Naval blockade destroyed by army with magically appearing ships

[NULLARC-X]

I'm playing as Argos and Melos immediately declared war on me, so I sent a small fleet to blockade their port before they could build a proper navy. They had a small army, their city's garrison, and a small garrison fleet of a couple ships. The next turn they attacked to break the blockade, so I went to the battle expected to fight 4 ships. Instead, their entire army and garrison had suddenly been turned into a navy, and they all attacked me at once in ships that appeared to be the same quality as my naval ships (not easily sinkable).

That is incredibly frustrating and I'm not quite sure how to proceed.

Is it just a problem with the naval gameplay mechanic or is there some way to make it more realistic? There is no way that their entire army and garrison should suddenly have a fleet worth of strong navy ships that they can board and attack me with, especially when I'm blockading their port no less.

Any ideas? Thanks,

[NULLARC-X]

It seems even if I destroy nearly their entire force, and come back immediately the next turn to blockade again, instead of only having a couple ships left, their entire garrison and garrison fleet is replenished.

[Phalangitis]

Generally the game's mechanics permits the immediate transformation of a ground army to a naval one. Not realistic i agree but we cannot do anything about it. This feature is hardcoded. The strange thing you experience though is that the ground army has normal ships and not transporters. To overcome this design flaw we made it like when ground armies get to water they are using transporters. Those ships in Hellenika are extremely slow and vulnerable. Using some special tactics (check the video for Athenian campaign and Mytilene by John o agrios) you can obliterate their entire force with one swift strike by using one naval force. Usually one naval force can take out 2 or 3 forces of transporters. In fact the only threat of land armies in transporters is the ranged units that give you a shower of missiles and can cause you casualties.
Now for the other part it also seems strange that their force was completely healed in one turn. Ai gets bonuses but only for high difficulty settings. If you play in hard then try to attack in one strike using 2 waves of attack if possible.
Naval tactics video is in this thread post #4. LINK

[Badnercalabrese]

Definitely watch those videos as Phalangitis mentioned. Learn naval combat and it goes a LONG way in this mod.
Always use ramming mode and any enemy ship you attack - ensure you are using AT LEAST two of your own against it at the same time.

As your naval tech improves and your own ability to command a fleet - you will find this is one of the best ways to take a city...Or at least horribly weaken it allowing an easy auto resolve after.

AI enemy stacks moving by sea are sitting ducks against a fleet (even if the auto resolve doesn't think so because it's mainly looking at numbers).

[Phalangitis]

Ooh and something else I just remembered. Try to keep your ships in good condition. Prolonged periods at sea cause wood decay which reduces all your stats both in attack and in defense. There is a text message and icon in your force that informs you about the decay level