Naval supremacy and its influence on trade
FRom a historical and gameplay viewpoint, EU inadequately protrays naval affairs.
In EU the navy's prime use is to convoy troops or prevent them and exploring. But those two reasons paled in its importance when it came to the importance to protect merchant shipping and maintain communications with colonial territories.
In the current totally inadequate model, there is no incentive to invest heavily in fleet builds, In fact I usually get along very well with the gifts I receive.
Now in such a model, there is no taking in account of trade rivalry and the threat that not having a fleet meant for mechant shipping.
I should say that there must be some kind of simulation of this as otherwise most Western European conflicts cannot be explained. What about the Anglo-Dutch wars that were all about trade and naval supremacy. What about the decline of Spain? What about the difficulties France faced in supporting her colonies without prioritizing a naval force? What about England's loss of supremacy on the seas faced by an Franco-Spanish-Dutch coalition during the War of Independence thus preventing an effective British campaign against the colonists?
Navies at the time were built to secure mercantile interests or threaten others.
I should say that the inclusion of an abstract merchant fleet is imperative. You would have a number of vessels that would be in a large area of sea at one time, say the Atlantic.
By having lots of Vessels patroling in the area and giving them interception or escort orders you can then protect or destroy merchant fleets. Well, you get the idea.
If a nation cannot keep its shipping lanes open trade then suffers and thus income. This is what often worked to England's benefit at the time and explains often why Spain, France or the Netherlands didn't have the financial muscle to continue the war.
If your nation is wealthy then they'll build a merchant fleet. You thus gain market shares in certain markets. One reason for frequent wars of Britain/England against the Netherlands is the free ship/free cargo principle that was often disregarded. I think it should be a policy option you could toggle and thus prevent enemies to receive commodities and earn revenue, even if neutral parties transport these goods.
As a last point, I think trade shouldn't be that abstract as it is now. Certain goods were of strategic importance and being not able to get hold of them could just about decide wars. For example, Napoleon and his allies denied the British merchant fleet access to crucial ship-building and maintaining materiel from the Baltic sea area. If there hadn't been Trafalgar, France could and would have gained crucial supremacy while Britain wouldn't havve been able to maintain her fleet.
Commodities would have to be transported properly to its markets by a merchant fleet that is handled by the AI.
Well, I hope I made myself understood and know that this will not be included in EU2, but maybe one day naval and trade affairs will finally play the important role in EU3/4/5 it certainly did play in history. Until then the naval system remains practically a joke.
.
