Harald Hardrada

[ferretbacon]

I'm worried that naval units will be even less relevant in VI compared to V considering the fact that you no longer need coastal cities to build naval units. Sure, true coastal cities may be more difficult to siege, but that seems like a minor reason to settle directly on the coast. If you're slightly inland, you don't have to worry about naval units at all really.

For that reason I'm not too excited to see another naval UU. We've now got the:

• Sea Dog (perfectly fine, but breaks the British/Victorian theme of the civ)
• U-Boat (disappointing due to Germany being a land power)
• Minas Geraes (disappointing due to its obscurity and the historical irrelevance of Brazil's navy), and
• Longship

I may be mistaken, but I believe vanilla Civ V only had one naval UU with England's Ship of the Line. If naval units are indeed sidelined in VI, it's counter intuitive to make so many naval UUs.

There's some speculation that the Greeks might have the Trireme, which would also be a shame because they'd likely skip the Hoplite, which I feel is as iconic to Greece as the Legion is to Rome or the Samurai to Japan.

Guess we'll have to see how naval power pans out. Might be something they have to tweak in a patch.

I wonder what the Longship might do though? I doubt it will interact with rivers even though it would be fitting. Maybe it can colonize the coast, similar to the Conquistador of V, or enter ocean hexes early? They might go less Viking raider and more explorer with it. Viking explorers crossed the Atlantic in their longships after all.

Perhaps it can be expended to create a landing force of swordsmen or spearmen? A bit out there, but might be cool.

If Harald Hardrada is one of the leaders who gets an extra UU from his LUA, does anyone else think it might be appropriate for him to receive the Varangian Guard despite that being, technically, a Byzantine unit?

 

[Metecury]

I seriously hope long ships can attack coastal land tiles with melee attacks.

 

[Lillefix]

The thing is though, that viking theme is already sort of taken by England. Harbors, boats, coastal invasions for gold and land, stealing everyone's artefacts... Having a purely viking themed civ alongside this seems awfully redundant.

The Vikings will be much earlier than the English I would imagine. Longboat comes with sailing which is relatively early.

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

I'm worried that naval units will be even less relevant in VI compared to V considering the fact that you no longer need coastal cities to build naval units. Sure, true coastal cities may be more difficult to siege, but that seems like a minor reason to settle directly on the coast. If you're slightly inland, you don't have to worry about naval units at all really.

Except when the enemy comes to pillage your Harbor District and you're no longer able to spawn naval units from that city. They then pillage all of your sea resources and naval trade routes and can bombard your slightly inland city with impunity (especially in the era of Battleships). Try to rebuild that Harbor District and it will just be pillaged again before you can mount a formidable navy to repel the attacker. Having a coastal/naval presence that relies strictly on slightly inland cities will be a dangerous gamble if you don't have a powerful navy to protect those Harbor Districts.

 

[ferretbacon]

Except when the enemy comes to pillage your Harbor District and you're no longer able to spawn naval units from that city. They then pillage all of your sea resources and naval trade routes and can bombard your slightly inland city with impunity (especially in the era of Battleships). Try to rebuild that Harbor District and it will just be pillaged again before you can mount a formidable navy to repel the attacker. Having a coastal/naval presence that relies strictly on slightly inland cities will be a dangerous gamble if you don't have a powerful navy to protect those Harbor Districts.

Right... but if the only incentive to have a navy is to counter another navy, they're not extremely relevant. I don't know the base ranges on naval units in VI, but if you're two tiles inland (the minimum to still build a harbor district, I believe), then naval units will pose little direct threat to your city.

Obviously you ought to still have a navy, but it seems to be more marginalized this time around.

 

[MadDjinn]

Well if battleships can clear all your lands (and would be nice if they could bombard districts) then you can't stop them from taking the city via a landing.

previous ranged ships could probably also do damage with a shorter range.

Yes obviously map type matters, but if your even remotely on a map that has water, you'll be locked down and possibly open to raids and capture of weak cities.

Edit:

And even historically a navy was more about the ability to project power and let other units have access to enemy territory or cut off trade. So it's never going to be the thing that takes over entire nations, unless those are coastal.

