Now, you could take one of the missions (say, port attack) and figure out the criteria for setting the #of planes, air-to-sea factors, and # of fighters to send.
ok. Please forgive me for the long post but I couldn't come with something shorter. Also it's a first try so of course it can be improved.
First some assumptions :
-weather is good else we don't bother with a port attack -> we don't count enemy scs and submarines since our carriers should always be able to choose air to sea combat (unless heavily surprised..)
-we assume that if friendly land based aviation was in range of the target we wouldn't risk our carriers so they're out of the picture.
- composing a TF is as much a feasibility study as an actual preparation : so if the Admiralty estimates that it lacks the necessary resources, it just aborts the procedure, in effect saying no to the JCS.
so
- first calculate the safest path (less enemy LBA & patrolling fleet) unless the mission is critical, then choose the shortest one (more ships to bring)
- if the target is a minor port, select only ships which can reach the 3 box of the selected sea zone, the 5 box if the target is a major port (2 & 4 respectively if the mission is critical)
- calculate how many air-to-sea factors you need to cause at least 1 X given the number of enemy ships in the target port : for instance, if there are 6 ships in the port, you need at least 5 air-to-sea factors
- select enough carriers to have these factors available. If you haven’t them, abort now.
- add the anti-aircraft factors of the enemy ships in the target port and those of the uninverted anti-aircraft land units in the hex (or adjacent hexes irc). Calculate the average result against the number of bombers we selected so far (we’ll need a table here to spare us recalculating each time the value of 1/3 or –2/5).
- For each 5 points of damage, add 1 carrier with air-to-sea factors. . If you haven’t them, abort now
- Add-up all possible intercepting or cap fighters air-to-air factors. Add enough carriers with air-to-air factors to at least achieve parity. . If you haven’t them, abort now
- Add up the maximum number of land-based enemy planes which could attack the TF at a time : add enough cruisers, light cruisers and, if you have many or if the mission is critical, battleships, to boost the TF anti-aircraft value of the TF so it gives at least 1/1 or better against such a number. . If you haven’t them, abort now
- Estimate the worst enemy carrier TF which could intercept you (if playing with hidden task forces, it could be tricky..) : add carriers until you have at least the parity in number of carriers. . If you haven’t them, abort now
- Now sum the build value of all the ships which were selected : if the total is greater than the importance of the mission (which would then be the maximum ships build points which the JCS would accept to lose in the affair) , then abort.
