Re: Analysis of Elven Ships, Part II

If anyone's interested, this is my take on some inconsistancies when 
dealing with elven ships.  Feel free to hack my take on things to little 
bits, as you'll only be joining the throng of my players with dead 
characters. :)
 
First off, The Flitter.  If the ship has a 20' wing span, it seems pretty 
difficult to pack a whole flotilla of 40 on any ship, even an Armada.  
Consider the implications when the WCC1 states that all of the Flitters in 
the GreySpace Imperial Fleet are stored on the sole remaining Man-O-War.
 
Taking a concept after the WW2 Hell Cat Fighters, one would have to assume 
the the Flitter's wings could be folded back and up, so you could pack a 
bunch of them onto a cargo hold.  Then when the ship was hauled onto the 
flight deck, the pilot could then pull some levers and the wings would 
spring open.  Perhaps this feature could also provide a non-magical method 
of propulsion, whereas the pilot could "flap" the wings of the Flitter 
just like a real butterfly.  If you watch a real butterfly in flight, they 
usually flap a few times and then glide, so the pilot wouldn't get overly 
tired. 
 
I see the ship as being extremely light, enough that a single elf could 
carry it, much like you would carry a hang glider.  There would be a 
crystalline window that afforded the pilot a 180 degree foreward view.  
This window would be tinted on the outside so an attacker could not 
actualy see the pilot and it would serve an additional purpose of reducing 
glare when facing a fire body.
 
Depending on the Flitter's use, as certain Flitters would be used only for 
certain purposes, the ship could be mounted with light crossbows that 
could be loaded and fired from the cockpit or perhaps wands.  These would 
be used to pick off enemy deck crew.  Flittrs could have sharpened blades 
extending from the wing tips that could slice through a ships rigging and 
sails or, even more grusomely, to fly low across the deck and slice 
through crewmen.  Some bombing Flitters could have a mechanism that would 
open a lower cargo hold and dump a one time use shot like oil, smoke 
powder, jettison shot, a catapult stone or a jar of black pudding, etc. 
onto the deck of an enemy ship.
 
Other Flitters could land on the bottom side of a ship and "Warp Wood" a 
boarding party right into the Steerage deck.  Or Flitters might just have 
a small door in the front to allow an archer or spellcaster to hurl death 
down upon the enemy.  In short, I think the versitility of these craft is 
limitless.
 
The Man-O-War.  Beautiful, Graceful, and by SJ rules, not all they're 
cracked up to be.  C'mon, these are suposed to be the "Terror of 
WildSpace!"  Deck plans have to be modified enough to accomodate the SJ DM 
Screen where it says they are capable of carrying 4 large weapons.  I 
firmly believe that this is possible for a Man-O-War.  I just made them a 
little wider and a little longer.  The castle deck and the battle deck 
extend furter aft while the battle deck also extends fore.  The Castle 
deck could then accomodate a place for Flitters to land or could be lined 
with side arc mounted weapons.  
 
Variations of the deck plans could allow for portholes on the battle deck 
and main deck where side mounted weapons could be concealed, like on a 
Giff Clipper.  Of course, being of elven design, these doors would close 
flush with the side of the ship and be virtually undetectable, at least 
until it was too late.
 
Variations of the cargo hold could allow for the top, bottom, or even 
sides of the hold to slide open, much like the retractable domes on Neogi 
Death Spiders.  Or they could spread apart like a blooming flower.  The 
sides of the cargo hold could conceal battle turrets on oposite sides of 
the gravity plane or a flight deck for even more Death Raining Flitters. 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Sorry, I digress....
 
In short, the Man-O-War most likely wins most battles by Manuverability, 
Superior Magic, and War Captains with decades of experience.  But, if 
necessary, they can be used to just plain throttle the heck out out of the 
enemy.
 
The Armada.  First of all, I'd like to say that I absolutely DESPISE the 
descrition of the Imperial Fleet Armada featured in the SJ Comics.  Elves 
in Napoleonic uniforms guarding this "party ship" is just way to 
rediculous for my tastes. (And I even buy into 200 foot long flying 
butterflies, go fig.)  Seems like to me the folks at LionHeart would have 
that thing blasted from the sky in order to avoid the unbearable 
embarassment of being associated with it.  We are talking about an Elven 
Capital Ship, not a pontoon boat. 'nuff said.  
 
Anyways, IMC, all Armada are equipped with some sort of castle structure, 
depending upon the ship's uses, depends on the size and purpose of these 
structures.  
 
Staffing is a real issue.  But, these are built by elves for elves, and 
one must take into consideration that an average elf is roughly 75% the 
size of a human.  Therefore, you could fit 125% of the crew capacity onto 
an elven ship.  A Man-O-War could support a crew of 75 and an Armada could 
support a crew of 125.  The Imperial Fleet descriptions in WCC1 list Eel 
ships and Barges of Ptah as cargo vessels for the fleet.  That means that 
there probably isn't much cargo on Imperial Fleet warships and the holds 
on these ships can be used as crew quarters.
 
Now if a standard Armada with no castle structure can carry 125 elves, 
then one with a structure could carry a lot more.  That's how you squeeze 
40 additional Flitter pilots on board.  
 
As far as air displacement goes, the ships are grown and have a life span, 
like a tree, and therefore they create their own breateable atmosphere - 
IF - there are elves on board to create enough carbon dioxie for the ship 
to use.  This puts the elves and their ships into a symbiotic 
relationship.  Without the ship, the elves would suffocate, and without 
the elves, the ship would wither and die.  An elven ship, abandoned for so 
long, would eventually die, unless some other life form , scaavers, etc. 
used it as a home.
 
Ship Growth Time?  A fast growing tree in the RW has a growth rate of 
about 10' per year.  IMC it takes 2 years to grow a Flitter and 20 Years 
to grow a Man-O-War.  An Armada grows a litle slower (6' per year) so I 
have it taking 50 years to grow to full size.  These numbers can be 
augmentedwith magic (Plant Growth, Age Plant etc.) to reduce the time it 
takes.
 
Now before you jump all over this, I am well aware that the GreySpace 
accessory states that it takes a week to grow a Flitter on Greela.  Keep 
in mind that this ship yard has been growing ships for hunderds of years 
and has several ships in various stages of development. The Flitter is 
probably grown en masse and Flitters are planted and harvested every 
single day.  I would say that it would take a week just because it would 
take that long to file and approve the paperwork and wait until the last 
ship order had been completely filled.  They are most certainly going to 
give priority over the Imperial Fleet ship orders before a private buyer 
request.
 
I've got a lot more to say, but I've gotta run.  Hope you enjoyed!
 
--Blackmaer
 
"Please rephort to da Commodorey that all o da Goblins have been 
shuccshesh, shuck, suc-shess-fully poison-ed to death with his poison-ed 
ale.  And that dey sur can drink lots.  And thanks him for da un-poison-ed 
ale that to with-ch I have drunken with them as well.  Thanksh you, 
goodnight."
                                    
                            ---Captain of The Annihilator, just before his 
head stuck the table in the ship's galley.