French Naval AI

[Trueknight]

I've been testing the GC on the British side... I've started a few games both in January and August scenarios.

Every time the French and Spanish AIs have tried to break through the blockade using single unit stacks, sending them to every commerce naval box with the clear intent of raiding my merchants.
It's a sound strategy except that Athena is doing that with everything she has, including big Ship of the Line, and event troop transports! That translates in some very one-sided naval battles, as my fleets almost always manage to catch slower ships and destroy them piecemeal! It's not very fun and leaves me no hopes of fighting a big, Trafalgar style, battle. I've tried to tinker with AI settings, but this happens every time

Maybe the AI should be instructed to use only fast ships as blockade runners?

[Trueknight]

Am I the only one experiencing this?
I've started a new GC...at turn 5 I've won many easy naval battles and as the Brits I now have 151 NM, while the French AI has 89, despite the fact they are steamrolling the Austrians in Germany and Italy...and I've done nothing beside keeping the blockade.

In the end, long term results might be the same as the historical Trafalgar battle...the RN get total supremacy and the British have a big morale boost...but still it doesn't feel right and I'm afraid it might unbalance the Single player game for the Coalition player.

[lukasberger]

This is happening for me as well.

I'm not overly concerned because, as you say

In the end, long term results might be the same as the historical Trafalgar battle...the RN get total supremacy and the British have a big morale boost

but I'd also agree it doesn't feel right, and hopefully will be fixed in a patch.

[monniker]

The Navy AI seems to have some problems. In my game as Spain, GB leaves its large navies criminally under supplied, including an entire large navy under Nelson outside the Atlantic edge of Gibraltar. I was able to smash a few British fleets in reverse-Trafalgar situations that has now left me with the second largest navy in Europe and with some very experienced admirals. Granted it may be working as intended to maximize a blockade, but it seems a touch off.

Still, seeing as Naval conflicts when they occur tend to be extremely decisive for one force or the other, I can see why the AI would not want to engage in a massive battle. Usually in the course of a turn entire fleets are wiped out by the victor in two engagements. I don't know if every battle should be a Trafalgar, but if you think so the game is well-equipped to replicate it. In my game with the AI, the French NM is very intact, and it seems that mostly France keeps its navies in big stacks.

Just my two cents.

[Pocus]

About this resupply thing, we are working on that also.

[Trueknight]

I've started a new game with the patch and I was happy to see the French AI use its naval forces a little better this time!
Among the usual suicidal blockade runners, Villeneuve tried to break out of the Med keeping most of his fleet togheter...despite that Nelson's fleet still outnumbered him more than 2:1, since he didn't join forces with the spanish, and the battle was won by British.

After my first serious naval battle, I think they too might suffer from the same issue of too many losses...as you can see from the screenshot below, the brits did lose only 1 ship, against 18 for the french!

[ATTACH]36273[/ATTACH]

[lukasberger]

After my first serious naval battle, I think they too might suffer from the same issue of too many losses...as you can see from the screenshot below, the brits did lose only 1 ship, against 18 for the french!

[ATTACH]36273[/ATTACH]

Interesting observations!

Historically Trafalgar resulted in 0 ships lost for the British and 22 lost for the French/Spanish. Given that in your battle the British fleet was larger than in reality and the Spanish weren't present resulting in around half the amount of ships on the French side, I'd say that's a pretty darn accurate result.

[PhilThib]

Yup, nothing shocking here...Especially considering Nelson's stats...

[Trueknight]

I stand corrected then, way to go!