Midshipman: Caroline - PO_Hoy (The table shows Hornblower getting that while Acting Lieutenant, but he'll get something better at that rank. Caroline is supposed to be an unarmed transport brig but a hoy is at least usable, being a playable ship available as a starting choice.)
Does the even more tiny "Witch of Endor" need to be anywhere in there, you reckon?
I think your list skips over the "Lieutenant" rank so how about:
Midshipman:
Witch of Endor - Cutter2
Junior Lieutenant:
Caroline - PO_Hoy (The table shows Hornblower getting that while Acting Lieutenant, but he'll get something better at that rank.
Caroline is supposed to be an unarmed transport brig but a hoy is at least usable, being a playable ship available as a starting choice.)
Lieutenant:
Le Rève - FR_Sloop (also appears in the storyline, confirmed by the table to be sloop)
Senior Lieutenant:
Hotspur - RN_Volage (also appears in the storyline, confirmed by the table to be sloop of war)
Commander:
Atropos - HMS_Greyhound (your addition to the storyline, confirmed by the table to be 6th rate frigate)
Post Captain:
Lydia - RN_Essex (table shows frigate with 36 guns of 18 lb, RN_Essex has 46 guns, near enough)
Commodore:
Sutherland - HMS_Bellona (table shows 3rd rate with 74 guns of 32 lb, HMS_Bellona has 84 guns of 24 lb, only much bigger ships in the game have 32 lb, so near enough)
Rear Admiral: add
Indefatigable as companion ship, rear admiral can switch command to it if player wants. Table shows
Indefatigable to have 44 guns of 24 lb, which matches RN_BattleFrigate, current
Indefatigable only has 12 lb
Vice Admiral: add
Phoebe, RN_Essex as companion (table shows 5th rate frigate with 36 guns of 18 lb, same as
Lydia)
Admiral: replace
Sutherland with
Nonsuch, RN_FirstRate; add Clorinda, RN_Essex as companion (table shows 5th rate frigate with 36 guns of 18 lb)
I do like using the Hoy in there; that's quite a nice little ship, that is.
That does mean we lose the HMS_Sophie for Hornblower altogether, but that isn't so bad because I think she's still used for Aubrey and possibly Nelson too.
The one in the TV series is probably a real sailing ship. There aren't many seaworthy Napoleonic era sailing frigates still around, so the production crew will have settled for whatever they could get .
Oh, absolutely! Which is why I don't at all care about having an Indy that doesn't look like the film one. I'd much rather have a proper frigate, which she is.
Possibly at Commodore, instead of getting Sutherland, add Natividad as a companion. Replace it with Indefatigable at the promotion to Rear Admiral, and replace Lydia with Sutherland.
Is the Indy not smaller than the Natividad (BattleFrigate)?
Adding ships to the fleet is quite easy, but I'm not quite sure how to
remove specific ships from your fleet again or how to replace them.
I'm sure it is possible, but there are a lot of variables to consider because of different player actions.
This is also why for now I have limited the promotion reward companion ships to a total of two, so that whatever happens, you'll always keep one slot available for prize ships.
Of course you ARE able to sell your navy-given companion ships and after hitting Commodore, you can also swap ships as you please.
So I'm not sure what we do and don't need to take into account there.....
As for "Nk.c", I may turn my attention to that once I've finished straightening out the "Hornblower" storyline.
Would be much appreciated! I should be able to sort out the English Hornblower progression there as per your suggestions today.
But I'd really rather not do the same for all periods and all other nations too.