Naval Units

[Trine]

So I finished reading the manual and if you ask me, there aren't nearly enough different types of ships in Civ5 and the ones that exist drastically need to have their stats reworked. I mean let's see...

Ancient: Trireme 6/4

Classical: None

Medieval: None

Renaissance: Caravel 15/7 & Frigate/SotL 30/15 (30/17 for SotL)

Industrial: Ironclad 25/18 (WTF? The first 'steel' ship has lower defense than the Frigate made of wood?), Destroyer 35/22, Battleship (60/32), Submarine 25/60, Carrier 30/N/A

Modern: Missile Cruiser 60/25, Nuclear Submarine 30/70

I mean really, that's it? Two era's without any any advancement in ship building, and the Modern era barely gets any at all? We're stuck using the same old WW2 technology while we have Modern Armor tearing up the land? When I look at this, it seems like naval units were added as an afterthought and didn't get nearly the dedication they should have.

What do you all think?

 

[Jonkenden]

That the info in the manual is a mixture of outdated and not so outdated information. It's likely the frigate stats aren't accurate anymore or it's a typo.

 

[ruskyandrei]

Naval units never really did get a lot of consideration in Civ, at least now they'll be able to thoroughly trash the coastline .
It would be nice to see a medieval Cog perhaps, and also a much more clear cut differentiation between the wooden ships and the emergent "metal" ships.

 

[BjoernLars]

I think Caravel should come at the end of the Medieval era...

 

[Schuesseled]

Carvarel is the start of the renaissance and frigate is at the end, so he's right.

Anyway i would have liked to have seen some bigger and better naval units during the medieval era.

 

[migkillertwo]

Remember that if we have more units, that means it's more tasking of the AI to decide which ones to use. I'll take at least a semi-challenging AI over more toys to play with every day of the week when we have as many toys as we do.

To the guy who said that naval warfare hasn't gotten a lot of attention in Civ: Trust me, it's different this time around.

 

[RagnorIronpants]

Yeah, from the gameplay I've seen using navies to flank defensive lines looks really important - like Anzio or Inchon. They may also have left naval units relatively light whilst simultaneously making them more useful because it would make a good focus for an expansion. I hope so anyway, I love using navies.

 

[Revoran]

It does look like navies were paid more attention to in civ V, but it all remains to be seen.

I do agree that there is an annoying lack of new naval units in the classical and Middle ages, even if that sort of follows history accurately.

However there are a lot of later medieval early renassiance developments that could be worked in, ie the Galleon, Carrack, fire ships and even later the man-o-war as a larger frigate.

my suggestion would be to have something like a war canoo as the default naval unit from the start, instead of Triremes unlocking with sailing (fishing boats etc) move them forward into the Classical Era to unlock with Optics (lighthouses etc).

Then move the Caravel and add the Carrack the to late Medieval Era to unlock with Compass - Carracks being larger more powerful boats better equipped for sailing on Ocean than Caravels which were more coastal explorers.

Adding Fireships to unlock with Navigation in the middle Renassiance Era would be a great way to spice up the frigate v frigate battles. Fireships could do terrible damage to a Frigate but have less movement and be weak enough to be destroyed by a Frigate attacking on the opponents turn.

If Vikings are ever put in, the Longboat would be an interesting UU to replace the Trireme in the Medieval Era.

Alternatively, the Carrack and Man-O-War would make good UU's for Spain and Portugal if they are added in.

Here is a possible outline:

Ancient Era: Some basic starter naval unit which doesn't need to be researched. Call it the Galley (technically just means a ship with oars and minimal or no sails).

Classical Era: Trireme unlocks with Optics.

Medieval Era: Caravel unlocks with Compass in the late.

Renaissance Era: Frigates and Fireships unlock with Navigation in the middle.

Industrial Era: Ironclads unlock with Steam power at the beginning. Battleships and Destroyers unlock later with electricity, Carriers unlock the latest with Flight. If I read it right then Steam Power and Biology are both prerequisites for Electricity. Subs unlock with Refrigeration I think.

Modern Era: Nuke Subs and Missile Cruisers yay! Though Industrial Era units are still viable because of Carriers - the importance of air power over the sea and the need to escort Carriers.