- Your convoy lines arrivals in the UK are from the Bay of biscay (7) and the Faeroes (8). I have found out that concentrating them is better, as this leaves only one place instead of 2 to defend and for the Germans to attack. Also, the Faeroes are initialy in range from SUBs in Kiel while the Bay of Biscay is not, so I consider an error to have CP in the Faeroes. All CP in the Bay of Biscay will have to shift to the Faeroes when France falls and it it happens that the pressure on them will be too high.
this is not a good idear .... no need to give the germans +1 for more then 10 cp ..
- Your convoy lines arrivals in the UK are from the Bay of biscay (7) and the Faeroes (8). I have found out that concentrating them is better, as this leaves only one place instead of 2 to defend and for the Germans to attack. Also, the Faeroes are initialy in range from SUBs in Kiel while the Bay of Biscay is not, so I consider an error to have CP in the Faeroes. All CP in the Bay of Biscay will have to shift to the Faeroes when France falls and it it happens that the pressure on them will be too high.
this is not a good idear .... no need to give the germans +1 for more then 10 cp ..
Yeah, better dividing the convoy routes, and give the Germans an early opportunity at attacking 8 CP with their 2 ranged SUBs (who can't reach the B of Biscay), and obliging the CW to heavily cover 2 Sea Area instead of one. I take it any day as the German, this is the 1939 CW setup of my dreams (in our Vassal game, our CW opponent is setting up this way, this is good).
I prefer giving them the +1, and the super heavy escort that goes with that (10-12 ships), plus the impossibility to attack them until Brest is German.
This is a good example of how it takes a long time to learn all the ins and outs of the WiF systems. If you have more than 9 CP in a zone, true, the enemy gets a -1 on their search dice. But in this case, if you put all of the CP in the Bay of Biscay, which is one zone farther from Germany, the U-Boats on the prowl will be one box lower than they are in the Faeroes. This negates the extra -1 on their search dice, in terms of how likely they are to activate themselves for naval combat. So it is better to just use the Bay of Biscay zone to concentrate your escorts. Plus, the Germans aren't that likely to draw very many 3 range SUBs at start anyhow, as Froonp mentions.
Oh and if the Germans do decide to try a SUB attack on the Biscay zone, it is best to have a couple French points there to absorb any losses, even though the French wouldn't actually need points there to deliver stuff to France - other CW points can cover for them elsewhere.
10-12 ship escort in 1939? Wow. I like setting up 2 cas in each of the 0, 1, and 4 boxes along with a bb in the 0 box (in Bay of Biscay & North Atlantic). With the low density of Axis subs in 1939 that should be more than enough to cover the zone. 10-12 ships in a single sea area means you are short defending convoys somewhere else or you are short operational fleet to fight the Italians in the Med.
10-12 ship escort in 1939? Wow. I like setting up 2 cas in each of the 0, 1, and 4 boxes along with a bb in the 0 box (in Bay of Biscay & North Atlantic). With the low density of Axis subs in 1939 that should be more than enough to cover the zone. 10-12 ships in a single sea area means you are short defending convoys somewhere else or you are short operational fleet to fight the Italians in the Med.
We use CLiF.
10-12 is rather in 1940. In 1939 I'd rather have 8 cruisers in the Bay of Biscay.
Also, our CW opponent did not make his convoys pass in the Faeroes as I had announced. So I won't be able to narrate you how we kicked their ass.
Yes, one of the reasons we stopped using CLiF in our tabletop game was because Germany's sub fleet did not increase (unless German expenditures did) while the CW's potential escort fleet did... a lot.
Yes, one of the reasons we stopped using CLiF in our tabletop game was because Germany's sub fleet did not increase (unless German expenditures did) while the CW's potential escort fleet did... a lot.
But when using CLiF the convoys require escorts, having lost their intrinsic ability to attack the subs.
Yes, one of the reasons we stopped using CLiF in our tabletop game was because Germany's sub fleet did not increase (unless German expenditures did) while the CW's potential escort fleet did... a lot.
But when using CLiF the convoys require escorts, having lost their intrinsic ability to attack the subs.
And Germany gets CX who cost 1BP and have the ability to scatter the RN a lot.
2 CX, 3 maximum otherwise their zones of operation overlap too much and make the extra one become moot, can drag a good dozen of cruisers in seas of nowhere, chasing them.
As I promised Steve to go through all the forums post of all AI for MWiF – XXX, here is the result for Commonwealth. Some good suggestions from forum members. I have now compiled it to define 4 possible starting major convoy routes for the British and 6 major convoy routes cooperating with the France, from which the AIO will chose from. But combined the routs are quite many. so I hope we can eliminate some of them.
Normally Commonwealth has some major and minor shifts of his convoy routes:
• Convoy routes before fall of France(Start)
• Convoy routes after fall of France
• Convoy routes when facing war with Japan
• Convoy routes after Italy is at war with Commonwealth and or France
• Convoy routes when sending resources to the USSR
• Convoy routes after the US has entered the war
The below suggested routes are dealing with Convoy routes before fall of France.
The routes are divided into 4 major routs and each rout has variants A up to D.
The major routs are:
• India around Africa and the Mediterranean
• India around Africa and Australia to Canada and the Mediterranean
• Australia around Africa and the Mediterranean
• India and the Mediterranean
The variants are:
A) Standard
B) 2 Sea areas to the United Kingdom
C) No Mediterranean
D) Sea supply North Sea
If Playing with Food in flames( For each of (1) Australia, (2) India, and (3) South Africa where at least 1 resource is transported to a factory in Great Britain during a turn, the number of production points for the Commonwealth is increased by 1).Is only the major rout Australia around Africa and the Mediterranean used since only that one send a resource from each of Australia, India and South Africa directly to a UK factory.
