How would Dwemer airships work?

[AllanBorne]

I made a custom mesh of a Dwemer Dirigible based on its appearance from Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard which I plan to use in a future mod, and I need help trying to figure out how it would reasonably work as an airship (with crew and supplies and everything) within the scope of canon lore.

As far canon sources go, we have:

• existing Dwemer airship blueprints (which the Dwemer had presumably built and flew)
• a working (and possibly reverse-engineered) airship had been built and used during the Tiber Wars (events of Redguard)
• another working airship had been built by Louis Beauchamp, albeit just a normal ship patched together with Dwemer machine parts that is "barely holding together" and eventually crashed itself on Solstheim

There are no official materials that show how an actual Dwemer airship operates, what its interiors are like, and how it could be manned (or merred). That is the part where I'm developing in my mod. And that is where I'd like to ask you guys in the modding community what do you think? Because I'm veering into non-lorefriendly territory. *cough*Spelljammer*cough*

The following are available screenshots with some of my observations based on my Dwemer airship research that maybe these could be used as a jumping off point.

Balloon and Boat Deck

• The balloon is attached to the main body using three sets of rope on two plank-like protrusions on either side of the boat deck.
• The boat deck appears to be made out of wood. Not sure if the bow (front side), gunwale (upper edges) and the hull itself is also made of wood, metal, or metal stylized and inlaid on wood.
• I'd like to think that the two bowsprits (the two pointy ends at the front) are actually made of Dwarven metal.
• There doesn't seem to be any doors or hatches leading out into the upper deck (unless we can't see any in available screenshots).
• Can't find any decent screenshots that can show us what's on the deck part of the stern (back side).

 

 

Observation Deck

• The front end of balloon appears to be attached to the observation deck, somehow.
• Observation deck also appears to be made of wood. Safety rail and sides appear to be made of Dwarven metal or Dwarven metal inlaid onto the wood.
• There is an access hatch on the observation deck which can be more easily seen during the Redguard final boss battle which leads to the interior. The metal-thing underneath then not only holds the observation deck up but also serves as a passageway to the interior of the ship.

 

 

Bow (Front Part)

• I can only assume that the cargo hold, cabins, the bridge, and whatever else the lower deck is supposed to have could mostly be inside of this front hull.
• The middle part of the ship is a bottle-neck between the front and back. And based on its size, there seems to be enough room for a single corridor connecting the front and back parts of the ship.

 

Stern (Back Part)

• These holes seen from the back look to be exhaust ports, hinting that there might also at least two engine rooms inside the ship: one in the lower deck at the front hull and another inside the backmost part.

Other concerns:

• Steering: How are they supposed to steer this thing? If there is a helm, it's not on the deck. And if it's inside, how would they know where to steer the ship? Is back side
• Compartments: What would layout be like for the ship to house the cabins, the cargo hold, and maybe the engine rooms and bridge inside the lower decks?
• Crew: How many people would be needed to maintain a ship this big? Will there be mages alongside the crew?
• Supplies: What would an airship crew need when they're in the air?
• Size: I'm just gonna guess from the size of the characters, the airship might be anywhere between 1.5-2.0 times the size of a normal ship in-game. But just a guess.

What do you people think? I'd really like to know what are your thoughts on this.

Cheers.

[Oblivionaddicted]

Who cares about the way the dwemer airships would work?

 

To move them all you probably need is only a script with some coordinates.