The Naval Gameplay Enhancement
Empire introduced real-time naval battles to the Total War series for the first time. The reaction to them on the forum has generally been very positive, and we are very proud of our first foray into naval warfare.
However as they are our first effort, naturally we feel we could do more. Therefore one of the things we're focussing on in update 1.4 is naval battle balancing.
Whilst on the land you have quite clear lines between different unit types, naval battles at releasing were mostly lacking in that area, there was no rock, paper, scissor balance. Whilst there were differences, they were not really big enough to encourage mixed fleets.
So for update 1.4 there has been a rebalancing of ships to create greater diversity between different ship types along with improving the overall game play of the battles.
The balance that now exists for naval battles is like this:
Ships of the Line beat Frigates who beat Small Ships who beat Ships of the Line who beat Ships of the Line
Now of course this is not the complete extent of it. Ships of the Line are still the best at taking on other Ships of the Line. Special ships such as rocket ships, bomb ketches and galleys fill special niches on the battlefield.
This new balance has been achieved by adjusting the hull strength, marksmanship (accuracy), reload rate, ranges, morale and damage of various ships.
The ship types now work like this:
Ships of the Line
Pros:
- Best morale
- Strongest hulls
- Best firepower
Cons:
- Slow speed
- Large turning circle
- Low accuracy and slow reload time
- Shorter range guns
Frigates
Pros:
- Good accuracy and reload speed
- Long range guns
- Good speed and turning rate
Cons
- Relatively weak hulls
- Not much firepower
Small Ships (sloops and brings)
Pros:
- Fastest ships
- Very manoeuvrable
- Best accuracy and reload time
- Long range guns like frigates
Cons:
- Very weak hulls
- Lowest amount of firepower
Now of course there is variance within each ship type, and especially within Ships of the Line there are now more noticeable differences in firepower and other stats between ships such as 4th rates and 3rd rates.
And with the above changes, you can see how the new balance dynamic works. Ships of the Line are very strong and have large amounts of firepower, but low accuracy, slow turn speed and lower range compared to frigates and small ships makes them vulnerable to fast small ships like sloops. Frigates are also a threat, but being bigger targets than small ships means they are vulnerable if they wander into the Ships of the Line range.
Small ships, being very fast and manoeuvrable can keep at range of Ships of the Line and hit them with their longer guns whilst out-turning them. As chain shot has received a boost in damage, even with their low amount of fire power ships such as sloops can be a threat to even the biggest Ships of the Line. It may take a few of them or a long time, but they can wear them down.
Frigates sit in between the other two types. Still fast and nimble, they have long range guns like the small ships. But because they are bigger in size, they are more vulnerable against Ships of the Line if they wander into their gun range. They have good accuracy and quite quick reload rate, and this combined with their nimble nature allows them to take on the even fast sloops and brigs.
All ships have been adjusted to have overall more accurate gun types, and the sterns of all ships have been weakened a lot in order to make raking shots more damaging. Various modifiers have tweaked to reduce the amount of random ship sinking whilst the health bars only showed little damage. Now it is pretty much always clear when a ship is likely to sink.
The turn rate whilst stopped has also been reduced for most ships to prevent them from turning quickly on the spot and acting like turrets.
Rocket ships have also had some changes made to their rockets to make them less powerful.
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All these changes combined add a new dynamic to naval battles. The best fleet will still be mostly Ships of the Line with a few frigates in support, but now there is the possibility of a wider range of tactics.
So with 1.4 you will be getting a new gameplay experience for naval battles which adds a new dynamic and rock, paper, scissors element to them.
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