hollowworld.uk

Right now, the server is set on an archipelago. It would be hard to meaningfully traverse the world map without some means of transport, and your character most likely sailed here anyway.

Any character is entitled to having their own personal boat. It has to be on the smaller side, something that can be crewed by 1-3 people. The panicked nature of the exodus, the long months at seat, followed by a lengthy period of impoverishment where every possession had to be utilized to its maximum, has resulted in some profoundly idiosyncratic ships. I encourage you to make something weird, if you want, as long as it's small and looks like it would float.

This is an example of the maximum size I would consider acceptable as your character's no caveats, free ship:

(is this my character's ship? did i build my character's ship and then decide it set the standard going forward? yes, bite me.)

If you want something on the smallest reasonable scale, it turns out that the vanilla boat in Conquest looks cool too:

Can I have a bigger, better ship?

Yes! You can spend Goodwill to get a larger ship than this, or to upgrade it with stuff.

My character had a ship that was different than this, can they still have it?

Yes, but if your ship was too big - like, if it would have required a crew of dozens to pilot - then reach out to me about making it a cool shipwreck instead. Otherwise, you can use your Goodwill log to note down your grandfathered ship.

Are there any other guidelines?

Yes! The rest of this post is going to be a guide written by Cap. Don't hold yourself to it strictly, but it is good and valuable information. The closer you hew to the guide, the more likely your ship is to fit in with the setting more generally.

What is there to understand about ships in Hollowworld?
The foundation:
- The world is essentially an archipelago, so interaction with ships is unavoidable to the vast majority of players
- The history of ships and naval warfare in Hollowworld’s history is messy, disputed, and lacks a strong basis for the present server to build off of.
- Gunpowder weapons are no longer available, so naval warfare must be held to a new standard.

What does this mean for you? Ships must be held to a specific standard the same way a character’s magic ability or arms and armour would be. But that being said, we can agree that overpolicing the building of ships is too much big government for a freeform setting, even if they must be policed.

What does this look like?

This is a Napoleonic ship of the line. This ship is from the 19th century. While it may not feel out of place if you’re not familiar with ship construction, this ship was used closer to the Moon landing than to the Hundred Years’ War. This is the ship of the enemy, and we do not use it.

This is a Maltese war galley. This ship is from the 16th century. While that’s technically bordering on out-of-timeframe, it more accurately represents an era of shipbuilding that’s aesthetically and culturally appropriate to the setting Hollowworld wants to present. 

Policing individual players’ shipbuilding to make sure they’re meeting the setting criteria (in itself a sort of nebulously defined thing anyway) is both unrealistic to accomplish and unfair. Instead, here are some considerations players can make when building the ships their characters will be using.

Fighting
Naval combat is fought with archers and small artillery pieces like mangonels, the oxybeles mounted crossbow, or small ballistas. When ships draw close, they ram and board one another and send over soldiers to fight hand-to-hand. Cannons are no long practical, so ships are not designed around them. 

What does this look like? Ships might have only one or two decks, as there’s no need for a gun deck to carry cannons. They might have raised forecastles and aftcastles (see below) as platforms for archers or for mages who can cast offensive ranged spells, or for mounting small artillery pieces. They might have prominent rams (see war galley above) for ramming other ships during boarding actions.

The forecastle and aftcastle are the raised sections at the front and back of the ship.

Construction and Propulsion
There’s room for interpretation here, as there’s only so much you can do with Minecraft as a medium. There’s no meaningful difference in a clinker-built and a carvel-built hull in a block build. Instead, take more general shapes and features into consideration.

Common ships of the Middle Ages tend to be built very rounded, with tall features, and with square rigging and lateen rigging (“rectangle sails” and “triangle sails” respectively) in equal measure. During the time period we’re generally looking to emulate, it was very common for ships to use oars. From coastal longships to war galleys, oars could be found everywhere. Consider curvy ships with exaggerated features propelled by a mixture of oars and sails rather than copying ships of the line with forests of masts that would take hundreds of people to reasonably crew.

Where can I find inspiration?
There are only so many remaining examples, depictions, and reconstructions of ships that are actually from the Middle Ages to use as examples of what could be built on Hollowworld. Here are the names of some ships, when they’re generally from, who used them, and what they look like.


Longships, Knarrs, and Karves


The classic “viking boat.” While true longships and “dragon ships” of the northern raiders might actually be a little out of date by the time of our setting, evolutions of the design called knarrs, karves, faerings, birlinns, and a number of other names look very similar and remained in use for centuries. These ships tend to feature square rigging, a single mast, oars, side rudders, and only ever have a single deck. They might be suitable to a character inspired by the Norse.

Cogs


The classic “medieval merchant” ship. These were used by everyone in every part of Europe for everything you could use a ship for from between roughly 800 and 1500AD. These ships could feature square or lateen rigging, only occasionally had oars, used rear rudders, and had very prominent forecastles and aftcastles on fat little hulls. These ships are suitable for essentially any character.

Carracks


Ignore the cannons, as there’s no dedicated gun deck.

Carracks are similar to the smaller caravels, and are a classic warship and explorer’s vessel of the late Middle Ages. These were used by Western Europeans primarily (though they found their way everywhere) from the 1300s and on. These ships would mostly have square rigging but could be lateen rigged, did not usually use oars, had rear rudders, and had prominent fore and aftcastles similar to the earlier cog. Their hulls are also tall and fat, but sleeker and more ‘modern’ than cogs. Many carracks would have multiple masts. These ships might be suitable to noblemen, rich merchants or explorers, or for combat with companies of archers or a mage on the raised castles. 

Caravels


Caravels are the little cousins of carracks, and are the archetypical explorer’s ship. These were also used by Western European cultures, primarily in Iberia, from the 1300s and on. These ships could feature square or lateen rigging, did not usually use oars, had rear rudders, and while prominently sloped fore and aft might not have the same large castles of larger ships of the period. They might have multiple masts, but could get by with just one. These ships, like cogs, are suitable for essentially any character as they can go wherever they like and don’t require particularly large crews.

Galleys


Galleys were the premier warships of the Mediterranean, but were also used for trading throughout the area. These are probably what you should be thinking of when you think of the equivalent to a battleship or ship of the line on Hollowworld. Unlike the other ships mentioned above, galleys were long, shallow hulled ships primarily propelled by oars. They would usually be lateen rigged, but there is nothing preventing them from being square rigged. Their large decks are suitable for archers and for amassing groups of soldiers to board an enemy vessel after striking them with the ram. Being so large, galleys might only be suitable to characters who are leaders of factions with soldiers under them. They were also used by pirates!