The Blasted British navy!

[Grand_Armee]

Anyone beaten them yet in a fair fight? I just had one fleet trounced by two of theirs...we paddled away with one regular ship and a soggy bag of cheetohs. They're blockading my ports by the way...Where's the USS Constitution when you need her?

...I don't have a fleet worth mentioning very often, but this one had been good enough to beat both Swedes and Dons. Now it's rebuilding...and I'm waiting for the elusive third naval upgrade to show up.

Britain DOW'ed me then sailed into the Kattegat where my fleet was idling...and taking a fair toll of Spanish privateers. I didn't have a chance to withdraw.

Surely there must be a way to beat them if you're willing to sacrifice ground forces. Ach...vo is Wilhelm Bauer? (The designer of Germany's first submarine the Brandtaucher)

[Hard Sarge]

LOL
strange my current game as France, the Brits do not have a navy (think they have a Ship and a Frig in London)

the odd part, they got a bigger home army then I could land on there shore, so they are safe !!!!!

sometimes, you just have to have a lucky battle at the start, to get you rolling, you lose the first battle, you will never catch up with them

[Ralegh]

Yes, as France I have whacked Nelson, then whacked Collinwood, and then whacked the Home Fleet, and gotten to have my wicked way with Britain.

If you dont get the windguage, withdraw. Don't stay even if you outnumber them 2 to 1. British ships have better morale than yours, and better naval improvements: if they have the windguage too, they will beat you.

I know some players like to get the naval upgrades before attacking Britain - I do that as Sweden or Russia, who start as Britain's allies, but have never been able to build enough ships to do much with these guys. Personally, as France I try to sneak the Brest fleet south, so I can have superior numbers - I also try to get the Spanish fleet on loan (easy with human players) for superior cordination.

[Grand_Armee]

Actually, in my current game, I've rebuilt the one fleet with nothing but heavy ships and 2 frigates. Finally the third upgrade came up and I set to sea looking for a fight. I've managed to savage the British navies a few times...as well as destroy an innumerable number of privateers flying the Union Jack.

I didn't pay attention to wind guage...who wants to be a coward when you have a fleet full of the best that can be built? The brits had mostly regular SOL's. My heavies were able to beat them, and now the home fleet and one other exist no more. Each one had a transport in it too, BTW.

I've just finished taking Sveaborg and Finland from Britain...thanks to being able to blockade the ports then starve the large garrisons for months on end.

Currently my fleets are heading to Amsterdam where the Prussian 3. Armee waits to embark. The British home army is in France (only holding about 3 divs). I'm still uncertain how many troops you can load onto a fleet, and how transports can make this number larger. I've only two fleets, so hopefully I can land at least one full army (8 divs) and one corps (6 divs). I reckon that should be enough to deal with anything remaining in England.