I've seen a fair number of posts in various threads suggesting that naval warfare in EU4 is grossly underpowered. I personally think a large part of the problem is that the AI never uses it properly, rather than an inherent issue with the mechanic. I can see plenty features of historic naval warfare which are missing, but they all seem to be relatively minor; relevant only for specific countries or places.
All the same, I would love to have some of the mission features, even though I know that they'd all be a lot of work for a minor benefit (except the last one which is actually easily user-moddable). Since I therefore can't imagine Paradox would add any of these to the game, I'm not going to post them to suggestions.
Rather, I'm going to post them here, in part to fantasize and in part because I'm wondering if there are other, grander, more universal aspects of naval warfare which people are thinking of to when they criticize the current naval warfare mechanics.
Any rate, that's my naval wishlist, as it currently stands.
What aspects of naval warfare do the rest of you wish were available?
Addendum—Stuff other people wish for:
All the same, I would love to have some of the mission features, even though I know that they'd all be a lot of work for a minor benefit (except the last one which is actually easily user-moddable). Since I therefore can't imagine Paradox would add any of these to the game, I'm not going to post them to suggestions.
Rather, I'm going to post them here, in part to fantasize and in part because I'm wondering if there are other, grander, more universal aspects of naval warfare which people are thinking of to when they criticize the current naval warfare mechanics.
- Ice
As the game stands, I can land a fleet in Neva in December, and the Portuguese can retrofit in Kamchatka in January, even though historically the ports in those province would have been frozen solid in that period. It would be nice if coastal zone could have a feature which would specify an "iced in" period during which units can't move into or out of their ports, and sea zones could have an "iced over" period, during which they couldn't be entered or exited, and during which units caught in them (both naval units and land units on transport) would take attrition. Also during this period which infantry and possibly cavalry units could enter sea zones, but will be lost if the ice melts.
- - Fortified straits
Currently, it's really no big deal to sail around Jutland, and the Kiel Canal is just something to build if you have too much money and Holstein. Historically though, Denmark had massive forts on the Oresund and the Belt, charged fees for passage, and blocked them off during wars. Likewise, the Ottomans blocked off the Dardanelles and Bosporus while the Crimeans blocked off the Crimean Bosporus. So it would be neat if you could identify some sea zones as straits, and two adjacent provinces as controlling them. This would allow the owners of one or both of those provinces to build batteries as a new category of building, with the level dependent on the artillery level. Batteries would cause severe attrition to units passing one, several times that attrition to units passing both, and give a significant bonus to naval battles in the sea zone they control.
- - Blocking of canals
In real life it's stupidly easy for the controller of a canal to close it to enemy warships. The Panama Canal and Kiel Canal have locks, while the Suez Canal is wicked long and fairly narrow. It would be neat to have this mechanic happen by default. It would also be neat for the "looted province" modifier to block the canal to friendly and neutral units, and for a "sabotaged canal" modifier to pop up in provinces taken by the enemy, which would extend the transit block even longer while draining money from the controller's treasury to repair it.
- - Raids
Part of the way the British kept their enemies from doing what AI France does in game (landing armies in Britain) was by guarding the Channel in wartime (something I wish AI Britain would think to do), part of their strategy was landing forces and destroying ships in the harbor. They did it with French transports, and they also tried to do it with the Spanish fleet, only for the Brits to get drunk in Corunna and blow the whole plan to bits. To simulate this strategy, it would be neat to have an "attack fleet" option for military units in a blockaded province. This would probably work by having some chance of causing damage to the ships, depending on the number and type of ships and their morale and discipline. Transports would almost always be destroyed with such an action, but the presence of heavy or light ships would run the risk of a "troops find the captain's wine" event, which would drop morale to zero, delaying any further actions with those troops.
- - Transfer trade with fleets
Historically the Spanish treasure fleets were a major target in both war and peace, forcing the Spaniards to send warships to protect them. In the game, the Spanish and Portuguese transfer their massive trade home with traders, and never have to worry about raids taking their fleet. Allowing a new class of merchant ship which could transfer trade power, but with the risk of being hit by pirates, privateers, or enemies would be pretty awesome.
- - Mercenary ships
Historically, the Dutch tended to recruit armed merchant ships for naval battles, usually by promising them a share of the spoils (though I imagine they might have paid some of them too), and pretty much all seafaring nations in Europe recruited privateers via letters of marque. It would be neat to have "enlist privateers" as a build action rather than a decision, one which would recruit ships more quickly, but which would have a higher upkeep unless they were on a privateering mission (and if on a privateering mission, the privateers would get all the spoils of that mission).
- - Barbary Pirates
Currently, when pirates do appear, they pop up in sea zones where nobody bothers protecting trade (places like Labrador and Lappland) and blockade ports. That appears to be all they do. The Barbary pirates, however were a real threat to Europe historically, since they not only destroyed European merchant ships but conducted slaving raids against the coasts, taking millions of people from Europe. A lot of them were essentially privateers. The Maghrebi states either actively supported them or treated them like merchants on business, allowing them to conduct a lucrative slave trade in their ports. The Barbary Pirates also had assistance from the Dutch during the Dutch revolt. One way you might represent this is by allowing Muslim states with a Mediterranean coastline, and the Dutch during the Dutch Revolt to sponsor pirates against their rivals. For the Maghrebis it could be part of the national ideas, while other Muslim states and the Dutch could get it as a decision or event.
- - Lake battles
Historically, both the Caspian and the Great Lakes were the sites of important naval battles. However unlike the other items on my wishlist, I think this could be fixed in a mod, simply by designating them as inland seas (and splitting the Caspian into zones).
Any rate, that's my naval wishlist, as it currently stands.
What aspects of naval warfare do the rest of you wish were available?
Addendum—Stuff other people wish for:
- Naval terrain (IcyBlizzard)
- Fix strait blocking mechanics (Thrake)
- More realistic naval losses (MeatPirate and josh127)
- Allow light ships to avoid heavies (Pellucid)
- Allow evasion for automated actions (josh127)
- Allow boarding parties (Krazjen)
- Slower naval repairs (net.split)
- Assault docked navies with fleet (net.split)
- More realistic naval forcelimits (net.split)
- Leader skill improves over time (saied_88)
- Naval forts (neondt)
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