Baltic sea ports

[Guru]

Hi there
I'm cuurently somewhat struggling with how ports work (for the Axis) in the Baltic. I've played the first turns a number of times, capturing Tallinn, and sometimes it is open to naval traffic, sometimes not, german units in Riga are allowed to perform naval move but can't get out of the Gulf of Riga, and the ports of Ventspils and Liepaja, and even Memel are mostly never usable. I cannot relate this to anything in particular.
Has anyone got a clue?

Thanks a lot

[Toidi]

Well, my guess is that the issue may be the port of Kuressare, which blocks the gulf of Riga from the north. Bombing this port usually helps and makes Riga usable.

The other thing is that there is limited amount of shipping available in the Baltics, though it is usually not a problem.

Also, the ports Ventspils and Liepaja may be damaged which makes them unusable. Still, that is rather rare, so I cannot fully explain it.

The final issue is that the transport of headquarters and combat units is slightly different - it seems to me that a combat unit can go to a port adjacent to an enemy hex/enemy unit, but the headquarters cannot (but can go out from such position via naval transport).

Hope that helps [;)]

[ComradeP]

Also keep in mind that the port ZOC doesn't trace across water hexes, but instead traces in a radius, which means that Leningrad also blocks one of the ports north of Riga as it's within the radius.

[Guru]

Thanks a lot
how do I know what the radius/ZOc of a port is
and where is the damged status of a port displayed?

[ComradeP]

Port ZOC radius=port level (if undamaged).

You can see both in the city information screen (select a city hex, click on the city name in the upper right part of the interface). You can check port levels by hovering over the hex with the mouse if you put the factory overlay on through shift-l.

[Guru]

Thanks

I see the radius thing now
however , I noticed a row of four hexes (X56, Y18-17 and X55, Y16-15) that remain under enemy (russian) control with no apparent reason or enemy port from which this could be originating, and that force naval move to a detour near Hanko...

[ComradeP]

Those hexes are still in range of Leningrad. I thought for a moment that Leningrad had a port ZOC of 25, but it's 26, so the hexes are in its port ZOC.

However, there is a problem as Helsinki should nullify Soviet port ZOC for all of those hexes aside from 55,16.

[Guru]

well, I can still bypass those hexes and reach Tallinn, so it's certainly not Leningrad's influence. Does anyone else have that or is it just me???

[Joel Billings]

Do you have a save you can post which you think has a problem (and if so, please detail exactly what appears to be wrong). Thanks.