Europa Universalis: Rome - Beginner's Guide To The Navy & Transport
Ahoy, fellow Rome fans! After the realisation that we'll have to wait a little longer for our much sought after expansion, I thought that there's no reason why we shouldn't still concentrate on the game we all love! I must apologise for the amount of time between this guide and the last two (Trade and Colonisation). As much as I love creating them, these guides can be extremely time consuming to write and I needed a bit of time to think up ideas for the guide. Also, it didn't help that my keyboard decided to fail on me. Anyway, with this guide I intend to take a look at Navies in EU: Rome and answer the lifelong question that plagues newcomers and forum veterans alike: "How do I get troops onto ships?!".
Part One: Building Your Navy
The prerequisites for building a ship are fairly simple to meet. All you will need is:
- A coastal province connected to a sea province.
- Access to the Wood resource.
- At least 10 gold.
To construct a ship, take a look at the bottom task-bar on your screen. You'll notice five small icons. Click the icon on the far-right (in the shape of an anchor) and this will bring up the ship construction window.
You will have very little choice in what type of ship you construct. The only ship available is the Trireme. Other warships and seafaring vessels have been omitted from this game, presumably to simplfy the system. You can queue up ship construction at each available province to enable you to concentrate on other aspects of the game. Ship construction can take a long time (around five months for each ship), but this can be shortened by certain government positions and having a steady supply of Cloth to your ports. Cloth will knock a big -25.0% off the ship construction time.
Construction is as simple as that!
Part Two: Keeping Your Navy Afloat
So, you now have a Navy to be proud of, but how will you keep the fleet in tip-top condition? This boils down to staff, spending and a dose of common sense.
Part 2.1: Admirals and Naval Magistrates
Every government type throughout the game has Admirals and Naval Magistrates. These are the most important people in keeping your Navy in top form.
This guy is one of my Admirals (or in this Greek case, my Kybernates). You can clearly see that he's an Admiral by the blue sword and arm icon, beneath his name and next to his portrait. Anyone with this icon is an Admiral. Don't get this icon mixed up with the icon for General, which is the same, but with a green backdrop. As with land commanders, the most important skill for an Admiral to have is Martial. This will improve your fleet's overall performance in battle. Also, pay attention to an Admiral's Charisma. This isn't as important as the Martial skill, but a high Charisma will help keep your fleet in battle for longer. A higher Charisma will also increase the chances of ships becoming loyal to their Admiral. This can be a downside, as each loyal ship will drop the Admiral's Loyalty. Ignore the Finesse skill and any tactical traits that the character may have, as these are no use in a sea battle.
Unfortunately, the rank of Admiral doesn't quite carry the weight of a General and your Admiral won't gain quite as much popularity from naval victories. As such, I, personally, only use characters who don't make the cut to be a General. You may wish to claim total naval superiority, so you should appoint Admirals as you see fit.
Another thing to consider is the personal Objective of the characters. Some will have the ambition to "Become Kybernates" (or whatever the cultural equivalent of Admiral is). Appointing characters with this ambition to the rank of Admiral will bestow a permanent +1 Martial point to that character! Well worth considering, especially for your Ruler or characters who you wish to develop into Generals or a potential Heir.
This guy is my Naval Magistrate. Where my Admiral is with the fleet at all times, being hands on, my Naval Magistrate is "behind the scenes" organising and dealing with the day to day administration of the Navy. The Magistrate also helps contribute research for all things Naval (be it military or trade). The perfect Naval Magistrate should have high Martial and Finesse skills. If you're playing as a Republic, a high Charisma will increase his influence in the Senate. Here's a quick breakdown of a Naval Magistrate's skills:
- Per point of Martial: Blockade Efficiency +1.3% / Naval Organisation +1.0%
- Per point of Charisma: Senate Influence +1.00
- Per point of Finesse: +10.0% to Research
If you're playing as a Monarchy, you will also have the added bonus of having a Grand Vizier (or the cultural equivelent) Government position. A Grand Vizier will offer Ship Construction Speed -2.5% per point of Martial skill.
Part 2.2: Funding
Clicking on the Military summary window and moving to the Navy tab will give you information about your Naval situation. It will list all of your fleets and who is currently in command. You can also observe your Supply Limit. If you have more ships under your control than your country can support, you will have to start paying an increased amount of gold for the upkeep of the ships. The Supply Limit will increase as your nation grows. On this page, you can also manage the funding of your Army and Navy. If you're struggling for gold and are at peace with no forseeable conflict, you can drop your Navy Maintenance level. This will drop your Navy funding and the money saved will be transferred to your treasury each month. Remember to increase funding when you're at times of war or facing Pirate fleets!
Part 2.3: National Ideas, Decisions and Omens
So, you've got good funding and good personnel, but how can you improve the efficiency of your Navy? This can be achieved with National Ideas, Decisions and Omens.
Part 2.3.1: National Ideas
These two National Ideas (from left to right); Naval Blockades and Naval Ethos will help to improve the efficiency of your Navy during war time.
- Naval Blockades will increase blockade efficency by +33%. Unfortunately, this NI is fairly useless in the long run and can easily be replaced by a superior NI. It's only really useful if you rely on war and your Navy as a viable source of income or if you wish to truely strangle your enemies. Naval Blockades is an Economic Idea and is available from Tech Level 1.
- Naval Ethos is much more useful, as it provides your fleets with a Morale increase of +0.25, which is much more useful. This is especially handy if you play as a nation which relies on it's Navy for protection, such as Rhodes or Crete. Naval Ethos is a Military Idea and is available from Tech Level 5.
Both of these National Ideas are viable in a Despotic Monarchy which has openings for an Economic Idea and a Military Idea.
