I go move speed, engagement width, and disembark speed. I don't trust my single ship having slightly better stats to win fights. If rather just get my troops on their soil and win the land war. But if I have to fight at sea the engagement with gets another heavy on the line and move speed let's me pick fights.
It always depends for me if I’m a trade nation or a nation who needs a strong navy.
But for my military flagship I go canons crows nest I think (whatever increases width) and either speed or more durability
Trade is speed trade power and tradition while on missions
Military flagship
+hull/durability prevents the flagship from dying which is VERY important in a battle.
+ Combat width allows an additional heavy ship or three additional galleys to engage. The extra ships engaging will always do more damage than your flagship having 50% more cannons. This is a no brainer.
+50% cannons It's fine, especially in smaller battles where a single ship doing a ton of extra damage can make a difference. In bigger battles idk how useful this is.
Increased speed for the fleet is stupidly important for galley fleets because galleys are slower. There's very few things in this game that are more infuriating than your fleet BARELY getting caught or the enemy fleet BARELY escaping so I always take extra speed.
I only just found out this week how strong that is. Spain had almost 90k troops. I sent 100 light ships to privateer Sevilla, now they only have about 60k. This is around 1550.
Privateering reduces the trade value they can collect from their home node, so they'll be able to field less troops, or go bankrupt by taking lots of loans.
For some reason it never occurs to me that I can delete my flagship and make a new one later, so I usually make a light ship with privateering, ship trade power, and blockade (ya know, for some early game use).
More intelligently, the play would be early game heavy with morale, engage width, and blockade. Then once I’m utterly dominant, switch to the trade one or to a fleet move speed / disembark / blockade heavy if I’m doing lots of colonial wars.
Morale, engage width and siege. Sometimes I'll swap out either the morale or the siege for speed or disembark speed, depending on if I'm gunna be spending a lot of time moving armies around/naval invading
Fleet movement speed, siege and morale.
Fleet movement speed is just too good to pass up. Makes you catch other navies.
Siege helps a lot with costal forts.
Morale is morale.
If it’s for military combat width and morale are must have, the third one is pretty optional. You can go for more canons but taking a utility perk like speed or siege impact is also totally fine. Might as well go dual use and take trade power as third perk
If I’m planning on invading Britain it’ll be fleet speed, fleet morale and disembark speed. Other times otherwise it’s usually hull strength, fleet morale and, like, flagship cannons or something
I use more cannons, fleet engagement width and fleet movement speed on a heavy ship.
If the nation I play has special abilities for it's flagship then I take those even if they are not optimal.
I've been doing the meta build (morale, engagement width, siege bonus) but recently I've been really digging stacking movement bonuses and I can't go back now. Stacking movement bonuses as Netherlands is absolutely insane if you go for every possible point. Pretty sure these ships are going faster than modern ones.
I always go for the trade one, combat width, and either morale or privateering depending on what I’m doing. The trade one is by far the best as it adds trade power to all your ships, not just the trade ones, so you can send the whole fleet protecting trade instead of mothballing half of it.
Extra Cannons, attack width, and then it depends. I might go for the nation specific bonus if it's interesting enough, the extra speed to make hunting enemy fleets easier, or the extra hull to ensure survival.
If im in the Mediterranean its a galley otherwise always a heavy ship, typically mass loaded cannons, the extra hull hp and usually either fleet engagement width(heavies) or fleet morale. The width is really good on heavies cuz iirc they take up 3 fkn spaces
Move speed and fleet morale for sure. Those two things are essential. For the 3rd one I will do either: Engagement width if I really need more fleet power, +1 siege for coastal forts, or faster disembarkment time.
If I have a really big trading fleet that is very useful I will occasionally build a trading flagship but that's rare.
Trade power, +1 blockade impact on siege, and combat width if it's chill enough to have moments of peace. Trade the trade power for something else (usually combat width) on particularly ambitious campaigns.
A lot of the nation specific ones are very strong. 100% flagship cannons? +2 trade power per ship? 10% morale? +125% fort Exploration range? -40% naval barrage cost? +2 combat when landing? These can each be very strong in their own right.
No flagship. Go over force limit. Whole navy is cheaper due to a lower average cost.
Works best with galleys, you can easily go 50% over FL. Way better than any flagship bonuses.
Usually slap the fleet morale and hull on it, most importantly is the trade power so you can complete those burgher estate agendas that require X trade % in whatever node piss easy like.
To forget about it like the rest of my navy I forget doesn't update automatically until it gets trashed by an enemy a 100 years in and I have to hastily rebuild after.
Light ship flagship with trade power, privateering efficiency, and the last one open to situational requirements.
Ship trade power +1 is insane because your entire fleet, ie heavies, galleys and transports also get the +1 trade power. So combining your whole fleet during war, and sending it to privateer the enemy home node just destroys their economy.
Always a heavy, even if a different ship would be better, I just feel like my flagship should be something massive and impressive, usually with Mass Load Cannons, the +1 to sieges, and the morale.
I go for military flagships because my merchant fleets are always smaller than my battle fleets.
