Naval Tips

[Warhammer3025]

I think the game is bugged where i cant do damage worth squat at close range on the enemy while on his stern while he's pounding the ever living crap out of me at extreme range. Also where my ships sink or surrender when they're mostly green and the AI ships keep right on fighting and not sinking despite being very far in the red.

Can naval masters post some vids. We navally challenged need all the help we can get!

[Poncho400]

^ I noticed this too in the RTI. My 4th rates were going up against galleons, and while my ships were sinking while in the yellow/orange zone, the galleons were still happily firing away while in deep red.

So far the only way I can fight is to go line to line with the enemy, going across the wind. Once I pass their line, I turn the fleet around and go back for more. This only works in evenly matched battles, as casualties will probably be 1 to 1.

I still can't get chain shot to work well. I can do multiple broadsides to a ship with it's sails fully out, and it will do barely any damage.

[Prussian to the Iron]

dont even bother with chainshot, i have never used it but my round shot wrecks the enemy sails alot of the time. beasically if you are trying to board, use roundshot from the front and it will tear the sails. then disable most of the cannons and grapeshot that side til either they surrender or you can safely board.

@marquis: I think thats what happens. i dont tell them to ram the enemy, but somehow trying to turn anywhere near them sometimes they take control and allow a bunch of cannons to destroy them. pity really.

[Merak]

got this from the twcenter forum check this it is pretty good when kiling the navie
http://www.gamereplays.org/empiretot...nd-double-line

[Slaists]

got this from the twcenter forum check this it is pretty good when kiling the navie
http://www.gamereplays.org/empiretot...nd-double-line

I never seem to be able to pull this off. the double line gets scattered on the slightest turn... so, I end up micromanaging each ship separately.

[Merak]

hmm have you grouped them in 2 diffent group/lines?

[Ritterkreuz]

Hey guys,

Here are some ideas on how to fight naval battles that I've picked up - hopefully it helps some of you still having trouble with the new feature.

These tactics are ideally suited to small navies (1 - 3 ships) but have been extremely successful against much larger numbers. To give you some idea, my last battle saw a Brig and a Sloop with no admiral take down a rank 3 Pirate fleet containing a 5th Rate and 4 Other Pirate vessels (all captured without significant damage).

Setup Phase
Position yourself according to the wind. You'll always want to be upwind of the enemy forcing them to sail "uphill" to reach you. Ideally you have a smaller, more nimble vessels suited to sailing upwind (non-square rigged ships such as Sloops and Brigs). If the wind is blowing towards you angling from the right to left, position yourself on the extreme right. Attacking is usually much easier as you often start with the advantage. I typically position in a loose line astern, with my heavier ship in the front.

First Moves
If you are not upwind your first move should be to quickly assume this position (double click to move fast). Holding the gauge (ie, being upwind) is crucial as otherwise your nimble fleet can be much easier chased down by a large ship. Once you're upwind the enemy will be forced to slowly work their way up towards you - usually in Line Astern formation. Once you are in a good position (ie, both of your ships will be able to fire a broadside at the approaching line at the same time, order them to stop (backspace from memory).

Engaging the Enemy
Use chainshot and engage the enemy at extreme range. You can fire beyond the 'normal' (auto-fire) range by firing a broadside at the approaching fleet, enabling you to fire at least twice at the enemy as they enter your official range. Chainshot is also aimed higher than normal so you'll be able to fire particularly far with that ordnance.

Fire and Flee
As soon as your ship(s) have fired you'll need to swing into action. The idea here is to keep your ships just out of range, but always making them work their way into the wind as they come towards you. This involves a series of sharp turns with a run into the wind. The sharp turns can be achieved by clicking close to the ship of either side. Turning at high speed seems to result in a large circle so only click once to turn your ship away. Run at high speed briefly and then turn again to the opposite side which will have guns already loaded. Repeat as often as possible.

Impact
You'll fire many, many shots of chainshot into the lead ship causing it to slow, making the entire line slow down. You may also find that as chainshot is aimed so high and the enemy line is winding towards you that you'll also have the chance to hit multiple ships with each shot. Chainshot actually makes it easier to fire at the enemy yet remain out of reach in front, so really once the first ship is in trouble the battle is basically over. Once the lead ship is in serious trouble the rest of the fleet will try to take over and attack you. Simply repeat the exercise until all ships are completely dismasted.

