Fixed Hornblower Storyline: Changes Required

[Grey Roger]

It isn't quite possible to change relations correctly during Free Play, so my suggestion would be to set up the Napoleonic default to resemble the end of the Napoleonic time period.

I'd have "Napoleonic" start off as the start of the Napoleonic Wars. Holland and Spain changed their relations because of how the land campaigns in those countries progressed. As relations change during the game, you can try to work out what's been happening on the other side of the Atlantic which caused those changes - the Napoleonic War in your game probably won't go the same way as the real one!

Setting relations to match the end of the Napoleonic Wars only makes sense if you set the date to match. If the default starting year for a "Napoleonic" game is 1813 then having Spain and Holland allied to Britain and hostile to France makes more sense. If the default game starting date is 1803 then having Holland and Spain allied to Britain makes about as much sense as playing a WW2 game set in 1939 with Italy allied to Britain and USA.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Well, you figure out some nice setting then! I'll just include them in the next update.

 

[Grey Roger]

Try this. I've made "Revolutions" and "Napoleonic" conform to the above, and also tweaked "Early Explorers" - England is now neutral to France and hostile to Spain. England's monarch is listed as Elizabeth I, and during her time, Spain was the big threat.

 

[Grey Roger]

And now I've done a bit of reading on Wikipedia, I'm going to do some more work on Hornblower's timeline, though it's never going to be accurate because the story starts in 1793 with Hornblower a Midshipman and, unless you've been moving very slowly, ends in 1793 or 1794 with Hornblower a Commander. At that time Spain and Netherlands were still in the First Coalition against France and Napoleon was not in charge of France, being a senior officer in the army. By the end of the War of the First Coalition, the Netherlands was a client state of France, the Batavian Republic; and Spain allied with France in 1796 under the Second Treaty of San Ildefonso.

But the Hornblower story requires Spain to be at war with Britain for "The Duchess and the Devil" to make any sense. (In the TV series and possibly the books, I'd guess that incident takes place somewhat later than 1793.) Spain went to war with Britain as a result of its alliance with France, and the Batavian Republic didn't have much choice in the matter, but all that would have happened rather later than 1793. So I'm inclined to start the story off with Spain and Holland either neutral or allied to Britain, then both switch sides at the same time as France declares war just in time for Pellew to make his speech.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It'll be quite impossible to link the correct events to the correct years. If you can get the progression of relation changes correct, that would already be a pretty nice achievement!

 

[Grey Roger]

The best I can do is:
Start: Britain and Portugal allied, everyone else neutral. Basically a cold war, tensions rising.
War with France: France at war with Britain, Spain and Holland; Britain, Spain and Holland allied. Basically, the War of the First Coalition.
The Duchess and the Devil: Spain and Holland at war with Britain and allied to France. Basically, the War of the Second Coalition, though since everything is happening in 1793 in the game, there's no room for a break in the war.

I might also mess with Sir Hew Dalrymple's dialog. At the start, when Hornblower points out that Britain and France aren't at war, Sir Hew merely states that things aren't as clear in the Caribbean and there may be the occasional battle. This could be changed to mention that with the execution of Louis XVI, war could break out at any time. And at the dinner which marks the start of "The Duchess and the Devil", he could say something about France having defeated Spain and Netherlands, meaning they're both now Britain's enemies and France's allies. That way it's not such a shock to the player when he next looks at the "Relations" table and notices the change.

 

[Grey Roger]

Update: there's another change of relations in which France and Britain make peace, resulting in Hornblower being decommissioned. I've added lines so that France's allies also make peace, and they all also make peace with Portugal.

But there's a problem. "Dreadnought" Foster reports being attacked by the Spanish, while Archie Kennedy is captured and is stuck in the Spanish prison fort before you. This would mean Spain needs to be hostile to Britain pretty much from the start, since all that happens right after your activities in the tunnels of Nevis, which happens almost immediately after the sinking of the Temeraire, which happens right after the initial declaration of war. I'm now thinking of changing the start date, if that can be done, so that the story starts in 1798. It makes a nonsense of Pellew's speech in the video in which he reports that France has declared war on Britain; the War of the Second Coalition started in 1798 with various powers (including Britain) declaring war on France. Mind you, the video is already suspect because Pellew says "Yesterday His Majesty received a communication from Paris"; good luck relaying that news to the Caribbean inside 24 hours without a radio. Setting the story in the War of the Second Coalition would have Spain (and Netherlands) hostile to Britain (and Portugal) throughout, which makes more sense of "Dreadnought" Foster's and Archie Kennedy's reports, and also has the advantage that Saint-Domingue is French for the whole story. (It was ceded to France as part of the treaty which ended hostilities between France and Spain during the War of the First Coalition.)

