Which civilization(s) has the best navy?

[Gaijin Gunji]

I am playing some Islands type maps and I would like to know which civilization(s) are the most navy oriented. One important detail is that I like to play post-imperial age maps.

[axelg]

the portugese have amazing nave too with the gold discount and 10% more hp and their unique tech carack gives their ship +1/+1 armor and the caravel is great at destroying other galleys

[Devang]

Portuguese are pretty good too, right now.

[Davinci]

Italians are very competent and powerful in naval wars. They have discounts on all dock techs and their cheap elite cannon galleons will slaughter other buildings

[goranxii]

Vikings get cheaper ships, but miss out on Shipwright which leaves their Galleons with a construction time of 36 seconds, as opposed to ~27 seconds for those Civs that get Shipwright. The Portuguese are also, as mention previously, right up there. Other civs to look at might be Saracens (+20% attack speed for the Galley line), or Berbers (+10% movement speed for all ships), though they both need more microing skill to really take advantage of their strengths.

Also, it depends on what you're actually doing with ships, because trying to force a landing on enemy shores is different from trying to prevent a landing on yours, or contesting an area of water.

[Darth Sidious]

I'd probably say the Byzantines are the best naval civ! 20% increased fire rate which is actually 25% is really underrated unless you realise how awesome the bonus is along with full naval tech tree and greek fire unique tech.

[Freshairkaboom]

Don't forget the celts woodcutting bonus, which is HUGE until imperial when other civs get the last wood upgrade which they don't get. Yes, vikings have 25% less cost on all ships, which in theory sounds better, but know that while that is true, the woodcutting bonus also counts for building docks, which is essential to spam like 5-6 of for pumping out early game galleys.

[papermaniacman]

Don't Forget Italians, and the Malays, Italians have cheaper fishing ships and cheaper dock technologies and bombard cannons. malays have Harbors and infinite fish traps.

[Freshairkaboom]

papermaniacman a écrit :

Don't Forget Italians, and the Malays, Italians have cheaper fishing ships and cheaper dock technologies and bombard cannons. malays have Harbors and infinite fish traps.

Yeah, but navy = military ships. So it doesn't really apply. Plus you need a castle tech to get harbors (if I'm not mistaken, haven't played them so much), which delays them by ALOT. If you don't own water in feudal, it's hard to get out surrounded by enemy galleys.

[Shade-O]

Ah yes lets belittle the people for not mentioning the Italians and Malays or other civs. They should've time traveled to the future! So sad!

[The Very Hungry Caterpillar]

Unfortunately in this timeline the Vikings are a terrible water civ until Castle.

[papermaniacman]

Freshairkaboom a écrit :

papermaniacman a écrit :

Don't Forget Italians, and the Malays, Italians have cheaper fishing ships and cheaper dock technologies and bombard cannons. malays have Harbors and infinite fish traps.

Yeah, but navy = military ships. So it doesn't really apply. Plus you need a castle tech to get harbors (if I'm not mistaken, haven't played them so much), which delays them by ALOT. If you don't own water in feudal, it's hard to get out surrounded by enemy galleys.

you are forgetting that malays doesn't have to create and reseed wood costing farms in watermaps thanks to their impresive fishtraps on the long term Malays have more resources to sustain a navy than its competitors , just because they invest their wood in more ships than in farms . and then they can invade an island with free gold costing two handed swordsmen yeah you need a castle to have harbosrs but just one castle for them is sufficient.

[papermaniacman]

Cuchulainn a écrit :

Like the Longboat, the Turtle Ship is good in theory and not much else. It's slow, expensive, requires a castle and needs to be massed to be effective - so Koreans aren't actually all that good on the water. Naval battles are decided with Galleys.

since African kingdoms turtle ships no longer require castles

[Darth Maul]

TheBattler a écrit :

Vikings are basically in a category of their own.

The next couple civs are about tied: Huns thanks to their Housing saving bonus, Japanese due to the fishing bonus, and Persians due to extra resources and faster working Docks.

