New Rules for Maritime Territories and Naval Battles

[Vextor]

Concerning Maritime Territories and Naval Battles

Like the forests and mountains on land, nations can claim parts of the sea as their own territory to exert their sovereignty. However, unlike normal territorries these regions do not produce PP, and pirates and the fleets of other nations may pass through them, possibly disrupting the trade and commerce of a region.

In order to protect one's territorial waters, a nation must maintain a fleet composed of a number of combat vessels in order to ward off hostile forces. Otherwise, enemy nations may sail through these waters unopposed and even attack the nation's ports.

Any nation can construct ships and fleets as long as they have at least one port, although the construction of vessels will cost potch depending on the class of the vessel and other factors (such as the port region's "Development" status).

Naval routes must also be maintainted. A nation's regions may be cut off from the capital if the connecting sea route is blocked by a enemy's territorrial waters or even unclaimed waters. The nation may solve this by using 2 PP to send a supply convoy to the cut off ports, but that convoy must still pass through the enemy territory, and thus will have to negotiate with the enemy or fight them.


Vessels

Vessels are required for a nation to attack or defend navally against enemies and other hostile forces. Without vessels, enemies will be able to attack your port region directly.

Each vessel must have a captain. Any member can be a captain, but the captain's stats along with whether he or she is a naval regiment will affect his or her effectiveness of the vessel.

A vessel can also have an Artillery commander and a Marines commander.

Artillery is in charge of long-range, anti-vessel combat. Only members that command regiments with long-range attack capabilities (Archers, Magicians, Rangers, and Crossbowmen) can fill this slot unless the ship has special weaponry (Described under "special"). The captain's regiment will fill in if this slot is vacant, but with reduced efficiency.

Marines are in charge of direct hand-to-hand combat after ships get close enough for boarding parties to launch attacks. Regiment types that require mounts will be treated as infantry unless otherwise specified (and magicians will gain advantage over infantry during these battles). The captain's regiment will fill in if this slot is vacant, but with reduced efficiency.

Vessels also have functional statistics which are affected by various factors, such as the vessel's class:

Maneuverability (MNU): Measures how easily the ship is able to turn around. This allows long-range attack damage to be dispersed more evenly among various sections of the vessel.

Speed (SPD): Allows the ship to out-pace other vessels, and even avoid battle altogether.

Training (TRN): Shows how easily people can be trained for a particular vessel. Affects how much damage is done or received.

Range (RNG): Measures how far your vessel can attack long-range, and also how many cargo vessels the combat vessel can adequately protect during voyage.

In addition, each vessel has structural defense values which decrease as it gets attacked. Once more than two structural sections decrease to a value of zero, the vessel sinks. Structural values also do not heal unless the ship can get fitted at a port (which costs money).

Bow: The defense value of the front portion of a ship.

Port: The defense value of the left side of the ship.

Starboard: The defense value of the right side of the ship.

Stern: The defense value of the rear side of the ship. Stern damage can also result in a damaged rudder, which will reduce maneuverability.

Mast: A damaged or destroyed mast will result in reduced speed.

Attack Power: Attack power is not listed within the vessel's profile, because attack power depends entirely on the regiment put in charge of attack. If the vessel has special weaponry, the attack power of such equipment will be added.

Vessel Types
There are many classes of vessels that can be used in naval warfare. Each of these have different characteristics, and some will not be available depending on your port region's development level. In order to build a ship, the development of your port must be equal to Your Ship's Potch Value/10000. For example, to construct a Xebec you must pay 250000 Potch. Divide that by 10000 to get 25, which is the minimum development your port must have to build a Xebec.

Cargo Ship (0 potch): A barge used to transport supplies and troops. They sink pretty easily, but are necessary for any voyage. You don't have to buy these at all, you are automatically assumed to have max number of cargo shipes allowed for your fleet.

Schooner (100000 potch): A light, fast vessel that is not terribly hardy.

Trireme (150000 potch): A combat vessel that is oar powered, and therefore lacks a mast, making the ship slower, but resilient to attacks compared to Schooners.

Xebec (250000 potch): A versatile vessel that is fast and reasonably hardy. It is often equipped with a Corvus for quick boarding attacks.

Longboat (150000 potch): A single-sailed vessel that can also be rowed. The vessel has a very short range, but can withstand long voyages.

Caravel (400000 potch): A very fast vessel with a relatively sturdy hull. It tends to have a well protected stern castle, which protects the rudder from enemy attacks.

