Naval Warfare gone astray

[NightStar]

I'm having a blast with RTW but one thing just makes me want to pull my hair out.

I'm playing as the Brutii on H/H. I kicked the Greeks out of Greece early in the game and have just taken over Macedonia. I am making tons of money but then I realized that the Greeks, who retreated into asia minor and have like 9 provinces there, were disrupting my trade routes. To my horror I found out that I was probably losing around 10k every turn because of Greek navies.

I swiftly sent my huge navy to sink those pesky greek ships....and what happens!!!! Ships in RTW are almost unsinkable!!! That's what!! :furious3:

I saw someone comment on surrounding the enemy navy with his own navies would work better but it doesn't. It seems to sink a ship you have to kill all on board or something. I have attacked greek navies of 10 triremes with 6 stacks of 20 quintimeres (gold and silver chevrons and armor upgrades) Most of my admirals had 2* and the greek fleet was surrounded. The greek navy got away without losing a single ship, this happens again and again and again.

I attack the greeks lose some men and run away, rinse and repeat, eventually they lose a ship or two but then I have sent like 6 or 7 navies with 20 quintimires to attack them on the same turn and those same greek ship continue to block my trade routes.

I would ask CA to describe in detail how a quintimere with 7 men can outsail a fleet of fully manned quintimeres with veteran sailors....and yes I'm getting annoyed with the naval battles especially because there is no way to destroy an enemy fleet, if I manage to sink two triremes a turn with my 7 armadas then the greeks have made five more to replace them so there is no way for me to cripple them navally....the only option I see is to send stacks of ships around every port they have so they can't move their ships without attacking me.

I think the naval battles would work better if it would be kept close to the MTW naval battles, that there were no men listed on the ships just the ship itself and either it gets sunk or not.

[Slaists]

I think, there is something about greek ships... In the game, when I check thier range, it always comes out to be greater than the one of my fleets... Maybe, because I am playin on "very hard" campaign map?

[Upward Mobility]

I saw someone comment on surrounding the enemy navy with his own navies would work better but it doesn't. It seems to sink a ship you have to kill all on board or something. I have attacked greek navies of 10 triremes with 6 stacks of 20 quintimeres (gold and silver chevrons and armor upgrades) Most of my admirals had 2* and the greek fleet was surrounded. The greek navy got away without losing a single ship, this happens again and again and again.

Did you move your 6 stacks so that there was no line of retreat at all for the enemy fleet? By overlapping the zones of control of your fleets, you can totally block them in, and check by clicking on them and seeing their legal moves highlighted yellow. Anytime I have done this and get any kind of victory, poof goes the enemy fleet (or more accurately, I watch with glee as I see the fleet icon sink beneath the ocean ~D ) In the open ocean, you need 4 fleets to do this, but really none of them needs to be huge, as they can all be reinforcements for each other. As long as you win the battle, the entire enemy fleet should go bye-bye.

It is much easier in crowded/enclosed waters, like the strait near Corinth. One fleet can cause this effect.

[vice77]

Did you move your 6 stacks so that there was no line of retreat at all for the enemy fleet? By overlapping the zones of control of your fleets, you can totally block them in, and check by clicking on them and seeing their legal moves highlighted yellow. Anytime I have done this and get any kind of victory, poof goes the enemy fleet (or more accurately, I watch with glee as I see the fleet icon sink beneath the ocean ~D ) In the open ocean, you need 4 fleets to do this, but really none of them needs to be huge, as they can all be reinforcements for each other. As long as you win the battle, the entire enemy fleet should go bye-bye.

It is much easier in crowded/enclosed waters, like the strait near Corinth. One fleet can cause this effect.

That's not true. You need to completely surround the enemy fleet to prevent them from fleeing, since when retreating, navies can pass through zones of control as long as there is an open path. That said, it's still fairly easy to sink enemy fleets if you split up your fleets to block off all the squares around them. On the open ocean, you need 8 fleets to do this, but 7 of them only need to be single ships.

[Upward Mobility]

That's not true. You need to completely surround the enemy fleet to prevent them from fleeing, since when retreating, navies can pass through zones of control as long as there is an open path. That said, it's still fairly easy to sink enemy fleets if you split up your fleets to block off all the squares around them. On the open ocean, you need 8 fleets to do this, but 7 of them only need to be single ships.

Hrm. I guess I wasn't paying attention and did this somehow anyway? Interesting. Right after I get my :furious3: computer working again I will check this more thoroughly...