In ShipShaper: Falconeer Chronicles (developed by Tomas Sala on PC via Steam), ship weight dictates how deep your vessel sits in the water, how sharply it leans in turns, and whether it stays upright or capsizes under Full Physics. Every component—from hull materials and heavy naval guns to engine boilers, funnels, and propellers—adds measurable mass that pulls down your craft and shifts its center of gravity.
Understanding the balance between buoyancy and component weight is essential if you want to sail with realistic physics enabled rather than relying on automatic stabilization.
Full Physics vs. Easy Physics Modes
ShipShaper features two distinct simulation options in World Mode that govern how weight impacts your vessel:
- Easy Physics (Stabilizer On / Unsinkable): Mass and buoyancy do not trigger capsizing or flooding. Even if your design is completely top-heavy or overloaded with deck hardware, the ship stays upright, allowing players to build experimental or fantasy craft without sinking.
- Full Physics (Stabilizer Off): The physics engine runs a real-time mathematical evaluation of your hull volume, superstructure positions, and component weights. Heavy items placed above the waterline raise the center of gravity. If the deck dips below water or the ship leans too far from wind or turning inertia, it will flood, list, and sink.
How Components Contribute to Ship Weight
In the game's Full Physics calculations, different categories of parts exert varying degrees of downward force and leverage on your hull.
| Part Category | Weight Impact | Simulation & Balance Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Guns & Turrets | Heaviest components by far | Placing heavy turret batteries or broadsides too high or far out along the beam causes severe listing and capsizing. |
| Planes & Carrier Mounts | High (classed with armaments) | Adding multiple aircraft emplacements adds significant mass that can weigh down the flight deck or stern. |
| Boilers & Engine Parts | Moderate to heavy | Adding steam machinery, bilge pumps, and booster items increases speed and horsepower but lowers the hull into the water. |
| Funnels & Smokestacks | Moderate (calculated by volume) | Tall, large funnels add top-heavy weight high above the waterline, increasing lean in turns. |
| Propellers & Shafts | Moderate | Screws include the weight of their drive assembly. Excess propellers placed on small hulls cause stern-heavy drag and listing. |
| Masts & Rigging | Low to moderate | Masts, fighting tops, and tall staysails contribute to total load and amplify wind heel during storms. |
| Keel Ballast & Fins | Heavy (located below waterline) | Placed along the keel line beneath the hull to pull down the center of gravity and steady rolling. |
Developer updates confirmed that part weight scales with the physical size and volume sliders of the components. Shrinking or stretching an item directly alters the load it imposes on the hull.
Hull Selection, Slenderness, and Buoyancy
Your hull design determines the displacement volume that counteracts component weight:
- Hull Materials: Wooden planking creates lighter, faster hulls with lower baseline weight. Metal hulls with rivets provide armored durability but add significant weight, demanding greater hull volume to maintain freeboard.
- Beam Width vs. Height: Razor-thin, tall hulls tip over easily. Widening the hull creates horizontal stability and extra buoyancy volume, preventing water from reaching the gunwales.
- Hull Slenderness: Long, narrow underwater profiles achieve higher top speeds under steam or sail, but they require careful weight distribution between bow and stern to avoid nose-diving or rear-listing.
- Outrigger Floats: Using side floats or outriggers provides lateral balance for tall superstructures, functioning like trimarans or catamarans to offset heavy deck items.
Stabilizing Overloaded Ships
If your ship lies too low in the water or rolls over the moment it enters World Mode, you can correct its weight distribution in the editor:
- Equip Keel Items: Open the Keel Items category in the Item Library. Adding a Ballast Keel places dense weight below the waterline, pulling your center of gravity down. Alternatively, install a Keel Fin or Twin Keel to dampen roll.
- Add Leeboards or Diving Rudders: Underwater side boards and diving rudders provide hydrodynamic stabilization, countering wind heel and turn listing.
- Trim Heavy Machinery: If the stern sinks, remove surplus propellers, heavy boilers, or aft deck superstructures.
- Raise Gunwales and Decks: Increase the vertical hull height so gunports and open decks sit safely above the waterline. Broadside gunports automatically close to prevent water ingress when positioned too low, but extreme listing will still flood the deck.
- Adjust Sail Rigging for Weather: High winds add wind heel to weighted ships. In the World Mode speed telegraphs, drop to fighting sails (furling lower sails) or storm sails to relieve mast leverage in rough weather.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I check my ship's total weight and stability rating?
Click the Stats button beside your ship's name in the editor or click on the empty floor twice. The overview panel displays weight, engine horsepower, sail area, dimensions, gun tonnage, and 1-to-5 star ratings for stability, load, and handling. A red or glowing rating indicates critical instability.
Why does my ship tilt backwards toward the stern?
A rear tilt (stern trim) typically happens when too many heavy propellers, shaft assemblies, or aft boilers are clustered at the back of the hull without enough counterbalancing displacement. Removing extra screws or lengthening the stern using the stern stretch handle restores trim.
Do sails and engines combine their total propulsion weight?
In Full Physics, sail power and steam propulsion do not stack additively; the physics engine drives the ship using whichever source produces greater forward force. Carrying both full steam boilers and heavy masts adds weight from both systems, requiring adequate hull buoyancy to float.
