Re: Waterjammers

On Sunday, May 25, 2003, at 11:48 PM, Ariel Sibal wrote:

> My question is about the ships and their tonnage.
>
> Would the liquid envelope affect (added to) the rated
> tonnage of the waterjammer ships?

I think so, yes. If you have a 30 ton ship, that then has
30 tons of water added to its air envelope, it would be
a 60 ton ship. And it would then have an air envelope that
extends out beyond the water. Which could then hold its
own water, ad infinitum.


> If it would affect the ship's tonnage, then what
> percentage of the tonnage would be the liquid? 50%?
> 75%?

The air envelope is x27 the volume of the ship it surrounds.
So a 45 ton Squidship has a 1215 ton air envelope. So if the
entire air envelope is filled, the water takes up 1170 tons
(this excludes the 45 tons of the ship itself), which is about
96% of the total mass.


> If a spelljammer ship rams a waterjammer ship, will
> the liquid envelope hold even when pierced?
>
> If a waterjammer ship rams a spelljammer ship?

I'd think no, the water would rush into the open space that
is the air envelope of the non-watery ship.


> Will the liquid envelope affect the gravity plane?

Yes. It will create a larger gravity plane.

Note, though, that unless a ship uses magic, the water will
eventually drain off as it departs the ship along the gravity
plane, as all things thicker than air eventually do.


> Some examples of waterjammer ships:

My advice? Create a magic item to do this. Going by the rules,
most ships would not be able to move because the tonnage
would be immense, and no helm could move them.

Have an item that makes the helm ignore water when
determining the tonnage that it can move. And keep it in place
when rammed, sort of a seal that locks it in.

Note, though, that such a thing makes a ship virtually immune
to heavy weapons such as catapults. I'd imagine even
ballista would have a hard time doing damage.


Leroy Van Camp III
malacoda@????????.net
ICQ #20039817

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