23.15 Ship Weapons

Three different weapons are currently available for placement on ships:
Onagers, Ballistas, and Arcanian Arms (also known as 'throwers'). The
prices given may change at any time without notice.

Ship weapons may be created, moved, and destroyed by a shipfitter with permissions to SHIPFIT aboard your ship.

Onagers - Keyword: "onager" 
-------
70 shipwood + 80 shipiron + 35 shiplines

Largest of the ship weapons. The large cup at the end of the arm of 
the onager can hold a very large load in a variety of configurations,
including chainshot, or many flares.


Ballistas - Keyword: "ballista"
---------
40 shipiron + 50 shipwood + 25 shiplines

Rather like a huge crossbow. A ballista can fire shafts much like
oversized arrows, or flares.

Arcanian Arms (Throwers) - Keyword: "thrower"
------------------------
30 shipiron + 25 shipwood + 20 shiplines

The only weapon that can fit on the tiniest decks, Arcanian Arms fire large,
flat objects by rotating in a manner similar to a person throwing something
side-arm. Throwers can handle hook-shot, flares, and war discs.


Weapons and                          Arcanian
Their Loads    Onager    Ballista      Arm
---------------------------------------------

Flare           yes/8     yes/5       yes/3

Hookshot         no         no         yes
Chainshot       yes         no         no
Shaft            no        yes         no
Spidershot      yes         no         no
Starshot        yes         no         no
Wardisc          no         no         yes


Windcutter OK?   no         no         yes (limit: 1 total)
Seastrider OK?  yes        yes         yes (limit: 3 total)
War Galley OK?  yes        yes         yes (limit: 6 total)


Weapon Loads
------------

Versus Ships
------------
Flare      - Burn brightly for a time, for signals, among other things.
           - Reveals nearby cloaked ships.
           - Available in numerous colours.
Chainshot  - Sails damage, and will bind sails.
           - Sails will be unusable until they are CLEARed.
           - When dipped this will set the sails on fire.
Hookshot   - For grappling.
           - CHOP TETHER to free yourself.
           - For the grappler: SHIP DISENGAGE will sever your thrown hooks.
Darts      - Hull damage and leaking.
           - When dipped they will set fires.
           - Rowing crew will be interrupted when hit.
Spidershot - Binds a weapon on the enemy ship rendering it inoperable until it
             is CLEARed.
Starshot   - Encircles the ship's figurehead, causing any melded sailors to be
             unmelded.
           - The figurehead will remain unusable until it is CLEARed.
           - When dipped, it will start a fire on the bow.
War disc   - Causes the crew to duck and cower.
           - This will interrupt the crew for a short duration during which
             they will halt their current task and not accept orders.

Versus Seamonsters
------------------
Flare      - Prevent a seamonster from moving for a very short time.
Chainshot  - Slow a seamonster's movement speed for a short time.
Darts      - Damage a seamonster.
Spidershot - Decrease the damage of a seamonster's next attack.
Starshot   - Slow a seamonster's attack speed for a short time.
War disc   - Damage a seamonster (short range)


Using Weapons
-------------
Try the following to use your ship's weapons:
   LOAD weapon WITH load
   UNLOAD load FROM weapon
   PROBE weapon
   FIRE weapon [UP|AT targetname|AT SEAMONSTER]

Weapon Maintenance
------------------
You can extend the life of your weapons by regularly maintaining them. 

SHIP WEAPON MAINTAIN <weapon> 

This costs 1 wood and eight instances will add one month's life to a weapon.

Protecting a weapon for eternity can be achieved via the SHIP REQUISITION
command.

Non-decay will prevent the ravages of time from claiming the weapon and remove the need for maintenance.