Invasion transports will not arrive until after scenario end

[thedoctorking]

In the attached scenario, the invasion transports have been moving steadily towards their objective throughout the scenario, but battle gen put them too far away at the beginning to be able to achieve the objective.

Too late.png (424.65 KiB) Viewed 323 times

[thedoctorking]

Sure enough. I sank every British ship in the scenario, lost one DD myself, the "the results of the battle do not warrant a continuation..."

Hmnph.

Does not warrant.png (1010.46 KiB) Viewed 320 times

[WLRoo]

This is why the old system with a 'Minor Victory or better' result for the attacker allowing the invasion to succeed was better, IMO.

[thedoctorking]

I'm also surprised at how slowly the transports move. WW2 era LSTs could make 12-18 knots depending on the type and LCIs more like 15-20. I've never seen invasion transports in this game go faster than 8 kn. They also have AA and some of the LCIs had rockets or light guns, while the merchies in the game are mostly unarmed (unless they are AMCs you paid for).

[mrchuck]

I've seen this too. The transports cannot arrive at the destination before the time limit, so despite sinking every enemy ship the invasion failed.
Definitely a problem with the latest update. Didn't see this prior.

cm

[MaximKI]

Thanks, we'll look into this.

[EvanJones]

FWIW, I have had success by clearing the path, then going back to where the TRs are aimlessly hanging around and leading them towards the invasion site.

This did not work for the infamous misdirected Sakalin invasion TRs, which were (are?) way too far south, but it worked for other invasions that had seemingly gone awry.

[thedoctorking]

They didn't have any trouble finding their way to the target, they were heading straight towards it, it is just that they spawned so far from it that at their pokey 6kn speed they could not arrive before the scenario ended.

I usually leave a small force with the transports anyway just in case a couple light enemies sneak past me. So I'm keeping an eye on them continually.

[mrchuck]

If the transports eventually turn around and make for the target, you're lucky. I've now seen several times where they turn away from danger--perfectly reasonable--but never start making back for the target when there are no enemies around. They either head back to port or mill around aimlessly in the middle of the ocean. I have won major victories and still the invasion fails. This has all started happening since update 52. Before that, the resolution of invasions seemed to be pretty much what you would expect.

I think at some point the AI for invasion convoys, and the way success or failure is determined, got borked.

[mrchuck]

Perhaps the devs can explain how this is supposed to be working, so we can determine whether there's a problem or not?

[thedoctorking]

I'm aware of what you are referring to, but the thing about these guys is that they never saw the enemy or diverted from their steady course towards the objective. The battle was all fought way out in front of them as I smashed up the defenders long before they could menace the invasion transports. The transports just started so far from the objective that even traveling a straight course at their puny 7 knots speed they could not arrive before scenario time expired. '

I think the previous rule (that if you win a victory in the naval battle, even if your transports don't achieve their goal, you still have successfully invaded) was a good compromise for all these issues but it was still especially disconcerting in this case that I was aware from the first moment that I was not going achieve the mission.

Also, invasion transports should move faster and have some defenses, especially as amphibious technology increases.

[MaximKI]

Thanks for the feedback. There are clearly some situations where the game is placing transports a bit too far for them to reach their target in time. We're investigating and we're hoping to fix this in a future update.