Firepower is a whole-ship trade-off

Selecting a battery means matching weapons to the country's requirements instead of comparing ships on raw firepower alone. A first rate might mount its heaviest guns low and lighter weapons above, but even that arrangement depended on what industry could produce reliably and affordably. Heavier guns cost more and need larger crews to move and serve them. Larger crews consume more food, reducing the time a ship can remain at sea unless storage or resupply grows with them. Weapon weight also competes with ammunition, stores, structure, and the qualities needed for the assigned mission. These connected compromises persist from the cannon era to modern warships and imagined spacecraft.