Naval Battles (Danes specifically)

**molenmer** · March 03, 2015, 05:39 PM

Hi, I've decided at long last to play as the Danes, just because I like them! I've got a question for those sea-captains out there: How do I fight naval battles properly with these guys? Seeing as they don't suffer from sea-sickness due to their faction trait it would seem logical to only use land armies instead of marines, is this true or do you have different advice? Also, I'm really liking naval battles in this game but I'm not very good at it, is there any guide on the internet which you know of, or any tactics explained, maybe by you?

Furthermore, I like roleplaying as the viking forefathers, so how do you go about raiding and sacking properly along the coastlines, naval units seem to replenish really slowly and therefore raiding seems more costly than the gains of doing it...

Thanks!

**the_mango55** · March 03, 2015, 06:49 PM

Naval warships are still better. Transport boats are easy to set on fire and have no way to put the fires out. Plus as the viking factions the heavy marauder ship that you can upgrade to in Tier 1 (military manouvers tech) is actually a really great unit not only for naval battles but to assault and sack coastal cities. Even at less than half the manpower it can take out most barbarian garrison troops.

That being said, if you see a chance to engage an enemy transport stack with your land units, take it! As long as you take out their archers FIRST you should win easily.

**WelshDragon** · March 30, 2015, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by the_mango55

Naval warships are still better. Transport boats are easy to set on fire and have no way to put the fires out. Plus as the viking factions the heavy marauder ship that you can upgrade to in Tier 1 (military manouvers tech) is actually a really great unit not only for naval battles but to assault and sack coastal cities. Even at less than half the manpower it can take out most barbarian garrison troops.

That being said, if you see a chance to engage an enemy transport stack with your land units, take it! As long as you take out their archers FIRST you should win easily.

+1, those Nordic heavy marauders are literally killers of garrison armies, even when outnumbers 2 or 3 to 1. I use a couple of catapult ships to take out the archery towers of the city, land my men (at least 6 marauders plus the general) with a couple of bow units in support, and let the Vikings do what they do best, kill, pillage and burn. It's a lot of fun playing the Jutes to raid and sack your way down the coast, just make sure you keep enough marauder longships full in your stack and you can attack the coastal Roman towns that are empty of their legions and you should make a lot of money!

**Slaists** · March 30, 2015, 01:34 PM

The best tactic when plundering this way is to sack + occupy instead of just sack. You can replenish your ships (train new ones) in any port (of any culture) + you can earn extra money from destroying buildings for a turn or 2. Let the AI retake the place later (or let it go rebel) while you travel to the next target.

**pratolano** · March 31, 2015, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by Slaists

The best tactic when plundering this way is to sack + occupy instead of just sack. You can replenish your ships (train new ones) in any port (of any culture) + you can earn extra money from destroying buildings for a turn or 2. Let the AI retake the place later (or let it go rebel) while you travel to the next target.

This sounds fun! What are the best places to sack or sack+occupy as the Viking FF factions? I'm thinking of starting a Jutes campaign. Should I sack along Britain, France, Gaul, etc. to build up income and keep my starting provinces as they are for a while, or should I expand while having maybe 1 Naval force go around sacking?

**Bramborough** · March 31, 2015, 06:57 PM

Having played a Geat campaign and considered doing something similar, I gotta say that there's annoyingly few ports along the Atlantic coast. Assuming that you expand enough to hold Frisia & Scandza yourself, that leaves only 4 continental ports (some of which are walled) between you and the Pillars of Hercules. Plus a few more in the British Isles and the Baltic. But factor in that some of these will probably be desolated and others held by friends/allies at some point (especially in Britain and Gothiscandza). All in all, a sustained fleet-only raid campaign either means a) hit only the same few ports repeatedly, allowing them time to rebuild some wealth before sacking them again, or b) head for the Med.

Instead, I wound up sending an army via sea to land near Burdigala, then sent it on a raiding/sacking run all through WRE-controlled northern Spain. Lots more targets that way.

As others have already said, I think the main point of the Jute seasickness-immune trait is that your transport army can easily kick the stuffing out of any other transport army....but doesn't mean that they'll be able to take on a proper warship fleet. It could also mean that they don't suffer the penalty during a direct amphibious assault...I've never noticed whether that penalty remains active once the troops land ashore, if they start in ships.