The BMS - Ironship holds one passenger, and houses a crew of one soldier:
Driver (Seat 1, Rear)
Controls the movement of the vehicle, and can see the remaining fuel in the vehicle
Able to deploy/undeploy the vehicle - press F
Interacts with nearby structures - press E or Shift + E
Activates horn sound - press LMB
Can open/close Drawbridge (when next to it) - press E
Spotter (Seat 2, Rear)
Can view 145m in every direction with distance and azimuth displayed.
Can act as the ship commander to direct the other crew members.
Passenger(Seat 1, Front)
Can't do anything
NOTE: Players cannot switch between front and rear seats.
Ship Deck:
Additionally, up to 6 soldiers can be on the ship deck and move around. They can access the ship's inventory. The ship cannot move if there are more than 6 passengers. Players on the ship deck cannot fire heavy weapons (Machine Guns, Mortars, Anti-Tank Rifles, RPGs, etc...), same as inside a Barge.
Armament
The BMS - Ironship is not equipped with a main armament.
Inventory
It has 10 inventory slots that can hold any item, and a loading area that can hold five shippables of any size except Extra Large.
Can move on water without fuel, or when disabled, but at drastically reduced speed
Can ram and instantly destroy Field Bridges over water
Turn Rate
The drivers direction and application of the handbrake significantly influences the turn rate if the freighter. For quick reference:
The fastest turn rate (202.6° per minute) is achieved by driving forwards at top turning speed (9.2 knots) and holding A or D (Left or Right), while using Petrol.
The next fastest turn rate is over 59% slower (81.3° per minute) and is done with the previous configuration, and the addtion of the handbrake, results in a significantly reduced turning speed (1.6 knots), while using Petrol.
Use of reverse to achieve any degree of turn is strongly to be avoided. Both reverse turns, with and without handbrake, turn 69.4% and 86.7% slower respectively.
Example turn rates and times caused by driver direction and application of the handbrake are detailed in the table below:
NOTE: Being on a Freighter deck prevents players from doing any manual repairs with a Hammer and Basic Materials. Manually repairing a Freighter can thus only be done from land or from a ship that isn't a Freighter or Gunboat.
Interactions
The BMS - Ironship can be interacted in a few ways:
Up to 5 Shippables of any size except Extra Large can be placed inside the cargo hold
Open/Close the cargo hold with F
Shippables must be loaded/offloaded with a Crane - the player must have access to the Freighter
When the cargo hold contains multiple shippables, the one that was placed first is picked up. So if you load the wrong shippable you'll have to empty the entire cargo to remove it.
Shippables in storage can be viewed in the vehicle's menu.
Can interact with most structures in proximity - press E or Shift + E
Can pull three times the normal amount from stockpiles - press Shift + LMB
It is automatically deleted after 36 hours if left unused.
Mass Production Factory orders must have at least 3 crates.
Storage & Transport
The BMS - Ironship can be stored in a Seaport. It cannot be packaged or transported by another vehicle. As such, it must be driven to its destination, regardless of where it is.
Tactics
The BMS - Ironship is a large logistical ship specially designed to transport large quantities of equipment and supplies from backline logistical towns (also known as 'Logi Hubs') to midline Seaports, where its cargo can be unloaded, and either stored in them, or transported to the frontlines. While freighters are supposed to be unloaded at Seaports, they can be unloaded anywhere, as long as there is a nearby crane in order to pick up the contents inside of it.
The ship itself has an inventory that can hold some items, but its true strength comes with the large amount of shippables it can carry. Loading and unloading the cargo is done much more easily at a Seaport because it has Stationary Cranes and can store all shippables.
While long distance deliveries from Seaport to Seaport are the primary role of the freighter, it can be used in resource collections, by bringing gathered resources from Resource Fields to Seaports (cargo full of Resource Containers that are then transported to a Refinery by Flatbed)
Due to their size and durability, freighters are often used to block Bridges and narrow waterways, to prevent access by landing fleets and partisans.
Due to the walkable deck, it can be boarded from other ships with walkable decks (like Barges or Gunboats)
Trivia
Prior to Update 0.30, the BMS - Ironship didn't have a Passenger seat.
Prior to 0.46 Entrenched, the BMS - Ironship had to be researched in order to be constructed. This was later changed in order to improve logistics capabilities, especially during early-game.
Prior to 1.54 Naval Warfare, the BMS - Ironship was the largest Naval Vehicle in the game. This changed with the introduction to Large Ships, which drastically changed naval combat and logistics, especially during late-game.
Prior to Update 1.56, the BMS - Ironship did not use ship physics.
Prior to Update 1.57, the BMS - Ironship was shorter, didn't have a walkable deck and had a passenger seat instead of a spotter seat.
Unique to the Freighter, when turning, reverse movement should be avoided more than use of the handbrake.
Gallery
The BMS - Ironship from the front
The BMS - Ironship from the rear
A BMS - Ironship with a Flood Mk. I loaded inside of it
Multiple freighters loaded by a Crane with packaged Containers
The cog symbol appearing when a crane can store a shippable in the open cargo hold
The BMS - Ironship shown in the Update 1.57 Dev Stream
