I have a few friends that don't like playing naval maps. The reasons? In AOK, the naval game is boring and is a game of attrition at best. There is not strategy involved at all. Items to make naval combat better:
1. Turn speed - Slow down the turn speed of ships, allowing miss faced ships to be sank more easily, since there would be a number of unanswered hits while the ship is turning. This would of course, drastically increase the strategy of the game. Making flanking maneuvers risky but necessary. Check out Cossacks for an example, though Cossacks is not the answer either.
2. Varried ships - I like the idea of multiple ship types. I do not like the EE Rock paper scissors game through the early epics. Ships should be varied in there abilities, but application of strategy should ultimately play the role in naval victories, not programmed unrealistic weaknesses designed for supposed "game balance".
3. Naval vs Ground warfare - Downplay drastically the ability of ground units to attack ships and ships to attack ground units. Instead, design specific units that can actually do the job. Archers do not make a good attack on a ship (unless with flaming arrows). Gun units should have not effect at all. (Who ever heard of a rifle sinking a galleon??). A little realism please!
4. Upgradeability - Leave room for a lot of improvements. If I want a good navy and have the time and resources to upgrade, I want my galleons to be a lot better than the standard fare. Each improvement (upgrade) may not seem to make a big difference, but 2 or 3 or 10 would decide the war (all other things equal). If my opponent and I are fighting primarily at see, I want plenty of upgradeability as we attempt to outdo one another.
5. Transports/Garrisoned ships - I like the idea of boarding parties, but see that as too much micro managment unless there is a boarding ship that will handle this as its attack. Units garrisoned on any ship should be killed or damaged as that ship takes its attack. Its unrealistic to think that a ship that has 1 hitpoint left still has all its crew and passengers in tact.
6. Repairs - I like the idea of ships being able to repair themselves to at least half power. A ship should be able to attack or repair itself with its crew. A ship in battle that is about to sink could leave battle, set its crew from attack to repair, and possibly save itself, returning to battle. For large expensive ships this would be regular tactics. For smaller ships, this would only be done if needed to repair to continue scouting or something.
7. Fire - Some land units and some naval units should be able to catch other ships on fire. The fire would then spread or be contained depending on the response of the crew. If they continue to fight, then the ship would eventual burn and sink. If the crew stops the attack to save the ship, the fire would be put out and 1/2 damage repaired.
8. Ramming - Ships should damage each other whenver contact is made. The ship could be set to avoid or seek out contact with other ships. Of course, if the ship is not designed to handle damage of this type, then it could sink as well. Any ship ramming from the side would have a significant damaging affect, and would not suffer as much damage itself. Ships designed for ramming could be included. They should be able to handle other tasks as well, but in a diminished capacity.
Thanks
Joe