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The manual is silent on the costs in Action Points to naval units of engaging in combat. But it clearly is more than the one Action Point per strike that it costs land unist. I have tried testing this out using a hot-seat game and it seems that a strike by a surface ship or a sub costs half of the unit's remaining APs, rounding up. Can the designers confirm this?

Are naval attacks by nearby units that consume a lot of APs more effective than attacks by distant units that are close to the end of their range? My impression is that the answer is no - the combat effects are the same. The only proximity benefit I can see is that subs are much more effective in attacking enemy naval units to which they are adjacent at the start of the turn, than if they have to move first to reach the enemy. This proximity benefit does not seem to apply to surface ships against other surface ships, though I think it does apply in reverse against subs (i.e. an enemy destroyer will be much more effective attacking a friendly sub if the sub is adjacent to it at the start of the turn). Grateful for clarification of the rules on this point.

Michael

Hi Michael

It was amended in a patch (v1.04 – June 6, 2017) to the following:

• naval units that have engaged in combat will now have their action points reduced to remaining action points divided by 2.

Naval units that are surprised by a hidden enemy unit will no longer be reduced to 0 action points, remaining action points divided by 5 will now apply with the following exceptions:
◦ naval units in cruise mode will still be reduced to 0 action points.
◦ Subs in Silent mode will be reduced to remaining action points divided by 2.

Hi Bill - many thanks for that clarification. I have not read that far back into earlier patch notes but I am glad to see that it has been spelled out.

Could you also address the questions I raised in my second paragraph asking about the combat benefit for different kinds of naval units of either starting a turn next to an enemy unit (i.e. the naval equivalent of a prepared attack) and if the distance a naval unit travels before it attacks has any effect on its combat effectiveness?

Michael

Only subs benefit from not moving before combat, however they further any naval unit travels to combat, the less action points it will have left after the combat, which makes them vulnerable to the enemy's counterattack, if there is one.