There's something amazing in Imperator Rome: only one type of ship, and these ships can transport troops. It's simple, intuitive, easy to use, and makes historical sense.
I am not suggesting that EU4 should have only one type of ship. I like the way it is set and I enjoy naval battles and tactics generally. But there is room for improvement, and getting rid of the transport ships class and merging its functionality to other ships would be an improvement that simplify naval wars and optimize how one can use one's naval capacity.
Because let's be honest. Transport ships are useless during peace time. They take space in one's naval capacity. And even during a war, it's frequent to not use them to move troops around when you don't need to. In the meantime, you pay for their maintenance but they are only used, for their real purpose, once in a while. I bet it also complicates the AI's strategies, because it's one more variable to take into account.
The only advantage I see, so far, is for assessing the opponent's strategies: when I see transport ships around my shores, they might land some troops; if they don't carry these ships, there's no landing possible, so I don't need to prepare for an invasion from there. But I think getting rid of this class of ships might be interesting because then, you'd never know whether troops are going to invade one of your shores. I don't know about you, but I find it exciting. It's always a possibility. This would also bring another advantage to the relatively few naval-focus nations.
Perhaps one of these ways could bring a significant improvement:
Any other idea?
I am not suggesting that EU4 should have only one type of ship. I like the way it is set and I enjoy naval battles and tactics generally. But there is room for improvement, and getting rid of the transport ships class and merging its functionality to other ships would be an improvement that simplify naval wars and optimize how one can use one's naval capacity.
Because let's be honest. Transport ships are useless during peace time. They take space in one's naval capacity. And even during a war, it's frequent to not use them to move troops around when you don't need to. In the meantime, you pay for their maintenance but they are only used, for their real purpose, once in a while. I bet it also complicates the AI's strategies, because it's one more variable to take into account.
The only advantage I see, so far, is for assessing the opponent's strategies: when I see transport ships around my shores, they might land some troops; if they don't carry these ships, there's no landing possible, so I don't need to prepare for an invasion from there. But I think getting rid of this class of ships might be interesting because then, you'd never know whether troops are going to invade one of your shores. I don't know about you, but I find it exciting. It's always a possibility. This would also bring another advantage to the relatively few naval-focus nations.
Perhaps one of these ways could bring a significant improvement:
Option A: war ships can transport troops too. You know, they have space for soldiers, and soldiers then land at some place. I am under the impression that historically, soldiers were moved from one place to another through conventional war ships. Or did they have ships used exclusively for large amount of troops, during that era?
Option B: light ships can transport troops too. They are rather poor in battles, to the point that you stop protecting trade nodes once a war is declared. Now they could be used in a smart way during a war. They would have a dual purpose. Don't they have space to take in a few soldiers? Can't they be converted in some way? And the other interesting consideration is that, when I'm playing a country with low naval capacity, I usually have to make hard choices between investing in light ships or war ships. It's usually one or the other, because if you don't have the edge it's not worth it. Transport ships make this problem more complicated than necessary.
Option C: keep transport ships but make them more effective for transporting troops, while the three other types can still carry troops. Say transport ships, as they do now, carry 1 unit per ship. The other classes could carry, say, 0.5 unit per ship. There would be a point in investing in transport ships, but if you don't have any you can still move troops around; I'm sure any country in history were able to take soldiers in regular ships rather than keeping a special class of ship for transporting troops.
Option B: light ships can transport troops too. They are rather poor in battles, to the point that you stop protecting trade nodes once a war is declared. Now they could be used in a smart way during a war. They would have a dual purpose. Don't they have space to take in a few soldiers? Can't they be converted in some way? And the other interesting consideration is that, when I'm playing a country with low naval capacity, I usually have to make hard choices between investing in light ships or war ships. It's usually one or the other, because if you don't have the edge it's not worth it. Transport ships make this problem more complicated than necessary.
Option C: keep transport ships but make them more effective for transporting troops, while the three other types can still carry troops. Say transport ships, as they do now, carry 1 unit per ship. The other classes could carry, say, 0.5 unit per ship. There would be a point in investing in transport ships, but if you don't have any you can still move troops around; I'm sure any country in history were able to take soldiers in regular ships rather than keeping a special class of ship for transporting troops.
Any other idea?
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