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'''Maritime Trade and Trading Vessels'''
 
'''Maritime Trade and Trading Vessels'''
  
The most common ships in existence in this setting are trade ships, warship design is still in its infancy.  The largest trade ships are 16 meter long, 4 meters wide and 3 meters deep, roughly 46 x 12 x 9 ft, and had a maximum cargo capacity of 20 tons.  These ships are all square rigged sailing ships with a single main sail, and constructed of linen or leather.  A second smaller, bow (front) mounted sail, known as an artemon is used during storms and rough weather to keep the ship from turning sideways into the wind and from being overwhelmed by oncoming waves.  Sails are often dyed or painted with bright colors and good luck symbols.  Often a pennant is flown from the top of the mast and is used as a rough gauge of speed or wind direction when the ship is not moving.  Steering is done by means of a large oar or tiller mounted to one side of the ship.  It is common practice for all ships to carry a spare tiller as well as a boarding ladder. Boarding ladders are often 3-5 meters long (or longer) and are used as a means to board other ships, climb aboard a beached ship or for the loading and unloading of cargo in ports of call.  The use of the boarding ladder to load cargo is standard practice as the pier and docks have not yet been invented.  Ships simple anchor near shore then use the boarding ladder as a ramp into shallow water or the beach. The decks of the ships are flat with no other structures present other than the occasional shade structure for the helmsman.  Hatches to the ships cargo holds are square to rectangular in shape and are typically covered with a linen or leather tarp to keep cargo dry and water out of the hull.  Hatches to other areas of the ship are smaller and are covered by a small wooden door.  On smaller vessels there may be no wooden deck, just a tarp covered hull but this is only on vessels with a cargo capacity of a few tons and fishing boats.  During the winter months ships are beached and repaired.  Barnacles are scraped off, rotten planks are replaced, and the ship is re-waterproofed with pitch and tar.
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The largest ships in existence in this setting are trade ships, in fact, warships have not yet been designed and built.  The largest trade ships are 16 meter long, 4 meters wide and 3 meters deep, roughly 46 x 12 x 9 ft, and had a maximum cargo capacity of 20 tons.  These ships are all square rigged sailing ships with a single main sail, and constructed of linen or leather.  A second smaller, bow (front) mounted sail, known as an artemon is used during storms and rough weather to keep the ship from turning sideways into the wind and from being overwhelmed by oncoming waves.  Sails are often dyed or painted with bright colors and good luck symbols.  Often a pennant is flown from the top of the mast and is used as a rough gauge of speed or wind direction when the ship is not moving.  Steering is done by means of a large oar or tiller mounted to one side of the ship.  It is common practice for all ships to carry a spare tiller as well as a boarding ladder. Boarding ladders are often 3-5 meters long (or longer) and are used as a means to board other ships, climb aboard a beached ship or for the loading and unloading of cargo in ports of call.  The use of the boarding ladder to load cargo is standard practice as the pier and docks have not yet been invented.  Ships simple anchor near shore then use the boarding ladder as a ramp into shallow water or the beach. The decks of the ships are flat with no other structures present other than the occasional shade structure for the helmsman.  Hatches to the ships cargo holds are square to rectangular in shape and are typically covered with a linen or leather tarp to keep cargo dry and water out of the hull.  Hatches to other areas of the ship are smaller and are covered by a small wooden door.  On smaller vessels there may be no wooden deck, just a tarp covered hull but this is only on vessels with a cargo capacity of a few tons and fishing boats.  During the winter months ships are beached and repaired.  Barnacles are scraped off, rotten planks are replaced, and the ship is re-waterproofed with pitch and tar.
  
 
The total number of trade ships in existence is hard to pin down precisely but each city state with a harbor, port or beach and an adequate supply of lumber will be building them.  For game purposes we will assume that one large trading ship per 1000 population of the city state is possible each year.  We will also assume that the average life of any given ship is 10 years.  Given these assumptions, a city state with 5,000 people will have a trading fleet of 40 large vessels in operation at one time.  We could also assume that not all cities or merchants will want to build large ships for trading and expand our categories of ship size to medium, small, and light (fishing).  Per 1000 population lets assume that 2 medium, 4 small and 8 fishing vessels can be built per year in the place of one large trading vessel.  We can also assume that a large portion of the sailing fleet will be tied up in fishing for local consumption / markets, lets say at least 50%.  This leaves us with a total of 20 large vessels or any combination of large and smaller vessels for use in the pursuit of trade ventures. So the break down of a cities sailing fleet might look something like this:
 
The total number of trade ships in existence is hard to pin down precisely but each city state with a harbor, port or beach and an adequate supply of lumber will be building them.  For game purposes we will assume that one large trading ship per 1000 population of the city state is possible each year.  We will also assume that the average life of any given ship is 10 years.  Given these assumptions, a city state with 5,000 people will have a trading fleet of 40 large vessels in operation at one time.  We could also assume that not all cities or merchants will want to build large ships for trading and expand our categories of ship size to medium, small, and light (fishing).  Per 1000 population lets assume that 2 medium, 4 small and 8 fishing vessels can be built per year in the place of one large trading vessel.  We can also assume that a large portion of the sailing fleet will be tied up in fishing for local consumption / markets, lets say at least 50%.  This leaves us with a total of 20 large vessels or any combination of large and smaller vessels for use in the pursuit of trade ventures. So the break down of a cities sailing fleet might look something like this:
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The cargo capacity of each ship is determined by the size.  Large ships have a 20 ton capacity, medium = 10 tons, Small = 5 tons and light = 2 tons.
 
The cargo capacity of each ship is determined by the size.  Large ships have a 20 ton capacity, medium = 10 tons, Small = 5 tons and light = 2 tons.
 
 
 
 
 
'''Warships'''
 
 
The use of warships is only common among city states that are located on islands or along the coast.  Inland cities, even those located on large rivers have little need to develope or use warships.  At present warships consist of long, thin ships that are mainly oar powered, but also use sails.  The use of oars allows them greater mavouvering and makes them less reliant on the winds.  The bottom deck is for oarsman and the largest warships will have 20 oarsman on either side of the ship.  Oarsman are very important to the use of these ships, and ulike in old movies, these ships are never powered by slaves.  The manouvering of these ships during combat is to important to everyone concerned to have something so important left up to slaves who have no personal investment in winning.  On the main deck, or fighting deck of the ship, up to 40-50 warriors can be carried.  The greatest innovation in warships of this type is the ram, but since this setting is at the early part of a period that will see extensive devolopment in water based combat, I have decided that the ram has yet to be devoloped.
 

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