New Video: Naval combat

[Arjos]

Suebian longships: the horror XD

Pity the oars appear to be invulnerable...

[BroskiDerpman]

I saw a shield of a poor dead Suebi stuck to an oar. (When the Romans start boarding) Oars are OP!

[Barkhorn1x]

OK so that was entertaining certainly. But what is with the masts on the Roman/Egyptian/Macedonian ships. Oars is what fors ya dig?

But seriously - ancient Mediterranean ships did not go into battle w/ their masts attached. Why can't CA change that?

[Monk]

Actually looks really fun.

[hoom]

I am not terribly troubled by masts in battle.

More important is for the ramming, missile & boarding play to be good.
Looks like they have all the important options there at least, including fire-pots & huge polyremes.

I'd been hoping to see catamaran polyremes but seeing these big monohulls with the scale of the soldiers to the hull, I can see how you would get at least a 9 with a monohull & they do look pretty impressive.
At first I was like 'wtf' about those huge statues/carvings on the 8s (or bigger?) but it does make some sense & helps make them stick out well.
Is possible that they are just keeping stuff like catamaran 16s secret for later. <hopes>

[Arjos]

I honestly hope they don't go further than Dekeres...
They already seem to be way too maneuverable and the ramming is veeery 'loose', ie they managed some with such acute angles that the ships would just scrape eachother (again pity the oars don't get chopped)...

Still this is Rome II and it's all about gamey stuff :P
Though the "exploding" ships are such nonsense, it would've been nice to have ships getting 'stuck' after ramming. Lots of tactical choices to be made...

[hoom]

There is definitely ships getting stuck.
You're right about lack of oar breaking & glancing blows.

Exploding ships is a bit silly looking but its clear that big ships really did smash smaller ships with good rams.

Also quite comical is the fully armored troops doing like 5m leaps from bow to other boat, from that vid though I think I will be willing to suspend disbelief on that for purposes of gameplay, much better than some slow, probably buggy animation with boards or something.

[Brennus]

Pity the oars appear to be invulnerable...

Longships are attested to on Bronze Age rock carvings and in the form of megalithic enclosures in Scandinavia, however you are correct that such vessels are unlikely to have been used by the Suebi. To my knowledge the only Iron Age vessel to have been recovered from that region is the Hjortspring vessel.

It will be interesting to see if CA use a different model for the Gallic ships; ideally something based on descriptions of Venetic vessels or the model from the Broighter hoard.

[Arjos]

It will be interesting to see if CA use a different model for the Gallic ships; ideally something based on descriptions of Venetic vessels or the model from the Broighter hoard.

Even if they do, all will be ruined by the "arcade default", ie every ship will act according to Hellenistic tactics...

Longships are attested to on Bronze Age rock carvings and in the form of megalithic enclosures in Scandinavia

BTW afaik those were smaller from Gotland and the nearby coasts. And they were more of local transports, than seafaring vessels...

[BroskiDerpman]

I'm not even going to argue much on "Historical accuracy". Think about this gameplay wise, makes no sense to even have Longboats. Even as a tech unlock.

The Suebi would just have to go Raaaaawwwrrr war cry! Board, then all the Greek marines run away like school girls from a caterpillar.

Takes away one disadvantage Northern factions have: Naval tradition. When they get to Italy sure they can build Triremes i.e Ostrogoths and buildings.

But having a boat from the future makes no sense when good alternatives to a longboat unit exist.