Alliance art style

[Naoura]

In that case, I kind of think that a lot of the Skirmish ships would likely be modified forms of cargo vessels. You'll likely not find a single vessel that isn't armed, the skies aren't friendly in the slightest with piracy and raiders rampant. I think that the mainstay of trasport might be something akin to the Goldfish.

The Goldie has plenty of below-decks space for at least light cargo, and if you were to remove the front weapon you'd have a little bit more on the main deck, as the engineering house behind that big boiler would offer manueverability for the engineers. You'd certainly keep those side guns to fend off raiders, and the Goldfish is reliable enough and quick enough that I might rate it as a light, independant freighter.

Now, as for a heavy freigher, we're getting somewhere. For a heavy freighter, I'd probably go back to the Junker, just modified very, very heavily. That large balloon would be pretty cheap, and necessary for carrying cargo and freight to and from ports. Again, armed, as pirates would be likely. I think the Magnate also deserves a mention here too, as the Magnate practically IS a freighter. That's not a warship, and I don't even pretend it to be. Her hull is too fragile, her weapons too dedicated to fighting from her flanks, and that below-deck space would be perfect for goods. Slow, of course, but the Magnate would rate a heavy freighter, no question.

As for personell transports... Well, you've got the Boss Ships. Those are practically flying cities, honestly, and you'd be able to carry any statesman in a ship even lightly designed after them.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

In that case, I kind of think that a lot of the Skirmish ships would likely be modified forms of cargo vessels. You'll likely not find a single vessel that isn't armed, the skies aren't friendly in the slightest with piracy and raiders rampant. I think that the mainstay of trasport might be something akin to the Goldfish.

The Goldie has plenty of below-decks space for at least light cargo, and if you were to remove the front weapon you'd have a little bit more on the main deck, as the engineering house behind that big boiler would offer manueverability for the engineers. You'd certainly keep those side guns to fend off raiders, and the Goldfish is reliable enough and quick enough that I might rate it as a light, independant freighter.

Now, as for a heavy freigher, we're getting somewhere. For a heavy freighter, I'd probably go back to the Junker, just modified very, very heavily. That large balloon would be pretty cheap, and necessary for carrying cargo and freight to and from ports. Again, armed, as pirates would be likely. I think the Magnate also deserves a mention here too, as the Magnate practically IS a freighter. That's not a warship, and I don't even pretend it to be. Her hull is too fragile, her weapons too dedicated to fighting from her flanks, and that below-deck space would be perfect for goods. Slow, of course, but the Magnate would rate a heavy freighter, no question.

As for personell transports... Well, you've got the Boss Ships. Those are practically flying cities, honestly, and you'd be able to carry any statesman in a ship even lightly designed after them.

Really kinda depends on which trade routes you are on. The main land route from the north to the south passes along Arashi lands. However, there are sea routes listed on the original map.

We can assume these routes aren't arbitrarily drawn if we consider ourselves as people in the world. Most likely they correspond with trade winds as did our sea routes in the age of sail.

The trouble is, we do not know which way the winds actually blow aside from maybe the Fjordlands. The mountain range which runs through the Fjordlands gives a bit of a picture of the potential wind map of that area because of the forest located on it's one side. So we can assume that side is very wet, and the other side doesn't get as much. However, that could change between day and night winds.

Anglea is listed as attacking Firnfeld and the Fjordlands + Chaladon. You don't commit to a major raid if the winds aren't favorable. Especially not so far away from the homeland. So we can speculate a little up there.

Other than the obvious rivalries between Nalm and Sylka, the central area seems to be rather peaceful in comparison. Except probably during major wars. So lets consider why? What could they have that wouldn't attract pirates/etc. Simple, it's a plains area. Weather conditions are probably better for growing food. Who needs to raid farmers at the source? Raw materials? Nah. The central region has to be a great export area. Everyone needs them but attacking them does no good because it'll only hurt production in the end. You also gotta be flat out stupid to invade that far and then burden yourself down with loot, slowing your escape.

So most attacks would therefore happen in transit closer to home territories of Anglea or the Arashi. Or maybe other pirates. You go to where the prey is and you maximize your haul by attacking when they are burdened down, not burdening down yourself.

So dangerous world yes, but it wouldn't be total anarchy and Mad Max killing left and right. Some routes wouldn't need as heavy of weaponry.

[Naoura]

Sorry to half-necro this, but I did kind of have a thought on the more civil of ships, while I as trying to design a Q-ship for the Merchants...

Modify the Mobula pretty heavily. An open deck is much more ffective for loading rather than having a deck with a balloon on top. The cranes in Devil's Eye simply point towards open-deck transports, since I'd like to see a crane get below a ship's balloon. Those cargo containers are pretty damned large as well, so size is definitely going to be an issue. We've still GOT cargo containers as it is, so you've definitely got larger container vessels, though they're likely to be few and far between.

They'd still be well guarded, even going over-sea. Trade routes are easy to spot, especially to a trained eye. To a scavver's eye, they'd simply see ships to raid. The Guild at the very least is cheap, and would go through pirate infested lands for the savings of a few days of fuel.

They'd definitely be Mobula/ Crusader fashion. So much easier to load, especially if they have segmented balloons and can build a cargo-hold inside of the balloon area.