tips for someone who hasn't played for a long time

i played napoleon only a bit when i got it. I played the french campaigns (italy, egypt, europe)on easy, to get some achievements. When i found out that no matter what i did, i couldn't get the imperial pyschopath one, i gave up. Also, only europe was a bit boring to me.


So while im waiting for shogun and AC:B, i tried it again, this time on medium. but damn i suck. 2 issues, on which i hope you can give me tips/hints:

1) naval battles: tried battle of the nile: went horrible wrong, i'm useless at commanding 10 ships at the same time, even when pausing. i always got the feeling my shots do nothing, and the CPU has nothing but lucky shots.

2) BAI: I thought that melee fights like in empire were fixed? Even when the CPU has superior units (more accuracy), he just rans up and starts a melee fight. then i might as well play medievall or rome...

Maybe try one of the smaller factions via Napoleon Total Factions (NTF)? They can be great fun, especially my favourite the Ottoman Empire with the Ottoman Units and Agents mod (comes with Napoleon All in One mod).

1: Yeah I to find the naval battles hard to command. I wonder whether to try small costum battles with myself commanding 2 - 3 ships, and work up from there. A way to get around the issue could be play as a faction which doesn't really get involved in naval battles (anything but France and Britain).

2: I actually find it more of a problem that the AI doesn't form a proper line, than it trying to engage in melee. I think some mods try to fix the melee bug, I don't think there is any other fix to this.

The tendency of the AI to engage in melee is actually rather realistic, as many generals of the napoleonic era found a good bayonet charge much more reliable than the (at that time quite unreliable) muskets.

As for naval battles, they're really an art and a hell of micromanagement. Use broadsides as much as you can (instead of letting the AI just shoot by itself, broadsides have a LARGE damage bonus), try to always cross the T of the enemy ships (basically try to stay in front of them, or to the rear and not to their sides, when possible)

The AI tends to attack in a single line, maybe with a couple frigades scattered around them. I tend to attack in a double line crossing their line in two different places and then encircling the ships caught in the middle, that will be caught in a quite lethal crossfire. It also ensures that all my ships will use the cannons on both sides almost all the time, which normally paves the way to victory. The biggest error i saw from inexperienced admirals is that they manouver their ships in a way that they only use half their cannons (only on one side), efectively halving their firepower. Even if you can't micromanage well enough to use broadsides on both sides, but you handle only one, manouvering so that the AI has a target on the other side is of the utmost importance.

Could you try to visualise that double line? Cause i indeed have the problem that i only use 1/2 of the firepower since, i'm facing the same side.

Try using a mod that affects the AI(U-AI is a prime example), they really improve things. As far naval, I stay away from them. I've had some epic fails(I managed to blow 4 of my ships in a period of 2 minutes), although they are a fantastic spectacle to watch. As far melee, forming a square does the trick for me.

Originally Posted by Dragooon

Try using a mod that affects the AI(U-AI is a prime example), they really improve things. As far naval, I stay away from them. I've had some epic fails(I managed to blow 4 of my ships in a period of 2 minutes), although they are a fantastic spectacle to watch. As far melee, forming a square does the trick for me.

I know, when playing as france in the europe campaign i basicly never had a navl fight. But i would just like to be a bit better at them to be able to complete the historical battles, or even MP

you will start pretty much like this:

|
| <---- enemy line
|
|


| | <-----your double line
| |

now imagine your left line turning right as soon as they're passing their first ship, and crossing theirs between the first and the second ship, and your right line turning left as soon as they are passing their third ship, crossing theirs between the third and the fourth.

So basicly like this, you form a DNA-string:



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Only downside is that with the historical batles the line-up is already done, but i'll keep it in mind. anymore tips regarding wind etc...?

Guys i'm asking your help again regarding naval battles cause it's a complete mess. You know in the peninsular campaign where the british have a 74 and 32 off the coast of gibraltar and you somewhere in the north east. Well it's turn 4 and they meet. I've played it 5 times, and i lost 4 of them. first them my admiral sunk for no apparent reason, the second time he went routing just when we were getting the upperhand.
the third time i was winning, i chased the admiral, and then the game froze

I do what you guys tell: go in the middle so i can use optimal firepower. But then when it comes to turning, my crew seems retards, the british always turn faster, gving them the oppurtunity to fire first, destroying my cannons, which means less firepower for me, so less cannons destroyed at their ship, etc..

So what am i doing wrong here

Im guessing when they seem to turn super fast, they have the wind behind them, I allways keep an eye on the direction of the wind and plan where my ships move based on where they will be compared to the enemy and the wind direction (I hope that makes sense). I think of battles as chess; stay one step ahead of th enemy and allways plan ahead :] I hope this helps.

i just line up half of my ships on thier side facing the enemy and staying there, the a.i just sails in the Range of my cannons and when they get damaged, i send the rest of my ships along with the other half to finish them off one by one

LOL or you could take advantage of an incredibly dumb AI like Rougeman :]

Originally Posted by AndyPandy

LOL or you could take advantage of an incredibly dumb AI like Rougeman :]

lol i actually won 5 battles doing that, so yeah, cant argue with results

Ok i won the battle (it's peninsular campaign btw, forgot to mention), but i sometimes have when the circle to fire your cannons is red, i click it, and it doesn't fire, it just reloads...

I always use chain shot on my first few ships that engage the enemy. Even if it doesn't knock down a mast, the enemy ships' maneuverability will be significantly reduced, especially bulky the SOLs. Maneuverability > Fire power in naval battles.

1) naval battles: tried battle of the nile: went horrible wrong, i'm useless at commanding 10 ships at the same time, even when pausing. i always got the feeling my shots do nothing, and the CPU has nothing but lucky shots.



try to form the single line by group them together.