Post by JagdFlanker on Jan 8, 2023 6:44:54 GMT -6
during battles in the TF detail screen you can go in and the change the role of the TF to core/support/screen/etc. one of the options is 'patrol' which i use all the time to keep a TF in a specific area (waiting for the enemy, or i find an area where i want my CVs to stay in). however, i don't consider it a 'role' because i often use it to temporarily override a TF's actual assigned role, and the vast majority of times when i use 'patrol' i switch it back to 'screen/core/etc' later. i would bet that the majority of players are not even aware that the option exists and never use it when it can be a very handy tool to use when you are waiting for contact or playing out the battle timer
perhaps it would be much better if 'patrol' was actually a checkbox like 'ai control' since i consider 'patrol' to be exactly the same as 'ai control' except the ships stick to a particular area instead of being able to wander all over the map. also if a TF on 'patrol' sights the enemy it seems to me it will not engage unless you take it off 'patrol', and having a checkbox makes that easier instead of digging into the dropdown menu
it might even be handy if when a TF on patrol spots the enemy a popup box appears and give the player the option of staying on patrol, switching to ai control (giving the ai more freedom to manoeuvre), or switching to manual control
airbases might be a lot easier to manage if when they are unoccupied they automatically remain in 'reserve' since an airbase with no aircraft is not really 'active', and since active airbases cost more to maintain it adds up a lot when you have a ton of active airbases with no aircraft on them. so if you press 'mobilize' and it asks you if you want to mobilize all airbases, it really should only be all airbases that contain aircraft. or switch choosing active/reserve from airbases to air groups, since it's the air groups that are affected by this, not the air bases
speaking of pilot experience i think it's strange that when you put an air group in 'reserve' that the pilot experience decreases very quickly when in fact if that air group participated in a war it likely keeps many/all of those experienced pilots, it just has less of them in the air group. i think it would make more sense if either pilot experience went down very slowly (over years as pilots move on, assuming the air group stays in 'reserve' over years), and if the air group goes from 'reserve' to 'active' it would be at that point the pilot experience would decrease since there is now a new influx of inexperienced pilots joining the wing
Norway might need a bit of love - when i'm playing a European nation it seems quite common that i end up occupying it but it's not setup quite right. in the game Stavenger and Bergen are not ports accessible by your navy, however if i get a damaged ship that needs to go back to port it almost always tried to go to either one of those bases and ends up patrolling back and against the coastline trying to reach an inaccessible port for the rest of the battle, sometimes resulting in sinking
However Trondheim is an accessible port, but doesn't have the 'inaccessible to the enemy' zone surrounding it like every other port. i think it's the same for Narvik, but it's so far north no battles or ships ever end up even remotely close to it so it doesn't seem necessary to have it on the map
speaking of Trondheim as well as Reykyavik Iceland, they are both in a unique position on the map where in the summer the airbases get dawn/dusk but never actually go to night time. what i noticed is that when dusk hits all patrolling aircraft will head back to those bases before night hits when in fact night will never hit so there's no reason for recon to stop, especially when some of the recon routes take place in 24 hour daylight. i realize it's a product of how all airbases are programmed to operate so likely not fixable, but it's something i noticed
in battles when you spot a ship on 'very fast' timer speed it will drop down to normal speed automatically, however if you get a radar contact it does *not* do this which is inconsistent, and sometimes very harmful if you get that close radar contact at night because once you click ok the game does *not* stop, it keeps going at 'very fast 'which sometimes gets you in big trouble. radar contacts should be treated like spotting contacts and the game should go back to normal speed automatically, or at least pause the game so you can set the speed without ramming into the middle of an enemy formation by mistake
finally a possible tweak to how guns are researched - instead of the current 'Naval Guns' entry in the 'general' research tab, perhaps instead you would apply priority directly to each naval gun so you have a bit more control over which gun types you develop. perhaps they all start on low or no priority and you get to choose a few guns on a higher priority (# dependent on nation - poorer nations might only be able to research 2 types at a time while richer nations get more research slots) and/or the more guns you give priority to the more 'diluted' your gun research becomes and it takes longer to develop better guns
perhaps all '5' rated guns start hidden and are researched like other techs in the 'Naval Guns' entry in the 'general' research tab, then appear at -2 (or even -3) when researched as a flawed concept that needs development. -3 could be suitable for land forts, but not naval use without development (i think i remember there might be -3 guns in RtW3 representing the old muzzle loaders, so -4 or 'L' instead for land only?)