I ran my Battle of the Sound scenario, with me commanding the Swedes against the Dutch. The results were not surprising to me, as the Swedes were ahead with 74% of their fleet strength left, while the Dutch only had 30% of their strength left. Given the greater numbers and the number of very large Swedish ships, I would expect this outcome. What should have been unexpected was the actual outcome of the battle, where the Dutch beat the Swedes, and ran their transports down to reinforce and resupply Copenhagen.
This picture shows the Swedish fleet, late in the day, winning big. The simulation time was about 6pm, and the sky shows that the day was late. Some of the Dutch survivors can be seen in the background.
I used what are my standard tactics. I group the fleet that I am commanding into a single unit, if they are a compact group. Then I control them with the helm, and have full sails set. The idea is to keep maximum way on, for best maneuverability. I ALWAYS wear, rather than tack. That way, my ships always maintain a good speed. If you don't do that, you risk having ships caught in stays, dead into the wind. Perhaps in "real life", it was not a big issue, but with Privateers Bounty, it is a significant issue.
It still can happen, as ships suffer damage, and may have different speeds and turning ability, so a few individual ships may have different courses than you expect. This system at least minimizes the chances of that happening.
The other big tactical feature is that I keep a distance from the opposing fleet, so that the AI control can't rake my ships as easily. In this battle, the Swedes were always to the leeward, and let the Dutch have the weather gauge. My thinking was that my purpose was to stop the Dutch from breaking through to the south, so I needed to keep my fleet between the Dutch and their goal. In this case, it worked.
I will post more pictures of this simulation run at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com
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