WAW sea transport 101

[Oleg Mastruko]

Transports in WAW work like this:

[center] UK

T
US T T T T T Gib
T

Brazil[/center]

OK we have theoretical situation like the above. T's are transport fleets. Gib is Gibraltar. So we have two main transport routes roughly representing a cross, and conecting four separate WA regions. We use no less than 7 transport fleets to do our job (this example is purely fictional though so dont forget that).

Each transport fleet is rated for it's transport capability, and has movement points at the beginning of turn. In WAW you don't load stuff on transports. You form a chain of transports and then "walk" your stuff over them. If the chain is broken at just one place - there's no transport link between point A and point B (you can observe this taking place in our AARs especially Akula where my lines were shattered).

So first thing you need to do at the beginning of each turn is use transport fleets movement points to bring them into place and form a chain. Once they start carrying stuff, they lose all their remaining movement allowance for the turn, so take care to bring them where you want them first.

OK, chain is formed, and in the example above - you can bring stuff from US to all other locations (and other way round as well of course). With each unit that "walks" over transport chain, the transport capability of each transport fleet in chain is reduced. Supply units reduce transp. capability by 1, tanks by 10, infantry by 5, militia IIRC by 3 (not sure) etc. If you do lots of reshuffling, then one transport will become "the weakest link" in the chain.

In the example above it's easy to notice this will be transp fleet at the center of the cross, cause its tranp capability is used to carry stuff on US-UK route, and US-Gib route, and Brazil-UK route. So, that transp fleet will lose its carrying capability probably before others in this example. So what do we do?

We place TWO transport fleets at the transport "junction" from the above example, thus doubling the capacity on that particular "stretch" of the conwoy route. Etc.

BTW this system is very elegant, works excellently (though transports seek constant baby sitting, but that's how it should be) and I think we betas all love it. One of the best features of WAW.

System is also "sub friendly" with lots of targets for sub attack each turn which suits Axis, but also WA vs. IJN sometimes. Now, finally something for all those Uboot fanboys out there [:D]

O.

[Wayllander]

Nice post oleg.

Looks like a system that is almost a game within a game, and certainly gives the naval operations in WAW some significance.

--way

[Cheesehead]

Thanks for the info. Would you be so kind as to describe combat for us?

Much appreciated.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Combat is... ermmm... more complicated [:D]

Don't worry - this game is all about supplies and transports. If you produce enough supplies, and distribute it effectivelly enough using your transports, your enemies will surrender, begging for mercy [:D]

I'll let someone else describe combat. I rarely think about it though, especially since I started playing WA. I wasn't entirely kidding when I said this game is all about supplies and transport. In combat, I usually use my "gut feeling" and pile more stuff into area, than enemy has. Then pile some more just to be sure.

O.

[MButtazoni]

Oleg, you described combat in GGWAW perfectly: this is a game of logistics; get units and supplies to the right place and you'll succeed.

[Joel Billings]

Not that I want to dispute the comments about the importance of logistics, but understanding some of the basics about combat can be very important. Since different players units have different attributes, you could send 30 bombers and light fleets to attack a sub and have no chance to hit if you weren't paying attention. For example, the normal sub defense is 6, but if the evasion is researched up to a 4, then the defense becomes a 12 (4 evasion x 3 durability). If you attack with weapons that have a 1 ASW rating, they can't hit (1 die can only total a 6 attack factor). However, attacking a sub with a defense of 6 is possible with ASW values of only 1 (and not just by rolling a 6 on one die). If a unit has been previously attacked during the phase, it's evasion drops by 1 for the rest of the phase. Thus, if you send a air unit and a light fleet to attack a sub, the air unit will first attack with 1 dice against the sub and will probably miss (needing a 6 on a 6 sided die). However, the light fleet will then attack, requiring only a 3-5 on that 1 die to damage the sub, and if it scores a 6, it will destroy the sub. Now what about the case of the sub with a defense of 12? If you had ASW values of 2, you would need to roll a 12 on 2 6 sided dice, very hard to do. But the second attack during the same phase will only need to roll a 9-12 (about a 30% chance). If you get enough units to attack, you'll probably damage the sub. Without knowing the details of combat, you might miss some of this. You can use our combat analyzer to estimate losses of a possible attack, but it's only so good, so understanding the process of how combat works is useful, especially for the smaller attacks. For big stacks of units, you do have to do it on "feel" with an understanding of the tech advantages of the different sides at the moment of combat. That's where the combat analyzer that estimates each sides hits if a battle is attempted comes in handy.

[Cheesehead]

Sounds great! Thanks Joel and Oleg.