Carpentry
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Carpentry is the puzzly art of using handy planks to patch holes in the poor ship. With only three planks to choose 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 the skilled Pirate to repair damage to the vessel sustained in Sea Battles and 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.
Holes in the Hull!
When you start Carpentry you will see four holes set about the Carpenter's toolkit:
Within the Toolkit can be seen three wood planks. The duty of the Carpenter is to use these planks to fill the holes.
Controls
The mouse controls are as follows: the left button picks up or puts down a piece, the right button flips the current piece horizontally, and the mouse wheel rotates the current piece clockwise or counter- clockwise. The middle button also rotates the current piece, clockwise. A mouse wheel is a big advantage; without one you will want to keep one hand on the C, X and Z keys. You can also use the keyboard, though it's a bit more complicated: the spacebar picks up or puts down a piece, the arrow keys move the current piece or select a piece from the toolbox, C rotates clockwise, X rotates counter-clockwise, Z flips the current piece horizontally. 1, 2 and 3 select the first/second/third piece from the toolbox and position at the current cursor location. Q, W, A and S center the currently selected piece over the hole corresponding to the position of the key pressed.
Beware the Red Blinky!
If you neglect an empty hole for too long it will begin to blink red! This indicates that one of your next pieces must be placed in the hole to keep it from expanding. So, you can ignore the red blinky the first turn, but the second one you should place a piece in that hole to avoid it growing. Bear in mind that an expanded hole will no long be able to be filled perfectly.
Beware the Shimmy! Beware the Shake!
If you have put some pieces down in a hole and then neglected it for a while then one of the pieces may begin to shimmy! Look out for this - you have two turns in which to place another piece on that hole, or the now-shaking piece will fly off and ye will have been 'Wasteful!', not a sign of good carpentry.
Scoring
Carpentry is scored based on how efficiently you fill a hole with pieces; the objective is to avoid overlapping pieces with each other or the hull. On completion of a hole you will be notified on your performance; a masterpiece fills the hole without any overlaps, a booch uses many more pieces than necessary to patch the hole. Speed is factored into the 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 that 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 looks like this:
The happy golden hammer is a sure sign that you're filling holes well.
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!
The Bucket!
You may occasionally receive a putty bucket in your toolkit. This special piece allows you to fill any hole up to five squares (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 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 such a 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, but 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. 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 wider than the others while 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, or dropping flotsam behind the ship to slow and possibly damage opposing ships.
Carpentry Strategy
A masterful Carpenter is one who can manage all holes at once and builds 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 get 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, if you have 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. Finally, completing successive Masterpieces provides a slight, but compounding bonus for those who can manage it.