New ship type ideas

[krases]

I came up with a few ideas for new ships. The prices for ships would have to be modified to make them balanced for there capabilities, but I think they all have some fair use to them.

Small ships

Coastal Fishing Vessel - A small coastal fishing ship pressed into the service of the armed forces. Armed with only the muskets of the crew, fishing boats in combat were, at best, a distraction and at worst, target practice. They do, however, have uses in a navy, such as reconnaissance. In a pinch, a large number of fishing boats can be seized on short notice to be used in naval landings.

Costs 90 gold to purchase and 15 gold per turn to maintain. Armed with only muskets (no canon). Recruited at any port.

Commercial Fishing Vessel - A large fishing ship that has been pressed into national service. Used for fishing far further from port, these ships can cover a fair amount of open sea in a short amount of time. Armed with only muskets, these ships cannot fight, but there large size, speed and durability allows them to usually outrun anything bigger than a fifth rate.

Costs 140 gold to purchase and 25 per turn to maintain. Armed with only muskets (no canon).
Recruited at level 2 fishing ports.

Nationalized Merchant - Not all merchant ships were well armed indianmen. The unlucky nationalized merchants were the conscripts of the sea. In times of dire straights, there ships would just as likely be sunk to create a underwater hazard as they were to be used in battle. Poorly armed, these ships carry only 6 guns. Two on each side and two in the rear to fight pursuing pirates.

Costs 180 gold to purchase and 35 per turn to maintain. Armed with 6 guns. UNIQUE ABILITIES: Scuttle - scuttling within an enemy harbor hurts incoming trade for 2 turns. Trade - This ship can be put on trade centers in trade theaters. Recruited at level 2 trade ports

Marine Ship - Rarely are ships dedicated purely for capturing enemy vessels. Marine ships are durable and can withstand plenty of gunfire to make it to there objective. This hardened hull has resulted in few ship-to-ship guns as guns can only be mounted on deck for the sake of maintaining hull consistency. Even great first rates must worry if a Marine Ship comes alongside and begins to board.

Costs 400 gold to purchase and 90 per turn to maintain. Armed with 10 guns and 200 crew.

Yacht - Small seagoing vessels used to show off the wealth of a noblemen. Yachts were often used for leisure activities just off the coastline, but occasionally found use transporting less critical members of society from place to place. Armed with a single gun, Yachts could only defend themselves against the most minor of threats. A nation must find itself desperate to actually send such expensive ships into harms way.

Costs 150 gold to buy, 35 to maintain. Armed with one forward facing canon.

Medium Sized Ships

Great Merchant - Moving across vast seas, the merchant ships of larger regional trade companies and wealthy lords. Armed with only 16 guns, the great merchant's used there speed to quickly fairy passengers and cargo across a theater.

Costs 380 gold to purchase and 100 per turn to maintain. Armed with 16 guns.

Major Indianmen - The east India company did employ some rather powerful transport ships in its fleet. The large Indianmen could not only carry plenty of cargo, but could threaten even the largest of pirate ships. It did, however, prefer to run as opposed to endanger its cargo and pursuing ships often were met with a nasty surprise.

Costs 480 gold to purchase and 150 to maintain. Armed with 36 guns. 2 forward, 6 rear and 14 on each side.

Large ships



Huge Ships

Grand First Rate - Historically, such a massive vessel was never built save for the Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad which was technically as large for a short time. Armed with 148 guns, this monstrous vessel could carry a small army and survive any single match with most any other ship of the sea.

Costs a lot, yo. 6 guns on the front, 6 on the rear with 68 on each side. Unique Ability: Shore party - Can recruit a 60 man team of marines to go ashore. Has a 3 turn cool down time.

Emperors Flagship - Admirals call it a waste of money. The Peasantry cheer with nationalistic fervor upon seeing it. Revolutionaries claim it to be everything that is wrong with the government. Scientists cite it as a form of phallic compensation. The Emperors flagship is largely believed to be a fake ship. No way could a vessel sport 240 guns, a sizable army for a crew and a messenger on horseback to carry messages from the front of the ship to the back. No way. Impossible. The guns must be fake, the fifth mast can't be useful and there is no way it can actually go to open sea.

Costs...a metric !#@$load. Armed with 240 guns, a 60 man unit of hand mortars, a 500 man complement of household guards and a hourse mounted admirals body guard. What the hell dude. 20 guns in front, 20 in back 4 up in a large crows nest in the masts and 98 on each side. Unique Abilities: Glimmer of Hope - automatically provides a large moral boost to surrounding vessels.
Crown Jewel - Moving this ship to a port will automatically boost that regions repression and happiness.


Miscellaneous Ships

Fire ship - Woe to the crews of the fire ships. Fire ships were never a distinct class of ship, as they were often previously damaged or obsolete ships that were packed full of gunpowder and combustible material. Upon nearing the enemy, the fire ship will light fire to itself and the crew will attempt escape before it explodes.


Costs between 100 and 500 gold to convert a ship into a fire ship, depending upon the type of ship being converted. No maintenance required because conversion takes place on the pre-battle screen. UNIQUE ABILITIES: Explode - upon nearing a target, the ship will be primed to explode. The sails and heading must be set at the last minute because the crew then jumps overboard, losing control of the ship for the last 10 seconds before it explodes.

Privateer's - Many navies preferred to hire pirate vessels to raid enemy commerce as opposed to putting there own ships out to sea as an act of war.

Comes in three sizes. A small 16 gun ship. A medium sized 24 gun ship and a large 48 gun ship. Unique ability: These ships can disguise themselves as pirates, meaning a nation can be attacked directly without declaring war. Repeated attacks may arouse suspicion.

Skiff - A supremely small ship. Crewed by 10 men, Skiffs operate away from a mothership and only use muskets.

Skiffs are not built directly, but certain research can make them spawn from a large ship when the large ship is sinking. If the larger vessel surrenders or explodes, Skiffs will not appear. If a large ship begins to sink, a number of Skiffs (depending upon the size of the ship) may evacuate part of the crew and with a lot of luck the survivors could potentially board an enemy ship and take control of it.

[High Chunker Greens]

This would be awesome please do it! ( I just want the emperors flagship )

[S-te-Fan]

I know how to make fire ships. You place 1 cannon aiming at something so that if you do a broadside it will shoot at the object and then the ship goes burning. You make another cannon aiming at the gunpowder storage and you can activate it trough the other broadside button.

Giving marines hand mortars would be cool.

[krases]

Cannot be done until we have some sort of 3d model uploader. Even then I still need to go get 3dmax some time.

I think it would be cool to see the emperors flagship next to a bunch of little fishing boats for size comparison. That would be crazy.