David replied to me:
Or would a wooden frame of a ship of the line be heavy/very cheap, to set them
apart from typical frigates or armed Indiamen, and also from earlier galleons?
I don't know what the gurps terms are, but war ships differ by having more
frames (the structures that hold the planks), heavier frames, and better
hardware ( bolts etc) holding the frames together. They also have better and
thicker planking. Keels are probably thicker too.
Late in the period, more iron fixtures for things like braces joining frames
together appear. That's not necessarily better , it's also a reaction to fewer
big trees for building ships with.
Iron framing (and not just iron bolts) was seen as a step towards much
larger ships and caused the size explosion in the 19th century (late
TL5, in GURPS speak). Diagonal wooden framing is credited for the
toughness of the heavy American frigates. So how about that?
A merchant is light/standard or light/cheap. Indiamen might be
medium/standard.
A typical ship of the line is medium/standard. First rates are
considerably larger than frigates, so they have more HP.
The American frigates were heavy/very cheap with lots of DR. That makes
them tough but also big for their rate.
Extra-heavy is best reserved for late 19th century steam battleships.
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