ORIGINAL: JWE
Takes 12-14 6000 capacity ton xAKs (let’s say an ordinary EC2 Liberty) to transport an Army or Marine Division: 66,000 capacity tons for cross loaded troops (11,000 troops at 6x) and 11,400 capacity tons for weaps, vehs, and supply. Regardless of how they are “actually” distributed across individual ships, you could “rationalize” in terms of fitting 11,000 troops in 14 ships = 800 “men” per ship.
ORIGINAL: JWE
In the great, grand, scheme of things, using the right ships for the right jobs will put you in the 2 or 3 sigma ball park as to historical practice, and make the game play out in a very realistic fashion. [8D]
No one in his right mind would use xAK and xAP types for amphibious operations.
But I was aiming for the "point-to-point" transfer of troops and stuff from one port in friendly hands to another. Up to recently I have been using AK-only-TFs to transfer units (sometimes whole divisions) to Australia, when no APs were available at the West Coast. Then I started wondering whether this would have been feasible IRL. A convoy of AKs pulls into port after a supply run, next turn 800 men walk aboard each ship and off it goes again? Does not feel right! And no wonder operations in WitP / AE are rather fast-paced compared to history...
So I still have doubts that ordinary xAKs should have a cross-loading ability to carry troops without some sort preparation. I would prefer that troop capacity 0 actually means 0 and that a minimum of preparations (even if it takes just a few days) must be made before any sizable body of troops can be accommodated aboard a cargo ship. The "temporary xAP" thing would be the perfect tools for this.
But well, I don't want to push it further. The game is already great as it is, and I understand the "playability" argument. For my part, I will use self-imposed house rules - heavy stuff like Arty and tanks must use AKs, but any significant number of crunchies and REMFs must use AP types.
