Well... biggest battle I've fought so far has only been like 5 on 5 or so; haven't been playing the game that long. Plus as I mentioned I am terrible at Naval battles anyway.

Strategy wise though for battles this big, I have been deploying line astern and trying to sail right in between the enemies fleet (in my experience, the AI deploys in at least 2 lines) to bring both broadsides of all my ships to bear. I've gotten absolutely destroyed this way (even playing on M!)

After everything I've read today, it seems that it hasn't been strategy problems for me so much as tactics -- need to use autofire, better group cohesion, alt-+ and such. Also, I just read that I need to anchor ships that are taking on water. This I think has been killing me.

Marquis -- what has worked best for you strategically? I'll hold off on trying #3 until I can at least get the hang of winning by just maneuvering the line into favorable position and letting the AI rake properly.