Bombard and Stay

[Fuchida]

I am having trouble getting a task force to go to a hex, bombard it and then stay in the hex.

I know that after bombardment that the TF will switch to a surface combat mission.

I also know that with a retirement allowed setting the TF will automatically head away at high speed after bombarding.

So I set a bombardment TF up with a patrol/do not retire setting and sent it to bombard the Shortland Islands. It arrived at night, chewed up a Jap convoy and bombarded the base. In the morning it had vanished. I checked and it had moved ten hexes or so back toward Noumea and changed to retirement allowed.

Anyone know how can I get the do not retire setting to stick?

[Reiryc]

Yeah I have the same thing.

I think that this might go down in the bug forum. According to the manual, with do not retire setting it should bombard then just switch to surface combat. It shouldn't be leaving the hex.

Reiryc

[IKerensky]

Got the problems only once, figured I misread the setting, then doesnt got the problems anymore the second time. My japanese fleet are sitting well there.

Could the problem be that your fleet is severely depleted in shell ? this can cause fleet to turn back to base by the manual.

[Joel Billings]

My experience in the game is that BB's don't have the ammo to sustain a bombardment over many turns. When their ammo drops as per the manual, they will retire. When I want a group to stay around for awhile, I make a CA/DD group or better yet, a pure DD group. They don't do as much damage at once, but they will stay on station for several days.
If you are putting the group on Patrol and setting the hex you want to bombard as the TF's destination, you are doing the right thing.

[Tuomas Seijavuori]

I've got a DD/CA group bombarding Lunga for the third night in a row. Works like a charm. Trouble is there is apparently too little left to hit there, because last night they didn't report any damage at all.