Ship Equip Guide! (Image Heavy )

[sterrius]

For ASW.

Just Spam DD´s I with only 1 depth charge I. Cheap as possible. (Gun 1 and no sonar/radar).
Stack them in groups of 20+ trying always to have 5+ groups.

Don´t worry about hunting the subs. The convoys will teleport and scare the subs anyway keeping the losses minimal.

Only start to worry about finding subs if they start to use large quantitys of Submarines III. Usually something you will only see in MP on the very rare german players that care about naval and only after 1940.

By them you will have CL´s 1940.

You will be vulnerable to surface raider fleets as they can beat the DD`s. But as long you have a ok patrol + Strike team to deal fast with them you should easily replace any losses. (if the surface fleet is too low you just add CL´s and CA´s to the escort fleets for a time).

a DDI with just 1 depth charge usually can be build in 20 days with 10 dockyards. So with 30+ you can basically mass produce them

 

[cnwi]

Just Spam DD´s I with 1 depth charge

Note that DD with no depth charge modules still have 1 depth charge attack, which is sufficient to make subs flee, and thus be a successful convoy escort.

 

[sterrius]

Note that DD with no depth charge modules still have 1 depth charge attack, which is sufficient to make subs flee, and thus be a successful convoy escort.

With 1 depth charge I they can kill a submarine here and there as long you keep the stacks above size 20. They have one shot before the submarine starts to flee.

Without it they can scare subs but can´t kill them.

1800IC (cost to place 1 depth charge in 20 ships) allowing you to kill submarines of 800+IC every week is a very low price .

 

[CrazyZombie]

With 1 depth charge I they can kill a submarine here and there as long you keep the stacks above size 20. They have one shot before the submarine starts to flee.

Without it they can scare subs but can´t kill them.

1800IC (cost to place 1 depth charge in 20 ships) allowing you to kill submarines of 800+IC every week is a very low price .

And what if I create a submarine-hunter cruiser, with 3 depth charges , 2 planes, sonar and speed about 40 knots?

 

[Vohen]

And what if I create a submarine-hunter cruiser, with 3 depth charges , 2 planes, sonar and speed about 40 knots?

From my understanding, more than 2 depth charges is wasteful because with two you can already one shot subs, a third one will pretty much do nothing.
A sub hunter cruiser should work well in combination with a few destroyers on patrol, for their good sub detection from planes and speed.
Don't put them on escort though, since in escorting quantity > quality, so you want as many ships as possible, and as such, destroyers are more optimal.

 

[Cavalry]

Can I add sub to escort? To have the number needed?

What happen if I add sub to strike force? Do them slow them down?

 

[Liquid Ghost]

Here, take a look at my most recent designs for Light Cruisers. Like OP, these are all based on 1940 Hulls.

Spoiler: Main Light Cruiser

This cruiser is meant to be part of a battle fleet as a screen. It has plenty of Light Attack to blow up destroyers by way of all those light cruiser batteries. Unlike OP, I did cough up the extra for Radar III hence the great attack numbers. It is however expensive. I'm expecting to use around two of these on every battle fleet.

Spoiler: Patrol/Anti-Sub Cruiser

Initially I was going to create both a design intended for patrolling and a different one to combat submarines, but then I noticed that the variants I came up with were very close and I didn't think it was worth having two different production lines, so I just combined both. Two scouting planes plus Radar III give this variant a very good surface detection, throw in Sonar II and it's sub detection is on par with most destroyers. Two Depth Charges stations give it plenty of power against submarines.

I expect to use this variant a lot more than the previous one. First, they will lead my patrol squadrons, they are very fast so getting away from danger is always an option. Second, they will lead my convoy escort squadrons, they are good at detecting submarines and they are not without Light Attack in case they run into a surface raiding party and face them - as long as there's no capital ship involved, of course. Finally, they will have some degree of presence on my battle fleets screening for submarines.

This variant is cheaper, but the Light Cruiser and secondary batteries could be downgraded to I to make it even cheaper.

Spoiler: AA Cruiser

Fly-swatter. This cruiser does nothing but kill airplanes. Hence their role is to be part of the battle fleet protecting the capital ships from air threats.

I have yet to test these variants out on the sea, but I like how they look on paper. Any thoughts?

 

[Cavalry]

Here, take a look at my most recent designs for Light Cruisers. Like OP, these are all based on 1940 Hulls.

Spoiler: Main Light Cruiser

This cruiser is meant to be part of a battle fleet as a screen. It has plenty of Light Attack to blow up destroyers by way of all those light cruiser batteries. Unlike OP, I did cough up the extra for Radar III hence the great attack numbers. It is however expensive. I'm expecting to use around two of these on every battle fleet.

View attachment 464434​

Spoiler: Patrol/Anti-Sub Cruiser

Initially I was going to create both a design intended for patrolling and a different one to combat submarines, but then I noticed that the variants I came up with were very close and I didn't think it was worth having two different production lines, so I just combined both. Two scouting planes plus Radar III give this variant a very good surface detection, throw in Sonar II and it's sub detection is on par with most destroyers. Two Depth Charges stations give it plenty of power against submarines.

I expect to use this variant a lot more than the previous one. First, they will lead my patrol squadrons, they are very fast so getting away from danger is always an option. Second, they will lead my convoy escort squadrons, they are good at detecting submarines and they are not without Light Attack in case they run into a surface raiding party and face them - as long as there's no capital ship involved, of course. Finally, they will have some degree of presence on my battle fleets screening for submarines.

