What's up Dock?

[Panjack]

Scenario 1: 6 ships arrive in port. These ships can be docked but you don't dock them. Does the virtual harbormaster treat these undocked ships as if they were docked? Or, does your failure to dock the ships lead them to unload slower?

Scenario 2: 6 ships are docked but one of them is empty. In addition, other loaded and undocked ships are in the port. Does it speed up the unloading of all these ships if you replace the docked, empty ship with an undocked, loaded ship? Or, again, does your virtual harbormaster (in essence) treat one of the undocked, loaded ships as if was docked?

Scenario 3: 6 ships are docked. But you really want one of them to unload really fast. Will this ship unload faster if you undock the other 5 ships? Or not?

Thanks for any feedback.

[CowboyRonin]

1) If the ships move in during the turn, they should dock if there is available space. If they are undocked, they will unload slower.
2) it does speed up the unloading to replace the docked, empty ship with a loaded ship that cannot otherwise dock. Task forces are docked or undocked as a unit, you cannot have part of a task force docked and part undocked.
3) No, the maximum load and unload speed for a ship is set by the size of the port and the amount of Naval Support on hand (Oil tankers use a few other considerations). Undocking other ships does not increase this speed.

[geofflambert]

I believe the ops points expended by the time you arrive at port determines whether the TF will dock by turn's end. If you forget about them, they will dock the next turn.

[Ddog]

Question, I've noticed that Amphib TF's unload slower in a Hex that I own.  Has anyone else seen this, or is it my poor obeservation?

[Amoral]

ORIGINAL: Ddog

Question, I've noticed that Amphib TF's unload slower in a Hex that I own.  Has anyone else seen this, or is it my poor obeservation?

If you are playing as japan in the first months of the war you get an amphibious assault bonus. This makes you unload faster in an amphibious assault then you would at a smaller friendly port.

[Don Bowen]

Some points:

Ships auto-dock based purely on available space. The unused dock space must be equal to or less than the size (tonnage) of the ship.

Dock space is not affected by ops.

A docked ship is a docked ship. It takes up pier space even if it is not loading or unloading.

If you have no priority for certain TFs to load/unload first, best way is not to dock any TF and let the harbor master do it. However, the harbor master is fairly stupid in the order in which "he" selects ships for allocation of pier space.

As to amphibious unload, there are two rates based on who owns the base:
1. Invasion (enemy base) - get the stuff ashore fast, don't worry about losses during (hurried) unload, don't worry about what happens to it on the beach (expect it to get used right away). Don't worry about crews getting tired - get that stuff on the beach!
2. Unload at friendly base (or just captured one) - unload more carefully, do not let stuff pile up on the beach or available piers, wait until it can be handled/stored.

In other words, unload at a friendly base is slower but has less loss of supplies during unload.

[Panjack]

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen
...If you have no priority for certain TFs to load/unload first, best way is not to dock any TF and let the harbor master do it. However, the harbor master is fairly stupid in the order in which "he" selects ships for allocation of pier space.

Is this true?: if you manually dock a ship to unload, it will remain docked after it is empty even if other ships would benefit from getting access to the dock. BUT, if the harbormaster docks a ship to unload it he will undock the ship after it is empty so he can dock another ship in its place.

How about loading. Is this true?: The harbormaster will dock ships to load them more quickly and then undock the ship when loaded so that another ship can then be docked.

Is this true?: As a general rule if you have more ships to be loaded/unloaded than dock space available, you should (if no load is more important than another) just let the harbormaster tend to the docking/undocking. That is, after all, what he is paid to do.

[Don Bowen]

ORIGINAL: Panjack

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen
...If you have no priority for certain TFs to load/unload first, best way is not to dock any TF and let the harbor master do it. However, the harbor master is fairly stupid in the order in which "he" selects ships for allocation of pier space.

Is this true?: if you manually dock a ship to unload, it will remain docked after it is empty even if other ships would benefit from getting access to the dock. BUT, if the harbormaster docks a ship to unload it he will undock the ship after it is empty so he can dock another ship in its place.

How about loading. Is this true?: The harbormaster will dock ships to load them more quickly and then undock the ship when loaded so that another ship can then be docked.

Is this true?: As a general rule if you have more ships to be loaded/unloaded than dock space available, you should (if no load is more important than another) just let the harbormaster tend to the docking/undocking. That is, after all, what he is paid to do.

OK, some specifics.

Actual auto-docking is done at TF level - there is no auto undocking. The entire TF must fit at the docks.

"Effective" auto docking/undocking is done by allocating the unused dock space to the calculations of TF load/unload rate. This assumes that the harbor master is shuttling ships in/out of the available dock space.

The weakness here is the lack of auto undocking of TFs (only those that were auto docked, of course).

If you have limited dock space, the best thing to do is to manually detach escorts from the TFs and dock the ships that you want loaded/unloaded the most.

The second best thing is to not dock any ships and allow the harbor master to handle it. The harbor master does not know anything about load/unload priorities but can get the work done.

The worst thing for loading is, unfortunately, the most convenient. Dock the entire TF, set it to load and where to go after loading, and forget about it. It will load, undock, and move toward the destination. Same for unloading if the TF should move away quickly after unloading (like when the base is within enemy air range.

[Ddog]

Thanks Gents!