Naval Ships and Tech discussion (LONG)

[Scott Cohan]

sc>   Well, theoretically, they _could_ buy Law spells, but at
sc> substantial   penalties.

     Yep.  Or be the evil ones they are and force a good wizard (har har) :).

Cliche of evil magic tryants..

  Yes, but then you have to ask yourself how common magic is in the Perilous
  Lands.  If wizards are as common as carpenters, they wouldn't receive any more
  respect than a carpenter.

  sc>   I'm not sure which nations I would consider "nautically advanced".
  <SNIP>

     I agree with fomoria.  Did alot of campagins with them and that area.
Clima I tend to half and half depending on the person/site.  I also typically
let Donara and Marentia have some advanced navigational skills based mainly on
their power in the area or influence with others.  What do you consider open
sea say south of port doman (easy reference).  5 hexes from the coast?  Just
curious.  :)

  Well, Fomoria has, in the past, spread themselves far and wide and still
  maintain contact with each other over vast differences.  They NEED good naval
  tech.  Climan is separated from her colonies by 560 miles and NEEDS good naval
  tech, especially if they can board enemy ships and get what they want from
  them just on their reputation alone.  They must have enough people on board to
  be an overwelming force.  Besides, they have to make patrols in order to catch
  non-Climan shipping, and triremes couldn't be left in the water for that long.
   I generally consider open-sea to be out of sight of land for a day.  That's
  long enough to get disoriented and get off course.  The longer, the better, of
  course.  Remember, on board a ship, you can see land for about 8 miles,
  increased to 15 from an 80 foot mast.  Of course, things like active volcanoes
  tend to stand out a bit more.
     I would tend to agree with Marentia, because of their great naval
  victories, the heir being surnames "The Navigator", etc.  Donara, on the other
  hand, I don't know.  Remember, they are barely civilized barbarians, after
  all.  The Salaqi, on the other hand, are favored by one of the sea gods, and
  might possess this knowledge, which the Donarans could have stolen from them,
  so it's hard to say.

  sc>   It's basically a large vertical wooden grid, thus:   +--+--+--+--+
ahh..ok..know 'em..actually saw one used in a 'historical' show (Xena har har).

  Did some more research, and found that springalds went out of fashion quickly.
   Found a good book entitled "The Crossbow"  written by a rich Brit back in the
  1880s or 90s who built his own catapult weighing a ton and a half.  Good
  information on ranges of crossbows as compared to longbows, good info on
  firing rates, good info on seige weapons, and the famed repeating crossbow.

  My wife asked me to explain to her how much of an abomination (historically)
  Hercules and Xena was (Don't get me wrong, I watch all the time).  I gave her
  a hypothetical show with the main character being:
  Abraham Lincoln, father of American wrestling
  and his arch-enemy,
  Ghengis Kahn
  fighting it out in their,
  F-15 fighter planes
  over the great plains.

  This example is actually LESS historically inaccurate then Hercules/Xena:
  Awful lot of high-quality steel weapons for the Bronze Age (only separated by
  about 2500 years, much less than Abraham Lincoln and jet planes).
  Tomatoes?  (Old World/New World, same as Lincoln and Ghengis)
  Homer telling the story of Spartacus. (Don't get me started)

  Ok, so I have a degree in Classical Studies.  I still like the show, it's just
  a complete fantasy, with no bearing on historical realism.  Much like the
  Perilous Lands and it's naval technology.  (Feeding back on the original
  thread)

  Scott Cohan