I’ve started afresh as I lost all my saves when Steel came out, and had such a poor time playing Steel that I abandoned the game for a while.
Sapphire feels much better - combat has settled down, and I seem to be slowly mastering it (a tutorial would be a lovely thing for the final release though) and while I’ve not got as lucky on this random map as some (no Salt Lions outside Rowena’s Rocks) I have got lucky in finding the places I’ve been looking for.
So much to my surprise my ‘expendable’ urchin runaway, Cap’n Tilly Lightfingers, is still going strong. Charming and pragmatic, she has attracted a full complement of officers and acquired an Elegant Townhouse, a lover and a child almost without trying (accepting two sailors aboard at foreign ports gained Salt’s Attention, allowing her to win Searing Enigmas). She is still sailing in her original ship, but has upgraded her deck gun (tho nothing else), which has successfully taken down 2 Moray Eels without taking any damage and can hold its own against pirate pinnaces. Unbelievably, it’s the bats that have done the most damage - they’re just so quick.
Being an urchin, Tilly still has her Invictus token - she wasn’t expecting to live this long, and now she has she’s convinced it’s some sort of good luck charm. And the little one seems keen to follow her to sea, so if she can just hold it together for another year, she’ll have a Scion who will have all the advantages of carefully built-up Veils, a Townhouse, and a couple of Heirlooms to play with.
So far, this is the easiest it’s been in months. The dialling down of Terror while we all get used to combat has really taken the edge off - but I know this is temporary (as, I assume, are the much-extended food and fuel efficiency Tilly seems to be benefiting from - or it really was such a long time since I played the starter ship with the basic engine that I’d forgotten how far you could get with it).