Simple Navy Mod
Version 0.9, 28 April 2018
Inspired by historical research by BattleDrumz
Robert Dodd; Action Between the 'Amazone' and HMS 'Santa Margarita': Cutting the Prize Adrift, 30 July 1782; National Maritime Museum, source.
Why this mod?
Simple Navy removes unrealistic features, improves gameplay balance and makes capturing ships more worthwhile. Ships which are weaker in vanilla now have advantages such as better acceleration and higher top speed. Different navies have different advantages, including larger crews for Spanish vessels (see below for what this mod means for different navies). This encourages players to capture ships with different strengths to build a balanced navy. This mod is based on the following ideas:-
- Better realism: some unrealistic features of vanilla naval combat are removed. For example, 6-pounder cannon are overpowered, giving some ships a disproportionate boost to firepower. This mod does not offer ‘strict’ realism (other mods such as Empire Realism and Imperial Splendour go further) but it offers more realism.
- Better balance: in vanilla, the ships of Britain, France and the United States have better statistics, such as better accuracy and reloading scores and either speed or stronger hulls. This mod introduces two changes for game-play balance: (1) the accuracy and reloading scores have been made equal and (2) ships of other nations have advantages to compensate for weaker hulls.
- More variety: capturing ships of other nations is fun. This is more worthwhile when the navies of different nations have different advantages and disadvantages. This encourages players to collect ships from different nations and to experiment with the combinations. Small differences between the ships of different nations could also encourage players to vary our tactics. If you use this mod with the optional graphics pack for the Additional Units Mod (which I recommend), this will work well because the graphics pack adds distinctive paint colours for American, British, French, Russian and Spanish ships (with a few exceptions, such as sloops).
Optional unit unlock submod
If you use the optional unit unlock sub-mod, then realism is taken slightly further:
- Pirates would have used smaller, faster ships during the 18th century. Galleons would be too slow to catch a lot of vessels. As navies expanded and ships improved, pirates would have needed to ‘hit and run’. Galleons can now only be recruited in Europe, so Pirates can no longer recruit them. Pirates can now recruit Xebecs in the West Indies (as well ships such as Race-Built Galleons, Fluyts, Brigs and Sloops which they could recruit in vanilla). Other factions can recruit Race-Built Galleons and Xebecs in the West Indies too, if they have a military port.
- Two improved types of Sixth Rate are unlocked. One can be recruited with a military port in the West Indies, the other with a military port in the United States. The idea of making better Sixth Rates available in the West Indies is that few land units can be recruited there. The idea of making better Sixth Rates available in the United States is that the early US Navy relied on frigates (and that their later frigates were superior to their British equivalents.)
- This also unlocks the Fourth Rate Frigate for factions with a naval hospital or steam drydock globally. These ships have lighter hulls than a Razee or 24-pounder frigate but they are faster.
What this mod does
Simplified scores for accuracy and reloading
In vanilla, smaller ships have higher scores than this and ships of the line have lower scores as they get larger; the mod removes this. In vanilla, the very high accuracy and reloading scores for brigs and sloops encourages AI factions to build fleets of these ships. Reducing their scores (50 accuracy, 50 reloading) should encourage AI factions to recruit more balanced fleets. With this mod, generally, warships have 50 accuracy and 50 reloading.
For larger ships of the line (Third Rates and above), American, British, French and Russian ships have a deck of heavier 32-pounder cannon. Ships with the heavier guns have a slightly slower reloading speed (40 instead of 50). The larger ships of the line of other nations have lighter 24-pounder cannon, with better reloading speed and slightly faster acceleration.
East Indiamen and Dhows have 50 accuracy and 25 reloading, based on the idea that they are not warships and to discourage AI factions from recruiting excessive numbers of them.
Artillery ships (rocket ships and bomb ketches) have 15 accuracy and 5 reloading, reflecting the view that they were used historically for bombarding forts and cities, not sea battles.
Overpowered guns (6-pounder cannon) are replaced
6-pounder guns were overpowered and have been replaced with 9-pounder guns, except for the bow chaser and stern chasers of the larger ships of the line, where they are replaced with 12-pounders.
No 'long range' guns for small ships
In vanilla, brigs, sloops and frigates have longer range guns than ships of the line. This seems unrealistic (ships of the line carried heavier cannon; I would normally expect heavier guns to have a longer range).
Galleys have more realistic firepower
Instead of 42-pounder cannon, they have 32-pounder cannon, which seems more realistic. They still have much more forward-facing firepower than even the largest ships of the line. (Their unit cards sometimes suggest that they have 0 firepower; this is a bug with the vanilla game which I don’t know how to fox, unfortunately).
Slightly more marines and sailors for Spanish warships
Spanish ships generally have the number of marines and sailors of the next highest class (for example, their Fourth Rates have the number of marines and sailors which Third Rates of other nations carry). This is only a slight increase in numbers.First of all, the Spanish ships did not only have a full crew, but they also carried too many people on board. According to the Official Statement issued on October 19, the crews of the 15 Spanish ships leaving Cadiz comprised a total of 11,847 individuals of all ranks, together with a further 812 men. Although two specific vessels, the Trinidad and the Rayo sailed with 17 and 50 men respectively under the regulatory number, they were going to embark 745 more than envisaged in the regulations. As is well known, the Spanish regulations were particularly generous throughout the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, and they always had 20 percent or more crewmen than their British counterparts.”
- Agustín R. Rodríguez González (2005) The Spanish at Trafalgar: Ships, cannons, men and a problematic alliance, Journal for Maritime Research, 7:1, 26-43, p. 39, source
Ships of the Line have either slightly lighter cannon and better acceleration or heavier cannon without faster acceleration
Larger Ships of the Line (Third Rates and above) of Britain, France, Russia and the United States have a deck of heavier 32-pounder cannon (as in vanilla). This slows down their reloading time slightly.
Ships of the Line of Spain and other factions (such as the United Provinces, Sweden and the Maratha Confederacy have 24-pounder cannon instead. This gives them slightly better acceleration and slightly improved reloading times.
These changes are based on the following historical research:-
The specific changes are as follows: For Third Rates and above, one gun-deck has lighter guns (except for American, British, French and Russian ships), replacing 32-pounders with 24-pounders. Ships with the lighter guns have slightly better acceleration (+ 0.1) and reloading (50 reloading compared to 40)."Britain, France, Russia, and America favoured heavy guns on the lower decks of their battleships.... The British landed their last....42-pounders in the 1780's, the French persevered with 40-pounders until the 1820's, while the Americans adopted the 42-pounder in 1815. By contrast, the 24-pounder was the heaviest gun in general use by the Dutch and Scandinavian navies." [Lambert p.47]
What this demonstrates is the variety of naval doctrine between these navies.
source
What does this mean for my navy?
The game has specific ship types for American, British, French, Russian and Spanish navies. Other nations, such as Sweden, the United Provinces and the Maratha Confederacy, use the same type of vessels, which are called ‘Generic navy’ ships in this mod description.
American and British navies: your ships have slightly higher morale, stronger hulls (these advantages come from the vanilla statistics) and your Third Rates (and above) carry heavier 32-pounder cannon (compared to the 24-pounders carried by other nations except for the navies of United States, Britain, France and Russia). Your disadvantages are that the larger ships of the line of other navies accelerate slightly faster, have faster top speeds and reload slightly faster (because they have lighter hulls and lighter cannon). The frigates of other navies have slightly higher top speeds (because they have lighter hulls).
French Navy: your ships are still the fastest in the game (despite the improved speeds of Russian, Spanish and Generic vessels). While larger British and American ships of the line (Third Rates and above) have heavy 32-pounder guns like yours, they are slower than your large ships of the line. While larger Spanish and generic ships of the line (Third Rates and above) are almost as fast as yours, your ships of the line have 32-pounder cannon, giving you more firepower than their 24-pounders. Your only disadvantages are weaker hulls and, on larger ships of the line, slightly slower reloading (because of the heavier cannon).
Russian Navy: your larger ships of the line (Third Rates and above) have faster top speeds (because of their lighter hulls) and heavier 32-pounder cannon. This provides a good balance of firepower and speed. The only things your larger ships of the line lack, compared to generic warships, are faster acceleration and faster reloading (because your ships carry heavier guns). Your frigates are faster because they have lighter hulls.
Spanish Navy: your ships of the line have faster top speeds and slightly better acceleration. Their disadvantage is that your larger ships of the line (Third Rate and above) have lighter cannon (24 pounders compared to the 32-pounders carried by the American, British, French and Russian larger ships of the line.) However, your Heavy First Rates do have 32-pounder cannon (which means that they have a slightly slower reloading speed). Your frigates have faster top speeds because they have lighter hulls. Also, your ships carry slightly more sailors and marines than others. Generally, they have the number of sailors and marines of the next larger vessel, for example a Spanish Sixth Rate carries the same number of sailors and marines as a French Fifth Rate). This is a small advantage, which might help your ships to resist boarding actions and to endure enemy firepower slightly longer.
Generic Navies: Your larger ships of the line (Third Rates and above) have better top speeds and slightly better acceleration. This compensates them for their disadvantages – lighter hulls and (for Third Rates and above) 24-pounder guns, compared to the 32-pounder cannon carried by the larger ships of the line of America, Britain, France and Russia. Your frigates have better top speeds because they have lighter hulls.
Compatibility
This mod uses its own system of accuracy and reloading scores for ships, so it will not work well with other mods (including overhaul mods) which use the vanilla statistics or which use a different system of scores for accuracy, reloading, speed, acceleration, etc.
This mod is compatible with Empire Total Factions and the Minor & Emergent Factions Unit Pack. It is also compatible with (and I recommend):
- The optional graphics pack for the Additional Unit Mod (AUM), which I recommend because it has great textures including different colours for American, British, French, Russian and Spanish ships. This is useful because captured ships keep their original ship colours (and, with this mod, their different statistics). Unfortunately, this mod won't combine well with the AUM, because the AUM adds ships using vanilla statistics. However, it is possible to use the graphics pack for the AUM without using the AUM itself.
- The Remove Bomb Ketches, Rocket Ships and Steamships mod.
Feedback
Feedback is welcome - feel free to post it on this thread. I am not an expert modder and I have very limited time for modding, so I might not be able to produce the effects which you want. There lots of things which I cannot do (for example, I can’t edit ship models or add new ship models).
Credits
Thank you to BattleDrumz for your historical research which inspired the creation of this mod. I am very grateful to erasmus777, husserlTW, Lazy Knight and others for your helpful guides and tools. To all members of the modding community who help and encourage modders on TWC - thank you!
Permissions
If anyone would like to use any of these files as part of your mod (including your own edited version of them), please do so. If you do so, please credit my work. If the links stop working and if I have not posted on the TWC forum recently, then you have permission to re-upload it so that other players can use it.
Change Log
mod_simple_navy_v0901: in the previous v09, the 'admiral' versions of some Fifth Rate frigates didn't have the +1 bonus to top speed which they were supposed to have. This was fixed in v0901.
My other mods: you can find a list with links to my other mods, here.
How to install (and uninstall) this mod
Download the file(s) you want to use. The files are called:-
mod_simple_navy_v0901.pack (this mod makes the changes to ships)
mod_simple_navy_unlock_v09.pack (this mod unlocks ships)
Unzip them (they were zipped with the free software 7zip). Copy and paste the file(s) to your C:/ProgramFiles(x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Empire Total War/data folder. That's it - you do not need to activate the mod using a user.empire_script file.
If you want to uninstall this mod, just remove the file(s) from your data folder.
Download Links
In case the download links below disappear, you can also download these mod files from this mediafire folder.