Hi Philip Stanley,
Thanks very much for an excellent and very interesting analysis; kudos.
My vote is the Zion river, when the steam landing craft make their move up the river to the city, if there's a favorable tidal shift that night that reduces the current to be overcome and makes controlling the landing craft much easier, great!
This might confirm an assault on Zion and the temple.
The next possibility might be Gorath Bay with all its shoals that could catch the unwary, even the ICN, though I expect the ironclads could tow ships off the shoals if not before.
L
Philip Stanley wrote:Our esteemed LauftFurSellerie (see Babelfish) has given us a clue, to wit:
"There is actually a point in HFQ where this entire issue of tides and tidal ranges is addressed and plays a major role in the action. Further than that deponent saith no more."
We don't know whether he is referring to a tidal rip issue, or a varying water depth issue, but in either case, we can speculate a little (as always).
IF it's a tidal rip issue, the there are a limited number of places where a large body of water is connected to the major oceans by a narrow channel or river. The most likely that come to mind are the Zion river, between Lake Pei and Temple Bay, the Shweimouth Passage, between Shwei Bay and the Gulf of Dohlar, the Howard Passage, between the Gulf of Jahras and the Gulf of Mathyas, the narrow channel between Sandfish Bay and Tabard Reach, and the narrow channel between the Mantorah & Transhar Bays and the Gulf of Tarot.
IF it's a water depth issue, we have a little less to go on. The Safehold map is not a nautical chart, with indications of water depth. The only clews relating to depth are the places marked in grey where "banks" or "shoals" are located. According to the map, there are some banks and shoals around Claw Island, the Whale Island Shoal and the Dohlar Bank in the Gulf of Dohlar, some shoals around Dragon Island and Lizard Island, some Shoals in Gorath Bay, some shoals and banks around Scrabble Sound, in the Gulf of Mathyas, and what looks like some shoals or banks at the entrance to Mantorah Bay from the Gulf of Tarot. There may be other areas where the water depth may be an issue, but they're not marked on the map yet.
It's not much, but this at least gives us some locations where some of the action in HFQ may take place.
Let The Speculation Begin!
Philip Stanley