All I can think of is to try and put a rib next to each armed gun port, like my USS Constitution plans do. I know some of my other plansets do that, too. If they don't, you can always re-draw your ribs so they are next to the gun ports.
Carl beat me to answering... we are not counting 'decks' apart from the main deck on top, as structural members. Guns get solid area around their gunports but that's it. no stringers, etc. I was thinking about building a structural line an inch in from the full to mount guns to, which could have the solid box stick out to the hull skin, although that sounds complicated now that I type it lol. Have to think on it. I'll probably come up with how I'll fix it in my ship while cleaning out a wound or running someone to surgery today. (yesterday was busy!)
Was thinking about your cannon, and the issue of the ships heeling.... Would mounting the cannons on a common trunnion shaft using a heli gyro and servo setup to keep them aimed below the horizontal be feasible? Or use the gyro to inhibit firing when the cannon point skyward? Or even both so that if the self-levelling runs out of travel, the cannon will safe themselves?
That's what I was thinking about doing with the heli gyro. Have the 'elevation' servo neutral out at 0 degrees, or a little depressed, and have the gyro maintain that. Safety switch obviously a good thing, wasn't sure how to implement that unless it were by a contact on the upper limit bump stop.
I did think of a heli gyro originally but discarded the idea for a few practical reasons. Firstly, heli gyros are tough but not waterproof. They also are not cheap (at least the good heading hold type which we woould need). Secondly, to get the best effect from a gyro it would have to be mounted to the cannon, not to the ship hull. A gyro works to steady (or return) whatever it is mounted on to it's last set position. That leaves an expensive electronic item sitting outside the waterproof box. If the gyro is mounted to the hull while controlling the cannon, the gyro will not have direct motion feedback to keep the cannon steady. I'm not adverse to giving secondary guns decks mounting cannons a 1/4" thickness. Although some people can create ribs and move them as needed to mount cannons and gun ports, most people cannot and are at the mercy of the rib stations on a plan. Putting in a deck is much easier construction. Besides, most multi-gun deck ships are tall enough with enough penetrable area that the extra 1/4" really isn't going to effect game play or the number of points scored. In fact, I'd bet that many of the 3 deck ships will have the top main deck higher than 3" above the waterline, thus actually penalizing them compared to a ship that would have a 3/8" deck under 3" above the waterline.
If you mount the 2nd gun deck to the inside of the ribs, but not the hull, no increase in solid area. For moving the deck and guns to level, use a pendulum weight mounted fore to aft swinging side to side and connect it to the decks. Separate decks for each side and when the weight swings port, it lowers starboard and raises port. Opposite on the other tack. Seems very simple.
That is the setup I was thinking about Greg. A pendulum weight mechanical setup to alutomatically elevate/depress cannons. Perhaps not as precise as a gyro controlled system, but far more durable and waterproof.
I've always been thinking of disassembling a servo to control my elevation. The motor and gearbox can stay together, but the potentiometer would be moved to one of the cannons, and hooked up to a pendulum. That way, when I send a signal to the servo, I'd be telling it what position to go to, relative to the gravity. If the ship heels, gravity stays the same so the guns would adjust themselves to the limit of their travel. The downside to any adjustable cannons is the space required to move them. In order to depress your cannons, you have to have space above them so the magazine, breech, and riser can move upwards. Our basic frigates don't have that, so in my Constitution I was planning to fix the cannons at the steepest downward angle I can manage (which isn't much), then adjust my sails and tactical positioning to the conditions present. Unless we make the barrels themselves flexible... hmm, this requires more thought...
I was thinking along the same lines as Greg for the gundeck... I am building mine at least 1/2" in from the balsa, so no problems with penetrable area. I think a pendulum will work, just needs good bearings for things to spin on. I was going to give the initial build cannons a slight downangle, maybe hitting the water 3 feet out. Keeping in mind that my rig sticks out almost 1 foot from the centerline, together with heeling moment, don't want to get TOO close.
That is a very good idea Kotori ... great thinking out of the box on that one! Kinda a mechanically controlled electrically operated leveling system. A side benefit of that setup is elevation control via the transmitter. Good thoughts on keeping it simple also. The fast gun guys generally don't use elevation or rotates to keep things simple and reliable. With some common sense when to fire (or not fire) cannons, we can do the same.
So since we are aiming to build ships around the Napoleonic era, are we supposed to use the term "larboard" instead of "port"?
So what's the rule when all combatants end up beached on the down-wind end of the lake? You know it will happen!
If all combatants are beached, that's when the captains fire up the grill for lunch. More seriously, if a given ship is forced ashore through pilot error/vagaries of fate/wind, I would say they get a mulligan and can push off from shore, and get 30 seconds (a minute?) to gain sea room. oops, patient here. edit to add more later
Sounds good to me. In fact, would go as far as to say that anyone who beaches must relaunch the ship as long as the ship is still in play, i.e. not "off five" or "struck colors".
Firing the grill up when the whole fleet beaches sounds good to me. When its just one guy, I'd say have a waiting period so others can send him some love before relaunching. And on relaunching, a push-boat might be handy to have around...
I am proposing the following rating adjustment. Reasoning is that towards the end of the AOS several powers built some very heavily armed first rates that were a magnitude ahead of a standard first rate as those standards were ahead of a second rate. Classification Rating Historical Guns Armament Ammunition Ship of the Line 1st Rate Heavy 120+ 20 1000 Ship of the Line 1st Rate 100 to 119 18 900 Ship of the Line 2nd Rate 90 to 99 16 800 Ship of the Line 3rd Rate 61 to 89 14 700 Ship of the Line, Cruiser, Heavy Frigate 4th Rate 44 to 60 12 600 Frigate 5th Rate 32 to 43 10 500 Post Ship* (see note) 6th Rate 20 to 31 8 400 Brig, Sloop, Cutter, Galley, etc. Unrated Under 20 6 300
Not a bad idea, though kinda contrary to the historical rating system. Frankly, I would like to see ships on the water and battling before any major rule changes are proposed.
