Cyane was officially a sixth rate 22 gun ship, launched in 1806. (Banterer class). She was about the same size as a 28 gun frigate of half a century before and originally carried 22 9pdrs and 8 24pdrs carronades with 2 long 6pdrs on forecastle as bow chasers. By the time of her fight with Constitution her 9pdrs had been replaced with 32pdr carronades and her 24pdr carronades by 18s.

There were very few actions between ships of equal force in the War of 1812. The Royal Navy had been used to beating larger ships of other navies, and so unwisely attacked 44 gun 24pdr frigates with 38 gun 18pdr frigates. But the American vessels were usually well-handled (unlike the French and Spanish, they went in for long cruises).

One of the major differences was that the American frigates had much thicker sides, which 18pdr shot would bounce off at long range. There was no such problem with 24pdr shot penetrating the thinner scantlings of the British frigates. Macedonian was badly handled in this respect. The only advantage she had was speed - she should have run away, but that wasn't the 'done thing'. Short of a lucky shot on bowsprit, wheel or rudder, she had no real chance. There were also reports that the United States fired two shots to the Macedonian's one, but whether this was at the beginning or the end of the action isn't obvious.

A word on crew quality (incidentally there were Americans and British sailors in both crews!), the Royal Navy was manning a vast navy at this time and its resources were spread thinly. The American Navy had only a few ships in commission, and so could keep them fully manned with prime seamen. When they expanded the Navy, the crew quality went down a bit (as in the Chesapeake, which lasted only 15 minutes against the well-trained Shannon).

I would also recommend 'The Naval War of 1812' by someone called Theodore Roosevelt (who I believe later occupied a position of some importance in the former colonies).