DeRuyter

Santa Cecilia maybe?

How so? I am not saying the Dutch navy was still on par with the English, but still a force to be reckoned with. Still had Caribbean colonies as well. The English didn't want their fleet to fall into the hands of Napoleon, etc.

+1 poods should be given their limited historical role anyway - special cannon class for QD+FC only maybe. Smaller ships like the Herc should not be running around with these things on the gundeck, actually no ship should have a gun deck full of poods.

Yes it is the 17th century but the Dutch were still a major Naval power in the 18th century. +1 on the movie though!

Was it a French designer though?

That was modeled after El Gamo which was a hybrid rig. So some of the larger xebec-frigate could interchange rigs or have elements of both. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_frigate_El_Gamo

I wouldn't think that the xebec wouldn't be able to out run those ships going down wind. Maybe at 180 going wing on wing but any other angle greater than 90 xebec should be slower. Other cons: should have high crew damage due to low bulwarks and large crew on deck. Even Le Requin as a French design (vs. Algerian etc) should have less strength (side HP) than a comparable sized square rigged ship. Also removing ability to mount poods would be helpful.

For 2&4 we need to have variable weather conditions. (and storms back in battles). Right not the conditions are pretty calm so you won't see much of this. We do have #1 it depends on the ship are sailing and of course with higher winds you'll see more heeling.

+1 and repeat. Hydrographics and individual drafts may be too much programming but let's at least have more detail than shallow/deep. BR may be easy fix. Let's not throw out any semblance of historical ship armament because of this Herc PB issue please. Ok do take away the poods on the Herc, frankly they are seriously questionable as a main ship armament anyway.

I generally have the opposite view on RTS games - I love the concept of Steel Division, but I am terrible at it. I like to relax and think about moves. UG:CW is good as RTS because of the time period. Maybe because I come from the traditional wargame world of IGOUGO or WEGO - Combat Mission is a favorite. WEGO is maybe more common in naval games? - Mare Nostrum is an example there. Maybe it is the scope - SD and WG have too many units to keep track of and then they are destroyed - lol. I will give the new CC a try though, smaller in scope than SD. Anyway just my 2c - and I totally agree with your notion about ship games above.

Keep in mind that Le Requin was larger than your typical xebec and essentially was a 5th-6th rate anyway. But your are right in general they were built to take advantage of local conditions in the med or the Baltic for example - lots of shallows, certain wind patterns and of course rowing ability. Tactically, except for larger perhaps European examples like Le Requin or El Gamo they weren't meant to go broadside to broadside anyway.

TBF to @maturin I don't think he meant that the style we have now was correct either. Having said that I think Charleston could go with a colonial brick look, maybe Savannah as well at least by the 1760s. Some of the smaller ports could look like the last image you posted. Frankly the NA timeframe includes a lot of growth for the colonial ports. It would be nice to have several different port styles for each nation, maybe a shallow style and a deep style.

Not yet mentioned but IMO necessary for complete sailing combat sim: 1. Variable wind and weather. Range of changing wind strength excluding no or light wind. Allows for storm damage to ships and sails and consequences for sailing around at full sail in high winds. Changes dynamics of ship usage as well. 2. Proper ship drafts. More than just shallow and deep. Gives use to a variety of ships in PB if shallows are mapped in ports.

And here should be a big weakness of the xebec - high crew casualties/damage.

It also allows wing on wing for downwind sailing (like the oared galley in the painting you posted).

I think he means this:

This highlights the need for variable wind and sea conditions in NA.

Going to pre-order - What will come first NA patch with new UI or next opening of PS test server?

You would also have to take into account the size of the ship for that amount of crew.

That's an ironic statement because the day was first established after America fought against itself. Hence this is posted in UG:CW. I think you are throwing stones from a glass house though. Most countries have a day to remember their fallen soldiers even China right?

If I recall correctly the wreck spawns within 2 grid squares of your location when it is opened. This distance is effected by land, ie; don't open a bottle on the east coast of Florida you may have to sail all the way around to the west. If this mechanism is in place the suggestion does spice up the bottles. I have had wrecks spawn too close to well travelled areas before, but if the player with the bottle has some control it does soften the visible to all bit. I like the variable pick up as well. You choose what you sail to the wreck with and risk not getting everything, but you can take some anyway.

Yes, but for a short time as the HMS St. Lawrence was launched very late in the war and cost the British a lot of strategic resources to build. In the long term the logistics of keeping her in action may have been an issue. Both commanders on Lake Ontario were also very much like NA players - they needed overwhelming odds to come out and fight!! Of course in NA she would have been chained and stern raked into submission by a swarm of smaller ships!! As for the General Pike, she is certainly larger then some older ocean going frigates. Sure just looking at the number of guns she looks like a 6th rate post ship, but she is armed with 24 pdr long guns. Most frigate designs post war were going this way - a smaller number of higher caliber guns on a single deck. Also at 900 tons and 149 ft on the gundeck she is the size of a British 38 gun frigate, for example the HMS Amazon was a 36 gun frigate built in 1795 with 26 18 pdrs on the gundeck. She was 142 ft on the gundeck and 925 tons. Another example is the Trincomalee which is 1000 tons and 150 ft on the gundeck. So definitely fine to class as a 5th rate frigate. Commander Yeo was certainly reluctant to fight Chauncey and the Pike, which is why he needed to build an SOL on a lake. Great ship to have but I think a lot of people want to see other nations, like the Dutch represented with more ships.

You are talking about large fleet battles when the fleets were unable or unwilling to come to close action for the most part and then they broke off for the night. Fighting at night was rare with some exceptions when the battle started late (The Nile, Constitution vs. Cyane & Levant for example). The majority of fights 1v1 or smaller squadrons were over in a matter of hours or less. It is a major pita when you are lining up for a shot and darkness falls. Frankly I don't think it is something they can change though, in order to stay synced with the OW time.

@NethrosDefectus One way to answer this may be to capture and take over an AI ship and check if there is an ammo counter.

+1 My thoughts exactly. In particular an advanced sailing tutorial covering manual tacking and wearing. That should be before the advanced maneuvering with yards. I was surprised that the advanced maneuvers tutorial didn't cover tacking/wearing. I did also notice that it is not clear you can skip tutorials and come back later. I know the skip button is there but the question has been asked on the forum.