What exactly does it mean '100% more effective in inland sea'?

[Palatinus Germanicus]

The A.I.'s greatest weakness on the naval front is that he doesn't build over his force limit (much, if at all). As you become a great power, building manufacturies & dominating trade nodes, eventually you'll have more money that you can even spend... so needless to say a few ducats for being vastly over the limit, is insignificant.

So if you're going to go way over your limit, galleys (in large/decent numbers) really become cost effective. They cost almost nothing to maintain. And again, the penalty is no big deal. I don't use them outside of inland seas very often, but they can actually support the fleet reasonably well, even in 'blue waters'.

As for being 'slow', well, you just have to segregate your ship types. When you're trying to corral & trap the enemy fleets, they play a supporting role -- but obviously it's the other ships that 'catch' the enemy, most of the time. Then the galleys show up & ensure victory (total destruction for the enemy).

Heavies are great... but even a large, wealthy nation will only want to support so many of them. Building a plethora of galleys is much easier on the budget... and IMO you at least get the same 'bang for your buck'. They're indispensable, IMO. Plus if you're actually fighting in the inland seas... forget about it. Game over, for the enemy.

 

[gia257]

Tactical speed is for blockading stuff. The higher the less ship needed. Strategic speed is for moving around.

Also note why galleys are bad, even in in-land sea. They can't chase other ships. They are the lowest one and all others will just run away if they don't attack you.

use your light ships to lock them into battle, galleys are good early game because they dont have high maintenance, and having some 5 or so to replace losses just in case

 

[StefanFan]

Oh yea, that definitely goes into their calculations. Just like the AI didn't spam naval force limit buildings for years.
Or like the AI would never create mercs in American provinces when their homeland in Europe is under attack.
Or how they would never run around with stacks of 1 inf, 200 cav, 1 cannon and eat insufficient suport when they're attacked.

It's definitely not like I just wiped a 1/12/5 stack, nooo, that wouldn't make sense, I really doubt PDX would make them do that.

Please...

Hm, I rate PDX quite high to be honest I guess sometimes they have their reasons, sometimes they have their limitations, and sometimes of course they mess up But the galley is a too wide used item to be accidentally or intentionally ignored. My 2 cents of course.

 

[Gnostek]

related question: in the mediterranean, what gives you more power per sailor? I know that in terms of ducats, galleys win, but in terms of sailors?

 

[Dominion]

Hm, I rate PDX quite high to be honest I guess sometimes they have their reasons, sometimes they have their limitations, and sometimes of course they mess up But the galley is a too wide used item to be accidentally or intentionally ignored. My 2 cents of course.

Nah, PDX is alright. I like the team and complain way too much while complimenting them too little.
It's more about the argument you used.

You assume they put something in on purpose, but the product we're using evolved over time and a few things that are in there are unknown territory even to the team (or else I couldn't use them or at least not in their current form).
Like how I, amongst others, complained about unconditional surrender abuse / related exploits and it didn't get changed until Johan saw it live in one of their dev clashes.
Still salty about that one.

To assume that everything in the game is done on purpose is... nice, I guess? Not a valid argument though.

Balancing is one of their greatest weaknesses. To state publicly that x has to be avoided at all costs or that y has no function whatsoever is not a statement that needs to be looked at critically.
You either know the person has 2 hours of experience or you immediately agree.

Take Espionage ideas. The group can not be buffed.
Designed in a way to be either too weak or too annoying. You can not balance flawed design.

Just one example. That's why "They wouldn't do it unless it has a purpose" is a weak argument.

 

[byebytoad]

related question: in the mediterranean, what gives you more power per sailor? I know that in terms of ducats, galleys win, but in terms of sailors?

per sailors probably Heavies would win even in the mediterranean, since one heavy has the sailors of 2 galleys.
Unless you're playing as Venice with +25CA then maybe the 2 galleys could match one 1heavy.