Naval Units Carrying Land Units

[canuckgamer]

I would like to clarify how naval units carry land units and how they land them. If naval units and and land units are on the same coastal area do you merely merge them? If I want to land them do I split the land units? The manual is not very detailed in how this works? Thanks.

[honvedseg]

Naval units don't carry land units. The land units BECOME naval transport units if/when you assign them an overseas destination, but they're extremely vulnerable to actual warships, so you may need to escort them.

[Gray Fox]

If you merge a land stack with a naval stack and both have Generals, then the land General is removed. When you split off the land stack at the destination, you have no General. If you add the General back, then the whole stack suffers experience loss. I find this unacceptable. Your navy should gain sea control by crippling any enemy naval forces in the area. Move the fleet to sweep the route clear, then move the land stack to the objective and assault the beaches.

[SuitedQueens]

If you merge a land stack with a naval stack and both have Generals, then the land General is removed. When you split off the land stack at the destination, you have no General. If you add the General back, then the whole stack suffers experience loss. I find this unacceptable. Your navy should gain sea control by crippling any enemy naval forces in the area. Move the fleet to sweep the route clear, then move the land stack to the objective and assault the beaches.

Can you explain why experience matters so much? Isn't it just increases min roll? I think experienced units require more resources to support them? Maybe it's a good idea if you export most of your battles to FoG 2 which I do a lot? I must be missing smth here. Thx for the tip on how to actively reduce units exp level btw.

[Gray Fox]

When a General takes over, the stack loses experience, but only for one turn. Attacking when you have advantage is sort of a Sun Tzu thing.

[honvedseg]

If you merge your troops with your navy, the removal of the land general means that your troops will suffer a -1 penalty to the new general's skills for a turn after landing and assigning a general. That's bad for a contested landing where you're fighting one turn without any general's modifiers, then STILL vulnerable the next turn whether you assign a general or not. By keeping them separate and sending the navy ahead to scout out the route, you should have a clear route for your transports.

One option is to move your transports BACKWARDS one shore province as a way-point, or to one side, and then forward to the destination, so the navy will end up advancing several phases ahead and fight anything in the way. Another option is to use a naval force with lighter ships faster than your transports, so it moves first. That way, the land force and navy retain their respective officers. In many/most cases, you're going to sit offshore at the end of the turn, and make the landing on the next turn, so your navy will (hopefully) defend the transports if the enemy sends its own fleet against you.