Fleets at Sea Repair?

[jchastain]

I was under the impression that fleets had to return to port to repair and that the port level determined the rate of repair. However, I now see that repairs occcur at sea even when the fleet is not even near a home port. Is this intentional? I personally thinks fleets should have to return to port to repair. It is far too easy to control the seas if you can just sit in position and replenish.

BEFORE:

[jchastain]

AFTER (Next Turn - no movement or other activity):

[Tanaka]

yep ive seen this many times and thought this was odd...

surely you have to go back to a friendly port...

[Reiryc]

Check page 73 of manual...

naval repairs: increases chance to repair depleted ship units at sea from 20% to 90% per month.


Given that you're britain, I'm pretty sure they have this naval upgrade.

[jchastain]

ORIGINAL: Reiryc

Check page 73 of manual...

naval repairs: increases chance to repair depleted ship units at sea from 20% to 90% per month.


Given that you're britain, I'm pretty sure they have this naval upgrade.

RTFM. Thanks.

This does make ports a totally useless upgrade. I'm far more likely to invest in barracks in order to achieve that upgrade than I am to invest in a port that my ships will then never need.

[Reiryc]

Yeah... I think port upgrades only allow you to build ships faster. Could be wrong on that though... guess I should go rtfm to be sure lol! [:)]

[carnifex]

there should be a limit to this, like ships repaired at sea can only reach a maximum 80% strentgh

sure a lot of repairs can be achieved at sea, but you really need a port to fix severe structural damage and demasting that would occur after major engagements

[Concord Dan]

A higher Dock level also increases income from merchants.

[eMonticello]

ORIGINAL: jchastain

I was under the impression that fleets had to return to port to repair and that the port level determined the rate of repair. However, I now see that repairs occcur at sea even when the fleet is not even near a home port. Is this intentional? I personally thinks fleets should have to return to port to repair. It is far too easy to control the seas if you can just sit in position and replenish.

It would be unrealistic if a fleet was required to return to port to repair. Britain was able to keep fleets on station for several years before returning to port. However, long-term station operations should contribute to a fleet sustaining noncombat damage, which would lead to a balancing act of fleet repairs vs damage received while on station. For instance, a fleet on station in the Atlantic during the winter should be running a losing battle against nature in keeping the fleet fully operational. I'll test this with the British and Turks in the next few days.

[carnifex]

I was wrong when I made my statement proposing to cap fleet strength at 80% for at-sea repairs. I didn't realize at the time that each individual ship counter is actually a collection of several ships, a mini-fleet if you will, so it's quite possible to "repair" that counter by rotating individual ships in and out of that counter (not modelled in the game at that level of course).

So if a demasting would occur, then we can just assume that particular ship would be sent home and a new one would come to take it's place in the ship counter - which is what is being represented by the at-sea repair system.

So the present system works and doesn't need change IMHO.

[Reg Pither]

Now I know about the repair rate of upgraded British ships, it's no wonder my French fleets rarely beat them!

I think (if it's not the case already) that even a fleet with all possible upgrades should still not be able to repair at the same speed as if it were in Dock. Well, maybe at the same speed as a level 2 or 3 Dock, but certainly not level 4 or above. I'm assuming, of course, that there is a real repair benefit to higher level docks, as I've yet to notice any. Does anyone actually have any hard statistics on repairing in dock, and the advantages of upgrading in that respect?

[Naomi]

ORIGINAL: Reg Pither

Now I know about the repair rate of upgraded British ships, it's no wonder my French fleets rarely beat them!

I think (if it's not the case already) that even a fleet with all possible upgrades should still not be able to repair at the same speed as if it were in Dock. Well, maybe at the same speed as a level 2 or 3 Dock, but certainly not level 4 or above. I'm assuming, of course, that there is a real repair benefit to higher level docks, as I've yet to notice any. Does anyone actually have any hard statistics on repairing in dock, and the advantages of upgrading in that respect?

Docks should be more beneficial, if not so enough now, so that Gibraltar, Malta, Corfu and the like will be of more value.