Some questions about aircraft carriers

[t3rm1dor]

So hi, I picked up this game a few days ago and I'm having a lot of fun (played RTW1 back in summer and it was like a dream come true). Although I believe I know the basics pretty well, I'm confuse about some of the features introduced in Rtw2, specially with carriers.

For starters, what is the best way to provide figther support for your fleet? Set Cap to the maximun level or use the command on carriers to provide Cap to individual divisions? And will more Cap make my strike aircraft do recon instead (bc I don't want that, specially on very small CVL ).

Also as for design, I have some confusion in general regarding the desing choices for aircraft carriers. For starters, how does fly deck armour interact with deck armour? Also how does deck park works, because it doesn't increase the price when selected and I don't see how it increases the amount of aircraft. Also there is a tech that enables angled deck desings (I imagine in fashion similar to the Admiral Kutnetsov) but I don't see it as an option. Finally, and this would be a more historical related question, where were the catapults for carriers usually placed on ships of the time?

Overall I'm having a very good time with the game despite some issues (the most important IMO is how you keep getting battles if you reject a battle (the same happens to the Ai) which really doesn't make sense - there should be only one or two battles per turn, if any at all in some of them) and I'm looking forward to keep playing.

[aeson]

Jan 29, 2020 17:34:32 GMT -6 t3rm1dor said:

(bc I don't want that, specially on very small CVL ).

Fighters are the last-choice type of carrier aircraft for automatic reconnaissance missions; they will only be selected if you do not have enough torpedo and dive bombers to cover the search pattern. If you want to reserve your bombers for strike missions, you'll have to turn off the automatic air search before unpausing at the start of a battle scenario, and if you still want the air search you'll need to manually issue reconnaissance missions to fighters.

For starters, how does fly deck armour interact with deck armour?

Stacks, sort of - Flight Deck armor protects the hangar; Deck Armor is lower in the ship (at the level of the hangar deck, presumably) and can protect machinery spaces from detonations in the hangar. Deck armor also covers more of the length of the ship than flight deck armor.

Also how does deck park works, because it doesn't increase the price when selected and I don't see how it increases the amount of aircraft.

Deck Park has no effect within the game so far as I am aware.

Also there is a tech that enables angled deck desings (I imagine in fashion similar to the Admiral Kutnetsov) but I don't see it as an option.

The in-game effect of the Angled Flight Deck technology is to allow carriers to sport an additional pair of catapults, for a total of four. As to what it represents, Admiral Kutnetzov is an example of a real-world carrier with an angled flight deck, but then so are most other carriers built since the mid-'50s as well as a number of older carriers refitted starting around the same time, and since Admiral Kutnetzov has another fairly distinctive feature - its 'ski jump' at the bow for assisting take-offs - I'm uncertain if what you imagine it to represent is actually correct. A ship like USS Forrestal offers a more clear picture of what an angled flight deck carrier would look like.

Finally, and this would be a more historical related question, where were the catapults for carriers usually placed on ships of the time?

Carriers: Bow for flight deck catapults on straight-deck carriers, bow and midships for hangar catapults on straight-deck carriers (not represented in game), bow and waist (forward end of the angled part of the flight deck) for flight deck catapults on angled-deck carriers.

Gun-armed warships:

Large warships (battleships, battlecruisers, large cruisers):

- Transverse catapult roughly midships.

- One to either side of the superstructure roughly midships or just aft of midships and forward of the forwardmost aft turret. Usually mounted symmetrically; sometimes only one, normally as a result of removing it during a refit to free up tonnage/deck space for something else.

- One or two on the fantail.

- On top of sufficiently-large turrets.

Small Warships:

- Usually one, placed wherever it fits, often somewhere midships-ish on the centerline or on the fantail.

