Since I had a lot of time.

[Tommi Atkins]

And indeed do we all.

If you look at panel 3
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0672.html

Then at the second to last panel.

You will find that Lien and O'Chul are riding a shark under the stern of a mighty first rate battleship, approximatly 300 foot long.

The OOTS are sailing upon a battened sailed schooner. Merely fifty feet in length.

Why diddnt the party sail in the battleship?

Now, I challenge anyone to nitpick worse than I just did? C'mon!

[pita]

This wins the award for greatest nitpickery ever.
But you're right, the ship in either the third or the second to last panel should have its size changed.
I love you, of full-of-time-one.

[NerfTW]

Even if it wasn't just a size error, why would the Order take a mighty warship on what should be a covert operation? One would want to keep warships with the actual soldiers, in case the island needs defending. Not to mention the extra crew it would take to run a warship could be put to better use setting up the island as a colony.

[Kish]

Not only that, Roy's feet are different sizes!

[Tommi Atkins]

Thats trufax 2 the maXX. I would indeed take a magically submersible vessel, slightly off the coast and cast summon inflatable blacked out dinghy. and paddle in, whilst mastercrafting some sort of magically magic repeating blackpowder M1A1 SMG.

Either that or teleport the party singley into the area of the desert involved.

But, by doing that, we miss pirates. Or the chance of pirates. And with the lack of pirates we miss the chance of ninjas. Even though we have had ninjas. So the pirate ninja balance is displaced, and the world ends.

Let us pray to the eastern gods that pirates arrive, and that the OOTS are actually on a misdrawn ship that has 3000 guns per deck.

[Elfin]

The OOTS are riding the battleship. Look at panels 4+.

[Tommi Atkins]

The OOTS are riding the battleship. Look at panels 4+-they just got there on a rowboat.

PWN! Brilliant stuff! The battleship was carrying the schooner and all is well! I'm sure this is what Rich intended!

Good fun!

[BRC]

At some point they specified that the order was on "The Fastest Ship", which is presumably not the battleship.

[Cizak]

The OOTS are riding the battleship. Look at panels 4+.

You're missing the point. In panel #3, the ship is too big. That's the joke here.

[Haven]

You're missing the point. In panel #3, the ship is too big. That's the joke here.

What? "lol perspective"? No, I'm pretty sure Lien & O-Chul are just a little closer in panel 3 than they were in panel 1.

[Mauve Shirt]

I thought that in the 3rd panel we're close to under the boat and Lien and O-Chul are a little farther away.

[Elfin]

You're missing the point. In panel #3, the ship is too big. That's the joke here.

My mistake. In that case the OP does indeed get the award for nitpickiest nitpick ever.

[Ancalagon]

It's pretty easy why they took the other ship: They simply had fun riding Hinjo's junk...

[Felixaar]

Hinjo and Lien are further away than the battleship in the third panel. The first one is much better a use for comparing them.

As for the oots taking a schooner (which I always thought was a term for a beer - of course, in Australia, everything is a term for a beer), I can't see any reason a battleship would be more helpful (and is undoubtedly much slower).

[hamishspence]

I think for sailing ships, the rule is, the longer the keel, the faster the ship. Big ships can carry more sail, sail area increases faster than water resistance.

I could be wrong, but I remember seeing this brught up in discussions of Pirates of the Carribean- the idea that the Interceptor was fast because of its small size, and the logical problem with that.

[Ancalagon]

Larger ships also get heavier, thus slower. And the shape of the keel is also important. I guess your theory is not really rooted in RL (if it was, we could build a 10 km long sailing ship that goes at the speed of light, hurray!)

[theinsulabot]

why didnt they all just wind walk anyway? would of been faster

[NerfTW]

Larger ships also get heavier, thus slower. And the shape of the keel is also important. I guess your theory is not really rooted in RL (if it was, we could build a 10 km long sailing ship that goes at the speed of light, hurray!)

Actually, I believe it is you who is not rooted in reality.

The maximum speed you can move is the speed the wind is moving, so no, your ridiculous conclusion is invalid, because wind does not move anywhere near the speed of light. Yes there is an upper limit where the weight of the ship is more than the sales can manage, but in reasonable sizes, a ship that can fit more sails can get more speed from the wind than a smaller vessel.

