Hearts of Iron IV - Developer Diary 10 - Naval Combat

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Finally Submarines are good at destroying convoys, but can also fill a role in regular fleet combat should the enemy be low on submarine detection. A submarine starts out hidden and is either spotted if it gets too close to a destroyer or after firing a torpedo after which it will try to escape. It won't be an effective weapon against an enemy with a proper fleet, but unescorted capital ships won't have much defense.

So how does ASW combat work? Does combat start when a sub is detected or before that and then the sub is hidden in combat?
 
How do the aircraft interact with all of this? Do the fighters get a chance to intercept the torpedo bombers before they attack? Do ships have a specific AA rating? How do the aircraft choose what ship to attack? Do they just spread their attacks randomly, or do they focus on the highest-value target? Can the player prioritize the targets?
 
There is armor and penetration

^^This is good news.^^

Question. The blue lines from the Japanese battleships to the American heavy cruiser, what do they mean? Is it targeting? Is that something that can be controlled by player during the battle or is that something decided by the game?
 
Awesome this is basically like I had thought it would be, all the ships in the zone have a time modifier to enter battle, so you don't have "death stacks" anymore unless they are all on search and destroy.

I really like it, however I do agree about the naval strength. I was really hoping to have something along what I proposed about breaking ships into "different parts" like Forward guns, Engine, Bridge, Rear guns, etc. That way you could get a "critical hit" only by hitting the gun parts, or you could massive damage the engine room and cause the ship to barely be able to move.

Really massive improvement though, I love it.

Question1: you mention when a Sub gets too close to a destroyer in the fleet? How is this modelled in the screen above? Do you see the sub as like "hidden" still as it moves closer and closer to the fleet? Also it seems like the subs would be all grouped up, does that mean there would be groups of "hidden" and "unhidden" subs?

Question2: Can we set target priorities in the battle? Let's say I want all my planes, and combat ships targetting the destroyers? Is this possible? Is it possible to automate somehow and set priorities for the different ships like:
Carrier planes target carriers and battleships
Battleships/Cruisers target destroyers
Submarines target destroyers

Question3: Lets say in the battle above we have reinforcements coming as submarines for the US, if all the Destroyers were sunk, does this mean the submarines could come in and surprise the enemy as reinforcements since the sub detection would be very low?
 
I just want to bring up 2 points. I'm sure Podcat already has these in mind without my ramblings, but that's never stopped me before.

  1. Have the selectable option to pop up the combat window when fleets first engage -- or not. :)
  2. A big part of ASW in WWII was land-based, long-range aircraft. You can take it from there if you choose.

Thanks. Looks really good.:cool:
 
The windows at the bottom denoting what has been sunk. Is whats under say the Japanese side what they have lost or what they have sunk from the opposing side?

1. Another way to ask for clarity. Did Japan shoot down 44 torpedo bombers or did they lose 44 torpedo bombers.

2. How do the air units tie in. Are they actually resolved separately using the air system then the bombers can say make an attack run after escaping the air combat? If land based aircraft attack a fleet is it resolved in this same window?

Also this looks to be a good improvement over HoI3 im pretty excited to see the other Naval Dev diaries. HoI has always lacked in the naval arena.
 
Also will CAG size be fixed and can the composition be customized?

From the screenshot it seems japanese carriers carry less planes than their US counterparts.

Also hope you explain more how subs will work in fleet engagements.
 
Also will CAG size be fixed and can the composition be customized?

From the screenshot it seems japanese carriers carry less planes than their US counterparts.

They are probably additional planes from Midway island. Meaning land combat aircraft can get probably be on the "incoming" section, and possibly even allied Carrier aircrfat in the sea zone.
 
This is an improvement from HoI3, but to be a little critical it was not too difficult to improve upon the HoI3 naval system because it was really bad.
 
Awesome!

I take it the vertical positioning of the ships is purely aesthetic, and the ships are actually positions along a single dimension? But if this is the case, how will you simulate a submarine sneaking past the destroyer group to engage the capital ships?