Post by sloanjh on Sept 1, 2019 11:11:05 GMT -6
Something I just ran into (without harm to me, but it could have gone differently) and which apparently "bit" another player: there doesn't seem to be any way to provide CAP coverage to support forces, and I don't think I've ever seen them present with carriers as part of their force.
Suggestion: Implement a mechanism that will keep support forces from operating in high air threat environments without CAP
My situation: 1954, France in a war with the US; I had bases in both the Caribbean (Antilles and Panama) and NA East Coast (Bermuda). I think I got a surface raid on the US east coast. I had CV coverage for my directly controlled forces (I believe as divisions within the main force, i.e. no carrier force), but there were also support forces that were 2 BB (IIRC) in one division, a division of CLAA, and possible a division of DD. Since it's 1954, US has very strong air power, both CV and land-based.
The good news is that US didn't get many (if any) CV in the battle, and that I put VERY strong HAA on my ships. The support force ended up getting attacked by air power a few times, but there weren't any hits. At some point, I was trying to drive my main force (Admiral mode) to be commingled with the support force so that they would benefit from the main force's CAP.
In contrast, from another thread it appears that another player was in a similar situation and lost two BB to air attack. I could easily see that the same thing could have happened to me.
It feels like this issue is related to the "Carrier force cannot supply CAP to main force" issue, I had originally been thinking that the solution to that issue is to allow "support" orders to target divisions in other forces, but I'm beginning to believe that solution will still have problems if you end up with fewer CV divisions than you have forces that need coverage.
So now I'm thinking that a better solution to the problem of "remote CAP" might be related to combining the ideas behind the CAP and research screens: let every group of ships (IND+associated support and screen divisions) have a "CAP priority" level that can be set (none/low/med/high) on the lead division and have the CVs/AI decide how to divide up the planes to meet these responsibilities. This is in addition to the current CAP setting on the search screen, which sets the balance of the F being devoted to CAP vs. attack. It might also require another distinct CAP level: "local CAP" (over the carriers themselves) vs. "remote CAP" (pooled together to cover non-CV divisions requesting CAP coverage).
Suggestion: Implement a mechanism that will keep support forces from operating in high air threat environments without CAP
My situation: 1954, France in a war with the US; I had bases in both the Caribbean (Antilles and Panama) and NA East Coast (Bermuda). I think I got a surface raid on the US east coast. I had CV coverage for my directly controlled forces (I believe as divisions within the main force, i.e. no carrier force), but there were also support forces that were 2 BB (IIRC) in one division, a division of CLAA, and possible a division of DD. Since it's 1954, US has very strong air power, both CV and land-based.
The good news is that US didn't get many (if any) CV in the battle, and that I put VERY strong HAA on my ships. The support force ended up getting attacked by air power a few times, but there weren't any hits. At some point, I was trying to drive my main force (Admiral mode) to be commingled with the support force so that they would benefit from the main force's CAP.
In contrast, from another thread it appears that another player was in a similar situation and lost two BB to air attack. I could easily see that the same thing could have happened to me.
It feels like this issue is related to the "Carrier force cannot supply CAP to main force" issue, I had originally been thinking that the solution to that issue is to allow "support" orders to target divisions in other forces, but I'm beginning to believe that solution will still have problems if you end up with fewer CV divisions than you have forces that need coverage.
So now I'm thinking that a better solution to the problem of "remote CAP" might be related to combining the ideas behind the CAP and research screens: let every group of ships (IND+associated support and screen divisions) have a "CAP priority" level that can be set (none/low/med/high) on the lead division and have the CVs/AI decide how to divide up the planes to meet these responsibilities. This is in addition to the current CAP setting on the search screen, which sets the balance of the F being devoted to CAP vs. attack. It might also require another distinct CAP level: "local CAP" (over the carriers themselves) vs. "remote CAP" (pooled together to cover non-CV divisions requesting CAP coverage).