Quote Originally Posted by Diamondback View Post
On the other hand, a few other members here tested my initial Double-at-Half proposal and found it a big gamble: overpowered when in range, useless if you couldn't get into range, Win Big or Die Big--not the stuff of a fun game.

And another datapoint to consider is a carronade was faster to reload than a long gun, lighter weapon and the slide mounting mean less effort to wrangle it around the deck.
Double at half might be a bit too much. Win Big or Die Big is really fun if lots of ships are involved. Crew savings was not a big deal. A 24 pounder had six crewmen. A 64 pounder carronade used 5 men. A 48 or 36 pound carronade also used 5 man crews. The weight reduction gained by using carronades was equalized by the weight of the extra amount of ammo needed to feed them. Which, I think, is why carronades disappeared by the time ironclad steamship arrived.