Ancient naval battles

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Linked with Rome TW mod

I'd like to create a mod using the naval battle engine of Empire Total War, that lets you actually fight naval battles, not just auto-resolve them.


Some useful links:
Naval history
Trireme
Hellenic Navy
Phoenician Ships
Roman Navy
Roman Ship Models
Punic Wars
Byzantine Navy
List of ancient naval battles
Ancient Mediterranean Shipwrighting with Particular Attention on Egyptian Construction Techniques by Empress Meg

Some pictures:

Portrait of an ancient naval battle



Ships on the Nile




The Roman Attack at Mylae




Modern reconstruction of an ancient trireme




Standard maneuver 1: the periplous




Standard maneuver 2: the diekplous




Reconstucted Roman war galley at the museum of Antique Ship Travel in Mainz. Note the slim lines and businesslike bow ram - the Roman equivalent I suspect of a modern Fast Attack Craft!




The Six Roman Ship Classes



Here are some Celtic and Viking boats


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[vamperium]

I'd say that's pretty much a given, the timeframe for such a mod to come out though? No telling, you could be waiting a while, and by then R2TW will almost be out.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

I'd say that's pretty much a given, the timeframe for such a mod to come out though? No telling, you could be waiting a while, and by them R2TW will almost be out.

R2TW? Is it officially announced yet?

[Hellenes]

R2TW? Is it officially announced yet?

No but I can bet that the next game will be NTW....the new engine is just not suited for RTW era....And as we all know:
STW+New Engine---->M1TW+Same engine, RTW+New Engine----->M2TW+Same Engine....
So ETW will need a similarly styled game in order to use the engine...

[i like haggis]

No but I can bet that the next game will be NTW....the new engine is just not suited for RTW era....And as we all know:
STW+New Engine---->M1TW+Same engine, RTW+New Engine----->M2TW+Same Engine....
So ETW will need a similarly styled game in order to use the engine...

if you went rtw => m2tw, why couldnt you go etw => r2tw? rome had no gunpowder, m2tw did. etw will still have melee battles, just less.

[Keeper of the Keys]

Love the naval info but you wouldn't have any on Barbarian & Persian factions of the time would you.

[Radiso-FIN]

I think it will be very difficult to mod RTW mod for ETW, cos ETW is built around gunpowder units. It would cause some problems to mod phalanx formation, shieldwalls etc. But nice idea anyway... Although, modders are very skilled, perhaps they can surprise us...

[vamperium]

Well NTW2 was built on the Rome engine, so I would think the reverse could be done, though I have no skill at modding myself. I would agree that it would be difficult though, but not impossible.

[Ketchup]

Just because ETW is based on gunpowder, doesn't mean that there won't be sword/bayonet (which is similar to spear) combat. IMO, I think it will be easier to mod ETW to an ancient timeframe than it was to mod RTW to an industrial timeframe (N2TW). I am sure the more than competent modders here will achieve such a thing, although it could well be 4 years away from now.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Hey just imagine how exciting would it be to see those galleys smashing into each other's side, boarder ships would set poles on the enemy ships, footbridge would be laid down for the soldiers to rush in, fires burning up whole fleets!

Yuhuuu!

[Kennylz]

This game has such a strong and talented mod community that it is almost a given, friend.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

I can't wait!

[Elzabar]

I can't wait!

You're gonna have to buddy, mods dont magically get made.

[Aedan2812]

i know it didnt really happen in the era of ETW but do you think we will be able to ram our ships into the sides of enemy ships? as a last resort maybe?

[vamperium]

i know it didnt really happen in the era of ETW but do you think we will be able to ram our ships into the sides of enemy ships? as a last resort maybe?

Wasn't that mentioned or hinted at in a Q&A?

[Allu X]

Not sure why having naval battles in the classical era would be much fun - how are they fun?

Medieval... maybe - but still, late era only -

[Kennylz]

Some people prefer the idea of having two large vessels crash together then have a melee sprawl more than ships of the line duking it out with cannons.

I'm not one of them, but still!

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Gunpowder isn't just everything.
In fact the Battle of the Aegates Islands during the first Punic war was one of the greatest battles in the classical era, and battle of Actium involved hundreds of ships as well. And should I even mention the importance of naval warfare by the ancient greek city-states?

Why should we miss these battles?

[Taxandrius]

isn't the NAVAL BATTLES FOR ROME! - thread suppposed to be in the RTW forums ?

Anyway, I'm a fan of the naval battles idea. There should be naval battles in RTW, but in a whole other style then the ETW naval battles.
In ETW, naval battles should be cannon based: 2 ships blasting each others flank of.

In RTW, naval battles should be flanking and ramming based: a ship tries to ram another ship or tries to flank the hostile vessel to let their soldiers attack the ship.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

In RTW, naval battles should be flanking and ramming based: a ship tries to ram another ship or tries to flank the hostile vessel to let their soldiers attack the ship.

I agree. We could also include fire archers to burn whole fleets, paddle smashing effects, and maybe Greek fire for the BI era.