Which allied ships upgrade to what?

[Speedy Gonzales]

Hi guys,

so far I haven't really bothered upgrading allied ships. Is there a comprehensive list of which ship can be upgraded to what, for example which DD to APD, which xAk to AP and so on.

Thanx

[HansBolter]

Speedy,

You've attracted a lot of looks, but no answers.

I'm not sure anyone has a comprehensive handle on this one.

There have been a few threads discussing a few various types.

The sad reality is that you just have to invest the time to dive in and start examining what can upgrade to what and make your own assessment on which ugraded types will best suit your needs.

Sorry I can't help more.

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Speedy Gonzales

Hi guys,

so far I haven't really bothered upgrading allied ships. Is there a comprehensive list of which ship can be upgraded to what, for example which DD to APD, which xAk to AP and so on.

Thanx

Well you could manually look through the editor, check stats out in-game or use Tracker which does most of the leg work for you. I'm sure someone out there has an xls sheet too ... Looks like you're mostly looking for conversions rather than upgrades.

[Speedy Gonzales]

Yes, I meant conversion, not upgrade, sorry got them mixed upp there. Thanks for the info, guys, I will see what I can find out. I just saw someone posting such a list for the japanese side and since I am always short on APs and AKs and just got my few APD sund trying to sneak some supplies into Milne I thought, maybe some friendly elf has a similar list for the allies.

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Speedy Gonzales

Yes, I meant conversion, not upgrade, sorry got them mixed upp there. Thanks for the info, guys, I will see what I can find out. I just saw someone posting such a list for the japanese side and since I am always short on APs and AKs and just got my few APD sund trying to sneak some supplies into Milne I thought, maybe some friendly elf has a similar list for the allies.

Not that I play that side of the equation...not that there is anything wrong with that, but I wouldn't be converting too many DD's to APD's anyway. You get plenty from mid-43 onward. Soon you'll be swimming in a pool of so many xAP's etc that you won't know what to do with them. Welcome to the slow buildup as Allied production converted to war requirements.

Cheers

[Speedy Gonzales]

I see your point but the thing is, from mid 1943 onwards I have enough carriers to provide local air superiority anywhere I want so I don't really need fast transports anymore, I can force through large supply TFs under carrier protection. APD's helped me keep Milne supplied, they did a great job despite total loss of control over the skies of Milne. Of course when they ran into a bunch of japanese heavy cruisers, funny time was over.

I guess you are playing human players most of the time. I am playing the AI, don't have time for anything else. Against the ai you can go into the offensive much earlier than you would dare against a human japan. Against a human player I assume you wait and build up your forces properly and then you have enough of everything. My most limiting factor in may 1942 is the lack of AP's and AK's, I have a very precious few only and will definitely try and find ships that can be converted. Also, if I loose those few AP's and AK's I wont be able to conduct offensive operations for a year. Against the Ai that will be one long, boring year

Oh, and tankers, I need a lot more tankers... Oh, and fleet oilers, love those guys!

[Canoerebel]

I'm an experienced Allied player, but alot of the conversion particulars are beyond my pay grade (er, my intelleigence and attention capacities).  I suspect that NyGiants, Nemo and Alfred, along with a few others, know the ins and outs of this.  But, for what it's worth, a few thoughts:

1.  APA and AKA are gold.  Any xAP and xAK that convert to these classes are high priority and should be protected if possible.  I still use them,  but I'm careful.  And I convert them as soon as possible.

2.  AE, AD, AS, and AKE (is that the right letters to denote the big ammo suppliers?) are very important.  Most of these come into the game "as is," but a few ships can convert to some of these classes (AD, at least).  I use these ships alot.

3.  I tend not to use AV and AG classes much, but I suspect that's due to ignorance on my part.  They are probably much more useful than I give them credit for.

4.  I prefer not to convert destroyers to fast transports.  The latter are useful, but they have a very annoying habit of disobeying orders and hanging around their destination ports, getting sunk.  I'd rather have a sub-optimal DD than an optimal but sunk APD.

[Gunner98]

My preference is:

Anything that converts to - AE, AKV, AGP or any other tender - do it ASAP although not many conversions to AD or AR that I have found

A bunch of the little Dutch AKLs and some others can convert to AVP or AGP - I tend to do that as well to spread out all those Dutch Patrol squadrons

Recently convinced to convert a bunch of the 4-stack US DDs to APD to both improve their ASW and to provide the fast transport your needing

The 'Wicks' class destroyers can convert to DE in April 42, I hold onto them until I can do that.

Am still struggling with how many xAKs to convert to AG, AKE, not sure I have that sorted out yet

Most of the xAKs that can convert to xAPs, but depends on the supply situation

Some of the YLs to ACMs just to keep the West Coast minefields in order.

Hope that helps, many solutions to this one though..

B

[jmalter]

good add'l info, Gunner98. but i'll sign on w/ Canoerebel's point #1, which is to say that anything that can convert to AKA or APA is high-priority, even if they're slow-speed. once converted to attack-type (the 1st A in AKA/APA), they gain a load/unload bonus that's key to phib ops.

but even higher priority should be given to AE conversions. they don't work until late-war, but when they do, they're key elements of your Replenishment TFs - a ReplTF of 6 DE, 6 AO & 2 AE can keep several CVTFs on-station. when a CVTF meets this ReplTF, tagging the CVTF's 'refuel at sea' button not only refuels the CVTFs ships, but also re-arms it! All expended AA ammo is replaced, and the carriers re-arm their mission (MS) capability, re-stocking w/ bombs & torps as needed. can't do that w/o AE ships, & the more you have, the better you'll like it. in combo w/ ReplTFs that include CVEs w/ 'replacement' air-groups, you can keep CVTFs at sea for months while engaging in combat ops.

i'm a bit confuzzled, though - recently i re-armed a CVTF from a TF that included 2 AKE ships. i can't add these AKEs to a ReplTF, but they transferred ammo anyway.

[Gunner98]

No argument for the APA/AKA, forgot about them because I am struggling though the summer of 42 and am only hoping for them...[:(]

What I tend to do with my Replen TFs is 2-4 DD/DE, 4 AO, 1 AE - per CVTF (Mid to late war = 3-4 CV/CVL, 1 BB, 4-6 CA/CL, 8-12 DD). They refuel quickly and I can rotate one or even two of the replen TFs back to load up at a time. It helps to have an extra one enrout but not always possible. I group my CVE's with the Replacement sqns separately and try and keep them in range of the big boys.

I am considering changing this, no point in having the AE anywhere near the fight until they can replen at sea (Jan 45 I think??[&:]) so may create AE TFs with a mix of AE/AKE of different sizes and put them at a nearby island.

I think the AKEs can only replen ships if they are at a base or dot hex (supposed to anyway), but they will replen CVs. The bigger the AKE the better - got stuck in my last game in mid 42 when I scraped together a BB TF with 1x 14" gun BB, and 1x 16" gun BB. Tried to re-arm at Noumea, which had not built up enough and did not have enough Nav support[:(]. Could only re-arm the older/smaller BB and had to send the larger one to Sydney! PITA but learned my lesson.

B