Privateer intermediate unit upgrade of the industrial era

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Another World of Warships series thread . Privateer of the Age of Sail is the first unit of this class, available at the late Renaissance (maybe early if player generates more culture points than science). Then followed with lurking submarine of the Modern Era.

If there's gonna be Privateer intermediate upgrades in the industrial era, there are two options
1. Torpedo Boat: Initially came with Steam Propulsions and percussion primer. First torpedo boat was more or less 'Kamikaze' boat armed with Spar Torpedo, another similar vessel was hand crank submarine of the American Civil War, the most famous (And successful) attack involved with Spar torpedo was the Confederate uses of Hunley submarine armed with this weapon, Hunley however didn't survive several hours after (not sunk during the attack but archeological forensic suggested that the Hunley was shot by Union marksman on board of a sloop and the shot hit a hatch and came a small leak)
Torpedoes as we known today began as Whitehead Torpedoes sometimes after, self propelled, light enough to be launched from a small vessel, yet capable of sinking Ironclad battleships (including Pre-Dreadnoughs), the uses of Torpedo boats appeared as part of French Jeunne Ecole naval doctrine that emphasis on the hit 'n run attacks by small crafts and seen by upstart countries as David VS Goliath approach.
Some Latin American wars saw the uses of this kind of war vessel against bigger Ironclad, I'm not sure of Japanese Navy used Torpedo Boats in Battle of Yalu River as well? but they did use Armored Cruisers (Matsushima is the flagship) against a pair of Qing Pre-Dreads (the two 'Yuan' ships I can't really rememeber which ones was Ding Yuang and Zhi Yuan)
Surely by then Qing needed Pre Dreads after a humiliated defeat by France in their previous wars to maintain their grips over Tonkin (modern day Vietnam), because French Navy brought ones there!, Jap also wanted one but since they invested more on shipyard and their warship manufacturing facilities along with associated facilities, they couldn't purchase any by then, so Jeunne Ecole was taken SERIOUSLY

Jap did use Torpedo Boats heavily in Russo Japanese Wars particularly near Lüshun (旅順港), and so did Russia.
Submarines eventually took much of its role since WW1 onwards.

2. Merchant Raider. State-owned pirates (And thus protected by law), unlike privateers whom got a permit paper. The rise of strong navy by the times after Thirty Years War (and evenmore so in the Mid Enlightenment Era) led to the decline of Privateering, This associated with the rises of Nation States, signing contracts with individual pirates became increasingly a no go (and the strong government made this unneccessary) so came a new breed of pirate, and this one works on modern iron hull ships, rifled QF cannons, and MGs (particularly Gatlings and Nordenfelts) as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_raider

Which one should be this intermediate choice?

 

[Sostratus]

I think torpedo boats would make more sense because:
-It forms a clear link between privateers and submarines, the latter obviously shoots torpedoes
-It forms a clear link between ironclads and Destroyers (or as they were originally called, torpedo boat destroyers!)
-It clearly communicates it is a hit and run naval Raider (via unit model) rather than a big gun ship designed for heavy direct combat.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Checked the vote score, rightnow I saw TWO voted for Merchant Raider. i wanna know the reasons why this unit is favored.

 

[Mik1984]

Units are supposed to be serving TWO eras. That is the concept behind the game. Breaking it, requires rebalancing a lot of issues.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

All the major unit gaps were filled with the last expansion, in my opinion.
Besides it seems like the Merchant Raider would be a Modern Era unit, instead of Industrial, and we already have the submarine for that era.

 

[Galvatron]

I can't vote, I want both. I want Merchant Raiders as the upgrade to privateers, but I would like to add a new class of counters to melee ranged in the form of Fire Ships*, which upgrade into torpedo boats.

*The demolition ones, not those silly flamethrowers from AoEII.

 

[9gkj548hkm20vk79dj689bnj4]

torpedo boat,
but my worry is it will be quickly outclassed by the destroyer (originally called torpedo boat destroyer) but which has a longer lifespan.

I would just call it "patrol boat" and give it some upgrades that make it worthwhile to use through the very end of the game. because nowadays we have littoral combat ships, and missile boats, and patrol boats, and torpedo boats, and fast attack ships, and gunboats, and cutters, all of which fill the same role of smaller but faster ships meant to operate closer to land:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_boat