So I've been doing some research today on medieval maritime vessels for a game system I'm designing.
The thing is - there is not a lot of information on what goes into building those. That I've been able to find anyway(maybe my google-fu just isn't strong enough).
The manpower and the time and resources that such vessels require.
I'm not looking for extensive data(though that would be cool), just a good sample for all the sizes and types - from generic boats and small vessels like a keelboat or a caravel to galleys, to the large medieval galleons and the largest wooden enlightenment-era ships.
So if anyone here is an expert, or has some good resources to offer on the subject, please share.
The medieval period spanned from about 500-1500 or so, and some of the ships that you're listing off go up into the 1800s and early 1900s. So, you're just looking for just a list of all the ships made everywhere in the world for about a 1400 year period? Don't want much, eh, mate? 😉
Joking aside, could you maybe provide a bit more specifics? Like, are you looking at the early, middle or late Middle Ages? What part of the world (northern Europe, the Med, the Aegean or Levant, Black Sea, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Polynesia, the Americas)? I do better in Northern Europe.
What level of granularity do you need? Are you looking to approximate small, medium, large ships for an area, or looking to have a region- or nation-specific ship? And what are the inputs into building times that you're working with (in other words, are you figuring population+gold+timber or some other metric)?
Check out the venice arsenal.