Crew Damage Representation disproportionate for small and big vessels?

Gentlemen,


in our recent playing, it struck me that the representation of Crew Damage in relation to the actual number of the crew of a ship appears to be disproportunate:

While the burthen of ships in the SoG system can effectively regulate the amount of physical damage a ship can take, there seems to be no such mechanism for crew damage.

The sloop Alligator has a crew of 125 and 7 boxes for crew damage, i.e. one box represents roughly 18 men. The big 1st rate Royal George has a crew of 850 and 12 boxes of crew damage, i.e. one box represents roughly 71 men. So the ratio of crew represented per box for these two ships is almost 1:4 !!

However, the chances to pull a damage chit for crew damage is the same for both vessels.

In other words, the „method“ to take out big ships is to try taking out the crew, while the tactic to get rid of small ones is to go for physical damage.

Is this „crew imbalance“ addressed somehow?
Am I missing something?


Lt. Bush

It's been a frustration of mine for a while. I've had a side project from early on trying to develop a campaign system with asset-management options where you could take men and guns off a damaged-into-uselessness ship and use them to bring a less damaged one closer to full strength. (Though I cannot imagine the Admiralty being happy if Nelson tore apart a couple sloops to refit one of his SoL's even if it was a deciding factor in a victory...)