Naval units

This page deals with the the individual naval unit types. For information on the recruitment and maintenance of navies see navy. For naval combat mechanics see naval warfare.

There are four basic classes of naval units available (heavy ships, light ships, galleys and transports) with each class specialising in a particular role. Additionally, the Golden Century DLC provides a fifth class: the flagship.

Properties

Each ship class has several distinct properties which affect combat performance:

Hullsize

Represents the durability of the ship.

Sailors

The number of sailors required to crew the ship.

Cannons

Determines the damage done in combat.

Speed

Refers to the tactical movement speed of the unit in battle, which is supposed to affect the naval positioning rating of the fleet during battles, and thus determine if a ship will or will not attack during a round of naval combat. This is distinct from the strategic movement speed of the unit between different sea zones.

Engagement width

Determines how many spaces a ship occupies in the engagement width of a naval battle.

Additionally, light ships have a unique property:

Trade power

Represents the potential trade power value of this ship if ordered to protect trade in a particular trade node.

Movement speed

The speed values listed for naval units in-game refer to their tactical movement speed in battle. The strategic movement speed determines how fast a ship can travel between sea zones on the map.

Ship type	Tactical speed	Strategic speed
Heavy ships	5	6
Light ships	10	10
Galleys	8	4
Transports	5	6

The travel time between two sea zones is determined by:

$\text{travel time} = \frac{\text{distance}}{\text{strategic speed} \cdot \left( 100\% + 5\% \cdot \text{leader maneuver rating} \right)}$

with the final value rounded up to the nearest integer. The distance between two sea zones can be found by selecting a naval unit and reading the tooltip that appears when the mouse is hovered over another sea zone or port. Fleets will always travel at the strategic speed of their slowest ship. Note that the formula above may slightly vary between certain sea zones.

Durability

Ship Durability measures how much of a beating your Navy can take in battle before sinking below the sea. The higher it is, the better.

The durability of a ship determines how much damage a ship takes from incoming fire. For example, a 10% durability modifier would mean that a ship would lose 9 sailors instead of 10 sailors during battle (does not affect damage from attrition). A ship's base durability depends on its hullsize.

These modifiers increase the durability of any type of ship:

	Conditions
+20%	as Emperor of China and active ‘Promote Naval Officers’ degree
+10%	with a ruler with ‘navigator’ personality
+5%	with a naval leader with ‘Ironside’ personality with ‘Mughal Diwan’ government reform and assimilated Britsh culture group

Ideas and policies:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+10%	Norwegian traditions	Japanese idea 4: Maritime Legacy Korean idea 4: Geobukseon	Fully Naval	—
+5%	Danish traditions Estonian traditions Mahri traditions	Quality idea 4: Corvettes Al-Haasa idea 6: A Modern Navy Galician idea 4: Galician Shipyards Khmer idea 7: A Modern Khmer Navy Madyas idea 7: Expand the Shipbuilding Sector Mori idea 6: Itsukushima	Chosokabe ambition	Humanist-Naval: The Naval Inspection Act Maritime-Offensive: Hold the Weather Gauge Offensive-Exploration: Letters of Marque

There are also many modifiers from decisions, events and missions that affect ship durability.

Heavy ships

With the exception of closed waters like the Mediterranean the man 'o war or the ship of the line is the prime combat vessel.

Ship-for-ship, heavy ships are by far the most powerful in combat. However, they are also the most expensive, especially in terms of maintenance. This makes them the combat ship of choice for rich nations that dream of naval supremacy. They also take up 3 spaces in the engagement width instead of the regular 1.

Combat ability

These modifiers increase the power and effectiveness of heavy ships.

	Conditions
+10%	with ‘Dutch Republic’ government reform with a naval leader with ‘Naval Gunner’ personality

Ideas and policies:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+20%	—	Naval idea 6: Oak Forests for Ships	—	—
+15%	British traditions	—	—	—
+10%	—	Butuan idea 6: Protect the Coastlines Date idea 5: Red Seal Ships English idea 1: A Royal Navy Spanish idea 4: A Spanish Armada	Alaskan ambition Genevan ambition	Innovative-Maritime: New Naval Tactics

There are also many modifiers from decisions, events and missions that affect heavy ship combat ability.

