This week I'll talk a bit about what we are doing with naval warfare in Semper Fi. It is a pretty broad subject, but let's start with the Naval AI. In HoI3, the AI is not keen on invading multiple targets at once. Each theatre focuses on a single target, preferably the enemy homeland. Moreover, it does not stage troops as close to the target as possible. This worked reasonably well for D-Day type invasions, but not at all for the Pacific Theatre. In Semper Fi, the Invasion AI uses brand new algorithms designed to handle multiple targets at once, with proper staging. It will also prefer to invade enemy targets close to home first, which results in the island hopping we would expect in the Pacific. A related change concerns AI use of paratroops; previously they would only be used to support naval invasions, but now the AI will use paratroops to, for example, take vulnerable islands on their own, if judged prudent. As for naval warfare in general, the AI will maintain larger taskforces and be more aware of their movements at all times, whereas in HoI3 it tends to just give fleets orders and then let the order logic sort them out.
However, we have done more than just improve the AI. Naval combat has been rebalanced, mainly to address the issue with huge super fleets. Players are now ill advised to stack 10 battleships into a single fleet and sailing around swatting everything, all due to the reworked stacking penalty system. Fleets now get a positioning malus for every point of hull size above a certain limit, mitigated by commander skill. Unreasonably huge fleets suffer a crippling penalty, meaning their targeting becomes very poor, and they are also liable to take more damage. There will also be a malus for fleets that lack a proper screen of destroyers or light cruisers, making unescorted capital ships more vulnerable to subs and naval bombardment.
Now, as a little bonus, I can reveal that we are working on some changes to the supply system. Specifically, it will be possible to set up convoys between points in your home area, thus injecting supplies directly into distant ports, even if there is a land connection to your capital. The example convoy in the screenshot between Los Angeles and San Francisco is of course pointless, but you get the principle; say that Italy holds the entire Mediterranean coast down to Alexandria. In that case, a convoy between Taranto and Alexandria should be quite helpful. Same thing with a German convoy from Kiel to a conquered Archangelsk, etc.
That about sums it up for today. Next week: Battle Events and Triggered Modifiers.
However, we have done more than just improve the AI. Naval combat has been rebalanced, mainly to address the issue with huge super fleets. Players are now ill advised to stack 10 battleships into a single fleet and sailing around swatting everything, all due to the reworked stacking penalty system. Fleets now get a positioning malus for every point of hull size above a certain limit, mitigated by commander skill. Unreasonably huge fleets suffer a crippling penalty, meaning their targeting becomes very poor, and they are also liable to take more damage. There will also be a malus for fleets that lack a proper screen of destroyers or light cruisers, making unescorted capital ships more vulnerable to subs and naval bombardment.
Now, as a little bonus, I can reveal that we are working on some changes to the supply system. Specifically, it will be possible to set up convoys between points in your home area, thus injecting supplies directly into distant ports, even if there is a land connection to your capital. The example convoy in the screenshot between Los Angeles and San Francisco is of course pointless, but you get the principle; say that Italy holds the entire Mediterranean coast down to Alexandria. In that case, a convoy between Taranto and Alexandria should be quite helpful. Same thing with a German convoy from Kiel to a conquered Archangelsk, etc.
That about sums it up for today. Next week: Battle Events and Triggered Modifiers.
