asw/AKE

[montesaurus]

Two questions from a player continuously trying to learn the game!
1. What is the most effective altitude to fly your ASW missions at?

2. When you have an AKE to re-arm your ships, do you have to fill it with supplies to be effective? i.e. How does
it's rearming capability work? Do you merely have to be in the same hex as the ships that need rearming?

Thanks.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: montesaurus

Two questions from a player continuously trying to learn the game!
1. What is the most effective altitude to fly your ASW missions at? Not entirely sure, but I have seen many people say that an altitude like 1K or 2K feet will yield more attacks. Perhaps more sightings by being a little higher, though? I hope that others will comment.

2. When you have an AKE to re-arm your ships, do you have to fill it with supplies to be effective? Yes. Best to top them up in the port whenever possible as ops points are limited. i.e. How does it's rearming capability work? The capacity of the AKE must be equal to or greater than some formula based upon the effect of the weapon being rearmed. You can find that with a search (I forget it off-hand) or someone else might post it. The point is that the bigger the AKE, the bigger the main battery, torps, etc. it can rearm. Do you merely have to be in the same hex as the ships that need rearming?Yes, as long as it is a friendly base hex.

Thanks.

[montesaurus]

Thanks for your response!

[jmalter]

the AKE/AK must be loaded w/ supply & disbanded in the friendly port. After 12/44, USN AEs can re-arm ships at sea if they are in a Replenishment TF - but again, their tonnage capacity & available ops points limit the size & amount of re-arming they can accomplish.

michaelm's beta has a very handy 'Load tenders on this list' button on the base's ships-in-port screen. The amount of reloading is limited by ops points. This button removes the drudgery of manually creating TFs, docking, loading & then disbanding them. (Where you must also remember to hit the 'Do not unload' option!)

[Jorge_Stanbury]

you are looking at +3,000 in cargo capacity if you want to rearm 14'
and +4,000 to rearm 15' or 16'

which means; you need big ships

[rustysi]

1. What is the most effective altitude to fly your ASW missions at?

Like witpqs says the alt 1-2k is fine. You may also want to consider having NavSearch in same area, some at night too, if possible. All this wiil increase the subs DL (detection level), and will give a better chance for an attack.

2. When you have an AKE to re-arm your ships, do you have to fill it with supplies to be effective? i.e. How does
it's rearming capability work? Do you merely have to be in the same hex as the ships that need rearming?

The rearming table can be found in the manual beginning on page 284, section 20.1.2.2 The rearm cost column will tell you what the load capacity of your AKE must be. IOW to reload a Japanese BB with 40cm (about 16") cannon your AKE must have a load cap of at least 4500. Just a little more info here... If you play as Japan the Yamato's will not find an AKE large enough to rearm them, the largest Japanese AKE that I've found has a load capacity of 4900, and these vessels require 6440 to load. That means at a size 7 port you will still need a naval HQ with at least 188 naval support. Even at a level 8 or 9 port these vessels still need 88 naval support.

jmalters' post says pretty much the rest of what you need to know about AKE's.

[jcjordan]

Also as to ASW having a high exp unit & high NS/ASW pilot skill helps in attacks