Rifled muzzle-loaders in an age-of-sail fleet

What would rifled muzzle-loading cannon change in the age of sail?

They would mainly improve accuracy, not range, and might even lose some muzzle velocity while human fire control and ship motion continued to limit effective distance.

The panel argues that rifling alone would not push age-of-sail battles much farther apart. With the same powder charge, a projectile still has roughly the same energy, while the extra friction of rifling might slightly reduce muzzle velocity. The principal gain would be improved accuracy within the weapon's existing reach. Ship motion, visual range estimation, human fire control, and the absence of stable director systems would still limit useful engagement distance. Longer-ranged smoothbore guns already existed, so the important distinction is between maximum firing range and the distance at which a fleet could expect repeated hits.