Welcome to the Frigate UU Battle Royale! Last time we saw the musket UUs battle it out and I left a poll at the end of the part asking which unit you guys wanted to see next, and well as you can see frigates won.



There were surprisingly few frigate UUs so this time we only have 12 contestants. Let's meet the frigates of civ 5.

First off we have Shikoku with their UU of Kurofune!



The Kurofune, unlike the regular frigate, has a range of 3 which means that it can attack ships without fear of retaliation if it plays smart, but this is AI we're talking about and they're anything but that.

Next up is the Frigate UU we're all familiar with, England's Ship of the Line (this is the vanilla version not JFD's version)!



This mighty ship has extra combat strength(this pretty much acts as its defense) (30 vs 25) and more ranged strength (35 vs 28). It also has +1 sight... yay. Who needs fancy abilities when you can win with brute force.

Next up is the Crown of Aragon with their UU the War Galleon!



The Ship of the Line doesn't look so mighty next to this ship because it has the exact same strength stats (30 combat and 35 ranged strength) but the War Galleon can attack over obstacles... of which there are none in this game.



It also has a cool model with that emblem on its sails.

Next up is a very similar yet very different UU, it's the Galleon of Spain led under Phillip II!



Obviously, the lack of war in its name makes it less able to war so it doesn't get any combat bonuses. The Galleon is available at Astronomy and is cheaper to build, both of which won't help it at all in this game.



For reference sake, if you want the combat numbers of the UUs to mean something, the frigate has a combat strength of 25 and ranged strength of 28.

Once again we have a similar yet very different UU, Spain's behemoth the Santisima Trinidad, led by Carlos III!



This thing just like its model suggests is an absolute monster. The Santisima Trinidad loses 1 movement due to its gargantuan size but in return, it has 31 combat strength and a monstrous 39 ranged strength. The Santisima Trinidad is absolutely not to be messed with.

Next up is the OG itself under control of Shaka of the Zulu!



Now, this thing may not have any fancy abilities or much of anything to make it stand out but it has that OG cred that the other ships need to respect.

Next, we have the Ottomans' Mahmudiye!



This ship besides having a swanky looking model heals every turn in friendly territory and starts with the bombardment promotion which gives it +33% Combat Strength against Land Units. Unfortunately, both of those are useless in this game.

In the blue corner, we have the one, the only, Gunboat led by the CBR's most controversial leader himself Millard Fillmore!



The gunboat like a lot of other ships gains a strong combat bonus. It gets an extremely powerful combat strength of 35 and a ranged strength of 30. It has the "exotic goods" promotion that allows it to gain gold when adjacent to enemy territory just like the Nau, it's also able to enter enemy territory. This has to come at a cost however, the Gunboat is more expensive to build than the regular frigate but this isn't something that will matter in this like (neither will the exotic goods promotion or ability to enter enemy territory).

Next up is a frigate with a very different model to the rest, it's the Steam Frigate of Two Sicilies!



This is a speed machine with double movement in coast and an extra +1 base movement. This means that this ship in this game will have 12 movement.

Next, we have another JFD civ (kinda), the Sweden that was in Mk2 led by Gustavus Adolphus with this frigate replacement the Regal Ship!



The Regal Ship heals adjacent allies by 10 HP every turn and has +20% combat strength in coast which gives it a combat strength of 30.

Last but not least we have Peter the Great's Russia's Petrine Two-Decker!



The Petrine Two-Decker gains +5XP for every DoF and +25% combat strength against land units. Like several other UUS, these abilities won't help in this game.

Finally, another look at the Frigates before the bloodshed begins.

Turn 1 rolls around and already 2 eliminations. The OG Frigate and Two Sicilies' speedy Steam Frigate are eliminated.



Both Fillmore's Gunboat and Sweden's Regal Ship take damage.

Another turn another 2 eliminations. The Ottomans' Mahmudiye and Sweden's Regal ship are eliminated.



Fillmore's Gunboat seems to have gotten a promotion meanwhile Russia's Petrine Two-Decker and Carlos' Santisima Trinidad take damage.

Only one elimination this time as Russia's Petrine Two-Decker is eliminated.



The behemoth the Santisima Trinidad is taking major damage meanwhile the War Galleon is in the red and will most likely die next turn.

Indeed Aragon's War Galleon is eliminated.



The Santisima Trinidad drops to the red, the Gunboat and Ship of the Line also both take damage.

God is dead, Carlos' Santisima Trinidad by some miracle gets eliminated. England's Ship of the Line joins them in death.



The Gunboat is in the yellow meanwhile the Kurofune and Galleon are both at full health.

With fewer ships alive the AI decides it's finally time to start moving. The Gunboat employs a strategic maneuver to pin the Kurofune between two enemies.

The Kurofune won't go down that easily, however, in the yellow it sails off to safer waters. Phillip in his Galleon decides to go off on an expedition to discover why the hell these mountains are here.

The Galleon gets a bit too close to the Gunboat and falls into the yellow. Unlike land troops, naval units cannot heal outside friendly territory without the logistics promotion so the only way units will be able to get health is through the self-heal promotion.

Phillip is in huge trouble now as his Galleon gets bombarded by Fillmore's Gunboat.

Just like that Phillip's Galleon is eliminated. Fillmore's Gunboat gets a nice self-heal promotion left.





Shikoku's Kurofune comes too close to Fillmore's Gunboat and gets a stern warning to open their country.

Japan unwilling to let memes win get a self-heal, this can go either way.



Fun fact: Sakamoto Ryoma (the leader of the Shikoku civ) was actually alive when the Perry expedition reached Japan although he was just a katana-wielding weeb at the time

10 turns later on the other side of the arena Shikoku's Kurofune starts taking some serious damage again.

The Kurofune drops into the red and things are looking bleak for Shikoku. It doesn't look like the AI is utilising the 3 range the Kurofune has.

Knock Knock.

It's the United States.

With huge boats.

With guns.

Gunboats.