Types

	Name				Description
3	Early Carrack	20	40	5	The early carrack was the first European vessel which could sail on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. The design of this late medieval ship combined the features of Germanic longships and Arabic merchantmen. It was less maneuverable than the caravel, but because of its larger size, it could carry provisions for long voyages, cargo for trade, and guns for self-defense.
9	Carrack	25	50	5	The design of the carrack, a late medieval ship, combined the features of Germanic longships and Arabic merchantmen. It was less maneuverable than the caravel, but because of its larger size, it could carry provisions for long voyages, cargo for trade, and guns for self-defense. Some carracks such as the English vessel Henri Grâce à Dieu weighed more than 1,000 tons, had large fore and aft castles, and could be considered as the greatest warships of their time.
15	Galleon	30	60	5	A large, usually three-masted sailing ship originally designed as a warship but later on used primarily for trade and commerce.
19	Wargalleon	40	80	5	The war galleon was a large galleon outfitted for war. It was larger and more heavily armed than the regular galleons, and served as protecting escorts to galleon fleets. The Spanish treasure fleets were made out of galleons and war galleons.
22	Twodecker	50	100	5	A two-decked battleship normally equipped with 60 to 90 guns.
25	Threedecker	60	120	5	A large battleship equipped with three gun decks, usually holding more than 100 cannons.

Light ships

Small, fast and maneuverable, the light ship excels in the role of commerce defense. Wherever your light ships go, merchants who fly your flag will feel safe.

Light ships can increase a country's trade power in a certain trade node and thereby the trade profits by protecting trade, and are also ideal for exploration due to their speed (as long as they are not slowed down by other ship types in the same fleet). This makes them a prime choice in times of peace. However, they perform poorly at war: they cannot stand up to heavy ships or galleys in combat.

Combat ability

These modifiers increase the power and effectiveness of light ships.

Ideas and policies:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+25%	—	—	Veronese ambition	—
+15%	Alaskan traditions Cham traditions Ferraran traditions	Icelandic idea 4: Armed Merchants Moluccan idea 6: Alliance with the Papuans	Arakanese ambition Holstein ambition	Maritime-Plutocratic: The Protected Shipping Lanes Act
+10%	Hamburger traditions Pattani traditions	Somali idea 6: Corsairs of the Red Sea Sumatran idea 3: Spice Pirates	—	—

There are also some modifiers from decisions, events and missions that affect light ship combat ability.

Types

	Name					Description
2	Barque	2.0	8	10	10	The Barque was a small sailing ship, originally used for trade. Adapting these for warfare provided a smaller and faster alternative to the larger carracks.
9	Caravel	2.5	10	13	10	The caravel was a small, very maneuverable ship which could sail with a high precision on long discovery journeys. Although designs varied, a caravel had a foresail, a square mainsail and lateen mizzen. Its smaller size limited the number of guns on board, but it also meant that this light ship could explore shallow coastal waters and estuaries. Vasco Da Gama, Cabot, Columbus and Magellan used caravels during their late 15th century and early 16th century voyages.
15	Early Frigate	3.0	12	15	10	With the increasing overseas trade, there was a need for a fast escort vessel to provide safe journey. The early frigates were developed for this. They were smaller, leaner ships of war with one gun deck, and provided protection from piracy in dangerous waters.
19	Frigate	3.5	16	20	10	As time passed, the frigate evolved. It became larger and heavily armed, sometimes with two gun decks. The frigate's combination of speed and firepower meant that it could outrun any ship with more guns and outgun any faster ships. The fleet built by the Commonwealth of England in the 1650s consisted almost exclusively of frigates.
23	Heavy Frigate	4.0	20	25	10	Two decked vessels normally carrying about 40 guns.
26	Great Frigate	5.0	24	30	10	A larger type of frigate, carrying additional guns.

Galleys

The shallow draft of the Galley gives it poor sea keeping on the high seas, but in enclosed waters the oar powered Galley is the prime warship.

These cheap ships are ideal for fighting in inland seas (e.g. Mediterranean, Baltic, Sea of Japan, Chinese coast), where they have a +100% combat ability bonus, even allowing them (in large groups) to go toe-to-toe with Heavy Ships at a significantly lower price. However, they are far quicker to sink due to the smaller hull size and lack of defensive bonuses, will take up much more naval force limit, and move across the map only slowly. In deep waters, they will only slightly outperform light ships.

