This article is considered accurate for the current version (1.56) of the game.
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The 74b-1 Ronan Gunship specializes in roaming between larger vessels at high-speeds and boring into their hulls with ease. It’s armed with multiple tripod mounts to support the midship high-explosive mortar cannon.
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— In-game description
The 74b-1 Ronan Gunship is the WardenGunboat. It is equipped with a mortar turret and two mounts for mounted weapons.
The 74b-1 Ronan Gunship houses a crew of 4 soldiers:
Driver
Controls the movement of the vehicle, and can see the remaining fuel in the vehicle, the speed in knots, and the azimuth of the ship in degrees.
Cannoneer (Gunner)
Seat accessed from the midships interior.
Controls the movement, reloading, and firing of the mortar cannon
Uses the Mouse Scroll Wheel to adjust the firing distance
Switch ammo types by pressing F
Switch the gun between indirect and direct fire mode with Shift + F
Gunner (Front)
Controls the movement, reloading, and firing of the Mounted Weapon installed on the front mount
Gunner (Rear)
Controls the movement, reloading, and firing of the Mounted Weapon installed on the rear mount
Spotter
Seat accessed from the midships interior.
Can view 230m in all directions without Binoculars
NOTE: Players cannot switch between seats, they have to walk on the deck.
Ship Deck:
Additionally, up to 6 soldiers can be on the Barge deck and move around (not counting seated crew). They can access the vehicle's inventory. The passengers can vault out of the ship but only when it's not moving. The ship cannot move if there are more than 6 passengers or if any of them is encumbered.
Armament
The 74b-1 Ronan Gunship has two main armaments:
2x Tripod Mount
Empty mounts at the front and rear where a Mounted Weapon can be installed (90 degree firing arc)
Mortar Cannon
Mounted on the turret (can rotate 360 degrees, turns 35° per second)
The mounted weapons can't be used if the main turret is disabled.
Inventory
It has three dedicated ammo slots that can hold 100 Mortar Shells, 100 Shrapnel Mortar Shell, and 30 Flare Mortar Shells respectively. It also has additional dedicated ammo slots that can only hold ammunition for the mounted weapons. What they can hold depends on the weapons installed: 30 12.7mm OR 15 20mm OR 14 30mm OR 10 RPG OR 8 ARC⧸RPG OR 12 Tremola Grenade GPb-1, 4 PT-815 Smoke Grenade, and 4 Green Ash
Items can be dropped on the deck and the ship can still move with dropped items on its deck. If not picked up for 5 minutes they are automatically submitted to the ship's inventory or deleted if no slot is available.
Can move on water without fuel, or when disabled, but at drastically reduced speed
Can ram and instantly destroy Field Bridges over water
Unable to move if there are more than six Passengers or if one is overencumbered.
Health & Armor
The 74b-1 Ronan Gunship has 1650 HP and is disabled under 30% health. It has subsystems that have a chance to be disabled by heavy explosives and anti-tank weaponry if hit specifically: Turret/Cannon: 10%. It has Tank Armor. With it, in best case scenario, penetrating projectiles only have a 22% chance of penetrating and doing damage. That chance goes up quickly if the armor is worn or if it is shot from up close, or on the side or rear from a direct angle, or with ammo that has penetration bonuses. It takes 150 Basic Materials to fully repair it from 1% to 100% health with a Hammer. Its health, subsystems, and Tank Armor can be instantly repaired at a Shipyard for 50 Basic Materials.
NOTE: Being on a Gunboat deck prevents players from doing any manual repairs with a Hammer and Basic Materials. Manually repairing a Gunboat can thus only be done from land or from a ship that isn't a Gunboat.
Must be fully researched in the Vehicle Tech Tree in order to be produced.
Storage & Transport
The 74b-1 Ronan Gunship can be stored in a Seaport.
Tactics
The 74b-1 Ronan Gunship, like all gunboats, are capable of attacking, and eliminating regular naval vehicles, but will not be super effective against Large Ships, which have much stronger weaponry. Due to this, gunboats should not engage them in direct fire, unless the situation demands it.
Whenever possible, it is recommended to use the main mortar cannon, as High Explosive damage is the best way of damaging most naval vehicles, mainly those with the "Tier1LargeShip" armor type. Since the tripod mounts are located on the front and rear of the ship, in order to provide firing arcs for them, the Driver needs to steer the boat towards, or away from their target(s). Generally speaking, there are few tripod weapons that can effectively damage ships. The Cutler Foebreaker is the best choice from the Warden arsenal for fighting Large Ships and other gunboats. The Mounted Anti-Tank Rifle is arguably the best gunboat tripod weapon in the game, with a high rate of fire, inventory-efficient magazine sizes, and a damage type that's favorable against Large Ship armor. If the crew is planning on taking down infantry targets, it is better to use Mounted Machineguns.
Ideal Ammunition Loadout
Although the vehicle can hold up to 100 ammo for two of three of its ammo types, it's recommended to bring fewer than that (between 40 to 80) due to oversupplying (as any engagement will use far less than 100 ammo). If the vehicle runs out, they can resupply at a nearby naval base.
Trivia
“Ronan” is the anglicized form of Rónán which is a given name of Irish and Breton origin. The name roughly translates to "little seal"
Prior to Update 0.45, the 74b-1 Ronan Gunship used 14.5mm, which was later removed from the game
It was changed to 12.7mm and given a high-velocity modifier to keep its damage output the same as before
In Update 1.54 ("Naval Warfare"), the "Ronan" was completely redesigned.
The dual 12.7mm turret was completely removed.
The artillery turret was moved to the front and its ammunition changed from 120mm to Mortar Shells.
Two tripod mounts compatible with Tripod Weapons were added, one on the front and rear of the ship.
