“Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves” - but not on AOE3de. For the majority of the 19th century the British navy was second to none, after the the famous defeat of the the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). By the end of the 19th century parliament brought in the Naval Defence Act 1889 that stated that the Royal Navy must be larger than the next two largest navies (France and Russia’s) combined.
That said, looking at the latest update (March 2023), I’m yet to see any major Brit navy buffs. I’m aware that the brits do have a card which allows them a free Battleship in the Industrial Age but now seeing all the new buffed card most other European civs are getting, I don’t think this is representative of historical events. To my knowledge the Spanish have even had an increased build limit card for battleships!!! (yes, I get the whole Spanish armada thing but still )
Blockquote * Nuestras Señoras (III): Now also increases Battleship build limit by +1.
So my idea is to buff the British navy in the late game to add a new dynamic to play style and to be a little more historically appropriate.
This could be done through an increased build limit of a smaller ship like a Galleon or the creation of an entirely different vessel all together.
I’d be happy to see new cards such as…
… or have cards that significantly increase attack / hitpoints / movement speed just to make the civ on water stand out.
It might be an interesting idea to introduce a new merchant vessel mechanic (as seen in other games in the SaGa) in AOE3de that the brits, Italians and dutch could fight for supremacy in. Or other more economically focused upgrades / HC cards.
As you’re probably aware now, I do have a bit of a brit bias as I’ve been maining brits for a while, but I’d love to hear everyones’ ideas on how this could be achieved in relatively balanced way.
British is quite bland in many ways including navy.
Eco: higher vil count than others most of the time but with no additional eco buffs
Military: some good +15%/+15% cards in age 2 but nothing more interesting later
Navy: 1 free battleship but with no buff (now as everyone gets either offshore support or naval gunner, it becomes more average)
It has an average final stage of almost everything and the only advantage is to get to that stage faster.
Fine in 1v1 supremacy because nobody can ever reach the final stage. But in many other conditions I just don’t want to play this civ. There is nothing fun about it.
I think it is possible to keep it as an early booming civ but also fun if you want to play longer games. Just give them some fun late game options like Swedes and Japanese.
For example some new age 4 cards. You won’t use most of them in 1v1 supremacy because the age 2 and 3 card slots are crowded. You need to sacrifice the early advantage for them. This could still be balanced.
That what I mean - bland - it would be more interesting if the devs introduced ANY new mechanic!!! (especially for late game)
The only good thing to come out of this most resent update for brits has been an increase in Ranger range to 22 from 20 after the baker rifles card is sent. The rest of it has been nerfs - no 3 vil card, 140 wood manors etc.
I don’t think brit is bad at all on water you have improved warships, naval gunners and monitor combat. The battleship card being free is also a big deal. You can age up to industrial and immediately ship it and take control of the water, the other civs may have unique cards but they come at a high cost.
The only thing I think they could add is fire ships because they were used by the british, at least give them a fire ship card like malta.
Yes I wouldn’t think it will break the balancing if Brits have say access to highlanders, or slightly buffed factory, or a unique battleship ability. They all require a card after all.
Even some strong rushing civs have pretty interesting late game options.
Especially I found it unacceptable if Brits have the most average navy and no bonus on industry.
I feel the design of the British civ peaking in Age 2 (late 17th century) feels a bit out of context from reality as Britain truly began to to peak around the time of (and the following decades after) its industrial revolution (Age 4). Wouldn’t it make most sense from an historic point of view for the Spanish and Portuguese to have the best early game; the dutch and the French best mid game; the British to have the best Age 4; only overtaken right at the end by the germans and US in the fifth age. (I’m aware for game balancing reasons this would be tricky)
Highland Clearances (IV): grants access to highlanders from the barracks, forts and galleons. Makes musketeer upgrades and HC cards applicable to Highlanders. (if you want to get access to this now use Highlanders for Brits mod)
Industrial Revolution (III) (500 food, 500, coin and 500 wood): ships a factory wagon. Allows early access to factories! will unlock an Age 5 upgrade that will allow villagers to garrison into factories and will increase their collection rate of any given resource by 1.5x
Rule Britannia (IV) (1500 coin): ships one battle ship and two privateer vessels. Allows the training of battleships and privateer vessels in docks and increases all ships rate of fire.
