You see transport convoy of supply/fuel? Sink it with your Carriers.
Started doing some of this. Would like to expand out with US TF carriers and Surface combat TF's. Can these be rearmed and sorties rearmed from all allied bases?
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An emphatic NO! You should review the rules and charts in the manual at 20.1.2.2 which tells you what size port is required for each specific weapon. As you will see from the chart, adding naval support at a port can help significantly.
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Sorry, I should have worded my question better. I know about the base size requirements and having the naval support. My question was. Can British or Australia ports and naval support rearm U.S. ships?
Also, I am a little confused as to whether the naval support has to just be there, docked or disbanded to rearm?
Is KB still afloat and active? If so you are asking to get your teeth kicked in. It IS possible to mount some counterstrikes this early, but only when you know KB isn't around, and the Japs are weak on the target. How is your scouting?
invading an atoll is a different animal from an invading an ordinary base - the atoll has v. small stacking limit, & invading troops will auto-shock attack immediately in the turn it unloads. here are some tips that are good for all invasions, the ones marked -*- apply only to atoll assaults.
- during load-out, use as many amph-type ships as possible (APA/AKA/LST) for your combat units, to maximize the amount of supply they load. if you need add'l supply, create a separate AmphTF, load supply, & merge it w/ your main AmphTF on the way to the target. if any of the supply-column ships load fuel, keep them in a separate AmphTF (or merge them w/ a 3rd AmphTF that carries your post-victory garrison forces). Fuel-carrying transports burn really well if they get tagged by coastal gunfire. don't trust the transport load screen, it doesn't adjust for the 20% load-reduction that simulates combat-loading for the AmphTF. there's nothing more annoying than being well on your way, then discovering that many of your LCUs have left support elements behind.
- AmphTF size limit is 100 ships. Include combatants for gunfire support - anything w/ 5" guns or better, they magnet coastal gunfire & shoot back to suppress it. They'll use all their gun ammo, so be prepared to swap them w/ fresh combatants from your 2nd-wave AmphTF. They'll still have AA & ASW ammo.
- if available, use a ForceHQ - give it your manliest leader & load it to a separate AmphTF consisting of 1 AGC, merge it to your main AmphTF while en route. this combo improves unloading, & the leader will influence land combat while still embarked.
- set the AmphTF(s) destination to 'remain on station' one hex down-threat from the target hex. this hex is your Amph Ops Area (AOA) for staging your attack. when the AmphTF gets there, set it to remain on station, full speed and sail to the target hex. this will maximize the time your ships have available to unload in the subsequent night turn.
- manage your TFs carefully for day 2 - leave any hopeless cripples in the unloading TF as gunfire magnets, swap out damaged/empty transports & ammo-expended combatants w/ ships from the 2nd wave in the AOA. your ForceHQ/AGC combo won't unload until all other ships in the TF are empty, usually you can arrange things so that it never actually has to unload.
-*- assuming your atoll invasion didn't get waxed on turn 1, continue the assault by unloading large amounts of supply, most of which will disappear b/c of overstacking. as soon as you've wiped out the defenders, start re-loading the LCUs (use load troops only), else they'll start to disrupt due to overstacking. an atoll can hold 6,000 troops, you can exceed this by about 10% w/o taking a large hit, but more than that will damage your units.
- when withdrawing your ships, especially damaged ones, continue to sail in convoy. create an EscortTF for cripples, set it to cruise speed to minimize add'l damage as they head home.
- Sardaukar gave good tips above, i'd add a minesweeperTF to the list. it must go in first! it'll likely get creamed by CD guns, but that's the price of doing business.
Now I have some fragmented land units left over from assaults. Can these be disbanded and merged with other units?
Didn't see this answered - multiple fragments from a single unit will auto-merge if they are in the same hex when the turn executes. You see a status message, even if it is just fragments from different ships unloading at a friendly port.
You can only 'merge' ground units manually if they are pre-set components of a larger unit at game start - so you create 1st Marine Division by getting all its components (three Marine regiments) in one place, in the same op mode, with the same HQ, and hitting the "rebuild unit" button that will appear. In general you should do this - not only do larger units seem to fight better, but the larger unit often has more devices in its TOE than the combination of its components.
You can only actually disband a ground unit at a national capital (its own?), and from my experience you can only do so if it doesn't have a withdrawal date.
When forming an amphibious TF should we include LSTs, LCIs, etc. along with the APAs that hold the troops? I had read that the computer will spread troops out among the APAs, LSTs, etc. and some of those troops will arrive disorganized and seasick.
I've created seperate TFs of LSTs, LCIs, etc. and had them follow the APAs carrying the troops, then merge them the day before the invasion.
Its extra work to manage all these TFs.
Comments?
Chris
(Did you ever stop to think and forget to start?)
Derhexer, I guess you would want to have about twice the load capacity in APA/LSI(L)s to land your combat troops. I would include a few AKAs with just supplies before you hit the beaches.
Start them out as a separate taskforce to just load supplies (no troops) and merge them into the assault TF after fully loaded... All this well help you land most of the combat troops and enough supplies on the first day. Critical for invading Atolls!!!
