Team Mode: Naval Control Playstyle

Direct Answer

Naval control in Team mode is a support job with three outputs: keep friendly transport routes usable, deny enemy transports, and turn secure Ports into economy or launch points.

Do not measure success by Warship count. A fleet is valuable only when it protects a route, blocks a landing, screens a Port, or lets a teammate cross water.

Team mode lists a 95% territory objective with a five-minute or time-based result. Sea control must therefore convert into territory quickly instead of becoming a separate naval mini-game.

Build the smallest fleet that controls the decisive water. Send the saved Gold into the Port, Defense Post, City, SAM, or teammate action that converts control into score.

Prerequisite Mechanics

Team mode pressure

The mode overview describes Team as 2v2 through 8v8, with 95% in five minutes or a time-based percentage result. Early land control remains the scoreboard.

Your role is not to replace the ground push. It is to remove a water obstacle, protect a flank, or create a landing window that lets the team gain land faster.

Ports

A first Port costs 125,000 Gold if no Port or Factory already uses the shared counter. The formula is min(1,000,000, 2^n × 125,000).

Port and Factory share n. The sequence for those combined builds is 125,000, 250,000, 500,000, then 1,000,000 per new build once the cap is reached.

Ports spawn trade ships, transports, and warships. Higher Port levels improve trade ship spawn rate and revenue.

Ports can be captured. A Port on a thin enclave can become enemy infrastructure if the supporting land falls.

Warships

A Warship starts at 250,000 Gold. Its formula is min(1,000,000, (n+1) × 250,000), where n is the number of existing Warships.

The listed sequence is 250,000, 500,000, 750,000, then 1,000,000. Construction duration is 50 ticks.

A Warship has 1,000 listed health and fires 250-damage Shells. It automatically retreats at 750 health or lower.

In v33.1, Warships can reach three veterancy levels. Each level adds 20% maximum health and 20% Shell damage; one Warship kill, 10 Transport kills, or 25 Trade Ship captures completes a level.

Preserve an experienced hull instead of trading it like a fresh ship.

Since v24, Warships prioritize Transport Ships and cool down immediately on a hit. That makes a correctly placed patrol especially valuable against a landing route.

Transport Ships

Transport Ships have no Gold cost, but they consume the initiating player’s troops. Losing a transport is therefore a troop and tempo loss even when no purchase appears in the ledger.

Warships prioritize them. Do not launch a visible stream through an enemy patrol and call the losses free.

Trade Ships

Trade revenue follows a distance curve: floor((75,000 / (1 + exp(-0.03 × (dist - 300))) + 50 × dist) × goldMultiplier).

Longer routes pay more per arrival, but safety and travel time still matter. Revenue that never reaches a Port is not income.

The v32 economy data centers trade-ship spawn suppression at 400 active ships. More Ports do not create infinite ships, and spawn probability falls as the global fleet grows.

Embargoed pairs do not spawn trade ships between each other. A coordinated trade plan needs diplomatic access as well as water.

Coastal Defense Posts

A first Defense Post costs 50,000 Gold. Its 30-tile area multiplies defense magnitude by five and speed by three.

It protects land, not the whole sea. Place it so a landing must fight through the zone before it can capture the Port or cut the coast.

SAM coverage

If nukes are enabled, a first SAM costs 1,500,000 and needs 300 ticks to construct. It intercepts Atom and Hydrogen Bombs, cannot stop the MIRV carrier, and checks separated warheads through the normal trajectory and timing rules.

Naval concentration can create a tempting coastal target. Add nuclear defense only when the lobby and enemy economy make that threat relevant.

Decision Framework

Step 1: find the decisive water

Identify the one sea, strait, lake, or channel that changes team movement. If controlling it does not protect land or enable a landing, it may not deserve a fleet.

Mark three points: the friendly Port, the enemy approach, and the landing coast. Your first Warship should serve one of those points, not wander between all three.

Step 2: choose the mission

Use escort when friendly transports must cross. Use interdiction when enemy transports share a predictable lane. Use Port defense when the enemy can reach your naval production.

Use trade protection only when trade already contributes enough to fund the role. A fleet built to protect hypothetical future ships delays the current territory race.

Step 3: set a fleet ceiling

Price the next Warship before ordering it. The first three cost 250,000, 500,000, and 750,000, for 1,500,000 total.

Ask whether the next ship controls another lane or only stacks on the first. Stop when another structure or teammate purchase creates more territory.

Step 4: secure the Port’s land

Keep the Port connected to the core and place a Defense Post across the likely capture route. The Port is both production and a capture risk.

If the support land cannot be held, delay the upgrade or build another route. Upgrading exposed infrastructure increases the value handed to an attacker.

Step 5: agree on the conversion play

Tell teammates what naval control enables: “cross this channel,” “push this coast,” or “their transports cannot land here.”

Without that sentence, the fleet may win water while the team loses the timed territory objective.

Timeline and Step-by-Step Execution

During the spawn phase

Choose coast only when it touches decisive water and still leaves a usable land route. A long shoreline with no team objective is not automatically a naval spawn.

