Iāve personally always disliked the frigate/man of war ship model (and the monitor). I wish it could be entirely reworked or remodled. The newer battleship looks amazing, and the old caravel/galleon/fluyt ships all look ok I think. The two big ships just look weird and wrong - I guess they were given huge empty upper decks purely for the campaign cutscenes involving people standing on deck?
If PLC civ were to receive a unique boat it would be difficult to find anything because it was not their specialty.
However, if references to Cossacks were included in the civ PLC, they could receive the Chaika - a Cossack river boat for plundering expeditions. She could be a small transport ship training Cossack units - replacing Galleon.
Overall a civ PLC should have a very limited fleet. I would see an expensive HC card for them relating to Gdansk that would in a sense unlock some ships in limited quantity. Another HC card could be a reference to Livonia - the dispatch of the Livonian expeditionary fleet.
Iād also like to see upgrades and some renaming.
In previous Age of games, you could upgrade ships lines, however in AoE3 it doesnāt happen (with the exception of a couple of Imp upgrades for Frigate and Monitor that donāt change appearance).
Caravel
Caravels got replaced pretty quickly in the timeline (they were there just to the end of the 16th century before being outclassed - incidentally it was the Galleon that was the true replacement). The models in-game are also Carracksā¦
If there were no Fed States, the obvious upgrade would have been a Sloop, however they seem tide to that civ group (which is really annoying as they were used by all Euros way beforeā¦) - so maybe a Schooner or Cutter may be a nice upgrade in the later ages? These ships would feel for more in sync with Frigates and Monitors on an aesthetic level.
Galleon
These are kinda fine as is, especially as they have a utility use. Would be nice for a Royal Guard version for the Spanish. On a historic level they do get obsolete before the end of the timeline. A possible upgrade could be to Brig.
Frigate
Before Battleships appear in AoE3, these were pretty much regarded as such (even gaining a Ship-of-the-line upgrade - which is incorrect), however they were used for escorts, chasing and scouting.
Iād love to see an upgrade progression for them to be Frigate - (Industrial) Great Frigate - (Imperial) Armoured Frigate. The last one changes it to a steam powered, ironclad Frigate.
Monitor
First off, get rid of the hideous name. Itās a weird leftover from some bad Ensemble Studios naming.
Call it a Bomb Ketch. Imperial Upgrade changes it to Bomb Vessel.
Rowboat
Iād love to see the campaign rowboat in, but thatās a rather wishlisty thing!
I would go a little further and say that even the Galleon needs a better model, the large ship of the trade routes, in fact would fit perfectly to represent the galleon, of course, it just needs cannons.
The native civs (and subcivs) really need an update for their boats. Civs ranging from Alaska to Patagonia all use birch bark canoes. They need a bit of variation of their basic boat to accurately represent their watercraft.
Dugout Canoe - for Aztecs, Caribs, Maya, Nootka, Tupi, Zapotec, and Mapuche
Reed Boat - for Inca and Quechua
Kayak - for Tengri (currently uses junks), Inuit?, and Alutes?
Bull Boat - A cheap and weak troop training boat for Lakota
Cheemaun/Master Canoe - A large Voyageur style canoe that acts as a Galleon equivalent for Hauds.
Maybe the Caravel could upgrade to a cutter.
I know the ships arenāt similar, but the caravel became very obsolete and cutters tended to be small coastal patrol craft for catching smugglers, criminals and even scouting for naval purposes.
Sloop is already an American ship and Corvette is basically just a small french frigate/sloop. Most other nations, excepting America didnt use the term until very near the end of the time period. The British, for example, didnāt use it until 1830s.
Just one more reason Mexico and U.S. shouldnāt have been added. They have modernised navies compared to everyone else.
Corvette would make a better French frigate UU
British could get a Post Ship unique upgrade.
Itās not that they shouldnāt have been in it, itās that they should have fit better time-wise. For example in Age I to II, they should have been pretty similar to their mother countries but more emphasis on regional colonial units (Frontiersmen for example). Then Age III onwards they gain their own complete identity. Ship-wise, they should have had the exact same line-up as Euros. Sloops, Steamers and Ironclads would have been much better as upgrades for all Euros/Fed states. I never get why they are somehow 100s of years more technologically advanced with the ships.
Anyway, minor rant aside, the natural upgrade to Caravel should be Sloop, but as itās ātakenā the Brigatine is a small ship (bigger than Sloops) that all Euros used for scouting, patrolling, minor conflict - basically everything the āexplorer shipā role encompasses. This was be the ideal upgrade.
