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Can't remember if it was Kim or one of the design people mentioning how 3 xebecs with skilled captains and crews had a chance at defeating 5 frigates with unskilled captains and crews, so I would say yes, captain skill makes a difference.
 
Yeah, I answered on that post. He also mentioned Marines, but they can't have any effect unless boarding is involved. I have noticed (I think) that better captains do better, but I did post that I had five frigates with experience and a captain with all the skills possible and lost to two galleons and three xebecs.
 
I did an auto resolve w/my best captain and 4 xebecs, all experienced, against a Dutch galleon and cutter. Now this captain had been sitting between Dover and Calais doing nothing but killing Dutch and Danish ships. They had no ships left, so galleon and cutter that appreared had to have been just built and could have had no experience for the ships or captain. I was in a hurry because I needed to leave, so I hit auto resolve. :eek:
Boy, was that a mistake. I lost all of my ships. Never again. Next time I'll cancel the attack and let them through rather than do that again.:(
 
I only ever use auto-resolve if my fleet is grotesquely stronger than the other fleet say 3 frigates against schooners and sloops. Galleon and Cutters can hit pretty hard, but Properly used 3 xebecs can easily take down a Galleon. But it requires some finess that is not a function auto-resolve. So autoresolve 4 xebecs against galleon and cutter would seem to be nearly a wash. Would be a good fight to fight.

Greg.
 
I only ever use auto-resolve if my fleet is grotesquely stronger than the other fleet say 3 frigates against schooners and sloops.

Unfortunately the AI will randomly cause you to loose a Galleon under those odds, happen to me several time, almost as if Horitio Hornblower was in command of the enemy:rolleyes: