Understanding disembarking

[nomercysniper]

When I first heard of combined land and see battles, my first thought was of my navy (no army) sailing up and down coasts, attacking (on the map) settlements, using only the marines I have aboard the boats.

I'm curious now though, we know about troop transports, and how they can disembark men... but what about a Trireme? Could you disembark the men from that ship, losing the ranged capabilities of the catapult/ballista, but forming a land unit?

Trimmed down: Can actually navy ships (not transports) disembark men?

[SamueleD]

From what I understood yes, military ships, the ones that you see in the battles, can and will disembark their crews. As for the transport ships we have never seen them, in any form, even thought it's confirmed they will be in.

[111289]

From what I understood yes, military ships, the ones that you see in the battles, can and will disembark their crews. As for the transport ships we have never seen them, in any form, even thought it's confirmed they will be in.

I think carthage had transport ship in them.

[GussieFinkNottle]

What I would be curious about, since we know a ship with its crew off becomes unusable (look at the Roman battle of the Nile playthrough) is whether we can put the men back on and use it again (though I expect animating the embarking would be much harder than having everyone just jump off, so they didn't bother to do the other way. Plus the ship would need pushing off the beach back into the sea).

[MrOuija]

What I would be curious about, since we know a ship with its crew off becomes unusable (look at the Roman battle of the Nile playthrough) is whether we can put the men back on and use it again (though I expect animating the embarking would be much harder than having everyone just jump off, so they didn't bother to do the other way. Plus the ship would need pushing off the beach back into the sea).

A poster on the official forum who played the demo said that he saw a button to re-embark troops after he had already unloaded them but didn't click it.

[nomercysniper]

Wernt the transports in the Nile battle?

[Hadro]

Wernt the transports in the Nile battle?

I think the ships in the nile battle were melee ships - they are designed to ram and board other ships - so may not be transports but an actual naval vessel which can also land units on land

[nomercysniper]

I think re-embarking would be a lot harder to get right, if they can though I'd only want it if its right!

[lacrossepl9]

Going off of what someone said, yes naval ships can land their marines on the shore but NOT ALL naval ships have this ability they have to be "melee ships" artillery ships must remain in the water as disembarking catapults is impossible but you can fire on the land with your catapults at sea so they serve the same purpose. Just so we're clear you can land marines (although they are not as good on land as they are at sea) from melee ships only these ships are indicated with a sword in their banner and usually have 2 or 3 ships to a unit so if you lose one you lose half or a third of the units you try to land. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can only attack coastal cities with an undefended port with your navy alone, marines cannot be landed on the campaign map and then marched against a city. Very few cities are purely coastal so you'll have to plan your full on naval invasions carefully. To have the combined battles you will need an army to attack an enemy army close to the coast and if your navy is in range (which range is pretty decent area) your navy will be included in the battle.

[shireknight]

Going off of what someone said, yes naval ships can land their marines on the shore but NOT ALL naval ships have this ability they have to be "melee ships" artillery ships must remain in the water as disembarking catapults is impossible but you can fire on the land with your catapults at sea so they serve the same purpose. Just so we're clear you can land marines (although they are not as good on land as they are at sea) from melee ships only these ships are indicated with a sword in their banner and usually have 2 or 3 ships to a unit so if you lose one you lose half or a third of the units you try to land. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can only attack coastal cities with an undefended port with your navy alone, marines cannot be landed on the campaign map and then marched against a city. Very few cities are purely coastal so you'll have to plan your full on naval invasions carefully. To have the combined battles you will need an army to attack an enemy army close to the coast and if your navy is in range (which range is pretty decent area) your navy will be included in the battle.

I used the crew of catapult ships to capture enemy ships, never tried to land them on the shore but I did use them as boarding parties, however once I issued the order to board I couldn't get the crew to use their catapults again, even if I gave a boarding order and then cancelled it again without actually reaching the enemy ship first.

[Bearnation54]

How are you supposed to unload Calvary and seige equipment off the boats...

[SamueleD]

How are you supposed to unload Calvary and seige equipment off the boats...

