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ADMIRALTY
FIGHTING SAIL WARFARE: 1750 - 1815

 
Key and Formulas for Ship Values
 
Ship Values
The outlines and ship values shown below supply a reference for .

Rating: The total number of guns for which the ship is rated. The "74" is the most common.
Name: The name of a specific ship or ships, with the name ship of the class shown in bold.
Gun Dice: For most ships this will be a three number sequence, like 244, or 609. Each number in a sequence is treated separately. So a 609 does not mean six-hundred and nine, it means six, zero, nine. The first number is the quantity of light gun dice available for each side of that ship. The second number is the quantity of medium gun dice available for each side of that ship. The third value is the quantity of heavy gun dice available for each side of that ship. Sometimes there may be a "+" and a fourth number which appear after the last heavy gun value. That fourth number indicates the quantity of carronades for each side (carronades are like giant shotguns). The carronades count as heavy guns, but may only be added into the heavy gun dice total for use in the close range bracket. Note than many ships for this time underwent modification in which they had light or medium guns removed to make room for carronades. Below is the formula used to calculate gun dice levels:

Type (Size) Rating Modifier
42 Heavy x1.1
36 Heavy x1.2
32 Heavy x1.3
24 Heavy x1.0
18 Medium x1.0
12 Light x1.0
8 or 9 Light x0.8
6 Light x0.5
3 or 4 Light x0.3
     
Carronades
64 Heavy x4.0
42 Heavy x2.0
36 Heavy x1.5
32 Heavy x1.3
24 Heavy x1.0
18 Heavy x0.8
12 Heavy x0.4
Halve the total quantity of each gun type present, multiply that value by the modifier above and then divide by four. Total the numbers for each rating to arrive at the final value for that rating. Note that some vessels may (for example) have two sizes of heavy guns, or two sizes of light guns. Calculate each separately and then total them, using normal rounding rules to arrive at the final number. Make this calculation for each of the light, medium and heavy categories. Obviously vessels with no guns of a certain size will have a "0" for that rating.


Hull: One of three strength values will be shown: Weak, Regular and Stout. Reflects the ability of a ship's hull to withstand shock.
Size: A system of numbers from ½ to 4 representing the overall size of the ship. Generally reflects the number of gun decks for that design.
Speed: Indicates which of the four major speed profiles to use on the combat chart: Big Slow, Big Fast, Small Slow and Small Fast are mostly self explanatory. Big Slow indicates a large ship that is slow for its size, either because of design or need for dry-dock work. Big Fast indicates a large ship that is fast for its size, again, either by design or because it has a clean, freshly coppered hull (or some combination of both). The same general idea applies to the small ship category.
Notes: Additional notes, usually relating to changes made during the vessel's service.
Era: AWI = American War for Independence, FR = French Revolution, N = Napoleonic (including War of 1812, etc.).


 
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