The Fluyts were Dutch ships I think. The Indiamen are British and the Merchentman are Spanish.

Anyway, I guess the troop transport question has been solved. If I want to play fluffy, 1 merchant ship per every 2 land units.

So, what about homeland forces? How larger were the garisons on Carribean islands? Could any of the grey-bar 'Flintlock Militia' forces be counted as a home guard?

I want to try to start getting used to the impact additional trade ships and home guard forces will have on my economy.

In the end, this may just necessitate a stronger and larger navy that blockades enemy ports. If your foes are bottled up in their home port, you don't need to spend any $$$ on land-based defense forces for your island territories.

I wish there was a way for navies to destroy docked enemy ships. Right now, at least to my knowlege, the only way to force docked ships to fight is to land forces nearby, have them take the port, which forces the enemy ships out to sea, where your navy can engage them.