Mopping Up
Once ships are completely immobilised the rest is easy. Position your ships in front of the enemy (off to one side slightly) and let them have it with grapeshot. This will force the demoralised ship to surrender in just a few broadsides. Move from ship to ship and finish off the rest of them - taking care to avoid being hit by dismasted ships that have yet to surrender.

The beauty of this is that you can escape nearly completely unscathed and the ships you capture (at least on the campaign map) have new sails on their otherwise practically undamaged hulls.

Good Luck!

[hoom]

Ritterkreuz, thats more of an AI exploit than a tactic.

got this from the twcenter forum check this it is pretty good when kiling the navie
http://www.gamereplays.org/empiretot...nd-double-line

Ugh, thats a terrible way of doing battle.
In the video he hits his own ships with the further away group repeatedly.
If you want to do an offset line like that do it with a single group & they'll keep much better cohesion.

Here's some tips from me:

• The AI is very good at making sure its guns are bearing on your ships almost the whole time, if you don't do the same you'll get hurt by this & I think its the main reason that people are having a hard time.
  Just charging in to close the gap & copping 2 or 3 unanswered salvos will leave you damaged, with reduced crew & a number of guns down.
• Leave your ships on fire at will, broadsides tend to miss with most of the shot & you'll often miss a salvo while closing that would have gone out on fire at will.
• Leave your ships firing round shot much longer than you feel like you should.
  It's very easy to get yourself shot up by trying to be tricky with chain/grape shot without first making sure the enemy has had his firepower sufficiently weakened.
• Don't use grape shot against the wooden sides of a ship.
  To kill off gun crew, you first need to shoot open the sides of the ship using round shot, only once there are big holes is it worth firing some close range grape.
• Galleons & Fluyts are about equivalent to a 4th rater.
  6th & 5th raters eat sloops & brigs for lunch & 4th raters are significantly better than 5th raters so don't go attacking Galleons with a bunch of brigs.
• Don't let your newest & greatest or legendary experienced ship get close to galleys, xebecs or brigs unless you don't mind seeing your ship chain reaction explode
• If you want ship captures don't just end the battle when everyone is routing, you need to chase the routing ships down & force them to surrender either by dismasting, de-crewing or scaring them with overpowering force nearby.
• Heavily shot-up ships are prone to sinking if you start doing hard maneuvres/going full speed, if you can spare the guns it may be better to move the ship out of the battle & let it come to a stop.

[Ritterkreuz]

Good tips Hoom.

I'm not unhappy using my tactic when required. I know in real life I would certainly use smaller ships to manoeuvre both upwind and out of range whenever possible. Being more nimble also gives me the option to flee when required (pointing higher into the wind/had better downwind speed), something the game doesn't always let you do.

If the AI was smarter, however, I would say it would either give up the fight or split their formation to counter the tactic. Must be pretty hard to code for that, however.

Cheers

[Kraxis]

Don't let your newest & greatest or legendary experienced ship get close to galleys, xebecs or brigs unless you don't mind seeing your ship chain reaction explode

All too true.

I nearly lost a 3rd rater to an exploding Brig. The bugger got too close when a 2nd rater gave it a broadside just as the 3rd rater did. Instant explosion and my poor 3rd rater was burning like a slick of oil and taking on water. In the end I thought I would lose it as it listed absolutely insanely and settling by the bow. But somehow it managed ot stay afloat and sink another Brig that tried to run for it (not too bright fleeing past a big nasty ship of the line out for vengeance).

[GMaximus]

For that and the fact that light galleys seem to be insanely hard to hit, I've found that having four or so light galleys is quite useful early on during my Swedish campaign. I'd have them run out before my line, pester the enemy, and if any got close to sinking, KAMIKAZE YAARGH

If I was lucky I'd knock a ship out, although normally it'd just screw with the AI's formation as it'd attempt to turn to fire on the galleys and nearly ram into its own ships. Then my line could sail in and deliver the real pounding.