Dromon (400000 potch): A fast vessel with a tower, giving it excellent range. Ideal for long-ranged combat.

Frigate (650000 potch): A large vessel with three main masts. It is fast for its size and is quite hardy.

Galleon (800000 potch): A massive war vessel equipped with various weapons and protected with thick lumber. This class tends to be slow, but its range and defenses more than make up for that.

Quadragintareme (? potch): A massive vessel with three hulls connected by a huge platform, making it look more like a floating fortress. The vessel is oar powered and thus lacks a mast, making it pretty slow.

Ironclad (? potch): A Galleon covered with metal plates, giving it incredible defenses.

Windjammer (? potch): A vessel with a metallic hull, powered by four main masts. It is surprisingly fast, but maneuverability is among the lowest.

Man-o-War (? potch): A gargantuan galleon made by master shipwrights. This vessel is reasonably fast for its size and possesses great defenses. They also tend to be armed with powerful weapons, making them a dangerous foe to encounter in the high seas.

*Vessels can be purchased at the beginning of each phase by paying admins and submitting required information, such as ship name, captain, and descriptions. Changing captains and other crew members can also only be done at the beginning of each phase.

Voyage

When going on a voyage, a fleet must be put together. A fleet can be made of 1~3 combat vessels, and one of the captains of must be named as a commodore. To go on a voyage, a nation must pay a certain amount of PP, depending on what their intent is:
3 PP- Attacking another nation's territorial waters (A Naval Battle)
2 PP- Attacking an unclaimed area of water
2 PP- Sending a convoy to supply regions cut off via sea routes.

Also, an unspecified number of cargo ships (maximum number will be the sum of the RNG of all ships within the fleet) will tag along. Each cargo ship can carry up to 5000 soldiers. A fleet must also choose a strategy, which will determine how the fleet fights the battles.

Strategies

Break Through: Focus on breaking through enemy ranks while sustaining minimum damage.

Focus: Focus attacks on one enemy vessel.

Disperse: Disperse attacks among all enemy vessels.

Sabotage: Focus attacks on enemy cargo ships.

Encounters

When fleets enter foreign waters, they will encounter the owning nation. An encounter may result in the intruder being allowed to pass, pay a toll (one potch/soldiers carried), or may result in a battle. When passing through unprotected (unclaimed) waters, the fleet may encounter pirates and be attacked.

If a nation sends a fleet through several foreign and unclaimed regions on the path to its destination, the fleet may have to fight several battles in one phase. The damage taken in these fights will not heal after battle.

Naval Battles:


When combat starts, your fleet will start far away from each other (determined by the max RNG from both fleets), where only long-ranged attacks will reach each other. Battle progression will be determined by the fleet formation and tactics set by each captain. Each tactic will have different effects in naval battles:

Back Against Open Water: The ship will charge into enemy formations and attempt to board enemy vessels.

The Fast Arrow Pierces: The ship will charge into enemy formations and penetrate through enemy defenses boarding enemy vessels deep within enemy formations, or firing from behind.

The Dragon Coils Around A Pearl: The ship will follow the same tactic chosen by the commodore.

A Crane Opens Its Wings: The ship will try to keep a distance away from friendly vessels, focusing on long-range attacks.

Hiding Within The Shell: The ship will try to distance itself from enemy vessels, focusing on long-range attacks.

Minute combat maneuvers will be determined by the "personality" of the captains, determined by their stats. No input by members will be necessary for the duration of naval battles.

Battle will continue until one side is defeated, retreats, breaks through enemy lines, or loses all of their cargo ships. If a commodore's ship is captured or sunk, the battle ends. Soldiers lost in cargo ships will perish at the normal rate (25% of those lost).

Units will only receive a victory if they successfully board or sink an enemy ship. All units on the victorious ship will be awarded a victory.


Salvage

If a vessel is captured before it is sunk (that is, if a vessel is boarded and captured), the vessel will become the property of whatever force that captures it. It can be not used until a captain is assigned to it the following phase.

If a nation loses all of its ports then all of its ships will fall into the hands of its enemies. The nation can choose to prevent this by intentionally sinking their own ships, but they then lose all chance of reclaiming them.

Each vessel can have special characteristics to distinguish itself from other vessels. These give each vessel an added edge (or penalty). Special Characteritsics sometimes come with ships, or can be gained through other special means. Here is a list describing some of these characteristics.

Battering Ram: A metal-tipped bow that gives a ship extra attack power at close range.

