Cargo Capacity

[Sir Cornelius Floyd]

+1, save the large fluyt

[Sir Sam Lowe]

But a lvl1/2 SOTl takes less than 20 mins from Tort -Tzo
Now 20 fleets of lmm(100 ships) with no cannon and:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Treasure Fleet
Company Card(theres suppose to be one)
And stacked on favorable winds...
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Think of each fleets prof for the day. Also,without voodoo I don't think some of these "Warships" can stay beyond the 1hr. I may or may not be right but it's what comes to mind.

[Most Lee Harmless]

and each sotl has a plunder value of 75k, regardless of its level or armament : so, I'd be more than happy for folk to run such sotl fleets... real get rich quick scheme, but not for the trader using them...

[Cdv]

+1 if cargo capacity is increased from current values in a ship without cannons(as opposed to reducing capacity from current values in a ship with cannons).

[Grimrock Litless]

+1

[Crackedcubes]

I want my $2 dollars said the paperboy!

Well really, I want my lil bit of extra cargo capacity from not running cannons on my trade ships!

bump

[Most Lee Harmless]

Actually : not carrying cannon would not really have added much cargo space at all to trade ships back in the day : merchants would have had their armament on the main deck, pretty much open to the elements and thus not really ideal for keeping cargo : especially on a sailing ship which required access to all parts of the main deck, with stays, lines, hauls and what-not in constant use to trim those sails. Plus carrying weighty cargo too high up in the ship would make it a pain to sail, the center of gravity matters for cargo ships, more so for those under sail. As the holds would have been already rammed full, not a lot of places to put the extra crates left.

Next problem is that warships were not designed for cargo : their hulls were designed for strength in battle and speed thru the water, not for loading and carrying tonnes of barrels, crates and such. Cargo vessels have much more 'bulky' hulls to carry more, thus their slower speed and their decks and hulls weres designed for speedy and secure loading and unloading : warships are not.

The ideal design ended up with the 'clipper' : built like a frigate for speed : narrow hull, lots of sail but with a hull and decking built for loading and carrying goods : but these were only truly economical for very high-value cargo like tea, spices and silks : relatively small weight, but with a big price attached.

Perhaps that is the avenue we should be following, especially with ship specialisation and 'in-house' ship building : a 'clipper' design, which sacrifices arms for sheer speed and maximum cargo within that narrow fast hull.

Clipper : cargo/75 : crew/100 : speed/very fast : cannon/8 : build cost : 10% less than a frigate with less iron used, but more cotton. very high evasion ability reduces incoming damage : when used with 'battle orders' to seek escape, almost un-catchable. (perhaps use a similar metric to the evasion chance in Skirmish?)

Should allow for some nice very fast fleets for long-haul trade or higher-risk gold shipments, anyway, thats an idea floated.

[Crackedcubes]

Strong points well said...since ship specialization is not available at this time...albeit mute issue...

In contrary fashion, I disagree that all merchant vessels had their gun positions on the top deck. For instance the Duc de Duras, a 900 ton merchant ship built by France had her cannon on the first below deck. She was loaned to the Continental Navy and was renamed the Bonhomme Richard. perfect example of a large merchant ship with guns below deck!

[Most Lee Harmless]

Good points, well raised : yep, there were exceptions to my general point : but they are that, exceptions : the vast range of merchantmen were not vessels like the Bonhommie Richard, built for the long-distance trade to the Indies and thus needing to be largely self-sufficient in defence in such far flung seas : they were mainly coasters, their defences deck mounted swivel-guns and short range cannon, meant to discourage opportunistic boarders, not to fight sea battles.

[Crackedcubes]

bump...

Me gots extra cargo waiting to be hauled, but this darn empty cannon deck is not being utilized properly. we've been bowling ten pins lately on it, but it is such a waste.

how about that extra cargo space on our trade vessels running without cannon?