¶ 'Dromedary' Indiaman
Moderately quick for a merchant ship, the Dromedary has a good mixture of combat and merchant capabilities. The downside is that she takes a more experienced captain to sail than other 16-gun ships.
¶ History
For over a century, the East India Trading Companies of Europe engaged in trade with India, Asia, and the East Indies. The merchant ships they employed to carry goods to these locations came to be known as East Indiamen. As trade began to expand into the new world (the North, Central and South American colonies as well as the West Indies) a new branch of merchantman evolved to fill this role. Appropriately enough, these ships came to be known as West Indiamen.
While the specifications of West Indiamen did vary, most were strong ocean going ships able to sail from Europe to the Caribbean (which meant being able to handle the Atlantic storms) with large cargo holds and respectable armaments. Like their eastern counterparts, the West Indiaman took their name more from their function rather than any one specific design. Many "Indiamen" were actually former warships put out of service or, during times of war, captured vessels of other countries carrying out the role of an Indiaman. However, there were some ships built expressly for service in a specific trade route, becoming the true Indiamen by design. The West Indiaman seen here is once such vessel, designed by the Swedish Shipwright Fredrick Chapman, to carry and aggressively defend her cargo between the New World and Europe.
Being a purpose-built West Indiaman, her hull was wide with a blunt bow and a deep draught, maximizing cargo capacity. While the West Indiaman's modified frigate rig and bowsprit/jib-boom configuration (considered somewhat experimental at this point in history) did help to make her fairly maneuverable, it did little to overcome the high amount of drag the robust hull induced as she moved through water. As a result, the West Indiaman was a rather slow ship compared to ships bearing similar rigs. Therefore, West Indiamen were very well armed, even by military standards, to defend against pirates, privateers, and the navies of rival nations whom she might have difficulty escaping from otherwise. Their large guns and even larger cargo holds historically made the Indiamen simultaneously the most coveted and feared merchantmen to engage as a prize.
¶ Strategy and Use
A fighting merchant, well-designed for securely moving cargo. She is the 'war-wagon' of the age of sail.
¶ Tactics
With much heavier cannons than frigates of the same level, the Dromedary is a frightening opponent in the hands of a competent captain. It doesn't have as much DR on it's broadsides as a frigate, but the armor and hull have significantly superior integrity. However, what makes this ship dangerous also leaves it vulnerable. It's heavy cannons take a large amount of time to reload and improved variants do not provide anything to offset this. So it falls upon the owner to properly upgrade and make use of their buffs to overcome this or to improve the accuracy of guns to ensure that every shot counts.
¶ Variants
Other variants of the Dromedary:
- 'Dromedary' Hellbrand Indiaman
- 'Dromedary' Indiaman (Civilian)
¶ Comparable Ships
While the West Indiaman is most closely comparable to the Flute in size and purpose, she visually resembles a light Frigate, in that she is carrying nearly twice the number of guns and wears a frigate rig sail plan.
¶ Distinguishing Characteristics
Elegant by merchantmen standards the West Indiaman is designed for maximum cargo efficiency, resulting in a bluff hull of unusual width. While she handles well due to her sail and rig configuration (one of the first ships to experiment with a Bowsprit/jib-boom configuration), The width and depth of the hull makes for a slightly slower vessel. To compensate this, her armament is impressive, even by naval standards. However, her smaller compliment of less-disciplined crew means she cannot fight as efficiently as a Man of War of equal size might.
¶ Version History
(2.12.39.0) 2013-03-11
- Changed Insurance Value
- Changed Cargo Capacity
- Changed O.S. Visibility
- Changed Sailing, Range, and Accuracy Stats
¶ Sources
The ship was modeled by "Spankybus" Mignone from Chapmans plans, Plate 52 #2.
West Indiaman information
Information on various West and East India Trading Companies (see lower links)
Fredrick Chapman plans and Information (in Swedish)
East Indiaman Generic Information
Information on the history of the bowsprit/jib-boom evolution that begin in 1715 and the decline of the spirit top assemblies beginning in 1720.
