Re: Rebuilding the Man-O-War :)

In message <000001c7ee6a$95aaa0c0$6701a8c0@stevenantec>
          Steven <steven.james.1@??????????.??.uk> wrote:


[snip]
> Still have to mess with the top catapult position as it makes no sense
> as shown in originals *scratches head*.

I've always thought that the catapult was in a turret in front of the 
castle deck, but I'm not sure about the stairs from the Castle deck up 
to the wing (on the deck plans). I'm not sure how the turret would 
operate, however - its mounted directly above the wall between the 
bridge and the companionway (magic? ;-).

[snip]

> The rear section will have a large area above and below the rooms that
> flank the gangway, these were simply noted as "hold" in original
> deckplans, again that makes no sense as they are very large, and should
> have ladder access. I think there should be several weapon positions, or
> windows there, allowing for elven aesthetics (enjoying space) or for
> having weapon ports. I was thinking 2 or 3 on each side? Problem is, for
> a wwarship, the standard Man-OWar has far too little space FOR weapons
> to fire from.

Well, in the background of the cover of the original Spelljammer boxed 
set there was a barely visible Man-o-War that appeared to have large 
transparent window blisters in the rear hull, which I think would look 
good. Perhaps opening like a Catalina flying boat's gun blisters?
> 
> The idea of "retractable dome/eyes" doesn't make sense either, unless a
> middle part of eyes literally slides, like a patio door?? So currently,
> have a square centre section that can open like two doors, to allow
> weapons to fire out.

I actually like the 'patio door' idea myself.
> 
> Anything else folk's can think of? :)
> 
Well, Night Druid had the same idea that almost everyone else has 
about the Man-o-war being under-gunned, and designed this:

http://www.spelljammer.org/ships/drydock/Manowar.html

For the 60-ton version, and used the existing deck plans for a 20-ton 
cutter.

One idea I've been having for Men-o-wars - perhaps the wings can flex 
or turn a bit about the root - perhaps as a way of gaining extra 
manoeuvrability. This would add to the 'living ship' motif a bit.

Wandering off-topic, I was wandering the trade hall when I overheard 
someone describing their d20 Modern campaign - apparently the 
characters where time travellers (or something) who were using one of 
the aforementioned Elven Cutters (BtM was specifically mentioned) as a 
ship, but they'd replaced the weapons - I can't recall what the 
catapult was replaced by, but the 'eye' ballistae were replaced by 
1-pounder maxim guns (yup, a machine-gun firing 1-lb. shells) - which 
apparently broke d20 modern's autofire rules ;-). (I have no real 
knowledge of the d20 modern ruleset).

Just thought I'd mention this :-)

-- 
Charles