Full sails during the battle

[JackAubrey1805]

I also figured that redrawing a "0" marker would also be a good idea when a ship is being fired upon in battle with full sails! This increases the chance of hitting something.
I find it too violent to threaten directly with "fire" or something similar "terrible". But trailing will bolster whatever enemy fire is thrown at you as long as you have Full Sail.

[Lieste]

The main trouble with full sail is that the manoeuvre station for a 74 for tacking under full easy sail is 299 men, while the manoeuvre station in action starts at 117 on gaillards aft and forward, the dunette and the men in the misaine, grand and l'artimon hunes. (QD, FC, RH and fore, main and mizzen tops).
(Strictly the men in the tops are both boatswains and marine soldiers, roughly half and half of the 25 men aloft, but these soldiers have stations aloft in the manoeuvre station bill too).

When fighting both boards the gun crews are augmented with men from the manoeuvre and musketry (musketry is reduced to only those soldiers in the tops, while manoeuvring is reduced to 84 (again including both soldiers and boatswains as topmen).

Manoeuvre can be augmented by mustering manoeuvre stations from the guns crews, but this takes additional time and will reduce gunnery rates of fire for longer than the manoeuvre will take, and will delay starting the manoeuvre as the additional men are mustered and distributed to their stations.

It makes more sense to operate with reduced sail to reduce the number of men needed to operate the rig, and the fewer lines in active use the less congestion on the weather decks and castles, and the less interference with the gunnery from manoeuvring teams and the less interference with manoeuvring from the prosecution of gunnery.

[Dobbs]

David, what is full easy sail?

[Lieste]

Jib, False Jib, Fore and Main Courses, Topsails, Topgallants, Mizzen Driver, and two of the staysails. No Royals, Studding booms etc, so less than all canvas, but more than under battle sail or topsails

[Bligh]

I feel that in a nutshell, what David says is one of the reasons why full sail was not usually employed during a fight, but also of course the increased danger from fire not only from incoming but also sparks from the cannon firing onboard. That is why I stick to the draconian rules. if a player seeks an advantage by remaining on full sails, or even if he is caught with his pants down because of misreading the situation, he must chance the consequences. Otherwise it is unfair to the other players who are following historical president.

Rob.

[Dobbs]

Jib, False Jib, Fore and Main Courses, Topsails, Topgallants, Mizzen Driver, and two of the staysails. No Royals, Studding booms etc, so less than all canvas, but more than under battle sail or topsails

That certainly is a lot of horsepower to wrangle. No wonder it takes so many men!

[JackAubrey1805]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I had no idea how many men it takes "just" to maneuver under full sail for this type of ship.

Nevertheless, I would like to take up the topic again:

To stay within the Sails of Glory rulebook, there should be a way other than "draconian penalties", right?

How about:
If the sailing status is changed to "Full Sails" in a round or is retained, the blank action marker must be placed and revealed. This costs the player an extra action in each round under Full Sails!

And in addition, opponents hit the ship easier because a "0" can be drawn!

Would that be closer to "reality"?

[Bligh]

I would say that if that satisfies your interpretation of the information supplied you should insert it into your game play Uwe. Remember Andrea's mantra that the game is there overall to be enjoyed by the players.
So enjoy your game in the knowledge that you are satisfying your perception of what a sea battle should be like, until you find more information to refine your rules still further.

Rob.

[JackAubrey1805]

Thanks Rob, I'm already aware that I can make "my" rules the way I want. Could you post your rules again? I couldn't find you directly in the old posts. That would be nice.

But I would like to discuss the pros and cons of these regulations with you!

Maybe someone has valid objections or even better ideas for an advanced house rule.