Carronades Revisited

[Dobbs]

It has bugged me that carronades were fairly common throughout our period, but not well reflected in the game.

After a bit of research, it seems to me that, other than vessels with primarily carronade broadsides, the only ships that mounted a substantial amount of their carronades in their broadsides were spar deck frigates. In these ships, 25 to 50% of their broadside weight could be carronades.

While other ships may have carried some carronades, statistically it doesn't seem like they should matter. In my research, none of the ships modelled by Ares ever carried a significant number of carronades other than possibly HMS Sybille.

In conclusion, carronade rules only really need to be considered if playing outside the ships provided by Ares with merchant ships, smaller ships, or oddballs like USS Essex.