OK, after some experiments, I don't think this will be too difficult at all.
Selecting polygon faces and then going to "Edit Polygons -> Texture -> [Something] mapping" will automatically generate UVs, so we don't need to worry about them being absent before.
So, here's a few tips:
- You will need to experiment with which mapping method works best for which part of the model, because the effectiveness can vary hugely.
For example, 'Planar mapping' works well for the deck, and 'Cylindrical mapping' works well for the gun barrels (see screenshot below).
Speaking of the deck, you should probably do it in 2 or 3 sections, so the wooden planking pattern in desk.tga can recur smoothly along the length of the ship.
In some cases, like the hull sides, I'd recommend 'Automatic mapping'. That way, it takes the curve of the hull into account, so the UVs are true to the polygons, and there will not be any distortion.
- You'll have to do small chunks at a time, since selecting the whole hull and going with Automatic mapping just makes a mess.
This will get very tedious, especially since all the UVs need mapping from scratch. Most modellers use standardised ship components, such as cannons/anchors etc, which eliminates the need to remap the UVs for those objects for each new model, so that's something to think about in future.
- These are some textures you can use from Beta 2 which will make your job a lot easier, and be much more efficient than making new ones from scratch:
- desk: for the deck, masts, anchors, belfry, capstan, and various other details. VERY useful texture.
- inzanegun1: recommended for the best-looking cannons, rather than using desk.tga.
- metalU2 or metalU4: for all things metal.
- ropeU1: have a guess!
- woodGrainU# (where # = 1, 2, 3 or 4): endless applications for details like railings, gratings etc. Ideal for being lazy with UV mapping, because it's very uniform.
- wood_red, wood_mrn, wood_grn: planking for the inner hull; red, maroon and green respectively.
- RN_Hull1, FR_Hull1 or US_Hull1: this is what several of Pgargon's ships now use in Beta 2: generic RN, French and US hull textures for 18/19th century vessels. Accounts for black and one other colour for the main hull, and a different colour for the underwater hull (not quite coppering, but fairly close).
In actual fact, those textures alone should be plenty enough for your ship, with no new ones required! You can modify some if you see fit, as long as they're named differently.
IMPORTANT: you'll need TX Converter to get the TGA.TX files in RESOURCE/MODELS/Ships into TGA format that Maya supports. The interface is fairly self-explanatory, but let me know if you need any help with it.
For this number of textures, you may also need to split parts of the model into separate parts (e.g. ropes on outer hull should be made a separate component).
My advice is to copy the whole outer hull component, in this case, and delete the ropes on one version, and the rest of the hull on the other version.
This is because you can only use one material (and corresponding texture) per component.
- A helpful tip for selecting lots of polygon faces quickly is to select one face, and then press [Shift]+[.] (to use the > symbol) over and over again until all the faces you want are selected.
This can literally save hours of selecting faces one-by-one, but often you still have to add/subtract a few faces from the selection manually to get what you need.
Here's a screenshot of the gun barrel and corresponding UVs I quickly tested out:
You'll have to use the Manipulator Tool (beneath the Scale Tool if you lose it) to get the cylinder in the right position; the UV arrangement produced pretty much matches that in most existing cannon textures.
Anyway, I hope that's enough to get you going. It will take some time, as I said, but you'll get faster at it with practise.
If you have any more questions, let me know. I might have forgotten some advice (like before!
), so if I remember anything else I'll update you ASAP.
but I followed every step and understand the concepts fairly well. 
I didnt manage to shape all the UV's to quite the level of perfection as in the example, and that might be why the textures didnt show up, and I will take the time to make sure they are exact when I am texturing the ship itself 
