No docking at friendly ports? Very bad decision.

[JFC]

In all fairness, the docking issue is mute. One of the greatest advantages of wooden battle ships of the line was the amount of skilled men on board and the ease of which they could be repaired anywhere...

Ships could refit whilst at anchor off a beach, as long as there was good timber and sufficient supplies ashore, so the scope there is an interesting one.

Also the issue of going INTO ports... CA 'might' have missed a trick here, men were press ganged into service... especially in the RN. If a Ship in those days actually went along side... half the crew would leg it! (I know I would if it was Hawaii!) So ships of the line would often remain at anchor offshore anyway.

My final point... Navies of the day where VERY dependent on the use of allied ports not only for supplies, but for Communication... History Lesson.. The French HAD to muster their fleet at Cadiz (Spain) prior to Trafalgar 1805 as the RN had literally scuppered their chances at Quiberon Bay 1759, the Nile 1798 and the RN was very dependent on the Portugese ports both in Portugal and the S Americas particularly when defending imperial interests abroad and protecting trade routes.

[Ludicus]

.... Navies of the day where VERY dependent on the use of allied ports not only for supplies, but for Communication... and the RN was very dependent on the Portugese ports both in Portugal and the S Americas particularly when defending imperial interests abroad and protecting trade routes.

Right,the RN was dependent on the Portuguese ports for ressuplying and for strategic reasons.
For example: Cape Vert and Azores position astrid mid-atlantic shipping lanes made those territories an ideal location for ressuplying ships.
However, for repairs, the history is not the same.For example,after the battle of Trafalgar, the HSM Colossus, badly damaged, was towed into Gibraltar by HSM Agamemnon, and was sent back to the UK for repairs on 19 Nov 1805.
Another example, the HSM Victory, after Trafalgar : repairs at Chatam.
The same ship- HSM Victory- after the battle of St Vicent (near the portuguese coast ,Cabo de São Vicente)- had a large repair at Chatam.
Also,after St Vicent, the HSM The Captain, Nelson´s ship, badly damaged, was towed into the Portuguese port of Lagos, but it was not repaired in Portugal.

[ivan_the_terrible]

I too think that this was a poor decision. IMO you should be able to at least carry out minor repairs in an ally's dock, if not total repairs.

This actually brings up an important point:
Will navies just be left out in the middle of the sea indefinitely like in previous TW games?
Or will they have to periodically go to port to resupply etc?

Personally, I prefer the latter option since its more realistic.



PS. Happy New Year Everyone!

[JFC]

Ludicus...

Agreed that your history is correct (even though RN ships were called HMS and not HSM) I think you will find that most campaigns fought during the Napoleonic war needed some form of host nation support. Also agreed that mass refit and repair of 'Ships of the line' had to be conducted at home ports due to the tempering of the timber, location of fleet naval architects, etc... but I never said foreign ports were 'vital' for repairs. Even though they were 'very' important. Referring to just the RN isn't the rule here, the Admiralty had the luxury of Gibraltar, but fought like a tiger to keep it from the Spanish as it was the gateway to the Med (and great for duty free).
But look at other Navies. The French and Dutch were continuously repairing at US ports in the 1700s even though both powers had ports in the Caribbean, due to lack of good materials on the islands; including wood, iron and gunpowder... but great beaches. Too many holiday resorts though.

[english tyrant]

RN ships were called HMS and not HSM)

Stands for His/Her Majesty's Ship.
Anyway as JFC said any where there were trees a ship could weigh anchor and have some light repairs done. Just a patch up though. for a full blown fix you would need a dry dock in the nearest friendly port.

[JFC]

Anyway as JFC said any where there were trees a ship could weigh anchor and have some light repairs done. Just a patch up though. for a full blown fix you would need a dry dock in the nearest friendly port.

Happy with that... I agree with Ludicus that 'major refit' repairs were done in home ports. No Naval Admiralty worth their salt (excuse the pun) would be happy to have one of their Warships in a foreign (albeit friendly) port, out of the water and on blocks. The sheer loss of control a captain would have 100s of miles from home... Sabotage and crew going AWOL was rife even at the best of times. As I have said.. Resupply, Communication, Minor repairs were the norm in friendly ports. As well as anchoring off anywhere else, due to the skilled labour on board.

