Naval Units Question

[BK6583]

I believe I understand most of the functions of naval units, except for acting as artillery support for ground attacks. I believe I read that only DDs and DEs can provide this support - but in what capacity, i.e., only for defending ground units - or for both attacking and defending ground units? I ask because I had 8 DDs in range of a German unit I was attacking - yet I saw no evidence that these DDs were being applied to the CRT odds shifts. When defending, I've also seen no evidence that they provided defensive arty support as well.

[JSS]

ORIGINAL: BK6583

I believe I understand most of the functions of naval units, except for acting as artillery support for ground attacks. I believe I read that only DDs and DEs can provide this support - but in what capacity, i.e., only for defending ground units - or for both attacking and defending ground units? I ask because I had 8 DDs in range of a German unit I was attacking - yet I saw no evidence that these DDs were being applied to the CRT odds shifts. When defending, I've also seen no evidence that they provided defensive arty support as well.

If you look at the naval icons you can tell immediately if they provide offensive or defensive combat shifts... info is same as for an artillery unit. Notice on the DD icons they have a single black artillery piece on the left hand attack bar... and don't have one on the right hand side defense bar. ...also note that the auto add features of the combat dialogue may not use the naval artillery if you have ground artillery available; you may need to manually select a stack of DD units and make sure the DDs are providing the artillery shifts in your attack!

So, up to four can add artillery shift bonuses to an Allied attack (near the shoreline as the DD range is limited!) and they will not help out in defensive combat.

[Adam Parker]

BK you either need to manually select these naval units when plotting your combat or use an automatic feature like "Max" which will add them for you.

The other advice here is to be careful when using auto planning features in this manner as you may unintentionally end up using naval fire in combat when you'd rather use them blasting forts!

Adam.