Analysis of the Elven Ships, Part III

Part III of my little analysis (which now stretches to 12 pages!).  One more
source to go!

Adam

Space Lairs

The Space Lairs complementation of site location adventures presents to us
the Crown of Corellon, which is labeled as an "Armada".  The layout,
however, is of what appear to be seven vaguely Man-O-War-shaped ships drawn
into a circle around a central, circular base.  Likewise, the statistics for
this ship no not in any way match those given for the Armada, from the
dimensions to the weapons carried, nor is there a usable helm located
anywhere on the ship.  This would indicate it is an elvish Outpost station,
rather than an Armada.  Indeed, it was later revealed by the artist who
created the deckplans that the Crown of Corellon was designed as an outpost
in the mold of the Karpri station in Realmspace.  We can now safely conclude
that the Crown is not an Armada but a Man-O-War ring outpost.

The Crown is enormous, at least compared to standard Spelljammers.  It is
made up of seven "spokes" that are vaguely shaped like Man-O-Wars,
surrounding a central hub, with towers rising out of the top and a domed
garden at the bottom.  Although not shown on the map, the wings of the
Man-O-Wars have grown together into solid walls to offer protection for the
outpost.  Each spoke has a length of about 125 feet, while the central hub
is about 65 feet in diameter.  Taking into account some overlap, this gives
us an overall diameter of roughly 300 feet.  The station has nine levels.
The two bottom levels are below the gravity plane and thus have reversed
gravity than the upper levels.  These two levels have the stations cargo
hold and gardens.  The next three levels are dominated by the spokes, which
have the majority of crew quarters, armories, and slips for ships to dock
with the station.  The top four decks are the seven outer towers, which
surround a central barracks tower.

In terms of defenses, the Crown has no less than twenty-eight medium
weapons, half of which are turreted.  One must assume these are protective
turrets, as the station's wings and structures would limit the arc of fire
to the standard arc the weapon could fire in without a turret.  These
weapons are directed upwards, which leaves the underside vulnerable to
attack.  Likewise, large ships could simply surge forward, absorbing hits
and getting in close to board.  Such a tactic was probably used by the scro
in taking the Crown in the first place.  The scro, who seized the station
during the Second Unhuman Wars, have assigned three wasps to guard the
station.  It is likely the elves likewise kept a number of ships close to
the station.  Given its immobility, it would be vulnerable to large-scale
assaults.  The scro presence numbers roughly 100 soldiers and 60 officers,
with some parts of the station left virtually abandoned.  We can speculate
that the elvish presence was much larger, and that the scro garrison is
small, perhaps due to losses elsewhere.  Given the station easily surpasses
400 tons or more, an elvish garrison of 200 or more would not be
unreasonable.

What purpose the Crown served is an interesting question.  A large, stable
platform with a continually renewing atmosphere would be quite useful in
certain situations.  It would be strong enough to fend off attacks from an
individual ship or a small flotilla, and large enough to keep a modest fleet
supplied for months.  Its real advantage, however, is that it can be
disassembled and moved, if necessary.  Such mobility is of an enormous
advantage.  The elves could bring materials in aboard the very ships used to
construct the base.  This would be especially advantageous in areas that
lack a good site to build upon, such as stable asteroids or moons.  Another
ideal spot for these stations would be in high orbit above worlds where
elves trade or have diplomatic relations.  Cargo and passengers could arrive
aboard standard Spelljammers, offload at the station, and then less obvious
ships, such as galleons, could be used to ferry goods and people to the
surface.  Such a setup would be advantageous in places where elves do not
wish regular Spelljammers to land, such as on mosaic worlds like Toril,
Oerth, or Krynn.

It is, however, not invulnerable, as illustrated by both the Karpri station
and the Crown of Corellon, both having fallen to foes of the elves.  A large
enough fleet could overwhelm its defenders and take the station relatively
intact, again evidence by both stations in reasonable good condition.  Being
made from living ships, the stations could likely regrow over time,
repairing damage if property pruned.


Astromundi Cluster

The Astromundi Cluster introduces the last elvish ship to appear in the
"core" Spelljammer line, the Doombat.  This ship is quite an odd ship, as it
breaks two key Spelljammer conventions.  Firstly, it is the only ship that
has more hull points, eight, than it has tonnage, which is five.  Secondly,
it really does not appear to resemble any known animal or monster, nor is it
a displaced watercraft.  At best, it appears to resemble an oddly-shaped
leaf, with a pair of sea shells glued on the bottom.  This is not to mean
that ship is ugly in appearance; the Doombat appears to be a graceful and
somewhat modern.  Were Spelljammers not by default galleons or
animal-shaped, it would appear at home.  Likewise, it could easily be used
in a sci-fi game as a shuttle of some sort.

The ship is listed as having a length of 70' and a width of 30'.  The
deckplans confirm these dimensions.  The ship has two major decks, and two
minor decks.  The ship is quite roomy for a five ton vessel, with plenty of
interior space.  The weapon pods of the ship swivel, giving both weapons 360
degree arcs of fire.  The ship's small size means it is easily destroyed by
a solid hit, so the ship likely relies on stealth and maneuvers to survive.
Where this ship thrives is in tightly packed asteroid fields, which are
abundant in the Astromundi Cluster.  The Doombat is small enough to dart in
between asteroids where larger ships would be crushed.  With its weapon pods
situated below the ship, the Doombat can us a large asteroid as cover,
exposing only its weapon pods to enemy fire.  Swarms of Doombats would be
deadly ambushers of ships traveling through asteroid clusters, swooping upon
their prey in classic Space Opera fashion.

The ship is listed as being able to carry a crew of five.  Four are needed
to man the weapons, and a fifth to man the helm.  A ship probably carries
more, to deal with boarders.  As mentioned above, the ship's weapons are in
sea-shell shaped pods, which rotate 360 degrees.  It is probable that these
pods are controlled by the helmsman by magical means, rather than by brute
force via turrets.  There is no place given over for such turrets, and
operating them would require an additional two to four men each, pushing the
crew size to as many as thirteen men.  Such a large crew would tax the ship'
s resources greatly, limiting its range.  Given the sheer size of the
Astromundi Cluster and that elves live at the fringes of it, they would want
a ship with the maximum possible range.  Thus, they would likely develop
means of removing as many men as possible, while not leaving the ship
completely helpless.