Catapults on CVs?

[swedewolf]

Remembering "Top Gun" they launched the aircrafts with catapults. Does it help in this game in anyway?

[elouda]

From the manual;
Flight Deck catapults
Flight deck catapults may be installed on
any carrier after the technology has been
researched. Note that this type of catapult
has different effects and rules than the
trainable catapults that are installed in
surface ships. Flight deck catapults can only
be installed on carriers. Flight deck catapults
will increase the spot value of the carrier.
Carriers with flight deck catapults do not
need to turn into the wind when launching
fighters on CAP or planes flying recon
missions. The number of flight deck
catapults that can be installed is limited to
two unless “Angled flight deck” has been
researched.

tl;dr - They let you launch CAP and recon without turning into the wind. They also increase spot value.

[swedewolf]

Got the answer unexpectantly. Trying to rebuild my CVLs when I got the catapult tech. "Warning: Carriers smaller than 10000 tons should have catapults to be able to launch fast aircraft with full loads!"
I guess that answer that.

[swedewolf]

May 25, 2019 12:27:39 GMT -6 elouda said:

From the manual;
Flight Deck catapults
Flight deck catapults may be installed on
any carrier after the technology has been
researched. Note that this type of catapult
has different effects and rules than the
trainable catapults that are installed in
surface ships. Flight deck catapults can only
be installed on carriers. Flight deck catapults
will increase the spot value of the carrier.
Carriers with flight deck catapults do not
need to turn into the wind when launching
fighters on CAP or planes flying recon
missions. The number of flight deck
catapults that can be installed is limited to
two unless “Angled flight deck” has been
researched.

tl;dr - They let you launch CAP and recon without turning into the wind. They also increase spot value.

Thanx Eluda

[elouda]

May 25, 2019 12:28:08 GMT -6 swedewolf said:

Got the answer unexpectantly. Trying to rebuild my CVLs when I got the catapult tech. "Warning: Carriers smaller than 10000 tons should have catapults to be able to launch fast aircraft with full loads!"
I guess that answer that.

Ah, thats actually not in that part of the manual. Might be something to add to the Flight Deck Catapult section.

Its mentioned elsewhere under the general 'Designing Aircraft Carriers' section, I just forgot about it since I've never used a CV that small;

"Aircraft faster than 120 knots will be restricted to light load if operating from a carrier with less than 10,000 displacement, unless the carrier has at least one catapult."