Allies in Battle good or bad thing?

[Grumfoss]

I was fighting the French in a little Naval battle off the coast of Northern France (doing quite well I might add) when my allies, the good old United Province, sailed up and sailed straight into my Double line, fouling most of my fleet. The sound of French Laughter could be heard all the way to the Admiralty... not to chuffed with my allies.

I lost two of my largest ships in this engagement due to being entangled and being unable to move.

Has anybody else had the same thing happen?

[Bob the Insane]

Well with multiple lines I have done that to myself...

The only time i have had Allies in a naval battle I was the reinforcement. I got a bad start location from the wind so the battle was over by the time my ships got close...

I have also noticed that ships not in groups and given a move order will attempt to move around obsticles. However when grouped and placed in line, if one ship hits an obsticle well it is likely you will get a massive and slow forming pileup...

[Kobal2fr]

Are you kidding ? Allies joining you is the best thing since Christmas. Two words : meat shield . Just hang back, watch them go at it, and mop up once they're both spent.

[andrewt]

That's always been my strategy on the few battles I've had allies in previous games. I haven't had one in Empire. I always let my allies go first and do mop up duty.

[IvarrWolfsong]

In land battles all my allies have done is march one inch onto the battlefield and press themselves against the red border in an attempt to get as far away from the fight as possible

[Marquis of Roland]

Are you kidding ? Allies joining you is the best thing since Christmas. Two words : meat shield . Just hang back, watch them go at it, and mop up once they're both spent.

I think the op was saying his was the main force and not the reinforcement. The distance these reinforcements start off, if there is no favorable wind there's no way for you to avoid engaging the enemy fleet before the reinforcements get there.

Allies in naval battles is definitely a good thing. When things get complicated, move your fleet away from any ships you don't control. In general you should always try to keep at max range anyway, and allied fleets start far off at the edge of the map, so you can more or less tell the course they'll take to get to you. When they're at double or triple the max range of your cannons, its time to start changing course if you're in their way (just pretend they are blind ). Once they're in the fight just keep circling the mob at long range and firing. You'll probably hit your allies as well but they really don't care so fire away

[Kobal2fr]

I think the op was saying his was the main force and not the reinforcement. The distance these reinforcements start off, if there is no favorable wind there's no way for you to avoid engaging the enemy fleet before the reinforcements get there.

*shrug* Same deal. Deploy as far back as you can, move even further back as soon as the battle starts, and watch the fireworks from a safe distance :)