'Otter' Skuda

A Level 5, 10-gun Small Merchant

SAILING Sailing
These parameters determine how your ship sails.

Max Speed: Maximum Speed
How fast your ship can move in battles. Improving battle speed does not improve Open Sea speed.
Acceleration: Acceleration
Determines how fast the ship gains speed.
Deceleration: Deceleration
Determines how fast the ship loses speed. Lower values are better if you want to maintain speed, higher values are better if you want to stop quickly.
Turning (Fast): Fast Turn Rate
The Ship's turn rate in degrees per second. This is how fast the ship turns if it is moving at maximum speed.
Turning (Slow): Slow Turn Rate
The Ship's turn rate in degrees per second. This is how fast the ship turns if it is moving at a speed of at least 4 knots.
Turning Accel: Max Turning Acceleration
This shows how fast a ship accelerates into a turn. The higher the value, the faster the ship reaches its maximum turn rate.
Turning Decel: Min Turning Deceleration
Ships gradually suffer less deceleration as they turn. This shows a minimum amount of deceleration a ship has when turning. Lower numbers (relative to other acceleration stats) are better.
Best Point: Best Point
The wind angle at which the ship can attain its maximum speed. The wind comes from angle 0^o, and angle 180^o is running with the wind at your back.

SHIP

Capacity: Capacity
How many units of cargo the ship can hold.
O.S. Visibility: Open Sea Visibility
How far away other ships will spot you on the open sea.
O.S. Spotting: Open Sea Spotting
Increases your spotting range, allowing you to detect ships beyond their O.S. Visibility.
Crew: Crew
The maximum number of crew on your ship. Shows the fighting strength of your crew.
Target Tracking: Target Tracking
Reduces the accuracy penalties you suffer due to your movement and your target's movement. Improves your chance to hit fast moving ships.

15.00
2.96
1.48
13.50
5.25
13.00
9.75
135

140
50.0
0.0
55
20

5 ( Small)
8
106

LEVEL (SIZE): Level and Size
The level required to use this ship, and the size of the hull.
DURABILITY: Durability
The number of ships you have left. Decreases by 1 whenever the ship is defeated in combat (with the exception of skirmish).
INSURANCE VALUE: Insurance Value
Amount of doubloons you will receive for this ship if she is sunk or scuttled.

HEALTH Health
The ship's Health stats show how much damage it can sustain.

Hull: Hull (Structure)
The internal structure of your ship. When your structure runs out, your ship sinks.
Port: Port (Left)
The ship's port armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull.
Stbd: Starboard (Right)
The ship's starboard armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull.
Bow: Bow (Front)
The ship's bow armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull.
Stern: Stern (Rear)
The ship's stern armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull.
Sails: Sails & Masts
Shows how much damage the ship's sails and masts can sustain. Ships lose speed as they take sail damage.

Integ. Integrity
The ship's Integrity stats show how much damage it can sustain.

625
360
360
180
90
695

DR Damage Reduction
Shows how much the ship's armor reduces the damage it receives.

-
0
0
0
0
0

MODIFIERS Modifiers
These change your chance to hit, chance to get hit and the damage you take.

Sails: Sails
Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's sails and masts.
Crew: Crew
Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's crew.
Bow: Bow (Front)
Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's bow armor.
Stern: Stern (Rear)
Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's stern armor.
Sides: Broadsides (Left & Right)
Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's broadsides.
Grapple: Grappling
Grappling offense makes it easier to board ships. Grappling defense protects you against hostile boarding attempts.

OFF Offense
Offensive modifiers are a percentage increase to your chance to hit. The numbers here include any benefits from 'Accuracy, All' items.

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

DEF Defense
Defensive modifiers are a percentage decrease to the chance enemies will hit you. The numbers here include any benefits from 'Defense, All' items.

44.0
44.0
44.0
44.0
44.0
0.0

RES Resistance
Resistance is a percentage reduction in the damage you take.

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
-

BATTERIES Batteries The guns on your ship are divided into batteries. Guns within a single battery are identical and are controlled as a group.	Type Quantity & Weight This shows number and size of the guns in the battery. Heavier guns do more damage, have longer range and penetrate armor better. Lighter guns reload faster and are better at dealing sustained damage against unarmored targets.		Reload Reload The time it takes to reload the entire battery of guns, in seconds.	Damage Maximum Damage This shows how much damage each cannon can do at minimum range using heavy round shot. Damage gradually decreases as your target gets farther away.	Range Maximum Range This shows how far the cannons can fire heavy round shot. Other ammo types modify this range.	Acc Accuracy This shows the cannon's percentage chance to hit a standard target at 200 or 400 yards away. The chance to hit is increased based on target size, and decreases based on movement.	200 / 400 Accuracy This shows the cannon's percentage chance to hit a standard target at 200 or 400 yards away. The chance to hit is increased based on target size, and decreases based on movement.
Swivels: Swivel guns fire anti-personnel shot, spraying enemy decks with a lethal cloud of musket-balls.	4x	1/2lb	8.0s	7.0	100y		-- / --
Topdeck:	6x	3lb	12.0s	23.0	300y		86 / --

Polars

Upwind & Luffing

Close
Haul

Beam
Reach

Broad
Reach

Running

26% - 36%

3.9 - 5.4 knots

50°

9.75 knots

65%

9.75 knots

65%

12.75 knots85%

85%12.75 knots

15 knots

100%

15 knots

100%

13.8 knots

92%

Open Sea Speed: 59

Information based on version 02.10.57.00 Current game version is 2.15.46.0

History

A Skuda is a baltic clinker-built small sailing ship built for coastal trade. Used mostly in Sweden, Finland and Denmark they follow a tradition of V shaped hulls and simple sails that allows them to keep the crew very small. While they could carry one or two masts, later examples are mostly rigged as krejare. This type of rig has three masts, the fore and main being pole type and having two square sails. The mizzen mast has a small fore and aft sail and the there are two small stay sails forward. While the V shaped hull gives the ship a more streamlined appearance it makes cargo space below deck limited. Much of the cargo would have been stored on the open deck and covered. They can be run up on the beach at high tide and left to be unloaded when the tide is out. These ships are generally about 60 tons displacement, about 45 to 60 feet long and have a crew of five to eight.

Strategy and Use

Small coastal trader and Military Recon she is not intended as a combat vessal and should be kept out of fights if possible.

This is the Freetrader starting ship. The Otter is slow to gain speed and turn, but she can take a lot of punishment and sail fast downwind. This makes her a solid choice for small merchant convoys. Alone it's too vulnerable to fast ships to deliver risky cargo. You should upgrade past a Skuda as soon as possible.

Variants

Other variants of the Otter:

Comparable Ships

In general size the skuda is similar to the medium and large schooners. She differs in having a square rig which should giver her a better down wind speed. The sharp lines of the hull will help with this but limit her capacity.

Distinguishing Characteristics

The Skuda is a clinker built ship with a single deck and simple pole masts.

Sources

This ship was modelled by Michael O'Dwyer (aka Michiel van Duijer).