How would you make a fantasy Ironclad "go?"

[tarchon]

Teams of horses with horseshoes of a zephyr tow them (6000 gp per horse), though outfits with less capital just have a a mid level cleric who bops Water Walk on them every hour or so.
(People always think inside the box if they can.)

[Splash] "Number three just threw a shoe on an albatross!"

 

[arscott]

As best I can figure, it would cost between 463,000 and 480,000 Gold Pieces, in fact.

How much do you want it to cost?

I personally like the animated object solution. It's elegant in its simplicity.

I'm a big fan of the Union (and this the Monitor), but it would definitely be (in technical specification) a lot more like the Merrimac/CSS Virginia - a wooden warship with armor grafted to her hull.

One of my players suggested the Merritor....

But it was only called the Merrimac when it was a Union Ship, right?

 

[JFOLSEN]

Not my idea, but I will throw it out. Take a big box with a crank, add lots of zombies/skeletons, order them to turn the crank. Now all you have to do is add a propeller to the shaft, and maybe figure out some form of slippage/transmission. If you do that, you don't even need to direct the undead, they will simply always turn, and you will decide whether to engage the propeller/paddlewheel/etc.

The CSS Virginia was dog slow, like 6 knots, her draft was over 20 feet. The thing that made her deadly was invulnerability to the cannons of that era and she could go AGAINST the wind, which none of those wooden sailing ships could, therefore she was completely free in her directions of attack. The wooden ships couldn't even flee if the wind was against them.

John Olsen

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

3 decanters of endless water (or three banks of them if more power is needed) at the back - independently controllable in order to steer the ironclad. Bag of devouring at the front that is used to stop the water level of the planet increasing from all the water being created at the back. Unless of course you want to introduce the environmental change and make a waterworld

 

[cmanos]

bound elementals of course!!!

 

[Hand of Evil]

I submit for your discussion pleasure...The Hunley

As you can see a simple screw powered by golems could be very effective.

 

[The_Universe]

How much do you want it to cost?

I personally like the animated object solution. It's elegant in its simplicity.

I think animating a screw or paddlewheel is probably cheaper (not entirely sure, though) but it's also probably slower - water elementals have a swim speed of 120 ft. - even the huge ones. An animated object might get a move rate of 20 ft...maybe 30? Any guesses here?

But it was only called the Merrimac when it was a Union Ship, right?

That is correct. And since the Union won, the history books still call it the Merrimac, even though when it was captured (and eventually put in the water) by the Confederacy, the name painted on here hull was the Virginia.

 

[NeghVar]

Take a whale add the Half-Golem Template - in this case use the Iron Golem?

Sounds about right to me...

Ciao!

 

[rbingham2000]

I love the sea-beast idea. It'd be just like putting horses to work pulling wagons. The problem, of course, being that the sea-beast has to be strong enough to pull the ship, but not strong enough to sink it by diving below the surface and taking the ship with it.

 

[F5]

I think the sea-beast idea is the way to go, too. But, there's no reason for the sea creatures to tow ironclad ships. Take a whale, cast a permanencied Animal Growth on it, and the Colossal beast can wear the "ship", like a suit of barding. You would still need to summon an elemental to help run the thing, though. The summoned elemental isn't a fire elemental for a furnace, or a water elemental to tow the thing; it's an air elemental that provides breathable air while the whale dives.