Since we're not intending our ships to sink, what do you think would be the downside to allowing foam/balsa block to be used inside the hull to fill space, and simply counting holes in the balsa after a sortie of fixed length? I think it'd eliminate the issue of water coming in the gunports under sail, and since we were planning on using 'striking the colors' as the 'sink', would it really hurt us any? Please discuss
Since the early days of the rules discussion, we've been working with a float that triggers your color to strike, i.e. - surrendering, like in the days of sail. It was actually pretty rare for a ship to sink or be destroyed. One of Minerva's sister ships actually changed hands FOUR TIMES back and forth between England and France. So for Age of Sail, sinks are actually pretty unrealistic.
Agreed. I should also mention the difficulty of recovering sunken AOS ships. Not only is there no way to build a working recovery float for one, the potential for severe damage to sails, masts, and rigging during recovery is huge. When my USS Constitution got rammed and capsized by a nitro racing boat, the amount of drag generated by her sails was incredible. Water is much, much thicker than air and it would be easy to accidentally break sails, rigging, or masts during recovery. On the flip side, enough foam to keep an AOS ship afloat will take up a lot of room inside the ship. I've made a couple ships unsinkable before, and it takes up a prodigious amount of space. If you think you can afford the loss, I see no objection. I, on the other hand, intend to keep a second, unrestricted bilge pump on my landing gear switch in case of emergency. Surrendering is as simple as turning on the second pump. It should be very obvious when it happens. Not as foolproof as foam, but less of a space penalty on smaller frigates.
