but that fell through somehow. The island has at some time since reverted to unclaimed status and all buildings thereon have crumbled to dust. If you whisk there today, you can see that there's a notice board but no buildings at all, and the island in currently unclaimed.

So that would partially explain why we've got a blockade on Isla Ventress with three attackers and no defenders.

So that's all the news I've got on that. Meanwhile, the rest of the blockade schedule proceeds as indicated on the other four oceans. Enjoy!

Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.

Doubloon Ocean Blockades

*** Saturday, September 26 ***

10:08 a.m. - Accompong-Insel, Opal Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Das Jadeimperium (1)
Attacker: Forcas Armadas

12:00 p.m. - Ix Chel, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Order of the Jolly Roger
Attacker: Black Veil (6)

12:01 p.m. - Isla Spaniel, Jade Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: CORSARIOS DE POSEIDÓN
Attacker: Flota de su Escamada Alteza Imperial (1)

2:20 p.m. - Isla Ventress, Jade Ocean
Attacker: CORSARIOS DE POSEIDÓN
Attacker: Tsunami
Attacker: Courage

5:00 p.m. - Dendrite Island, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Blood Sweat and Beers
Attacker: Radioactive

9:30 p.m. - Duat Island, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Devil's Advocates
Attacker: Cannabis Nation

10:13 p.m. - Basset Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Midknight Sun
Attacker: Roman Empire

10:47 p.m. - Amity Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Loose Lips Sink Ships
Attacker: Roman Empire

10:49 p.m. - Penobscot Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Keep the Peace
Attacker: Roman Empire

*** Sunday, September 27 ***

11:58 a.m. - Kasidim Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Keep the Peace
Attacker: Hysteria

Subscription Ocean Blockades

*** Sunday, September 27 ***

11:58 a.m. - Namath Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Black Flag Inc
Attacker: Sushicide