What good are fleets?

[Professor Chaos]

I started my first game as Ptolemaic Egypt, so I have to maintain this ginormous fleet if I don't want my government to age.

Other than escorting troop transports against other fleets, is there anything useful to do with them? It also seems like they suffer from lack of supply the moment I send them out of home waters.

[devoncop]

I started my first game as Ptolemaic Egypt, so I have to maintain this ginormous fleet if I don't want my government to age.

Other than escorting troop transports against other fleets, is there anything useful to do with them? It also seems like they suffer from lack of supply the moment I send them out of home waters.

Firstly they are invaluable for protecting island bases like Crete which is an excellent target for Egypt. Secondly they are essential if you want to capture coastal cities with defences quickly as they can blockade the city of supplies that otherwise will get through.

Thirdly they can provide temporary supply to your troops after landing on somewhere like Crete or Cyprus.

Finally of course they can destroy opposition fleets making the huge lengths of coastline Egypt often ends up controlling much more defensible.

Also, if you can keep the navy combat power over that of your army then each turn you manage it you harvest +5 Legacy points....

So yes, they do have a few uses for Egypt

[Professor Chaos]

Thanks - is it to be expected that they are out of supply as soon as they're in enemy waters?

It's not clear from the manual how naval supply works, since there doesn't seem to be any food to gather in the seas!

[devoncop]

Thanks - is it to be expected that they are out of supply as soon as they're in enemy waters?

It's not clear from the manual how naval supply works, since there doesn't seem to be any food to gather in the seas!

They get a "free turn" away from a supply source before losing strength. So to maintain a blockade the best bet is to split your "ginormous fleet" in 2 and rotate them in and out of a coastal province next to a friendly supply source (a region with sufficient food that you or your ally owns)

Remember if the enemy has no fleet around you only need a single light ship to maintain the blockade so destroying the enemy fleet first and blockading any ship producing regions means it is easy to completely cut off trade to a lot of coastline with relatively few ships as well as starving out a garrison if you have troops in the region as well.

[Geffalrus]

Don't forget that even if you're not trying to take the region, that your fleets disable all harbor/shipyard buildings which can take a big bite out of gold income. And it will prevent any shipbuilding at that location. So once you take naval superiority, it can be hard to lose it.

Naval superiority in the Aegean and some other areas is super important as moving armies by water is much, much faster than by land. And an army on the water can be easily sunk by a decently sized enemy fleet.

[Wulfburk]

Fleets are massively important in the defeat of massive blobs and factions with a lot of manpower (obviously only if there is a sea inbetween). Playing as Rhodes, i was able to effectively defeat Macedonia and conquer greece, as i defeated their 50 unit strong army crossing through the aegean sea.

[jimwinsor]

Fleets are massively important in the defeat of massive blobs and factions with a lot of manpower (obviously only if there is a sea inbetween). Playing as Rhodes, i was able to effectively defeat Macedonia and conquer greece, as i defeated their 50 unit strong army crossing through the aegean sea.

What Wulfback said. And it's not just for Rhodes either. That's how we won our on-stream game as Carthage, sending scores of Roman Imperial Legions to a watery death.

[vakarr]

If you are laying siege to a coastal town, you need a fleet to be next to it or the siege won't work, food etc will get in. If the town has two sea exits (eg Rhodes), you have to put a fleet in each sea area. If you conquer a coastal region but don't destroy the army, the remnants will attempt to escape by sea and setup their country somewhere else. If you have a fleet next to the coastal province you will instead have a sea battle where you get to sink the last remnants of that army. Later in the game you will get exploring decisions where you are asked to travel to some remote region with an army - if that region is a coastal region you also have to travel there with a fleet. Yes your fleet starts dying very quickly, don't wait until its sails become bedraggled, move it next to friendly territory immediately after moving it somewhere else.

[Bivox]

They need a bit improvement. Maybe they can raid and assault coastal town. The Greeks used massive ships to bombard and take over visual forts and town . Maybe a massive assault ship avaible for successor states. Maybe give Carthage a figthing edge on Rome until now they always loose while reality Romans were in the fight of their life.

In Ancient times, pirates were a problem that raises cost so you can use fleet to chase pirates and secure trades routes or even raid enemies trade routes for extra income ( like some total war ).

I would love if you need a fleet to actually transport troops each ship would transport a unit. Their is a reason Hannibal passed through Spain, haul and then Italy. The idea that armies just magically turn into boats is kinda of silly.

[vakarr]

In Ancient times, pirates were a problem that raises cost so you can use fleet to chase pirates and secure trades routes or even raid enemies trade routes for extra income ( like some total war ).

Pirates are generated by independent coastal nations at various places on the map. Depending on your nationality (eg if you are Crete) , You can also build or capture a "pirate lair" which creates special fleets that can raid coastal regions. Yes ancient fleets often converted into armies instantly but not the other way around. However the ability to move armies around by sea in such an uncomplicated manner is a plus as far as I'm concerned. Note that if an army embarks at a location that doesn't have a port, or disembarks at such a location, it suffers a loss of efficiency, and it takes longer to move it.

[Bivox]

Then either make fleets nessecary to embark troops or make AI smarter at using fleets and defending their shores. I was playing Macedonia when war erupted between Gather and Rome . Rome would land troops in Sardina, Sicily and Africa while the Carthagian fleet did nothing.

[Morbio]

I find fleets really useful in 2 ways;
1. To kill escaping troops that take to the seas
2. For protecting my lands from seaborne invasions.

For point 2 it seems the AI really underutilises fleets and often sends large forces to attack via the sea without any naval escort. A moderate fleet can anihilate a large army with no losses.