Anyone figured out Naval Battles yet?

[AmazonLena]

Its just not fun for me, I cant figure out how it works. Land Battles are great, I adapted from melee centric combat of old TWs to new Ranged focused (I LOVE The formation compass!) but for some reason i just dont get the Naval Battles, and its become so tedious and boring since no matter how many ships i have they loose like 20 British Navy ships to 10 French ships and all but 1 got wiped out and yes I researched as much of naval technologies as is available.

So I was wondering if anyone had figured it out yet and had some advice

[Mikelus Trento]

1. Group your ships into one long line. Make sure you have them "grouped".
2. I don't use the formation button after grouping them.
3. With more than 2 or 3 ships to attend to, I can't keep up with the broadside button, so just let them all fire at will.
4. Sweep past the enemy line in such a way as to maximize the number of your ships firing on the lead enemy, but with a minimal number of the enemy line returning the fire.
5. When your lead ship has moved far enough to be out of targets, reverse course, with the group, and have another pass at them.
6. Keep the wind to your stern as much as possible, but it's not critical.

[tanathos]

Here's a quick schematic view of what works for me most of the time : group your ship and put them in a straight column line.

Then, as soon as the fight starts, bring them to the side (left or right depending of the wind).

The enemy fleet usually bum rush you straigth onward. You then bring your group around in a circle, so when their first ship comes near you, if it's well executed, he will only be able to hit a few of your ships while your entire fleet will be focus firing on him.

The trick after is then to keep the circle going around the other ships, I'm still trying out things. Someone mentionned to go around the enemy fleet doing an "8".

[Jayzilla]

naval tactics thread here.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=233651

i'm sure you'll find it interesting.