played some matches despite the desyncs and had the misfortune of playing water. it is one of the least fun parts of the game as naval units are unresponsive and hard to micro. even against slow fishing ships they just drift out of range while fast caravels and galleys repeatedly begin their attack delay then fail as they get out of range.
this begins a cycle where they stutter forward, begin the attack and cancel. chasing retreating ships even when they are slower than yours is an exercise in frustration and obnoxious micromanagement. abilities can also fail as well, the delay attached to them removes the fun and excitement they might have had. the weird attack lockout that follows their activation doesn’t help either.
while it looks pretty aoe3 naval gameplay is the worst out of any rts I’ve played. even total war and battlefleet gothic games had more responsive and easier to control naval units. naval units shouldn’t have any attack delay at all regardless. removing the delay and adding target lock in the upcoming hotfix would make naval combat so much better short of a fun gameplay focused rework.