Does adding gunports through modding affect ship speed?

Kejzer

Okay so.. apparently people have very different opinions about this so.. a little poll if I may: Does adding more gun ports through modding affect ship speed?

Argument for so far:

More cannons means higher load, which as we know decreases ship speed.

Arguments against so far:

Only base load will affect ship speed, so adding extra load has no effect (Also fits well with adding more hold to a ship)

Through a comment with your opinion and/or proof that could solve this issue for all of us! :D

Take care

purplepirate

no, gun ports don't affect your sails in modding.

fliblew666

It affects the ship accel, yes. max gunports = les cargo = more accel

purplepirate

well ya, but wasn't sure if he meant sails. I kinda figured it was a given that less cargo means more accel xD

Whitejacket

You guys aren't reading the question properly.

I had suggested to him that he should put his question up but it seems this question is going to get confusing really fast.

He's asking about overall LOAD; not cargo per se, or cargo vs. sails, etc.

I had the same question, but I did a bit of digging and with my knowledge as an sb20 I would have to say that adding more gunports does not slow the ship down because the load factor is constant.

When a ship is adjusted to -20% load, the overall load (cabin+cannon chambers+cargo) is reduced by 20% but the ship gets a speed boost. That said, there's no concept as "adding more load" after the load is already adjusted - what is being done is filling up a range through modding to a load value that has been predefined. In fact, I do not think the moddable range changes via the load, but it does change through grading.

If the ship is refitted to accommodate the player's preferences regarding cabin space and cannons through the shipwright refit, the cargo is automatically adjusted to compensate for the overall load. This doesn't affect the moddable range however.

Naturally, the less cargo (NOT cargo space) that is on the ship the higher the acceleration. It makes no difference if the size of the hold is 200 or 2000. If it's empty it's empty. 

It's the same concept when adding cabin space or cargo space through modding. Adding cargo space won't slow the ship down, unless of course you fill it later with cargo. Adding cabins won't consume supplies, unless you put crew there to fill the cabins.

This is my opinion, but I would be surprised to learn that gunport modding (or cabin/cargo modding) will slow the ship down, especially after a -20% or -25% load adjustment. However, if any other sb20s with experience want to chime in, please feel free as it would help all shipbuilders for those with this type of question.

Whitejacket

There might be an argument for slowing the ship down when actually equipping the cannons themselves. I haven't heard anything about this, but it might make an interesting experiment.