So the question now is, how do I change the start date?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

So the question now is, how do I change the start date?

Easy-peasy: Just edit PROGRAM\Storyline\Hornblower.c . Probably should also edit the new storyline-related stuff in initModels.c to match.

I'm not sure what is the end date of the last period, but that can be easily modified in Period.c if necessary.
You could even set the last period to end in 2000 for all the difference it makes.

It makes a nonsense of Pellew's speech in the video in which he reports that France has declared war on Britain; the War of the Second Coalition started in 1798 with various powers (including Britain) declaring war on France. Mind you, the video is already suspect because Pellew says "Yesterday His Majesty received a communication from Paris"; good luck relaying that news to the Caribbean inside 24 hours without a radio.

Can't take into account everything. The Standard storyline "Invasion" video also still refers to Oxbay. But I don't think we can convince Kiera Knightly to say the word "Speightstown" so we can change the dub.
So I'm just choosing to not care about such tiny specifics.

 

[Grey Roger]

The end date of the "Napoleonic" period is not a problem. The entire "Hornblower" storyline goes so fast that I complete it within a year, and I'm not exactly doing a speed run through the plot. (Side quests, and stopping off at ports on the way to the next story destination so I can sell off any prize ship I captured. )

What in "initModels.c" is likely to be affected by having the story start in 1798 rather than 1793?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

What in "initModels.c" is likely to be affected by having the story start in 1798 rather than 1793?

But there is storyline code there now to link certain model choices to certain default settings. Search for "Hornblower" for example.
It is basically the Storyline\Hornblower.c code but then copied into initModels.c so those are used as defaults even for the Free Play storyline.
This shouldn't really influence the actual Hornblower storyline, but it is sort-of related so it might as well match.

 

[Grey Roger]

There's this:

  model.description =  "I want to look like Midshipman Hornblower.";
   model.id    =  "brtmdsH_18";
   model.FaceId   = 461;
   model.nation    =  ENGLAND;
   model.price    =  2000;
   model.assigned   =  true;
   model.name = "Horatio";
   model.lastname = "Hornblower";
   model.playertype = PLAYER_TYPE_NAVAL_OFFICER;
   model.difficulty = DIFFICULTY_JOURNEYMAN;
   model.Flags.Pirate = 9;
   model.Flags.Personal = 25;
   model.ship = "HMS_Sophie";
   model.shipname = "Caroline";
   model.date.hour = 10;
   model.date.min = 24;
   model.date.sec = 42;
   model.date.day = 18;
   model.date.month = 6;
   model.date.year = 1793;
   AddCharacterModel(model);

A similar entry exists for Commander Hornblower. The entry for Lieutenant Hornblower, on the other hand, lacks what appear to be the free-play lines, i.e. the bits for ship, flags and date. I'd be inclined to have the free-play lines added to Lieutenant and removed from Midshipman, partly because the only ship a Midshipman should command is a toy one in a bathtub, and partly because Midshipman Hornblower gets seasick; he's presumably gained his sea legs as well as the right to command a small ship when he becomes Lieutenant.

"HMS_Sophie" shows up in "Ships_init.c", labelled "HMS Sophie (aka HMS Vincejo 1798) by pgargon". Another reason to change the storyline date to 1798, perhaps? Having said that, this free-play Hornblower is inconsistent with storyline Hornblower because no ship named Caroline appears during the story.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

A similar entry exists for Commander Hornblower. The entry for Lieutenant Hornblower, on the other hand, lacks what appear to be the free-play lines, i.e. the bits for ship, flags and date. I'd be inclined to have the free-play lines added to Lieutenant and removed from Midshipman, partly because the only ship a Midshipman should command is a toy one in a bathtub, and partly because Midshipman Hornblower gets seasick; he's presumably gained his sea legs as well as the right to command a small ship when he becomes Lieutenant.

The Midshipman and Commander differences are purely the model choice; the actual rank you get depend on the storyline.
The Standard storyline would indeed start you technically as Midshipman while the Free Play one (still named internally as Brave Black Flag) has the Nelson behaviour and jump-starts you to level 5 and navy rank 3.

In any case, we have to assume that if you start as Midshipman in Free Play, you start as Senior Midshipman or there would be no gameplay.
We also have to imagine that you have been given temporary command of a prize ship or something to explain you being in charge of something larger than a toy ship.
We can't start you with a Dinghy because the ship you get at game start must be large enough for you to actually do something with.
Otherwise you'd be stuck as Midshipman all game long or you'd basically die straight away. And that is just no fun at all.