They should have a way to get advanced naval units like Steamers and Ironclads at least as a one time thing. They had some advanced pre-dreadnoughts in the late 1800s. An Age 5 politician that enables Steamers and sends a couple Ironclads could be interesting.
I love that idea. It always seemed odd that the Highlanders were mercs in the first place when they were, from the start of the Union onwards, an intrinsic part of the British army.
I’d love ‘proper’ ironclads, i.e ocean-going. I want to see a shipment - ‘Victorian Naval Advancements’ that adds a set of additional, expensive upgrades to the dock. Essentially they replace the Caravel and Galleon with Federal State ships, the Sloop and Steamer (ironically the reality is that they would have appeared in the UK first anyway) and add ‘Ironclad Frigates’ tech for Frigates which upgrades them to ‘Arrmoured Frigates’.
If I had my choice, I would give the british a unique frigate beefier than the standard frigate. Something between the battleship and the frigate, like a small ship of the line.
The devs need to somehow incorporate a way to access highlander training for the brits as its something I think everyone who’s ever mained brits has always wanted this. Maybe give them a slightly longer range so they stay more relevant late game, or alternatively give them a “Highland Charge” big bottom mechanic like ###### and caroleans to quickly take down cavalry or maybe even artillery if they’re close enough.
I love this idea, but also do find it weird that a lot of the “revolutions” get a more modern looking ships (ironclads) than the European civs.
A short term fix that could be introduced by the devs could be just adding and extra +1 or +2 to the build limit of British frigates through a HC card or a late game dock technology.
I’m a big fan of having special age V (IV) British cards that cost a massive amount of resources but give them super-late-game advantages. Sort of reflects the ultimate British domination at the end of the time period of the game.
Would giving the British a civ bonus like increasing the build limits of each warship by 1 or 2 be too much, or even always allow Battleships to be buildable no matter what map you are on? I mean if we really look at all the civilizations bonuses the British doesn’t have a civ bonus. Manor houses are not a civ bonus but a unique building. I say that because multiple civs have unique buildings and civ bonuses: Mosque, Banks, Torps, Blockhouses. If Manor Houses were normal houses and still produced a villager that would make sense.
Alas there is even no unique icon for Rule Britannia like all other unique battleship cards…it looks ans functions just the same as the 1 battleship card.
Either give it a unique icon or make a new card “HMS Victory” with some bonus.
I would say it is still the most strong battleship card but…neither battleship nor age 4 naval dominance is useful in most games. So I’d rather trade it for something more interesting.
Yes this would seem fair, maybe have it as a Capitol tech (costing 3000 food, 3000 coin and 3000 wood) which increasing all military units attack and hitpoints by 50% and be used to act as a stalemate breaker at the end of a long treaty game. This would apply to all infantry, cavalry, artillery and ships.
Alternately, this capitol tech could instead decrease the rate of fire for all ranged units to 1.5 (from 3) and also increase their overall range to show technological advancement. For instance, Redcoats could now be armed with Martini Henry Rifles (1871), which increases their range to 16 (from 12) and RoF to 1.5 (from 3). Ships could just fire two canons at a time rather than one to show improved naval gunnery. And maybe Maxim Guns (1884) could become trainable at the Artillery Foundry.
And yes this would seem a fair way to show British naval dominance in this time period.
Typically in 1v1 at least brit doesn’t even go water just because manors are your priority. I actually think more brit players should go water because with schooners you can get way more than 20 vills out fast and you’ll still get free vills from the houses without doing a specific manor boom. Anyway the battleship could definitely be added to an anti-water deck, just hit industrial and send that and completely shut down the entire water eco of another civ that until then may have been entirely uncontested and just have a couple of war ships.
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