Naval Units Upgrades

1. when upgrading a ship that is already build only the anti-aircraft araments are ugraded, nothing else (i wist their was a way to fully upgrade old ships but there isnt)

2. a fleet of destroyers appears in one on your eastern seaboard ports under british control, they were never yours, they just appear when the event fires
also remember a desroyer flottilla represents something like 5 destroyers, same with subs

1) There are two ways to upgrade everything on a ship through some easy modding (changing the naval techs to can_upgrade = yes and editing the unit upgrade file in the folder named common), but it wouldn't make any sense whatsoever to implement that. Engines are located at the bottom of the ship and can't simply be taken out and replaced. To upgrade the engines means you have to cut the hull apart, replace the engines, then put the ship back together. While the Italians and Japanese did exactly that during the reconstruction of their various battleships, it honestly would've been cheaper for them to simply scrap the old ships and build new ones. That's why you can only upgrade radar and AA guns in the game.

Unless you want to roleplay adherence to the various naval treaties, you don't need to disband a ship when you make a new one.

It shouldn't hurt your MP too much, as ships don' cost a lot of MP when compared to ground units. If they do, then you might be playing a mod that increased the MP requirement for new ships. Anyway, if you're going to build new ships it's best to do so at the start. Ships take a long time to build and you want to start early in order to get your practicals low quickly so you can crank them out at a fast pace once the war starts, or make ships cost less so you can fit other things in the build queue.

TheBromgrev said:

. . . Ships take a long time to build and you want to start early in order to get your practicals low quickly so you can crank them out at a fast pace once the war starts, or make ships cost less so you can fit other things in the build queue.

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I've been building a LOT of ships lately (playing a lot as Japan) and one thing I would add to this is before you start building - and you do need to start ASAP - is to check the tech levels for the ships your building BEFORE you add them to the queue. Once they're in the queue, any new tech you develop doesn't apply AND, as noted above, you can't upgrade engines and hulls for the obvious reasons stated. So IMO, if five or six months research gets you a better carrier (which takes, say, 18 months to build), it's better to quickly do the research so you get the better ship.

Another comment on disbanding ships: I really hate to disband ships but . . .

Playing as Japan, I start with a number of really, really bad ships - some with 1918 tech. I can update AA and ASW radars and make them sub hunters, but that's really about all they're good for. And in both the campaigns I've played, I haven't really needed ASW ships until after 1940.

So the issue becomes do I hold onto this outdated navy, which uses supply, etc., and consumes upgrades, in the hope they might kill a few subs five years from now? (Although they also serve the slightly "gamey" purpose of taking shots during a battle from enemy ships that might actually sink more valuable ships, e.g. cannon fodder.) Since the "wait" is five years, I will sometimes disband as many as 30+ ships from the Japanese navy.

Does it help? It seems to free up IC that I can apply to other, more pressing needs (rather than upgrades and supplies), but I admit it takes a lot longer to build a new ship than to upgrade an old one - but you do get a better ship. So it's definitely a give and take. I've played both ways.

Just something to think about.

also to clarify you dont have to send the UK anything (in fact you can't unless you're in the allies)
they already have 5 new destroyers (that you never had)
basically the destroyers appear in one of your ports when you click the event, but they arent yours they belong to the UK from the minute they appear. it means that you dont lose anything and the UK get 5 new destroyers

cmilesjr said:

Thank you all for the good information. One more question: does anyone know at what lvl of engines tech you can actually cross the Atlantic?

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simply rebase them or get a port that is closer.

i really dilike the limited range on ships in the game
in real ww2 even u-boats could cross the atlantic to the US seaboard, so why cant a hipper class heavy cruiser sail around half the world? it doesnt make sense
in HOI4 they chould add fleet oilers and support ships to allow this

If I recall correctly, from a prior game play, I was able to get around this limitation.
I believe I moved fleets to maximum range they could move.
Then moved them further.
Until they reached the desired sea province.

This was for Operation Torch, from only US coastal ports, with a somewhat obsolete fleet.
Once Casablanca was secured, I could rebase to Casablanca. Then conduct naval operations from Casablanca.
Pretty sure the "rebase" rather than "reserve" option can pretty much reach anywhere in the world, with a friendly port owned by us, as destination.

I remember working to gain transit rights from Portugal, thinking that Island hopping or porting in Portugal might work; but that did not.
I accidentally stumbled upon realization that my limited range carrier fleets could be moved further, step by step,
when I was chasing a large Japanese fleet that was on the run.

There was a delay, before I could move a fleet, possibly to simulate time and operation of refueling.
Sometimes I would not be able to move a fleet as far as I would have liked, which must have been maximum range from departed base.

I think for Operation Torch, I might have departed from Reyjkavik, which is probably nearer the African coast than Eastern US coast.

In subsequent (CGM) games, I delay building ships until I have achieved much better range from (engine) technology levels.

Hope that helps.
Hope my memory is not confused.