Ports are the hub property for all sea units, as they are where all sea units can be built, repaired and resupplied. New units cannot be moved on the turn they are built.
In competitive matches, Ports are by far the least-used of the production facilities available. Though seemingly powerful, most naval units are simply too limited by the scope of contiguous sea tiles they use as they are unable to traverse shoals and bridges, relegating them mostly to niche coastal defense at the edges of the map. Inland landlocked ports, which are completely surrounded by non-sea tiles, may appear to be useless at first glance but can have tactical benefits as a place to spawn Battleships and, rarely, Carriers to act as resilient stationary turrets covering nearby contested properties. The other two naval units Cruisers and Subs are almost never seen in competitive play, being too limited in scope and function to justify building in any reasonable match.
In High Funds, ports become more useful as the exorbitant cost of naval units is less of an issue there, especially on Heavy Naval maps which are specifically designed for naval units to be viable. Battleships in particular are more common here, with Subs being built to counter them and Cruisers in turn. Naval play is more common in this game mode as a result, though this usually still requires some weakening of Airports for naval units to not be overshadowed.
Kindle and Lash can benefit from attacking from ports due to the effects of their day-to-day powers. Eagle has weaker naval units and is not particularly incentivised to build them in the first place, but he may be able to utilise Lightning Strike to build two units in one turn in the unlikely event he requires and can afford more than one naval unit at that moment.
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