Some Good News, It Seems.

[NimitsTexan]

I don't think making the AI more likely to transport troops by sea would result in spamming ridiculous invasions everywhere so long as factions maintain fleets patrolling their coasts. This is a reason why the new "zone of control" feature is so good. Unlike M2TW, when Portugal would show up in Ireland with a handful of spearmen every so often regardless of whether you had a ship off Ireland's coast, you can now put fleets out to patrol your coast and the invading force will have to engage your fleets before landing their armies. That should ensure the naval invasions don't get too ridiculous, unless you don't guard your own coastline, which is your own fault ....

This is quite true . . . France would have been "spamming" alot more invasions of England if the British Navy were all over in India and America all the time.

And if you look at it, various European factions did attempt or plan multiple invasions of Britain, both during the time period of the game and immediately before and after. That none were successful (or landed troops in England itself) had alot to do with the Royal Navy.

The Brits, on the other hand, tended to "spam" invasions all over the coasts of Europe. It was just sort of their thing.

[ConnMon]

The fact that the AI doesn't use ships makes America really, really easy to take over. Without reinforcements from their European protectors/owners, most colonies are easy pickings. That, and other places such as Iceland and Ceylon are invincible bastions. It seems that water is the best defense in the game