Scrap the Russian Fleet?

[majpalmer]

After playing a few games as the Entente, the thought crossed my mind that the Russian navy is a waste of resources. The cruisers in the Black Sea have nothing to do. The battleships in the Baltic can be used against the German convoy, but the Russian fleet usually ends up dead, with its destruction factoring into ultimate collapse.

Then there are the costs. The per turn upkeep costs for the BB and the CA are 4 and 3 respectively. The recoverable costs if the two units are disbanded include 75 production points. If you disbanded both fleets when Russia enters the war you would save almost 800 PPs!

There are innumerable things you can do in the game with 800 PPs.

[Umeu]

i agree, definitely the cruiser is worth scrapping, the warship, you can scrap or you can send british submarines there to help destroy the german fleet. if you dont send british support, you should scrap the warship as well.

you can consider the same for the german fleet after the russian warship has been destroyed or for the austrian fleet in general (allthough you will need them later on to invade britain, if you ever get this far). when facing ai that is, human players tend to use their warships more effectively.

[nobikaigan]

I've used my Russian BB to annoy the German convoy. Especially if the Russian ground forces are able to acquire a closer naval port, the BB can be fairly well protected. And also the Russian fleet forces the entire German fleet to be around the Baltic, which keeps them from being elsewhere! But the #1 consideration for that Baltic BB is to keep it from getting destroyed and the hit to morale that is caused by a fleet loss...I believe the Entente can afford to keep the Russian fleet active in the Baltic if it forces the Germans to do the same, the central powers seem much less able to afford the upkeep in the long run.

The Cruiser in the Black sea... I have no idea what to do except disband it.

[majpalmer]

I guess the CA in the Black Sea could be used to supply an amphibious landing. But I scrapped it early on.

As for the BB in the Baltic, I used it along with a Brit SS to stop the German Baltic convoy. But once the second Brit SS arrived, I scrapped the Russian BB.

If you scrap it you don't have to worry about losing it. Scrapping did not impact my national morale.

I am into early 1917 now and the Germans haven't had a Baltic convoy make it through since 1914. The AI seems to be totally incapable of dealing with the pair of Brit submarines.

[Evans]

IMO the naval aspect of this game is a bit underwhelming atm. I'm thinking of modding it so fleet and upkeep costs are lower, and generally giving more ships out. ATM there's no necessity or ability to struggle for the seas.

[Umeu]

agreed. the axis cant really field a navy and defend all fronts in 1914 def with chance of america coming sooner. but later starts with the 3 german subs change that a bit but no chance to expand or remake losses.

[stockwellpete]

After playing a few games as the Entente, the thought crossed my mind that the Russian navy is a waste of resources. The cruisers in the Black Sea have nothing to do. The battleships in the Baltic can be used against the German convoy, but the Russian fleet usually ends up dead, with its destruction factoring into ultimate collapse.

Then there are the costs. The per turn upkeep costs for the BB and the CA are 4 and 3 respectively. The recoverable costs if the two units are disbanded include 75 production points. If you disbanded both fleets when Russia enters the war you would save almost 800 PPs!

There are innumerable things you can do in the game with 800 PPs.

Perhaps players on "balanced" and the hardest level shouldn't be able to scupper the Russian fleet (or at least not without a heavy loss in national morale). Russia was a very proud naval power and after the 1905 debacle at Tsushima Straits (at the hands of the Japanese) it sought to quickly rebuild its navy with the new dreadnoughts. One or two of the minor things the game does not appear to include at the moment (I have only lasted to the beginning of 1916 so far) are minelaying operations by the Russians and the fact that the Turks had a small fleet operating in the Black Sea and that Turkey was also reliant for some of its supplies on naval convoys.