ORIGINAL: warspite1
A few questions please on fleets and supply and 'stuff'.
What do players do when playing as the British and try to maintain a blockade? Do they:
a) set up a rotation system, creating more, but smaller fleets, and/or
b) sail transport squadrons to the blockading fleets? If the latter, presumably they themselves are going to need a protective fleet.
c) can warships enter the circles with the merchant fleets in and try and find and sink enemy ships?
d) also, with Fog of War on, to what extent can the French and Spanish in port see the enemy at sea?
a), yes but you can maintain at sea supply using (b), but sooner or later you will run out of cohesion, at that stage you need to go to port. Cohesion < 100% has a very direct effect on combat effectiveness, so that is probably the real constraint for say a blockade off N France. Resupply is a bit more tricky the further you are from your main ports
b) depends, is no bad idea as they are quite a prize for your opponent but it depends. If you are moving supply ships from southern english ports to a fleet off Brittany or in the Channel (or La Manche) then its probably pretty safe
edit: ships in the green stance and with the evade special order are very hard to pin down, so if you are moving unescorted transports use this combination
c) yes, but its a challenge. Your best use (as the British) is to commit your ships to escort your convoys. These are what the French, Spanish, ungrateful Americans (post-1812) will be hunting. Remember that all the problems of resupply and cohesion apply to your enemy so raiding is hard to sustain - but also hard to stop
d) quite a lot. The key variables are detect/evade scores modified by terrain and weather. Of course you can use this as a trap - a weak (beatable) squadron immediately off shore and a much stronger one moving into the province later in the turn. This might lure the enemy into battle. Of course it might also lose you the smaller fleet and you find the enemy has slipped out to sea by the time the big fleet arrives - the key concept of 'march to the sound of the guns' doesn't apply at sea
edit: there are three levels to the detection routine:
1) you can see the counter and bring it to battle (subject to if you have set a combat delay)
2) you can see the counter but can't pin them down (so the jolly Spanish sailors being rude to the noble Horatio is a good eg)
3) sheer screaming frustration - you know they are there but can't even see the counter. This will mostly happen if the enemy is tribal, partisans or light raiders (eg cossacks) in poorly developed (or very closed) terrain. The only clue is you lose/don't gain military control - this matters as this can close off your supply lines.
Best solution is to make sure you use units/commanders with high detect traits and hope. Of course a French commander who invades Russia, or Spain after it turns against them, is going to face real challenges. One of the things that the AGE game system does very well is to capture the problems of asymetric warfare
