Unit Request: Han Dynasty "Castled Ship"

[Ogedei_the_Mad]

If there are any unit makers still around, I'd like to request the Han Dynasty "Castled Ship." "Castled Ships" are essentially floating fortresses, often used as the flagship of the Han Imperial fleet. This model is actually a ship from the Sui Dynasty, but this should give a good idea on what a "Castled Ship" may have looked like.

Sui Dynasty Ship

The site loads slowly, so you'll have to be a bit patient.

And just a bit of trivia here if you're still wondering what the heck the "War Tiger Paddleship" is supposed to be and what to put for the Civlopedia. It turns out that it was invented by a shipbuilder named Gao Xuan in the Southern Song Dynasty period. The paddlewheel enabled the ship to move through mechanical force, relying on a smaller crew to move the ship.

 

[Takhisis]

Nice one! Unfortunately I don´t know how to make it, otherwise I would.
btw were Korean Turtle-ships based on these ships?

 

[Ogedei_the_Mad]

It's possible. The ancestor of the "Turtle Ship" class of warship was the p'anokson, which was a double-decked warship that may or may not have a "castle" on the top deck. However, the Turtle Ship (kobukson) were originally designed to be more advanced variants of the kwason (ramming-ships).

 

[Takhisis]

It's possible. The ancestor of the "Turtle Ship" class of warship was the p'anokson, which was a double-decked warship that may or may not have a "castle" on the top deck. However, the Turtle Ship (kobukson) were originally designed to be more advanced variants of the kwason (ramming-ships).

Hmmm… that makes me more convinced than ever that the so-called "European Supremacy" is nothing more than an awfullly big piece of good luck. They didn´t even invent their precious ironclads.

 

[Left]

I'd like to second the request!

 

[RedAlert]

That is quite the amazing ship!
I'll also throw in my support.

 

[Goldflash]

Goldflash Seconds. Hurraaah

 

[aaglo]

That indeed looks very interesting ship - I guess I could do that. Just a question:
what are those six thick poles (with diagonal beams attached to the base and a lump of something on the high end of those beams) around the ship? Some sort of sails? Or weapons used to crush enemy ships?

 

[Goldflash]

Look like Catapults to me, aaglo.

EDIT: On Colser examnitation.... Maybe not. I have NO Idea what thoes are.

 

[Antiochus VII]

I'm not saying THESE are them for sure but the Chinese used 'striking arms' that were used to drop onto opposing ships, NOT to secure them for boarding but instead to hold them at bay so they couldn't board your ship while they were raked by various types of missile fire.

 

[Ogedei_the_Mad]

That indeed looks very interesting ship - I guess I could do that. Just a question:
what are those six thick poles (with diagonal beams attached to the base and a lump of something on the high end of those beams) around the ship? Some sort of sails? Or weapons used to crush enemy ships?

Quite honestly, I don't really know what those things are. The web site I found the pic on calls them "holing derricks," so it appears that they may have been used to break the hulls of enemy ships. But it also could be the "striking arms" that Antiochus referred to.

 

[aaglo]

Hi!
Here's a preview for that castle ship. I think I will add those six "pushover"-beams on this ship too.
So, what do you think? How's the colour scheme on this in your opinion (it's the same as with the war tiger paddleship I did earlier)?

 

[Ares de Borg]

WOW! aaglo's back at the shipyard... great!

 

[woodelf]

Great looking ship.

 

[Arne]

The colour scheme is fine IMHO.

But I think, the bow should not be that "sharp". It should be like the stern. Chinese ships, dont have a keel, AFAIK. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I love everything about this ship. The colour scheme looks great. It's one of those units that will comfortably fit both realistic and fantasy mods. I envisage using it as a Qin flavour ship.

 

[utahjazz7]

Yeah, an aaglo ship!

 

[aaglo]

But I think, the bow should not be that "sharp". It should be like the stern. Chinese ships, dont have a keel, AFAIK. Hope that makes sense.

It makes perfect sense. Good point, Arne. - I'll make the bow blunt.

Some thoughts about this unit.
- what still baffles me, is that this ship really doesn't have sails?
- how big should this ship be (is the surrounding 8 images the correct size)?
- I assume that people throw all kinds of arrows and needles and hedgehogs (basically all sharp stuff) from those battlements. No catapults, I hope

And thanks everyone

[edit] Now when I look it after I did it, it almost looks something that the mesoamerican nations could have built also

 

[Civinator]

Hi aaglo,

first thank you for your beautiful units.


The text for the "castle ship" on the chinese Internet page:

"Five-ensign warships built under the supervision of Yang Su. In 558AD, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty ordered that the State of Chen should be conquered. Yang Su built five-ensign warships, with six "holing derricks" , two each on the left and right sides and one each in the front and back. Yang led his men out of the Three Gorges, down the river, towards the capital of Chen and destroyed it."

But more interesting is a picture on a second castle ship on this side. This ship had paddlewheels ! The text: "A model of a warship with wheels and holing derricks invented by Gao Xuan, a famous shipbuilding engineer during Southern Song Dynasty. The paddle-wheel ship was then a novel kind of ship propelled by man or animal power as a mechanical force. This reduced the need of the crew to push on their own."

This ship also has "holing derricks". With the term "Gao Xuan" I got a big hit on the German wikipedia "Radpaddelflotte". The weoponry is described as following: "Katapulte, Gas- und Explosivbomben, Greifeisen für Felsbrocken (die man anhob und aufs gegnerische Schiff fallen ließ) und Rammsporne".

So the "holing derricks" should be some kind of crane to lift big rocks, than to pull the mast of the crane over the enemy ship and to let the rock splash down on that ship. But these ships had catapults too.

 

[egroen]

Wow, what an interesting ship... can't wait to see how it turns out!