game creates impossible missions over and over

[magnin]

I have been at war with Italy for 14 months, I have a vast superiority in ships of all kinds, and yet the game always almost generates scenarios where I am at an inferiority. For instance, I have 2 DD and the computer has 4 DD and 2 CL.

I NEVER am superior in missions, though I have something like 35 DD in the Med compared to Iraly's 15 DD.

The rare missions where the game gave me superiority are BB Fleet actions.

The game seems to cheat, and this is getting frustrating. I don't find this realistic, nor fun.

Why build a fleet if the computer always gives me impossible missions ?

How can I intercept a convoy escorted by 7 DD plus CL, when I have only two DD ?

[geroj]

I think problem is with Italy, it always happen with them

[noshurviverse]

Can you post a quick screenshot of your current fleet status? There can often be some details in there that might be impacting you that the game does a somewhat poor job of explaining.

[magnin]

Sure. Here is my fleet.

And here is saved game (a month later).

Game2 2020-06-22 fvrier 1926.zip (1.43 MB)

Once again, I was given a convoy attack mission where I had 2 DD to attack an italian convoy escorted by 2CL and 7 DD !

I am wondering if this is due to my ratio of ships in Trade Protection vs Active Fleet. Which do participate in convoy attacks ?

[polygon]

Aha, I see part of the problem. All of your cruisers are assigned to trade protection, so they won't take part in battles. The game wants to give you cruiser missions, but your cruisers are busy. If you keep some of your CLs on active fleet, they should start showing up.

[noshurviverse]

Jun 22, 2020 14:37:56 GMT -6 magnin said:

Sure. Here is my fleet.

I am wondering if this is due to my ratio of ships in Trade Protection vs Active Fleet. Which do participate in convoy attacks ?

That would probably be at the heart of your problem. The only ships you have AF in the Med are your dreadnoughts and some destroyers. All of your cruisers are on TP and of those only two are actually in the Med. Trade protection is a stance that largely places a ship in an "off-screen" role (performing jobs such as escorting merchant shipping, patrolling for lone raiders, ect), in RtW1 it was called "Coastal Patrol". When the game is generating battles, in most cases it will only draw forces from your Active Fleet.

A couple other things:
    •BBs that reach 27kts are eligible to count as BCs in battle generation. This means you'll see them more often. Anything slower and they only show up in fleet actions.
    •I believe range will play a role in ships showing up. In early years you'll certainly see short range coal-fired DDs miss alot of battles, but I think this also applies to all ships

[skoggatt]

On top of the other comments, what is the distance to nearest base in these battles? If the battle takes place closer to Italian ports than yours, then they will be more likely to get more destroyers into the generator. This will be exacerbated if your ships are coal fired or short ranged. Even within the Mediterranean short range can be a handicap to getting ships into battles.

[wlbjork]

Indeed. Firstly, drop the number of ships on TP - you have 56 but the requirement is for 18. Leave the KEs on TP, they tend to be of limited use in fleet actions anyway - especially small ones.


Switch most of the cruisers back to the AF role. For the future, you may wish to consider a number of purpose built TP cruisers. I consider long range, reliable engines and high speed to form the basis of such vessels, usually on a CA hull. Guns tend to be a little light - 6" primaries and 4" secondaries, however that only matters in a fight.

[magnin]

Jun 22, 2020 17:54:14 GMT -6 noshurviverse said:

That would probably be at the heart of your problem. The only ships you have AF in the Med are your dreadnoughts and some destroyers. All of your cruisers are on TP and of those only two are actually in the Med. Trade protection is a stance that largely places a ship in an "off-screen" role (performing jobs such as escorting merchant shipping, patrolling for lone raiders, ect), in RtW1 it was called "Coastal Patrol". When the game is generating battles, in most cases it will only draw forces from your Active Fleet.

A couple other things:
    •BBs that reach 27kts are eligible to count as BCs in battle generation. This means you'll see them more often. Anything slower and they only show up in fleet actions.
    •I believe range will play a role in ships showing up. In early years you'll certainly see short range coal-fired DDs miss alot of battles, but I think this also applies to all ships

Thank you noshurviverse !

I will switch many ships back to AF role.

Unfortunately I have few CLs in the Med, since most are on colonial duty. So I guess I'll simply decline convoy interception battles.

[magnin]

Jun 22, 2020 19:51:11 GMT -6 skoggatt said:

On top of the other comments, what is the distance to nearest base in these battles? If the battle takes place closer to Italian ports than yours, then they will be more likely to get more destroyers into the generator. This will be exacerbated if your ships are coal fired or short ranged. Even within the Mediterranean short range can be a handicap to getting ships into battles.

These battles take place near Sicily. And many of my DDs are short-ranged or coal-fired, or both. I expected this to be of little importance in the Med.

 

Now, I have bases in Tunisia, so not far away.