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Post by andy3536 on Feb 8, 2020 6:07:55 GMT -6
Hello
First time poster, loving the game.
Struggling a little getting to grips with carriers though.
A couple of thoughts.
I'd like to manually take control of search aircraft and CAP. Often, when i want to launch a strike (especially with smaller carriers) i don't have the strike aircraft capable. They've all been sent on a search.
If however, i could manually select the number of aircraft on the search, i know that i could always have a set number of aircraft should i require a strike.
This could be done by simply adding another option in the drop down (where you find Naval and ground strike) for 'search' and also add a 'CAP' option for fighters, so i can manually control numbers in the air at once.
I do realise that could compramise a search pattern you've set. But, if i go into action with smaller carriers. I'm instead now selecting 'no search' as i want to make sure i've got aircraft held back for a strike. So, sending a small number of aircraft on a search pattern. While leaving some ready for Naval strike would still be benficial.
All too often, spotted or sighted ships don't show in the list of targets available for the aircraft. Meaning you have to try and select a location for the strikes. Which can make Naval strikes quite hit and miss. Even if your fleet maintains sight to another fleet. They can chop and change direction. And, the selecting a location can feel a little clumsy and sometimes the aircraft don't have the intellegence to divert and attack 'targets of opportunity' if the location target yeilds little. I Don't know under what circumstances a sighting makes it in to the target list? 
If anyone has some advice for using carriers, or feels i've missed something looking at what i've read. I'm all eyes. 
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Post by aeson on Feb 8, 2020 7:38:04 GMT -6
I'd like to manually take control of search aircraft and CAP. Often, when i want to launch a strike (especially with smaller carriers) i don't have the strike aircraft capable. They've all been sent on a search.
Setting Floatplane Search Priority in the Doctrine menu can help with this, as long as you provide your cruisers and capital ships with seaplanes.
That said, if you have few enough carrier-based strike aircraft in the force you drew for the scenario that your air group's strike force is seriously depleted by sending out the half-dozen or so aircraft needed for a typical search pattern, then the air group you brought to the engagement is at best marginal for conducting air strikes anyways. CVLs and small air group (less than ~50-60 aircraft) CVs can be good - for a certain definition of "good" - at either air strikes or fleet air defense; they do not have enough aircraft to do both, and even so I would suggest that they should only be assigned strike-oriented air groups early on, when air strikes are often more or less unopposed and CAP, when present, is largely ineffective.
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Post by andy3536 on Feb 8, 2020 8:45:44 GMT -6
I'd like to manually take control of search aircraft and CAP. Often, when i want to launch a strike (especially with smaller carriers) i don't have the strike aircraft capable. They've all been sent on a search.
Setting Floatplane Search Priority in the Doctrine menu can help with this, as long as you provide your cruisers and capital ships with seaplanes.
That said, if you have few enough carrier-based strike aircraft in the force you drew for the scenario that your air group's strike force is seriously depleted by sending out the half-dozen or so aircraft needed for a typical search pattern, then the air group you brought to the engagement is at best marginal for conducting air strikes anyways. CVLs and small air group (less than ~50-60 aircraft) CVs can be good - for a certain definition of "good" - at either air strikes or fleet air defense; they do not have enough aircraft to do both, and even so I would suggest that they should only be assigned strike-oriented air groups early on, when air strikes are often more or less unopposed and CAP, when present, is largely ineffective.
Thanks for the advice on floatplanes. Great tip.
Through battles with Russia and France as UK. I've often found myself conducting naval operations in areas surrounded by enemy airfields. (current war with France sees them with 360 a/c in the med)
Using my smaller cairrers in the med, i've been using mostly fighters on them to counter the ground base aircraft from the French. So, i'm not expecting to launch a raid that will damage or destroy many ships.
But, after a gun dual between the fleets. If the enemy tries to run, thier ships can get a bit scattered. And even a few torpedo bombers can leave an already damaged ship dead in the water. So, my other ships can finish them off.
