Can you sail into the wind, regardless of speed, yes, or no?
If you can always steer the way you want, then it is exactly analogous to a flight sim with no gravity.
For example, take a strategic level movement of a squadron. You order 8 sail of the line, and as many frigates to the West Indies. If ships can always sail into the wind (or even with NO wind) at 3 knots, then there is a maximum time for transit. It might be shorter, but it would NEVER be longer. In reality, transit times across the Atlantic were extremely variable. On squadron gets stuck in the doldrums for weeks, another barely hits them, gets the Trades, and is on its way. The transit times and uncertainties are critically important for trying to have a strategic scale game.
That's another reason "real time strategy" games are not real time, not strategy. They are tactical, effectively since the real strategic thinking is gone.
Going back to an old grognard sci fi board game, 5th Frontier War did a great job of getting that age of sail feel since travel took time, as did ORDERS. In that game a turn was one week, and you needed to plot movements 5 weeks in advance. There were some admiral counters that could be in fleets, and would allow them to act independently. Cool idea, though.
That would be neat in a Napoleonic game, to have to send forces with orders, and they only have limited latitude to act outside their orders. The player would have an imposed fog of war, and would only see the situation at the point he hears about it (riders sent with information, or ships sent with dispatches, etc).
I can dream
