Upgradable Costal Batteries

[Deleted]

Make the old ones more useful.... not that i've ever found costal batteries all that useful.

[wlbjork]

They are useful, but more often passively rather than actively. My current game, all territories have a pair of 6", 8", 11" and 14" batteries. I've currently reached the '60s, the 4" batteries are now all dual purpose, the 11" (I think the 6" and 8" as well) have a pair of 4" DP added whilst the 14" batteries have an additional 4 guns of the 4" DP variety*.

In the current game, I once had a bad run with a battlecruiser and took a lot of damage, to the point I was concerned I would lose it. However, I was fairly close to one of my 11" batteries, so I withdrew in that direction. The enemy BC followed, entered the range of the battery which scored several hits, driving the enemy BC off and allowing me a minor loss if memory serves. In another game, a damaged enemy ship - think it was a CL - wandered into range of a battery which wound up sinking the warship.

The other use of coastal batteries is entirely passive. When you - or your opponent - attempt to invade a territory, the presence of coastal batteries can delay the start of the invasion. Once the invasion has succeeded, they can then inflict delays on your opponent winning the territory. In both cases, I believe that the quantity of batteries and the calibre of guns plays a role in triggering the effect but don't know the exact mechanics.


The other thing to bear in mind is how cheap they are compared to a ship - a 4" gun battery, for example, even in 1960 costs just 9/month in maintenance. The 6" batteries cost 20/month, even the 8" batteries are weighing in at just 33/month. By comparison, my 900t ASW KE is costing 33/month with probably similar levels of effect.


One thing I have just noticed is that the data when double clicking the forts in the "Coastal Fortifications" tab doesn't show AA guns etc., and still indicated that my guns were using central rangefinders which are a wee bit obsolete in 1961! I think this information should update as the game progresses so people can see that the batteries are updating.