I'll certainly have to make sure future designs have a good number of floatplanes on my CAs and up.
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Post by aeson on Feb 8, 2020 9:34:20 GMT -6
But, after a gun dual between the fleets. If the enemy tries to run, thier ships can get a bit scattered. And even a few torpedo bombers can leave an already damaged ship dead in the water. So, my other ships can finish them off.
If your air component's strike potential is seriously depleted by still having reconnaissance aircraft out at the end of the battle, I would suggest that the search legs you're setting are too long. Also, be aware that late-game fighters are often reasonably effective strike aircraft. You might also be able to make fighters into halfway decent strike aircraft earlier in the game by specifying bomb load as one of the priorities in the request for proposal, though I've not tried that yet so I don't know whether they'd actually get a useful bomb load early on, and if you haven't yet developed Glide Bombing they'd presumably also be stuck making relatively inaccurate level bombing attacks. Still, as long as it gets the target to maneuver to evade, it gives you an opportunity to gain ground. |
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Post by brygun on Feb 8, 2020 10:13:41 GMT -6
= Use the floatplane doctrine as described above (use the doctrine button between turns)
= 1-2 floatplanes per BB/BC and ~1 on CA/CL gives a good amount of floatplane searches in the tactical battles
= AT the start of battles go to each formation (cluster of squadrons) and turn off the auto search, at least if there is carriers in them.
= I once wrote about using small attack groups ~4 planes (dive bombers or earlier torp bombers) with a small escort (2-4 fighters). Send them out in spread out positions to see which gets an attack started. Click on that message to move the map there and set that point as the target for your main attack. (Possibly shifted by guessing the enemy's movement)
= There is a huge diversity in options for carriers and aircraft usage. Some options undo others as you are trading around a limited rescource namely the planes on board. Some prefer more fighters to escort their strike yet that change also means you have reduced the size of your strike force.
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Post by rs2excelsior on Feb 8, 2020 14:10:03 GMT -6
All too often, spotted or sighted ships don't show in the list of targets available for the aircraft. Meaning you have to try and select a location for the strikes. Which can make Naval strikes quite hit and miss. Even if your fleet maintains sight to another fleet. They can chop and change direction. And, the selecting a location can feel a little clumsy and sometimes the aircraft don't have the intellegence to divert and attack 'targets of opportunity' if the location target yeilds little. I Don't know under what circumstances a sighting makes it in to the target list? The target list (the drop-down on the far left) are your sighting reports, from scout aircraft, airstrikes, or AI controlled ships (patrol ships along the coast or coastal batteries). Ships spotted by, say, your battleline don't generate spotting reports and won't show up on that list, they have to be targeted manually. Keep in mind, though, two things: 1) Those sighting reports usually take some time before they get to you--look at the time of the report vs the current time. The ships which were there may have already left the area. And strikes launched at a sighting report target the location of the report, so if it's an old report (or they're moving fast) you may have to manually "lead" the target a bit anyway. 2) Every piece of information can be wrong--speed, position, direction, composition of forces, etc. So I usually try and wait for multiple similar reports in an area to confirm, and then sometimes vary my strike locations a bit around where I think they might be. Helps you hedge your bets a bit about target positions. Your strikes will fly around the target point a bit if they don't see anything until they need to come back because of fuel, so that does help with locating targets--and they may strike targets of opportunity on the way back, I'm not sure. They used to attack on the way to the target point as well, but then you ran into issues of strike waves intended for carriers dropping on the enemy battleline instead. Check your target priority--99% of the strikes I send out, I set to either BB or CV priority, depending on the spotting reports. That helps them focus on the target type you want. You can also check the "confirm location when spotted" box, which will give you the option to update your target location once the planes are ready to launch, useful if you're going from unready straight to launch--lets you update based on new information. Hope this helps! |
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