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
Roundship	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	Upgrades to
	20s (300t)	256	10	20 x 2	1.6s (48t)	25
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 80; : 70; : 60	: 3; : 3	2		6	0–10	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 other lighter craft, allowing it to carry more marines and ammunition. 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, although they must be built in huge numbers in order for them to succeed.

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. Also, as a heavy ship, roundships suffer from poor mobility, and so lack the ability to avoid fire ships. Thus a wise commander does not build fleets comprised fully of Roundships, but uses them primarily to defend against Forts, and to amass early game naval power.

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 roundship-type units earlier than Europeans, which are known for their exorbitant cost in timber but cost far less in metal. The Tower Ship can be built well in the Dark Age, but is succeeded by the stronger War Junk in the Castle Age.

Notes

• Sea People ship - used by everyone? Roundships are rather specialised. Also, say we identify Rasenna and Iberians with Sea Peoples. Then what?
• Or, can we reuse the Iberian Currmar? seems we have no choice.

Trivia

In Age of Empires, this unit is present as the Dromon, and uses the icon for the vanilla unit of the same name: . This unit is built primarily by Nanyue, Saka, Pyu, Koreans, Dacia, Germania and Gaul.

History

Although large sailing ships have existed since the beginning of civilisation itself, sailing ships surprisingly were not that popular as a choice for 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.

File:Asianship.png

Factions fronting the Yellow Sea build roundship-type units earlier than Europeans, which are known for their exorbitant cost in timber but cost far less in metal.

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

• Michael Shanks, The Roundship