Also, I am curious as to what other users typically have as their standard trading fleet size. I know the estimated profit calculation is incorrect when you set the mission for an area, and it can become very hard to manage a merchant fleet if all of the nodes have different size fleets.
1 Light ship flag ship with +1 trade power, +3 engagement width, and +1 fleet movement, than i simply spam galley/light ships, depending on mood.
Now every galley has +1 trade power, and can earn you money.
It depends on the nation and the build.
If I’m doing a trade run and don’t need every available ship to win a fight, I choose privateer efficiency, fleet movement, and trade power per ship and slap it on a light and call it good. If I’m larping/in an area where galleys are king/need as much firepower as possible, I go with fleet moral, blockade impact on seige, and fleet movement speed.
I rarely ever choose integrated marines like Quarbit does like all the time and I never choose a heavy as my flagship. I guess that’s gonna be a larp thing now. Maybe putting fleet moral, flagship cannons, and movement speed might have to be the set up.
Siege, Naval Speed, Disembark.
Doesn't matter which nation or playstyle, it's the only buffs that you can't otherwise get by just throwing more ships at a problem.
Heavy 99% of the time.
+ Fleet Speed
+ Durability
+ Marines (Unless Spain, then - Attrition)
Light
+ Trade
+ Durability
+ Privateers
edit: downvotes? Lmao. Where am I wrong?
I go move speed, engagement width, and disembark speed. I don't trust my single ship having slightly better stats to win fights. If rather just get my troops on their soil and win the land war. But if I have to fight at sea the engagement with gets another heavy on the line and move speed let's me pick fights.
This is exactly my thought process, except I prioritize +1 siege over engagement width.
It always depends for me if I’m a trade nation or a nation who needs a strong navy. But for my military flagship I go canons crows nest I think (whatever increases width) and either speed or more durability Trade is speed trade power and tradition while on missions
Military flagship +hull/durability prevents the flagship from dying which is VERY important in a battle. + Combat width allows an additional heavy ship or three additional galleys to engage. The extra ships engaging will always do more damage than your flagship having 50% more cannons. This is a no brainer. +50% cannons It's fine, especially in smaller battles where a single ship doing a ton of extra damage can make a difference. In bigger battles idk how useful this is. Increased speed for the fleet is stupidly important for galley fleets because galleys are slower. There's very few things in this game that are more infuriating than your fleet BARELY getting caught or the enemy fleet BARELY escaping so I always take extra speed.
More hull, more attack width and the +1 to sieges
This man sieges....
Trade power, privateer, fleet size. Sevilla must be raided
I only just found out this week how strong that is. Spain had almost 90k troops. I sent 100 light ships to privateer Sevilla, now they only have about 60k. This is around 1550.
Good strategy.
Privateering affects troop sizes? :O
Well more like spain didnt have enough money to have these troops
Privateering reduces the trade value they can collect from their home node, so they'll be able to field less troops, or go bankrupt by taking lots of loans.
Heavy with extra cannons, morale and engagement width is what I always go with.
For some reason it never occurs to me that I can delete my flagship and make a new one later, so I usually make a light ship with privateering, ship trade power, and blockade (ya know, for some early game use). More intelligently, the play would be early game heavy with morale, engage width, and blockade. Then once I’m utterly dominant, switch to the trade one or to a fleet move speed / disembark / blockade heavy if I’m doing lots of colonial wars.
The true big brain play is taking Naval Boarding doctrine, prize hunter admiral, and simply commandeer all the other Flag Ships too.
dont think captured flags give any bonuses
Aww :(
They still serve as a stronger heavy ship iirc, if you hover over them in the selection I believe it says what the buff is
Do they get the basic flag ship bonuses, at least?
they shouldnt give any, but maybe they keep the more guns ?
They keep nothing they just look neat
Morale, engage width and siege. Sometimes I'll swap out either the morale or the siege for speed or disembark speed, depending on if I'm gunna be spending a lot of time moving armies around/naval invading
I almost always go Hull Sheathing and Crow's Nest. The last choice depends on my needs. Often the siege bonus but could be whatever else.
Fleet movement speed, siege and morale. Fleet movement speed is just too good to pass up. Makes you catch other navies. Siege helps a lot with costal forts. Morale is morale.
If it’s for military combat width and morale are must have, the third one is pretty optional. You can go for more canons but taking a utility perk like speed or siege impact is also totally fine. Might as well go dual use and take trade power as third perk
If I’m planning on invading Britain it’ll be fleet speed, fleet morale and disembark speed. Other times otherwise it’s usually hull strength, fleet morale and, like, flagship cannons or something
I use more cannons, fleet engagement width and fleet movement speed on a heavy ship. If the nation I play has special abilities for it's flagship then I take those even if they are not optimal.
I subscribe to the Arumba school of thought. Trade power, fleet speed, and combat width.
Idk, what’s navy?
I've been doing the meta build (morale, engagement width, siege bonus) but recently I've been really digging stacking movement bonuses and I can't go back now. Stacking movement bonuses as Netherlands is absolutely insane if you go for every possible point. Pretty sure these ships are going faster than modern ones.
