WITP Admirals Edition

[undercovergeek]

I find it hard to gauge these things for value or effectiveness. Or am I asking the age old question here the Cmdrs of old had to find out by just trying as well? ;)

thats pretty much it - on the forum itself they usually stick to the old addage that attack needs to be 3 times defence for boots on the ground - so you need your recon up and out before you land

same for shore bombardment - it will be more effective when you have reconned the site

as for numbers you may as well take as much as you can for shore bombardment - but then you need to figure what the best range is, destroyers need to be closer then BBs - its very very harsh on ammo numbers, youll need a good port nearby to restock

[Herman Hum]

Bombarding a small base; how many ships do I send in. Assaulting that base, how many boots on the ground?

I agree with UGeek: Bring It ALL when bombarding.  Also, the 3:1 invasion ratio is the minimum.  I try to bring even more for Shock and Awe.  All this is just personal experience.

I find it hard to gauge these things for value or effectiveness. Or am I asking the age old question here the Cmdrs of old had to find out by just trying as well? ;)

Unfortunately, I had to just figure out many of my tactics through trial and error.  There just doesn't seem to be many places to find specific information.  For example, if I try to assemble an Amphibious task force with ships that do not have amphibious capability (i.e. xAK & xAP), I generally gather 10x the required amount of cargo and personnel capacity required.  This is the only way to get them to unload in any respectable time period.  Otherwise, they sit at the target forever.

Also, when loading the Amphibious/Cargo TFs, you can hit the Verify Load command to see if you have sufficient capacity in the TF to load the unit(s) you selected.  However, I find that it is not accurate.  Even though the game says that all your units should load, I often find that there are (usually) motorized support elements that simply get left behind.  My method for ensuring that an entire unit loads onto the ships is to have an additional 15-20% excess capacity or else things get left behind (and broken units do not fight as well as complete units.)

All of this is just learning it the hard way since I haven't found any specific source for details such as these.  If you are the Allied side, you will have lots of time to practice small invasions and lose plenty of replaceable units.

[Yskonyn]

Solid advice, thanks.

I am ploughing my way through the manual with the Coral Sea scenario to get stuff into my head in more bite-sized pieces. I will then continue with the Guadalcanal scenario and if I am still hanging in there after it, I will try the GC.

More questions will surely follow.

[undercovergeek]

wuss, roll up sleeves and jump into GC - whats the worse that could happen?

[Herman Hum]

I am ploughing my way through the manual with the Coral Sea scenario to get stuff into my head in more bite-sized pieces. I will then continue with the Guadalcanal scenario and if I am still hanging in there after it, I will try the GC.

After Guadalcanal, you might like to try slightly bigger scenarios like Marianas and then Operation Downfall.  Downfall is a bear, but only lasts one year.  It includes lots of invasion planning and logistics, but is smaller (one step below, IMO) than a grand campaign.

[Nefaro]

depends on what you want to do - i found a hunter TF for finding unescorted or lightly escorted convoys best made up of 3 of my fastest DDs and one fast cruiser

You send such little surface attack TFs to attack enemy shipping?!  How do they not get attacked and destroyed by enemy aircraft regularly?  Or is that far less likely since AE has these new-fangled search zones that restrict the direction they can can cover every day?

[undercovergeek]

i always played the IJN - 3 of these TFs circulating round the Phillipines and Borneo would decimate any evacuation attempts and any convoys trying to get reinforcements into balikpapan and palembang

[MengJiao]

depends on what you want to do - i found a hunter TF for finding unescorted or lightly escorted convoys best made up of 3 of my fastest DDs and one fast cruiser

You send such little surface attack TFs to attack enemy shipping?!  How do they not get attacked and destroyed by enemy aircraft regularly?  Or is that far less likely since AE has these new-fangled search zones that restrict the direction they can can cover every day?

early in the War, most Allied air squadrons are so under-trained that they rarely spot anything and if they do they rarely locate, coordinate and attack and if they attack they rarely hit anything.

Of course there are eventually exceptions, but even then CLs and DDs are not likely to be the victims -- I can recall a B-17 hitting a Japanese CVL off the Phillipines and maybe a Dutch torpedo plane hitting a cargo ship.  Allied Submarines are relatively effective (even the S-class uses the Mark 10 torp and so can get hits as can the Dutch) and allied surface forces in the DEI will eventually do some serious damage, I've always found.

[Nefaro]

i always played the IJN - 3 of these TFs circulating round the Phillipines and Borneo would decimate any evacuation attempts and any convoys trying to get reinforcements into balikpapan and palembang

That explains it.  You're playing the Japanese.  I thought you were sending Allied ones in to raid their convoys, like subs.  :o

[SgtRock]

Pilot training has become a major factor in WITP campaigns, it's almost a game onto itself.

[jomni]

You can also ignore it just like search arcs.

[undercovergeek]

You can also ignore it just like search arcs.

this,

i havent been down there for years (matrix witp forum) but the last time i was there were quite a few threads saying micromanaged arcs and training had very little advantage over just leaving it be

[jejo68]

You can also ignore it just like search arcs.

this,

i havent been down there for years (matrix witp forum) but the last time i was there were quite a few threads saying micromanaged arcs and training had very little advantage over just leaving it be

In my experience training has a huge impact. Early on when my fighterpilots had 40 skills in air they got shot Down regulary, now that they are in the 70+ with def. also in atleast top 60' I rarely Loose a plane.
Also as Allied  army pilot you have 2 types of bombers, twin and four engine. I usually train my twin engine for low level naval attack and they are devastating if you dont have fighter cover for your ships, but the key is to get them to skill 70+. Four engines rarely hit due to flying higher but sometimes they do and boom :).

As Japan you have some really good naval bombers also. I especially hate the torp carrying types. nasty critters although if you get some fightercover up they are dead dead dead :)

[Yskonyn]

Next question;

How do I observe range for weapons and aircraft on the map?
So, for example I want to use TF1 to intercept an enemy TF, but at standoff range. How can I translate weapon range and / or aircraft attack range in relation to the hexes on the map?

Do ranges on the aircraft info screen include heading back to base? E.g. if the shown endurance is 12 hexes, the effective range from ship to target and back is 5 or 6 (I am not sure if the game accounts for operational errors, making effective range a little less then max divided by two?)?

[undercovergeek]

Next question;

How do I observe range for weapons and aircraft on the map?
So, for example I want to use TF1 to intercept an enemy TF, but at standoff range. How can I translate weapon range and / or aircraft attack range in relation to the hexes on the map?

i dont think its worked out like this - a TF intercepts and then within the battle itself the AI sorts the ranges itself, BBs will open up from afar and DDs will close to launch torpedos etc - IIRC the ranges are just for bombardment TFs - i may be wrong, its been a while and may have changed

as for aircraft ranges i think the fuel and range always takes into account the plane getting back, you will never lose planes to out of fuel as long as there was enough for them to take off with