Blockading ports do anything?

[Nightmare]

I've got every port in Italy blockaded, but I wonder if it actually does anything except cost me money in upkeep for ships? The reason I wonder is, I think I've heard that the script simply gives the AI money whenever it needs it. If this is correct, then if I blockade the enemy, the script just gives him money anyway, right?

So am I just wasting my money, time, and energy?

[panten]

Unfortunately, blockading ports also fails to confine hostile ships to their docks, which makes the whole thing utterly useless.

[Tanit]

As Carthage I blockaded all of the Ptolemaioi ports when I didn't want to start a land war with them, and I did notice a marked decrease in activity. That and the Seleukids (whom the Ptolies had previously been beating) made a noticeable comeback in taking territory.

[Nightmare]

Unfortunately, blockading ports also fails to confine hostile ships to their docks, which makes the whole thing utterly useless.

So you are saying "yae, verily," if I blockade ports, the AI just gets money anyway? Plus ships get out of docks? So there is no reason to build ships to blockade ports... right? This is 100% certain? (Just want to make sure before I disband a bunch of ships)

As Carthage I blockaded all of the Ptolemaioi ports when I didn't want to start a land war with them, and I did notice a marked decrease in activity. That and the Seleukids (whom the Ptolies had previously been beating) made a noticeable comeback in taking territory.

Noted. Let's get the final word on this. Anyone know for sure? Is there some expert or developer or modder who knows?

[Cute Wolf]

sure, with EBBS script, you basically have no use on blockading ports, the same with another mods who has AI money bonus scripts, don't bother with blockading ports, since all they do is negate the trade via sea routes

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

I thought that, in Medium Campaign difficulty, the EB script gave the AI 5,000 mnai only if an AI faction went below 5,000 mnai. And that the AI gets 5,000 mnai per turn on Hard campaign, automatically, no matter how rich they are - and 10,000 mnai per turn on Very Hard campaign.

As I understood it, blockading ports does actually reduce AI income - but will never actually put them in the red, since it's impossible for the AI to go into the red in EB.

So AFAIK it's not worth blockading ports in H and VH campaign difficulty, since the AI gets massive bonuses every turn anyway. On Medium campaign difficulty, it might be worth doing to a rich faction, since on M, a rich faction won't get extra funding unless they actually go below 5,000 mnai - so if they have 50,000 mnai to start with, it's worth blockading them until they drop to 5,000.

I may be wrong, though. Can anyone confirm or correct the above?

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

I thought that, in Medium Campaign difficulty, the EB script gave the AI 5,000 mnai only if an AI faction went below 5,000 mnai. And that the AI gets 5,000 mnai per turn on Hard campaign, automatically, no matter how rich they are - and 10,000 mnai per turn on Very Hard campaign.

As I understood it, blockading ports does actually reduce AI income - but will never actually put them in the red, since it's impossible for the AI to go into the red in EB.

So AFAIK it's not worth blockading ports in H and VH campaign difficulty, since the AI gets massive bonuses every turn anyway. On Medium campaign difficulty, it might be worth doing to a rich faction, since on M, a rich faction won't get extra funding unless they actually go below 5,000 mnai - so if they have 50,000 mnai to start with, it's worth blockading them until they drop to 5,000.

I may be wrong, though. Can anyone confirm or correct the above?

I'd tend to agree with you. Its only worth blockading on lower campaign difficulties and if the faction is incredibly rich to begin with.

[Ca Putt]

well you could Argue that it's even more effective in a hard campaign, as in a medium campaign this could trigger financial aid(if you do it to a not overly rich faction) which more than compensates the decreace of trade. in a hard campaign the AI gets the money anyway so it does not help the AI to blockade his ports, anyway I think most of the time 5000 mnai per turn are not significantly worse than 5100(a rough estimate of profit from trade+scripted help) mnai, unlike the deficit caused by upkeep from blockading ships that even bring the risk of getting sunk by pirates :/

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

So you are saying "yae, verily," if I blockade ports, the AI just gets money anyway? Plus ships get out of docks? So there is no reason to build ships to blockade ports... right? This is 100% certain? (Just want to make sure before I disband a bunch of ships)

You definitely don't need any ships just to blockade ports. They are useful though, since the AI does happen to transport troops via sea, and not just in BI.exe.

