Quote Originally Posted by foop View Post
After reading this thread and trying another couple of naval engagements, I'm still lost at sea.

A recent example: my 5th rate and sloop vs. 2 brigs and a sloop. I suspect I'm going to lose, but don't anticipate the frustration involved. They have the wind. I try to cross the T well in advance, and just about make it. Chain shot damages their rigging somewhat. And yet they're still going faster than me. I'm now going with the wind, chasing after them. They then proceed to circle around me, peppering me with cannon shot, while my ships flounder about uselessly. They seem to be able to sail into the wind at fair speed, while I can't make much headway - and yet, visually at least, their rigging is damaged more than mine.

It's probably my ineptitude, but I can't help feeling they have a speed advantage that negates my attempts to bring guns to bear on them. Are brigs just faster than either sloops or fifth rates? Am I just an idiot?
I've notice that when you do course correction by clicking on the water(setting a way point), the sail are automatically set to 3/4. To go faster you need to re-order full sail every-time you do course correction with the ']' key or clicking on the interface. Also you can't control sail setting of a group, only for individual ship.

I think that if you use the arrow on the interface the sail setting don't change (i'll need to try this one to be sure)