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Forcing Gun Battles in Naval Battles & Fleet Arrangements

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davekirk

davekirk

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When playing a large nation, a common situation I find myself in is carrier fleet vs. battleship fleet engagements. I know that bringing a battleship fleet against carriers is asking for trouble; all of the time they end up way out of range while enemy carriers have a field day.
Is there any way to try to force a gun battle when up against carriers? Are there any conditions that would permit my battleship fleet to get within gun range? I thought bad weather might help, or higher leader skill, but I haven't had any luck so far.

In a similar scenario, I sometimes find my smaller carrier fleets engaging with small enemy convoy raiding fleets (DDs and CLs). I usually put some heavy ships with my carriers, so I would rather my fleet just get into gun range and blast away, but instead they all sit back; my one carrier tries valiantly to attack but ends up doing very little damage before the enemy fleet escapes. Is there any way to force the fleet into gun range?


Also, does anyone have some general advice for fleet makeups? I usually try to make my fleets as large as possible; in gun battles I find that whoever has the most battleships usually wins (smaller ships don't even get into range). Same story for carrier fleets; I usually try to pack as many as I can into one fleet, and whoever has the most wins.
How do you guys prefer to arrange your fleets? Do you guys use light carriers or escort carriers? How do you use them?

Thanks for any help in advance.
 
davekirk said:
When playing a large nation, a common situation I find myself in is carrier fleet vs. battleship fleet engagements. I know that bringing a battleship fleet against carriers is asking for trouble; all of the time they end up way out of range while enemy carriers have a field day.
Is there any way to try to force a gun battle when up against carriers? Are there any conditions that would permit my battleship fleet to get within gun range? I thought bad weather might help, or higher leader skill, but I haven't had any luck so far.

In a similar scenario, I sometimes find my smaller carrier fleets engaging with small enemy convoy raiding fleets (DDs and CLs). I usually put some heavy ships with my carriers, so I would rather my fleet just get into gun range and blast away, but instead they all sit back; my one carrier tries valiantly to attack but ends up doing very little damage before the enemy fleet escapes. Is there any way to force the fleet into gun range?


Also, does anyone have some general advice for fleet makeups? I usually try to make my fleets as large as possible; in gun battles I find that whoever has the most battleships usually wins (smaller ships don't even get into range). Same story for carrier fleets; I usually try to pack as many as I can into one fleet, and whoever has the most wins.
How do you guys prefer to arrange your fleets? Do you guys use light carriers or escort carriers? How do you use them?

Thanks for any help in advance.
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i think if you have all quick ships (i think BC are pretty good for this) you can move faster and therefore "Close" to gun range. but carriers are still uber strong.

as for fleet composition, i have two main fleet types that i consider "optimal"

1: "Carrier task forces" (CTFs) half carriers, half escorts. carriers keep enemy from doing any damage while they own battleship fleets, and can support ground/landing operations. best for US. (long prewar to build carriers)
2: Sub "Doomfleets" all subs. since they are relatively cheap and quick to build, spam subs (like 60+) and take out most/all of their convoys, transports etc... best for GER. quicker to create and can be a killing blow if you can get the UK/USA (or JAP) to chew through all of their convoys

battleships and other close range capitals are good, as long as nobody has carriers.

what fleet type i go for is usually determined by what country i am playing as.
 
it is possible to engage CV with BB's, but for that you need a smaller fleet of hard hitters so you can have more positioning.

a 12 fleet of BB + DD or CL with a highly skilled vice admiral can do the trick, but i avoid that, as the survivors are too heavily mauled and take months to repair.

15 BB + 15 DD, if it catches a CV fleet off guard, will tear it a new pooper
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't take ship speed into account; I take it the fleet speed is used (in part) to determine positioning in battle. If I take out the slower ships in my fleet I may stand a better chance of getting into gun range.
A "close to gun range" button for CV fleets would be a nice feature addition.

EDIT:
My BB fleet finally managed it; in a night battle (while it was snowing), two of the newer battleships in my fleet managed to get within firing range of the British carrier fleet and scored some hits before the British withdrew. No ships sunk, but they damaged the carriers enough so that they'll probably be in port for a while. Made my day.
 
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Eugenioso said:
a 12 fleet of BB + DD or CL with a highly skilled vice admiral can do the trick, but i avoid that, as the survivors are too heavily mauled and take months to repair.
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I doubt that would be even a problem. Nations that start out with large surface fleets are full of old dreadnaughts and obsolete cruisers, that are useless most of the time. Taking out your opponent's carrier fleet while loosing some capital gunships, to give you time to take over their bases or cut off their supplies, is a good trade off (unless your enemy is making 5 CVs a year like USA).
 
I have seen it happen both on the giving (me as Italians versus British) and receiving ends (me as USA versus Japan) but I never figured out what caused it to happen. It is REALLY bad for the CV fleet if the BBs get in range. People have said it can happen in bad weather.
 
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