Hi all,

these are questions I've been wondering about, and can't really answer until I get my hands on the game. But, since some of you have it now, or have played at conventions, maybe some impressions are forming...

1) A 74 is a 74 is a 74?

How different are the various ships from each other? In WoG, I'm sure each airplane has quite different characteristics. But in SoG, will each SoL or frigate be much alike to the next one? Especially given the granularity of the statistics? Presumably the major differentiating factor was crew, but that might be covered in the inexperienced crew rules, scenarios and the crew/captain deck.

What I'm getting at is, if each 74 looks mostly like the next (i.e. "this one has cream colored sails instead of white so you can tell it from her sister"), and each one has mostly the same stats and sailing characteristics, how compelling will it be as they offer more of them in the future--other than just as a matter of feeding unhealthy compulsions?


2) Maneuver decks

On a related note, leaving aside oddballs like Xebecs and galleys, are the 4 maneuver decks about all we are going to see? How different are they from each other? Is there room for gradations inbetween? Will Constitution, Victory, a sloop, or a merchantman need a different deck?


3) How well is this game going to scale down? We know a sloop is coming, presumably at burden 1. Will this basically allow high-end sloops to play a supporting role in the frigate game? Or will the system actually be able to differentiate small ships and allow small-ship scenarios to be played out effectively?


Just filling time, but I'd be interested to hear what people think now that more real data is becoming available...