Everyone and their dog is gonna have tiny ass canoes to carry around. We could just steal the tech from someone.
This is the best time to go for size since we have already invented docks.
Doesn't work like that. The
current small boats are single piece log or leather canoes and barely riverworthy, much less seaworthy.
The philosophy of construction of each line will be distinct, and not really copiable without retooling the docks.
To the common people we are going to be the best thing that ever happened to them.
The new middle classes we'll create will also adore us for making them in the first place.
High level nobles will probably have to be put down via Blackbird
Maybe not even so. We've gladly absorbed local chiefs into our system before.
Southshore is our province, they don't have any settlements inside of it, the update says that settlements close to us wanted be annexed, well if you look at the map it's their coasts and the mouth of the river that would fall into that area and have had the most contact with us.
AN hasn't confirmed this, though it makes the most sense due to how hard it would hit their econ, but you could ask if you want
If we take the river mouth they're going to be QUITE annoyed to be sure...the question is whether they can do anything about it.
1. Galleys and longboats say that portable inland-first ships do not scale up well. If you have a reason to think that they are inherently scalable designs, please provide some evidence or examples, because I currently do not see it at all.
2. No, they do not scale down; shipbuilding is hard and every scale requires its own engineering, no one design can be just 'scaled' bigger or smaller to the best of my knowledge.
3. Not sure what are examples of such vessels, so I don't even know about speedy ones.
Not scalable designs, scalable build philosophies.
Portable construction aims primarily to minimize the weight without compromising seaworthiness. Thus, the innovations are focused along:
-Jointing techniques
-Waterproofing
-Wood seasoning and selection for strength and density.
-Rower-banks/oxen draw teams(to cope with not always having wind on tap and room to navigate on rivers like you would have at sea) in combination with sails
Size construction on the other hand, is going to focus primarily on the integrity of the keel, which was essential for the construction of large ships in early eras. Thus the innovations are focused along:
-Measurement techniques
-Timber consistency
-Use of structural supports in ships as well as heavier timbers.
-Drydock techniques, as servicing a large ship is very difficult unless you can beach a ship on demand and still have it fit to sail afterwards.
Speed construction focuses on the streamlining. How slim can a ship be made and still function? Thus the innovations are focused along:
-Streamlining
-Steering techniques
-Mast layout and construction
Essentially, under Portable, you focus on construction technique. You scale the techniques up because it doesn't matter what size ship is in use, if you use wood, the construction method still works works.
Under Size, you could scale down to an extent, but most of the innovations are counterproductive, because of substantial overengineering and weight.
Every civilization goes for size eventually, and building bigger becomes important later. But early in a civilization, size is relatively useless.
You build large ships when you have good docks in 3-4 ports, not when there's no port capable of servicing them and then spend the next 100 years making them useful after the fact.
By contrast, a portable boat is immediately practical for boosting connectivity across our whole polity. Shallow draft, but larger than single person boats would change the cost of moving grain from Valleyhome to Sacred Forest to a few days work along the canal, instead of a journey where 3/4 of the cargo goes to feed the animals hauling it.
Then we have bad road network.
But honestly, yes, rivers are better than roads for transportation, yes; I meant it as 'despite rivers being better, we can use roads to kinda fill the role, if more expensively, while we have no other option in seafaring'; sorry if it came out as 'we totes can do roads as good as rivers in transporting bulk goods' - they aren't and will never really be.
The problem being that there is a substantial force against maintaining even an adequate road network, so expanding the use of riverboats would be a far more significant change
Not really?
I mean, Wiki is not the best of sources, but it is still quite trustworthy in matters not politically charged, so I am going to quote relevant passages:
The Wiki is correct about
oceanic history. Chinese shipbuilding(as in plank ships, not rafts and canoes) history predated the cited examples because well...riverine ships isn't listed with oceangoing ships.
Look to the
Yue for examples of earlier naval warfare in china, which was focused on the rivers, not oceanic travel.
Sea battles weren't nearly as important as river battles for China, which a simple examination of the geography would identify why. The rivers, and later the canals were the primary means of transporting men and grain and controlling them determined the course of battles.
Which translates to another element:
Portable ships would be a devastating advantage if unleashed upon the lowlands. They're almost as nasty as chariots strategically.
Again: why are you, too, making a mistake of equating not Portability with no more riverboats forever and ever?
No?
Portability is useful
right now, in the near future and in the distant future.
Size is useless
right now, okay in the near future when we actually have the docks for them, and then great in the distant future when we set out across the sea.
Since we can, and will get both unless for some reason we didn't want to build any docks or boats at all despite being one of the better actions, the immediate term is what matters. By the time we get the next ship innovation we'd have at least two docks for the large ships to ply, and smaller boats to bring goods to the ports from the rivers.
