Naval Battle (Age of Empires III)
Naval Battle is an Age of Empires III scenario in The Art of War (scenario 9). The player commands Indians Indians.
Scenario setting & objectives
The required goals are Avoid losing any ships to earn the gold medal; Avoid losing more than 2 ships to earn the sliver medal. (When lost 1 ship); Reach the target area with your fleet; Destroy the enemy Canoes and Caravel; Destroy the enemy Galleon; Destroy the enemy Frigate and the Caravels protecting it. Optional goals include Destroy the enemy artillery battery on the cliff.
Mission approach
For the gold medal, lose no ships; the silver condition allows no more than two losses. Keep the fleet together while reaching the target area, then remove the enemy Canoes and Caravel before taking on the Galleon and the Frigate with its protecting Caravels. The cliff artillery is optional, so attack it only if the fleet can remain within the medal limit.
Indian fleet objectives and medal conditions
Naval Battle is the ninth Art of War scenario and uses the Indians to teach fleet control. The required sequence is to reach the target area, destroy enemy Canoes and a Caravel, destroy a Galleon, then defeat a Frigate and the Caravels protecting it. The gold medal requires losing no ships; silver permits no more than two losses, while the scenario’s wording also specifies one lost ship as a condition for the silver medal. An optional objective is to destroy the enemy artillery battery on the cliff. Keep the fleet together so its fire can focus on one target, and avoid splitting ships between the main objective and optional battery before the route is secure. Check the objective tracker after each engagement and protect damaged ships rather than sacrificing them for speed. The medal limits make preservation part of the challenge, not an optional refinement. Reach the target area in formation, engage the named enemy groups in order and take the cliff battery only when it does not jeopardize the fleet. This lesson complements Land Battle by practicing army control on water.
Protecting ships during target progression
The named enemy groups become more threatening as the mission progresses, culminating in a Frigate protected by Caravels. Focus the fleet on one vessel at a time, maintain enough distance to avoid losing damaged ships and keep the formation intact while moving toward each target. Losing no ships is required for gold; the silver condition allows a small number of losses, so damaged vessels should retreat rather than remain as bait. The optional cliff artillery is secondary and should be attacked only after the main fleet can survive the detour. The mission tests target order, focus fire and preservation rather than unrestricted naval production.
Optional artillery objective
The cliff battery is optional and can draw ships away from the required targets. Clear the Canoes, Caravel, Galleon and Frigate sequence first, then attack the artillery only if the fleet remains strong enough.
Fleet formation
Keep ships close enough to focus fire and protect damaged vessels during the approach. The no-loss gold condition makes retreating a weak ship more valuable than maintaining a perfect formation.
Medal losses
The gold medal requires no ship losses, and silver allows up to two. Retreat ships with low health while the fleet remains able to complete the target sequence; the optional artillery is not worth losing the main force.
Identify ship roles before choosing a fleet
Naval battles combine several jobs: War Ships attack one another, transports move land units, Fishing Ships gather resources and specialized vessels can support a landing or bombard a coast. Check each ship’s attack mode, range, speed, capacity and target multipliers before committing it to a fight. A transport with a large garrison limit is not automatically a strong combat vessel, and a War Ship may have poor transport capacity. Protect slow or costly ships with an escort and keep the fleet together when enemy artillery or broadside attacks can punish a split formation. Coastal defenses can deny a landing route, so scout the shore before loading troops. Some modes and civilizations alter naval access; use the individual ship and version entries to confirm which production building and Age apply.