Repairing Ships

[CapAndGown]

1) Repairing Float Damage
This is the most critical damage a ship faces. This damage can increase as time goes by and so it must be dealt with promptly. Simply docking a ship somewhere will not ensure that float damage is brought under control. Only ports with size 3 or greater will allow a ship to eliminate float damage. Even then the ship might still sink while in port. So get any ships that have float damage to the biggest port possible as quickly as possible. Do not let a ship that has float damage go to sea. There is no safe level of float damage.

2) When to send ships back to Pearl Harbor/Tokyo
Float damage and fire damage can repaired fairly quickly. This is not the case with sys damage. This damage can be repaired only very slowly. Above a certain level it is pointless to try to hope for repairing this damage "in theater." What this level is will vary based on the type of ship and the overall strategic balance.
Each side is given a certain commitment level that varies over time. For the Japanese, this level starts out high and goes down. For the American player, this level starts out low and increases over time. You can check you current ship commitment level by checking the ship availability screen. At the top of the screen it will tell you whether the probability of having ships released to you is High, Medium or Low. This probability will change depending on how many ships you currently have available. The more points worth of shipping you have on hand, the lower will be the probability that any new ships will be committed to your command. Therefore, if you have a ship that you do not have a use for while there are ships at Pearl/Tokyo that you do want it would make sense to send the unwanted ships back in order to increase the likelihood of new ships being released to you. The American player, for instance, has little use for AV's. Therefore it may make sense to send these ship back to Pearl hoping that Fleet Command will send you other more useful ships instead.
When it comes to evaluating whether it is worthwhile to send a damaged ship back you should take into account the amount of damage that needs to be repaired and the overall ship commitment level. If your current commitment level is high then you do not need to tolerate much damage before you send a ship back. Likewise, if by sending a ship back you can raise your commitment level from low to moderate, then you may be well advised to send the ship back as long as there are other ships in Tokyo/Pearl that can be sent to you to make up for you loss.
The type of ship also matters when making this decision. Capitol ships are much more valuable and the player would be advised to hang onto them even when they have much higher levels of sys damage than might be tolerated for destroyers or other lower value ships.
It is hard to say just what these levels are exactly. They vary for different players. Any ship with more than 30 sys damage, however, should be sent back. Even a capitol ship with as damage level of 20 may be a candidate for sending back if there is an equivalent ship back at Pearl/Tokyo that might be released to you if you send the cripple back.

3) How to send a ship back to Pearl/Tokyo
Ships can only be sent back when anchored at Noumea/Truk. The ship cannot be part of a task force but must be at anchor. From the anchored ships screen click on the ship you want to send back. On the screen that pops up there will be a button at the bottom saying "return to Tokyo/Pearl". Click on this button and the ship will be sent back.

4) Repairing ships in theater
To repair ships in theater simply dock them at the largest port available. The larger the port, the more quickly they will be repaired. Level 9 ports, therefore, will repair ships most rapidly while ships at level 3 ports will hardly repair any damage at all. The manual indicates that ships at anchor will repair damage more quickly than ships that are part of a task force.

5) When to scuttle ships
Ships that have a high likelihood of sinking should be scuttled. When a ship is scuttled the victory points awarded the enemy are reduced by 30%. Any ship that has more than 90 float damage should be scuttled out of hand unless it is already in a port. A ship with lesser float damage may also need to be scuttled if it looks like it will not make it back to port in time. This is especially important if the ship can be attacked by enemy aircraft, either carrier or land based. Even a ship with minimal float damage but very high amounts of sys damage may need to be scuttled if its speed is so low that it can not escape from enemy aircraft range quickly. The player may find that capitol ships have a higher likelihood of repairing float damage than other ships. For these ships one can delay scuttling as long as the ships are not in danger of being attack by enemy aircraft. For lesser ships, however, the player should not hesitate to scuttle a badly damage ship that is far from home.

[HawaiiFive-O]

These posts of yours are excellent. I've printed them up and have them on the desk in front of me while I play.

Thanks!

[pasternakski]

One additional point worth mentioning about in-theater repair of system damage is that the bigger ships repair more slowly. CVs and BBs take far longer than PCs, MSWs, APs, and the like.

[denisonh]

Another important item to condsider when deciding to send ships back is the AA package.

The ships the US has at the beginning of the game have lower AA values than the ships coming as reinforcements. The USN increased the AA armament as the war progressed, moving to 20mm and 40 mm from the .50 cals and 1.1 in mk 1s.
So as the initial ships get sent back, they get their AA modernized.

(For example, the New Orleans class cruisers New Orleans with the Vincennes, 932 vs 1432).

So if it still has .50 cals and 1.1 in Mk 1s, send it back for an upgrade.

Anybody seen/know of a modernization tree for the AA weapons by ship class out there? Would help make the decision when to send it back.

[Toro]

And another point about scuttling: you don't lose the ship's captain and crew if you scuttle.

The bigger question is: does a lost ship's crew count as victory points?

[m0ngoose]

I had to scuttle a transport with troops on board. But there was no message that the guys were transferred to another vessel.

Anyone know if that is handled automatically? I'm guessing it is...

[Toro]

If you scuttle a transport, I'm thinking the carried troops are history. But, it's a good question for Matrix to answer, just to make sure.

Matrix???

[mogami]

Hi, If there is room on other ships in TF you will see "TF xxx rescuing men from xxx" If no room then no message.
Also be advised you might have to make a new TF to unload troops rescued when you get to port.
Surface combat ships can only unload troops if they are in a fast transport TF. So if your DD's pick up troops from transport TF you will need to place them into a fast transport TF to unload them.
This is one of the reasons I always load less then the TF can carry
(If it requires 7 1k AP to carry a unit I place 8 AP and several other ships that can fast transport into TF "just in case"
IJA Rgt 6.9k load points
TF to transport
8 1k AP
2 MSW
2PC
2 APD
2-4 DD
1 CL (for Admiral)

This TF will both load and unload troops faster. Use "troops only"
bring supply in follow up TF (arrive night after troops land-or better yet have a fast transport supply run to avoid transports having to travel to target, unload, and return)

[m0ngoose]

That's a good idea, having a dedicated supply convoy and a troop only convoy. Also you don't end up having a the entire TF tied up becuase of the one transport with 300 supply points on it.

I've had a lot of trouble with fast transport convoys not being able to load troops or they just load partial and then sprint off without filling up to their full allowance. And the pick up command caused me some wierd sort of bug where the same troop segment was loaded on each ship for zero space and wouldn't unload. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

Something I have noticed is that if you toggle the loading status of a group of troops from "on" to "off" once or twice in the same turn it screws the loading all up. So if you change your mind mid-load you're going to end up spending another turn in port. At least that is what I have seem so far.

Maybe an "undo" or "confirm load" button before you leave the TF screen so you can wipe what you did.....that might be a good idea.

[denisonh]

Fast Transport TFs will generally load only what can be offloaded at the destination in one night.

If the destination is a zero port or enemy port, it will be less than full.