Would it be possible to have a set of current guideliens for constructing a AoS ship posted and stickied? Things like scale, eligible ships, armor, cannons, etc would be very helpful.
Tugboat posted a link to the rules so far. Keep in mind that they are just a starting point, based on our knowledge of our current hobby and of the Age of Sail. http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/Portals/0/Users/Kotori87/Age%20of%20Sail%20construction%20and%20combat%20rules.doc
I actually posted a link and later edited the post to include the full text. When I get home, I will sticky it. some controls don't work here due to the Army's firewall software.
Ok. I'm semi-hooked into AoS. Enough to do LOTS of online research about sailing ships, decide on a ship (purely because it is pretty), spend multiple hours online trying to find plans for the ship, another hour reworking and resizing the plan to 1:48, and finally deciding to get said plans printed over lunch today. If I start cutting wood for a build, then we'll upgrade to fully hooked. Heh. Admittedly, I avoided even reading the AoS thread until the past few days because I didn't want to get hooked into another aspect of the RC model hobby. But Clark just had to send an email about the Minerva, which got me looking at things, which lead to the searching and such. heh. Already planning on postponing a 1/96th project for the AoS ship. I would start immediately, but have to finish up the small tank project first. So in a way, the AoS ship is incentive to finish the tank quickly.
A 1753 French made cebek type called Le Requim. It had 24 cannons and weighed around 260 tons. With triangular sails and a swoopy profile, it is a gorgeous ship. In 1:48 scale, it is 41" overall length. I realize that it will only be allowed 4 cannons, but it is just too pretty not to build.
It sucks that ships without a square rig are getting penalised, gun-wise. I quite like the idea of a sloop or same such triangular-rigged ship being well armed... Although whilst typing this I have just remembered how much modern yachts can tip with full sales - I've sailed a few from 21 to 32 feet long, and I've been able to stick my hand in water that is normally 5feet below deck level, whilst under full sail... So I can understand why they are limited to chasers only, lol.
There just aren't many fore and aft rigged warships from the Napoleanic war era, but I think the scoop here is that they sail better to windward, easier to turn and what we're really after here is classic age of sail battles. I'd still like to see pics of that french ship, where are they?? It sounds like a cool ship.
EDIT: Apparently, the file upload problem is only on the home computer ... works fine at work. Bleah. In the meantime, the best pictures of a model is the museum quality Le Requin in 1:48 scale located at www.bestscalemodels.com/LeRequin_shipmodel.html
Fore and aft rigged ships tend to be much more maneuverable to make up for any penalty in armament. They should be able to sail much closer to the wind and generally have a sleeker hull shape to improve speed and maneuverability. Even with only four guns, you can run down other ships if you want, engage when you want, and generally control the battle. I could see that boat diving downwind to lure an opponent out of position, then sweeping back upwind to double-team another opponent. On a side note thinking about double-teaming, I read somewhere about a ship with targets on both sides. The crews were only manning one set of guns, so an enterprising individual ran down the unmanned side, firing the cannons as quickly as he could. He got a critical shot, but left those cannons unleaded until the crews got a chance to move to the other side. I bet the electronic ROF limiters could work some simple magic to simulate the limited crew, if we wanted. A little chantey for everyone to enjoy...
I don't think we need to simulate limited crews until we get functional ships battling and THEN worry about it
Kinda figured as much. Should be a software change, so it could be added once everything else is figured out. When I really think about it, it's probably one of those things that is really too in-depth and doesn't add much to the fun-factor for the effort to implement.
Finally sat down to study the plans tonight. There is a LOT of ribs ... so many that I had to decide which 10 ribs to leave out. It has a pretty wide beam for it's length, so should still be pretty stable. There is a major concern though that is giving me some doubts on whether to build the ship. The hull is very shallow ... enough that midships, the middle of the main deck is actually slightly below the scale waterline. It would not be a construction problem to build that deck. But for playability, there is practically nothing to shoot at in the middle half of the ship. Which kinda brings up another question. Is the hull above the main deck considered solid? Or should it be penetrable? Going to try to upload a picture again to show the outlines ...
Still cannot upload pictures to here, so going to have to go with an online photo host. www.flickr.com/photos/39806147@N06/6509283259/ EDIT: Trying to externally link photo ...
Personally, I would love to have the top decks represented in scale, not decked over as we do in the motorized combat hobby. Of course, on ships like LeRequin, that eliminates penetrable area above the waterline in some places. I definately think that holes put in abovedecks should count; putting cannonballs and grapeshot through the topside personnel was a good way to take out command personnel, marines, and not the least, the guys manning the top-deck cannon batteries. I propose that above deck holes should count as above-waterline hits. I would also propose that we allow a 1/8"high solid area along the top rail to glue the blasa above the main deck to (no floppy top end of the balsa, ja?) Another thought, Mike... are you going to have room to allow the cannons to move up and down to prevent cannon from becoming anti-aircraft weapons? With that sail plan and hull form, you are going to have to worry about heeling more than a bigger ship will. Aside from safety, it'll be hard to get in some of the magnificent shots that you otherwise might get from that maneuverability of the cool rig.
Moved from Greg's post in another area: Here's what the rules say about that. if a ship's main deck is within 3” of the waterline, the ship may have up to 3/8” additional impenetrable area to account for the deck. I take that to mean this will be used to connect the tops of the ribs. Front to back. Anyone else agree or disagree?
