Because there's more motion in the ocean...

[Laurel]

Really like the boat idea, and what JC & Kennon are thinking in this area -What we need, what kinds of ships, timetables and such- Also, like the elemental idea...

Otherwise we spend lots of gold on wands of Control winds for sailing ships or we have scrolls of create water (2 gals/lvl) and scrolls of burning hands (ray of fire, lvl 1) to try and get the steam effect... but not the ultra safe, best nor reliable way.

 

[The_Universe]

Aha. I was not familiar with that particular piece of info. Interesting.

It was the subject of my undergrad honor thesis. The Constellation, in particular, fielded 72 guns for a while.

Absolutely, Frigatude it is!

Making up words is fun!

Are the foundry's building other frigates/ships of the line going to make them ironclads as well, or will they be more traditional sailing ships? Is it possible we might be at the point where we get the slightly odd combination ships, with both sails and steam/whatever we come up with propulsion?

That's up to economics and player preference, I think. I think some hybrids are likely as you start to roll out the new technology.

As far as we know are the Dracs fielding mostly sailing ships or do they have significant numbers of ironclads as well?

The Draconids have a large number of ironclads on the seas, as well as some oddly designed wooden ships. However, their ironclads are entirely mundanely powered - either sail, oars, or some combination of the two. Steam/magical propulsion is beyond them.

But then again, you've seen some evidence that they were teleporting some of the ships around, which makes their speed at sea somewhat less of an issue than it would be for you.

Great questions - fun to answer!

 

[The_Universe]

Really like the boat idea, and what JC & Kennon are thinking in this area -What we need, what kinds of ships, timetables and such- Also, like the elemental idea...

Glad to hear it!

Otherwise we spend lots of gold on wands of Control winds for sailing ships or we have scrolls of create water (2 gals/lvl) and scrolls of burning hands (ray of fire, lvl 1) to try and get the steam effect... but not the ultra safe, best nor reliable way.

I think the ultimate problem with scrolls like that, etc. is the limited duration of the spell(s), and the cost/benefit ratio. Burning hands is a single round (instantaneous) effect, as an example, which makes using it to produce steam less than effective in most cases.

You almost need an item that has a permanent similar effect, but that can become prohibitibively costly in a hurry. It's an interesting problem - depending on how much coal would cost in a D&D world, mundane steam would probably be developed anyway (even with the presence of magical boilers) because it's (more than likely) cheaper, if also more dangerous and less reliable.

 

[The_Universe]

And here's a thread about coal!

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2183392#post2183392

 

[AIM-54]

It was the subject of my undergrad honor thesis. The Constellation, in particular, fielded 72 guns for a while.

The later version bearing that name is the one in Baltimore Harbor, IIRC.

That's up to economics and player preference, I think. I think some hybrids are likely as you start to roll out the new technology.

Depending on the final solution to propulsion (which is ultimately your call), it may even be desirable to maintain some sail capability as a backup. Probably less necessary in the case of a technological solution, but I'm leery of depending on a magical solution with the enemy's magical capabilities being what they are (ie pretty damn good). But maybe I'm just paranoid. (I am.)

The Draconids have a large number of ironclads on the seas, as well as some oddly designed wooden ships. However, their ironclads are entirely mundanely powered - either sail, oars, or some combination of the two. Steam/magical propulsion is beyond them.

But then again, you've seen some evidence that they were teleporting some of the ships around, which makes their speed at sea somewhat less of an issue than it would be for you.

Great questions - fun to answer!

Can you give any detail on the oddly designed wooden ships? I'm mostly curious as to what that means.

 

[The_Universe]

At the risk of being accused of being heavy handed with clues, some of them look a bit like real life asian Junks, fitted out for war. Your characters wouldn't know that, necessarily, but any of the warriors serving your cause from the Dragon Emperor's former land would recognize them as captured/converted vessels similar to ones once found in their homeland.

Most of the rest of their vessels look like their counterparts here on the ringed continent: but there are some older designs, as well - nonetheless, except for the Junks and flagships like the dragonship, the basic shape of the vessels you're seeing might as well have been built at one of the local shipyards - but some of them have hull-shapes that would have been common half a millenia or more ago.

 

[The_Universe]

Depending on the final solution to propulsion (which is ultimately your call), it may even be desirable to maintain some sail capability as a backup. Probably less necessary in the case of a technological solution, but I'm leery of depending on a magical solution with the enemy's magical capabilities being what they are (ie pretty damn good). But maybe I'm just paranoid. (I am.)

I'm somewhat fond of binding water elementals into a sort of slipstream engine, but some of the magi-tech solutions for producing steam are relatively interesting, as well.

As I think I have noted elsewhere, even if early designs favor magic entirely, steam is still likely to develop for ironclads sometime in the next century (or sooner) just because of economic pressure. If a ton of coal can be had for 250 GP, you can drive your steam engine a long time before you'd pay the 463,000 for the bound water elementals.

 

[Archon]

Does House Arendorr have their own personal ship (since it is a port city) and i'd like to name it.

 

[The_Universe]

House Arendorr does not have a personal vessel as far as I am aware. They were the leaders of a port city, but their attentions were generally turned to the North, while non-nobles' mercantile interests tended to draw their attentions toward the seas. The Stormwinds (Xath's foster family) of Sylvanus, however, control many ships - although none would (at present) be suitable for use as warships. It's likely that passage could be arranged on one of his ships for the Marquis, at your request.

 

[The_Universe]

This hurts

As much as it pains me to say, you might want to consider something like this if Hybrid propulsion is your thing:

She's French. The Glory. Read about her here.