[Ludicus]

I think you will find that most campaigns fought during the Napoleonic war needed some form of host nation support.

Absolutely. Agreed.
"HSM" was a typing error...

The French and Dutch were continuously repairing at US ports in the 1700s even though both powers had ports in the Caribbean, due to lack of good materials on the islands

Right,good point.
And I forgot Antigua:
"In Antigua’s southeastern corner lies a jewel of a harbour, completely enclosed by land and rugged hills. During the 18th and 19th centuries, when the sugar trade, so economically important to Europe’s warring nations, was threatened, the admirals of England’s navy chose this harbour to establish a repair yard in the Eastern Caribbean. This historic treasure, the Dockyard, was built using the skill, ingenuity and combined effort of the colonial residents of both African and European descent. Our ancestors laboured to build it under difficult conditions, and we must treasure this heritage".

Ivan wrote and I agree:

IMO you should be able to at least carry out minor repairs in an ally's dock

[Kamikaze 738]

Having the ability to repair ships in allied ports is a great idea, I dont get why the company didnt implanted this in? It actually makes allies useful for once...

[Ludicus]

I dont get why the company didnt implanted this in?...

Well,the reason for this...:

There are a number of issues involved in allowing the player’s warships to enter friendly/neutral ports that don’t really add anything good to gameplay

A more challenging game.

[King Edward III]

Stands for His/Her Majesty's Ship.
Anyway as JFC said any where there were trees a ship could weigh anchor and have some light repairs done. Just a patch up though. for a full blown fix you would need a dry dock in the nearest friendly port.

His/Her Majesty's Service.

[boerekovic]

Really dissapointed. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm not the "ZOMG IM GONNA TAKE OVAH THE HOLE WORLD LOL LOL CONQUEZZST"..

I prefer roleplaying.

How about World of Warcraft then? Maybe youll end up being an elven.

as Mr.T sez : You have to Play Warcraft! UNDERSTOOD???

[vamperium]

Hello all, yes this is my first post here, I've ben coming to these forums for a couple of months after searching for a decent M2 mod, and I thought I'd like to chime in this issue.

I agree with the OP, this is a bad decision if it stands, and to me it would seem easy to implement without having ships actually enter ports. I was thinking about it earlier, and all they would really have to do is have each ship with some kind of guage on it on the campaign map to represent supplies like food and gunpowder and such, and when a ship is adjacent to a port allow them to be resupplied. There could be a cost associated with this, the highest cost being in neutral ports, slightly lower in allied ports, and very low or none in home ports. It could also allow you to replenish crews, but to represent the press gangs mentioned earlier, the experience drop could be VERY significant from neutral ports, and a little less of a drop at allied but still significant. Now, me being an old Civ player, it would be nice to have options to be able to do this automatically just by right-clicking on a port and being able to set what you want replenished, to help cut down on micromanagement, and also when ships merge into a fleet the supplies could be dispersed among all of them, To me this sounds fun, balanced, and more realisitic than leaving a ship in the water for 20 years and nothing happening. It also kind of reaches into the overall idea of whether CA will dumb down features and make the game arcadey, the fact that they said they are going to let the player come along slowly actually gives me some hope that they won't, but we will see, I just hope as many here have said, that logistics and supplies are in. If not, well, maybe the modders can save Empire like they did for M2. Anyways, sorry for this being so long, feel free to voice your thoughts on this
V

[Icefrisco]

@vamperium

Welcome to twc! Thanks for agreeing with me. Everything you said sounds good because your recomendations are fun and historical. Too bad CA does not listen to people like you.

[vamperium]

@ icefrisco
Thanks, nice sig btw, I'm a huge fan of that show as well
No soup for you!

[MehemtAli_Pasha]

i agree..specially in this time period where u'll be using ships throughout the game..it is a bad decision but not the worst...yet

[trueman11]

Maybe someone could answer me this: can repairing anywhere be modded in, or is it hopelessly hardcoded?