Naval combat: How to ram without instantly being boarded??

[antred]

Really, the whole question is in the thread title. I can't seem to ram any ships without getting boarded the moment the ram makes contact with the hull of the enemy vessel.

[Damocles]

By using autoresolve. The best solution to all naval battles.

(Seriously, autoresolve gives a crushing victory, where playing out any naval battle has often resulted in defeats without causing a single enemy casualty through some unknown calculus).

[antred]

Auto-resolve in not an option in some cases. For instance, I was just fighting a port-defense battle (defending Lilybaeum from 1 Egyptian fleet and 3 armies on transports). Auto-resolve would have given me a certain defeat.

[Lieutenant Sharpe]

I think a better question for me is, how to play naval battles? Haha. I have been avoiding them like the plague but last week I decided to try some custom naval battles and I am horrible. 5 v 5 I can usually barely come out on top but anything bigger and I get completely wrecked. I understand some of the naval battle concepts, but are there any good strategies out there? So

[ABH2]

They are, from what I've seen, all about micromanagement. Hence struggling with larger battles. I think that's the one thing AI does better than a human player as it doesn't have to scroll around clicking wildly.

[Butan]

Boarding an incoming ramming ship is actually #1 trick when you're the one being outrammed.
Only one trick to avoid being intercepted: positioning. Ram the side/rear where the counter-boarding should not trigger. If you're the one trying to board, position yourself so that you always face the rammers.

If you cant, try to have a front line of tanky ships who can withstands ramming and some boarding, and have smaller-faster ramming ships around them to counter-ram.

[loukylouk]

Use one of your ships to lure a ship out and give chase to yours. Then as you do this have another one of your ships hit it at a 90 degree angle. Basically, lead them into traps and be patient.

[Lieutenant Sharpe]

Use one of your ships to lure a ship out and give chase to yours. Then as you do this have another one of your ships hit it at a 90 degree angle. Basically, lead them into traps and be patient.

Patience doesn't exactly work because the ships move lightning fast and the AI can rush you. However I do see what you are saying with the lure. You kind of need one ship to take the hit and another to come in from the side. The problem this is, you need to ships to kill every one of theirs quickly. This why I can only barely come out on top in even fights.

Are there other strategies? Surely some ancient strategies can apply?

[DonKanallje]

Try this mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=247326741

makes naval battles much more realistic and better

[Phil2]

Try this mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=247326741

makes naval battles much more realistic and better

Ohh!! Thanks so much for this link! Exactely what i was looking for!

Hope DEI team will have a look to give similar results.

[Xubarku]

Don, have you actually used that mod fairly extensively? If so, would you mind giving a paragraph or three post describing how you think it feels? I noticed that mod before, but honestly, I wrote naval combat off months ago.

[DonKanallje]

Don, have you actually used that mod fairly extensively? If so, would you mind giving a paragraph or three post describing how you think it feels? I noticed that mod before, but honestly, I wrote naval combat off months ago.

Yes, i used that mod longer time and cannot play naval battles without it anymore.
The most importand point for me is that ships move significantly slower, which gives you way more time to micromanage your fleet.
I can really recommend you to try it out, you will see the differences from the the first second

[Keyser]

Naval battles are actually quite easy even when outnumbered.

First develop the naval techs that gives you bonuses to ramming attack as a priority to maximise the ramming tactic/advice i am going to give you.

Then, when the battle start, give the ramming order to all your ships even the artillery and support ones.

A warship, even the small ones we can recruit at the start, can seriously damage a transport with a single attack. When faced with transports just make sure that you send you warships by pair against each target.
A "5" (quinqueremes and penteres) will usually instakill a transport (and hemiolas) single handedly, even a "3" (trieres, triremes) might do it, i didn't check though.

Once the first target is sank by each pair (or single ship), select the next one.

If one of your ramming ship is boarded, it doesn't matter, the other one will sank it soon after, liberating it for ramming by the same occasion.

Against warship it's a bit more technical because they are way more resistant than transports, but basically the idea is the same, just ram one target with several ship at once until it is sank. If one of yours is boarded, focus your available ships on the boarding ennemy ships so as to liberate your ship before it suffers too much casualties.
The AI rarely used "5" wich are the most powerfull/effective/versatile class of ship, so building the right port and launching "5" for your fleets as soon as possible is also a good option.
However in my latest epirus campaign i saw Egypt having built the good harbor in Antioch and fielding some "5" and "6" that gave me a more balanced battle than usual, but it still was an easy win.