Y'know something has been bugging me about empire ever since I first played a naval battle with some ships of the line. Then yesterday it clicked. I looked closely at the 1st Rate for the first time and I realized it was modeled on HMS Temeraire. That can't be right, I thought, the Temeraire was a 2nd Rate. So I did something really nerdy and counted the gunports in the broadside... but sure enough, there's only 98 gun ports. The 106 comes from the counting of the 8 Chasers. That means the First Rate isn't a First Rate at all!
Heh! It seems CA have done something a little odd and counted the chase armament in some ships but not in others. For instance the 3rd Rate is a 70 gun ship and the chasers are counted, as opposed to it actually being a true 74. Oddly the chasers are NOT counted in the 2nd or 4th Rates, which would otherwise be 94 and 60 gun ships respectively.
The frigates aren't much better either. The 6th rate has no chasers but does have a 32 gun broadside but with a 32 gun broadside, she's actually 5th Rate! Then there's what the game calls a 5th Rate which is in fact a 50 gun 4th Rate ship but with the cannons missing from the quarterdeck and the chasers counted (again) to make a 48 gun ship.
Weird...
I don't get it. Why count some chasers and not others? Can't be for game balance, as it's not like the chasers on the 2nd and 4th Rates are purely ornamental, so what's the score....?