Sea Battle! Cruisers, Battleships, Destroyers or Subs?

[Theov]

------------Att/def/mov bomb shields
Submarine: 8/4/4 0 100 (invisible / Stealth attack)
Destroyer: 12/6/8 6 120 (Can see subs)
Battleship: 18/12/5 8 200 (range 2 attack)
Cruiser: 15/10/6 7 160 (upgrades to Aegis 15/10/7 6 160 can see subs)
.
So, while these are available at about the same moment... which do you build most and why.
I seem to build Destroyers the most. since I have them earlier than the AI, I like to get a lot of firepower quick. Subs are too slow, because they are outran by Frigates and Battleships cost too much and are outran too if the AI has Magellan's.
I could make a case for the Cruiser, but it's one third more expensive and doesn't add much punch if the AI is still riding sails.
.
On a side note. Carriers have 8 defense and only carry 4. This makes no sense since since Carriers are bad at defending themselves on its own.
Also, they carry what 70+ planes at a time. I don't know how they got to 4, but an air transport on steroids would make more sense to me.
So carry 12, 3 defense.

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

------------Att/def/mov bomb shields
Submarine: 8/4/4 0 100 (invincible / Stealth attack)
Destroyer: 12/6/8 6 120 (Can see subs)
Battleship: 18/12/5 8 200 (range 2 attack)
Cruiser: 15/10/6 7 160 (upgrades to Aegis 15/10/7 6 160 can see subs)
.
So, while these are available at about the same moment... which do you build most and why.
I seem to build Destroyers the most. since I have them earlier than the AI, I like to get a lot of firepower quick. Subs are too slow, because they are outran by Frigates and Battleships cost too much and are outran too if the AI has Magellan's.
I could make a case for the Cruiser, but it's one third more expensive and doesn't add much punch if the AI is still riding sails.
.
On a side note. Carriers have 8 defense and only carry 4. This makes no sense since since Carriers are bad at defending themselves on its own.
Also, they carry what 70+ planes at a time. I don't know how they got to 4, but an air transport on steroids would make more sense to me.
So carry 12, 3 defense.

for Naval invasions I almost always stick to giant flotillas of:
Battleships
Transports
Carriers
a sub or 2

oh, btw, a carrier only carrying 4 is reasonable, as a real life transport can carry more than 8 people.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Submarines can be a liability in games where there's a lot of naval traffic. Someone tries to enter the same tile as your sub, boom! You're at war with them. I build a lot of destroyers to take care of pre-industrial ships and transports, gradually building battleships to counter the threat of enemy ships. Cruisers weren't added until C3C, so I've never really gotten used to building them. Destroyers seem to be the most versatile.

In my custom mod, submarines are hidden nationality and can target units within a stack, so they're QUITE useful...especially when taking out a transport you just know is about to deposit a bunch of ROP-raping troops on your shores. I use them to prevent naval invasions of the AI by other AIs when I don't want one power growing too strong.

 

[Bowsling]

That's why I like to send them out with battleships, because they are similar speed, and the battleship ensures that a neutral nation won't declare war on you because your sub is in their way.

On an unrelated note, the OP should say "invisible" beside the sub - "invincible" implies that the submarine will sink everything in it's path.

 

[creamcheese]

I build cruisers and destroyers a lot, destroyers for versatility, cheap cost, and speed. Cruiser because I like modern age units and they upgrade to Aegis for free, I also need something to have a little more hitting power than Destroyers.

Subs are really only good for picking of transports/carriers from stacks, invisible is more of a liability than a bonus, but stealth attacki s nice and can help you fight an AI with a large navy; just sink all his transports and carriers!

I think carriers have def 8 so they have a decent chance of resisting sub attack, simulating the escorts chasing off the sub or w/e.

 

[Theov]

Submarines can be a liability in games where there's a lot of naval traffic. Someone tries to enter the same tile as your sub, boom! You're at war with them. I build a lot of destroyers to take care of pre-industrial ships and transports, gradually building battleships to counter the threat of enemy ships. Cruisers weren't added until C3C, so I've never really gotten used to building them. Destroyers seem to be the most versatile.

