Fleet composition

Aethis · Nov 9, 2013

Hey guys I was wondering what the best composition is for fleets, I am thinking mainly as Germany or Japan to help me combat the Royal Navy and United States Navy... Assuming you have a blank slate and free IC to work with is it something like 6 carriers and 12 destroyers? What about battleships, pretty much pointless?

Adonnus · Nov 9, 2013

I just make carriers and nothing else.

Alternatively, lots of light cruisers with good torpedos might work well.

The main strength of carriers is that other ships like battleships can't engage them in the battle due to their limited range.
As Germany in the WIF2 mod I invaded the USA using a fleet of only the most modern carriers and, of course, transports. They barely engaged me and when they did they got massacred.

Aethis · Nov 9, 2013

So you don't even need screens? Just purely like 30 carriers in one fleet???

Jazwana · Nov 9, 2013

It'd probably be cheaper IC-wise to just build 15+15. Or as Germany you could go sub+torp zergs, might wind up even cheaper IC-wise even if you lose a few fleets. Of course, then you have no land vision or shore bombardment...

nachopontmercy · Nov 9, 2013

"Optimal" fleets:

Submarine doomstack: 30 Subs with torpedoes

Heavy Cruisers Fleet: Just CAs alone

Carrier Task Force: 15 Carriers and 15 Destroyers

Other Fleets:

Battlecruiser Fleetd: Battlecruisers with the fastest escorts you have

ASW: Some CVE and DDs will do well, and it´s cheap to build. Attach ASW as brigades.

Sufrace Action group: Battleships with the slowest escorts you have

Ofc there are other plenty options (specially if you want to make your fleets more realistic), but this little guide (Gort11 was the original author) is a good start point when it comes to fleet composition. The problem with a Carrier-only fleet is that if they stumble upon an enemy fleet with just 1 unit faster than the carrier, they are doomed.

unmerged(524177) · Nov 9, 2013

well a rule of thumb is don't put more capital ships than screens in a fleet so you won't get positioning penalty. if you're going with the carrier route i would recommend using heavy cruisers armed with floatplanes and fire control for screening, that will effectively put your force out of sub stacks' danger. sub stacks are great at sinking a slow fleet, against a fast one they will have more trouble.

unmerged(524177) · Nov 9, 2013

nachopontmercy said:
The problem with a Carrier-only fleet is that if they stumble upon an enemy fleet with just 1 unit faster than the carrier, they are doomed.

you might want to try that with the newest version because that is clearly not the case. a well-led CTF will feast upon a fast CA fleet all day everyday.

nachopontmercy · Nov 9, 2013

mcnerd said:
you might want to try that with the newest version because that is clearly not the case. a well-led CTF will feast upon a fast CA fleet all day everyday.

True, a modern and well organized CTF will win almost any battle, but that is not the case with older fleets, that can get severly damaged by a fast BC fleet. They would win the battle and sink several enemy ships, but would take too many damage that could be avoidad with some screens. Tried this strategy with Japan, version 1.03 and it works, so a Carrier only fleet is still dangeorus and also a waste of IC, since for the prize of 30 carriers you could make 2 CTFs that would smash any opposition in 2 different seas.

unmerged(524177) · Nov 9, 2013

nachopontmercy said:
True, a modern and well organized CTF will win almost any battle, but that is not the case with older fleets, that can get severly damaged by a fast BC fleet. They would win the battle and sink several enemy ships, but would take too many damage that could be avoidad with some screens. Tried this strategy with Japan, version 1.03 and it works, so a Carrier only fleet is still dangeorus and also a waste of IC, since for the prize of 30 carriers you could make 2 CTFs that would smash any opposition in 2 different seas.

oh i thought you meant only carriers as capital ships. yes putting 30 cv in a big stack is wasteful, but even CV-1 has a speed of 26, so i doubt they will get close enough for BC to fire that easily.

nachopontmercy · Nov 9, 2013

mcnerd said:
oh i thought you meant only carriers as capital ships. yes putting 30 cv in a big stack is wasteful, but even CV-1 has a speed of 26, so i doubt they will get close enough for BC to fire that easily.

Mind that I´m not saying to go for BC fleets as the best strategy, but that a fast BC fleet is capable of damaging the CVs...and since the AI is pretty dumb when deciding when to bring the ships back to port, you can then destroy the damaged carriers with some Naval Bombers. And also, some times I want to improvise new strategies for the sake of fun...always going with the CV or Subs doomfleets turns out a little boring

it068 · Nov 10, 2013

I have 2 Carriers, 8 Battleships, 4 Battle Cruisers, 4 Heavy Cruisers, 4 Light Cruisers and 8 Destroyers.
Is that a good composition?

JRHINDO · Nov 10, 2013

No but it will get the job done. Fleet compositions are really for micromanagers, and optimalists.

Search

Fleet composition

Aethis

In Exile

Adonnus

General

Aethis

In Exile

Jazwana

Sergeant

nachopontmercy

Lt. General

unmerged(524177)

Captain

unmerged(524177)

Captain

nachopontmercy

Lt. General

unmerged(524177)

Captain

nachopontmercy

Lt. General

it068

Major

JRHINDO

Hej Slaveni!