Air recon in sea zones

[baloo7777]

Am I wasting my time and efforts trying to do air recons of adjacent sea zones using CV's, and of adjacent to land sea zones using tact air? I have only had one instance of a surface ship showing up (near Norway), one time out of many searches (20 or 25 recons over 50 something turns)? Should air power be able to find single ships or even fleets at sea in this theater in the early going (say before '43)?

[rmonical]

Air recon has been very effective for me. You can also use land based fighters.

[gwgardner]

Works for me. Another technique is to have small task forces of cruisers to patrol between various sea zones. Their movement will sometimes reveal the enemy ships.

[baloo7777]

Good info! I will redouble my efforts. I didn't realize I could use fighters also. I have been using using 2 cruisers together to patrol a sea area, but I have been sending them to the area for 7-8 turns, then a turn in port, and back to patrol again. I will try moving them around to different sea zones each turn. This probably goes a long ways toward explaining why I can't find the enemy (other than when the AI sends the Italian fleet to a zone in the med and slaughters my convoys. Britian is hurting for PP's every turn now!

[Rasputitsa]

I have used air recon over sea areas a lot and it seems to work, sometimes it reveals enemy fleets, but then when an CV based air attack comes in, you realise there is an undetected CV fleet there, so it's not guaranteed. When you mouse over the sea areas you get a info box come up for each sea area you pass over, the info box has coloured columns showing how many enemy, friendly, or allied fleets are in the sea area and this does change during the turn as you have recon, or combat in the sea area. Same for ports, mouse-over enemy ports to see what's there, fly recon, then mouse-over again to see if anything has been revealed.

You sometimes have to air recon a coast hex when an enemy unit is visible, but is showing a blank unit icon, as you cannot bombard it from the sea until the unit has been fully revealed.

As Axis I have built a strategic bomber unit specifically to do long range recon, so that TAC units don't waste APs on recon and Fighters often can't reach target areas. When an event came up on air upgrade, I chose the 'Improved Range' option, partially to get better recon. One strategic bomber unit, with the extended range choice, can cover a huge area. You cannot hit an enemy you can't see.

Also fighter recon the ports, it may reveal when fleets are in port, you can then send in your bombers, with full APs and a target to go for. [:)]

[baloo7777]

I knew about the sea zone boxes and wondered if they were accurate, but did not realize you can look at one, then recon, then check again. Never even thought of checking ports! I like the long range bomber idea. For such an easy game to learn how to play, it is amazing how much depth it can have. With the new 1.04 release, I am finding the Axis AI to be no pushover in Fall Gelb (all on normal), although at best I am probably an intermediate player. I have used a couple mods, mostly the rail repair and the recent sea zones naming, but pretty much have all countries on normal setting.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: baloo7777
I knew about the sea zone boxes and wondered if they were accurate, but did not realize you can look at one, then recon, then check again. Never even thought of checking ports! I like the long range bomber idea. For such an easy game to learn how to play, it is amazing how much depth it can have. With the new 1.04 release, I am finding the Axis AI to be no pushover in Fall Gelb (all on normal), although at best I am probably an intermediate player. I have used a couple mods, mostly the rail repair and the recent sea zones naming, but pretty much have all countries on normal setting.

It can be quite difficult to put together what's happening at sea, which is not a bad feature, the game may show you the icon for an enemy sub, but the enemy fleets turn out to be CV,BB,CA, as well as the sub. The sea zone boxes are not necessarily accurate, there could be more than is being shown in the columns, you just don't know. Once you begin bombing and get combat reports, then you start to see the list of the enemy ships involved and the damage being inflicted.

Each turn starts fresh with FOW in place and, even within a turn, you recon for the British, but when you move to the US, FOW is back. Keeping track of what you have found by recon, over sea and land fronts, is difficult. I am using Fraps to take screen shots to save after recon, so I have a record to consult later in the turn for the next nation when FOW returns, or as a guide for the following turns. You still have to recon to spot the hidden units, before you can actually bombard, or bomb, but it helps to know where to look.

There is a huge amount of depth and control in the game, you just have to dig a bit to find it. [:)]