The Cruel Sea

[Smirfy]

At the close of the Italian Campaign I have lost 90 Troop ships and 704 Cargo ships. What am I doing wrong. I think thats a bit excessive given that the Allies had naval supremacy in the Med even if Im doing something fundamentally wrong.

[marion61]

How much naval interdiction AD's do you have set for the area your losing ships heavily in? Use naval interdiction to raise your sea interdiction levels so you don't lose that many transports and going thru contested or worse hexes will cause losses. The Allies may have had Naval Superiority, but your losing your transports to bombers from Italy on naval patrols.

[MisterBoats]

Through trial and error I have learned to set up several air interdiction "boxes" along the shipping routes, all the way from Oran to the Adriatic. Meklore is right on the money -- air interdiction levels are the key. It is heartbreaking to see transport after transport sunk.

[Joel Billings]

Be aware that these are really more like transport points, as each transport only carries 1000 tons and each cargo ship only carries 250 tons. I understand a liberty ship could carry close to 10,000 tons, so that means each liberty ship would be represented by up to 40 cargo ships in the game. When you look at it this way, then it doesn't look so bad. Also, not all the transports lost are transports destroyed. We've abstracted lost ships and lost time from ships that are damaged or in need of refit.

[Smirfy]

Thats good to know. Much though I like the air system but the operation off and nothing throws it into light more than naval inderdiction is that the HQ's should be just Wing or Groups and they are given a box you choose. With Naval interdiction being such a big feature in the Med at any rate the omission of maritime patrol aircraft is a bit of an oversight.

[RedLancer]

Robert

I'm a bit confused by your post.

- Which maritime patrol aircraft are missing (other than FAA)? If anything there are too many in the game as Coastal Command's aircraft were Atlantic focused and you can use them elsewhere.
- You have both the F7 Naval Patrol AD and the auto naval patrol setup to provide interdiction.
- I do understand your wish for Groups - unfortunately whilst they are really easy to add, the current GUI only allows 23 Air HQs to be displayed in the right hand side task bar. 43GC already has 13 Allied Air HQs. To add more than 23 would require the complex coding of a scroll bar or a major rethink (e.g. right click on Air HQ to show/hide groups). As a scenario with 23+ Air HQs is not on the cards it's not something we have explored in depth. Personally I'd like the functionality for more Air HQs but I've already traded in my goodwill with the coders for other air goodies and only creating scenarios which have less than 23 Air HQs per side. That said if you were to add 10 additional Groups which would you choose?

[Nico165b165]

23+ air HQs would be a dream for micromanagement lovers, but a kind of hell for a lot of players... You need every air unit to be in an airbase attached to the same HQ if you want max efficiency. And keep a good organisation while you retreat/advance on the map.

[Great_Ajax]

The Alles in the game also have their own Coastal Air HQ in the Med with air groups to be used specifically for allied naval air interdiction.

Trey

ORIGINAL: Red Lancer

Robert

I'm a bit confused by your post.

- Which maritime patrol aircraft are missing (other than FAA)? If anything there are too many in the game as Coastal Command's aircraft were Atlantic focused and you can use them elsewhere.
- You have both the F7 Naval Patrol AD and the auto naval patrol setup to provide interdiction.
- I do understand your wish for Groups - unfortunately whilst they are really easy to add, the current GUI only allows 23 Air HQs to be displayed in the right hand side task bar. 43GC already has 13 Allied Air HQs. To add more than 23 would require the complex coding of a scroll bar or a major rethink (e.g. right click on Air HQ to show/hide groups). As a scenario with 23+ Air HQs is not on the cards it's not something we have explored in depth. Personally I'd like the functionality for more Air HQs but I've already traded in my goodwill with the coders for other air goodies and only creating scenarios which have less than 23 Air HQs per side. That said if you were to add 10 additional Groups which would you choose?

[Smirfy]

ORIGINAL: Nico165

23+ air HQs would be a dream for micromanagement lovers, but a kind of hell for a lot of players... You need every air unit to be in an airbase attached to the same HQ if you want max efficiency. And keep a good organisation while you retreat/advance on the map.

23+ air HQs would be a dream for micromanagement lovers, but a kind of hell for a lot of players... You need every air unit to be in an airbase attached to the same HQ if you want max efficiency. And keep a good organisation while you retreat/advance on the map.

Think you are confusing my intention you have more air HQ's you can give the extra one the tasks you never have to look at again Like Strategic bombing specific areas and Naval Patrol. I believe it will be less micromanagement

[RedLancer]

I tend to agree - more Air HQs may be a challenge at the start but easier in the long run.

[jhdeerslayer]

ORIGINAL: Red Lancer

Robert

I'm a bit confused by your post.

- Which maritime patrol aircraft are missing (other than FAA)? If anything there are too many in the game as Coastal Command's aircraft were Atlantic focused and you can use them elsewhere.
- You have both the F7 Naval Patrol AD and the auto naval patrol setup to provide interdiction.
- I do understand your wish for Groups - unfortunately whilst they are really easy to add, the current GUI only allows 23 Air HQs to be displayed in the right hand side task bar. 43GC already has 13 Allied Air HQs. To add more than 23 would require the complex coding of a scroll bar or a major rethink (e.g. right click on Air HQ to show/hide groups). As a scenario with 23+ Air HQs is not on the cards it's not something we have explored in depth. Personally I'd like the functionality for more Air HQs but I've already traded in my goodwill with the coders for other air goodies and only creating scenarios which have less than 23 Air HQs per side. That said if you were to add 10 additional Groups which would you choose?

So if you set up any manual naval patrol (seems like it is interdict also) missions, will this cancel the Auto feature? Or will they just complement each other and the Manual one just gives you more focus in an area you choose??

[RedLancer]

It won't cancel. As you say Manual provides more focus as there are only so many aircraft to go round.

[marion61]

If you check your air groups in the commanders report, the ones colored purple (I'm a little color blind) will automatically do naval patrols so long as they aren't assigned a directive. For taking control of an area you want to deny the enemy, I use naval interdiction directives, otherwise I just leave the auto patrols and put enough planes in the area to maintain control.