Combat ability

These modifiers increase the power and effectiveness of galleys.

	Conditions
+20%	with Norse as secondary religion

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+25%	—	Naval idea 2: Improved Rams	Venetian ambition	—
+20%	Aragonese traditions Barbary Corsair traditions Cebu traditions Hosokawa traditions Ionian traditions Tunisian traditions	Berber idea 7: The Brothers Barbarossa Cypriot idea 6: Repel the Corsairs Italian (cU) idea 3: Mare Nostrum Kitabatake idea 4: Kuki Suigin Knights Hospitaller idea 4: Reconquista of the Sea Moroccan idea 4: Defend the Coastline	—	—
+15%	—	Kono idea 5: Rule Over the Inland Sea	—	Maritime-Quantity: Streamlined Galley Production
+10%	—	Naxian idea 1: Maritime State So idea 2: Wakou Tradition	—	—

Types

	Name				Description
2	Galley	8	12	8	With roots back to the ancient ships of the antiquity, the galley remained the prime choice for Mediterranean naval warfare until the 16th century. The galley was primarily propelled by oars, usually about 25 pairs manned by up to three men each. This meant that they were less dependent on wind gauge compared to sailing ships, and their maneuverability made them a feared adversary. Eventually, the galley went out of regular use with the introduction of more advanced oceangoing men-of-war, but remained useful in shallow waters until the 18th century.
10	War galley	10	15	8	The war galley carries the same number of guns as a normal galley but has a larger hull.
14	Galleass	12	18	8	The galleass was an adaptation of the large merchant galley to counter the increasing use of man-of-war. Larger than the galley, the galleass had about 32 oar pairs, each oar manned by up to five man. As an answer to the men-of-war's armament and higher sides, the galleass had forecastles and aftcastles and gundecks above the rowers. This extra weight meant that they also had to rely more on sails, and were slower and less maneuverable compared to galleys. Like the galley, the galleass went out of regular use with the introduction of more advanced oceangoing men-of-war, but remained useful in shallow waters until the 18th century.
18	Galiot	16	24	8	The galiot used both sails and oars to navigate, and carried up to fifteen guns.
21	Chebeck	20	30	8	A small, two or three masted vessel widely used in the Mediterranean from the 16th century onwards.
24	Archipelago Frigate	24	36	8	A two masted, cannon bearing vessel for shallow waters, which was brought into use during the mid 18th century.

Transports

Everyone knows that soldiers simply cannot magically turn into boats, the transport ship is a vessel specially built to move armies from A to B on the High Seas.

Each transport can carry only one regiment (of any type), regardless of the regiment being at full strength or not. Though reasonably durable compared to light ships and galleys, they lack the firepower of combat ships, and should generally seek to avoid combat situations. An exception to this is a late-game western transport fleet fighting against much less advanced foes, where technology differences give transport ships a more evenly-matched fight against even the enemy's heavy ships.

Combat ability

The combat ability of transports is not modified by the base game.

Types

	Name				Description
2	Cog	12	4	5	A one masted trading vessel originating from northern Europe.
10	Flute	15	5	5	A cargo ship developed in the Netherlands in the 16th century, it was built to maximize cargo-space and crew-efficiency. And it became one of the most commonly used ships in the 16th and 17th century. The standard design wasn't armed but when needed it could be armed with cannons and serve as auxiliary vessels.
13	Brig	18	6	5	A fast and highly maneuverable ship, favored by both merchants and for military use.
17	Merchantman	24	8	5	A large cargo vessel used for transportation of merchandise.
22	Trabakul	30	10	5	A slow, but reliable cargo ship, built wide, compact and with good storage.
26	East Indiaman	36	12	5	Merchant ship belonging to the East India Company.

Flagship

Flagships are unique ships that give special bonuses to all ships in fleet with them. A nation may only have one flagship of their own (not counting captured flagship which lose their bonuses but keep their name and icon). A flagship can be any combat ship type (non-transport). When building the flagship, the nation chooses up to three special abilities for the flagship. Each special ability increases the maintenance cost of the ship. Nations must have 1500 sailors worth of active ships before their navy is large enough to be allowed to build a flagship.

