jimwinsor
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Joined: 11/21/2005
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I've been playing Britain in my new 1.2.18 game, so I have been noticing certain things about naval system lately, some of which are not entirely intuitive (or intended?):
1) It's usually not a good idea to "blockade" an enemy fleet. Reason being, you are not the moving player in a blockade run, so you'll likely be the defender hence likely not have the weather gauge. And as Raleigh correctly points out in his guide, the weather gauge is highly important in naval combat.
2) And win or lose, the blockaded fleet will escape. If it loses, the rules as they stand now retreat them to the nearest unblockaded port (or sea area if none) and the port you are blockading is by definition blockaded, hence ineligible, it would seem.
3) Thus it seems a better way to keep enemy fleets penned in port is a "loose blockade," basically move your fleet back and forth along the coast you are trying to blockade. You are a moving fleet now too so that'll help your odds of getting the weather guage, PLUS enemy fleets retreat to the port they emerged from on defeat, PLUS you can theoretically cover serveral enemy occupied ports this way with only one fleet. Also, the Americans don't get irate this way. The disadvatage is that if the enemy times it right his fleet can slip past you if you are moving away when he enters the zone. Luck plays a role in this, since movement is determined by your initiative chance each phase.
4) Another possible "loose blockade" technique is setting your fleet to intercept. Now, I'm not sure if the intercepting fleet is considered "moving" for weather gauge advantage purposes, but if you are looking for a fight setting your fleet to intercept probably can't hurt. You can always decline to intercept if you don't like where you are going.
5) Interesting thing I discovered about intercepts, is that they move to any adjacent sea area with an enemy fleet, even one that you could not move to directly. Example: A Brit fleet is in port in Kent, set to intercept. A French fleet moves from Normandy to the Channel. The fleet in Kent can intercept...even though the port in Kent technically opens into the Celtic Sea, NOT the English Channel.
6) Same for setting up depot chains at sea...Kent -> English Channel is a legal depot chain...even w/o a depot in the Celtic Sea. Saves a few bucks knowing this!
7) The rulebook sez you need a ship in a sea zone to maintain sea depot (pg. 24) but I don't think this is true; I've been able to keep depot chains at sea turn after turn w/o babysitter ships in those sea zones. Which is probably a good thing IMO because...
8) Boy it's TOUGH to move troops at sea! Even a single militia as cargo will slow a fleet down significantly; throw in random sea storms and getting Brtish troops to and from the Med can take several months. And since you never really know how slow you are going, it's tough to set up those sea depot supply chains efficiently. Those can get hugely expensive...but are kinda necessary 'cause sea foraging is deadly.
9) You can go into a land battle loaded on a fleet, by sailing into a port you own in an enemy occupied province. This is possibly a better way of enetering battle than landing from offshore, because if you lose your army will retreat, still onboard your fleet, to the sea zone from which you moved. In tactical battles, loose divisions sailing with the fleet list the fleet as it's commanding "army," in fact.
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A Few Observations on the Naval Game - 
RE: A Few Observations on the Naval Game - 
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