Bullfrog said:
...remember that the UK STARTED with 1000+ convoys...
So I've sunk about 20% of the British Convoys in eight weeks.
If I can keep that up for just eight more months (... and I don't really expect to) the British would be entirely out of Convoys... unless they start side-tracking production into replacing them.
Bullfrog said:
... so really all the IC they have lost are the IC they put into maintaining those units via supplies.
... plus the ICs and Manpower that they've spent repairing the units that I've damaged. This assumes that they are NOT re-building any of those 200 Convoy losses... if they
are trying to replace them, that IC and Manpower also counts.
EDIT: Also... I can't help feeling that your argument contains a logical fallacy. According to your method of keeping score, I would be much better off by sinking
one Cruiser that they just now built (since those ICs
would count, by your method of scoring) than sinking
all of their starting CVs and BBs (since those ICs
wouldn't count, by your method of keeping score).
You'll pardon me if I don't find that "logic" very compelling...
Bullfrog said:
If you keep up the pressure for a long time then it will make some difference in the IC the UK AI has invested in convoys...
Indeed it will... in a previous "Russia First" Germany game, while I was waiting for the Bitter Peace to fire, I re-loaded as the British to check on the progress of the U-Boat war... their Unit Build Queue contained NOTHING except Convoys, Escorts and NAVs.
In effect, I had reduced them to just scrambling to keep themselves afloat... they were unable to even spare the ICs needed to build a few defensive units to oppose my coming invasion.
Bullfrog said:
If so however, realize that superior ASW doctrines will eventually make your subs a horrible investment as long as you keep building and researching them.
Of course... assuming that Britain still exists in 1942 or 43.
EDIT: One point that I should clarify... I did not start this current game in order to prove that U-Boats can win the war all by themselves. If that
had been my intention, I would certainly have built more than just 24 flotillas, and would probably have Tech-Rushed the Doctrines (they are only 1940 dates, after all).
Starting with 60 U-Boat flotillas is perfectly possible without compromising the build-up for Poland and France. Starting with 90 flotillas is also within reach, if I am willing to run the initial land campaigns on a shoe-string.
My goal in this game was to play rather historically... avoiding an early Sealion, trying to tie up the British with a
minimal investment in the U-Boat arm, while building up large forces to take out Russia first... then return to deal with Perfidious Albion. I intended simply to show that U-Boats are
not useless, and that they
can score an occasional lucky kill against a Capital Ship. If you read some of the early posts in the thread, you will see people claiming that U-Boats are "utterly worthless" and "cannot" kill enemy Capital Ships. I wanted to show that these claims are exaggerated.
As for the current game... remember that I started with a
small U-Boat force, which up until now has been handicapped by operating exclusively out of German North Sea ports... and with
zero assistance from the Luftwaffe or surface Kriegsmarine forces. With the fall of France in late October, I have now gained new Airfields and Naval bases much closer to the British Convoy routes.
The impending fall of Spain and Gibraltar this coming spring will shift the Naval balance even further... by giving me bases still closer to the Convoy routes; and by forcing the British to re-route their Convoys the long way around Africa instead of through the sheltered Med. That will expose them further to U-Boat depredations, as well as requiring more Convoy ships to run each route... thus providing more concentrated targets.
My TACs and CAS will also soon be joining in the Convoy hunt, since they lack other useful employment during the winter months. I built no NAVs.
When you consider that I have only been spending 14 ICs per day on U-Boats... not even enough for
one extra Armored Division serial... it is not at all obvious to me that U-Boats are "not cost-effective".
EDIT: Ongoing results of the U-Boat campaign:
November:
Sunk: 55 Convoys, 4 Escorts. No new construction, no losses.
December:
Sunk: 91 Convoys, 13 Escorts. No new construction, 2 Subs lost (through sheer stupidity).
Running totals for the first four months of the war:
Sunk: 339 Convoys, 28 Escorts, 2 BB, 1 CA, 1 CL
Lost: 7 Subs.