In my Mak 1.1 campaign Carthage used to transport their armies with the simple ships and I used to sink them, drowning some 20 units of Akontistai or ~10 of heavy phoenician infantry and the like in one sea-assault. Imagine, killing some 48,000 in rp-numbers with just a Triremiolai fleet... pretty effective.

[Ludens]

I may be wrong, though. Can anyone confirm or correct the above?

I can't confirm the exact numbers, but otherwise you are right. The A.I. tends to ruin itself by recruiting too many units, so the EB script gives it financial aid when it run out. This is just to keep it out of a bankruptcy spiral, not so much that it can ignore money. There's various other bonuses as well, because even when the A.I. does have money it won't always spend it well. Finally, there are the hard-coded cash infusions at higher difficulty levels.

So yes: blockading does have an effect, but the A.I. is not dependent on trade-income and you can't push them into bankruptcy. It's not worth building ships for.

[panten]

So you are saying "yae, verily," if I blockade ports, the AI just gets money anyway? Plus ships get out of docks? So there is no reason to build ships to blockade ports... right? This is 100% certain? (Just want to make sure before I disband a bunch of ships)

Others have given better explanations for the money issue already. I'm not really bothered by that since I could steamroll through pretty much anything due to lack of computer brains anyway and more money has never saved a faction from extinction if I or the AI really wanted it. Besides, my current Roman campaign sees two factions down to only one province and there is surprisingly not a lot of unit spamming. Even though there are almost three full stacks full of Belgae Spearmen lingering around Belgium (currently the home of the Aedui), but apparently we have agreed on an understanding that I leave my legions in Germany and to massacring the Arverni and they can walk around as much as they want.

Macedon has not even had a full stack for ages, but insists on building ships to try to recapture Rhodos, which is way I wanted to blockade their port so they might go on to more promising targets like the Seleucids who literally suicide-bombed their complete stacks in Asia Minor into the walls of Byzantion and have been a fruit ripe for picking for turns and turns to come. I was under the impression that blockading a port is similar to laying siege to a town, but apparently it is treated differently by the engine so ships can get out as they want. Sadly, no one except Macedon builds ships anymore, the Ptolies are long gone and the Seleucids prefer to walk. Not even the rebels come to fight my navy anymore. The only thing my battle fleet is doing is blockading ports (useless) and protecting supply lines (also useless). It's depressing.

[Taedius]

The way I've understood it, is that the AI will always get their money, but it doesn't know this. It WILL know that all its ports are being blocked, and this might influence at least the diplomatic AI. That said, I've never tested it. It does seem like a waste of fleets in the long run.

[Lazy O]

Unfortunately, blockading ports also fails to confine hostile ships to their docks, which makes the whole thing utterly useless.

/Thread

Just steamroll them on land the old fashioned way, its not too hard.

[Cute Wolf]

afaik, the only mod where blockading ports can really affect the AI is XC, they archieve balance and good AI behaviour, WITHOUT any money help for AI at all.

[Jackaloboulos]

Might there be a way to modify the EBBS to reduce AI monetary aid significantly for each port blockaded?

[moriluk]

My 2 cents on this. I play BI H/M, so naval invasions happen frequently. While blockading ports does not harm ai financially, blockading their naval ports can prevent future invasions. And yes, chances are they already have many ships abound, destroy them ALL and continue blockading the naval ports. They can still build ships but they will be in port and only get out if they can beat you. So use good ships to blockade naval ports.

[panten]

My 2 cents on this. I play BI H/M, so naval invasions happen frequently. While blockading ports does not harm ai financially, blockading their naval ports can prevent future invasions. And yes, chances are they already have many ships abound, destroy them ALL and continue blockading the naval ports. They can still build ships but they will be in port and only get out if they can beat you. So use good ships to blockade naval ports.

They actually don't just sit there, that's the problem - I've blockaded countless ports with hostile ships inside and, sadly, they are able to slip out just fine, without putting up a fight.