Corvus: A mechanical bridge that gives an offense bonus when boarding enemy vessels.

Ballista: A siege weapon that allows a ship attack from medium range regardless of artillery regiment type.

Rune Cannon: A rare weapon that doubles damage done by artillery regiment, and increases range to 10 (Maximum).

Mercenaries
Mercenaries may also buy ships to rent out to nations, or use them on their own adventures. There is no limit to the number of ships a mercenary can buy, but he or she can only captain one.

A mercenaries development value is set at 25. They may discover various ways to improve their ships through adventures.

[Ley]

First......

Anyway, great additions Sars. So I'll just ask one question. Will the type of vessel owned make a difference to the success of an exploration over water?
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[Vextor]

Nope, vessel type doesn't affect exploration.


Oh yes, I have a question too--

Can Mercenaries buy and own ships?

The answer would be "yes." A mercenary can even hire out their ships to other nations, becoming more like a ship-merchant than a mercenary.

[Earthquake923]

Since they have no nation, where would sail from? And how would the waters they control be factored in?
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[Vextor]

That would depend on the nation that hires the mercenary.

[iscalio]

If a nation (say, Tinto for example) has no vessel and another nation (the Island Nations maybe) invades one of its ports the rules state that the attacking nation can make landfall directly. Does this mean that in this case naval battles take only one phase?


And another question: Does a nation have to call a vessel its own to be able to make naval explorations or raids or is a fleet only necessary for "normal" naval battles?


Is maritime trade a new feature? You said monsters and pirates can damage commerce.


Are appointed captains and marine or artillery commanders able to fight on land if no naval battle takes plasce? Or are they permanently bound to the high seas as long as they hold their position?

[Vextor]

[Timbo]

A few questions-

1. Concerning turning cavalry into infantry in marine battles- how does that work for Spearmen and Crossbowmen? It would make sense that spearmen would be strong against magicians since there would be no cavalry, but that makes them the same as archers and it would make sense that crossbowmen would become weak against infantry, but that makes them them same as archers as well. Is this going to be the case?

2. How are naval supply lines going to work now? I assume you will have to have all connecting routes in between ports and connected to the capital, but that would to butcher Falena right now and would seem very unfair.
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[Vextor]

[Arenegeth]

Wait; do ships get destroyed and captured by the enemy right?

But for us mercenaries that wouldn't be too good especially if we save for phases to get a man-o-war (considering that a ship of that magnitude is available to us).

Can we hire ourselves as captains of our ships, or independently at the same Phase and to different nations?

Also if will vessels have victory counts?

Or if the vessel I hired out under someone else's command wins, do I get anything from the victory?

What will the rates of hiring our ships be based upon, if I wanted to hire a Galleon for example how much would I ask for?
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[Timbo]

Two more questions:

1. If a port is taken by land, does the maritime superiority circle attached to it go along with it?

2. Does a nation need to lose all maritime superiority circles to be considered destroyed?
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[Vextor]

[RedCydranth]

Okay this is a lot to take in at once so I may have to study this over and over to get it right, but this at first glance seems to be a very nice addition to our already great war game. Kudos to you Sars.

Scenario 1. Lets say a nation buys some boats. How far can they go on that map before they have to fight a battle? For instance, say Nation A has a fleet and they want to take on Nation B's port. However there are 4 large black dots in between the port regions. Does each black dot take a phase to go through and gain as their waters fighting off pirates and monsters or do they safely sail through to the opposing side? Or is there a chance of a "random encounter".

Scenario 2. Nation A wants to attack Nation B's Port region and its 2 Dots away, however one of the dots belongs to a neutral Nation C. What procedures must be taken to allow Nation A through Nation C's waters to reach Nation B? Potch or soldier payment is what I presume. If Nation C doesn't want to pay can they battle Nation C's navy for the way through?

Scenario 3. Nation A wants to take Nation B's Port region 2 large dots away and one of those dots belongs to Nation A's ally, Nation C. Does Nation A have, because of the alliance, free right to sail through those waters without need of payment?

EDIT: If a nation get attacked by more than one naval battle at different ports will they have to have 2 fleets of ships to attempt defending?

Also what happens if 2 nations try to attack the same port, do their fleets fight the right of way battle and then go on to fight the defending armada?
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[Leb]

Okay, so there's no real-time placement of the ships, right? Someone moves through your territory and you're automatically given the option to meet this fleet?

[Vextor]