Thanks for the welcome, guys. Happy to be aboard.
As yet, I actually have no experience playing Sails of Glory; however, I hope do so in the reasonably near future.
I guess I should now explain, why I joined this forum if I haven't played the game yet?
I am currently engaged in preparing an online "campaign" on warships. This comprises 4 separate elimination tournaments, the first of which was completed by all participants near the end of last year (2017).
That first tournament (designated T1) covered warships from the Ancient era through to around the time of the Spanish Armada (1588); in other words, to the end of the 16th Century.
I am in now in the final stages of preparing T2, spanning the period from 1601 to the mid 1800's. This, as you guys would know, brings me to the peak of the age of sail and up to the beginning of the age of steam.
When I discovered this forum, I felt quite sure there would be some very knowledgeable folks right here; some of whom might be happy to answer the occasional historical/technical question I might have?
So far, I've been using a combination of reference books (many of them Ospreys) and digging for information online; such as wiki and elsewhere.
These warship elimination tournaments are taking place on the Armchair General forum.
T1 only covered 32 basic warship types as information for most of the period I was covering is relatively sparse; as well as the fact that I was just starting to learn about warships.
T2 will have 64 warships, which means starting with 32 matches and 6 rounds to arrive at the winner.

If anyone is interested in seeing how T1 looked (bearing in mind T2 will be twice as big), I've placed a link in the "Tags" field below.
(The link should take you to the final match, between the Byzantine dromon and the English race-built galleon.
Anyone interested in having a look at the other matches and rounds in that tournament should be able to navigate from there.)

Best regards to all,
Paul.