I've been thinking about Fleets and Naval Bases a lot because the way the game represents Naval Bases right now is not very realistic. At least to my layman understanding. I'm not a historian or sailor so I only am making educated guesses based on internet reading.
But the way any size fleet can operate anywhere at any time for any period of time does not seem realistic. The only limiting factor is fuel. And the way that any size ships and any size fleet can be based at any size port also does not seem realistic to me.
I think Task Forces/Fleets should require the support of naval facilities to operate. The reason I say this is because we have this weird thing now where any size Fleet can be anywhere at any time in the ocean and based at any dinky sized Naval Base. And this is just not realistic. Fleets have no supply lines and can stay at sea indefinitely without ever returning to base. No submarine tenders or fuel ships.
So there's no purpose to having the big important Naval Bases like Pearl Harbor for example. The only relevant effect a Naval Base has currently is the amount of ships it can repair at once. So it's simulating the repair capacity factor but nothing else. It's not simulating the fuel facilities at naval bases. It's not simulating the dry docks, the power stations, the maintenance facilities, the ammunition storage facilities, the piers, etc.
Fleets should be supplied by the Naval Bases within their area of operation. By the Naval Bases within their range. The bigger the Fleet is, the bigger the Naval Base capacity needed. So the more ships you pile in to an area, the more naval base capacity you need to supply them. If you go over the capacity in an area then you should start getting some form of maluses and debufffs to the Fleet. Which you would fix by building bigger/more Naval Bases or removing some of the ships from the area.
I also think you should only be able to build Naval Dockyards in provinces where you have at least 1 Naval Base. And when they are built they will be physically located at the Naval Base. If there is more than 1 Naval Base in the State then you choose at which Naval Base the Naval Dockyard will be located. It doesn't make sense that currently Naval Dockyards are randomly magically spread over a province like they are land factories. Naval Dockyards are something that are located at Ports. Ships aren't built inland.
I've been reading about the St. Nazaire Raid and it made me realize that there are different types of ports/docks in real life. And they had different capabilities and capacity. Large drydocks are needed to work on large ships for example. Huge Battleships can't be worked on at little ports without big drydocks. I think the bigger the ship is, the bigger the Naval Base needed to repair it. So a huge Battleship or Carrier couldn't be repaired at a small Naval Base. It could require at least a level 5 Naval Base for example. Heavy Cruisers could require a level 4 etc.
More information; the British in a famous raid blew up the drydock at St. Nazaire and so any large German warship in need of repair had to run the gauntlet of the English Channel to get to a port on the German coast.
I think these changes would also help with the naval doomstack issue as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid
But the way any size fleet can operate anywhere at any time for any period of time does not seem realistic. The only limiting factor is fuel. And the way that any size ships and any size fleet can be based at any size port also does not seem realistic to me.
I think Task Forces/Fleets should require the support of naval facilities to operate. The reason I say this is because we have this weird thing now where any size Fleet can be anywhere at any time in the ocean and based at any dinky sized Naval Base. And this is just not realistic. Fleets have no supply lines and can stay at sea indefinitely without ever returning to base. No submarine tenders or fuel ships.
So there's no purpose to having the big important Naval Bases like Pearl Harbor for example. The only relevant effect a Naval Base has currently is the amount of ships it can repair at once. So it's simulating the repair capacity factor but nothing else. It's not simulating the fuel facilities at naval bases. It's not simulating the dry docks, the power stations, the maintenance facilities, the ammunition storage facilities, the piers, etc.
Fleets should be supplied by the Naval Bases within their area of operation. By the Naval Bases within their range. The bigger the Fleet is, the bigger the Naval Base capacity needed. So the more ships you pile in to an area, the more naval base capacity you need to supply them. If you go over the capacity in an area then you should start getting some form of maluses and debufffs to the Fleet. Which you would fix by building bigger/more Naval Bases or removing some of the ships from the area.
I also think you should only be able to build Naval Dockyards in provinces where you have at least 1 Naval Base. And when they are built they will be physically located at the Naval Base. If there is more than 1 Naval Base in the State then you choose at which Naval Base the Naval Dockyard will be located. It doesn't make sense that currently Naval Dockyards are randomly magically spread over a province like they are land factories. Naval Dockyards are something that are located at Ports. Ships aren't built inland.
I've been reading about the St. Nazaire Raid and it made me realize that there are different types of ports/docks in real life. And they had different capabilities and capacity. Large drydocks are needed to work on large ships for example. Huge Battleships can't be worked on at little ports without big drydocks. I think the bigger the ship is, the bigger the Naval Base needed to repair it. So a huge Battleship or Carrier couldn't be repaired at a small Naval Base. It could require at least a level 5 Naval Base for example. Heavy Cruisers could require a level 4 etc.
More information; the British in a famous raid blew up the drydock at St. Nazaire and so any large German warship in need of repair had to run the gauntlet of the English Channel to get to a port on the German coast.
I think these changes would also help with the naval doomstack issue as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid
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