mines and mineswiper

[aquelarrefox]

Please if someone could confirm this question

Ships with mines deploy them been in TP and AF?
Ships with mine swiper use them been in TP and AF?
A destroyer (ship with ASW) in AF could sink a destroyer with out been in TP? i understand that yes and its the mensage of gunfight with a sub.

[kotori87]

That is a question I have had as well. What is the most appropriate mission assignment for specialized ships like minesweepers or minelaying cruisers?
So far, I have kept all of my minesweepers on AF. I still routinely lose ships to mines, mostly the minesweepers themselves. Minelaying I don't worry about as much, since I have a mix of destroyers and cruisers. Some are on AF, some on TP, and some on FS. It doesn't appear to make much difference but I don't know the underlying mechanism.

One other question, what is an appropriate amount of minesweeping to counter a given concentration of mines? For example, if the enemy has two cruisers with 50 mines each in a certain area, what is an appropriate amount of minesweeping to properly neutralize/limit their threat?

[dia]

From what I gathered from personal experience and those of other players, minesweepers (KE's) work on both AF and TP, but do more on AF with the added benefit of not being dragged into battles (like DDs) and providing ASW for the fleet in the form of taking torpedo attacks that would have been meant for a capital ship. Minesweepers apparently have better minesweeping with size with a certain size being the most efficient - I think it was maybe 900tons, but don't quote me.

Personally, my strategy is to have a certain set of 600-ton minesweeper KEs supplemented by a **** ton of 200-ton KEs. I routinely start a war with 30-40 600-ton corvettes and find it barely does anything as the war drags on. However if I supplement them with another couple dozen of 200-ton KEs, I start noticing significant improvements. I start seeing minefield swept events multiple times a year (as opposed to maybe once a war with the 30-40 600-ton corvettes). Unfortunately it doesn't stop mining outright and I'll usually lose a couple KEs, DDs, and get damaged capital ships throughout a war if the enemy has enough subs and raiders. But it does make a significant difference and the 200-tons take a ton of those hits.

With the 600-tonners, I use them as a buffer for when a war starts before my 200-tonners are built and to send to other sea zones if I'm going to be fighting there or have a significant amount of possessions, which is to protect FS ships. This is just my experience, but unless I'm moving a battle fleet there I don't really bother sending a lot of minesweepers. Sometimes I will also use colonial gunboat KEs for FS, in which I'll equip them with minesweeping gear.