Ships are rated by an integer ship_class.  Each class allows the
ship to have up to 5 rooms, 150 vehicle points, and 25 crew.  Each class
also requires more provisions when sailing, and requires a minimum of 5
crew.  All ships can have up to 500 sail points.
        Storage capacity of provisions, ammunition, wood, and rope is
dependent upon how many cargo holds the ship has.  Each hold allows for 
50 ammo, wood, and food and 200 provisions.  Each weapon room gives
space for another 25 ammunition.
        The crew's sailing and fighting skills are rated from 1 to 100.
They impact almost every facet of ship operations.  Battle skill helps
you maneuver in combat, hit, and avoid being hit.  Sailor skill helps a
little bit in battle (mostly when trying to flee), lowers the cost of
repairs, and affects how much provisions are used when moving.  Crew
skills go down as sailors are killed in combat.  If the ship ever has so
many sailors killed that it doesn't meet the 5 crew per ship class
requirement, then the ship is crippled and can't fire or move.
        Naval combat involves the concepts of aspect and engagement.
Ships can't fire at each other unless they are 'engaged'.  Only 2 ships
at a time can be engaged, but fleet combat is still possible as ships
are free to engage and disengage at any time.  Ships can choose to be at
battle stations or at full sail.  If a ship is at battle stations all
attempts to engage it are automatically successful.  If a ship as at
full sail, then a speed and skill contest is held when one ship attempts
to attack another.  Once ships are engaged, neither one can leave the
room until the battle is disengaged or won.
        Engaged ships are 'aspected' to each other.  A ship is either
advantaged, disadvantaged, or neutral.  This represents naval maneuvers.
Attacks made when advantaged get a bonus to hit, and when disadvantaged
get a penalty.  It's also harder to flee combat when you're
disadvantaged.  Ships maneuver from aspect to aspect the same way
engagement is handled - through a skill & speed contest.
        Ballistas have a slightly higher chance to hit and can be aimed
at either the hull or sails, but catapults do more damage.  When a ship
is reduced to 0 hull points, it sinks.  There is no other effect to hull
damage.  Most of the combat and movement calculations use sail points /
100, so as a ship takes sail damage its performance will degrade by 1 for
each hundred hits.  Any hit has a small chance of causing a few deaths
among the crew.
        Maneuvering and firing weapons work on timers.  You have to wait
from 1-5 seconds between each attempt to get advantagous position and
between each catapult or ballista shot.  The time limit is reduced by
having skilled crews.  This way players with tintin won't trash
opponents before they can react.