All flagships have the following modifiers:

+50% Flagship cannons

+50% Flagship morale

+100% Flagship durability

The cost of flagships is affected by the following:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
−50%	—	Ferraran idea 7: The Ferraran Arsenal	—	—

Flagship modifications

Some special modifications are only available to the indicated countries.

Name	Effect	Maintenance	Available for
Captain's Log To keep a record both for their country and for history, our captains will maintain a logbook as they boldly go where no ship has gone before.	+100% Fleet prestige from battles +100% Fleet naval tradition from battles	0.5
Command Aftercastle Outfitting the ship with an aftercastle will provide better accommodations for our captain and the valued members of the crew.	+5% Fleet morale	0.5	Holland Netherlands
Dutch Courage Our people are famous for their courage, so much that we export it in liquid form.	+10% Fleet morale	0.5	Holland Netherlands
Flag Officers Flying a flag marking your rank on a flagship is a great source of pride for many officers, encouraging bravery and ambition.	+1% Monthly chance of admiral skill gain on mission	0.5	Denmark Norway Scandinavia
Hull Sheathing Even the greatest ship is eventually done in not only by war, but by the ocean itself. A metal sheath will ensure our flagship lasts.	+50% Flagship durability	0.5
Improved Crow's Nest With a flagship like ours, the enemy will see us coming. We just have to make sure we see them first.	+3 Engagement width	0.5
Integrated Marines Every soldier who gets on a ship can't be a marine, but there can be enough on our flagship to make a difference.	−33% Movement speed on and off ships	0.5	Portugal Brazil
Mass Load Cannons However many cannons the enemy believes we have, we must have twice as many. No ship has ever sunk from having too many cannons.	+50% Cannons on flagship	0.5	Castile Spain
Mortars Long-distance siege weapons won't be very efficient against other ships, but they will greatly boost the threat we pose to land structures.	+1 Fleet blockade impact on siege	1
Portuguese Bombardier Naval barrages are a special art form, and no one masters is better than our bombardiers.	−40% Fleet naval barrage cost	0.5	Portugal Brazil
Portuguese Fusiliers Our fusiliers must be ready to attack from a ship as if it was land, because Portugal's fleet is an extension of the country itself.	−66% Movement speed on and off ships +2 Combat penalty when landing (this effectively removes the landing penalty)	0.5	Portugal Brazil
Portuguese Navigators A Portuguese navigator will not only get you to the most distant undiscovered shore, but also, if the winds will it, get you back.	+100 Fleet exploration range	0.5	Portugal Brazil
Portuguese Trade Route Map The shortest distance between to points on a map is a straight line, but a Portuguese trade route is a close second.	+2 Trade power per ship in fleet (not only lightships)	0.25	Portugal Brazil
Scandinavian Flag Officers With our dependency and access to the trade that flows through The Sound we have a great source of seasoned seamen to recruit as professional officers to make up the core of our navy.	+3% Monthly chance of admiral skill gain on mission	0.5	Denmark Norway Scandinavia
Spanish Grand Armada Spanish ships are made to survive sailing the oceans of the world, and those which sail with our flagships even more so.	−30% Fleet attrition	0.5	Castile Spain
Spanish Mass Load Cannons However many cannons the enemy puts on their flagship, we must have twice as many. No ship has ever sunk from having too many cannons.	+100% Cannons on flagship	0.5	Castile Spain
Spanish Treasury Convoy When your wealth is floating on ships, one of your main problems is pirates. Pirates primary problem should, accordingly, be us.	+100% Fleet hunt pirates efficiency (Cannons count twice for hunting pirates)	0.5	Castile Spain
Spare Jolly Roger Our ship usually flies the flag of its homeland, but there is nothing wrong with having a more menacing flag for special occasions.	+25% Fleet privateer efficiency	0.5
Standardized Signal Book Coordinating a fleet is no easy task, but established standards for communication is a first step to doing it flawlessly.	+1 Fleet movement speed	0.5
Trade Route Map Keeping detailed collection of maps of our trade routes up to date is challenging, but worthy of a flagship sailing with our trade fleet.	+1 Trade power per ship in fleet (not only lightships)	0.25	Portugal Brazil

Mechanics

Defense

Fort • Zone of control

External relations=

Customization

Nation designer • Random New World

Ages and Institutions

Ages • Institutions

Innovativeness and Technology

Innovativeness • Technology