Welcome to this weeks issue of our AoD Development Diaries.
Today’s topic is Naval Combat and what we’ve changed and added in the maritime area, as well. Before I go into the changes of the combat system, let me tell you that we added a new unit class, called heavy subs. They are buildable around 1939-40, and try to model the large Japanese submarines, some of which were capable of carrying up to 3 airplanes (some may have already heard of “submersible carriers”).
In fact, this is a very neat special unit with mostly better overall stats than regular subs and a huge range of operation, which gives you opportunities to operate early in the game in faraway parts of the world.
In terms of interchangeability between regular convoys and transports, destroyers and escorts, we made them in one way convertible. You can now always choose to use your DDs or TPs in regular trade relationships. But once they are converted, you won’t get them back.
To avoid exploits we integrated some conversion rules: how many escorts you get from one destroyer flotilla depends on the current tech level of the destroyer. So you will, for example, get 1 Escort from an old fashioned DD-1, and around 5 from a shiny new DD-5.
We also made attachments detachable and attachable at ports, so now you can refit your ships to your own needs. Nevertheless, we also integrated a whole lot of new brigades: from Heavy-Artillery Secondary Armament, Reconnaissance Planes up to Smoke Launchers and Camouflage Equipment for low Visibility, you now have a broad selection range of attachments for your ships. After you research the Nuclear Propulsion tech for ships, you may as well fit them with an engine based on nuclear technology.
In the combat system you are now allowed to define a minimum engagement time. We set it to 8 hours, which turned out to be pretty good. Single units of a fleet in combat now also have a small chance to escape the battle against an overwhelming enemy before the end of the minimum combat time– their underlying counter colour will turn grey in case of success. Target selection and the overall mechanics of engagement, detection, and positioning have been tweaked and modelled to achieve outcomes which are now generally in-line with historical and realistic dimensions. Former “Second-Class Stats” like Speed, Visibility or Detection values now play an enormous role in combat itself, and are for some smaller units even more important than the big ones, like “Sea Attack” or “Sea Defence.”
The combat mechanics have been tweaked to eliminate and/or avoid the known exploits, like “fleet-beaming” or “transporter blocking.” We also did a lot in terms of balancing and, of course, we have done a lot of research and added historically correct ship attachments to each scenario for the major nations.
Visibility is now a cat-and-mouse game where each opponent is trying to maximize its own assets.
Don’t expect BBs to be able to fire 30km anymore without some form of long-range detection. Radar/scout planes now are vital to finding the enemy. It’s really a bad thing for a proud ww1 fleet to be taken out from a distance - never being able to find the ships that fire because of their advanced radar technology.
Also it is largely affected by weather conditions... So BBs now also use night cover to close in on CVs. Of course, the closer the BBs, get the higher the chance of detection... prepare to get pummelled in the clear sky at daybreak if you didn’t make it close enough. CVs get ORG and small STR damage on its attacks where the surface ships defend themselves against the fighters.
This system also makes subs behave more naturally, as they remain hidden and wait for their chance to strike... As electric subs and later have good speed and very low visibility, they can attack and hide without the outdated DDs ever knowing what hit them.
Also, as always, the combat mechanics have been totally remodelled, and defence now actually protects the host from a portion of the damage, while having superior firepower against low-defence targets does extra damage. So now even a fleet of 30DDs with their machine gun will not make a big dent in the armor of a SHBB... while the other way around... well, not a pretty sight....
Convoy Raiding with single raiders is now also very efficient; BC’s have become specialists in this task when the proper doctrines have been researched. Detection through Reconnaissance Planes (as attachment called “Spotters”) and radar or cover through smoke-launchers is now absolutely crucial to the outcome of a fight.
I hope we’ve given you some small insight into the revised naval system. Stay tuned for next week’s diary, when I will go into detail with the all-new Radar, AA and Air-Combat Systems.
Today’s topic is Naval Combat and what we’ve changed and added in the maritime area, as well. Before I go into the changes of the combat system, let me tell you that we added a new unit class, called heavy subs. They are buildable around 1939-40, and try to model the large Japanese submarines, some of which were capable of carrying up to 3 airplanes (some may have already heard of “submersible carriers”).
In fact, this is a very neat special unit with mostly better overall stats than regular subs and a huge range of operation, which gives you opportunities to operate early in the game in faraway parts of the world.
In terms of interchangeability between regular convoys and transports, destroyers and escorts, we made them in one way convertible. You can now always choose to use your DDs or TPs in regular trade relationships. But once they are converted, you won’t get them back.
To avoid exploits we integrated some conversion rules: how many escorts you get from one destroyer flotilla depends on the current tech level of the destroyer. So you will, for example, get 1 Escort from an old fashioned DD-1, and around 5 from a shiny new DD-5.
We also made attachments detachable and attachable at ports, so now you can refit your ships to your own needs. Nevertheless, we also integrated a whole lot of new brigades: from Heavy-Artillery Secondary Armament, Reconnaissance Planes up to Smoke Launchers and Camouflage Equipment for low Visibility, you now have a broad selection range of attachments for your ships. After you research the Nuclear Propulsion tech for ships, you may as well fit them with an engine based on nuclear technology.
In the combat system you are now allowed to define a minimum engagement time. We set it to 8 hours, which turned out to be pretty good. Single units of a fleet in combat now also have a small chance to escape the battle against an overwhelming enemy before the end of the minimum combat time– their underlying counter colour will turn grey in case of success. Target selection and the overall mechanics of engagement, detection, and positioning have been tweaked and modelled to achieve outcomes which are now generally in-line with historical and realistic dimensions. Former “Second-Class Stats” like Speed, Visibility or Detection values now play an enormous role in combat itself, and are for some smaller units even more important than the big ones, like “Sea Attack” or “Sea Defence.”
The combat mechanics have been tweaked to eliminate and/or avoid the known exploits, like “fleet-beaming” or “transporter blocking.” We also did a lot in terms of balancing and, of course, we have done a lot of research and added historically correct ship attachments to each scenario for the major nations.
Visibility is now a cat-and-mouse game where each opponent is trying to maximize its own assets.
Don’t expect BBs to be able to fire 30km anymore without some form of long-range detection. Radar/scout planes now are vital to finding the enemy. It’s really a bad thing for a proud ww1 fleet to be taken out from a distance - never being able to find the ships that fire because of their advanced radar technology.
Also it is largely affected by weather conditions... So BBs now also use night cover to close in on CVs. Of course, the closer the BBs, get the higher the chance of detection... prepare to get pummelled in the clear sky at daybreak if you didn’t make it close enough. CVs get ORG and small STR damage on its attacks where the surface ships defend themselves against the fighters.
This system also makes subs behave more naturally, as they remain hidden and wait for their chance to strike... As electric subs and later have good speed and very low visibility, they can attack and hide without the outdated DDs ever knowing what hit them.
Also, as always, the combat mechanics have been totally remodelled, and defence now actually protects the host from a portion of the damage, while having superior firepower against low-defence targets does extra damage. So now even a fleet of 30DDs with their machine gun will not make a big dent in the armor of a SHBB... while the other way around... well, not a pretty sight....
Convoy Raiding with single raiders is now also very efficient; BC’s have become specialists in this task when the proper doctrines have been researched. Detection through Reconnaissance Planes (as attachment called “Spotters”) and radar or cover through smoke-launchers is now absolutely crucial to the outcome of a fight.
I hope we’ve given you some small insight into the revised naval system. Stay tuned for next week’s diary, when I will go into detail with the all-new Radar, AA and Air-Combat Systems.
