A Nerf of melee naval & embarked units:
I recently played a game as the Zulus during which in two turns I lost a size 12 city (defended but no fortification buildings) to three Korean frigates. Each one had the Raider 1 promotion but nothing else, and hit my city for ~180 HP each time. Is that not overpowered? It takes several turns of pounding via siege engines (as it should) to take a large inland city. Coastal cities are currently sitting ducks, so to speak, regardless of fortifications.
Regarding embarked units, I've found them actually LESS vulnerable on water than on land. It shouldn't be so. I agree that embarked units shouldn't be defenseless as they were in the vanilla game, but a same-era melee naval unit shouldn't be hard-pressed to win an engagement against an embarked unit, either.
Finally, undefended carriers should be weaker. They have a higher overall strength than Battleships and this makes no sense. A carrier without (or even with) aircraft and accompanying support ships should be a vulnerable target, as in the real world. I couldn't figure out why I saw so many AI carriers without aircraft until I finally realized it was using them solo for that high melee value.
I recently played a game as the Zulus during which in two turns I lost a size 12 city (defended but no fortification buildings) to three Korean frigates. Each one had the Raider 1 promotion but nothing else, and hit my city for ~180 HP each time. Is that not overpowered? It takes several turns of pounding via siege engines (as it should) to take a large inland city. Coastal cities are currently sitting ducks, so to speak, regardless of fortifications.
Regarding embarked units, I've found them actually LESS vulnerable on water than on land. It shouldn't be so. I agree that embarked units shouldn't be defenseless as they were in the vanilla game, but a same-era melee naval unit shouldn't be hard-pressed to win an engagement against an embarked unit, either.
Finally, undefended carriers should be weaker. They have a higher overall strength than Battleships and this makes no sense. A carrier without (or even with) aircraft and accompanying support ships should be a vulnerable target, as in the real world. I couldn't figure out why I saw so many AI carriers without aircraft until I finally realized it was using them solo for that high melee value.