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Can anybody give me a short instruction on the why and how to use barges? Thanks.

1) Barges impart the least amount of disruption on unloading troops during ampib assaults. This is more useful for the Allies with their LC's, since they are more likely to face armed resistance on landing. Japan typically faces weak or no resistance on their landings.

2) A use for Japan, is that barges are not targeted by most naval air attack missions. Fighters set at low altitude will strafe them, and planes on Nav Search can bomb them, but in general they can sail under enemy air with much better results than larger AK/AP ships. When Allied LBA is covering a nearby port, you can often get supplies/reinforcements in or out with barges where regular ships would be sunk ASAP.

3) If you have fixed the rockets in your game, some of the landing craft have rockets which provide close support to the landing troops.

OK, I have a better understanding of the benifits.  Now, how do you use the buggers....

Ah, put them in a transport TF and load them up just like any other ships.

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

2) A use for Japan, is that barges are not targeted by most naval air attack missions. Fighters set at low altitude will strafe them, and planes on Nav Search can bomb them, but in general they can sail under enemy air with much better results than larger AK/AP ships. When Allied LBA is covering a nearby port, you can often get supplies/reinforcements in or out with barges where regular ships would be sunk ASAP.

This is the best use, and I will expand on that.

1. You can evacuate a threatened base quickly, by creating barges, and filling it immediately with a land unit you want to save.
2. Barges have the added benefit of not costing any points if you lose them (unless you scuttle, so never scuttle), and being back in your pool after 30 days. So, they are virtually "FREE".
3. Use the to send supplies to bases you have no aircover at like Feurer Krieg says

As Japan, you don't really have alot of uses for them, until you start losing air superiority.

you can check to see how many are available by viewing the intelligence screen, near the bottom it will show how many are avaiable to create.
You can create them by clicking on a base with over 20k supplies or by creating them from a transport TF loaded up with supplies aboard AKs.

Barges? We don't need no stinkin' barges.

Barges, for the Japanese are also on the Merchant Ship build list, I've found that once they are available they stay in the build list and continue to suck up Merchant build points or so I believe until you create them. You can halt LSM & LSD([:D]) but can't halt LCM's and others??? Just be aware of it ...


If I'm wrong in this I stand ready to be corrected ...

ORIGINAL: firefly177

Can anybody give me a short instruction on the why and how to use barges? Thanks.

Barges are a godsend for the allies due to Japanese long range air. Create a supply dump base out of range of most Japanese naval air and fighters, so your AKs can bring in lots of supply without risking attack. Then create barge task forces and send them to your forward bases to run supplies to the troops. Don’t worry about their short legs, they move 2 hexes a turn even if they run out of fuel.

In my current game its mid 1943 and I use barges almost exclusively to supply my forward bases in the Aleutians and in the South Pacific area around the Luganville/Ndeni area. Were it not for the barges, my opponent would have racked up hundreds or thousands more VPs by sinking my AKs.

Tankers are a problem though. Barges simply cannot carry enough fuel to make them useful for sending fuel to your forward bases. They immediately suck up almost everything they deliver, so don’t bother using them to deliver fuel. The only thing you really need fuel at your forward bases for is to refill your PT boats, so one tanker load every 3-4 months should do the job at your forward bases to keep your PTs active.

Jim

OK, that gives me smoe good ideas how to use as soon as they become available. Sounds like they can also be used for assaults given a departure point no too far from the destination.