Resources for Naval Combat Strategy?

[Devastatin Dave]

Could one of our esteemed arm chair admirals be so kind as to direct myself along with other Total War sea illiterate dry landers on resources throughout the sea know as the world wide web on naval combat? I think that I'm gonna get my duff handed to me in the ocean in this game so I'm in great need of preperation for my asperations of being the next Nelson in the Total War world. :2thumbsup:

[Zenicetus]

Arrr... me hearty, check out his 'ere link (and also the four following sections at the upper right, under "Tactics in the Age of Sail"):

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/sail-tactics.htm

That second page about the weather gage reminds me of something.... I wonder if Empire will let the player attempt a favorable approach (relative to the wind) on the campaign map, before the battle begins? Or will wind direction be randomized, so it's just a toss of the dice that decides who starts with an upwind advantage? The second Pirates! game had a simplified version of this; sea battles were much easier if you could manage to approach the enemy from the upwind side. and it was a pain when you were caught at a disadvantage.

I'm also wondering if they're going to model prevailing winds, which would mean your ships would move faster in some directions of the compass, and slower in others (tacking against the wind). These were important in deciding trade routes, and to a certain extent in battle as well, if you could count on a prevailing wind direction while jockeying for position ahead of a battle. In M2TW the ships move at the same speed in any direction, which I always thought was a little too much like driving cars around the map instead of sailing ships.

[Forward Observer]

For descriptive tactics using real historical events with illustrations, this book would seem to be a good buy.

http://www.amazon.com/Naval-Warfare-Sail-Bernard-Ireland/dp/0393049833/ref=pd_sim_b_img/102-4117484-8218553

There is another book with the same title by a different author also, but nobody has reviewed it so I don't know how good it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Naval-Warfare-Age-Sail-Evolution/dp/0785814264

You will note that there 5 pages of associated books on the subject at Amazon, so I'm sure you can find something reasonably priced to fit the bill.

At one time I was into the modeling of such ships, and have quite a few books related to that aspect, but they all have sections explaining how the various components of such ships work, including the deck furniture, sails, and rigging. Still, I've ordered the first book on the list anyway because the reviews seem to rate it pretty highly.

Of course you could read all the Patrick O'Brien books and by the end you might absorb the tactics, but they are a damn hard read if one is not at least a little familiar with the language and technology of a mariner for the period covered.

Cheers

[Zenicetus]

Yeah, I almost mentioned the Patrick O'Brian series, but while they're great for getting into the mood, the dense nautical jargon isn't that easy to pick up on. The other problem with O'Brian is that if you read all 20-something novels, you'll be a hopeless nitpicker for detail, and will never be satisfied with what CA does with the naval battles. :laugh4:

[Fisherking]

Well without reading loads of novels you can try the simple approach.

Deploy your ships in a line ahead formation (in a line bow to stern) with the wind coming from the after quarter. Keeping the wind advantage is the most important thing to keep in mind. The next thing is to try to get the enemy in an unfavorable position such as his bow or stern facing your broadside. This is called a rake. Also shooting away his sails first to slow him is a good idea.

The three main types of ammunition are :round shot used to destroy the hull of the ship and sink it, chain shot used against sails, and grape shot used to kill the crew.

Ideally you shoot away the sails and then clear the decks of the enemy and board to capture the ship. We won’t be able to get much beyond this until we know what guns, shot, etc. we get in the game…

[R'as al Ghul]

You could try Age of Sails: Privateer's Bounty.
It's a real time tactical game that actually works and it should be cheap to get by now.

R'as

[ninjahboy]

i cant wait to test out Nelson's tactics at trafalgar :D

[Fisherking]

Go right a head. The Brits were so lucky that day and the French and Spanish so inadequate. If they had had decent gunners the English fleet would have gone to the bottom.

Villeneuve was indecisive and spread his fleet out from continued changes of his mind.

It is not a tactic I would repeat unless I was facing an incompetent.

[Rodion Romanovich]

Could one of our esteemed arm chair admirals be so kind as to direct myself along with other Total War sea illiterate dry landers on resources throughout the sea know as the world wide web on naval combat? I think that I'm gonna get my duff handed to me in the ocean in this game so I'm in great need of preperation for my asperations of being the next Nelson in the Total War world. :2thumbsup:
You only need these resources:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_the_t (the "ideal" situation - your broadsides vs enemy front)
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Armada (mobility and firepower beating boarding tactics)
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile (Nelson taking advantage of mobility to get local superiority in numbers, but closing up on the enemy from both sides puts him against both broadsides of each ship, however he wins)
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar (Nelson looking like he will get his T crossed, only to burst through and break the enemy line in half. He can use both his broadsides while the separated enemies can only use one broadside, at most)

[ninjahboy]

very nice:D thanks for that