Stalled TFs

[dgrissom]

Complete noob. Purchased version 1.5 Patched w/ 1.804 comprehensive and 1.806 revised.

Playing the tutorial. Suddenly I have Transport, Bombardment, and Invasion TFs deciding to just stop about five hexes from their destination. There are no fuel or damage issues. They will seem to move nearer to their destination, only to be put back where they were at the next air attack phase.

I looked for existing threads on this and didn't see any. I apologize if I missed one.

[FOW]

This can happen if there are heavy air defences and you have no air protection.
Check the 'AirBal' (air balance) number for the destination hex, seen when you mouse over the hex.
This shows a number which in simple terms means :
negative - the enemy has air superiority
positive - you have air superiority
the larger the number the higher the level of superiority

Your TF and ship captains will not blindly sail into areas where they are certain to be attacked, except if they have high aggression rating.

[dgrissom]

Thanks, FOW.  I'll look into that. 

[rtrapasso]

Another problem that can happen is sometimes the ships won't proceed when the AI "thinks" they are too far from their home base, even if there is sufficient fuel... this can sometimes be alleviated by setting the home port closer to where the TF is currently located.

If the aggressiveness rating of the TF is low, he may "chicken out" and run away if the area is hot, either through airbal (as above) or other threats... you can sometimes get around this by replacing the commander with a more aggressive one.

[dgrissom]

Thanks, rtrapasso. 
 
Two things are still bugging me (no pun intended):  One of these was a simple Transport TF taking supplies from Eniwitok to Sarawal (and I had already captured the small base NW of Sarawal), so air safety should not have been an issue.  There was sub activity in the area, but the TF was extremely well-escorted, and I would think that stopping is not a good idea anyway.
 
Even more troubling was the turn where the Saipan Invasion TF, after stalling for a couple of turns, was shown on the map during the Naval Movement phase as having gotten to Saipan (with the action report listing an attempted unloading) only to pop right back to the stall hex during the subsequent Air Ops phase.  This was the only thing that seemed like a system bug to me, but I don't want to jump to that conclusion.
 
Thanks again for the help!
 

[Charbroiled]

ORIGINAL: dgrissom

Even more troubling was the turn where the Saipan Invasion TF, after stalling for a couple of turns, was shown on the map during the Naval Movement phase as having gotten to Saipan (with the action report listing an attempted unloading) only to pop right back to the stall hex during the subsequent Air Ops phase.  This was the only thing that seemed like a system bug to me, but I don't want to jump to that conclusion.

Thanks again for the help!

I would guess that with the Siapan invasion TF, your opponent had a surface fleet at Siapan and your TF "ran away". This happens guite often and you will usually see a statement like "TF 1017 avoids TF12" or something to that effect. This statement flashes by pretty guick and isn't in the combat or operational report so it is easy to miss. The TF that is avoiding usually heads back to it's home port after this event.