Statistics:Posted by Telarus — Fri Sep 27, 2019 1:12 am
Statistics:Posted by Lursi — Sat Aug 31, 2019 10:33 am
Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Sat Aug 31, 2019 4:10 am
As I said, I think our starting assumptions on how this all works are too different. You're absolutely correct by the canon of 3rd edition that it list 16 hours, but that still strikes me as nonsensical. If the only limitation really is the number of crew, why not just add more crew so you can run 24 hours?ChrisDDickey wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:53 pmAnd once again, my point is absolutely not that ships plummet out of the sky with undue frequency (I don't consider 3 to 5 percent wreck rate per year to be undue for ancient craft). My point has always been that in RaW, the listed crew size for a ship is the number of crew that is required to run the ship safely for 16 hours a day. That is what it says in the book. Once again, a GM can decide that that does not suit him and choose to ignore it. Or decide that it is really the number of crew required to run the ship 24/7. But that would be a difference from what it says in the book. (the 3rd edition book, I understand the 4th edition air sailing rules are coming). And if it not the GM who decides to make a house rule, but a player who feels that he does not need quite so great a margin in his Air Sailing tests, then constantly running short handed could affect your wreck rate.
Statistics:Posted by Altanius — Fri Aug 30, 2019 9:03 pm
Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:53 pm
I'm not denying that some percentage of airships are lost due to hazards, attacks and a few to simple human stupidity (Though 10% seems quite high), but any navy that allows more than a handful of ships to be lost to failed airship tests or flying into mountains wrapped in clouds has serious problems because both of these are preventable. This is why militaries establish doctrine and protocol, to prevent things like this. Storms, downdrafts and the like are down to the skill and training of the crew, but assuming any large number of airships are lost due to failed airship checks or flying into a mountain is to assign considerable foolishness to the namegivers of Earthdawn.I figure that using that model of running 16 hours per day, a certain percentage of ships are still lost to hazards or accidents each year. Maybe somewhere between 3% and 10% each year. Which is to say that even with 100% of the recommended crew being on duty during all hours of ship operation, sometimes, ships succumb to hazards. Not often, just a small chance every year. Some of these hazards might be combat hazards (pirates, wildlife, etc), and some might be navigation hazards (storms, mountains, downdrafts, and other things that could be abstracted to the crew not rolling high enough on their air sailing checks). So some of the ships that are lost, are lost due to their crew failing their air sailing checks. Note that one does not always know in advance that one is encountering a hazard. Sailing through a cloud and hitting a mountain is not something that one plans on doing. A routine passage though a mountain pass suddenly becomes dangerous when an unexpected downdraft is encountered. A storm appearing out of nowhere. Which is to say a crew might have already failed a hazard check before they even know they are facing a hazard.
Statistics:Posted by Altanius — Fri Aug 30, 2019 1:51 pm
Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Fri Aug 30, 2019 4:29 am
Statistics:Posted by Altanius — Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:31 pm
The galley soars higher and higher, until Yorlk
the steersman tells Drimsby that the Runner has
reached the sailing lane. With the dangerous ascent
over, half the crew stands down. Their work—and
yours—will begin again in eight hours, when you
relieve those who have worked all day on watch or
manning the sails.
these indicate that the crew alternates 8h shifts around the clock and during heavy manoeuvring it's "all hands on deck".Drimsby is willing to let anyone switch shifts as long
as they find someone to trade with them, though he insists
that at least one man with night vision be stationed in the
crow’s nest after nightfall
Statistics:Posted by Avanti — Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:42 pm
This seems to me to be saying that you just row the oar against the air with almost no resistance, but the symbolic act of rowing focuses the rowers will, which is what really moves the ship. So it seems to be saying the work is mostly mental.3rd Edition Gamemasters companion, page 60. How airsailing works wrote:Air Sailing also provides much of the magic that allows an airship to soar through the sky as easily as an ordinary ship sails across water. A normal wooden oar rowed against nothing but air will do little to move a massive ship, even a free-floating airship. But the symbolic act of rowing combined with the power of the rower’s will has magical effects. Rowing is a symbol of the rower’s desire to move the ship. Air Sailing takes this desire and magically translates it into motive power that drives the airship. This is one of the reasons rowing is commonly used to propel airships: the force of Air Sailing magic usually allows rowed ships to travel more quickly than airships under sail
Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Thu Aug 29, 2019 11:54 am
Statistics:Posted by Avanti — Thu Aug 29, 2019 10:20 am
Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Thu Aug 29, 2019 1:36 am
Statistics:Posted by Avanti — Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:51 pm