Check teammate positions before locking in. Avoid stacking every team member on the same coast while leaving the inland front empty.

0:00–0:05: claim shape under immunity

Use the default five-second immunity to connect the future Port area to the core and widen the land behind it.

Do not spend the window tracing a decorative shoreline. Secure the land route that keeps the Port from becoming an isolated enclave.

0:05–0:30: confirm the lane

Watch enemy expansion and teammate direction. Decide whether the water will carry friendly transports, enemy transports, or neither.

If neither team needs the lane, pivot to ground growth. Declining the naval role early is better than funding an irrelevant fleet.

0:30–1:00: establish the first hub

Build the first Port after the supporting coast is secure and the mission is clear. Its base cost is 125,000 when the shared Port/Factory counter is zero.

Keep enough troops and Gold for the land around it. A Port does not defend its own territory.

If an enemy route is already forming, queue the first Warship when 250,000 creates immediate control. If no route exists, let the Port support transport or trade first.

1:00–2:00: patrol the objective

Place the Warship where it can see the likely transport path and still return toward a Port after auto-retreat. Do not chase an enemy vessel away from the route you were assigned to protect.

Add a Defense Post if a landing can capture the Port from one predictable edge. Its 30-tile zone should cover the land path, not open water.

Call the first landing window. A teammate should move while the enemy patrol is absent, retreating, or occupied.

2:00–3:00: decide whether to scale

Price the second and third Warships at 500,000 and 750,000. Add them only for another lane, stronger escort, or enough overlap to hold the objective.

Compare a second Port with a Factory because they share the same cost counter. Team train visits list 25,000 base revenue, while sea trade follows distance and risk.

Upgrade a Port when the original site is secure and its output will be used. Do not upgrade merely because the fleet is nearby.

3:00–5:00: convert control into territory

Shift Warships toward the coast where the team will land or where the enemy must cross. The final minutes reward control that changes the territory percentage.

Keep one patrol on the route if enemy transports remain possible. Send surplus Gold into the structure or teammate plan that completes the push.

If nukes are enabled and coastal assets have become dense, check SAM coverage before the enemy can turn one strike into both naval and economic loss.

Number Scenarios

Scenario 1: fleet cost ladder

The first Warship costs 250,000, the second 500,000, and the third 750,000. Three ships therefore cost 1,500,000 total.

The fourth costs 1,000,000, taking the four-ship total to 2,500,000. Later ships stay at the 1,000,000 per-build cap.

If the fourth ship only joins an already controlled lane, compare its 1,000,000 cost with a City, Port upgrade, SAM fund, or teammate need.

Scenario 2: Port and Factory ladder

Across the shared counter, four new Ports or Factories cost 125,000, 250,000, 500,000, and 1,000,000. The combined total is 1,875,000.

Four Ports and a mixed Port/Factory set reach the same counter. The mixed set opens train infrastructure, while the Port-heavy set emphasizes sea production and trade.

Choose by route value and lobby options, not by treating every Port as an independent 125,000 purchase.

Scenario 3: listed Warship exchange

A Warship lists 1,000 health and a Shell lists 250 damage. Four direct 250-damage hits equal the listed health on paper.

Actual movement differs because the ship auto-retreats once health reaches 750 or lower. After the first listed-damage hit, it may already begin leaving the fight.

This is why route positioning matters more than expecting two stationary ships to trade until one disappears.

Scenario 4: trade distance at 1× multiplier

Using the extracted formula, distance 100 yields about 5,185 Gold per arrival. Distance 300 yields 52,500, distance 600 about 104,990, and distance 1,000 about 124,999.

The long route pays more per completed arrival. It also spends longer exposed to Warships and may cross more contested water.

Protect the route that produces completed trips, not the route with the largest theoretical number.

Scenario 5: Port defense budget

A first Port plus first Defense Post costs 175,000 before a Warship. Add the first Warship and the package costs 425,000.

That package creates a hub, one 30-tile defensive zone, and one naval unit. It does not guarantee safety against a larger fleet, a second landing lane, or nuclear attack.

Scenario 6: transport opportunity cost

A Transport Ship is listed as free in Gold, but it consumes the initiator’s troops. Losing several transports can drain the force needed to hold the land already captured.

Escort timing should therefore consider both the landing target and the troops left behind.

Opponent Counterplay

They build their own Warship screen

Do not fight everywhere. Pull the contest toward the lane your team needs, add a ship only when the cost changes control, and ask ground teammates to pressure the enemy Port’s land.

Capturing production can be more decisive than trading shells in open water.

They route around the patrol

Warship priority matters only when the ship is near the transport path. Move the patrol to the crossing, narrow channel, or destination coast instead of guarding empty sea.

Use teammate sight and calls to update the route. A fixed patrol can become irrelevant after one landing direction changes.

They attack the Port over land

Keep the Port connected, put the defensive zone on the capture path, and retain troops behind the coast. Naval units cannot replace control of the tile holding their hub.

They embargo trade

Embargo blocks trade ships between that pair and can reduce the value of a Port-heavy economy. Keep base income and any available Factory or train route relevant.

