Naval Strategy

JBryan314

US Army Combat Vet and Intelligence Agent
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Messages
109
Location
Deep South
So, I was told a while back to simply ignore the British ships, since it isn't necessary to do away with them. It's only necessary to defeat the land forces. So, I eventually finally won a few games that way. It worked ok sometimes, but I still had a lot of issues once the landing forces landed and I usually got beaten badly. I've since developed a different strategy...

I play on a huge Western Hemisphere map with a lot of tribes. I send out my explorers and end up making tons of money. well over 100,000 gold just off of treasure. Not to mention I make a killing selling the natives goods and good money selling to England. Easily enough to buy a couple galleons to transport the gold tax free. I can also easily buy many ships of the line. By the time I declare independence, the English usually have 12-16 Man-O-War ships. But I usually have bought 20-25 ships of the line. In the games I've played, the ships of the line have roughly a 2-1 attrition rate against the English ships. By the time the English finally land, I've lost my entire fleet, but also have already sunk all but 4 or 5 of their ships. This dramatically weakens their landing forces. They normally land with roughly 10 regulars, 6 dragoons and 4 artillery. With all the money I made, I've got 900 guns and 900 horses in my settlements (I usually only have two or three settlements). I also have merchantmen ships waiting in the coastal settlement with extra guns and horses. I turn any citizens I can afford to spare into soldiers and dragoons. I attack the enemy when they're in open land, then retreat into hills, woods and swamps. I also normally have defensive pacts with every tribe by that time because of all the trading I've done with them.

This may seem a very common strategy, but I just remember being told a long time ago to ignore the English ships because it wasn't a requirement to win and they were too strong. But the key to this strategy is attacking their ships with 2-1 numbers and greatly weaken their landing forces. Otherwise, I'd have a very hard time ever winning. So I was wondering if anyone else uses naval attacks early on to gain an advantage.
 
It sounds a good strategy - but then any winning strategy is a good one :)

However one question - how do you buy Ships of the Line? Normally you have to build them yourself, which means building a Dock/Drydock/Shipyard and Lumber Mill first and that takes a lot of time.
 
You are talking about Frigates then, they are the last item on the Purchase screen. If you could buy Ships of the Line it would make the game much easier.

Edit: - or are you playing a Mod?
 
Um, I'm not sure. I must be. I don't remember doing anything to the game as far as mods... But I even went back and checked to be sure I'm not losing my mind. Yep, SOTL was the last item in the list. 18,000 gold to be exact (though I think as you buy them the price changes?). Very hard (actually, impossible) to buy the required number of them to use this strategy if you aren't playing a huge map with lots of natives to get rich from.
 
I started a game on the Western Hemisphere map just to see if that scenario was somehow different, but there were still no Ships of the Line for sale (I did get a good start though with a scout and a statesman in the immigration queue :))

If you want to check if you are playing a Mod go to the start menu and select Advanced and then About This Build. That should tell you the name of the Mod.
 
J Bryan is playing without the 101 patch. I remember that you could buy SOLs in the off the shelf version.
 
I HIGHLY suggest you download "TAC"

Its a "mod" that changes alot of things around for the better.

You can buy ships of line, but beware, AI gets an even more powerful ship now. "Man o War"

good games to you
 
So far that strategy has worked for me. I buy the frigates and build the SOLS...

the frigates die...
the Man O wars die...

the SOLS sale off into the glorious American sunrise

quite humane actually as the TEF gets to stay home rather than romp around on foreign shores filled with ignorant heathens.
 
I'm playing with the TAC mod right now and I'm wondering if I should even bother with a navy outside of a frigate or two to handle hostile privateers. I see the expeditionary force of 56(!) Man O Wars and figure it's not even worth it.
 
I use TAC MOD exclusively now.

The naval strategy is very viable. Here are a few tips.

1. Buying your whole navy is too cost prohibitive. I buy or produce the items used to build the ship and build them myself. Tword the time you will declare independance your first colony will be fully upgraded and you can use it to produce ships of the line. With 2 lumberjacks/3 carpenters, a wheelwright workshop and 100% of the city's people supporting independance it should only take a couple turns to make each ship.

2. Use a leader who is "resourceful". -50% experience needed to get a unit upgrade is game changing for a navy. Instead of 2 to 1 you'll only need 1 to 1 or even less.

3. Get those ships some experience. Pick a fight with your european rivals. Even a couple upgrades will make a huge difference in fighting the royal man-of-wars.

4. Save your generals. You can use them just before declaring independance or after a battle to "heal" the unit. Just remember to temporarily move the ground units out or they will "steal" some experience.

When you upgrade, upgrade their strength. I know with privateers you want to increase their movement first...that's not the best strategy for ships of the line in my opinion. You'll want to stay in your port towns and attack enmasse. They will get some troops through so you will need some ground forces to repell the assault force on the beaches.

my 2 cent,
Windfoot
 
I'm playing with the TAC mod right now and I'm wondering if I should even bother with a navy outside of a frigate or two to handle hostile privateers. I see the expeditionary force of 56(!) Man O Wars and figure it's not even worth it.

Same here. If I make some war ships suddenly the Dutch motherland starts spamming evil boats.
 
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