Help me design a naval battle against the Crimson Fleet

[Failed Saving Throw]

Well, it should be obvious to some by now that I like tinkering with this AP. Big parts of the plot make no sense to me and I find myself changing a lot on the fly.

My party is in the middle of "The Lightless Depths," but I'm already thinking ahead to "Serpents of Scuttlecove," when the PCs are supposed to blithely sail into a notorious pirate city. I think that's lame.

What I plan to set up is a big naval battle between the PCs, whatever help they can rustle up from various sources, and the Crimson Fleet. I think it's more fun to do that, let the PCs hack up some pirates, rout them, and then say, "Ho ho, so the PCs routed a good portion of the Crimson Fleet's armada and sent them limping back to Scuttlecove. Now is the time to slip into the city undetected!"

What I'm thinking about now is: How big should I make the armada that the PCs tangle with? How should I set up the scenario? And what kinds of pirates/monsters should the PCs face?

[Rezdave]

Failed Saving Throw wrote:

How big should I make the armada that the PCs tangle with? How should I set up the scenario? And what kinds of pirates/monsters should the PCs face?

I'd worry less about the pirate/monster make-up of the ships and focus more on the size/make-up/tactics of the fleets.

I'm not much of a naval historian, but if I were you I'd look to historical battles against the organized and large pirate forces of the Barbary Coast or the river pirates of China. These might give you inspiration from which to model your fight.

Really, you only need to plan out the overarching strategies and order-of-battle for both sides, then determine the specific opponents for just the lead ship or two against which the PCs will be engaged in a boarding-action (either on offense or defense). Having a vague notion of the major figures on other ships can help with "sail-by shootings" by enemy wizards, archer-rangers or beholders (all e.g.) as well as give you inspiration for "cinematic narration" of off-stage or sidelines battle scenes the PCs witness as they are engaged in their own fights.

I'd also look to movies like Master and Commander or perhaps even Ben-Hur for some inspiration. Frankly, I hate to admit it but the Pirates-otC series has a couple decent battles for inspiration.

HTH,

Rez

[Luna eladrin]

You could consider using the naval battle to create a diversion. The help the PCs manage to find could stage a naval battle, so that the PCs can sneak in with their ship hidden between the other ships. They are then just one more ship. They should change the name of the ship and use a false flag.
Then they have to travel through the site of the battle and you can stage several encountes with enemy ships or perhaps even fiendish sea monsters which they can defeat before they can enter the city. And they have to maintain their secrecy, perhaps a false identity, so perhaps they have to see to it that there are no witnesses left of their coming.