Also relevant is that whatever ships are set in initModels.c, those is merely a suggested default.
The player can override any and all settings and it is quite possible to play as pirate Hornblower in the Early Explorers time period.
Wouldn't make any logical sense, but it is possible. And why shouldn't it be?

Both entries should be pretty much identical for default settings, though of course the Midshipman model could have a smaller default ship set than the Commander one.
If I recall, NK.c has the "Witch of Endor" as default ship for rank 1 so that is probably the one that should be used there.

Having said that, this free-play Hornblower is inconsistent with storyline Hornblower because no ship named Caroline appears during the story.

Caroline is the name of a ship Hornblower did command as Midshipman in the books, if not in the game storyline: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Midshipman_Hornblower#Hornblower_and_Noah.27s_Ark
If I recall, you get command of the Hotspur ingame upon your first promotion, so the starting ship needed to be smaller than that. That is probably why I conjured up the Caroline.

 

[Grey Roger]

Reading that article, Hornblower is Acting Lieutenant when he takes over the Caroline. The incident happens between the examination for Lieutenant and "The Duchess and the Devil", and is missed out in the PoTC "Hornblower" storyline.

In the game, you get your first promotion, to Acting Lieutenant, following the sinking of the Temeraire and the exposure of Simpson's shenanigans. Your first command is the French sloop Le Reve, which you capture during "Tunnel of Trouble", sail to Kingston, and get captured in "The Duchess and the Devil". After your eventual release and confirmation of your promotion, your next command is the Magicienne - currently that's an Artemise class frigate, which is somewhat overpowered for a mere lieutenant and makes nonsense of the statement that you're being given a smaller ship in which to land the troops at Martinique. I'm going to have to look for something more suitable - I was planning on making it a sloop of war, but you're getting one of those as Hotspur, so I'll have to find something else.

You don't get Hotspur until somewhat later, fairly close to the end of the story as it stands at the moment. By that time you've been promoted again to Commander.

And I've just found a very useful table:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower#Ships_featured
According to that, Hornblower is decommissioned and Retribution paid off due to the Peace of Amiens, which concludes the War of the Second Coalition and confirms that the storyline really ought to begin in 1798, the start of that war. (The game does give you the Retribution and you do get decommissioned due to a treaty with France.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Current Hornblower ship progression (per rank) is:

Midshipman with Witch of Endor ("Cutter2")
This is actually the ship he escapes in from France after the Sutherland is sunk and he is captured, so technically when he was Commander.
Since you start a Commissioned Free Play game at least as Midshipman already, you will never get this promotion ship.

Junior Lieutenant with Le Rève ("FR_Sloop")
This is a very temporary command while he was Acting Lieutenant (in the book Mr. Midshipman Hornblower).

Lieutenant with Caroline ("HMS_Sophie")
Again a very temporary command as Acting Lieutenant (in the book Mr. Midshipman Hornblower) that occurred prior to Le Rève, but has been moved to later because this ship is bigger.

Senior Lieutenant with Hotspur ("RN_Volage")
Actually as Commander after the Renown story. HMS Retribution was only mentioned in the books and films.

Commander with Atropos ("HMS_Greyhound")
Actually Junior Post Captain.

Post Captain with Lydia ("RN_BattleFrigate")
As Senior Post Captain.

Commodore with Natividad ("FR_Bellona"), commanded by companion
Natividad is actually a ship he captured and gave away straight away. As Commodore, he commanded HMS Nonsuch (see later).

Rear Admiral with Indefatigable ("HMS_Indefatigable")
Hornblower never did command this ship, though it seemed a waste to not give her to the player for a while in Free Play.
She plays a large role in Hornblower's but since this was as Midshipman that would make no sense as a command in the early game.

Vice Admiral with Sutherland ("RN_FirstRate")
This was actually another command while he was Post Captain and is supposed to be a former Dutch 74-gun ship.
She was sunk and Hornblower captured, leading to an escape with the Witch of Endor (see above).

Admiral with Nonsuch ("RN_SotL"), commanded by companion
As mentioned, HMS Nonsuch was Hornblower's command as Commodore, not Admiral.
As Admiral, he commanded a fleet of relatively small craft in the Caribbean. Wouldn't make that much sense from a gameplay perspective, though.

So clearly this doesn't quite fit with the books/films/storyline.
But some creative license is required for gameplay purposes and to make use of as much of the game content as possible.

Note that this is purely the progression for Free Play. The storyline has its own progression that does make more sense from a story point of view.
The storyline transfers to Free Play upon gaining command of the Atropos.

