Took the opportunity to watch two old movies I've always enjoyed. Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawks and Captain Blood. But it was different this time. THIS time as these two large 16th Century ships began firing broadsides at one another, splintering wood everywhere I heard (?) Alexis' voice describe the following: timber cut down in the forests of England and Spain, transported, converted to lumber and probably transported again to a location specially designed for the purpose of ship-building. Hemp, cotton and flax grown, harvested, spun into thread, woven into cloth or twisted into rope. Iron ore dug from the ground, transported to puddlers, converted to pig iron then cast iron. Transported again to be formed into cannon, balls, and fitting. Brass and bronze going through the same transformation.
And all of the work of all of those people over all of those months and years being sent to the bottom of the ocean in a matter of minutes.
Dan Carlin (Hardcore History) touches on a modern version of this when discussing WW II at sea with the massive expenditure of time and treasure to build battleships, destroyers and carriers. And for my money Leonard Read kicked it all off with I, Pencil
Should players care about ANY of this? Probably. Do they? Maybe. Should we MAKE them? Slowly, my friends. Slowly.
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