I don't understand transport losses

[Stoerte]

I play Germany in the 1890 campaign. It's 1892 and I'm at war with Russia, who decided to shift ALL their ships from the Black Sea and the Pacific to the Baltics even before the war. I'm winning decisively. Every leftover single Russian ship is in Oulu in Northfinnland and yet I lose transport every turn. My closest ports are Pilau and Danzig. Aren't transports supposed to be travelling between the nations own ports? So how is it possible that I lose them at all when every Russian ships is way off. Meanwhile my own cruisers in front of Murmansk and the Russian Pacific harbors havent sunk or even encountered a single Russian transport.

[Mobzonk]

As you describe it, all your transport losses should be in the Baltic. Germany has ports in the Baltic and it sounds like there are too few German ships in that sea zone (compred to the Russian ships).

[Stoerte]

So it's only the seazone that matters not the location of the ports it self? Good to know. Guess it makes sense from a programming view, because it's easier to check the ships in a whole seazone. I can live with this, now that I think I understand how this works gamewise.
What i don't understand is why I can't sink any Russian transports in the Pacific where the AI has 0 ships.

[vanDyck]

Only the zones matter, yes, and you can have a 100 times more ships, as long there are enemies present, you may loose transports.
Try putting your ships in front of one of their ports. You should get one port attack mission with a chance to sink transports.