Attacking Vessels in Port

[ikrananka]

I can't find anything specific in the manual about this, but how does naval combat work when attacking enemy vessels in port? Do you have to attack to weaken the port first before attacks will do damage to the vessel? Or is there some other mechanism?

[Taxman66]

I'm not 100% on the full details but...
It mostly depends on what you are attacking the port with.
Strat Bombers and Surface ships attack the port (reducing its value and have a chance of getting docked ships).
TAC, Medium, CV planes along with subs attack the ships in the port. The port's AA (particularly if upgraded, though that is moderately expensive) will help defend the ships.

[ikrananka]

Okay- thanks.

[Harrybanana]

This was a big question for me as well (I say "was" as I have not started any recent games). I often used the French and Royal navies to aggressively attack the Italian naval units in port from the first turn Italy entered the War. But the results were extremely mixed. In some games I was very successful in destroying most of the Italian Navy. While in other games I could barely even scratch them. Even with my carriers and subs seem to do much better in some games than others. The same is true when I played the Axis and my opponent tried this on me. In one game my Italian navy was shredded; but in the other game (with KZ) he sunk a couple Hvy cruisers with his CVs, but otherwise he couldn't touch me.

I have no explanation for why the results varied so significantly from game to game. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Leadwieght]

I'm wondering if the supply level of the PORT plays any port in the defensive value of ships sheltering there. It seems to me that ships in a port that has had its supply level reduced below 5 tend to take more damage, but I am not sure this is really true.

For CV attacks on ships in port, the supply level of the CV seems very important. Whenever I try to savage the Italians with the RN upon Italy's entrance into the war, my first CV attacks typically do 3 or more points of damage against ships in port, while the strength of later attacks with lower supply seem much less effective

[James Taylor]

A knowledgeable Axis player will make this Italian naval gambit a dubious undertaking at the least. We don't even attempt this maneuver anymore in my HtoH circle as the RN carriers are to valuable to waste.

[Leadwieght]

Yes, it's true. A savvy Axis player will be able to minimize the impact of this gambit, although the threat of it can in itself be useful for the Allied player

[KorutZelva]

ORIGINAL: Harrybanana

This was a big question for me as well (I say "was" as I have not started any recent games). I often used the French and Royal navies to aggressively attack the Italian naval units in port from the first turn Italy entered the War. But the results were extremely mixed. In some games I was very successful in destroying most of the Italian Navy. While in other games I could barely even scratch them. Even with my carriers and subs seem to do much better in some games than others. The same is true when I played the Axis and my opponent tried this on me. In one game my Italian navy was shredded; but in the other game (with KZ) he sunk a couple Hvy cruisers with his CVs, but otherwise he couldn't touch me.

I have no explanation for why the results varied so significantly from game to game. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yepp, and they weren't full strength ones either. The predicted results from other targets were bad.

Maybe the other ports were invisible stormy hexes [:D]

[James Taylor]

And once again Leadweight you hit on the crux of good SC play, "the threat of"! [;)]