ed: I read everything in stuff you should read thus far. Can I send boats farther than 2 squares if I take multiple turns to do so, or do they return automatically? I'll probably want ships then to go coast hopping.
You can coast hop by taking territory. You travel out from your borders, so if you conquer a square then your next journey will be from your new borders. Ships can go further and take more armies, of course. But boats can help you expand in the immediate vicinity. To make everyone's life easier, there is no unit position tracking in this game other than for monsters, inhabitants of forts/castles, and sieges. A boat or ship can only be used for one journey per turn, of course.
To characters with libraries: all knowledge in this game is public knowledge (we can imagine the courts are very gossipy and spies are everywhere), so new sites will be listed on the public map and artefact locations will be listed in the thread. (Again, to make my life easier). To give some kind of advantage, research is more likely to reveal something close to the researcher (I'll update the OP to make that clearer).
Marquess Gerald Wright
Background: Master Builder
Castle Name:
Castle Location G14
Border Colour: Orange
Army: 3/10
Defence: 10/10
Wood Production: 1
Recruitment: 1
Gold: 5
Income: 1
Debt: 0
Features: Coppicing Grove, Mustering Yard, Marketplace
Forts (location, defense 5/5, armies assigned): n/a
Artefacts: None
Equipment: None
Special Units: None
Alright, time to see how many forts I can build.
I don't mind how players record their sheets (as they're responsible for updating them) but with the market you probably want to increase your income by 1. With master Builder, you should add a line for Stone or Resources to record the three stone. As H14 is already taken by Kashyyk, you can't build in G14. Go north a bit more.
A question For scouts, since they "reveal the contents of every tile it passes through" does that mean that scouts in essence scout 3 tiles per turn? If that's the case, can we choose which 3 tiles, or will they move to maximize exploration or is there a possibility they won't move in a way we like? Like if I'm at P14 and say "scout P11 and Q12" The P11 scout will always go though P12 and 13, but the Q12 has several routes, which could go over 1, 2, or 3 new tiles depending on how it moves.
They go the most direct route, maximising exploration. But it's worth noting that because they turn back if the tile is occupied, they won't normally go the full three squares unless they get very lucky.
Second question: For Forts and Castles, when they defend nearby territories, what does that mean?
I realise the OP was very unclear about defending/patrolling. Actually this was a small gap in the rules I had forgotten to update. I've changed the OP accordingly but in short: armies in forts/castles defend the castle, and patrols adjacent to caslte will retreat there if outnumbered. Patrols are a way to put units in defence of tiles.
I want in, but don't have the time to submit a sheet just now (should be free 3 hours from now)
Sounds good.