Problem with Naval Patrol

[rocketman71]

In my current campaign I'm trying to isolate Sevastopol but most turns fail to do so. I have gone about the task in the same way as in my previous campaign, using the same AGs and loadouts. That campaign was played some two-three patches ago and most turns Sevastopol would be isolated. Not so in the current campaign. Then I realized that the reason seemed to be that the staging base was low on ammo and fuel most of the time. I changed to one with better supply, but got the same bad result. Checked after the air phase and saw that the game had reverted back to the original air base. Next turn I deleted the old air directive and created a new one, based out of Odessa, but that one too switched over to the same poorly supplied air base. No matter how, the staging base always turn out to be Bugas. And as you can see in the screenshot, the path from Bugas to Sevastopol is where the naval interdiction is attained (previous turn). Couldn't find anything in the manual that suggest that this is supposed to happen and might be a bug. Or am I missing something?

Naval Patrol.jpg (854.26 KiB) Viewed 980 times

[loki100]

partial answer

naval interdiction follows the path of the mission as well as the target (similar to how recon works). You can make good use of this with a single hex target and a route that gives you very precise coverage - I used this trick in WiTW to close off the Bristol Channel the turn my opponent invaded France and to stop any easy reinforcements coming from say Liverpool around Cornwall.

quick check suggests the recon part is in the manual but not the naval patrol.

staging base shouldn't affect fuel/weaponry, essentially its where you tell your planes to form up before committing. I'm never totally sure if this models time in the air or some sort of land/refuel routine.

just an observation, but in the current patches I am finding getting naval interdiction harder. Don't think anything has been done by intent but sometimes changing other things have effects. Admittedly in poor weather but I ended up using about 40% of the LW Level Bombers to isolate Sevastopol and could never get Osinovets cut off

[rocketman71]

Good to know that you have the same observation regarding difficulty in achieving isolation of Sevastopol, but 40% of the entire LW LB force seems steep. But either way, what is the point of having the option of setting the staging base if the game changes it anyway when the directive is conducted? Is it in this case because it is the closest one en route to the target?

[loki100]

in my case it was in November so I was trying to compensate for poor weather

I don't think it should override a set staging base so that sounds like a bug.

Joel isn't around at the moment and he's the only person who can set up bugs for the coders to revise but if you put a post in the tech forum he'll deal with it later. He'll need a presave and instructions as to what to look at

Roger

[DarkHorse2]

I can routinely isolate Sevastopol from Odessa, like you are trying... but I have not attempted during the Winter months.

Your airbases need to be properly supplied. You may have to rebase KG 27 to an Airbase on the rail network.

Also, check your loadouts and try to pick mines / torpedoes if they exist.

---

Just some quick suggestions....

Yeah, overkill... I know...

WiTE2_Naval_Interdict.JPG (481.21 KiB) Viewed 934 times

This may be more helpful. I target 1 hex back from Sevastopol.

WiTE2_Naval_Interdict2.JPG (392.28 KiB) Viewed 929 times

---

Also, I don't think you have to fly in both your turn and the enemies' turn. But I got lazy and just went for both.

[Jango32]

You need to maintain hex isolation in both the enemy air phase and next turn's friendly air phase with naval patrol.

[DarkHorse2]

You may be correct. I never seemed to get it to work unless I flew in both players turns and just gave up on that.

[56ajax]

This brings back a memory of why I hate the Air War.

This is worth a try, set Follow Path = Yes. I think this will keep your selected Staging Airbase

[homer82]

In my current game, I had Sevastopol isolated and then without thinking of the consequences, I set all LW to Day Only. It took me two turns to finally figure out why he was reflipping those sea hexes that were previously mine with no apparent sign of active counter-interdiction. Are you flying Day & Night?

[DarkHorse2]

I am not. My settings are in the screen shot.

But I am flying in both players turns.

[Jango32]

Flying in both air phases of the same turn is not enough, you have to fly naval patrol in the next turn's friendly air phase again lest you risk losing all the naval patrol points you had accumulated up until then. He-111s with naval mines from KG 27 and Fliegerfuhrer Ostsee/Sud will get the job done.

Also, it's best not to over-commit in the air phases. Because there's a chance you might use too much fuel and be unable to fly in all the days that you need to during the enemy air phase to maintain isolation.

[rocketman71]

You need to maintain hex isolation in both the enemy air phase and next turn's friendly air phase with naval patrol.

I always run the directive in both friendly and enemy turns. During the Soviet turn I gain practically no interdiction at all. Nor do I lose many planes so it's not like the air space is contested. Bad weather though is a real problem.
I have also changed loadout to include mines.

[rocketman71]

I can routinely isolate Sevastopol from Odessa, like you are trying... but I have not attempted during the Winter months.