After your eventual release and confirmation of your promotion, your next command is the Magicienne - currently that's an Artemise class frigate, which is somewhat overpowered for a mere lieutenant and makes nonsense of the statement that you're being given a smaller ship in which to land the troops at Martinique. I'm going to have to look for something more suitable - I was planning on making it a sloop of war, but you're getting one of those as Hotspur, so I'll have to find something else.

Didn't you already figure that one out? My suggestion had been FR_Dilligente (a large tartane), but that one might be a bit too small.
Alternate idea was to swap the Hotspur with an RN_Corvette and use FR_Volage as the Magicienne instead.
Right?

 

[Grey Roger]

From that table, plus the storyline:
Witch of Endor - agreed, that's a Cutter2
Le Reve - also in the storyline, FR_Sloop
Caroline - boring, it was an unarmed transport brig
Hotspur - sloop of war, so RN_Volage is right. That's why, having originally made Magicienne FR_Volage, I'll try to find something else.
Atropos - 6th rate frigate, so HMS_Greyhound is right
Lydia - 5th rate frigate, 36 guns of 18 pounds, so RN_Essex might be better
Natividad - bigger than Lydia though Hornblower thinks that calling it a ship of the line is stretching a point. Perhaps SP_Warship.
Indefatigable - 5th rate frigate, 44 guns of 24 pounds - there's your RN_BattleFrigate
Sutherland - 3rd rate, 74 guns of 24 pounds - that's the Bellona
Nonsuch - same as Sutherland, but if Hornblower is an admiral then he should be commanding a fleet, so is it possible to give him a companion ship as well? Otherwise that could be where he gets either RN_FirstRate or RN_SotL. RN_SotL is a slightly inferior ship with 94 guns and 3500 capacity, compared to 104 guns and 5000 capacity on RN_FirstRate.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Hotspur - sloop of war, so RN_Volage is right. That's why, having originally made Magicienne FR_Volage, I'll try to find something else.
Atropos - 6th rate frigate, so HMS_Greyhound is right

How about RN_Corvette of either of these two? That would open up FR_Volage for the Magicienne.

Lydia - 5th rate frigate, 36 guns of 18 pounds, so RN_Essex might be better

Change made. Normally the RN_Essex is given upon Commodore, but not for Hornblower so that is OK.

Natividad - bigger than Lydia though Hornblower thinks that calling it a ship of the line is stretching a point. Perhaps SP_Warship.

That is a hardly upgraded stock game ship that is quite ugly. I'd really rather use a ship that looks a bit better....

Indefatigable - 5th rate frigate, 44 guns of 24 pounds - there's your RN_BattleFrigate

The Indy is her own model, so we don't need specifically need a BattleFrigate used. Perhaps use FR_BattleFrigate for the Natividad? She is enabled for Spain already.

Nonsuch - same as Sutherland, but if Hornblower is an admiral then he should be commanding a fleet, so is it possible to give him a companion ship as well?

Very possible. As in: That already happens. Refer to the bold stuff I just added to my previous post.
That is also the reason why I made the Vice Admiral ship a "RN_FirstRate" because that is a brilliant high-detail model based on the Victory and is the last ship you get as player command.
The Admiral reward ship is a companion. Though of course starting at Commodore, the player is free to swap ships anyway so that isn't a large problem.

Sutherland - 3rd rate, 74 guns of 24 pounds - that's the Bellona

Changed accordingly. I think I had skipped the Bellona there because she was already used as the Natividad.

 

[Grey Roger]

How about RN_Corvette of either of these two? That would open up FR_Volage for the Magicienne.

I was going to make Hotspur into a 6th rate frigate and Atropos into RB_Corvette, until I saw the table of Hornblower's ships which confirms that they should indeed be sloop of war (RN_Volage) and 6th rate frigate respectively. They're fine as they are.

You don't keep either Magicienne or Hotspur for very long anyway. Magicienne gets you from Kingston to Martinique beach and then to Bridgetown, where you transfer to Renown. Hotspur gets you to Cayman, Guadeloupe, Bridgetown, back to Guadeloupe for the final action, and back to Bridgetown for the end so far. So it doesn't do much harm to have them both be Volage. Or Magicienne could be a basic brig1 or brig2 - it doesn't have to be something uniquely French, just something the French can use, and the "GiveShip2Character" line seems to allow a nation to be specified which I'd guess is the nation which designed the ship. (And which may need to be corrected because the lines which give you La Reve say it belongs to England...)

That is a hardly upgraded stock game ship that is quite ugly. I'd really rather use a ship that looks a bit better....