[t3rm1dor]

Thanks a lot, that clears a lot of confusion. Indeed I did mistook the ski-jump feature for an angled deck

Also as for the first point, what is the best way to protect your ships from air threats and make the most use of your figthers? AAA seems to work as expected, but I often see carriers full of figthers even though the Maximum Cap coverage is selected

[tbr]

For air search use "floatplane priority" in the doctrine screen and build ships that carry seaplanes. Pre-1925 I would recommend building about 4 small AV (just battleline speed and 5kton displacement), lateron larger ones and seaplanes with catapults on CL and CA. In many battles there are "AV slots" so the AV never really becomes obsolete. AV can also provide CAP with their FS (less effective than fighters but better than nothing).

[jwsmith26]

Jan 30, 2020 12:55:24 GMT -6 t3rm1dor said:

Thanks a lot, that clears a lot of confusion. Indeed I did mistook the ski-jump feature for an angled deck

Also as for the first point, what is the best way to protect your ships from air threats and make the most use of your figthers? AAA seems to work as expected, but I often see carriers full of figthers even though the Maximum Cap coverage is selected

You don't have a lot of control over CAP, other than setting the intensity level. The game rotates CAP on and off the carrier, so at most times there will be some fighters that are apparently idle sitting on the carrier, but they are usually just in the process of being readied, spotted and launched. If your CAP is set to one of the lower levels your will often see sections or squadrons of fighters sitting idle because they are not needed to maintain the lower level of CAP coverage requested. A fighter on CAP will generally remain aloft until it has consumed 1/2 of its fuel and will then land to be refueled. A fighter squadron or section involved in combat may also land if it runs out of ammo after having fought several air to air battles.

There are several other ways you can influence how the game handles CAP. If a carrier division is part of the Main Force you can set the carrier mission to Support. This will cause the carrier division to send roughly 50% of its CAP fighters to protect the "supported" division. You can request CAP coverage from the nearest land air base for one of your divisions. Only one division may take advantage of this and of course you will need to be near a land air base for this to have any impact (I wouldn't expect much from this option). Seaplane carriers can order their planes to fly CAP over their own division or another division.

Of course, part of the process of maintaining an effective CAP is to make sure your fighters are adequate to the task. There is one period in the game where aerial technology advances much more rapidly than in other periods. The period that experiences the most rapid aerial tech growth is the mid 30s to the late 40s. Prior to about 1933 it's probably OK to request a new fighter about as often as any other aircraft type, but after 1934 you really need to concentrate on keeping your fighters modern because this period sees the transition from biplanes to monoplanes and a fighter that is even 2 or 3 years old is going to often be dominated by a newer fighter. The improvements in other types is also rapid but less impactful. You don't want to be trying to protect your carrier with slow biplanes armed with just 2 rifle caliber MGs when the enemy is equipped with fast monoplanes armed with 6 .50 cal MG.

Just because your latest fighter is up to snuff doesn't mean your carriers are actually operating those fighters. You need to be aware that your carriers can often be manned by older models of all plane types. You also need to be aware that those nifty new fighters that are displayed in the Aircraft Types screen may be highly deceptive. Exactly how many of those brand new fighters are in service and on your carriers? Definitely not as many as your would like. Your nation can only produce so many new planes per turn, so it may take many months before those new fighters find their way onto your carriers. In the meantime you're likely flying old planes that may be inadequate to the task of protecting your carrier. I just took a glance at my newest fighter in my current game. It's certainly a sweet plane for the time, but I've got just 19 in service, while my carriers are populated with three older models, including one that is 80 kts slower than my new model. Clicking on that "Show obsolete types" checkbox can be an eye opener when you see the number of obsolete planes still operational in your air force.

[brygun]

Jan 31, 2020 12:17:50 GMT -6 jwsmith26 said:

Jan 30, 2020 12:55:24 GMT -6 t3rm1dor said:

Clicking on that "Show obsolete types" checkbox can be an eye opener when you see the number of obsolete planes still operational in your air force.

In other words...

They are not so obsolete if they are all you have built :-)