Part 2.3.2: National Decision
If you're playing as Carthage, the famously maritime nation, you will also have a bonus in the form of a National Decision. "Standardise Ship Production" will help speed up ship construction, with following bonuses:
- Ship Construction Speed -10.0%
- Technology Cost +6.0%
- Trireme Cost -4.0%
Part 2.3.3: Omen
To increase the power of your Navy even further, you can place your fleets in the hands of the Gods and invoke the morale Omen. If successful, this Omen will increase your naval morale by +0.50. Combine this Omen with Naval Ethos and a high Charisma Admiral and your fleets will be laughing in the face of the enemy!
Part 3: Damage Control
Another tip is to NEVER keep your fleets on the open sea for prolonged periods of time. Poseidon and Neptune are fickle Gods and the sea can swallow an entire fleet without warning (via event), if left out in the open. At peace, always call your fleets back to port. If you must keep fleets in the open for whatever reason, try to rotate multiple fleets in "shifts" over time. Veteran players can tell you of the sheer frustration of losing a 60+ strong fleet to an event.
When you have fleets in the open, not adjecent to a friendly province, you will notice the percentage of each ship decrease over time. This represents damage taken to the ships and loss of crewmen due to prolonged exposure to harsh elements at sea. A small amount of damage shouldn't be too much of a worry, but try to dock in at a friendly port to repair damage and replenish crew numbers. A poorly maintained fleet with a skeleton crew won't last long in a battle!
Sea provinces don't have a supply limit, so you can have as many ships as you wish in each sea province and not lose ships due to attrition.
Part 4: Pirates!
Arrr! From time to time, you will see these scurvy dogs pop up around your shoreline. They're pirates and they will blockade your ports, cutting off your sea trade. They're more of an irritant than a true threat, to be honest.
If you have enough ships, it would be in your best interests to see an end to the pirates. They won't severe your trade routes, but they will block access to resources and gold made from sea trade. How will I know if my port is being blockaded? Simply take a look at your ports. If any look like this, then they're being blockaded by Pirates or an enemy vessel.
To engage Pirates or enemy vessels in combat, simpy move a fleet into the same sea province. When they meet, the battle will begin (in a similar way to land warfare). Clicking on the battle will display the battle window, where you can keep an eye on the progress of the battle. Sea battles often take longer to be resolved than land battles.
Once the battle is over, you will be presented with the victory or failure window, depending on the outcome of the battle. Sometimes you will be able to capture enemy ships during the battle, which is useful to help build upon your fleet. More often than not, the defeated fleet will attempt to flee the sea province. Chase them down if you wish. If you totally destroy the fleet, your Admiral won't take gold or slaves (unlike a Barbarian defeat). The Admiral will see that every last enemy is sent to Davey Jones Locker. The same applies to battles with foreign enemy fleets.
Part 4.1: Piracy Laws
If you're playing as a Monarchy or Republic and fancy yourself as a wannabe Gnaeus Pompey, you will have access to an anti-piracy law ("Discourage Piracy" or "Lex Gabinia" respecively). This law provides the following:
- Stability +1 (Monarchy) / Stability -1 (Republic) [Not sure if this is intentional or a bug, to be honest]
- Morale of Navies -0.05
- Pirate Spawn Chance -0.10
Alternitavely, you can actively promote piracy on the high seas. If you enact Encourage Aggressive Commerce (aka Lex Mercis Libero) you will get the following effects:
- Stability -1
- Infamy -0.01
- Trade Income +10.0%
- Pirate Spawn Chance +0.10
This Law is useful if you're struggling for cash and don't mind becoming reviled by your fellow nations. It's also fun if you're trying to roleplay a historical Illyria.
Part 5: Transporting Troops
Since it's release, one of the questions that still crops up on a regular basis is, "How do I get my troops onto ships?". I think we've all asked that question at some point. The last part of this guide will answer that question once and for all. Before I move onto the steps you need to take you need to bear in mind that:
- One ship will transport one unit of troops. E.g. 12 ships can transport 12 units (12,000 men) or less.
- The troops must board the ships from a province adjecent to the sea province where the ships are located.
- The troops cannot be loaded if the ships are moving or in the midst of battle.
The first thing to do, is select the fleet you wish to use to transport the troops and move it into a sea province which is connected to the land province where your troops are stationed.
Next. select your troops and right-click the sea province where the transport fleet is located. This will move your army onto the sea province and they will board the ships. If you have an insufficient amount of ships to transport the army, your move request will be denied.
Once your troops are loaded, click the transport fleet to view the fleet and it's contents. You will be greeted by this window. The small tab located on the top-right corner of the windows indicates that the fleet is currently carrying an army. In this case, it's carrying 10 units. If you're unsure how many troops a fleet can carry, look at the bottom of the window.
Now, move the transport fleet to your required destination (don't dock the fleet. Leave it in the open). With the fleet selected, click the small army tab attached to the fleet window. This will select the army being transported. With the army selected, right-click the target province to move the troops back onto land.
That's all there is to it! Simple. Access to foreign lands still applies, as it does on land. To land troops on other nation's turf, you will need a Military Access agreement. You can still land on home, Barbarian and enemy provinces, though. Be careful if you attack an enemy army from the sea. Your troops will suffer large amounts of attrition every month at sea and using your depleted forces in a direct amphibious assault will likely end in huge casualties due to coastal terrain penalties. Imagine a Classical-era D-Day landing.
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Well, I think that's the basics covered for another guide!
Once again, I hope someone will find it useful and a huge thanks to anyone that bothers to read it! I hope the guide helps you get your sea legs! Remember you can still read and comment on the last two installments of the beginners guide here and here. Until next time, mateys!
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