Navy warfare : share your tactics

[DeMolay]

Hello ,

I wanted to make a thread where the most enthusiastic admirals among us would share their tactics and knowledge about how to succesfully conduct naval battles in Shogun 2

So tell me your technique to help me improve my results against the Wako pirates who usually come with a stack of 10 ships .

What formation do you use , how do you outsmart the AI , how do you use your medium and heavy Bune succefully (i tend to lose them to boarding attacks from the AI quite often ) , how many do you use in a stack of 10 ships , etc...

Please share your knowledge , there aren't many threads about the naval aspect of Shogun , which i think is quite important now since AI can invade by sea and trade is so crucial

[Thorn777]

Try and distract one enemy flank with one or two small ships to create a numerical advantage on the other flank. Also having an experienced general is very handy.

nvm getting those cannon-boats. Thats auto-win.

You can also just spam and auto-calc when you have many harbours. Boats are rather cheap.

[DeMolay]

Interesting , thanks for sharing Thorn

How do you proceed during battle when there are many ships , do you micro manage all of them constantly ?
Also do you halt your ship before your archers fire , then move your ship again and so on , sort of "stop-fire-move-stop-fire-move etc" tactic ?

Also i wanted to ask , do you charge your ships close to the ennemy ? or do you circle around them trying to remain far from them ? I'd really like to know how one handles in the early part of the game a typical battle like this : 3 bow kobayas + 2 medium bune versus AI with 3 bow kobaya + 2 medium bune : how would you approach such a battle ?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about how to outsmart the AI , i tend to do very well when there is 1 vs 1 ship , or 2vs 2 , but when there are big fights like 6-10 vs 6-10 , i often get owned by the AI

[Thorn777]

I haven't played that much, but I think the big boats with many archers are allot more effective standing still and shooting, while smaller ships are used to distract and take fire.

So lets say you have 10 boats vs 10, 4 bow kobayas and 6 medium benunes both. Keep your bedunes clustered up to combine for concentrated fire-power and find opportunity to out-concentrate the AI fire-power, while using the kobayas to lure away their bedunes. I found it easier to just go on one flank with the kobayas and get on another with the bedunes, but I imagine it also working well when just keeping the set-up the game gives you at the start, having them in the middle with the smaller boats on each flank. That way you have a fairly easy time pointing and clicking, with the bedunes sortof being a very monolithic block, while you just need to maneuver allot on the flanks with the kubaya's.

Sure the small boats tend to route easily like that, unless you have a great admiral who you build up in smaller battles.

I personally cant handle to much micro-managing, or rather feel to lazy or find it it not enjoyable, so I never went with the "stop and fire" strategy. I imagine it being effective but very tiresome when pausing the game and micro-manage all the time, or very chaotic and impossible without pausing.

[Death_Sheep]

'I like big boats, I cannot lie'

This is nice if you don't have a general. Larger ships often have an 'inspire' ability.

When boarding, you may want to bring a 'missile' ship nearby. Or one of the medium 'all rounder' ships. Those have a very nice 'warcry' ability that can supplement your boarding actions. It can even help smaller ships take on larger ships.

Black Ship, I am looking at you.

[Maitea]

Hi,

when you have a different number of warcry capable ships than the enemy (e.g. Medium Bune), and go into brawling you have to be careful. The side with more Bunes can tie all hostile Bunes with theirs, once boarded the warcry ability cannot be used, but the fleet with the free bune, thus available warcry will be able to use it, and win boarding.

As another "tactic", I like to position 4 Bow Kobayas in a tight square (2 rows with 2 ships), then press the group button. With this formation you can keep these ships close together while flanking, and they attack pretty much at the same time (much less micro management than commanding them individually). But you have to keep them moving. Once this "group" stops, the vessels start pointing into all directions and it is not possible to get them back into formation.

Regards,
Mai

[DeMolay]

Interesting tips guys , i had not thought about the warcry trick with the free bune , great hint Maitea

I will try to get more experience on sea , i'll re-start a Mori campaign tonight and will try to reconstitute the historical Mori domain of 5 regions in Chugoku , then i will concentrate on my navy and try to cripple any clan that becomes too rich or too powerful by harrassing his ports , trade and launching raids on his lands by sea


Please keep posting guys if you have tricks or technique to share , also don't hesitate to ask a question if you have one , so it can be a thread where people exchange knowledge about the naval aspect of S2

[Thorn777]

Really, the best tip is to just get a hold on Euro trade-ships, have some jap-boats to buffer and shoot the crap out of everyone.

[Dileos]

Build European trade ships, order them to engage and the go afk while the slaughter begins. I'm looking for a way to rename units so I can name the admiral's ship "Matthew C. Perry".

[DeMolay]

Ok thanks for your tips guys

[Babaganoush]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That is all. Lol.

I REALLY want to initiate drop in battle where I have a person go up against my European ships vs their Wako fleet.

[dutch81]

Board first use war-cry to demoralize ... always have an admiral with the fleet especially against Wako this is your main advantage and a great source of experience. I try to use my medium ships to get quick boarding actions against the smaller ships while using my smaller ships to bring down the crew size of their bigger ships. Always stay ahead in the arms race by having a bigger, better & more experienced fleet then the AI ... oh and for good measure try the Mori as their ships are superior in 1 vs 1 match-ups across the board.

[hippacrocafish]

I haven't had many naval battles (I think I've had two total) but one thing I've learned is that variety is key. In one battle I used a Medium Bune vs. two Kobayawas (Sp?) and I lost way more men than I should have because one of the enemy ships kept skirmishing with my ship, if the other ship hadn't been exceptionally weak I would've lost for sure.

[SonOfOdin]

Brute force is the only answer. Puny yumi kobayas...

[Death_Sheep]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That is all. Lol.

I REALLY want to initiate drop in battle where I have a person go up against my European ships vs their Wako fleet.

"Hey, who left their Empire Total War in my Shogun?"

[Stellerex]

Question: is there a way to make generals or family members admirals in navies? If so how? I have a few family members sitting around in quiet areas.

[Drox]

Question: is there a way to make generals or family members admirals in navies? If so how? I have a few family members sitting around in quiet areas.

Yes you can. Just stick a general or family member in the fleet and he will be considered the admiral, which will allow him to gain experience from naval battles.

[mimcpa]

"Hey, who left their Empire Total War in my Shogun?"

Ha! Nice

But thats what i do as well, really. I was really good at the naval battles in Empire and the frankly rubbish Japanese ships compared to your HMS Victories were a bit of a shock. As a result I am rather poor at them now. Its either go Christian or use the Caravels all the time or surrender a lot.

[Buckethead]

I tend to just have 10 bow kobaya's in a line facing away from the enemy (also positioned upwind so sengoku bune can't close with my ships as quickly). When the enemy ships get within range I order them to use fire arrows and row away from the enemy in a tactical retreat. Basically horse archer tactics at sea with fire arrows lol, it works pretty much every time.

[NinjaWJ]

I found that using a lot of Bow Kobayas works wonders when they have fire arrows. Just banzai them in and focus fire one ship at a time