In that case, he is completely wrong.

:lol:

I belive they use archers, catupults, bastilions, and spears in navel combat :spotted owl:

Chainshot for the mast and graqeshot for the crew. The goal was often to have the hull in tact so they could tow it into port and refit it because they take so long to make.

So what was even the point of having solid shot at all?

Aye. But too much is made over different types of shot, I believe. Roundshot was likewise intended to knock away spars and rigging or kill crew with shrapnel, depending on where it was aimed. Even if rudimentary cannons are in use anywhere in Tamriel, they are probably too basic for any application besides point, shoot, hope the hole is biggish and the noise is scary.

And shipboard mages would be truly devastating, and far more useful than any disparity in technology. Snap a few ropes, cripple a ship.

But otherwise, all naval tactics would ultimately lend themselves to carrying opponents by boarding.

Naspis: Roundshot was almost always used, as it is deadly at range to structure, guns, crew, and rigging.

For smashing the timber and sinking the ship. But again, it's usually prefferable to caputure the ship than sink it.

Fire a ball into oak and the interior of the bulwark will explode even if the shot does not penetrate, showering foot-long http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmE7ozh2DRY of jagged wood and blunt chunks across the deck. It will also dismount gun carriages, which may go careening around the deck crushing everything in their path or smashing through the side. Sinking a large ship takes hours of concentrated fire and a favorable position.

But these are all very modern considerations, and cannons used on ES ships would be a very different story. Prestige pop-guns.

Quite correct. Usually, the aim of the cannon was to eliminate crew, and to destroy sails and masts.

For the former, graqeshot at close range works well to kill surface deck hands manning and trimming sails.
Round shot at distance to eliminate crew belowdecks with wood splinters, but requires heavy cannon to be effective unless being used against a light cruise ship, like a pinnace.

For the latter, chainshot at close range also works.


The problem with these tactics in a world filled with magic, is that a few mages on deck could fire area-effect firestorm spells at YOUR ship before you get into range, and end up doing several forms of damage at once: It ignights your sails and rigging, kills crew, and catches the deck on fire-- which, if you are armed with cannons, can get to the powder magazine, and make your ship explode.

God's Fire FTW

Considering the endless opportunity for magic battles available with the TES universe, most of battles are considerably boring and feature little to no logical use of arcane power at all.

Wouldn't be easier to simply summon a bunch of Winged Twilight, have them fly over to the enemy ship and cut up the deck hands and crew?

Gameplay magic and real-ES magic aren't the best of friends, regrettably.

I'd think a flame attronach on the deck would be more of a problem... Fires on deck are a serious problem on ships with cloth sails and hemp rigging.


Another potentially deadly attack, would be to circle your enemy ship with your mages on the poop, blasting the bejeebus out of the water aft your ship with ice spells, creating iceburgs and ice sheets.

You could herd and pen in an enemy vessel that way.

Yeah, but Flame Atronachs can't fly. How'd you get it over to the enemy vessel?

Well, before that silly "levitation act" garbage------ Mages can fly!


It'd be like a bombing run!

Haha!

The Mage will always get through.

Snap Rope 35 pts in 10 ft on target.

Disable every large vessel afloat with childlike ease.

Wouldnt that be more of a "Disintigrate rigging, 50pts for 30 secs, 10 ft on target"?

I'm not sure where you're from, or whether you grew up with the metric system, but 10 ft. isn't very far. I'd rather go for about 35 pts for 200 ft. in a naval battle.

I'd imagine that costs extra magicka. :ninja:

Just aim for the spar, and the main mast. 10ft would be sufficient, if you targeted the right areas.

However, I agree, a bigger area-effect lets you be less accurate, and lob shots with less precision.

I was thinking you wanted to hit multiple ships at once, sorry.

I guess you could just have multiple mages for that. :shrug:

Easier way, simply cast "Absorb Sailing, 40 pts for 20 seconds on Target" at the sailors. They'll soon forget they they're even on a ship and lose.

No, I mean snap rope. Get rid of the mainstay, a crucial lift, or a sheet, the sail is disabled or the entire mast goes by the board. Very simple and effective.

"Frenzy humanoid 50pts, 20ft, 200 secs on target" with "Drain intelligence 10pts, 20ft, 200 sec on target"


Then they run around and destroy their own ship.


Paws:

I am thinking more of disintegrating the rigging on the main mast, which would drop the mainsail, and also cause the main boom to swing freely.


(Coupled with a fire emergency, and iceburgs in the water, it spells certain doom for the ship.)

A savvy mage could choose which running rigging to cripple, and actually wrest control of the ship by causing an unbalance of sails to change to a basic course.

Like-- right into some rocks, onto a coral head, or into an (artificial) iceburg...............

Stop thinking so dramatically. Just make half the enemy fleet miss stays when they wear, splitting them up to destroyed later.