Probably you won't, I suppose that the only battles in which you'll have transport ships will be battles where they cannot be disembarked (like if they are attacked on the open sea).

[Adreno]

Probably you won't, I suppose that the only battles in which you'll have transport ships will be battles where they cannot be disembarked (like if they are attacked on the open sea).

Why would that make any sense? whats the point in combined battles and especially sieges then? im sure if youre moving a transport fleet of to attack something, you'll have to disembark the units first, they dont just appear on the land like older games, unless you can land them unopposed but then its not a battle anyway..

[SamueleD]

Why would that make any sense? whats the point in combined battles and especially sieges then? im sure if youre moving a transport fleet of to attack something, you'll have to disembark the units first, they dont just appear on the land like older games, unless you can land them unopposed but then its not a battle anyway..

The point of combined battles is to have a military fleet help you out in battle, either by firing on the enemy or by disembarking their crews to join the fray. If you were to have an army on its transport ships I think you would see those ships only if attacked by an enemy military fleet, if you attack something on land with that army, instead, I think it will disembark its troops prior to the battle, to avoid the awkwardness of disembarking cavalry, elephants, artillery, etc.
But that is just my opinion, we'll see what they do, if I'm wrong I look forward to see how they will portray the transport and disembarking of mounted units and artillery.

[Jester]

How are you supposed to unload Calvary and seige equipment off the boats...

click the disembark button

[sweatbysd]

The most common being the spear and sword armed half-naked folks with hexagonal shields

[HannibalExMachina]

though it would be awesome to unload pure transport ships (the ones armies build on the campaign map, which hopefully can be sunk in sea battles - though there may just be an option that unescorted transports get sunk automatically on the campaign map when attacked) to have some more tactical freedom, i guess that wont happen. youll just have to disembark before battle, not so much of a difference after all. perhaps you still can pack land infantry on some assault ships, so they indeed serve a double role?

[SamueleD]

though it would be awesome to unload pure transport ships (the ones armies build on the campaign map, which hopefully can be sunk in sea battles - though there may just be an option that unescorted transports get sunk automatically on the campaign map when attacked) to have some more tactical freedom, i guess that wont happen. youll just have to disembark before battle, not so much of a difference after all. perhaps you still can pack land infantry on some assault ships, so they indeed serve a double role?

Mmhh, from what I have understood by watching the unit tooltips in the battle of the nile, assault ships (used for ramming, boarding and melee fighting) do carry a unit of infantry that is virtually identical to its land counterpart, and the same goes for archer ships. Maybe we'll be able to choose (within a limited pool) what unit will form the crew of a ship?

[HannibalExMachina]

most likely a fixed crew, which is kind of a shame. id love to emulate the romans simply putting their legions on ships and bring land combat to the sea (though they did that only initially). but im alright with marines.

after all, look at the siege of carthage video (which is a scripted/historical battle). all we see are infantry disembarking, from quite a big fleet.

[Jungle Rhino]

Ok here is how I think it will work. You have two types of units:

Land units - which is your standard units that everybody is used to

Land units can embark into transport ships, forming a temporary fleet in order to cross major rivers/seas.
If attacked by an enemy fleet of Sea units they will be automatically destroyed unless protected by their own Sea units.
In such a nval battle the Land units may or may not be present as a generic 'transport' ship type - with minimal or no combat potential - similar to a trade ship in Shogun 2.
These transports can be sunk or captured during the sea battle with the appropriate loss of the Land unit.

Sea units - are basically combat ships

These will come in two types.
Ranged Sea units have catapults or archers and really only fight on the sea againt other ships
Melee Sea units have marine contingents designed for boarding. These units may also disembark as temporary Land units during a combined arms battle.


The real question is - can a Fleet of Sea units attack a land based army from the coast? (landing and then disembarking their Melee marine contingents)
OR do ships require a land army to 'trigger' a combined arms battle with another land army that they then reinforce.

If it is the former then you could almost get away with having no armies at all if you play the right faction! (Carthaginians) as long as everything is sufficiently close to the sea.

Whatever the case, naval power is going to be a key part of any Mediterranean factions overall strategy.