In self-imposed quarantine...TAC 2.03, are Ships of the Line even worth it?

[Superjew]

With a bit of (a lot of) save scrumming, I want to beat the king on the hardest difficulty.

So right at the outset, he's got 130 Man O' Wars in his pool.

Now I think by 1700's I can definitely build QUITE A FEW Ship of the Lines. But why bother?

I mean maybe I can fortify a line of them outside of all my harbors at the outset of the war, in hopes I can sink a Man O' War full of horses/cannons/soldiers? Help me out here.

It's a land-war, right? Instead of building ships of the line I could be cranking out garrison cannons and artillery like no tomorrow, maybe 500 of each, you never know.

It's very likely that the King will overwhelm no matter what kind of navy I produce, and its NOT an archipelago map. So, what's the point? Seems a better idea to invest in a road net work between colonies to move crap tons of men and equipment quickly to the front, than building tons of very expensive ships that really are only of use by endgame.

Also...is there a colonist cap like there was in Col 1? Because I remember hitting that thing not even late 1600's and it ruined the game since you had to delete a unit to build a new one.

 

[Hecur]

Also...is there a colonist cap like there was in Col 1? Because I remember hitting that thing not even late 1600's and it ruined the game since you had to delete a unit to build a new one.

No!

It's a land-war, right?

Yes!

So, what's the point?

Don't build ships.

 

[raystuttgart]

It's a land-war, right? Instead of building ships of the line I could be cranking out garrison cannons and artillery like no tomorrow, maybe 500 of each, you never know.

Yes, WOI in TAC (as well in RaR or WTP) will be a war of attricion on land.
So you will being fighting and withdrawing step by step and in parallel rebuilding your military until you managed to kill all King Units on land.

But with every Royal Ship you manage to sink, you will also kill land Units.

You just need to catch Royal Ships that got separted from the main Stacks and manage to completely destroy them.
If you try to attack the mains Stacks and just damage some Royal Ships without destroying them, it will not help you win the WOI.

You could e.g. try to lure out some Royal Ships from the main Stacks by baiting them. Contrate on the weak points.
Loosing some - or even most - of your own ships is worth it, if you also destroy Royal Ships with land Units.

Completely ignore Royal Ships that have already landed their troops.
(Unless they are already heavily damaged and you can get some easy XP.)

Summary:

WOI will be decided on land, that is pretty certain.
But a well executed strategy on sea can help with that.

Just stupidly attacking huge Stacks - either on land or on sea - will not help you though.
Only attack if you have chances of completely destroying enemy units.

You will need to apply "attricion and guerilla tactics" - baiting, attacking, withdrawing, recovering ...
Fighting on sea is only completely futile if you stupidly attack overwhelmingly strong Stacks - but it is the same on land.