Naval Battles: What could work better in the demo

[Zenicetus]

Zenicetus, you seem to have some knowledge of naval tactics.

Other than the sailing into the wind part, what recommendations do you have regarding the sea battles?

Are there other fleet maneuvers that have been overlooked?

Well see, that's the problem.... anything I know about naval tactics and real-world sailing (and I've never sailed a ship "in anger" other than water balloon fights)... is basically useless in the current game engine. Apparently there is no tactical advantage to the weather gage (attacking upwind from the enemy), and you can't force the enemy into disadvantaged positions because they can steer and move in any directions. That results in a chaotic "anything goes" battle, where you might as well just use game exploits like that anchoring trick. Why bother trying to learn real naval tactics when the game doesn't support it?

From what I know of naval battles of this time the two sides would line there ships up and sail past each other shooting there guns. There was the tactic of braking the line which Nelson employed at Trafalgar I believe it works by cutting the line isolating some ships up wind of the others allowing the attacker not to fight the whole enemy fleet at once.

And see, this is what I mean. Take a look at this tactical map of Nelson's famous "breaking the line" maneuver at Trafalgar:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...gar_1200hr.svg

The wind direction isn't indicated here, but it's blowing from the northwest. Nelson wanted to avoid the kind of indecisive battle that resulted from ships passing each other in parallel lines (wind abeam). He wanted a dust-up in close quarters where the enemy couldn't escape. So what did he do? He used his weather gage advantage to approach from a roughly upwind direction, which forced the enemy fleet to either remain in a line (because they couldn't turn towards him) or flee the battle. The enemy battle line doesn't have the option of an envelopment, with the lead ships and tailing ships turning to the left and trapping Nelson's fleet in the middle. They can't do that, because they'd be sailing directly into the wind! They would be forced to come about (move their bow across the wind) which is a dangerous maneuver in battle because you lose forward speed and you're an easier target for cannon fire. That's why Nelson was able to break the line and force close-quarters combat on his terms. The enemy fleet was forced, by the wind, to remain in that fixed line of battle.

By the same token, Nelson's tactic here would not have worked if he had approached the enemy battle line from the right side of that map. Then the enemy fleet would have the weather gage, and Nelson's only options would be to form another parallel battle line for a traditional battle, or flee the scene (being downwind is an advantage if you want to cut and run). The wind determines the available tactics, period.

None of this would work in the current game engine. The AI will just point upwind whenever it wants to, in order to get its cannons on the targeted ships. So what you get is just a chaotic hodge-podge of a battle with no structure imposed by conditions. It's exactly like having a land battle where there is no tactical advantage to being on high ground. Land battle enthusiasts would howl in protest, if CA modeled land battles without that feature.