What it may mean is that in key cities you may need/want to place an encampment next to the harbour.

 

[ferretbacon]

Well if battleships can clear all your lands (and would be nice if they could bombard districts) then you can't stop them from taking the city via a landing.

I hope they can bombard districts. With the option to move your coastal cities in by a couple of tiles, they need all the targets they can get.

I really hope that the AI this time around understands how to pull off naval combat and amphibious assaults.

 

[isau]

It would be very interesting if the presence of a Harbor allows the invasion of a city with a ship. As in, if an enemy sails into your Harbor with a ship, you lose the city center, the exact same way you'd lose the Harbor if the City Center was captured.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

It would be very interesting if the presence of a Harbor allows the invasion of a city with a ship. As in, if an enemy sails into your Harbor with a ship, you lose the city center, the exact same way you'd lose the Harbor if the City Center was captured.

I think that's a little much, but I think it would be cool if you did pillage a harbour district of enemy units could land there with no debarcation penalties

 

[Deggial]

I hope they can bombard districts. With the option to move your coastal cities in by a couple of tiles, they need all the targets they can get.

IIRC, we've seen bombers targeting and destroying improved city tiles without units. 'Strategic bombing' seems to be a thing in Civ6 and chances seem high that battleships are capable to do the same.

 

[Siptah]

I want this to be included:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...-nils-olav-inspects-his-guard-and-gets-promo/
Maybe a unique great general?

 

[one179]

There's some speculation that the Greeks might have the Trireme, which would also be a shame because they'd likely skip the Hoplite, which I feel is as iconic to Greece as the Legion is to Rome or the Samurai to Japan.

Gue

If they skip Hoplite, i will not buy this game.

 

[criZp]

Yeah the unique Great General Brigadier Sir Nils Olav, which makes all nearby friendly units have a -90% combat strenght modifier

Can be expended in a zoo for extra tourism

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

Yeah the unique Great General Brigadier Sir Nils Olav, which makes all nearby friendly units have a +9001% combat strenght modifier

Can be expended in a zoo for extra tourism

Fixed that for you

Surprised he's not leading them TBH, fairly sure the Norweigian contingent hear would be 100% behind such a decision.

 

[Mustakrakish]

Longships? Did I miss something?

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

Longships? Did I miss something?

Revealed in a tooltip on sailing tech in the livestream

 

[CaiusDrewart]

There's some speculation that the Greeks might have the Trireme, which would also be a shame because they'd likely skip the Hoplite, which I feel is as iconic to Greece as the Legion is to Rome or the Samurai to Japan.

I wonder if Pericles gets the Trireme and Gorgo gets the Hoplite, to represent the contrast between Athenian naval power and Spartan land power. This would be a bit silly, of course, since Athenians of course also fought as hoplites (and very good ones). Or perhaps the Hoplite is a unique for Greece, and the Trireme is an extra unique for Pericles?

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

If Greece get the trireme, is there no general naval unit on sailing then?

edit: nvm, galley

But since trireme doesnt unlock with sailing, when excatly would greece get their hands on it? Seems odd...

 

[Haggbart]

Fixed that for you

Surprised he's not leading them TBH, fairly sure the Norweigian contingent hear would be 100% behind such a decision.

Actually there is an anti-ship missile developed in Norway called Penguin. It was the world's first fire-and- forget IR guided missile IIRC. Maybe make that a norwegian UU and name it Sir Nils Olav?

 

[Krajzen]

Actually there is an anti-ship missile developed in Norway called Penguin.

Terrifying powerful killing machine called after goddamned penguin. Out of all possible names you could give it - great marine creatures, orcas, dolphins, or some bird hunters, or powerful phenomena like storms, or viking kings, or ya know EPIC VIKING SAGAS OF UNIVERSE IN WAR - no, Norwegians called this huge piece of deadly weaponry, one of the first in the world of its kind, penguin.

Look Olaf, look at this magnificent weapon capable of annihilating a battlecruiser.

I seriously can't think of less threatening name - maybe that's some psychological trick? You know, nobody treats approaching "penguins" seriously until they kill 100 men and sink battleship?