DeletedUser
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We all know about committing an entire city to building Biremes for naval defensive support for your attacking cities, but has the idea of a city of Triremes possibly being a better choice ever been considered. I tried searching for a comparison of the two and was not able to find one, however if you know of one please feel free to post the link in a comment and I will check it out. Anyway the reason for this post is to make a comparison between having a Bireme or Trireme city.
Bireme
Research
Academy level 13
Att: 24
Def: 160
Speed: 45
Costs
Wood: 800
Stone: 700
Silver: 180
Pop: 8
Trireme
Research
Academy level 25
Att: 180
Def: 250
Speed: 27
Costs
Wood: 2000
Stone: 1300
Silver: 900
Pop: 16
So lets first look at some of the obvious comparisons. Biremes serve as a cheaper defensive only naval unit offering practically no attack. They take half the pop [8] that a trireme does (16) so population wise 2 biremes = 1 trireme which would look like this
2 Biremes
Att: 48
Def: 320
Speed: 45
Wood: 1600
Stone: 1400
Silver: 360
Pop: 16
1 Trireme
Att: 180
Def: 250
Speed: 27
Wood: 2000
Stone: 1300
Silver: 900
Pop: 16
The two biremes cost less, offer 110 more defense, and are 18 points faster in speed. However the 1 trireme offers an attack of 180 which is high enough that it can be used for an offensive naval attack and takes less time to build.
Conclusion:
Biremes are the better pure defensive naval unit hands down, they cost less, offer more defense, and have a faster speed which can be critical for sending them to defend one of your cities that may be under attack. However triremes while they offer less defense for a higher cost can also be use as an offensive naval unit. In retrospect, having a city of triremes would be comparable to having a less effective LS nuke and a less effective bireme city. So basically you would sacrifice on defense to have a fleet of triremes that could be used like an LS nuke in times of emergency. Also a big draw back of triremes is the required lv 25 academy compared to the required lv 13 academy for biremes, meaning it will take much longer to even get your fleet of triremes started to begin with.
How having Triremes could be better:
Basically is't the possibility of being able to use them as an attacking and defending naval fleet. I know that many of you may be thinking "yes but I could just do the traditional LS nuke and bireme city for defense" but a city of triremes would allow you to have an additional attacking fleet, were as with a city of biremes you are locked into having a city that is purely defensive.
Imagine that an ally of yours is currently having his city being taken over, you send in your LS nuke but its not enough to break the siege. With a city of triremes you could use your fleet of triremes to for a second attack to possibly break the siege. Granted in doing so you would lose your defensive naval fleet but would have saved an allies city.
Overall Conclusion:
In the long run using bireme cities are probably the better choice in the long run as the perk of being able to use triremes to attack and defend becomes obsolete after a player gets multiple LS nukes. Along with the main purpose of having a defensive naval city is defense which biremes are the clear winner in, and always is the required level 25 academy to even start building triremes.
Feel free to leave your own opinions on the subject, also I was unable to find construction times for these two units with a level one harbor
Bireme
Research
Academy level 13
Att: 24
Def: 160
Speed: 45
Costs
Wood: 800
Stone: 700
Silver: 180
Pop: 8
Trireme
Research
Academy level 25
Att: 180
Def: 250
Speed: 27
Costs
Wood: 2000
Stone: 1300
Silver: 900
Pop: 16
So lets first look at some of the obvious comparisons. Biremes serve as a cheaper defensive only naval unit offering practically no attack. They take half the pop [8] that a trireme does (16) so population wise 2 biremes = 1 trireme which would look like this
2 Biremes
Att: 48
Def: 320
Speed: 45
Wood: 1600
Stone: 1400
Silver: 360
Pop: 16
1 Trireme
Att: 180
Def: 250
Speed: 27
Wood: 2000
Stone: 1300
Silver: 900
Pop: 16
The two biremes cost less, offer 110 more defense, and are 18 points faster in speed. However the 1 trireme offers an attack of 180 which is high enough that it can be used for an offensive naval attack and takes less time to build.
Conclusion:
Biremes are the better pure defensive naval unit hands down, they cost less, offer more defense, and have a faster speed which can be critical for sending them to defend one of your cities that may be under attack. However triremes while they offer less defense for a higher cost can also be use as an offensive naval unit. In retrospect, having a city of triremes would be comparable to having a less effective LS nuke and a less effective bireme city. So basically you would sacrifice on defense to have a fleet of triremes that could be used like an LS nuke in times of emergency. Also a big draw back of triremes is the required lv 25 academy compared to the required lv 13 academy for biremes, meaning it will take much longer to even get your fleet of triremes started to begin with.
How having Triremes could be better:
Basically is't the possibility of being able to use them as an attacking and defending naval fleet. I know that many of you may be thinking "yes but I could just do the traditional LS nuke and bireme city for defense" but a city of triremes would allow you to have an additional attacking fleet, were as with a city of biremes you are locked into having a city that is purely defensive.
Imagine that an ally of yours is currently having his city being taken over, you send in your LS nuke but its not enough to break the siege. With a city of triremes you could use your fleet of triremes to for a second attack to possibly break the siege. Granted in doing so you would lose your defensive naval fleet but would have saved an allies city.
Overall Conclusion:
In the long run using bireme cities are probably the better choice in the long run as the perk of being able to use triremes to attack and defend becomes obsolete after a player gets multiple LS nukes. Along with the main purpose of having a defensive naval city is defense which biremes are the clear winner in, and always is the required level 25 academy to even start building triremes.
Feel free to leave your own opinions on the subject, also I was unable to find construction times for these two units with a level one harbor