Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman
There doesn't seem to be much written up on shipbuilding for 4e. The nearest thing I can find is this sidebar in High-Tech for 3e:
Under 4e, Shipbuilding is replaced by Engineer (Ships), and Blacksmith with Smith (Iron).
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Hmmm... thanks for that.
This would seem to allow the building of penteconters or even more advanced models of war galleys in quite a short time.
Good for the PCs now, as it means that their allies in Messemprar will have been able to make use of the months while their control of the sea ensured plentiful shipping to Messemprar to import as much wood as they require and basically build as much of a navy as they can afford.
Pretty bad for them later since it means that the empire they are facing will require about one third of the time I had estimated to put out a new fleet to replace ships they have sunk or captured. Spending a few dozens of GURPS $ millions on new galleys won't even cause them to blink, their annual naval budget is already some $60,000,000 and that was while they were winning the war and used naval ships just to defend their grain ships from pirates.
Of course, being able to build them quickly won't help the enemy
man their ships, as they already suffer from not having had much of a native tradition of seamanship, ocean voyaging, seaborne trade or sea warfare* before this war.
Most of their foreign trade for the past century or two has been transported in foreign hulls and their navy has always been low-prestige and neglected compared to their army. The fact that several nautical disasters and some defeats at sea killed off some 80% of their experienced navy men a few years before the start of this war didn't help.
*At least within the past few centuries.