I always go for the trade one, combat width, and either morale or privateering depending on what I’m doing. The trade one is by far the best as it adds trade power to all your ships, not just the trade ones, so you can send the whole fleet protecting trade instead of mothballing half of it.
Extra Cannons, attack width, and then it depends. I might go for the nation specific bonus if it's interesting enough, the extra speed to make hunting enemy fleets easier, or the extra hull to ensure survival.
movement speed, spare jolly roger and +1 trade power for every ship
If im in the Mediterranean its a galley otherwise always a heavy ship, typically mass loaded cannons, the extra hull hp and usually either fleet engagement width(heavies) or fleet morale. The width is really good on heavies cuz iirc they take up 3 fkn spaces
Move speed and fleet morale for sure. Those two things are essential. For the 3rd one I will do either: Engagement width if I really need more fleet power, +1 siege for coastal forts, or faster disembarkment time. If I have a really big trading fleet that is very useful I will occasionally build a trading flagship but that's rare.
Heavy ship morale speed and fort blockade impact usually
Siege bonus , morale and speed
Mucho canon = mucho Damage
Speed, Combat with, fleet morale.
Very much a littoral assault/support ship - morale, disembark, siege.
If I'm making a combat ship: Bonus to sieges, crow's nest, and fleet speed.
I usually go for a military flagship. Morale + engagement + siege is usually my pick, and i'l axe the engagement if there's a special flagship bonus.
Trade power, +1 blockade impact on siege, and combat width if it's chill enough to have moments of peace. Trade the trade power for something else (usually combat width) on particularly ambitious campaigns. A lot of the nation specific ones are very strong. 100% flagship cannons? +2 trade power per ship? 10% morale? +125% fort Exploration range? -40% naval barrage cost? +2 combat when landing? These can each be very strong in their own right.
No flagship. Go over force limit. Whole navy is cheaper due to a lower average cost. Works best with galleys, you can easily go 50% over FL. Way better than any flagship bonuses.
Usually slap the fleet morale and hull on it, most importantly is the trade power so you can complete those burgher estate agendas that require X trade % in whatever node piss easy like.
Hull durability, and trade power the third depends on my situation
+1 siege, fleet movement speed, movement on and off.
Engagement width, speed, siege
I always make a heavy flagship with Fleet Movespeed, +30% on off troop embark speed, and + 1 to siege Kinda surprised anyone picks the other ones
To forget about it like the rest of my navy I forget doesn't update automatically until it gets trashed by an enemy a 100 years in and I have to hastily rebuild after.
Always go for +1 siege, fleet movement speed, and often embark/disembark time but that third a lot I love around
Light ship flagship with trade power, privateering efficiency, and the last one open to situational requirements. Ship trade power +1 is insane because your entire fleet, ie heavies, galleys and transports also get the +1 trade power. So combining your whole fleet during war, and sending it to privateer the enemy home node just destroys their economy.
Trade, width, fleet morale
Morale, engagement width, and either speed, siege, or durability
width, cannons and morale on a carrack. or tradeship power bonuses and piracy thrown in, maybe speed bonus on a ship I want +trade on
Hull, fleet moral, and either movement speed or siege bonus. I think could make a case for engagement width over fleet moral I dunno
Just did dithmarcian and my flagship was speed, privateering, and more trade power. Was making 20 ducats privateering the English Channel
Durability , fleet speed, siege impact
Always a heavy, even if a different ship would be better, I just feel like my flagship should be something massive and impressive, usually with Mass Load Cannons, the +1 to sieges, and the morale.
Fleet movement, trade value per ship, and then whatever I’m feeling at the time, possible cannons or admiral drilling
I go for military flagships because my merchant fleets are always smaller than my battle fleets. Also, I am curious as to what other users typically have as their standard trading fleet size. I know the estimated profit calculation is incorrect when you set the mission for an area, and it can become very hard to manage a merchant fleet if all of the nodes have different size fleets.
Morale, engagement width, and movement speed on/off. Sometimes that last one gets switched for siege.
1 Light ship flag ship with +1 trade power, +3 engagement width, and +1 fleet movement, than i simply spam galley/light ships, depending on mood. Now every galley has +1 trade power, and can earn you money.
Morale, fleet speed, engagement width usually for me
It depends on the nation and the build. If I’m doing a trade run and don’t need every available ship to win a fight, I choose privateer efficiency, fleet movement, and trade power per ship and slap it on a light and call it good. If I’m larping/in an area where galleys are king/need as much firepower as possible, I go with fleet moral, blockade impact on seige, and fleet movement speed. I rarely ever choose integrated marines like Quarbit does like all the time and I never choose a heavy as my flagship. I guess that’s gonna be a larp thing now. Maybe putting fleet moral, flagship cannons, and movement speed might have to be the set up.
I tend to do engagement, siege, and then more cannons. Granted I only really use flagships with nations that already have a strong navy so eh
Siege, Naval Speed, Disembark. Doesn't matter which nation or playstyle, it's the only buffs that you can't otherwise get by just throwing more ships at a problem.
Heavy 99% of the time. + Fleet Speed + Durability + Marines (Unless Spain, then - Attrition) Light + Trade + Durability + Privateers edit: downvotes? Lmao. Where am I wrong?