Quote Originally Posted by Zorbane View Post
If 9 out of 10 players get confused/frustrated when their ships stop moving against the wind then maybe they should do something about it :)
Ships couldn't sail upwind in "Sid Meier's Pirates!", which in most respects was a much simpler and more cartoon-like game than the TW series. And yet... amazingly.... that game sold very well regardless. I think that shoots down the argument that most players can't handle the concept.

The main thing though, is the impact on tactics. Real sailing tactics are interesting and fun, even when simplified to the extent they were in Pirates!. In contrast, look at what one person posted just recently as a winning tactic for sea battles in Empire:

Remember that you have TWO(2) broadsides....always turn to expose the side that haven't fired. So, after that it is usually enough to just turn around and around (on the spot), constantly turning the side that haven't fired side to whatever enemy that happens to be in range.
It works, but it shouldn't work, and it makes a mockery (IMO) of the sea battles. Does circle-in-place firing even sound like that much fun, compared to the tactical depth of the land battles?

If you don't like it thats why there's mod support
It will be interesting to see what can be done, but the real question is whether the hard-coded AI can handle changes in the way ships move. If the AI doesn't know how to tack as part of the battle tactics in realtime, then it's just an automatic "I win" button for the player.