I'm playing a short Swedish campaign at the moment, and my primary naval forces consist of lone 5th rates on long deep strike patrols, with pairs of 6ths as port blockade support.
The nature of my current wars is such that my main opponents are flotillas of indiamen, 4 or 5 at a time, or pairs of pirate galleons.
Standard tactics, use the wind, speed and manouverability, and demast with chain at long range, crossing and recrossing the T, string them out, all parked up with no masts, then pound em hard in the transom with ball and grape at close range till they strike colours.
I havn't built a single trade ship myself. I control 90% of the world spice trade, and 80% of the ivory trade.
As a result of this, my strike frigates have picked up a serious abount of battle experience (for this early in the campaign, 1720's) and I've noticed a slight improvement in handling, and sail setting, and a significant improvement in gunnery speed and accuracy.
At first, it might take 3 or 4 salvos of fire as your guns bear, to take out a mast, now, first salvo, down goes the mainmast, sometimes the foremast as well.
In an online 2vs2 minimum budget naval skirmish I played a couple of weeks ago, one of our opponents, with a naval dlc pack built his fleet around 3 copies of the Victory, plus supporting ships, and you could easily work out he spent nothing on experience upgrades. My teamy went for 1sts with supports, again no exp upgrades.
I went for 3 admirals 3rds, 74's, exp to the max.
The lead Vic, with his admiral was broadside to brouadside at close range in a roundshot slugfest, when my line crossed his stern at medium range, with chain, first 74 took his main and mizzen masts out, killed his admiral, seconds stripped the foremast, third switched to roundshot and punched a salvo through the picture windows on the captains cabin and straight down the main gun deck, enfillade fire. The Vics status changed from confident winning slightly to shaken concerned casualties/dismasted.
My line swung to port, sweeping past his unengaged starboard side at medium range. Lead 74 pounded him with a ripple salvo on autofire. He tried using manual broadside to frag my lead, but mistimed it and missed. Seconds 74 pounded him too, Vics status wavering. His gunners managed to reload in time for the third 74, but zero maoral bonus, wavering and suffering from the first two 74's salvos, it was badly depleted, more than a little ragged, and half of them missed, the third 74 replied and the Victory's status went from wavering to routing, very very slowly.
As my line swung to port across his bows at close range heading for the rest of his ships, the Victory surrendered...
His reaction on the chat window said it all...
"What the hell..."
Experience makes a BIG difference in naval combat.
Seems the CA guys took some serious note of historical engagements like that between the USS Chesapeke and HMS Shannon, during the war of 1812, when coding this part of the game.
Chesapeke was one of those new state of the art Boston built long-wheelbase super 44's, like the Constitution, Shannon was a 38, but, her captain had spent large amounts of his own money (gentleman of independant means an all that) on extra powder n ball for bonus gunnery drill, and his crew fired faster, and more accurately.
The battle took place in the waters just outside Boston harbour, a formal challenge to a ship to ship duel. Most of Boston's sNob Hill elite turned out with picnic lunches to watch from the shore, some even came out in small pleasure craft and parked up out of the firing line for a better view.
One of them later wrote in his journal that the battle lasted less than 10 minutes, from opening salvo to Royal Marines raising the flag over the shattered mastless hulk...
The Shannon's Captain
Philip Broke went on to found the Royal Naval Gunnery School...
Oh, and for those of you who didn't know, the Chesapeke's captain, Laurence is the source of the ETW loading screen quote "Don't give up the ship"[This message has been edited by AestheticDemon (edited 10-02-2011 @ 05:25 AM).]