NAVY: What is firepower ? and possibly other naval questions.

**Zoring** · 03-17-2009, 19:03

It's probably a calculated value as a combination of number of guns, calibres, reload times, accuracy and so forth.

**hoom** · 03-18-2009, 07:36

I believe its a per-cannon figure.
(saw some discussion of this elsewhere or in an earlier thread here)

Galleys have firepower 256 or something but only 4 cannon vs 2nd rates with 90 odd cannon & about the same firepower.
Likewise I understand 3rd rates have higher firepower than 2nd rates but fewer guns.

So assuming its per cannon:
Galleys have total 1,024
2nd rates (say firepower 250 * 90 cannon) 22,500
3rd rates (say 258 * 74) 19,092

So firepower does make sense if its per-cannon.

**Miracle** · 03-18-2009, 14:26

According to the in-battle unit stat cards, each gun on a typical frigate or ship-of-the-line has about 16 firepower. The in-campaign unit stat cards are different.

**Prodigal** · 03-18-2009, 15:24

In the real world the fire power was all based on the weight of metal a ship could fire in one broadside.

Carronades made things a bit weird, they had limited range & were smooth bore so inaccurate, but were smaller & lighter than long guns, a 32 pound carronade weighed about a ton, while a 32 pound long was about 3. So small ships could fire a very heavy weight of metal, of course the draw back of this was that you had to be incredibly close to hit anything.

To get some idea of how small the cannons on some ships could be a sloop commander called Cochrane found he could carry cannon balls from both broadsides in his coat pockets.

**Marten** · 03-18-2009, 15:53

I agree with Prodigal and the Marquis. Should be the weight of a broadside. But Hoom's approach seems also correct ...

@Prodigal: Cochrane? The famous "carrying cannon balls in his coat pockets" Cochrane and his "Speedy"?

Marten

**Prodigal** · 03-18-2009, 16:50

Originally Posted by Marten

@Prodigal: Cochrane? The famous "carrying cannon balls in his coat pockets" Cochrane and his "Speedy"?

Marten

Indeedy, was bitten many years ago with the O'Brien bug that led me inexorably to Cochrane. Proof that fact is stranger than fiction.

**Shahed** · 03-19-2009, 09:32

I'm not sure it's a per cannon figure. I think it's damage point output of the entire ship's canon, if fired at the same time. Either that or it's the damage output of an entire broadside. The problem is that the inbattle and stratmap cards do not match, so one of them is wrong or I've got my math mixed up.