How to make middle type warship useful

[M00Z1LLA]

@ArrivedLeader22

A unique problem of AOE3’s time period is that basically most ships fight with cannons so it is impossible to assign them to different roles like in AOE2/4 (where it is also somewhat made up).

It’s far from impossible, but it would take an overhaul of water combat. If they introduced melee combat to the water they could create all kinds of variants of ships. There is already a charged ramming ability with the Galleass, but boarding could be a huge element that could differentiate ships. Bigger ships with castles could be better at resisting boarding, and smaller ships could be better at swarming in and capturing other ships. Faster ships with more firepower could be a functional counter by kiting to avoid boarding attempts. Naval stealth like what is in the historical battles could also be a feature that synergizes with this.

@ArrivedLeader22

I think the main reason is that water combat is very minimal now. Most of the time it is booming with fishing boats and/or harassing the other player’s fishing boats by sending 2 caravels or 1 frigate. Sometimes they could aid battles close to shore or across a river. On some rare and meme occasions I see privateers or battleships. There is not much need to massively transport units through water.

Water combat is just not very fun and usually not relevant to winning a game other than for booming. There are just so many issues with it. There’s no diversity in units, the combat is clunky, and water maps are generally bad (and can’t be handled by the AI).

• Broadsides should just be automatic like Sloops are so it doesn’t need so much micro
• Attacks in general should be more of a barrage, and not just one blast with a huge amount of overkill
• There needs to be a target lock so ships don’t just dance around when something is slightly out of range (such as in a pursuit)
• All civs need a passable roster of ships (Inca need more than one ship type!!)
• Melee attacks and capturing ships by boarding could be the element that requires micro and evens the playing field for civs without massive warships
• Other new mechanics like stealth, anchoring in place, or widely accessible fire ships could increase the diversity
• Smaller boats being able to traverse shallow water would create a more dynamic interplay with the environment
• An “Explorer” ship that respawns could make gathering water treasures more similar to land treasures, and therefore more relevant
• Better maps could incentivize actually taking the water to get around chokepoints or other obstacles

Hybrid maps with a chokepoint or obstacle like I’ve suggested above could actually make water combat relevant for winning a game.