Qs - factories, ship repair and altitude

[Mobeer]

Just a few questions from a former Uncommon Valour player:

1) I notice from other threads that production is disabled. Should I turn off the factories (except repair shipyards I guess) to save on supplies? I tried checking this subject in the manual, but it refers to section 13.0, which then details Ship Maintenance.

2) Actually looking at section 13, it says that in smaller scenarios, "the AI will send damaged ships off map". I understand this is like in Uncommon Valour, but how does the player send a damaged ship off map?

3) When setting altitude limits for bombers, I normally use 6,000 feet to avoid the penalties described in the manual for operating below this. The AI likes to send in aircraft at 13,000 feet or higher so they fly over my defending fighters. Neither approach seems to generate hits; any advice on the best altitude to use?

[engineer]

1)  Production Question:  No comment.  If you're playing as the Allies you'll end up with Karachi, Bombay, Mare Island, and Los Angeles as nearly inexhaustible supply sources.  The two US bases will also have infinite fuel for all practical purposes.  For the UK you'll get fuel directly in the NEI and Singapore.  A Japanese fuel crunch from the mid-game on is a designed and historical challenge that they have to work around.
 
2)  Smaller Scenario Repairs:  My experience is that major damage takes too long for the ships to exit, repair, and return within the timelimit.
 
3)  Bomber Altitude:  Send in torpedo bombers at 1000 feet.  They descend to 200 feet to release their torpedos and a torpedo puts major damage on whatever they hit.  If you assign torpedo bombers to higher altitude they load with bombs.  For conventional bombers there is an algorithm buried in the code where the hit percentage is inversely related to altitude (higher is less accurate).  The flak algorithm has a similar relationship (higher is less accurate).  Well defended bases generally demand a higher altitude (5000 or 6000 feet) to get above the worst of the flak.  Surface task forces can be attacked at lower altitudes since naval flak is pretty weak in WPO.  Also remember that experience plays a big role in whether you get hits or not.  At the outset most of the pilots will be green, but after they fly 10 or 20 sorties, their accuracy will be much better.  Even a 24 lb bomb can badly damage a freighter loaded with combustible cargo, but most larger warships will shrug off the smaller bombs since their deck armor is proof. 

[Helpless]

ORIGINAL: Mobeer

Just a few questions from a former Uncommon Valour player:

1) I notice from other threads that production is disabled. Should I turn off the factories (except repair shipyards I guess) to save on supplies? I tried checking this subject in the manual, but it refers to section 13.0, which then details Ship Maintenance.

2) Actually looking at section 13, it says that in smaller scenarios, "the AI will send damaged ships off map". I understand this is like in Uncommon Valour, but how does the player send a damaged ship off map?

3) When setting altitude limits for bombers, I normally use 6,000 feet to avoid the penalties described in the manual for operating below this. The AI likes to send in aircraft at 13,000 feet or higher so they fly over my defending fighters. Neither approach seems to generate hits; any advice on the best altitude to use?

1. Factories do not consume supplies in WPO. They also do not produce anything. Just forget them.

2. IMO, this is a leftover from UV - just forget it.

3. Depends how do you use them. With the initial exp. of 25-30 they don't have any chance to hit, irrelevant to attitude (and IMO only TB can do visible harm to capital ships anyway:)

I mostly use LB for naval search. When they reach higher experience it might be dangerous for the enemy subs. For this I set them usually to 1000-2000ft.

[crsutton]

I am finding that well trained torpedo bombers (60+) will hurt BBs quiet well. They can get a lot of hits as the BBs just don't have much AA defence. Martin twin engine bombers have a 2000 lb bomb but limted to one hex range. It will hurt a battleship if you get a chance to hit them.

[Anthropoid]

Do any of the Japanese ships upgrade? If so, what city is the "send off the map" city like Mare is for US.

[engineer]

This is about the large AK changes?
 
Osaka is the city for that.  There is a mirror image to the various available conversions like the Allies have at Mare Island. 

[Anthropoid]

Thanks.