Essex

[Captain Lust]

What does the Essex bring to the table to make up for being the only frigate not able to carry any chaser guns at all?

[Guest]

Not sure but maybe 30x 32lb carronades?

[Guest]

I love the Essex and hope to craft me one asap but not sure about the type of wood.

[Cpt Fred]

, Well, if we take a look at the mid-tier ships (frigates) in general she is one of the cheapest to craft; especially with regard to furnishings, which are pretty annoying to craft without silver & gold sources. The frigate is one furnishing cheaper; the surprise is free and the cerberus is in general too weak for 5th rank but is also free. Other then that she beats any other frigate out there in furnishing cost, which makes he overall cheaper to mass-produce compared to other frigates.

To give a general idea: Belle Poule requires 12, renommee requires 16, trinco requires 10, indef requires 10 (+ permit - PvP) and the endy requires 6 (+ permit - PvP). So, most of those ships are pretty expensive if you take in mind only the furnishing costs. Especially in a 1-dura economy you have to take in mind you can lose any ship in the blink of an eye; which makes the essex the perfect ship really. Losing 4 furnishings vs +10 is a major deal for any player without a decent supply of furnishings.

Second of all: if you take a look at the list...

http://www.navalactionwiki.com/index.php?title=Ships

She has (way) more pounds compared to other frigates, even if she doesn't have chasers (+80 compared to frigate). She also has slightly more crew which always will help out even more to man all the cannons / sails. I have a fully equipped 4-rate carronade (MAX. rank) essex which can man all cannons if you disable sailing and STILL have a decent amount of crew on sailing to actually do something (but it's noticeably slower). Not only this; but i also notice this ship has way less heel compared to a trincomalee, for example. She can almost shoot any shot from nearby, which is why i gave up on the trinco and permanently sail the essex in PvE missions. The heel vs. lower ships like the merc or Niagara was a killer for me.

I will also tell you one very enjoyable feature; with carronades she will pretty much reload shock any lower rank ship. On rare occasions she can even reload shock a renommee (which is the highest tier ship in rank 5 missions). So in general she doesn't need to tank if you can constantly reload shock your enemy (PvE vessel).

The third point, but also a pretty important one: compared to a frigate she has more armor, hull, sails and mast thickness. Armor: Frigate is at 3910 while the essex has 4100, which is already 200 more armor. Hull also has 100 more, mast thickness even has 4 (which is always handy in a demast meta). Sails are also way better: 3910 vs 4100, again 200 more. So in general she is way stronger compared to your average frigate.

Last but not least: she is slightly faster then a frigate, but has less turning speed (but still over 3). If you use her mainly as a PvE grinding vessel, she is perfectly fine and is manouvrable enough to take all the loot from any ship you encounter. So in general: a very decent support ship. Her lack of chasers does make her severely weaker in PvP / chase situations. Perhaps if you can give her a speed refit / build she can still be somehow viable vs slower ships.

And those are the reasons why i and my buddy use a PvE, white oak - sabicu essex. With a bridgewater refit (+10% armor) she almost caps at 5000 armor, so she is coming pretty close to the indefatigable (a.k.a. the beast tank). Oh and... did i forget to mention she is a very beautiful ship?!? (:

Edited June 15, 2017 by Cpt Fred

[Snoopy]

Essex is an excellent knife fighter, it's the 18pd supersized Belle Poule. It outturns the Trinc and can get under her guns - and she has 12pdr on the weatherdeck.
In the previous Surprise raking meta it was on of the few heavy Frigates that could cope.
But yeah not having chasers is terrible and for a ship that is decent close hauled she has odd tacking behavior - almost feels like a bug but I prefer to think the sailing master messed up and yell at him why we have missed stays .. again.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Snoopy

[Bragan Benigaris]

In addition to the mentioned traits she's the ship with the best balanced battle sails mode. In my experience she is perfectly maneuverable under battle sails compared to the other frigates and even some 6th rates. Maybe because she has 4 sails on fore -  and main mast?

[hiclipucli]

Dev , give a "new" Essex to the game , like : Brig-Navy Brig , Rattle-Heavy Rattle , Lynx-Privateer method . not need new modeling, just add  " Navy Essex " , with+2 chaser, and maybe a bit more thickness , som painting and done !

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, hiclipucli said:

with+2 chaser

At least this. As the real Essex had 2x 9pd guns on her forecastle as far as I know.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Guest

[Captain Lust]

3 hours ago, Jœrnson said:

Not sure but maybe 30x 32lb carronades?

And Trinco has 50x 32pd carronades + 4 bow chasers and higher speed... with the same BR

[Hodo]

The Essex is incorrect in game.. but mainly because of game engine limitations.  The real USS Essex had "Saddle" guns on the bow.  These guns would be turned to fire as bow chasers when needed, or fired as part of the broadside.   It also had 2 9lb guns on the forecastle as chasers.   

The only thing the Essex has over any other 5th rate, is it is the most maneuverable 5th rate for the weight of firepower.   It can easily turn inside a Leda, or the Endy, or even the Indafat.   It has decent armor, and great points of sail giving it the most flexibility out of all of the 5th rates of its class.   

While the Leda is faster, it also heels FAR more, average heel on the Leda is around 4-6deg, exposing its much thinner underside.  If the Essex ends up on the inside line it can easily point all of its guns at the waterline of the Leda and sink it without even a second thought.  

 

The Essex brings one thing to the table that no other heavy 5th rate has.

Handling.  

The Essex sails like a corvette, it can out turn the Trincomalee, Indefatigable, and the Endymoin with ease.  It is only marginally slower than the Trincomalee, and faster than the Indefatigable by a far amount.   The only thing that handles better is the Pirate Frigate, and that is slower and has less firepower.   

Not to mention the Essex has a better all around sailing profile than any of the other heavy 5th rates.  So when you are looking for a Jack of All Trades, the Essex is the ship you need, but it is also the master of none.   

There is no one thing the Essex does great, or any one thing it doesnt do well at.