Then Saracens, then pretty much everybody else.

Cuchulainn a écrit :

Vikings are regarded as the best because of their -25% cost. Saracens would be next with the +20 fire rate, tied with the Spanish and their unmatched Cannon Galleons.

Spanish are NOT a top naval civ by any means. They need to wait until the Imperial Age and research Chemistry and Cannon Galleon to use that bonus, by which time the water will have easily been won. There are no..."water boom" maps where the Spanish can make reliable use of their bonus.

lauren a écrit :

I can understand how the slow and expensive turtle ship is never used, but I've never really understood why no one makes longboats? They're about as fast as a war galley, right?

They're more expensive than Galleys, and they aren't that much better for the cost. By the time you can make Longboats, you will already have a bunch of Galleys since they are available in the Feudal Age. So it makes more sense to just upgrade all of your Galleys than to build more Longboats. Galleon is also cheaper than Elite Longboat.

This is about the worst analysis I've ever read, congratulations for giving false feed to new players. Things to remember (if you're sad that this retard thinks the spanish aren't top tier) don't waste time on food and the like for naval maps. Just focus on wood and gold, and just enough food to develop your workforce and to purchase upgrades. You don't need land units at all, since you can raid the enemy with cannon galleons. You CAN boom on naval maps, especially since there aren't any effective units to work with until the imperial age. Sure, they might land some ground troops with a transport ship, but if you're walled up that can't do much; and good luck breaking the walls with you cringy "gush" strategy. Enough of this early ♥♥♥♥♥ raid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, if you want to play the game like a real tactician, you macro your units and wait until later game to fight.

[Shade-O]

Darth Maul a écrit :

This is about the worst analysis I've ever read, congratulations for giving false feed to new players. Things to remember (if you're sad that this retard thinks the spanish aren't top tier) don't waste time on food and the like for naval maps. Just focus on wood and gold, and just enough food to develop your workforce and to purchase upgrades. You don't need land units at all, since you can raid the enemy with cannon galleons. You CAN boom on naval maps, especially since there aren't any effective units to work with until the imperial age. Sure, they might land some ground troops with a transport ship, but if you're walled up that can't do much; and good luck breaking the walls with you cringy "gush" strategy. Enough of this early ♥♥♥♥♥ raid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, if you want to play the game like a real tactician, you macro your units and wait until later game to fight.

Ikr? He should've had the foresight and power of divination to see the African kingdom changes coming

[The Very Hungry Caterpillar]

Darth Maul a écrit :

TheBattler a écrit :

Vikings are basically in a category of their own.

The next couple civs are about tied: Huns thanks to their Housing saving bonus, Japanese due to the fishing bonus, and Persians due to extra resources and faster working Docks.

Then Saracens, then pretty much everybody else.



Spanish are NOT a top naval civ by any means. They need to wait until the Imperial Age and research Chemistry and Cannon Galleon to use that bonus, by which time the water will have easily been won. There are no..."water boom" maps where the Spanish can make reliable use of their bonus.



They're more expensive than Galleys, and they aren't that much better for the cost. By the time you can make Longboats, you will already have a bunch of Galleys since they are available in the Feudal Age. So it makes more sense to just upgrade all of your Galleys than to build more Longboats. Galleon is also cheaper than Elite Longboat.

This is about the worst analysis I've ever read, congratulations for giving false feed to new players. Things to remember (if you're sad that this retard thinks the spanish aren't top tier) don't waste time on food and the like for naval maps. Just focus on wood and gold, and just enough food to develop your workforce and to purchase upgrades. You don't need land units at all, since you can raid the enemy with cannon galleons. You CAN boom on naval maps, especially since there aren't any effective units to work with until the imperial age. Sure, they might land some ground troops with a transport ship, but if you're walled up that can't do much; and good luck breaking the walls with you cringy "gush" strategy. Enough of this early ♥♥♥♥♥ raid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, if you want to play the game like a real tactician, you macro your units and wait until later game to fight.

His post was from 4 years ago before African Kingdoms was a thing.....