New respect for GAs and Privateers

adsin15

Warlord
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
242
Location
Charlton MA
I have never used Great Admirals or Privateers before but in my current game I just learned how amazing they can be. I'm on Emporer diff.

I'm playing the French and my territory is situated is such a fashion that there is only one 3 tile wide opening (between a CS's territory and the southern ice sheet) into a large sea in which I can be reached by water.

Dido backstabbed me...again, and declared war with me with a giant fleet on the way. 6 Ironclads leading numerous infantry troops. I actually saw this invasion fleet about 5 turns earlier and traded + saved enough resources to buy some more ships. My fleet consisted of 2 Frigates, 2 Caravels and 4 Privateers and a GA. I used their speed to engage the Ironclads in Ocean tiles while they were still on the way, negating their strength. In just 3 turns Dido's fleet was now MY fleet and not a single Carthginian dog ever set foot on French soil. I lost 1 caravel and 1 privateer. One Ironclad was destroyed in the battle, 5 captured.


Now this was wonderful except, you know how the AI is. I can only assume that when the English saw Dido's fleet that Lizzy felt like she was entitled to a piece of the action. Her fleet of 6 Ships of the Line was exactly 3 turns behind Dido's fleet so the very same turn I finished killing/capturing all of Dido's fleet...BAM Lizzy declares war and sinks two of my captured Ironclads without even scratching the paint on her ships.

Now I've got superior numbers (almost 2 to 1) but my fleet is in shambles. All my vessels are at half strength or worse. Also Lizzies Unique Frigates are more powerful than my two and they can use their ranged attacks to sink my ships without losing health. Needless to say I was panicing. Then I remembered that GA's have (what I previously considered to be) a stupid and nearly useless ability to instantly heal ships in all surrounding tiles.

Mwwwwuuuuhahahahahaha!

I am now the proud owner of 4 Ships of the Line and 3 Ironclads. Captured vessels comprise 50% of my 14 ship Navy and it seems unlikely they will attempt a sea invasion again.

Cheers to Great Admiral Shi Lang for his heroic sacrafice and to the very fun Privateer unit!
 
It's moments like these that makes CIV so awesome! :king:
 
That's very fun. Although enjoy the souped up Privateer while it lasts since the ship stealing is a bit OP at the moment and it'll be reduced.

Very good use of the Great Admiral, though. I used it once in a city attacking scenario, but I think I was trying too hard to use it rather than really needing it. It definitely seemed to work in your favor here.
 
I love the capabilities of the Privateer. In more than one game I've built them early and used them to commandeer the bulk of my navy. its easier to do it at sea as the OP did rather than taking ships defending the coast during war because the AI seems to target captured ships. Of course they are myopic about this, so you can capture a frigate so that next turn they will target it rather than shoot at something that can hurt them like a carrier, destroyer or embarked troop.
 
The privateer is part of the reason why I don't build an early navy. (OK, the other part is that there's just too much to build and not enough to build it with early in the game.)
Due to the AI's predictable tech patterns, you can usually hold off on navigation for quite some time and still have naval superiority technologically. When engaging an enemy that has a navy, which at that point in the game entails a half dozen or so triremes and maybe a galeass or two, build/buy enough privateers to be at.... well... rediculously outnumbered odds, I find one of mine for every three of theirs. Capture, half their navy becomes fodder, the other half sail back to be upgraded... And that's how I "build" my navy
 
Oftentimes your first great scientist will come along just as you discover astronomy. Considering astronomy is often on your direct research path (in continents games at least), a pretty legitimate strategy is rushing frigates instead of crossbows. Compare the range strength of frigates to other units that you can get at that stage of the game... they are not bad at all.

Of course this only works if your enemies primary cities are on the coast.
 
... And keep in mind two more great things concerning Priv´s:

1 - When you upgrade them to destroyer, the new unit keeps the "capture" ability, making it a powerful unit even in the late game. Just get 3 or 4 Privatiers and upgrade them and you easely get the lead on navy.

2 - Destryoers also have the ability to capture cities! If you have a fleat of destroyers, lets say 6 to 10 (easily reachable if they have the "capture" ability got from Priv's), just join 2 or 3 batleships (that you also can get capturing Frigates), and you need nothing more to virtualy manage all AI costal cities.
 
I wish there was a verify popup on the heal button though I hit it by accident all the time (one time before my admiral even left port)
 
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