In my custom mod, submarines are hidden nationality and can target units within a stack, so they're QUITE useful...especially when taking out a transport you just know is about to deposit a bunch of ROP-raping troops on your shores. I use them to prevent naval invasions of the AI by other AIs when I don't want one power growing too strong.

That's smart. I'm gonna make the subs neutral too.

 

[scratchthepitch]

Usually once I could build a new type, I would build it, so battleships and carriers became the backbone of my fleets as soon as I could build them. Since I'm a builder type and built up my cities into metros, having to use more shields was not a problem. I always had much more unit building capacity than I needed. Industrial metros on the coast built expensive ships, inland centers built elite ground, while far flung borderline ones built aircraft (since these could move about the map faster than land or sea units).

 

[jtb1127]

for Naval invasions I almost always stick to giant flotillas of:
Battleships
Transports
Carriers
a sub or 2

oh, btw, a carrier only carrying 4 is reasonable, as a real life transport can carry more than 8 people.

I think one unit represents more than just 8 people.

 

[PaperBeetle]

I never build subs, and have a soft spot for cruisers (possibly just because they actually have an upgrade and the others don't), but between destroyers, cruisers and battleships, I simply build whichever is least wasteful with respect to the spt of the town in question.

 

[brennan]

Trasports only. Naval warfare is absolutely pointless as it can never capture cities, which are the basic 'unit' of your Civ. I just use artillery to redline ships that are close to my shores.

 

[Rodrig0]

Cruisers! I like the balance between firepower and speed. Faster than battleships and stronger than destroyers. 200 shields seem too much for a slow unit as the battleship, and destroyers still feel weak sometimes. The AI likes to send its galleons escorted by 3 frigates, and sometimes if I attack with a destroyer, the remaining frigates can sink it in their turn. Not so easy with a cruiser. Plus they have the same movement as a transport, so they make excelent guardians. Dunno what else, I rarely bombard with ships so I don't care about range, and usually win before they can be upgraded to aegis. But as soon as cruisers are available, I put every coastal city to build one.

 

[Core Imposter]

Well, your spec data is off for Conquests.

Brennan has a point but I do escort my transports. The problem is that if attacked they are often attacked by more than one ship and a destroyer doesn't provide enough protection. Battleships are too slow for escort duty so by default crusiers are the best build as they are better at attacking and get the nifty upgrade to Aegis.

Subs are not very useful imo until you get nuclear subs and can station tactical nukes offshore.

 

[HagiaSophia]

Battleships. Sit there and blow everything else out the water. Like a Dromon on steroids.

Then go burn their coastline.

 

[Ataxerxes]

Destroyers, Battleships and Transports. If you have a lead, Destroyers are terrific with speed, power and seeing subs. When the AI gets to Destroyers, you have to go Battleships. Transports for obvious reasons.

Subs I seldom use. If I need something to share space with a Battleship, I'll use a Destroyer. On it's own there's always the chance of starting some war I don't want. The only use I could see is if you want war with another Civ but don't want the diplo hits with others. Park it right outside one of their major cities and hope. But that's hit or miss as well - I like the swift attack on my turn.

When I first started playing the Middle Ages scenario, I tried to herd a settler with military units and one invisible unit. "Why did Germany just declare war on me?"

 

[RickFGS]

I usually fight with packs, 1/2 Battleships covering my Carrier (it has air defense of 2, so 2 Battlehips make it air defense 4), then a ring of destroyers around the main body of Battleships/Carrier, that´s 8...

If i have huge resources and i´m fighting human players i stack a Cruiser or two to the main body/ring.

I dislike subs because of their limited movement, 4 moves is just bad, but they could be good for hit and run attacks near the coast...

 

[Verarde]

I like Cruisers for defending Transports, and Destroyers for running around blowing stuff up, as well as Battleships. I never use subs.

 

[Elephantium]

I like Battleships for their bombardment value and combat strength.
I like Destroyers and AEGIS Cruisers for their Sub detection.

Of course, in the epic game all the navy you really need is "enough to protect your transports" (I'm surprised vmxa hasn't said something to that effect already! )

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

I like to use subs to take out transports.