Your airbases need to be properly supplied. You may have to rebase KG 27 to an Airbase on the rail network.

Also, check your loadouts and try to pick mines / torpedoes if they exist.

---

Just some quick suggestions....

Yeah, overkill... I know...

WiTE2_Naval_Interdict.JPG

This may be more helpful. I target 1 hex back from Sevastopol.

WiTE2_Naval_Interdict2.JPG

---

Also, I don't think you have to fly in both your turn and the enemies' turn. But I got lazy and just went for both.

I will try to move the directive one hex off shore like in your screenshot and see if it changes the outcome.

[Jango32]

I always run the directive in both friendly and enemy turns. During the Soviet turn I gain practically no interdiction at all. Nor do I lose many planes so it's not like the air space is contested. Bad weather though is a real problem.
I have also changed loadout to include mines.

It's possible you over-commit how often those planes fly in the friendly air phase, and have no fuel left to fly during the enemy air phase.

[Hardradi]

In my current campaign I'm trying to isolate Sevastopol but most turns fail to do so. I have gone about the task in the same way as in my previous campaign, using the same AGs and loadouts. That campaign was played some two-three patches ago and most turns Sevastopol would be isolated. Not so in the current campaign. Then I realized that the reason seemed to be that the staging base was low on ammo and fuel most of the time. I changed to one with better supply, but got the same bad result. Checked after the air phase and saw that the game had reverted back to the original air base. Next turn I deleted the old air directive and created a new one, based out of Odessa, but that one too switched over to the same poorly supplied air base. No matter how, the staging base always turn out to be Bugas. And as you can see in the screenshot, the path from Bugas to Sevastopol is where the naval interdiction is attained (previous turn). Couldn't find anything in the manual that suggest that this is supposed to happen and might be a bug. Or am I missing something?
Naval Patrol.jpg

The first thing I notice is that you are flying in Very Poor weather.

[DarkHorse2]

Also, it's best not to over-commit in the air phases. Because there's a chance you might use too much fuel and be unable to fly in all the days that you need to during the enemy air phase to maintain isolation.

Don't disagree. It is just hard to gauge at first.

And, it is very important to fly from well-stocked airbases - otherwise they just don't fly.

[rocketman71]

In my current campaign I'm trying to isolate Sevastopol but most turns fail to do so. I have gone about the task in the same way as in my previous campaign, using the same AGs and loadouts. That campaign was played some two-three patches ago and most turns Sevastopol would be isolated. Not so in the current campaign. Then I realized that the reason seemed to be that the staging base was low on ammo and fuel most of the time. I changed to one with better supply, but got the same bad result. Checked after the air phase and saw that the game had reverted back to the original air base. Next turn I deleted the old air directive and created a new one, based out of Odessa, but that one too switched over to the same poorly supplied air base. No matter how, the staging base always turn out to be Bugas. And as you can see in the screenshot, the path from Bugas to Sevastopol is where the naval interdiction is attained (previous turn). Couldn't find anything in the manual that suggest that this is supposed to happen and might be a bug. Or am I missing something?
Naval Patrol.jpg

The first thing I notice is that you are flying in Very Poor weather.

That's from the turn I made the screenshot. Aware of the influence of weather but have tried for about 10 turns to isolate Sevastopol and failed even when the weather was better.

[Hardradi]

The first thing I notice is that you are flying in Very Poor weather.

That's from the turn I made the screenshot. Aware of the influence of weather but have tried for about 10 turns to isolate Sevastopol and failed even when the weather was better.

Ok, are you able to show a screenshot of the Naval Patrol in Clear weather(same as above)?
And also your loadout.

[rocketman71]

The first thing I notice is that you are flying in Very Poor weather.

That's from the turn I made the screenshot. Aware of the influence of weather but have tried for about 10 turns to isolate Sevastopol and failed even when the weather was better.

Ok, are you able to show a screenshot of the Naval Patrol in Clear weather(same as above)?
And also your loadout.

I'll try get some screenshots from an earlier save. The thing with the staging base being changed no matter what you put in the directive seems to be due to the AGs in the directive being based there. Not sure what happens when there are AGs from more than one air base. Wonder if this is the case for all air missions staging bases.

[rocketman71]

Here are some screenshots from an earlier turn.

This shows the directive setup. Maybe it should have been one hex west as suggested above. The supply situation is bad at the staging base. However, when I try to change staging base it always reverts back to Burgas when the directive is carried out.

S1.jpg (1.42 MiB) Viewed 616 times

Here is the loadout for all bombers. At this time I wasn't aware that there where bombers with a torpedo options, so those where not used.

S2.jpg (1.22 MiB) Viewed 616 times

As you can see only two strikes were carried out during resolution, probably because of the bad supply situation and flying every day in both phases.

S3.jpg (1.43 MiB) Viewed 616 times