The Deep Green Sea

So, anyone who's played the Scipii --- how do you deal with moving troops around the water? I don't know how many times in the first 20 years I had my two-unit fleets attacked and beaten as they were trying to get to [Macedon/Carthage/Athens/etc]. Obviously the answer is, build more ships. But early on in the game when you've got very little cash, that's difficult to do without dropping things like economic upgrades, etc.

I ended up simply ignoring Senate requests to blockade Athens and Sparta... Carthage was fair game since it's just a day's voyage from Lilybaeum.

Thoughts?