Malachi

I don´t have UA yet, but if the ships are the same as in NA, then Dédaigneuse-class would be correct for the La Belle Poule model. L'Hermione -> Concorde-class Not sure about the UA Diana, the one in NA belongs to the spanish Mahonesa-class. And you're correct about Cerberus/Coventry

We already have this ship model in-game and doing the interiors for all ships would be a gigantic time sink for the devs. Not going to happen.

One could also argue that OW was injected into sea trials. And what an absolute success this MMO experiment has been so far, right?

The in-game Pandora model seems to be heavily based on the AotS: The 24-gun Frigate Pandora. And the plans in the book show this little star. There´s absolutely no info on how Pandora was decorated, so anything goes. But I much prefer the very subtle (and relastic) decorations of the in-game model compared to the pure fantasy decorations of the model you linked. I mean, a golden figurehead? ffs...

Quite honestly, I have no idea. You could play around with wetted surface / sail area ratios (the former easily obtained from the ingame models) but such numbers would just give a hint at the potential performance, no 'hard evidence'. Regarding Connie/Bellona: I'd hazard a guess that Connie has a larger sail area, so she theoretically should accelerate faster. If that would be beneficial for gameplay is another jolly good question. Slade's Niger/Alarm class. 125' / 35' 2'' , L/B 3.55 11 knots close-hauled and 13,5 knots with the wind abaft the beam. Extremely responsive, liked heavy weather and could carry her sails 'as long as her masts would bear it'.

This is true but we´re talking sailing ships. Out of two vessels with the same wetted surface area, same draft, but a different length/breadth ratio, the one with more beam is most probably more stable and thus able to carry more sail in the same wind conditions. And there´s a good chance that this more than offsets the theoretical high L/B ratio speed advantage. One of the fastest frigates in the Age of Sail had a length/breadth ratio of around 3.50 and her body plan looks like a box with slightly beveled edges. Didn´t matter, because she simply 'outcarried' her competition.

Gerade? Nuja, den Anfang vom Ende würd ich jetzt ein bischen früher ansetzen

A fourth rate redeemable every 24 hours with any wood quality? There are more than enough buyers out there, don´t worry. The prices are nuts, though.

Do you really can recommend this game in it´s current state? I for sure can´t. It´s an absolute grindfest with good graphics and a decent combat model. Nothing more, nothing less. On top of that, it's an EA with a base price tag of ~ 37 Euros plus 80 Euros worth of DLCs. That ratio alone puts it in the 'Don´t buy' category.

A most excellent post, sir.

This is how it should have been done since 2013, to be honest. No discussions, no forum opinions with an impact on development and no ship selection polls. 'Democracy' doesn´t seem work as far as game development is concerned. The mess we've been through in last couple of years should be proof enough for that.

Probably in a DLC ship.

And instances of 'slow' british ships of the line catching 'fast' french frigates, although this usually happened in bad weather situations. A relatively small ship has distinctive speed disadvantage vs. a larger one in heavy seas.

Oh, really? The QAR is usually described as a vessel of ~250 tons (and maybe 90 to 100 feet long), that's roughly the size of the Prince or the Niagara. La Belle Poule, the smallest frigate in your list, had 900 tons. If you want a 'big' pirate ship, try the Fancy.