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In Empire TW, I was a perennial loser in naval battles until I learned to use the line formation and steer the fleet as a column. Obviously this doesn't work in Shogun 2. I won my first naval battle this morning, but I think it was only because I had a slightly superior fleet. What's the key to successful naval battles in this game?
I try to deal with ships that are trying to board mine first, with fire arrows and bombs if possible. Basically, I shoot at the big stuff and try to set them on fire, while I send fast boarding ships after smaller vessels.
Since ships don't need to broadside anymore, I keep them in a line abreast. I almost never leave my starting position anymore, but let the enemy come to me. This has lead to two or three enemy ships reaching my line before the rest several times.
Some battles have been downright disasters and I freely admit that some things remain utter mysteries to me. Who gets to board when two ships go for each other? I also can't seem to order bow bunes to shoot at the ships I want them to, they keep shooting at the closest one.
I think you already found it ;PQuote:
Originally Posted by gauch0
I tend to use autoresolve for naval battles, and only fight if the odds are heavily in my favor else retreat and fight another day. Surprise heroic victories by an inferior force like in the land battles I havent been able to achieve.
Or perhaps I just suck at naval combat.
Agreed - autocalc is the answer LOL
Main trick with naval battles, both in NTW as in S2TW, is to basically only fight where you have a localized numerical superiority and to disengage where you have not during said battle. Localized numerical superiority is obviously based on the amount of fire arcs in range. Failing to understand this, autocalc is the answer. Executing this trick well, is just a matter of practice.
I dunno, medium bunes and bomb koya spam seem to work pretty good in the early game. You just immobilize with board and then kill half the crew with bombs, then repeat.
I've yet to fight a fleet action with more than 3 ships on my side, and controlling just 3 ships was a handful. If I run into a superior fleet, I retreat. Otherwise Admiral Autocalc is in charge. :laugh4: Do want to try to get the hang of naval combat eventually though.
I fought one naval battle, I won! :D I had one of those small warships and he had the same. Mine was at full compliment and his was depleted. After about two volleys each, he retreated. It was kinda boring. I might try a little larger battle later to see how it is, but if that is a bore, I will undoubtedly autoresolve.
Circles...lots and lots of circles.
Is there a trick to keep the ships moving? Or do you have to keep issuing orders to the ships to circle?Quote:
Originally Posted by AggonyKing
Bow Kobayas with fire arrows works well for me. Some medium bunes to get the attention of boarding ships and for warcray works, too.
Also, shadowing the black ship, letting the AI factions weaken it through autocalc, then capturing it is fun.
I've played perhaps more than 100 Napoleon Total War single-player naval battles against AI at the expert level and have found a number of useful tactics against various types of enemy (all British) ship(s). the toughest British ship in my experiences is the Bomb ship which has long range (750) and outstanding reload skill (30). It is extremely effective in completely destroying its opponent's ship. I managed to discover ways to deal with it with various types of French ship. As for the other types of British ship they are easy prey of my (other) tactics. My most effective ship is, still, the Bomb ship which can destroy an entire British fleet without any losses. Heroic victories are my typical results. First divide your fleet into two, one regular and the other Bombs. Attract the entire British fleet to pursue your regular fleet and tail the British fleet with your bomb fleet. Soon the British ships will fall in fire one by one due to your bombardment while they do not have a chance to fire any cannonball. In one battle half of the British fleet was actually destroyed by the explosion of their own leading partner ahead, which was caught on fire either by my bomb ship or by the explosion of again their own ones. This tactics won't work, however, if the British fleet contains some bomb ship, because while chasing your fleet the bomb ship is easy to catch you up with their long-range mortars. This is when the situation becomes more difficult and complicated and you will need another tactics to deal with it. If interested let me know and I can discuss more.
Crossing the T is actually the exact opposite of something you want to do in-game. The black ships in your images are at a severe disadvantage. The second image especially. The red ship still has the advantage and if anything, that angle is just as bad as being perpendicular. The red ship is just going to bounce your shells and laugh as you get citadeled to hell.