Do not answer every embargo with another Port. The shared cost counter rises while the pool of useful partners shrinks.

They refuse to use the water

If the enemy stays inland and no landing matters, your mission has ended. Stop scaling the fleet and move the budget into the ground objective.

They use nuclear pressure

A Hydrogen Bomb has listed 80/100 radii and can threaten a dense coastal cluster. SAM can intercept it, but the first launcher costs 1,500,000 and takes 30 seconds to build.

Spread Ports and Cities when possible, preserve another production route, and build SAM early enough if the threat is credible.

They launch many transports

Warships prioritize Transport Ships, which favors a patrol on the approach. Keep the ship on the lane and avoid being lured away by a less important target.

If one patrol cannot cover two crossings, ask whether a second ship or a ground defender is the cheaper answer.

Failure Modes

Building a navy without a mission

“We have coast” is not a mission. Name the route, landing, Port, or transport wave the fleet will affect before buying the first ship.

Chasing a retreating Warship

Ships auto-retreat at 750 health or lower. Chasing can pull your patrol away from the transport lane while the damaged ship returns toward repair.

Leaving the Port on an enclave

Ports transfer with captured territory. Build enough connected land behind the coast that one landing does not immediately take the hub.

Overbuilding Ports

Port and Factory costs share a doubling counter, while the global trade-ship curve slows new spawns as fleets grow. More hull access is not automatically more completed revenue.

Sending transports through a patrol

Transport Ships consume troops, and Warships prioritize them. Wait for escort, another route, or a teammate action that occupies the patrol.

Ignoring the timed territory score

A fleet can dominate open water while teammates lose land. Reposition toward the coast that changes territory, or stop spending on the sea.

Concentrating every asset

One coastal cluster is easy to defend conventionally but can become a high-value nuclear target. Preserve another core or production route.

Keeping the plan private

Teammates cannot exploit a landing window they do not know exists. State the crossing, time, and target before the fleet moves.

Mode and Map Adjustments

Ports disabled

The naval control role does not exist in its normal form. Shift to ground defense, Cities, team movement, and the map’s land chokepoints.

Nukes disabled

Dense coastal infrastructure loses one major threat. Gold that would fund SAM coverage can stay in ships, ground defense, or the final territory push.

SAMs disabled

Do not answer nuclear risk with a launcher the lobby forbids. Space critical assets and avoid making one coastal blast decide the entire role.

Water Nukes enabled

Destroyed land can become water, and the v31 guide notes that inland water can support Ports, Warships, and trade. Recheck routes after every terrain-changing strike.

Use the Water Nukes guide for the option’s conversion timing and recovery rules.

Strait maps

Strait of Gibraltar, Strait of Malacca, Bosphorus Straits, and The Straits appear in the Regional map set. A narrow crossing can give one patrol a clear mission.

Do not assume the map name proves your spawn controls the crossing. Inspect the actual team positions and navigable water.

Lake and inland-water maps

Two Lakes, Great Lakes, and Between Two Seas are listed maps. Decide whether the water connects the fronts or merely divides your own expansion.

Island-heavy maps

On Hawaii or Japan, transport protection can matter more often because water separates land. Keep enough troops on owned land before loading another crossing.

Continental and fantasy maps

On Europe or Pangaea, a naval role may cover only one flank of a much larger land war. Scale the fleet to that flank instead of the whole map.

Use the map database to confirm map names and categories, then let the live topology define the mission.

FAQ

How many Warships should a team build?

There is no fixed count. Build enough to control the decisive route, then stop when the next ship adds no new escort, interdiction, or Port defense value.

What do the first three Warships cost?

They cost 250,000, 500,000, and 750,000, for 1,500,000 total. The fourth costs 1,000,000.

Do Warships prioritize transports?

Yes. The extracted v24 unit notes say Warships prioritize Transport Ships and cool down immediately on a hit.

Is a Transport Ship really free?

It has no Gold cost, but it consumes the sender’s troops. A failed landing still costs combat power and time.

Should I build several Ports immediately?

Only when each hub has a secure site and useful route. Port and Factory share a doubling cost counter, and exposed Ports can be captured.

Where should a coastal Defense Post go?

Place its 30-tile zone over the land path an enemy must cross to capture the Port. It does not need to cover empty water.

Is longer-distance trade always better?

It pays more per completed arrival under the formula, but longer exposure can lower completion. Compare realized trips, not only theoretical revenue.

When should I abandon naval control?

Pivot when the enemy no longer uses the water, the relevant Port is lost, or another purchase converts more territory before the timer.

What should I tell teammates?

Name the route, window, and objective: “cross here now,” “their transports are blocked,” or “push this Port while their fleet is away.”

Next Reading

Read unit mechanics for Warship, Transport, Shell, and Trade Ship interactions.

Use trade mechanics for the distance curve, global scaling, spawn behavior, and embargo effects.

Check structures for current Port, Defense Post, City, SAM, and Silo roles.

Then review FFA opening for spawn shape or nuclear deterrence when a coastal cluster needs strategic defense.