Straiten up the straits!

[Fishman786]

Why isn't the English channel a strait? Calais can be seen from southern Kent on a good day, and the straits are actually narrower than the Straits of Gibraltar (which were a strait in Vanilla EU 3). The only thing that has made the channel a barrier historically is the power of the English navy. Making the channel a strait would make sense gameplay-wise as well. Holding Calais would suddenly become much more important, rather than just being kind of useless like it is now.

I also support making Gibraltar a strait as well, because of the strategic depth it gave to holding Ceuta.

 

[sprites]

if you make those straits , you'll see maghreb overrun by iberians much quicker , and a good probability the english will lose badly some war against burgundy or france

 

[Vagn]

Gibraltar used to be a strait, but it was removed after Castille/Spain consistently took the entirety of North Africa, and imagine that The English Channel isnt because France would easily conquer the British Isles as a result because an AI England/GB wouldn't use its fleet to blackade the strait.

 

[naggy]

Why isn't the English channel a strait? Calais can be seen from southern Kent on a good day, and the straits are actually narrower than the Straits of Gibraltar (which were a strait in Vanilla EU 3). The only thing that has made the channel a barrier historically is the power of the English navy. Making the channel a strait would make sense gameplay-wise as well. Holding Calais would suddenly become much more important, rather than just being kind of useless like it is now.

Crossing the Channel with a significant force is not exactly a minor undertaking.

 

[DarthJF]

Gibraltar used to be a strait, but it was removed after Castille/Spain consistently took the entirety of North Africa

Well, they are still doing it.

 

[Fungi]

Ask Eisenhower how hard it was

 

[Viking]

The HTTT 4.1b A.I. seems to be pretty good at preventing me from marching over straits. I need a fleet to stop the blocade.

 

[anomanderus]

The HTTT 4.1b A.I. seems to be pretty good at preventing me from marching over straits. I need a fleet to stop the blocade.

Really? The AI seems more comical that way, like when they have their 1 boat stopping me and I just sigh in annoyance at their antics. Then wipe them out with my glorious Imperial navy, led by Bel Riose himself.

 

[Ashantai]

No, no, no, a straight from Calais to England would be a disaster and completely break the AI and any sense of history this game has. After all, naval invasions were not something that was easily done in this timeframe, and they rarely succeeded

 

[defoffuture]

The Bering Strait is also a strait: you can see Russia from Sarah Palin's house!

But seriously, just because you can see something doesn't make it easily accessible. It's true that Calais and Dover are right next to one another. It's also true that both coasts have freaking cliffs on them. Same thing (as far as I know) with Gibraltar.

The places that remain straits in the game make sense. Marmara is a straight because there's less than a mile between the European and Anatolian sides where Istanbul stands. Or the Strait of Messina, which is about 3 miles across. Both are also situated at points where it's all but assumed an armed force could cross with the "volunteered" help of some local fishing boats or ferries, and history proved that these were pretty simple affairs. Both D-Day and William the Conqueror's voyage, by contrast, were massive undertakings for their respective times, fraught with uncertainty. Hardly something that can be accurately displayed with a mechanic that allows a bunch of dudes to just march effortlessly across water.

 

[Sawedoff]

I prefer that it stay the way it is. If it was a strait my England games would not go any sort of way in the direction I want them to. A challenge is nice, but not France walking all over England, that's disaster.

 

[SeverusFelix]

Or the Strait of Messina, which is about 3 miles across. Both are also situated at points where it's all but assumed an armed force could cross with the "volunteered" help of some local fishing boats or ferries, and history proved that these were pretty simple affairs.

Messina very nearly ended Spartacus. I'm just saying.

 

[Trin Tragula]

The HTTT 4.1b A.I. seems to be pretty good at preventing me from marching over straits. I need a fleet to stop the blocade.

It still disbands it's entire fleet when it's obsoleted though so France would be able to cross...

 

[Garak]

The Bering Strait is also a strait: you can see Russia from Sarah Palin's house!

But seriously, just because you can see something doesn't make it easily accessible. It's true that Calais and Dover are right next to one another. It's also true that both coasts have freaking cliffs on them. Same thing (as far as I know) with Gibraltar.

The places that remain straits in the game make sense. Marmara is a straight because there's less than a mile between the European and Anatolian sides where Istanbul stands. Or the Strait of Messina, which is about 3 miles across. Both are also situated at points where it's all but assumed an armed force could cross with the "volunteered" help of some local fishing boats or ferries, and history proved that these were pretty simple affairs. Both D-Day and William the Conqueror's voyage, by contrast, were massive undertakings for their respective times, fraught with uncertainty. Hardly something that can be accurately displayed with a mechanic that allows a bunch of dudes to just march effortlessly across water.

I almost choked on my water when I read this.

 

[Viking]

Messina very nearly ended Spartacus. I'm just saying.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100310/tv_nm/us_spartacus

but cancer halted him....

 

[defoffuture]

Messina very nearly ended Spartacus. I'm just saying.

O certainly. I'm not saying that there weren't tough struggles over these straits. The Turks had a hard time with Constantinople for a while too. I'm just saying it's more plausible to use the game mechanic for those examples than for one like Calais/Dover.

 

[Red Ant]

Personally I think straits are nonsense and should be removed from the game entirely. I'd like to see an army try to cross ANY strait without support from a substantial fleet. You're gonna move an army across a body of water you better have a whole bunch of ships, no matter how narrow the strait is.

 

[Ashantai]

Unfortunately it's an AI necessity. I would agree historically with you, but the AI rarely moves decent armies by transport, and I can just see the Ottoman Empire falling apart because of it.

 

[Zander]

The straits set up at this point have little to do with history and everything to do with desired AI performance. For example, the strait from Rhodes to Turkey doesn't make much historical sense, but was added so that the Ottomans could take Rhodes more easily.

 

[HanSime]

The straits set up at this point have little to do with history and everything to do with desired AI performance. For example, the strait from Rhodes to Turkey doesn't make much historical sense, but was added so that the Ottomans could take Rhodes more easily.

Lies, the strait was added for the Glorious Three Front Organised Byzantine Empire (GTFOBYZEMP) strategy. >=)