Airships as Boats?

[Braise]

I feel like a lot of the airships I see are very boat-shaped...

Are any of them able to float and/or be used as boats?

Seems like it'd be a thing, especially if the routes taken are over water.

 

Run out of fuel during the trip? No prob. Land on the water and either start rowing or pull out sails/flaps.

[Faye]

I don't think seen we've seen any evidence of it in game that I can recall off the top of my head, but it sounds plausible enough to me! Of course, an airship may require more lightweight materials, while an actual ship would need more buoyant and waterproof ones. I suppose the drawback is something that could do both would be worse at each than a ship specialized for air or water? But this is a fantasy universe, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that an airship could do both.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Faye

[Quillfiend]

I'm not an avid follower of Final Fantasy lore, but seeing as XIV references/pulls from other games quite frequently, it might be an idea to look into the other games for instances of this. I mean, it sounds fine either way, but if there was a boaty airship in another FF game, you may be able to reference its tech/minutiae.

[Impstatus]

I'd imagine it all comes down to the fact if the airship was designed to land on water or not. Too simple? Maaybe. But I'd say there exists crazier things in FFXIV world/s than that.

 

Actually, character idea for airship engineer/designer who wants to develop ship/airship hybrids seems pretty neat!  

 

Fun general FF fact: Enterprise in FFIII was ship modified into airship, and it could only land on water. So, this is not in any way unheard idea in FF games, and I think it could fit into world of FFXIV neatly. 

 

Off-topic bonus: This thread just makes me think of this one short rhyme I loved as kid, because it was funny and kids like weird things.

Goes in Finnish like this; ”Haltija se teki laivan sellaisen, että maata se kulki ja ilmaa ja vettä.”

(Translation: Haltija (fae, basically, in finnish folklore) created boat like that, which traveled the land and the air and water.)