Controlling the Sea

[budweiser]

I know everyone thinks England is useless but they are my favorite. In my current game on Emporer, I was able to play tech broker for quite awhile by keeping knowldge of the civs on the other continent(s) to myself. This allowed me to keep up a good tech lead because the other guys could not trade amongst themselves, thus greatly reducing the collective ai research tade advantage.

Which leads me to think that if I tried a bit harder, by building more ships and raiding enemy ports and destroying ai ships on sight that I might have been able to keep up this trick indefinately. Then I would have a trade monopoly.

Did anybody ever try this, I know I will next time, but my current game isnt over yet.

 

[sourboy]

It's great on archapaelego (sp?) maps especially if you pump out tons of Privateers so you can't be held accountable for your actions. Heck, you could probably get such a huge tech lead that you could play it as a 5CC, assuming they are all coastal cities - then win any way you want in the end...

I've thought about this strategy many times myself, but I suck at seafaring - and I hate the En-glush, tha wanka's! Though I think I'll give it a go tonight - I'll keep ya posted if I learn anything useful...


:fish: (no naval smilies?)

 

[barron of ideas]

You are welcome to control the sea if I can control the land.

 

[SolarFlare]

By the time each civ has 4 or 5 galleys floating around, you won't be able to stop them fast enough without attacking them and initiating war, I think. But still you raise a good point. I usually trade contacts the turn I get them, but I never thought of benefitting from the indefinitely. It would be quite a trick to pull off.

 

[Chieftess]

It's possible, since the techs won't depriciate as much (the other civ doesn't know about other civs having the same tech).

 

[ss3goku]

i also have this huge problem with the navy, i rarely build one and focus completely on land. What should be the ratio of land to sea forces? I'd really apperciate the help.

 

[SolarFlare]

Depends on the map and on your position in the map. In pangaea (seems to be what most people play here, although not me) maps where you are in the interior, you should focus mostly on land forces. On archipelago maps, dont build more troops than you have galleys/galleons/transports to carry them or they'll be stranded (also on archipelago you'll have more destroyers/battleships instead of artillery).

 

[British Bulldog]

i rarely build my navy, as i play on a pangea most of the time. i think ill give this a go though, sounds interesting...

 

[Qitai]

Probably not indefinitely, but can sure delay it quite abit. If you do not want war, you need pivateer though. I have use it before but has not ever successfully keep it for long.

 

[globester]

You won't let'm colonize either, so after a while you'd bypass all of them with your own research. You'd still be able to trade it for resources etc though


Nice idea, I'm gonna try it

 

[Mano3]

I used to concentrate on land forces myself, until the AI kept invading me from the sea and bombarding my coastline. Now I build up a picket-line of ships as a ring around my coasts. If the AI decides to attack, hopefully my navy can sink him before any damage is done.

As a note: I usually don't build the picket-line until I have destroyers. Early ships can't carry a lot of troops, so my early navies tend to be small.

 

[SolarFlare]

I hate building destroyers because they're not upgradeable (I know, I know, make a mod, well guess what I don't want to). So I try to hold off until battleships unless a war is already underway. Generally the AI doesn't initiate a war in the sea, so I will have time to build a couple of ships before he sends transports anyway.

 

[barron of ideas]

What's a Battle Cruiser in Civ III? Did you meant to type Battleship? Is there is a new type of naval force I should know about? Civ I had both BCs and BBs, but I haven't seen the option for Battle Cruisers in Civ III. Maybe I am missing an opportunity?

 

[SolarFlare]

Sorry I meant battleship . I guess I was thinking about starcraft . Edited to correct it.

 

[Norlamand]

I have, on rare occasions, used a line of ships to deny access between land masses. The AI has to go the long way around and I have time to grab the prime real estate. I've never tried to fully dominate the seas though. It doens't hold much interest for me. I only use sea units as a means to obtain more land/lux/resources or conctacts. I'll have to give it a try on an archipelego type map or one with widely spaced conts

 

[SinisterDeath]

good idea, although I'm not a fan of Archipelago maps, I'm going to try it tonight.

 

[benstandby]

Originally posted by ss3goku
i also have this huge problem with the navy, i rarely build one and focus completely on land. What should be the ratio of land to sea forces? I'd really apperciate the help.

I rarely play Pangaea maps, so my navy is VERY important. The "picket line" idea is nice, but expensive. Until 20th century navy (Destroyers, Battleships, Subs and Carriers), I tend to build multiple small defensive fleets and one moderately sized offensive fleet.

DEFENSIVE FLEETS

Use only fighting vessels (no galeons, no caravels with troops on them)

The first thing you need to do is break all of your coastline into strategic zones.

Next, use this as a rule of thumb: 1 ship for each coastal city in that zone.

Keep the ships in these fleets close to each other, but not stacked. Patrol with them each turn just outside the cultural borders.*

*if you are still using galleys, this is useless (see below)

Each defensive fleet has one ship for each city I have on that coast. Five cities on that coast: five ships in the defensive fleet.

OFFENSIVE FLEETS

Build one fighting ship for every coastal city in your empire (plus a few more if you're working with caravels)

Build enough transport (galleons or caravels designated as transports [I like to rename them because I'm a nerd]) to carry all of your invasion forces and maybe 20% more than that.

Stack the transports, and scout in front of them in whatever formation you think will give you the best mix of A) early warning of enemy contact and B) ability to concentrate your naval forces on a threat once spotted.

GALLEYS

Build as many as you can afford AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE!

Build them AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE!

Once you have two or three, build harbors- they will make the difference in a fight, trust me.

Spread them out at key choke points. Cover any naval route entirely. Build a line across every feasable access point.

Don't bother patroling or exploring with your designated combat or transport navy.

If you are transporting troops, bring extra galleys that are empty.

Stack any offensive galleys you use so that you don't loose any troops until you loose ALL youre extra galleys.

Hope this helps.

 

[benstandby]

I could write my graduate thesis on this, but I won't do that here. Just know that my navies are probably the lion's-share of my military budget. They even have their own transports full of marines attached to them (for those juicy "opportunity" strikes).

My forces are carrier-based (mostly fighters) with battleship escort. Destroyers/subs patrol the perimeter of my carrier/battleship stack.

I will also build groups of 5 destroyers each which patrol the seas, keeping tabs on AI fleet movements.

I tend to have 2-3 carrier groups- each with 2 carriers, 3 battleships, 3 subs, and 5 destroyers.

I support these with the above-mentioned destroyer groups. (Destroyers are CHEAP!!)

AEGIS Cruisers and Nuclear Subs will slowly replace everything but the carriers (Battleships don't get scrapped, but I stop building them; destroyers and regular subs get scrapped) once I get the technologies.



Needless to say, I go overboard



(sorry, that was a really bad joke)

 

[SolarFlare]

I rename my transports with as "Transport - 'name of city'", so that if I have a wandering transport after it makes a delivery I know where to send it back to. Each coastal city has its own transport, sometimes more than one if it's strategically located.

 

[garner]

i liked to dominate naval situations in previous civs.
but i think that it is the biggest flaw in civ3.
the bombardment thing is great, but the combat just does not add up. modern vessels should cut apart ancient and medievil units. and subs should be lethal.

but the above ideas appear to be on the mark and will work.