Allied navies and u-boats

[davetheroad]

How come u-boats are so easy to sink and far too expensive to build. As soon as they attack a convoy they are jumped on by multiple allied fleets and sent to the bottom.

How come fleets can remain at sea for ages and not need resupply with ammo etc? I see the russian fleet sitting off Copenhagen for many months bombarding the garrison. Same for France and Italy, multiple allied fleets just sitting there bombarding port garrisons without any apparent chance of suffering casualties. Then you have the carriers, mobile tactical air forces that seem to launch strikes with impunity.

If in 1940 the german bomber force of over 1200 planes is represented by 1? tac air fleet how many carriers should the allies have with each carrier air group only 50 odd planes of low tactical value.

I suppose the axis could keep the allied fleets on convoy protection by building more u-boats but that is usually far too expensive, you just can't afford the build costs to maintain a historical presence.

Dave

[IainMcNeil]

Maybe we should reduce the subs attack and increase its survivrability to make them tougher to kill.

Supply for ships represents them sailing back to port during a turn automatically - we didnt want to force the player to micromanage this.

[davetheroad]

making subs tougher to kill might help a bit but lowering their production cost might help too. I notice that these things can be changed using the scripts so the problem will be playtesting, a small change could tip the balance the other way.

For naval supply does a fleet sitting on station with no move or attack use up any oil points? Does the distance from the nearest port make any difference? Keeping a fleet on station mid atlantic would historically mean you would need multiple fleets as at sea replenishment was not practised in the european theatre?

[IainMcNeil]

Johan will have to explain the intracacies of naval supply as I'm nto 100% sure!

[firepowerjohan]

HI Dave!
No, they do not use any oil when just being idle. You do not need to resupply them also because we felt this would mean a giant job of monitoring all doussin ships througtout the whole game to use an optimum supply strategy by moving them back anf fourth. Game is large as is with the doussins of land units especially when barbarossa begins.

Subs are flexible due to their invisibility. They are best used in packs and in the edges of the Oceans and with some techs can be quite a foe. Making a attack on convoys in range of England will of course mean loads of Allied ships will be able to get there in one turn to counter.

Secret is to strike the convoys near northwest edge , west edge or south edge of the whole map since Allies then need to divide their units up and cannot have everything in range. They do not know where you gonns atriker. Beware though, while France is still alive they will provide some good support so the Sub actvitiy is better done when Axis has conquered france with close ports for repairs and hopefully some tech. I recommend having at leist 3 but hopefully 4-5 subs before trying to use get serious in the war for the Atlantic. Play without FoW first against Allied AI and learn how to pick a convoy far way somewhere where the Allies do not have many escorts.

Keeping your Subs alive is very important because it will help your Italian warfare in the Mediterranean. Allies will if they send too much navy to Egypt can be countered by Axis subs showing up in packs.

[davetheroad]

the point I am making is that against a human player your subs are going to get pounced on as soon as they attack a convoy as your opponent will concentrate his defence around the high value northern convoys. Germany just cant afford the expense of building new u-boats so the battle of the atlantic is over before it begins.

U-boats should be more difficult to sink and battleships especially should have very little anti sub capability.

[firepowerjohan]

Since alot of players have asked about Subs and having problem getting used to how they work I will post a guide on how to use them.

viewtopic.php?t=3602

[vypuero]

In my own games I have actually been able to crush the allies with subs - it takes time to develop the skills to do so.

As to the bombers for Germany - I wanted to give them 2 Tactical units but for play balance we did not. However they do have 60 PP at the start and if they save it they can build a bomber on Turn 2, which I usually do.