¶ Strategy and Use
¶ Tactics
¶ Additional information
¶ Advantages:
¶ Disadvantages:
¶ Attainability:
¶ Ship statistics
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| SAILING Sailing These parameters determine how your ship sails. Max Speed: Maximum Speed SHIPHow fast your ship can move in battles. Improving battle speed does not improve Open Sea speed. Acceleration: Acceleration Determines how fast the ship gains speed. Deceleration: Deceleration Determines how fast the ship loses speed. Lower values are better if you want to maintain speed, higher values are better if you want to stop quickly. Turning (Fast): Fast Turn Rate The Ship's turn rate in degrees per second. This is how fast the ship turns if it is moving at maximum speed. Turning (Slow): Slow Turn Rate The Ship's turn rate in degrees per second. This is how fast the ship turns if it is moving at a speed of at least 4 knots. Turning Accel: Max Turning Acceleration This shows how fast a ship accelerates into a turn. The higher the value, the faster the ship reaches its maximum turn rate. Turning Decel: Min Turning Deceleration Ships gradually suffer less deceleration as they turn. This shows a minimum amount of deceleration a ship has when turning. Lower numbers (relative to other acceleration stats) are better. Best Point: Best Point The wind angle at which the ship can attain its maximum speed. The wind comes from angle 0o, and angle 180o is running with the wind at your back. Capacity: Capacity How many units of cargo the ship can hold. O.S. Visibility: Open Sea Visibility How far away other ships will spot you on the open sea. O.S. Spotting: Open Sea Spotting Increases your spotting range, allowing you to detect ships beyond their O.S. Visibility. Crew: Crew The maximum number of crew on your ship. Shows the fighting strength of your crew. Target Tracking: Target Tracking Reduces the accuracy penalties you suffer due to your movement and your target's movement. Improves your chance to hit fast moving ships. |
18.40 2.63 3.75 11.00 6.50 8.10 10.28 135 750 66.7 0.0 100 22 |
17 ( Medium) LEVEL (SIZE): Level and Size6 6374 The level required to use this ship, and the size of the hull. DURABILITY: Durability The number of ships you have left. Decreases by 1 whenever the ship is defeated in combat (with the exception of skirmish). INSURANCE VALUE: Insurance Value Amount of doubloons you will receive for this ship if she is sunk or scuttled. |
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| HEALTH Health The ship's Health stats show how much damage it can sustain. Hull: Hull (Structure) The internal structure of your ship. When your structure runs out, your ship sinks. Port: Port (Left) The ship's port armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. Stbd: Starboard (Right) The ship's starboard armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. Bow: Bow (Front) The ship's bow armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. Stern: Stern (Rear) The ship's stern armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. Sails: Sails & Masts Shows how much damage the ship's sails and masts can sustain. Ships lose speed as they take sail damage. |
Integ. Integrity The ship's Integrity stats show how much damage it can sustain. 1275 820 820 410 200 1350 |
DR Damage Reduction Shows how much the ship's armor reduces the damage it receives. - 6 6 5 4 0 |
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| MODIFIERS Modifiers These change your chance to hit, chance to get hit and the damage you take. Sails: Sails Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's sails and masts. Crew: Crew Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's crew. Bow: Bow (Front) Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's bow armor. Stern: Stern (Rear) Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's stern armor. Sides: Broadsides (Left & Right) Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's broadsides. Grapple: Grappling Grappling offense makes it easier to board ships. Grappling defense protects you against hostile boarding attempts. |
OFF Offense Offensive modifiers are a percentage increase to your chance to hit. The numbers here include any benefits from 'Accuracy, All' items. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 |
DEF Defense Defensive modifiers are a percentage decrease to the chance enemies will hit you. The numbers here include any benefits from 'Defense, All' items. 34.0 34.0 34.0 34.0 34.0 0.0 |
RES Resistance Resistance is a percentage reduction in the damage you take. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - |
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Polars
Upwind & Luffing
Close
Haul Close
Haul Beam
Reach Beam
Reach Broad
Reach Broad
Reach Running
30% - 40% 5.52 - 7.36 knots 45° 12.88 knots 70% 12.88 knots 70% 15.64 knots85% 85%15.64 knots 18.4 knots 100% 18.4 knots 100% 15.64 knots 85% Open Sea Speed: 58
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