Use for a few ship types

[jallison86]

I'm in mid-1943 of my first campaign as the Allies against the Japanese AI. I've learned a ton from playing and from these forums, but there are still a couple of ship types that I'm not sure how I'm supposed to use.

Short-legged MSW's. The MSW's with an endurance of 1200. What do I do with these? Currently they just sit in port and do nothing. The MSW's with greater endurance I put with invasion fleets in case they run into mines (although the AI doesn't seem to do much mining, at least so far). But the short-legged guys are everywhere and don't seem terrifically useful. Any hints as to what to do with them?

LCI's. I've been building up a TF with LCI's at PH. But they have such small capacity that it seems like you'd need dozens in order to ship any reasonable sized invasion force. Do I just wait until I have many of these?

Thanks.

- Jeff

[rominet]

MSW are escorters.
You can use them to escort big convoys in the Pacific.
With so short endurance, they will refuel often and slow down a little bit your convoys.
But as allies, you have so many AK/AP so it doesn't matter in fact.
MSW are very precious vessels against submarine attack.

[tankboy]

I keep a few on hand at big ports. I have had opponents that continually slip in and lay minefields. Makes for a handy anti-mine TF. The 1200 endurance ones are good for this. They slow convoys too much for my liking so I don't use them for escort.

[jallison86]

Thanks for the tips re MSW's. How about the LCI's? Will I ever acquire enough of them to transport something larger than a platoon? [:)]

- Jeff

[BPRE]

Hi,

Looking into the database it looks like you will get 130 (approximately) of them. Should be enough for a few more troops than a platoon [:)]

Regards
BPRE

[JeffroK]

LCI, really useful in the Solomons and around Tarawa.

They load and unload really quick and a good way of guaranteeing a strong force ashore on DDay, plus I have a feeling the troops are less disrupted (could be wrong)

Good for carrying a few supplies around bases, a hub set up at Lunga or Munda will distribute to bases close by.

[jallison86]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

LCI, really useful in the Solomons and around Tarawa.

They load and unload really quick and a good way of guaranteeing a strong force ashore on DDay, plus I have a feeling the troops are less disrupted (could be wrong)

Good for carrying a few supplies around bases, a hub set up at Lunga or Munda will distribute to bases close by.

Thanks. One confusing thing (of a number of confusing things!) is this little table in the manual that talks about amphibious invasion benefits:

The basic amphibious values for ship classes are as follows:
LST, LSD, LSV 100
LCVP, LCM, LCT, LSM, AG 75
AP, CS, APD 50
Japanese bonus through March 1942 +200

Note no benefit listed for LCI, even though they really are Landing Craft. This would imply that they aren't meant to be used for amphibious invasion. Still, the quick load and quick unload are valuable.

- Jeff

[John Lansford]

I use the 1200 endurance MSW's as close-in ASW assets, and coastal escorts along the WC and Australian coasts. You can also use them in the Solomons, Philippine Islands, and in SE Asia in the same roles.

The LCI's carry infantry and unload them in one turn, so they are useful carrying infantry and raider units to assault undefended bases, or to carry some of those airbase units that don't have heavy equipment to build bases quickly. On long trips I pair them with a larger transport or AO to keep them refueled.