Capital ship priority

[ingwe]

So what are the best fleet compositions? I am think 3 BB, 3 CL, 3 DD for a small SAG and 3 CV, 3 CL, 3 DD for CTF?

 

[Pro_Consul]

So what are the best fleet compositions? I am think 3 BB, 3 CL, 3 DD for a small SAG and 3 CV, 3 CL, 3 DD for CTF?

This comes up frequently, and the only answer which stands the test of time is: "It is 100% situational." From a purist standpoint of min-maxing combat/cost/research efficiency, BB/DD combos for SAGs and CV/CL combos for CTFs tend to always come to the top of their respective piles. But there is plenty of wiggle room for situational factors like starting techs, level of air threat to your fleets, level of sub threat to your convoys, intended naval objectives, etc. And on top of that there still remains even more wiggle room for personal play style, all without sacrificing any undue level of combat effectiveness or cost effectiveness.

 

[corazhor]

Screens cannot engage in shielding behavior beyond presenting themselves as an additional target for enemy fire and shooting back at opposing ships because that's not how combat works.

I agree - I have never heard of screens specifically acting as a shield for the capital ships in this game past the 'lack of screens' penalty (a penalty to the fleet as a whole, not individual ships). And they only absorb ship fire 'on accident' - when the enemy fleet decides to target them instead of a more valuable target.

Also, for the guy who asked 'what are the best fleet compositions', the last time I tested it (a little bit after TFH was released), I came to the strange conclusion that massive fleets of nothing but screens was actually hands down the best choice. I honestly dont see a use for any capital ship, unless you want to get some shore bombardment (I think BB are the most efficient with that), or really need to bomb a coastal ground target and have no way of getting an airbase in range (I've never had that problem - you can always just leapfrog around that island and take something else). And, if you're going with the massive screen fleet plan, I highly recommend DD over CL, for two primary reasons. First, they are cheaper, so you can get more (40% more, to be exact). In this game, more ships = more powerful fleet. Second, they are faster. This will greatly aid in sinking carriers, as it can force them into close enough range to be sunk. Also, by 'massive fleets', I mean 40-50 ships as a basic starter fleet, and 75 is when you start getting a strong fleet. Strangely, 75 DDs only equates to about 9 carriers with CAGs (MATH: CV+2CAG = 7270 IC days, DD = 900 IC days. 75*900 = 67500 IC days, 67500/7270 = 9.28 CVs with CAGs). Note: the math is actually biased to make carriers cheaper, as it does not factor in practicals, so I actually think the cost comes out closer to 8, maybe even 7 carriers. All numbers were taken from the wiki statistics pages.