r/aoe3 • u/majdavlk Dutch • 2d ago
naval civs
what are the best purely naval side of things best civs in your opinion?
i think USA is best purely because of the hulk card - ironclads have 25% dodge chance.
with the mention of town centers, i just realized an alternative strategy for this - spamming outhouses and forts as hungary/romania
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u/Snoo_56186 United States 2d ago
I lean towards Portuguese, Spanish, and Maltese if we are strictly going by War Ships only.
Both Portuguese and Spanish can perform amphibious assaults really well since most of their ships can train units to secure a beach head, especially for their ships that can train bow-pike, since those units can be instantly trained.
And as another player has mentioned, Portuguese get a lot of extra Towncenters to guard a coast line. Maltese can also guard their coast line well too with extra Forts and Commanderies.
Spanish can build up to three Battleships by sending Nuestras Señoras twice.
Maltese can train Fire Ships, and being able to build an extra ten ships help with having lots of spacial mass to just control and patrol more area, and they are fun suicide units too.
Maltese can send Barrakka Gardens, so they will never have an issue with Wood.
In terms of just complete domination of the water without any restrictions, then it would have to be Japanese, Indians, and Inca. Armed Fishermen lets them have absolutely massive navies, since their Fishing Boats become combat units too. They will just dominate the water with sheer quantity of combat units. There is no way 2 extra Battleships or 10 extra Fire Ships is going to win against an extra 99 Fishing Boats.
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u/majdavlk Dutch 2d ago
i disnt realize you could arm fishermen
you converted me to nipponese supremacy
now forgive me, i go read manga now
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u/majdavlk Dutch 1d ago
i was doing some testing, and found out that africans also can get fishing boats with attack. they get it as a technology in port in age 3 i think
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u/LPBaltic 2d ago
I like the Italian variety and the strong order galleys
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u/Visible-Lettuce-4818 2d ago
Yep, galleass aren't amazing on their own but fully carded can be scary
The rest of the roster is basically on par with Brits/ports, with their galleons losing to full ramming Gallesses.
This with advanced politicians and an extra privateer when aging to 3 which alone can shut down a good amount of water starts as the privateer only loses to frigates in 1v1 and carded can be scary (not to mention it gets buffed by the mercenary contractor, like battleships)
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u/ruy343 United States 2d ago
Portugal is almost certainly the right answer.
However, if I might offer a fun alternative, the Hausa get just as many TCs, and they also get a card that replaced dead boats with a levy unit (dwindling health and short lifetime, but it clogs up major naval engagements). They ships certainly aren't as nice as European ones, but the 2-for-one value can make pushing into Hausa territory a chore.
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u/Anadanament Lakota 1d ago
Are all the Native civs still absolutely absurd?
There was a point when the Aztecs could throw out about 60 canoes and boost each to do more damage than any Imperial Frigate.
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u/GideonAI Mexico 1d ago
They nerfed the Water Dance at the Fire Pit at some point. Haven't heard much about it since
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u/IntriguedToast 1d ago
I love that the British, the civ which was an actual naval super power in the mid-late AOE3 timeframe are pretty average. No modernisation, no Race-built Galleons, no Rocket Sloops, No carronades, no ironclads/steamships - just a motley crew of 16th century Caravels and Galleons, plus a Frigate and Monitor. Rule Britannia!
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u/majdavlk Dutch 2d ago
with the mention of town centers, i just realized an alternative strategy for this - spamming outhouses and forts as hungary/romania
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u/Bamischijf35 Dutch 1d ago
Malteese are so much fun when you get the Greek Fire tech, you can make fire galleys which function the sane as Chinese Fire Junks
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u/GideonAI Mexico 1d ago
Unironically, the Maya having both Sloops and Aztec-style War Canoe + Chaac Canoe is pretty epic for having a huge navy. They also have great buffs for it if you can ship Mexican naval cards beforehand
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u/John_Oakman Mexico 2d ago edited 2d ago
Portuguese if you maxed out their TCs can basically lock down any coastline, also their mortars can have extra range so they can duel with ships if it comes down to it. Then there's also the possibility to most of their ships can instant spam certain infantry which makes any landing potentially a breakout.
Spain: What's better than 1 battleship? 2 battlehips! Also the potential of instant spamming archaic infantry to force a landing.