Sea Units in Nintendo Wars

Nintendo Wars (Japanese: ファミコンウォーズ Famicom Wars) is a series of military turn-based strategy video games (See wargame), developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo.

Sea units are built and repaired at Ports. They spend 1 unit of fuel per day: when they run out, they sink. Sea units do not expend fuel each day in Famicom Wars, GameBoy Wars 1/2/Turbo, or GameBoy Wars 3, and thus do not sink if they run out.

Sea units don't get to move on land terrain, so they are not only restricted to watery terrain (excluding Rivers except in Super Famicom Wars), but also get defense boosts only from Harbors (and Reefs in the Advance Wars games). However, vessels can be relied on for heavy firepower and armour among other things, making them hard to ignore when they're in the battle.

GameBoy Wars 3 vessels, due to the fact that they didn't travel in groups of 10 (as shown in the animation), could not exchange HPs.

Black Boats and Aircraft Carriers were both introduced to Americans in Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Black Boats didn't really exist in a previous Nintendo Wars series installment in any form (except possibly the Tanker in GameBoy Wars 3, which could resupply sea ships only), but the Aircraft Carrier was around in GameBoy Wars 1/2/Turbo as well as GameBoy Wars 3.

Capital ships

Battleships are the most powerful of any sea unit, with a long firing range which can hit any land or naval unit with heavy firepower. It is used against primarily Cruisers. Aircraft carriers (Carriers) can attack enemy air units from great distances, and also shelter and resupply two air units of any type.

Famicom Wars and Super Famicom Wars

Except for Landers, Battleships were the only sea units in Famicom Wars. Nevertheless, they were very powerful, dealing hefty damage to anything besides enemy Battleships. (This even included air units.) The Super Famicom Wars Battleships were weakened, though only slightly. They couldn't attack Submarines, but they still had strong firepower against anything else (still including air units). Fortunately, their price was increased.

Gameboy Wars 1/2/Turbo

GameBoy Wars 1/2/Turbo's Battleships were obscenely powerful as well; they may have dealt poor damage to foot soldiers, which were far cheaper, but they still did immense damage to nearly everything else, including air units and even submarines. GBW1/2/Turbo also had the Aircraft Carrier, which could load and resupply any air unit and deal range-fire attacks to enemy air units. Its range was less than that of the AWDS's Carrier, but it was also less expensive, having its price similar to the Cannon's.

Gameboy Wars 3

GameBoy Wars 3 does not have a Battleship; instead, it has an Aegis Warship ("iijisu kan", "kan" meaning "warship") that were very strong against sea ships and air units, and also came with high defense. However, Aegis Warships lacked weapons to attack land forces.

Aircraft Carriers were around, this time coming in 2 sizes: large and small. The Small Aircraft Carrier could Load 3 air units and move faster, while the large one could carry 4 units and was armed with longer-range AA Missiles. Both sizes were capable of resupplying and repairing jets and helicopters while loaded (the Bomber, the Transport Plane, and the Supply Plane were too large). Both Aircraft Carrier sizes were expensive to maintain, with the large one even being the most expensive overall in terms of Gold and Materials to build. However, ranged-fire AA Missiles and the aforementioned loading capabilities made Aircraft Carriers worth the tremendous prices during an aerial battle.

Submarines

Submarines use torpedoes to attack other sea units, though they are not very effective against Cruisers. Submarines can also submerge underwater, in which case they can only be seen when an enemy unit is next to the Sub and fewer units can harm it, though they use up more fuel while doing so.

Gameboy Wars 1/2/Turbo

Submarines did not exist in Famicom Wars. They were introduced to the Nintendo Wars series in GameBoy Wars 1 (and consequently in GameBoy Wars 2 and GameBoy Wars Turbo). There, they were immune to any attack except by the Battleship's first weapon, and could use their torpedoes for either direct-fire or range-fire (2-3). They couldn't Hide, even in Fog, and they couldn't move fast enough to get through a Battleship's range without getting hit.

Super Famicom Wars

Super Famicom Wars still had Submarines, this time more able to combat Battleships, even with the loss of range-fire capability. Their counter was the Escort Frigate (also called Cruiser) instead of the Battleships. They couldn't Hide without Fog, but with Fog, they were always Hidden (despite not using extra fuel).

Gameboy Wars 3

Submarine was one of the 5 Main Unit Categories in GameBoy Wars 3. However, the Unit Category consisted of only 2 units: Submarine and Submarine S. The regular Submarine had ranged-fire Torpedoes that only could be used against sea units. The Submarine S, obtained by Promoting a Submarine, lost the ranged-fire capabilities, but in return could direct-fire upon enemy sea units, and had Anti-City Bombs that could be used for devastating enemy property or damaging enemy units. Neither Submarine could hide.

Other vessels

Cruisers (which can also be called Escort Frigates) are useful for destroying enemy submarines, along with air units through powerful vulcan cannons. In addition, they are able to load helicopters. Landers are similar to the Transport copter and the APC, but they can carry two ground units and of any type - not just Infantry. Black Boats, added in AW:DS, can carry two Infantry at a time and have a high movement range, and they can also resupply other units and even repair them - the only unit that can do so.

Landers in other Nintendo Wars installments

Landers are the only non-capital ships to have existed in Famicom Wars, and have been in all installments of the Nintendo Wars series since. However,the Landers in Famicom Wars, GameBoy Wars 1/2/Turbo, and GameBoy Wars 3 are equipped with gatling guns, but were incapable of dealing high damage. In addition, a Lander on a Shoal in one of these games reduced the Movement Cost of the Shoal to 1 for any land units (besides the Cannon, which can't be directly Loaded). Also, GameBoy Wars 3's Lander could Load 3 land units total instead of the standard 2.

Cruiser/Escort Frigate in other games

The Super Famicom Wars Escort Frigate (or Cruiser) was weaker than its Advance Wars games' counterpart, as it was unable to attack planes, and dealt only moderate damage to helicopters it attacked. However, it could still devastate Submarines.

The Escort Frigate was not in GameBoy Wars 1/2/Turbo, or GameBoy Wars 3.

Tanker

In addition to the Lander, GameBoy Wars 3 had a Tanker. Though the Tanker didn't have any weapons for attacking, it could resupply ships. Due to the rarity of ammo and fuel issues with sea ships in GameBoy Wars 3, the Tanker is quite possibly the hardest unit to use effectively at all there, given that it couldn't resupply Submarines.

The Tanker was not in GameBoy Wars 1/2/Turbo or Super Famicom Wars.