Roundship

With slackened sheet the canvas wooed the breeze, Which rose and fell and fitful died away, Till motionless the sails, and all the waves Were still as deepest pool, where never wind Ripples the surface...
	— Lucan, Pharsalia (Bk V)

In game

Roundship — Vital statistics
	Heavy ship with powerful attack and range, strong against warships and fortifications alike. Strong versus light missile weapons, light ships, buildings Weak versus siege weapons, fireships
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed	Upgrade of	Upgrades to
[2];	20s (300t)	250	12	13	2.6s (40t)	39	(only some)
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 40; : 40	: 1; : 2	2		3	0–9	Moderate attack bonus versus buildings. Poor turn speed.

Overall strategy

The Roundship is the very first "heavy" ship made available to most factions. Although slow and somewhat unwieldly, the Roundship however can afford to carry more troops, and is roomier than oar-powered dromons and barques, meaning that it can fire off more missiles, despite having the same degree of firepower as a Barque. Thus at sea, the roundship is a highly destructive unit that can lay waste to an enemy galley fleet, and are fairly useful against enemy forts and castles, although they must be built in huge numbers in order for them to succeed, given the ability of castles to outrange them.

Roundships, however have several problems. The first is due to their need to be sufficiently strong and stable, you will be asked to commit considerable amounts of metal and timber to their construction. Only the Chinese and Japanese, with their know-how, can reduce their metal costs at the expense of added wood consumption. Also, as a heavy ship, roundships suffer from poor mobility, and so lack the ability to avoid fire ships head-on. A fleet of roundships must be screened at all times by fire ships or lighter galleys to prevent them from being literally toasted to perfection. Additionally, Roundships are not always available to everybody. Factions that use Dark Age Longships, with the exception of England, are constrained to use them, in no small part due to political turmoil.

Unit summary

• Fire Hazard — Fire ships are most powerful against any form of heavy ship, so keep these as far away from your roundships at all costs.
• On Stranger Tides — Factions fronting the Yellow Sea build Tower Ships instead, which emerge one Age earlier than Europeans. They are costlier, but can be upgraded to the War Junk in the High Mediaeval Era.

Notes

• 

  Musketeer of the Colonial Era.

• Lineinf.png

  Musketeer of the Mercantile Era.

• 

  Southern style Roundship, as used by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern factions.

History

Although large sailing ships have existed since the beginning of civilisation itself, such vessels were surprisingly not that popular as a choice for naval combat, probably perhaps due to the lack of mobility that large wooden vessels would have had using primitive sails and rigging for navigation. However, they did serve their purpose in combat duty: a ship with a higher board and more deck space could hold more men on board, making them more deadly in battle as compared to the more narrow but faster galleys.

The early medieval roundship was also known as Navis Oneraria, or "ship of burden". Featuring flat-bottomed hulls and dual steering oars, it was commonly classified by carrying capacity, because of its importance in trade. For example, a roundship which could carry cargo weighing 300 metric tonnes would be called a 300-tonner. In Europe, the common practice in war (and trade, because of pirates) was to escort roundships with galleys. The galleys could be used for scouting and skirmishing, while the roundship would serve as a floating "arsenal" or an enhanced weapon platform, preferably for launching missiles into the foe. The renowned workhorse of mediaeval empires, the cog, was a variant of roundship unique to Northern Europe.

References

• Shanks M, The Roundship