Embarkation?

[stealth_nsk]

Does anyone know if England's unique ability applies to embarked units?

It should, or they are rather weak.

 

[Helmling]

If embarkation is a unit promotion, how do you move a unit like a settler or great merchant across the water?

This is a huge and important question, I think.

It says in the charts in the manual that Optics unlocks "embarking." I'm reading this to mean that if I spawn next to a little island, then I would have to research sailing and then Optics before I could send a settler or worker over to that island.

Right?

 

[Tarkhan]

Embarkation is not a unit promotion. It is doable once optics is discovered. Embarkation is mentioned and shown in Part 2 of the live streamed game.

@Helmling: Yes, I believe so. I am going out on a limb and figuring the new map generator will avoid placing civs on tiny islands, dooming them to stagnation and defeat.

 

[Senethro]

It seems to be a promotion that is applied for free to all land units on tech discovery.

 

[Lancor]

You will need optics to move civilian land units via embarking on coast water tiles.

But fear not, optics is only a classical tech now, and should be reachable quickly.

So yes, you will need to research optics as fast as possible, if you start on a smaller island, to expand.


For moving over the ocean tiles you will need astronomy tech.

 

[12agnar0k]

If there is no early Embark promotion, which I suspect may be true after not seeing it on my latest viewing on 2k Gregs playthrough, then indeed, if you start on a really small island, you have to wait till optics before land units can leave. Which is by first getting,
Pottery - Sailing - Optics.
It's only 1 tech after Sailing, so its not an ardous wait after the first Military sailing ship before Civilian ones are made. However to travel the Ocean's, you need further research,
Writing - Philosophy - Theology - Education - v
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Compass - Astronomy
Which is a substantial extra branch of the tree needed to sail the oceans, I guess the game doesn't let illiterate man sail anything harder than a weak current and brisk wind, the heathens!

 

[Feyd Rautha]

I thought embarkation required Optics. The manual doesn't list any prerequisites for it.

Optics is a prereq. It allows any land unit to embark and the beeline would be as follows:

Pottery (35 science) > Sailing (55 Science) > Optics (80 Science).

Personally, I'd get to Sailing, start The Great Lighthouse, and then backfill techs for the basic worker actions before moving on to Optics (that is unless you are on a small island and need to embark to expand.

If embarkation is a promotion... it sounds really, well strange... There's no way they'd do that. It would be so unrealistic to say "ok you can't EVER transport these units to another continent".

It is a promotion, but it is a general promotion. They only actually receive it when they enter the water tile (before then it is impassable).

It would be nice if different era's units have different embarkation movement rates, to match the old galley/galleon/transport groupings.

Well, you get a boost (undefined) with Astronomy and another (again undefined) with Steam power. I'd wager that they wind up with 4 move with all the boosts. One move less than a battleship which lines up with the Victory ship to Battleship speed ratio from WWII (insofar as Battleships had a faster cruising speed).

Does anyone know if England's unique ability applies to embarked units?

It does. England with Great Lighthouse and Naval Tradition and they gain +2 sight and +4 movement off of the base!!! (That makes a transport as fast as a standard destroyer!)