This variant is cheaper, but the Light Cruiser and secondary batteries could be downgraded to I to make it even cheaper.

View attachment 464441​

Spoiler: AA Cruiser

Fly-swatter. This cruiser does nothing but kill airplanes. Hence their role is to be part of the battle fleet protecting the capital ships from air threats.

View attachment 464448​

I have yet to test these variants out on the sea, but I like how they look on paper. Any thoughts?

Fleet CL should have at least one torpedo. After killing all their screen, your hero ship should not become useless but enjoy launching torpedos at their capitals!

AA should spread to other ships, because they directly protect the ship with AA and only 20% of it AA value contribute to Fleet AA to prevent damage on other ship. You can refit old BB with extra AA when fight against carriers.

For best CL, rush the Light Cruiser gun III and Dual Purpose gun, and the light ammo tech. Use best gun and AA, even radar, don't save! If you want numbers, add DD.

I also plan to build the armored CL too, but it will take a long time! Let's pay attention to see if they get hit by torpedoes too often?

 

[demeruis]

Is radar helpfull for a strike force CL?

 

[Cavalry]

Is radar helpfull for a strike force CL?

High level radar give + attack%.
Low level radar. We still didn't know much about the mechanic yet. So use the best on CL and the cheap or no radar on DD. Also the strike force can detect the enemy too, without your patrol or when your patron is away.

 

[sterrius]

Is radar helpfull for a strike force CL?

radar III or more yes. Radar I and II only gives detection.

 

[ssb]

That ship would only work if it was in a fleet with others of itself because detection averages out for all ships on recon duty within a taskforce

Is there any way to see the values for stats that are fleet-wide, such as detection, visibility, range, etc? I've been trying to figure out how to see this, rather than clicking on every single ship and calculating it manually while praying that I didn't use the incorrect equation.

 

[Liquid Ghost]

Fleet CL should have at least one torpedo. After killing all their screen, your hero ship should not become useless but enjoy launching torpedos at their capitals!

That's not a bad idea. It would make the variant a bit cheaper too.

AA should spread to other ships, because they directly protect the ship with AA and only 20% of it AA value contribute to Fleet AA to prevent damage on other ship.

[citation needed]

 

[Vohen]

[citation needed]

Here's your citation: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...combat-mechanics.1156364/page-3#post-25215451

 

[Roostergod]

does that catapult give buffs in combat, or does it only help with finding enemy fleets before battle?

 

[Cavalry]

does that catapult give buffs in combat, or does it only help with finding enemy fleets before battle?

They give surface and sub detection. The use of detection in battle still not clear, but CL is a big investment and the smallest ship can use them. So give CL at least one every time, best radar too.

You can cut sonar and radar on strike force DD, so more reason to give catapult and radar to CL, just in case a sub appears!
And many time when the enemy main fleet was defeated, you may want to give CL other task. Modern CL is rare.

 

[Cavalry]

Also on ship design, remember the bunch of the major navy power is the old ships old armor, old guns. So new high armor and low level gun still looks good, if you have to make choice. Just design ship according to who is your enemy.

 

[Roostergod]

They give surface and sub detection. The use of detection in battle still not clear, but CL is a big investment and the smallest ship can use them. So give CL at least one every time, best radar too.

You can cut sonar and radar on strike force DD, so more reason to give catapult and radar to CL, just in case a sub appears!
And many time when the enemy main fleet was defeated, you may want to give CL other task. Modern CL is rare.

I understand this, I'm wondering if there's any point in putting catapults the capital ships of my strike force, since they don't need to look for the enemy themselves.

 

[billcorr]

Fly-swatter. This cruiser does nothing but kill airplanes. Hence their role is to be part of the battle fleet protecting the capital ships from air threats.

The fly-swatter design theoretically can destroy up to 17.5% of the attacking airplanes, if I interpreted Bitmode's working draft for the wiki-entry (AFAIK, this is a work in progress).

https://hoi4.paradoxwikis.com/User:Bitmode/naval_warfare#Units
(very nice work, @bitmode. Thank you and others who have put time into trying to understand and explain the game mechanics).

Ship AA defense[edit]
When a ship gets targeted by an air wing, it will try to shoot back. Against non-kamikaze wings the ship's chance to shoot back is (90%+50%*(90% - 1%*<wing's agility>)) * 20%. If the attacker performs a kamikaze attack, the ship can always shoot back and its AA attack gets increased by 2. The highest possible number of planes that can be shot down is .5% of planes times the ship's AA attack. The effective number of planes shot down is a random number between 0 and this maximum. The losses are increased to 400% for kamikaze strikes.
​

The FlySwatter's air attack is 35.1

0.5% = .005

If "The highest possible number of planes that can be shot down is .5% of planes times the ship's AA attack" , then

.005 x 35.1 air attack = .17

= 17% of the attacking planes can be shot down (max)

 

[Cavalry]

= 17% of the attacking planes can be shot down (max)

They only shoot the planes attack on them. The planes will prefer capital ships, not light cruisers.
Some can test to put AA on CA to trap planes, to see if it is efficiency as land AA before. But probably not!

This cruiser AA for test
- CA version to work behind screen line
- No armor to increase speed to dodge fire from heavy gun. Not sure if speed help in air attack.
Almost any heavy gun can pierce cruiser armor any way.