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Post by teremaster on Jun 5, 2019 23:07:20 GMT -6
Fairly new player here. In my current playthrough i had the idea of using large amounts of coastal fortifications, especially on my colonial holdings to cut the amount of naval assets i would need to have there. My reasoning is that because of this, i could turn an island like Guam into an unsinkable battleship flotilla and i wouldn't have to worry as much about not having superior numbers if i was near my coast.
The issue is i really haven't seen them be as useful as i imagined, the log reports the enemy cruisers basically sailing into a harbour that has two 12 inch batteries and sinking transports, yet i never see any indication that my guns are firing. Do i need to spot them with my fleet for the guns to open up? Are they firing and i'm just not being notified or just not noticing? Or are the coastal guns you can build in 1910 just not very good yet?
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Post by stevethecat on Jun 5, 2019 23:44:08 GMT -6
I was thinking thinking about making this exact same post yesterday! I have yet to see a land based gun fire at an enemy in the combat simulator so to be honest I have gone off them considerably. They are also have considerable building costs for what is essentially a single gun in a fort when in WW1-era fortifications could have been made up of dozens or more upto battleship size.
Unless they are doing something behind the scenes to increase an areas value/defence to prevent invasion attempts?
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Post by Antediluvian Monster on Jun 6, 2019 0:17:16 GMT -6
Ideally there would be option to turn scrapped ships into forts, i.e. take the guns off and mount them as seacoast artillery. As it is, I don't bother with them.
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Post by namuras on Jun 6, 2019 0:40:07 GMT -6
Historically coastal fortifications in this time period weren't overly effective...
And outside some niché cases they aren't in RtW 2.
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Post by director on Jun 6, 2019 0:54:14 GMT -6
In RtW I would fortify my Asian harbors against Japanese surprise attack. On occasion their assault on Tsingtao or Manila Bay would be a surprise for them, too...
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Post by tbr on Jun 6, 2019 1:07:30 GMT -6
Unmodded coastal batteries are definitely not cost effective.
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Post by ramjb on Jun 6, 2019 1:35:09 GMT -6
Historically coastal fortifications in this time period weren't overly effective... And outside some niché cases they aren't in RtW 2. Mostly because they were pre-emptively neutered by air attack or commando action, but coastal emplacements were crucial for their forced planning from the offensive side in order to counter them, and if not propely countered they could really prove to be showkillers (google for the Ostende and Zeebrugge raids in 1917, the german coastal batteries were pretty much key in both the planning of the raids, and on the raids themselves). In-game their usefulness is very limited and restricted to enemy operations that end up being close to the coast. As A-H I pretty much barricaded the whole dalmatian coast with coastal emplacements of 6 and 8 inch guns (with a couple 12''s thrown in the mix for fun) and they were useful indeed in several occasions. But that was the only case I've used them extensively, so can't say how effective they'd be in other areas.
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Post by zardoz on Jun 6, 2019 1:41:08 GMT -6
In the game they are useless as long as they are not situated at hotspots where a coastal action is very likely. In RTW 1 I spent for that only in the late game when I had no idea anymore for what I should splash the cash.
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Post by southkraut on Jun 6, 2019 2:24:52 GMT -6
They're an enormous gamble, and you're better of investing in ships early on and in airplanes later in the game.
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Post by rodentnavy on Jun 6, 2019 3:23:43 GMT -6
In general more ships are a more cost effective defence than land guns, that said a few are useful if you find you have acquired (or being the British start with) some odd out of the way possession.
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Post by namuras on Jun 6, 2019 4:56:56 GMT -6
Historically coastal fortifications in this time period weren't overly effective... And outside some niché cases they aren't in RtW 2. Mostly because they were pre-emptively neutered by air attack or commando action, but coastal emplacements were crucial for their forced planning from the offensive side in order to counter them, and if not propely countered they could really prove to be showkillers (google for the Ostende and Zeebrugge raids in 1917, the german coastal batteries were pretty much key in both the planning of the raids, and on the raids themselves). In-game their usefulness is very limited and restricted to enemy operations that end up being close to the coast. As A-H I pretty much barricaded the whole dalmatian coast with coastal emplacements of 6 and 8 inch guns (with a couple 12''s thrown in the mix for fun) and they were useful indeed in several occasions. But that was the only case I've used them extensively, so can't say how effective they'd be in other areas. That is why i said not overly effective, since the game covers a larger time envelope. You could also say that the Fort at Sevastopol wasn't useless, the same way the fort at Singapur and Manila didn't fulfill their role simply by beeing circumvented. The problem we have in RtW2 is that there are no strategic locations that need to be fortified (f.e. anchorages, straights and narrows) or held on the map and since we as a player can not place fortifications they are outside of certain map areas (Adriatic sea for A-H, certain asian islands and a port or two) mostly useless.
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Post by southkraut on Jun 6, 2019 6:18:57 GMT -6
AH is probably the only nation that can somewhat reliably get use out of coastal batteries, and even then I'd say it's cost-inefficient. Germany can potentially get use out of them if it mainly fights battles in northern Europe, but that is very expensive for what it gets you.
And late-game, regardless of what nation you play, airbases are universally more effective, efficient and flexible.
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Post by JagdFlanker on Jun 6, 2019 6:27:11 GMT -6
the only other possible use for coastal guns might be in NE/SE Asia bases to help defend against Japanese surprise attacks, but that's a very narrow window of usefulness
and once the Japanese can do airstrike surprise attacks, unless coastal guns can supply meaningful AA defense the window of usefulness becomes even narrower
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Post by stevethecat on Jun 6, 2019 6:38:08 GMT -6
Getting the feeling that heavily investing in guns for defence early on has been a bit of a missplay.
Oh well, something to keep in mind for next time!
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Post by archelaos on Jun 6, 2019 7:04:06 GMT -6
If you fight close to coast, they have uses. AH coast, Baltic States, and French south coast in war vs Italy are nice spots.
The guns scare smaller ships (6in DDs, 8-10in CLs) and I had at least two occasions when my DD squadrons were saved from enemy CLs by retiring to the cover of coastal guns. They also deploy minefields, so enemy ships may run into those during scenario.
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