Re: Airship Altitude
Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 10:20 am
Ok I made some quick assumptions without explaining. 25% worth of successes to stay aloft - true. But low-grade sailors (non-adepts) would likely have the skill at 2 and around step 5 for willpower which equals to step 7 for the Air Sailing test. Since the step is the average result, you are guaranteed to keep the ship afloat (I know, I'm simplifying here but that is my goal). And staying afloat includes continuing in motion - you can't manoeuvre but also don't suddenly stop (at least nothing in the talent description suggests that). I'm also assuming that making the test every hour just means you do your duties, be that rowing, reefing the sails, splicing the chaffing, cleaning the deck or what have you the captain orders doing.
Again, for simplicity, I would say if you have a relatively green crew you could opt to have 3 shifts 33% of crew each. But if you have a seasoned crew, with average skill of 4-5 and Willpower step of 6-7, plus some sprinkling of adepts, you can go with 25% shifts and still on average generate 50% worth of successes. The bigger the crew, the more those averages work in your favor. No sense in digging into exact chances how often it would fail.
If you were a rough captain (or maybe using slaves?) you could go with what you mentioned about royal navy - multiple short shifts that overtax the crew.
When in danger/combat, you call up the 4th shift (or the off duty shift if using the 33% shifts) to guarantee manoeuvrability.
I heard that ships of old tended to keep to the shore but I imagine Air sailing more akin to sailing the open sea - you would never want to anchor at open sea even if you found shallow enough water. Yes - sailing during the night should be avoided if possible, but when you have a long voyage, would you like to make it to safe port in 7 or 14 days? 14 days of feeding the crew and being open for Sky Raiders to attack? Maybe you can hide a Drakkar sized boat among some trees, but a trading Galley? Will stand out anywhere.
I'm not saying this is the only way to play it, but I want to avoid unnecessary rolls if I can. For me the ship can fly reliably just assuming the correct number of crew is on duty. Even when in combat I would call for a roll only if the captain orders some fancy manoeuvring or the crew took some losses... or when it would up the stakes for the PCs
BONUS QUESTION: when rowing in an airship, do you feel the same resistance as if rowing in water?
Again, for simplicity, I would say if you have a relatively green crew you could opt to have 3 shifts 33% of crew each. But if you have a seasoned crew, with average skill of 4-5 and Willpower step of 6-7, plus some sprinkling of adepts, you can go with 25% shifts and still on average generate 50% worth of successes. The bigger the crew, the more those averages work in your favor. No sense in digging into exact chances how often it would fail.
If you were a rough captain (or maybe using slaves?) you could go with what you mentioned about royal navy - multiple short shifts that overtax the crew.
When in danger/combat, you call up the 4th shift (or the off duty shift if using the 33% shifts) to guarantee manoeuvrability.
I heard that ships of old tended to keep to the shore but I imagine Air sailing more akin to sailing the open sea - you would never want to anchor at open sea even if you found shallow enough water. Yes - sailing during the night should be avoided if possible, but when you have a long voyage, would you like to make it to safe port in 7 or 14 days? 14 days of feeding the crew and being open for Sky Raiders to attack? Maybe you can hide a Drakkar sized boat among some trees, but a trading Galley? Will stand out anywhere.
I'm not saying this is the only way to play it, but I want to avoid unnecessary rolls if I can. For me the ship can fly reliably just assuming the correct number of crew is on duty. Even when in combat I would call for a roll only if the captain orders some fancy manoeuvring or the crew took some losses... or when it would up the stakes for the PCs
BONUS QUESTION: when rowing in an airship, do you feel the same resistance as if rowing in water?