Reserve status a handicap for AI?

[thedoctorking]

Something I've been noticing this game I'm currently playing as the Japanese. I have a much smaller navy than my various adversaries, but when war breaks out, I smash up much larger fleets, even if they have comparable technology to me. I decided this game not to use the usual dodge of putting my entire fleet on reserve status except for the foreign stations cruisers during peacetime, instead keeping them active. As a result, I haven't been able to build a lot of ships, but most of my ships have crew status 2 or 1 when the war breaks out. The enemy, on the other hand, presumably has -2 in the first turns of the war. And because I score a few quick victories, they often drop out of the war and can never bring their much larger fleets to bear.

Last game, I went on reserve and then just avoided combat for the first six months or so, with the exception of the afore-mentioned FS cruisers now on raider status, doing division training and waiting for my crews to improve. Shouldn't the AI be doing this too?

[Stelteck]

How do you know the AI strategy during peacetime relative to reserve status and monthball ? It is not at all clear to me.

[Searry]

The most important thing to do is to always keep your CVs active. If you reserve or mothball them that might give you a lot of trouble if you are seeking difficulty from this game.

[WLRoo]

How do you know the AI strategy during peacetime relative to reserve status and monthball ? It is not at all clear to me.

You can tell from their build rates and fleet sizes - the AI mothballs as much as it can and puts the rest into reserve status.

[thedoctorking]

Maybe a fix for this is to not have the AI's crew quality degrade as quickly in mothballed or reserve status. Not having it degrade at all might be too powerful. Or this could be part of a group of difficulty options?

[Searry]

Yeah having the AI take care of crew quality would make the game harder.