How important is a Navy to you?

[Maquiladora]

As i was in lurker mode over in the CIV3 general forum i came across a thread questioning the importance of a Navy, and as there is some work going on, trying to get the AI to make Naval assaults and such like, i thought id ask, how important is a Navy in CTP2?

I myself only ever build Naval units through necessity, which more often than not, amounts to just a few ancient transport ships. I feel they can be used very effectively to take coastal cities but they take up valuable time and money which could be better spent on ground units. Especially as naval units cant assault land locked cities and become useless, obviously.

Of course this can depend greatly on the world type, i.e. large continents or lots of small islands.. but even then there seems to be no great need for direct naval assault. Apart from bombarding by sea occasionally, i rarely use them.

[Dale]

This is a hard one, because it also depends on what MOD you play. If I'm playing vanilla CTP2 - a couple of transports, that's all. If I'm playing WAW, I have a full-blown navy (as the AI in WAW loves subs/cruisers and transporting units to your islands).

So it all depends on the situation. But at the least, I like to have at least one stack of a couple of naval units, just in case.

[Pedrunn]

Oftetn i only build some ships. But if i have to go to another continent to attack an AI I build huge stacks yet they are mostly to defend the transport units.

[TheArsenal]

I generally play on the larger maps with a lot of water, so a strong naval force is crucial for me. But as a rule I don't start building it up before ships of the line are available. I also change the text files to give ships of the line and ironclads land bombardment capabilities, and cannons water bombardment capabilities, to make it more interesting for me.

[Wittlich]

I usually ignore having a navy until I get the advance for submarines...THEN I build a crap-load of subs to protect my interests. Later, I will build battleships to bombard AI cities prior to my land invasion of them. (of course, my all my battleships have submarine escorts).

[Dinner]

A few units for defense or exploration; perhaphs more if an invasion is in order. Other wise its easier to destroy them as they land.