Ironclads and monitors

I think ironclads should be ranged units. When they first appeared, they really revolutionized naval warfare, rendering wooden ships (frigates, men-o-war and caravels) obsolete immediately. And they were used for blockading and bombarding ports during the US Civil War. So with steam power, frigates should be upgraded to ironclads.

I understand that there needs to be an upgrade for the caravel in the steam era, and I would suggest a new unit, the monitor. This was a smaller, more aggressive ship that featured a rotating turret, so its forte was close-range combat.

TBH would rather have an extra +2 movement given that it's Steam Power.

Bechhold said:

TBH would rather have an extra +2 movement given that it's Steam Power.

Click to expand...

I think that's a good idea for the monitor, but ironclads proper were not quite as fast as wooden ships because they were really heavy and didn't have the tech to compensate for it. (I agree that just 3 tiles per turn might be a bit much, though.) On the other hand, they were really sturdy--so maybe their hit points should be increased drastically vis-a-vis frigates. Or all ships starting from ironclad and monitor should receive a 25% bonus vs. earlier ships.

Argive said:

I think that's a good idea for the monitor, but ironclads proper were not quite as fast as wooden ships because they were really heavy and didn't have the tech to compensate for it. (I agree that just 3 tiles per turn might be a bit much, though.) On the other hand, they were really sturdy--so maybe their hit points should be increased drastically vis-a-vis frigates. Or all ships starting from ironclad and monitor should receive a 25% bonus vs. earlier ships.

Click to expand...

The thing was though, at the time everyone thought that said sturdiness would make ironclads best used for ramming.

Mobius13 said:

The thing was though, at the time everyone thought that said sturdiness would make ironclads best used for ramming.

Click to expand...

True, but I understand that eventually ship designers decided to use torpedoes instead of ramming because torpedoes were entirely risk-free.