Boethermsbrukan wrote:glitterboy2098 wrote:Boethermsbrukan wrote:Agreed. I'd add to that the fact that prior to forty or fifty years before the Palladium World's present day (I'm using 50 years as a possible extension, since Wolfen Empire came out several years ago) the Wolfen Empire wasn't in existence, with the remaining Twelve Tribes (and I assume elements of the Algor Range Huntsmen, which were mostly killed off by the rest of the Wolfen Tribes of the day en masse, who made it through without being put to the axe, sword and claw) often at odds with one another and not a single governmental and societal entity with a considerable massed Army behind it, sourced from (I assume) the military or tribal warriors of the individual Tribes prior to that. The initial Army that would exist after Confederation & Empire would be the amalgam of most or all of the fighting forces of the Tribes put together.
With little or no arguably destructive bickering between the Tribes post-Imperial State, there would also be room for considerable growth in population and technology (to a certain extent, anyway).
not to mention all those non-wolfen nations that the Empire has absorbed as affiliate states. those races and nations would likely have been engaged in low-level conflict with the wolfen tribes as well, which would make things worse pre-empire.
post-empire, they would be amplifiers for the Wolfen. (the kobolds alone would have made the Wolfen Empire a thing of fear, due to their superior metalworking. with that skill organized by the Empire, it means lots of good quality weapons and armor being produced.
Exactly right, and I know the Kobold metalworking advantage was mentioned as far back as Palladium Fantasy Book IV 'Advntures In The Northern Wilderness'. The biggest disadvantage the Wolfen have now compared to most major nations they've had or will eventually have a dust-up with is the lack of a significant navy (seagoing vessels); there are dependable craft in the water but nowhere near as many or as well-armed as Western or Eastern Navy ships. The two or three Orcish Affiliate States as well in sheer manpower gives the Wolfen a significant advantage as well; and of course, they're much happier being a part of the Wolfen military than any human organization's.
-Boe.
i don't know.. the Wolfen use basically viking longships, those are designs that are fairly easily constructed so long as you have sufficiently developed metal working (for the nails and some of the fittings) and access to a lot of wood. both something the Wolfen certainly have. so they can expand their navy pretty fast if they organize their manpower.
looking at Adventures on the high seas..
the Wolfen dragon ship has a crew of about 38 (28 oarsmen and 10 sailors.. really there wouldn't be a distinction), and can carry upwards of 40 warriors. presumably these are the wolfen numbers.. it could probably carry more of the smaller orcs, goblins, and humans.
since they are basically Viking longships, that means they should fair pretty well in rough seas, and be pretty agile under oars. and fairly shallow draft, so they can beach just about anywhere. (which may be why so few real ports)
their trade ships are just miniature versions of the dragonships, so could easily be pressed into service if you need more hulls, and can bring logistical supplies anywhere the warships can go.
the East though.. dear lord. first is the note that the East has never given much attention to naval matters. so it is highly unlikely they have a big navy,
second, the ships. Frikken 15th century Venetian galleys? in the Algor sea? no wonder they never gave much attention to naval matters, they probably lose their entire navy any time a storm brews up. those are meant for fairly calm Mediterranean waters, not the rough waters of what is AFAICT basically PF's version of the North Sea. lousy handling in rough seas, immense power on the straight away but not all that agile under oars.. and they're slower than the Wolfen longships (by about 1/2) so the Wolfen can basically deny battle anytime they want. and that lateen sail, while good for sailing close to the wind, is also fairly inefficent manpower wise and makes tacking suck.
even worse, they are the big galleys.. about 4x bigger than a Wolfen longship. and while that means it has a bigger crew (50 oarsmen, 30 sailor, and upwards of 72 troops) and can mount heavy weapons (2 ballistae and 6 arbalests), it also means that building one of these is going to be SLOOWW... especially considering the East is no where near as organized as the Wolfen. (the venetians managed to pull off rapid building in times of war, but that was because their naval shipyard had pre-fab 'ship kits' made in times of peace and stockpiled. so that when times of war hit they just had to hire workers to put tab-A into slot-B and hammer the nails in. something the East almost certainly has not done as it would require a lot of attention to naval matters.)
their trade ship is actually slightly better suited to the conditions (being basically a smaller type Caravel, which would actually be fairly agile in sailing, but again, has the manpower inefficiencies of the lateen sail, and no oars. the ship type originated in the calmer Mediterranean waters, but proved effective in the rougher waters of the mid-Atlantic during the age of discovery. still tend to be vulnerable to storms though, they never did do too well in the north Atlantic or the north sea) the type isn't going to help much in war though. no oars means that they'd be fairly limited in a battle, they can't carry much in the way of troops, and they can't be easily used to land troops or supplies on a beach (fairly deep draft, so would need to find a sheltered cove and would rely on piers/docks or rowboats to offload)
so i'd give the edge to the Wolfen here as well. their ships, while not as big or as powerful, are ideal for delivering ground forces to other shores, can be built rapidly, and are fast enough to control the battles at sea. their fighting style would be viking style.. archers on the ship to pick off the troops on the other ships while closing to board. think mobile forts.
the Eastern Kingdoms might have bigger and more impressive ships, but they are slow, would be hard to build rapidly, and are not really suited to trying to fight wolfen longships. nor would they be much help in delivering troops across the sea for amphibious operations. Eastern tactics would be to use archers and their seige engines to soften up the wolfen ships as they try to close (mainly trying to take out the oarsmen to hinder wolfen mobility) then Ram and board.