As an aside, Iād love to see a big old naval refresh. My dream would be all military vessels have their transport capacity severely restricted and to being back transport ships - theyāre in all AOE games aside from AOE3 and not only would bring a bit of familiarity to players from the other games (which is a big postive to the playerbase), it also makes sense - it gives us some stakes and focal points to the waterways when our army is in a Troopship (which were of course, real things). It also gives more purpose to our lighter/weaker but quick vessels to intercept them.
At least the Inca fishing boat could be replaced by a sailing reed boat, with the texture that already exists on the docks. It could be interesting to see a reed ship, sailing, with a double hull, bulges on the hulls, with a powerful attack, but quite fragile, with rapid production and very fast.
I really hope that the current āMonitorā ship is given its proper name in the future. Though it would be nice if the actual Monitor could be added to the game somehow. Maybe there could be a late game card or technology that enables them.
Aside from unique war ships it would also be nice if some civilisations had unique replacements of the [Fishing Boat].
The Dutch could for example have the Herring Buss. This type of fishing vessel seem to have been used mostly by Dutch and Flemish fishermen from the 15th to early 19th century. The Herring Buss also seem to have been often armed with cannons, which was particularly true during the 17th century under a certain period known as the āDutch Golden ageā when the herring trade was highly lucrative and competitive. Though the term āDutch Golden Ageā has been controversial in the 21st century due to the extensive Dutch involvement in slavery and colonialism during the period.
Another notable fishing boat that could be unique for the British would be the Smack. This type of fishing boat is believed to have originated in the 16th century as small sailing vessels used by fishermen in the Thames estuary. Smack boats were used primarly for oyster fishing, although they were also used for other types of fishing as well.
During the 18th and 19th centuries these ships experienced some kind of Golden Age, where the use of Smack boats became prevalent, especially in the coastal areas of the United Kingdom. They were apparently also used in the Atlantic coast of America. Despite being primarily used for fishing oysters as aforementioned they also seem to have been particularly useful for fishing herring, which was in high demand during the Victorian era.
If anyone know of any other notable types of traditional fishing boats that were used predominantly by any in-game civilisation, I would be glad to hear about them.
Edit: I happened to come across about a particular fishing trawler known as the Muletta. I couldnāt find a lot information about it unfortunately, but It was apparently used predominantly by the Portuguese where it first appeared in the 16th century and was used until the early 20th century.
Yes, the Caravels are in the game because of the theme of Columbusā caravels and the first voyages of explorationā¦plus the game starts in 1421, so itās ok with the timelineā¦
If it were like AoE 2 yes, but if not you would have few ships in the Imperial Ageā¦ the battleship, the monitor and the ironclad and thatās itā¦
Nah, thatās unrealistic, besides that during this period, it was normal for armies to use battleships as a way of transporting themselves to America from Europeā¦ and if not, at least you have the Flat-bottomed Boats from the Fire campaignā¦
Monitor is a correct name, but it was used much later to refer to ironcladsā¦it should be called āmortar shipāā¦
And like 3 more UUā¦ It canāt be that the French only use the cuirassiers as a military UU with all the Napoleonic context of this periodā¦
Sure, they fit in the timeline, but my point is that they are incredibly outdated after the 16th century.
Letās look at Falconets - they upgrade from Falconets (pre-18th century) to Field Guns which makes sense. They modernise. Musketeers also change in appearence from floppy hats with feathers to 19th century shako hats.
In the Industrial Age, alongside our Frigates, Battleships and Monitors, we have decrepit, outdated ships from the 1500s.
I donāt think so - the same ātypesā would still be present. The āexplorerā ship, i.e. Caravels, Junks, Fune could eventually upgraded to be Steam Schooners/Corvettes in the Imperial Age for example. Ideally theyād have an upgrade in between, for example Caravel > Schooner / Corvette (Fortress Age), then they all just get reconfigured as steam ships / ironclads in the last period as their Imperial Upgrades.
As an aside, I still think all civs should get access to Fireships or Fire Canoes (depending on civ) as another option to deal with large enemy vessels. They were such ānormalā part of ship battles, plus in the case of Native American civs it could help to not put so much emphasis and power on their top tier canoes (which are unnaturally powerful) as they look silly going toe-to-toe with Frigates.
I think revolutions should have their own types of ships. I doubt a newly independent nation in South America would have access to steamships. If Iām wrong, please show me sources.