Perhaps give him the Nonsuch as Commodore. The table shows that to be a 3rd rate ship with 74 guns of 32 pounds; the Bellona, with 84 guns of 24 pounds, is not an exact match but is closer than RN_SotL or RN_FirstRate. Then he can get the Sutherland, a similar ship, as Vice Admiral, along with a succession of companion ships as he rises through the grades of Admiral.

The Indy is her own model, so we don't need specifically need a BattleFrigate used.

Yes, it's a Razee frigate. I'm only going by the Wikipedia table, whereas you've read the books - which is more correct for the Indefatigable as seen in the books? In any case, going from a battlewagon such as Natividad or Nonsuch to a Razee frigate is a downgrade! A BattleFrigate, alias Endymion, has most of the firepower of a battleship, and though not as tough is a lot more agile - it's my favourite ship of the "Revolutions" and "Napoleonic" eras and the only drawback is that once I've got that, I'd be reluctant to take the Sutherland.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Or Magicienne could be a basic brig1 or brig2 - it doesn't have to be something uniquely French, just something the French can use, and the "GiveShip2Character" line seems to allow a nation to be specified which I'd guess is the nation which designed the ship. (And which may need to be corrected because the lines which give you La Reve say it belongs to England...)

GiveShip2Character indeed takes the model to use and the national design of the ship. Some ships have their own national design pre-specified though, which would override whatever is set in GiveShip2Character.
This might be the case for the FR_Sloop because that is intended as a specifically French ship. But indeed it might as well match up properly.

Perhaps give him the Nonsuch as Commodore. The table shows that to be a 3rd rate ship with 74 guns of 32 pounds; the Bellona, with 84 guns of 24 pounds, is not an exact match but is closer than RN_SotL or RN_FirstRate. Then he can get the Sutherland, a similar ship, as Vice Admiral, along with a succession of companion ships as he rises through the grades of Admiral.

I think I'm beginning to lose track of all the changes to be made. How about you make a new list, either directly in NK.c or just here on the forum?

Yes, it's a Razee frigate. I'm only going by the Wikipedia table, whereas you've read the books - which is more correct for the Indefatigable as seen in the books? In any case, going from a battlewagon such as Natividad or Nonsuch to a Razee frigate is a downgrade! A BattleFrigate, alias Endymion, has most of the firepower of a battleship, and though not as tough is a lot more agile - it's my favourite ship of the "Revolutions" and "Napoleonic" eras and the only drawback is that once I've got that, I'd be reluctant to take the Sutherland.

From what I recall, the Indy has gone through a lot of modding development. She used to be a Royal Navy rextexture of the Waller Frigate by Thomas the Terror.
That does match reasonably well with the films, but the "Grand Turk" used there doesn't look much like a frigate at all.
Then when we were doing our ship cleanup, we found that we had a gazillion versions of the HMS Surprise, both historical and film versions with various updates and modifications of them all.
There was then one particular version that was pretty good, but was about to replaced with an even more accurate version.
If I recall, I then asked @Armada if there was any chance of keeping the original version used. So then we decided to replace the Indy with that one.
So basically the Indy used to be some sort of old version of an HMS Surprise that we decided to keep instead of using the Waller one.
Figure that one out!

As far as I remember of the books, the Indy is a frigate. Don't remember any further specifics, but those are probably listed on the page you found.

In any case, I'm not even sure if Natividad should be in the ship progression at all; after all, Hornblower technically never even commanded her.
But she does play a large role in the first Hornblower book written and it seems a shame to not feature such an important ship at least in some fashion.
A better solution would be for the storyline to be expanded to include the actual story, but that isn't going to be happening any time soon.

Anyway, we could easily swap the ranks at which you get the Indy and Natividad so that the progression does actually make sense and doesn't move backwards.

 

[Grey Roger]

I think I'm beginning to lose track of all the changes to be made. How about you make a new list, either directly in NK.c or just here on the forum?

How about this:
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.)
Junior 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)

From what I recall, the Indy has gone through a lot of modding development. She used to be a Royal Navy rextexture of the Waller Frigate by Thomas the Terror.
That does match reasonably well with the films, but the "Grand Turk" used there doesn't look much like a frigate at all.

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 .

In any case, I'm not even sure if Natividad should be in the ship progression at all; after all, Hornblower technically never even commanded her.
But she does play a large role in the first Hornblower book written and it seems a shame to not feature such an important ship at least in some fashion.

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.

As for "Nk.c", I may turn my attention to that once I've finished straightening out the "Hornblower" storyline.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

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.