HOLF Players' Guild Forum

Per suggestion of Jim Voege and perhaps some other players, it is now impossible to move through a chokepoint in the presence of enemy ships in the coastal waters. You must stop and wait until next turn to complete your move. Ships in the harbor don't stop you. (Chokepoints are ports at the junction between two sea areas. Gibraltar is a chokepoint between Southern Atlantic and Western Med; Kobenhaven is a chokepoint between Baltic Sea and Skagerrak; Bolougne is a chokepoint between English Channel and North Sea. I'm thinking about adding Corfu as a choke point between Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea but haven't done it yet.)

Here's how it works. In this example, Britain and France are at war, Spain is neutral to both. FR1FR and SP1FR are moving separately from WMD to SOA and BR1FR is in Gibraltar coastal waters. (Ship names are randomly generated, except for SP1FR which is a flight of whimsy on my part, not available in real games.) When the French ship goes by, it sees this:

Giving 1 experience point to Zepaidfob (FR1FR) for a total of 1
Ships arriving in Gibraltar
Ships sailing in Western Mediterranean:
Zepaidfob (FR1FR) moves from Western Mediterranean to Gibraltar coast, windward 1
Arriving ships detect 1 British frigates.
Arriving ships detected by: Aesgon (BR1FR)
Moving ships are halted by enemy ships in coastal waters.

And the British ship sees this:

Zepaidfob (FR1FR) begins a naval move.
Ships arriving in Gibraltar
Zepaidfob (FR1FR) moves from Western Mediterranean to Gibraltar coast, windward 1
Arriving ships detect: Aesgon (BR1FR)
Moving ships are halted by enemy ships in coastal waters.

But when SP1FR goes by, the captain's report shows this:

Giving 1 experience point to Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) for a total of 1
Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) begins a naval move.
Ships arriving in Gibraltar
Ships arriving in Gibraltar
Ships sailing in Western Mediterranean:
Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) moves from Western Mediterranean to Gibraltar coast, windward -1
Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) moves from Western Mediterranean to Gibraltar coast, windward -1
Arriving ships detect 1 French frigates 1 British frigates.

Arriving ships detect: Zepaidfob (FR1FR), Aesgon (BR1FR)
Arriving ships detected by: Zepaidfob (FR1FR), Aesgon (BR1FR)
Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) begins a naval move.
Ships departing from Gibraltar: Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR)
Moving ships arrive in South Atlantic (T=0)
Ships sailing in Gibraltar coast:
Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) moves from Gibraltar coast to South Atlantic, tacloc 0, windward 0
Arriving ships detect no other ships.

and the British ship sees this:

Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) begins a naval move.
Ships arriving in Gibraltar
Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) moves from Western Mediterranean to Gibraltar coast, windward -1
Arriving ships detect: Zepaidfob (FR1FR), Aesgon (BR1FR)
Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR) begins a naval move.
Ships departing from Gibraltar: Desayuno de Spam (SP1FR)

Note that the messaging is a little more extensive than it used to be - that's one thing we're going to look at in the test game.

Steve