Originally Posted by
Didz
In my opinion the solution to the 6th Rate problem, and to the entire ETW naval game is not to 'beef things up' but to go back to historical accuracy and get rid of all the rubbish CA threw into the game to try and artificially make it challenging for the MP community.
I've played with MoD's that do this and suddenly 6th Rates and everything else actually make sense.
Some of the issues that need correcting to make the naval system work include:
1. Nerf the pirates. Pirates did not sail around in fleets of huge galleons with massive crews, their modus operandii was to use small fast ships that could avoid trouble and catch what they wanted to catch. They were there to make money, not take on warships. Pirate crews were kept as small as possible if only because men cost money and the bigger the crew the more men you have to share the loot. Therefore, pirate fleets should normally consist of no more than three small fast ships (sloops/brigs/xebecs) but they should be fast and hard to catch and a constant nuisance and drain on your trade income unless tracked down and destroyed by small fast naval units.
2. Remove the super-heavy 6pdr cannon. This gun was artificially added to the game to provide small ships like sloops and brigs a hard hitting long range gun that could sink ships of the line. It was a sop to the MP community to try and encourage them to use smaller ships in PvP games. But it's stupid and makes small ships way too powerful. Ironically swapping the 6pdr for a 9pdr on small ships makes them less effective. It also means that brigs and sloops are a match for a 6th rate, which is stupid.
3. Get rid of the bomb-ketches and rocket ships. These were included as some sort of patriotic bollocks aimed at the US market (e.g. The star spangled banner refers to bombs and rockets fired by the British bombardment fleet at Baltimore. But there are no shore bombardments in ETW, so these ships have no legitimate purpose being in the game. They were impossible to use except when at anchor in calm water and their existence turns every naval battle into a farce.
4. Correct the movement rates of different ship classes to reflect their actual performance. Basically, ships could outrun anything capable of beating them, and beat anything capable of catching them. That's why 6th rates were important, and how they survived. They were one of the few exceptions to this rule, being able to catch brigs and sloops if the weather and sea conditions were harsh enough to prevent the smaller ships achieving their full performance, and having caught them they had larger crews and more powerful armament. They would not stand much chance against a 5th Rate, but then a 5th Rate couldn't catch them so it didn't matter. Likewise, a 4th rate could cream a 5th rate, but couldn't catch it, a 3rd rate would easily beat a 4th rate, and so on.
As I said I've played mods that make these changes and it completely changes the naval game to something that actually works and makes sense.
The other key exception in this period were the American Heavy Cruisers which you mention. These vessels had unusually large sail area's combined with armament and crews superior to a British 5th Rate, and therefore, could and did catch and beat British frigates, although to be honest the real problem was that British 4th Rates couldn't catch them and so British frigate captains were forced to take them on at a disadvantage. In the Royal Navy a 4th Rate was a small ship of the line (not a Frigate) it was usually an old obsolete 60 gun vessel that was too slow to catch a frigate and too weak to deal with a 3rd Rate, and they tended to be deployed in backwater area's like the colonies where they could still be of some use and free up the 3rd Rates for dealing with the French.
The US heavy cruisers were a compromise because at the time they were commissioned the American's needed fast frigates capable of catching and destroying French privateers and commerce raiders who were crippling their mercantile trade, but they didn't have enough trained seamen to man a huge number of frigates to give them numerical superiority over the French, or to build ships of the line, So, the idea of building a few heavy cruisers, that were fast enough to catch the french privateers but tough enough to deal with the French Frigates supporting them resulted in what was a revolutionary design which neither Britain or France had seen a need for.
To combat it the Royal Navy sacrificed a number of it's older 4th rates and 3rd Rates reducing the number of gun decks to shed weight and increasing the sail area to make them faster. In the meantime, the British frigate captains just had to try and hold the line, their only real advantage being that many of the American ships were undermanned and had inexperienced and unreliable crews so boarding sometimes worked if you could survive the heavy broadsides.