Italian for "Dolphin", The Delfino is a Gunboat classed ship built specifically for SPD ship to ship combat.
Based on ships from Southern Europe (the city states of Italy, southern France, and even the Greek isles) the "tartana" style ships were a blend of the best of Europe and Arabia. They were the first European Ships to use the "lateen" style sail which allowed them to sail very close to the wind, yet were built heavily with an internal framework of ribs, battens, and fasteners for strength.
Being Double Ended, they were unique in that they could handle strong seas while reaching or running, a good thing as the land surrounding the Mediterranean could bring strong and unpredictable storms in winter, and hot fierce winds in summer. It also helped that in ship combat the "transom" of a ship was always it's weakest point, it allowed a cannonball to travel the entire ship's length, causing a great deal of damage and havoc as it passed. The Tartana design is safe from that design flaw.
The Delfino is a small ship in the "gunboat" class. This gives it a single gun that only has the ability to be Elevated or Depressed for aiming. To turn the gun to Port or Starboard requires turning the entire ship towards it's target. While no gunboat is exceptionally strong, with only 8 hp it does not take much to incapacitate or sink, it's strength is speed and maneuverability. It can sail rings around most ships and happily stay out of it's opponent's firing arch.
Gunboats are fun little ships and a good way to get introduced to both basic and advanced ship to ship SPD combat. Delfino itself is a welcome addition to the Family of Black Rose Ships and I hope you can enjoy as much as I did.
For more information, check my Blog: http://blackroseshipyard.weebly.com/
- SPD Enabled Gunboat for Pirate Battles
- Partial Mesh Construction
- non-wearable: ship is one piece
- Sailing engine based on the Flying Tako
- Battle legal for all estates
Fun and F A S T
What more do you need ?
Great little gunboat!
This little beastie is agile and nippy and quite capable of harassing the captains of larger, tougher boats to distraction trying to keep her off their nethers - in my first practice battle, this wee bugger managed to elicit moments of panic from one of the more experienced sailors on the grid due to his difficulty shaking her!
It was dead easy recoloring her sails and repainting her nameplate.
My only gripes (being a novice captain) are the current lack of documentation (that is easily overcome!) and I wish the gauges on the HUD wear a bit more contrasty. Oh, and the gunner HUD doesn't give you indication of when the cannon is reloaded and ready to fire. All incredibly minor issues more than compensated for by the quality of this little boat!
