Slitherine

I know my troops can walk on water ... even before Constantine converts. Hallelujah!

But I know they are safer traveling as a fleet. The problems I have:

* The fleet stack and the land stack both have a leader, but I lose one, and then lose experience adding the commander back.

* I lose the names given to the stacks.

* I have trouble coordinating in the sense that I can get the troops to disembark upon arrival, but I cannot get the ships to wait for the troops before setting sail.

Will some kindly admiral give this land lubber some tips, please?

Thanks.

I never combine a fleet and an army. Gain sea control with your fleet. Know where the enemy ships are and neutralize them. Then move your army in safety with its commander in charge. Good luck!

This post was made by player Soar in a previous thread:

Soar wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 3:46 pm Each ship provides 1 supply point. 5 supply points is equivalent to one food unit; most units eat between 2 to 4 points depending on unit type, terrain acclimation, ruler skill and generals' traits. As you say, you need a pretty substantial fleet to properly supply a large army.

Here is the link to the thread:

viewtopic.php?f=534&t=96970

Gray Fox wrote: ↑Thu Mar 26, 2020 3:22 pm I never combine a fleet and an army. Gain sea control with your fleet. Know where the enemy ships are and neutralize them. Then move your army in safety with its commander in charge. Good luck!

its simpler than that, just make sure the fleet and the army enter a region in the same sub-phase during movement, they will then move together till they reach the target region. Obv easier if you start them in the same region but you can create move paths that ensure this before moving into potentially hostile regions

Let's say I have a larger navy than my enemy. Thus, I can escort my army to assault their homeland without worry. No problem, I just use my entire navy, right? However, I also want to keep my harbors open and prevent their armies from returning the favor. My ships cannot do two missions at once. A navy exists to control the seas, as Mahan pointed out.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/in ... BFB53F86E5

Before you start a war, send light warships to scout out the enemy. Build a fleet larger and stronger than theirs. Send it in a sweep from a supplied sea region through the enemy sea regions to destroy their navy. Do a return sweep back to a supply base. Continue this search and destroy mission until the enemy is no more. You now have sea control and all other naval operations can be accomplished.

fine if you have absolute superiority, I was suggesting how to manage close escort with the fleet in its own stack.

I also think you may find that Mahan is less than totally relevant to ancient naval warfare?

Actually, I've already questioned this as it applies to the game. When I blockade Rome, I accomplish very little. The regions only lose income from their harbors, but still get all of the trade to the blockaded harbor. Sea trade at this time followed the coast and the ships never lost sight of land. Known patterns of seasonal wind created a very few deep sea routes, but travel on the Mediterranean in the 4 months of winter was too dangerous. So I don't require squadrons of AWACS planes scouting millions of square miles for carrier battle groups to interdict trade. Groups of triremes prowling the coast is all that's needed.

I have not yet won the game as Rome although I have played as Rome the most often. I get bored of the civil wars and start a new game. I have won as Macedonia and most recently as Carthage in my last play-through. The relevance here is that when I started my campaign as Carthage I told myself, let Carthage be Carthage. I concentrated on building my navy. Macedonia won as a powerful land force to be reckoned with possessing several large highly experienced army stacks. Carthage had few powerful armies and many small armies with few commanders but their navy was shiny. I built an extremely powerful navy with many scouting/escort fleets and a a couple of powerful combat fleets. As Carthage I had complete naval superiority and the campaign demonstrated how powerful that is. I almost coasted to a win while possessing more territory then any of my other previous games. Very few ships moved through the Mediterranean Sea without my allowing it. The game was able to sneak a few small forces past my patrols (surprising me) but not often. Naval superiority was absolutely (historically} dominant.

Side note: (I learned enough about moral and decadence from playing Carthage that I have started a Roman campaign that I plan to finish, so far it is proceeding well).