[Prowl]

It's also not necessarily the same ship... they did come with a fleet.

[The_JJ]

Controlling for other factors like keel shape and so on, larger (sailing) ships are faster, with the wind. They can put up more canvas, and get more speed. Period. The only reasons (well not only, but the important) reasons not to make a ship miles long are a. expense b. manuverability anc c. stability.

Building big ships is an expensive endeavor, the wood has to be seasoned, the labor paid, etc. etc.
Manuverability is very important when moving against the wind. Between inertia and the long keel, a big ship will tack maybe once for every 6 or 7 times a smaller ship can. This is very important for all sorts of reasons.
Stability is the real limiting factor here. Wealth is relative and manuverability an option, but take a big hunk of wood, tied/nail/whatevered together because no tree is long enough to actually run aft to stern. Put a bunch of weight on that.

Add waves.

Now all that weight is not being displaced the way it would be on a smaller ship. Now the whole ship has these points of high and low stress as bits of it are caught in the through or the peak of the waves. This is a constant rippling effect all up and down the line of the ship. Have fun.

[Linkavitch]

Not only that, Roy's feet are different sizes!

Lol. It's 'cuz they needed a faster ship then the big battleship, plus, they're Pcs, they don't need the help.

[Cizak]

As for the oots taking a schooner (which I always thought was a term for a beer - of course, in Australia, everything is a term for a beer)

Can I put this in sig? :smalltongue:

[Zolkabro]

I bet you 100gp that I can be more nitpicky!

In most strips with Evil V vs Dragon both children have both legs broken. Rich did this by making their legs all wiggly. But in panel 3 of strip 639 one of the legs of the child nearer the tree is not wiggly, and is in perfect health.

Beat that!

[Souhiro]

why didnt they all just wind walk anyway? would of been faster

Sailing to the sunset, man.

Is there a greater ending to the chapter?

[factotum]

Sailing to the sunset, man.

Is there a greater ending to the chapter?

Perhaps more to the point, Durkon probably isn't high enough level to Wind Walk the entire team--I think he'd need to be level 15 to carry 5 additional people along with himself using the spell (and that's not including Mr. Scruffy). Also, judging from his reaction the first time he used it, I suspect Durkon doesn't really want to use it again!

[Random832]

We're ignoring the possibility that maybe the continent is simply too far away to reach via Wind Walk. 60mph isn't necessarily a lot on the scale of oceans and continents.

[Tass]

The maximum speed you can move is the speed the wind is moving.

Very wrong. You can go much faster than the wind. How much faster is a question of optimizing the boat and sails. Iceboats which have a nearly perfect "keel" can even tack downwind and get to the goal three or four times faster than a freely floating balloon.

[Zeitgeist]

Very wrong. You can go much faster than the wind. How much faster is a question of optimizing the boat and sails. Iceboats which have a nearly perfect "keel" can even tack downwind and get to the goal three or four times faster than a freely floating balloon.

I think this is because they don't slow down rapidly like the wind can suddenly cease... built right they can maintain the speed they were at better.

However... I don't think they should be able to exceed the maximum speed the wind has gone recently, if so, not by much.

[Tass]

I think this is because they don't slow down rapidly like the wind can suddenly cease... built right they can maintain the speed they were at better.

However... I don't think they should be able to exceed the maximum speed the wind has gone recently, if so, not by much.

Yes they can. The best by three to four times. What you think they should be able to does not matter. Although slightly counter-intuitive the physics behind is actually rather basic.

[rewinn]

I think this is because they don't slow down rapidly like the wind can suddenly cease... built right they can maintain the speed they were at better.

However... I don't think they should be able to exceed the maximum speed the wind has gone recently, if so, not by much.

That would be true if sails worked by the wind pushing them along. But they don't (mostly); they work by being airfoils.

The wind curves the sails a little bit, as a result of which there is a pressure difference between the front & the back as the wind moves across the sail's surface. It's kinda cool really - sort of like flying sideways.

You might be able to visualize the effect most easily with triangular sails such as on a xebec (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xebec) but the idea is the same with rectangles. It's why the "best point of sailing" of a ship is usually not downwind.

