"Crown of Glory: Emperor's Edition" Naval Detailed Combat... Unveiled!

[Gil R.]

After a long wait, we've finally got the graphics for naval detailed combat, one of the major new features in COG:EE, implemented. So, it's time to show off what naval combat is like. I'll use this thread to post a bunch of screenshots from a battle I fought as the French against the British, each side commanding a medium-sized fleet.

First, a look at my fleet, with one of the ships selected.

[Gil R.]

And now I move out to attack a British fleet.

[Gil R.]

Here's what that fleet looks like. Note that fleets now have historic ships (as well as generically named ships built during the game).

[Gil R.]

Unfortunately for my plans, the British fleet heads south before my fleet can attack, but I'm instead attacked by Keith's fleet, which had been in the English Channel.

[Gil R.]

So, here's a view of the first ship that I can move. As in detailed combat on land, it's a hex-based system with the hexes into which a unit can move highlighted. One MAJOR difference is that movement points and action points are separate: in a single turn a ship can fire (or drop anchor, extinguish a fire, etc.) and then move, or vice versa.

[Gil R.]

I've already posted screenshots showing the new zoom feature in land battles and for the strategic map. Here's a midway zoom-out showing much of the "battlefield."

Edit: The screenshot I took of this battle was messed up, so here's one of a similar battle.

[Gil R.]

And a far more zoomed-out image.

Edit: Again, I had to use a screenshot from another battle.

[Gil R.]

Just as you can see your own ship's graphics, you can right-click on an enemy ship and get their vital info.

[Gil R.]

One of the challenges of combat is deciding just how to damage an enemy ship. This is done partly by choosing whether to fire round shot, chain or canister, each of which achieves different results. (Note tooltip.)

Here I'm using round shot, which does little damage to the rigging but can do a lot of damage to the hull and those aboard deck.

[Gil R.]

Since I'm using round shot, I've got to aim low. In general, firing at the rigging will decrease a ship's mobility as well as killing marines and crew, while firing at the hull can decrease a ship's integrity, destroy its guns, and cause casualties. In both cases, critical hits are possible (as will be seen below).

[Gil R.]

And here's the initial result: my French 3rd-rate ship, the "Veteran," has caused some havoc aboard the British vessel, which had made the mistake of letting me fire a broadside at its aft.

The damage report shows the four main areas that are affected by each fire attack.

[Gil R.]

And it turns out that the "Veteran" had softened up the British ship, the "Malabar," quite a bit, since my 4th-rater just scored a critical hit that blew it up. Note the smoldering remains beneath the crossed-swords firing-cursor.

[Gil R.]

While we're on the subject of critical hits, one's got to feel bad for the British ship "Penelope." Here's one reason.

[Gil R.]

And here's a second reason.

[Gil R.]

This time one of my French ships suffers a critical hit.

[Gil R.]

And another type of critical hit. There are several types of critical hits, not all shown here.

[Gil R.]

When a ship has some sort of problem -- jammed sails, fire, shattered rudder, loose cannon, etc. -- it is possible to use an Action Point to attempt a repair, instead of using that action to make a fire-attack. In this screenshot, you can see near the bottom-left that the problem of a loose cannon is reported, while over at the lower-right the mouse-cursor is just above the button one presses to effect a repair. And, as the message up above shows, the repair attempt was successful.

[Gil R.]

Here's another ship on fire.

[Gil R.]

But this time the repair didn't work

[Gil R.]

Yet another one of my ships on fire. Fires need to be put out quickly, since not only do they degrade combat effectiveness, but they have the chance to make the ship explode -- and if that happens, adjacent ships have a chance to catch fire. So whereas repairs to loose cannons or jammed sails might be delayed in the midst of a fire-fight, extinguishing a blaze should always be a top priority.