Naval Operations

[James Ward]

How do you normally group your ships?
Do you send out lots of single ship missions or do you just send one large flotilla?

[SMK-at-work]

Depends what you're expectign to have to fight against. 
 
If the enemy routinely sends out multiple ships then sending out 1 is a sure way to get it killed.
 
If you're raiding and don't have many naval points then a raider or 2 can get hits on transports that are very useful...

[James Ward]

Is the chance of an encounter based on the number of missions in an area or the number of ships in an area regardless of the number of missions?
I generally send out ASW missions of 2 DD's. Is it better to send out 2 single ship missions, assuming I think I am likely to find single subs?
For subs I have tried it both ways and I can't seem to see any differance between using 'wolfpack' tactic or the 'lone wolf' tactic. I always seem to attack with a single sub.

[SMK-at-work]

AFAIK each ship/sub has the same chance so the more ships/subs you send out the greater the chance of having an encounter of some kind.

[FrankHunter]

The game auto-groups naval units on the same mission in the same zone.  So whether you send out 5 ships together or as 5 separate squadrons, if they have the same objective and mission the game will treat them the same.

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter

The game auto-groups naval units on the same mission in the same zone.  So whether you send out 5 ships together or as 5 separate squadrons, if they have the same objective and mission the game will treat them the same.

Thanks.
Does each ship have a chance to find another one or is that mission based? I've noticed if my subs find one transport a lot of times they find more. I rarely have only one sub attack if they find a target. Other times there is no naval combat at all even when there are lots of ships in an area.

[FrankHunter]

Searching is done at the "group" level.   Each group has a chance to find enemy groups in the same zone based on mission type, weather and the relative speeds.

[FrankHunter]

Oh, each zone also has an intrinsic search value in addition to the weather variable.  So its far easier to find enemy groups on a clear day in the Eastern Med than a rainy day in the North Sea.

[James Ward]

As far as the weather goes, is it generally more clear in spring, summer and fall and more rainy in the other months? I usually play with the sound off but I have heard what sounds like rain in some games where I had the sound on.

[jhdeerslayer]

Is there any reason you have to Return ships to port? Will they sustain themselves in a Zone indefinitely?

Edit - Think I found it... Ships auto Return to port when their Endurance reaches 0. Correct me if I'm wrong please!

[hjaco]

ORIGINAL: Deerslayer

Is there any reason you have to Return ships to port? Will they sustain themselves in a Zone indefinitely?

Edit - Think I found it... Ships auto Return to port when their Endurance reaches 0. Correct me if I'm wrong please!

No you are correct. Ships are also forced to return of they sustain too much damage.

[dpstafford]

ORIGINAL: hjaco
No you are correct. Ships are also forced to return of they sustain too much damage.

Do ships lose "endurance" just by staying at sea?

[SMK-at-work]

Yes they use it up - 1 pt per season IIRC.  It is "refilled" when they return to port

[wargamer123]

I would imagine this must be the case, as WW1 ships ran on coal, that isn't something you can get anywhere. However, I do recall of the various stories of German ships raiding all over the Pacific, South Atlantic going a great distance to obtain Coal... So it's feesible in certain zones for the Ships to refuel their supplies, i.e. Neutrals or stealing it

In the game I haven't yet seen a ship return to base until it was damaged sufficiently.

ORIGINAL: dpstafford

ORIGINAL: hjaco
No you are correct. Ships are also forced to return of they sustain too much damage.

Do ships lose "endurance" just by staying at sea?

[Sewerlobster]

Great thread.
 
My wishlist would include listing what each ship out at sea is doing. My play time is often interupted and when I reload I've long forgotten which transport was doing what; they return to port and I have to go on memory what they might have been up to.

[Morval_slith]

The entire naval interface is by far the worst executed part of this game.  It is extremely diffcult to keep track of where your ships are at any given moment, and impossible to review the orders you've just given.  Why have naval unit counters on the map when you can't even view your own ships?  It would have been so much cleaner to move those ships directly on the map.