It’s no surprise that like Arcane Adventures a few years back, ships are again a central feature in Arcane Odyssey. We had a fair selection of boats, and now in AO, we have ideas for even more ships that may come according to the Trello. For some fun, and the fact that I’m taking some history classes as part of my uni degree, I decided to look into the history of some of them, and how they could be applied to AO!
Ship of The Line
A warship designed in the late periods of The Age of Sail during the 19th century in response to the ideology of a bigger, heavily armed ship winning any naval engagement, the ship of the line had almost unmatched firepower to any other sailing ship! However, with the dawn of steam-powered, metal-plated ironclad frigates in the late 1850s, the ship of the line was rendered obsolete overnight, leaving behind their vulnerable wooden hulls, and the crippling debt left behind from constructing them.
This paragon of the Age of Sail- if in AO- would understandably have the most cannons out of them all, likely being the slowest one as well. Massive, and cumbersome, I can see this ship just having awful mobility in general, better used for longer, linear voyages and top-tier naval combat instead of banking around islands or in more cramped places like The Jaws.
Galleon
No, not the currency. But somewhat related to it, the galleon is a multi-decked sailing ship designed during the Age of Sail in the 16th century. It found service for hundreds of years, armed with rows of cannons, and serving as a great armed cargo/merchant ship. This ship would especially be pivotal in Spain’s Flota de Indias, or West Indies Fleet, carrying vast amounts of goods and wealth. Despite their great use in commercial shipping routes, they also found service in wartimes, their vast hulls conveniently being quite combat-ready, too.
Perhaps a more cargo-oriented choice compared to the Frigate, perhaps the Galleon in AO could serve better as a superior ship type fit for purpose compared to the Ketch, yet not as heavily armed- but with a lot more storage space and drip options- as the Frigate. I can see these being the staging point for powerful merchant vessels. Difficult to take down, but with tons and tons of treasures for villain reps to plunder.
Frigate
A sailing ship that served not always as one ship type, but as a classification for three-masted warships designed during the 17th century in The Age of Sail. The term for this combat-ready vessel was cited back during the Seven Years’ War. Versatile, decisive, and armed with cannons on a single row, with additional cannons along the poop deck and its forecastle. While they couldn’t exactly hold a candle to more advanced hulls like the ship of the line, frigates were versatile enough to be central to the protection of merchant’s vessels, the speed for their size allowing them to still serve as great combat vessels.
The appearance of the frigate in AO would be certain, as it was quite a central ship in AA. It could be seen that the Frigate would be the next step up to the Caravel in combat-ready ship types. Designed for combat and with few blindspots, the Frigate will serve as a truly powerful warship, or a general jack-of-all-trades ship fit for multiple purposes.
Schooner
A smaller sailing vessel finding its first points in service in the 18th century, best notable for its fore-and-aft sails on two (or more) masts. The foremast typically being shorter. While based on a Dutch design, it was truly first made by the British in their colonies in North America. Schooners are the response to a larger hull’s difficulty to traverse coastal waters where winds highly vary. Known for speed and versatility, the schooner would become one of the most vital pieces in North America’s coastal trade and fishing industry by the end of the 18th century.
For AO, The Schooner could be seen as a mix between the Sailboat and the Ketch. Designed purely for speed and exceptional turning, it has little room for cannons, perhaps only sporting two at most. It would hold less cargo than the Ketch, but it would certainly be harder to hit thanks to its versatility, and smaller hull.
Longship
Longship
These Viking vessels were the answer to the impassable fjords and high cliffs of Scandinavia, finding it much easier to simply travel by water instead of land. Fit for the viking’s dreams of exploration as early as the 4th century, and while known for its lengthy shape and shallow draft, it would be best known for its speed, and its ability to veer very close to the shore.
For AO, these ships look like they’d be best for speed, and function like a giant rowboat. Hell, why not give it a ram to split ships into splinters? I can imagine these boats being especially reliant on the crew, seeing how it relies on the efforts of many sailors to move. While it should have unmatched speed, its speed would be drastically cut down should your crew be killed off.
What do you think of these ships? Are there any more kinds of ships you’d like to see? Any more sailing vessels from other cultures you’d like to see sailing in AO? I’ll add more onto these both from the Trello and other ships I’m interested in overtime
= I own none of this example ship art besides the flair banner! All paintings and graphics belong to their respective artists. =