An additional factor in the larger discussion is acceleration. In a steady wind, mass does not greatly impact a ship's ultimate velocity; it merely reduces acceleration. (This is different from our common experience with land vehicles, which suffer from a lot from rolling resistance.) Hence big ships are not as maneuverable as little dingies, but once they have the time to get crankin' they go faster because (A) they have way taller masts with way way bigger sails, hence more energy being converted into speed and (B) the most significant thing slowing them down is friction with the water which is (roughly) proportionate to hull surface area (HSA).

In a spherical sailing ship, HSA increases with as the square of the keel whereas mass and hence ultimate speed increases as the cube. Since few sailing ships are spheres, the actual formula is more complicated but the basic concept is the same.

HOWEVER we are neglecting the MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION: the Story Factor!

In a story, the fastest ship must always LOOK like it's going fast. Small boats look faster when they move for complex psychological reasons ... and therefore OOTS must travel on a small, rakishly built vessel.

[Zolkabro]

I bet you 100gp that I can be more nitpicky!

In most strips with Evil V vs Dragon both children have both legs broken. Rich did this by making their legs all wiggly. But in panel 3 of strip 639 one of the legs of the child nearer the tree is not wiggly, and is in perfect health.

Beat that!

So does nobody think I'm more nitpicky? That's just depressing.
:frown:
*sniff*
*sob*
:frown:

[Skorj]

That would be true if sails worked by the wind pushing them along. But they don't (mostly); they work by being airfoils.

The wind curves the sails a little bit, as a result of which there is a pressure difference between the front & the back as the wind moves across the sail's surface. It's kinda cool really - sort of like flying sideways.

You might be able to visualize the effect most easily with triangular sails such as on a xebec (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xebec) but the idea is the same with rectangles. It's why the "best point of sailing" of a ship is usually not downwind.

An additional factor in the larger discussion is acceleration. In a steady wind, mass does not greatly impact a ship's ultimate velocity; it merely reduces acceleration. (This is different from our common experience with land vehicles, which suffer from a lot from rolling resistance.) Hence big ships are not as maneuverable as little dingies, but once they have the time to get crankin' they go faster because (A) they have way taller masts with way way bigger sails, hence more energy being converted into speed and (B) the most significant thing slowing them down is friction with the water which is (roughly) proportionate to hull surface area (HSA).

In a spherical sailing ship, HSA increases with as the square of the keel whereas mass and hence ultimate speed increases as the cube. Since few sailing ships are spheres, the actual formula is more complicated but the basic concept is the same.

HOWEVER we are neglecting the MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION: the Story Factor!

In a story, the fastest ship must always LOOK like it's going fast. Small boats look faster when they move for complex psychological reasons ... and therefore OOTS must travel on a small, rakishly built vessel.

That's a pretty good explanation. Yes, modern sailboats "fly", a slow evolution from the earliest ships that were pushed along by the wind, and couldn't sail upwind at all.

Ships with a displacement hull have a speed limit. If the hull has to push the water out of the way, the top speed of the ship will increase as the length of the ship increases. Even putting a nuclear reactor in the ship will only get you a knot or two above that speed limit.

Ships that hydroplane (ride mostly above the water) have no such limit, and go as fast as friction vs thrust gets them. Modern racing sailboats play extremely high tech games to hydroplane while keeping enough keel in the water to go a different direction than the wind. That's easy with a catamaran, however. Modern high speed ocean-going ships often use hydrofoils to lift the entire ship out of the water.

tl;dr: old school sailboats go faster if they're longer

[Zeitgeist]

And this is why college physics frustrated me, lol.

[Tass]

You can go much faster than the wind. How much faster is a question of optimizing the boat and sails. Iceboats which have a nearly perfect "keel" can even tack downwind and get to the goal three or four times faster than a freely floating balloon.

I must correct this. Three too four times is overly pessimistic. Some can actually approach 10 times windspeed in light wind and good ice.

There is a report on the subject here. (http://www.nalsa.org/Articles/Cetus/Iceboat%20Sailing%20Performance-Cetus.pdf)