AKA Cannonfodder
"It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.”
¯ Primo Levi, writer, holocaust survivor
ORIGINAL: Encircled
Going to have to do some tweaking of my first amphib assault
IMO phib assaults are really the meat of this game! esp. when taking place across strategic distances. as the game continues, the Allies can assemble massive power & get all kinds of special toys, but their strength can be dissipated if the TF coordination is poor, bombing & planning preparation is inadequate, & at-start resources haven't been husbanded. (for instance, several AP ships that are available early in the game can eventually upgrade to APAs, you'll feel blue if some of these get tagged early by IJN subs or raiders.)
planning, load-out, & execution will test all your skills & req all of your lessons-learned from gameplay & gleanings from the forums. i've learned so much here, that i'm always glad to pass info along.
Cannonfodder posts
"Derhexer, I guess you would want to have about twice the load capacity in APA/LSI(L)s to land your combat troops. I would include a few AKAs with just supplies before you hit the beaches.
Start them out as a separate taskforce to just load supplies (no troops) and merge them into the assault TF after fully loaded... All this well help you land most of the combat troops and enough supplies on the first day. Critical for invading Atolls!!! "
Good advice, Cannon. I've formed seperate TFs just for supplies and sent them following the Amphib force, but hadn't thought about incorporating some of those AKAs into the invasion force along with the LSTs, LCIs, etc.
Thanks[:'(]
Chris
(Did you ever stop to think and forget to start?)
Someone else posted something important on Atolls that is frequently missed: Always finish D-1 about a hex from the Atoll if you can. You want to unload over 2 phases, not just one, when you Shock attack the next day. This means you have to arrive there at night. Make sure you do that.
I also like to embed a CL or two within the Amphib TF, to absorb CD fire, and help suppress CD guns. Old/slow CLs are ideal for this (like HMAS Adelaide or the Dutch CLs, or Omahas)
I also prefer to incorporate Supply-only ships into the Amphib TF, rather than having separate TFs
Someone else posted something important on Atolls that is frequently missed: Always finish D-1 about a hex from the Atoll if you can. You want to unload over 2 phases, not just one, when you Shock attack the next day. This means you have to arrive there at night. Make sure you do that.
I also like to embed a CL or two within the Amphib TF, to absorb CD fire, and help suppress CD guns. Old/slow CLs are ideal for this (like HMAS Adelaide or the Dutch CLs, or Omahas)
I also prefer to incorporate Supply-only ships into the Amphib TF, rather than having separate TFs
That little tibbit is maybe why some might prefer 2-turn games [:)]
I am a newbie .. but I have found that rather a hard and fast rule like embed a CL I find matching the platforms to the shore batteries to be effective. Especally as the Allies where those ol' pre-war BB's that survive Pearl Harbor not only make great shell sponges but the 14" shells are effective at supressing shore batteries. In my AAR I document where the batteries at Darwin first tear up the the IJN CL's and then begin to ravage the amphib ships because not enough supression of the 9.2" CD guns. These guns were more than a match for the IJ CL's and DD's. [The amphib bonus expired so I got 3 full days before the forts fell]. Similar batteries exists at Saipan (200mm short) & Chich-jima (280mm Howitzer). Even with ground bombing you might not be sure you got all the big guns so I use some ol' BB's to "supresses and sponge" One thing I thought of although in your feedback .. If they don't sink ..a CL recovers much faster from the damage than a BB.
A couple of reasons I can think of for seperating out the TF's is collisions and to get a good DD/platforms ratio if lots of submarines are in the area.
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
bushpsu has it figured out. 1 AP or APA per battalion equivalent, so 3 per Regt, and an AK or AKA for the gear. Forming an amph TF always reserves some space for 1st phase (landing) supply. 3AP and 1AK was the standard early war USN Transport Squadron, rising to 3-4 APA and 1-2 AKA in '44/'45.
Additional supply in the assault TF is ok, but supply landed in the assault phase is lost (used up) at the end of the assault if you don't take the base/atoll/whatever in the first impulse. The supply auto-allocated to an amph TF is sufficient to support the assaulting units during the assault impulse, but you need back-up in case you don't win on day-1.
I like to do atoll/island assaults in pulses: assault TF, supply TF, follow-up (floating reserve) TF, supply TF, Infrastructure (Eng, AF units) TF, supply TF.
The sizes of the TFs will depend on what I'm assaulting and what it's defended by. It only takes one AK to supply a MarDiv for a day. Doesn't make sense to drop a gazillion tons of supply on the beach, when it will all be gone the next morning if you don't take the base. This is particularly important for atoll/small island assaults, where the troop stacking limit is 6,000.
Imagine hitting an atoll with an IJA Rgt (+) and an SNLF Bn in residence, with forts up the wazoo. That's going to take at least 2 Rgts (over 6,000 troops, right there) and probably more. So there goes your extra supply down the stacking limit violation rathole. I usually hit those places with 2 Marine Rgts and 2 Army Rgts, keeping a Rgt in floating reserve for each. I have several supply TFs lined up for daily supply service. Takes a while, but it worked for Spruance, so who am I to argue. [8D]
