So, with Rob's HEIC Nottingham conversion, I've been toying with the idea of a similar custom "what-if" ship.

First thought: Rebuild my old War Frigate from the Sid Meier's Pirates! PC game as an SGN ship. (With full crew and upgrades, the original Reaper was scary-overpowered--when you take the most powerful pirate in the game's ship out from under him, the rest is Easy Mode. LOL)

The inspiration: privateer Oregon from Clive Cussler's novels. While Oregon disguises as a tramp freighter and my P/V Reaper will either try to blend in with the sea around her or make no effort at disguise at all (haven't decided which--the figurehead of Death would be a dead giveaway though), the parallel is in a single, privately owned and operated hull packed with the most advanced weapons and technologies available.

Base ship: SGN202.

The backstory: A privately-constructed prototype Humphreys superfrigate, testing the basic design before United States's launch, then various refinements, and then overhauled in 1813 to apply the lessons learned from the 1812 battles and test refinements for Doughty's second-generation superfrigates Guerriere and Java. Reaper first put to sea as a 44 in the Quasi-War with France in the 1790s, and scavenging guns off her prizes indicated that the Humphreys hull could be up-gunned to 60 (hence the nominal "44s" we know being closer to 58's). While American based and flagged, the ship is a private contractor, available for hire by anyone with hard currency or useful technology not at war with the United States. I envision her operating from British ports during the Quasi War, trading combat support for resupply, repairs and whatever upgrades may have been offered for transfer...

Would appreciate whatever ideas y'all can offer between keeping background plausible as a What If, stats and colors/markings--better to go camo for ambush and if so how would you camo a sailing vessel, or just go for maximum intimidation through coal-black with maybe blood-red accents?