Blockade Questions

[kennonlightfoot]

I am not real clear on how blockading works in Pacific so I was hoping someone could clarify this for me.

The manual says that a small Island can be blockaded by a single naval group.
Are these just the small islands with the single landing zone hex next to them?

It says that 3 units can blockade other ports.
Would this include ports like Rabaul and Suva that have more than three water hexes around them?
What about Ports like Manila that have only 2 hexes and Bombay with only 1 hex?

Does blockading Bombay, assuming its possible, also cut off the Convoy route?

In the Europe version it gave a message when a port that could be blockaded was blockade (Malta). Does this game do that? I don't think I have seen the message but I am not sure I have had the situation yet.

[stjeand]

Blockading Bombay does stop the convoy.
BUT Bombay is a 10 point city if I remember which means it is a supply center so it can not be cut.

Rabaul would require 3 ships to blockade.

Small islands are ones that are smaller than 1 hex...and don't extend over. Look at Fiji...that will require 3 ships because it is a larger island...but Wake island would require 1 ship as it is a small island.

I hope that helps a bit. I am sure I could write this better but my internet is spotty at the moment so I am rushing.

[eskuche]

Sounds right. What’s unclear is what can blockade. Can subs? Embarked troops? Units in raider mode? Do one hex island blockades have to be from the landing zone?


Easily testable but I’m on sabbatical from WPP

[YueJin]

All of the above can blockade. In fact your blockade force should almost always be in raider mode and be a fleet of three subs, they're the cheapest ships in the game, hard to find and seem surprisingly resilient. As the Allies I can think of many worse strategies than building 30+ subs which is only a couple of months worth of production and using them to blockade every relevant port on the map.

[incbob]

ORIGINAL: YueJin

All of the above can blockade. In fact your blockade force should almost always be in raider mode and be a fleet of three subs, they're the cheapest ships in the game, hard to find and seem surprisingly resilient. As the Allies I can think of many worse strategies than building 30+ subs which is only a couple of months worth of production and using them to blockade every relevant port on the map.

[X(][&o]

And this is why I am not a great strategist. Would never have thought of this.

[Remington700]

Blockading an island in the Central Pacific can be very tough as a lot of those areas have "very low" intelligence. An enemy sub or destroyer can easily be sent in adjacent to the island to break the blockade. Since it cannot be seen, it cannot be targeted. And as mentioned in the OP it is hard to know if your blockade remains in force. You could use an intelligence unit to spot the fleet. I patrolled with a couple of ships, moving hex by hex around the island. Once I could not move into a hex, I attacked it revealing a hidden unit but not allowing combat.

I tried to sneak a sub into a coastal hex with something other than "very low" intel and was promptly sunk. The idea mentioned above about using 3 subs might well have dispersed the losses and allowed a successful resupply. Something to think about.

[kennonlightfoot]

One of the things confusing me is there is nothing confirming that the blockade is working. When I was doing this along the Australian coast there were messages about how many supply points were loss due to interdiction. I assumed that if they added up to the port's size x 20 that the blockade was working but having a message would have been nice.

I am also not sure if interdicting the ports supply capacity has the same effect on units in the port as blockade does. My understanding is that on the islands they will eventually die. I assume like the WPE they can just hop in a transport and leave before they are starved to death.

[eskuche]

The latter is being fixed. No more escaping blockades.

Supply interdiction isn’t the same as being blockaded. I believe the former will always allow basic supply (need confirmation if that’s the case if all supply is destroyed).

Blockade is also supposed to not work if there are contending vessels, right? And if so, is it a simple yes no check or does each contending vessel subtract one from blockading fleet? [&:]

[Meteor2]

ORIGINAL: kennonlightfoot

One of the things confusing me is there is nothing confirming that the blockade is working. When I was doing this along the Australian coast there were messages about how many supply points were loss due to interdiction. I assumed that if they added up to the port's size x 20 that the blockade was working but having a message would have been nice.

I am also not sure if interdicting the ports supply capacity has the same effect on units in the port as blockade does. My understanding is that on the islands they will eventually die. I assume like the WPE they can just hop in a transport and leave before they are starved to death.

Maybe a good idea. A small red marker or a red area on the map, when a blockade is successful. Should give a good overview for orientation purposes.

[kennonlightfoot]

Do need a way to tell the difference between a blockade and normal supply interdiction, unless a blockade only occurs on those locations with a designated landing hex.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: Meteor2

ORIGINAL: kennonlightfoot

One of the things confusing me is there is nothing confirming that the blockade is working. When I was doing this along the Australian coast there were messages about how many supply points were loss due to interdiction. I assumed that if they added up to the port's size x 20 that the blockade was working but having a message would have been nice.

I am also not sure if interdicting the ports supply capacity has the same effect on units in the port as blockade does. My understanding is that on the islands they will eventually die. I assume like the WPE they can just hop in a transport and leave before they are starved to death.

Maybe a good idea. A small red marker or a red area on the map, when a blockade is successful. Should give a good overview for orientation purposes.

Agree, that's a good idea.

[kennonlightfoot]

The situation shown in screenshot is the kind of thing that throws me. Unless I check the hex with supply on I would never know this port was cut off. There was no interdiction combat to flag it. It only showed up as a unit in low supply. Looking at the hex with supply on makes it obvious that something is wrong since the unit is now drawing supply from India. Seems ports need some kind of indicator that they are blocked not just interdicted.

[stjeand]

In the picture you have...supply is coming in via the road...so they are in full supply.
BUT at a level of 1.

IF you were not blockading supply would be 9 in the city and 9 on the unit outside the city...on rail I believe.

ONCE the Japanese cut the northern route...no more supply since you are blockading.


But an indicator would be nice.