The plans with the setups are to get home 15+ resources to the United Kingdom where you only need 15 resources to produce at full and to avoid committing to many CP at sea so early in the game. In later impulse/turns when more oil is needed and the Axis has might have shown some of the cards at hand, the Commonwealth can(if needed) send out more CPs to get more resources transported. It’s not fun to sit with a maxed out convoy line then to have IT declare war at you and cripple you life line, with no reserves at hand.
The normal basic plan is(81 CP)
CP = Convoy Points
TK = Tanker Points
UK (2 RP) = 0 CP
Cyprus (1 RP) By Sea: E Med > W Med > Cape St Vincent > Bay of Biscay = 4 CP
South Africa (2 RP) By Rail: Rhodesia > N Rhodesia > Belg Congo > By Sea: Gulf of Guinea > Cape Verde > Cape St Vincent > Bay of Biscay = 8 CP
Northern Rhodesia (1 RP) By Rail: Belg Congo > Gulf of Guinea > Cape Verde > Cape St Vincent > Bay of Biscay = 4 CP
Canada (5 RP / 1 OIL) (2 PP produced there) By Sea: E Coast > N Atlantic > Bay of Biscay = 12 CP / 9 CP 3 TK
Venezuela (3 OIL) By Sea: Carribean > E Coast > N Atlantic > Bay of Biscay = 12 CP/12 TK
Port of Spain to UK (1 OIL) Carribean > E Coast > N Atlantic > Bay of Biscay = 4 CP/4 TK
British Guyana (1 RP) By Sea: Mouth of the Amazon > Cape Verde Basin > Cape St Vincent > Bay of Biscay = 4 CP
NEI to India By Sea: E Indian Ocean > Bay of Bengal = 4 CP/ 4 TK
India (4 RP) (2 PP produced here with local RP) 2 By sea Arabian Sea > Azanian Sea > Mozambique Channel > Cape Basin > Gulf of Guinea > Cape Verde > Cape St Vincent > Bay of Biscay = 16 CP
Persia to Egypt (1 OIL) By rail to Egypt
Australia (3 RP) (1 PP produced here with local RP)
Burma (1 Oil) saved in Burma
Since the Commonwealth also needs to coordinate with France - we previously defined 6 suggested France convoy routes where they help each other - each of the 4 major routes are combined with the 6 France ones to give a wide range of resource transportation cooperation options. Note the First turn they can NOT give resources to each other only transport resources for each other.
The reserve convoy placements also very interesting for Commonwealth, the need to be in good position to handle axis strikes at the convoy lines and also if possible in good position to ease shifting convoy lines.
As always if you have any comments about these convoy routes, we would love to hear them. If nothing else, you could help us decide on their probabilities.
Route 1: India around Africa and the Mediterranean (Standard).
Variant:
A) 69 CP Used, 12 CP in reserve.
B) 69 CP Used, 12 CP in reserve.
C) 73 CP Used, 8 CP in reserve.
D) 70 CP Used, 11 CP in reserve.
Route 2: India around Africa and Australia to Canada and the Mediterranean.
Variant
A) 69 CP Used, 12 CP in reserve.
B) 69 CP Used, 12 CP in reserve.
C) 73 CP Used, 8 CP in reserve.
D) 70 CP Used, 11 CP in reserve.
Route 3: Australia around Africa and the Mediterranean.
Variant
A) 72 CP Used, 9 CP in reserve.
B) 72 CP Used, 9 CP in reserve.
C) 76 CP Used, 5 CP in reserve.
D) 73 CP Used, 8 CP in reserve.
Route 4: India and the Mediterranean.
Variant
A) 64 CP Used, 17 CP in reserve.
B) 64 CP Used, 17 CP in reserve.
C)
D) 65 CP Used, 16 CP in reserve.
Route 5: France around Africa.
Variant
I. .
II. 79 CP Used, 2 CP in reserve..
III. .
IV. .
Route 6: France Atlantic and Mediterranean and West Africa.
Variant
I. 69 CP Used, 12 CP in reserve.
II. 69 CP Used, 12 CP in reserve.
III. 71 CP Used, 10 CP in reserve
IV. 65 CP Used, 16 CP in reserve.
Route 7: France Atlantic and West Africa.
Variant
I. 70 CP Used, 11 CP in reserve.
II. 70 CP Used, 11 CP in reserve.
III. 72 CP Used, 11 CP in reserve.
IV. 66 CP Used, 15 CP in reserve.
Route 8: France Mediterranean and West Africa and Australia to Canada
Variant
I. 77 CP Used, 4 CP in reserve.
II. 77 CP Used, 4 CP in reserve.
III. 79 CP Used, 2 CP in reserve.
IV. 73 CP Used, 8 CP in reserve.
Route 9: France Atlantic and Mediterranean
Variant
I. 68 CP Used, 13 CP in reserve.
II. 68 CP Used, 13 CP in reserve.
III. 70 CP Used, 11 CP in reserve.
IV. 64 CP Used, 17 CP in reserve.
Route 10: France Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Variant
I. 68 CP Used, 13 CP in reserve.
II. 68 CP Used, 13 CP in reserve.
III. 70 CP Used, 11 CP in reserve.
IV. 64 CP Used, 17 CP in reserve.
Optional rules that might affect Convoy Deployment %
• Food In Flames
• Limited Overseas Supply
• In the presence of the enemy
• Rough Seas
• Convoys In Flame
• Oil tankers
• Cruisers in flames
• Oil Rules
• Saving Oil Resources and Build Points
• AIO Strategy
