At least 3 heavy or light ships

[Claudius Aetius]

Hi guys,

Well, something is different after I bought Rule Britannia (or perhaps Res Publica, or El Dorado I don't know). Now I can't just send my navigatior and explorer using just Cogs (after all, only this king of ship can transport troops).

If I want to go west, I must have "at least 3 heavy or light ships". What is that suppose to mean? I can only explore using Carracks and Barques? And what about the troops? So, in this case, do I need a fleet of around five ships (3 Carracks and 2 for a small Army)?

Do I must wait for improved ships, like Caravels?

[Tasty Bunny]

Some DLC changed that. Now in order to explorer, you must asign navigator in fleet with 3 lightship, you can send that fleet to explore. It's automated not manual. You can send conquista after that via regular amphibious landing.

[Victrixy]

Your exploration fleet needs to have at least 3 ships, it can all heavy, all light or combination of the two. You do not need to attach an army to your fleet.

Usually I would use all light because light has faster travel speed and is cheaper to maintain. I would consider using heavy if I'm sending them to circumnavigate the global as they can withstand more attrition.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

It's part of El Dorado's exploration overhaul.

it removes the ability to explore the ocean freely, you can only do so via exploration missions and those are capped by your colonial range. BUT it's automated and your ships suffer no attrition while on most missions (except Circumnavigate the globe).

Generally you never use heavies to explore as there's simply no point. They're incredibly slow and stupidly expensive in both upkeep and sailor upkeep.

once you've explored you can send your transport fleets manually to drop off troops. (troops in america led by a conquistador also get the ability to auto-explore though it's not required to do so though you do have the potential to get some interesting exploration events for doing so...or kill your conquistador repeatedly)

[Fellini_Fiend]

Also the reason for three is a reference to the Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa Maria; the three ships Columbus used for his exploration of the unknown.

[Claudius Aetius]

Thank you all. Can you point me in the right direction to find how to create an exploration misson? Is it a Idea or we do it by yourselves?

[kaiyl_kariashi]

you need an explorer in charge of the fleet.

For that you either need Quest for the New World (2nd idea of Exploration ideas) or certain national ideas allow it as well (like Norway can recruit explorers with one of their ideas).

[Mikey]

once the fleet is selected and it has an explorer in charge you can enter it's missions tab and issue exploration missions to areas that are in range both for naval exploration and coastal exploration

The mission tab is one of the many buttons on the fleets page

[Claudius Aetius]

Thank you very much. I found the tech and options, and I will try the explorations. :)