Sea battle tips?

**gord96** · March 25, 2009, 04:59 PM

I really didnt care much about the addition of sea battles in Empire, but after having it a few weeks I now want to try them more and get good at them.

Anyone have some tips for a noob admiral? Thanks!!

**Prof** · March 25, 2009, 05:11 PM

make groups of 4-6 ships and order them to advance in a line formation (one ship following the other) and just let them pass the enemy with autofire on.

And try not to cause any crashes

**Sarkiss** · March 25, 2009, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by Prof

make groups of 4-6 ships and order them to advance in a line formation (one ship following the other) and just let them pass the enemy with autofire on.

And try not to cause any crashes

i got a crash after winning a battle as Ameriacans against Brits. captured a ship too, and then bang, a crash!

is it common? i even got that latest update prior playing. it never crashed on me before

**HomelessDepot** · March 25, 2009, 05:15 PM

The biggest tip I can think of is to make sure you use the unit formation button. 'Line' is the only one I ever use (except for messing around), but if you don't specify the formation before the battle, your ships won't follow the point ship and will instead turn on their own axis, ruining your line.

Putting them into a line, or 'dragging' them into the formation you want isn't enough and doesn't work - you have to specify 'Line.' This had me stumped for a while, but they do follow the first ship if you use the preset formation.

-HD

**Don in the North** · March 25, 2009, 05:16 PM

have the faster ships in front, or they will eventually ram into the aft of the slower ships should they be in front instead

**gord96** · March 25, 2009, 05:17 PM

cool guys. appreciate it. a good start. i want to try a Knights of St John or Barbary States game so I figure I should get a handle on the navel battles

**rogergargantua** · March 25, 2009, 05:36 PM

Wind + Ship hull
Remember that your ship has different HP status (left and right hull). Make use of wind so your ship uses both hulls.

For example:
I first let my ship fire with left side and take damage from that side. After I passed the enemy ships, I turn around and use the wind in my advantage and use the right side of my ship (undamaged hull). Its a fresh side and HP is still at max on that side......I manouvre my ships via the wind so I can shoot the damaged sides of the enemy's ships.
Works well if you put wind in your favor.

I owned a whole Spanish fleet without losing any ship of my Dutch fleet with this tactic.

**Thanatos** · March 25, 2009, 05:36 PM

Thread moved to Gameplay and Strategy Discussion. PM me if you have any questions. - Thanatos

**MyKingforahorse** · March 26, 2009, 08:07 AM

There is a bug in the calc of ship and troops movements, sometimes by varying your composition and thusly changing the movement rate you can avoid the bug

**the_mango55** · March 26, 2009, 08:52 AM

Watch this video

http://www.gamereplays.org/empiretot...nd-double-line

It made me like 5x the admiral I was before. Mainly because I was unaware of how effective moving ships as a group is.

**snurresprett** · March 26, 2009, 09:34 AM

Useful video. He's effectively minimizing the distance between his ships to achieve a local superiority. The effect is much like doubling the enemy line. Like he does point out though, the double line is rather rigid; your maneuvreability is limited and retreating damaged ships from the line closest to the enemy can be rather tricky.