Optimum number of CV's in a Task Force?

[sven6345789]

How many CV's should be placed in a task force?
In good ol' pacwar, it was for the japanese: 2CV+4CVL or 4CV; for the allies:2CV+2CVL or 3CV.
Have these numbers changed?


Sven

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: sven6345789

How many CV's should be placed in a task force?
In good ol' pacwar, it was for the japanese: 2CV+4CVL or 4CV; for the allies:2CV+2CVL or 3CV.
Have these numbers changed?


Sven

It's personal preference though people tend to do 2 things:

#1
Put everything in single TF.

#2
Have 2 TFs (one following another in combat).


Leo "Apollo11"

[PzB74]

I agree, it's very much a personal pref.

I tend to put quite a few IJN carriers into one tf, at least 6. This because they carry
relatively few planes and I like to use my surface ships doing other things than baby sit bird farms....

Playing the Allied side it's somewhat different; if I'm up against a powerful Kido Butai I never put more
than 2 cv's into each TF. I consider 3 cv tf's perfect when I'm trying to blunt the KB - the counter punch
is veery likely to hit one of the tf's very hard, but the others should be ready to fight at least one more battle [;)]

[marky]

ideal cv numbers?

however many u have available

[general billy]

There is a FAQ on this website and spookys website on this very topic on how many cv's in a TF. The FAQ area is pretty good too and should be able to answer ur question or other covering information needed to learn the ropes of UV.

[redman1]

That FAQ is - well, was very good until the hacker attack destroyed a lot of its threads.

The consensus in that FAQ thread as I understood it was that 2-3 CV's per TF was optimal, and that you should form separate TF's to avoid "having all your eggs in one basket", kind of like the U.S. did by separating Yorktown from Hornet and Saratoga at Midway.

Whatever you do, however, don't forget that while your CAP covers the entire hex (including other TF's), your AA capabilities only cover your TF. You'll want to consider what supporting ships you can provide to your TF's, no matter how many you opt for.

[Rendova]

ORIGINAL: redman1


The consensus in that FAQ thread as I understood it was that 2-3 CV's per TF was optimal, and that you should form separate TF's to avoid "having all your eggs in one basket", kind of like the U.S. did by separating Yorktown from Hornet and Saratoga at Midway.

Well it worked out ok for the USN at Midway... but it was actaully sort of luck... they needed to have Yorktown in a seperate TF because is was too badly shot up from Coral Sea and was unable to sortie with the the other two CV's... Also BTW it was Hornet and Enterprise not the Saratoga.... the Sara was racing west from the West coast but arrived too late to take part in the battle.

[Tuli Vapaa]

Personal taste, but I like to put everything I can in single TF, with single limitation. I link them according their speeds. The Cranes (Zuikaku, Shokaku) are much faster, than any CVL. On the other hand, CVL's are ideal to run around with CS in deep raiding. This way no ship slows others down.

On US side, CV tactics are little more complex. At least from my point of view, single carrier TF's doing hit and run missions in early game is norm, but when going to attack mode, minium seem to be two.

[jeffs]

I find that at the beginning in 17 or 19 one, even if raiding should keep the CVs togethers..At the begining, there is not much in terms of naval search, so surprises happen fairly easily. In recent games as the USN I nailed the Shoho and as the IJN I nailed the Yorktown on raids (with no damage to my ships...only lost about 8 planes per attack)...Maybe against the IA you can get away with it...But unless you have the enemy CVs fixed far away, I am very much against single CVs if possible...
[:-]

[Tuli Vapaa]

Using single carrier TF's you can always use the other carrier to lure IJN CV's away from actual attacking force by showing it on other side of the map. After I get more carriers, I usually let first ones (Lex, Yorktown) sit in Brisbane for repairs and use Enterprise and Horne similar way. Works against AI, but putting a single cruiser in faint TF propably confuses human as well. (info from searchplanes would be CV,CA,DD,DD.....)