Missing point of navy in eu4

[oopsione]

To be honest in SP youre usually just painting the Map anyway, 95% of the time it wouldnt matter anyway which idea groups you pick.
Navy is pretty important in MP, especially for colonizers. You need a strong navy to defend the carribean, or colonies in the first place. If the enemy destroys your navy it doesnt matter if you can merc up, he just blockades your homeland an carpet sieges ur colonies.

 

[heliostellar]

I think part of the problem too with navy is that the whole goal when you are at war is to effect changes on the land. Naval battles are derpy and micromanagement hell. The problem is similar to Stellaris where you have to use a death stack.

In real life, countries establish naval superiority in an area and then are able to activate the theater of war. They do something like that in HOI4, which is a step in the right direction.