How to send ships?

[Timskorn]

HC, or Edwin, any idea on how to include ships in a plan? I'm doing my US North Africa invasion, but I can't get any ships to head over there. Ideally I'd like them to send a couple ships ahead of the invasion force. Do amphib plans take into consideration nearby sea units as well?

I also saw that the US sent their Eisenhower HQ to the UK, but never dropped it off in France for D-Day. I'd venture to guess that HQ's move ok if doing a normal transport, but seem to be broken if part of an amphib plan. BTW, I finally managed to get 7 units to land for D-Day (mid-1943). 4 UK units and 3 US units, on top of the 3 the US sent to North Africa. Good stuff!

[Hubert Cater]

At present ships are not included in the scripting but this is something I am working to correct. I haven't fully decided yet but I am thinking to make some things automatic like having ships automatically escort SEA_TRANSPORT or AMPHIBIOUS plans as well as additional scripting for naval units in general.

For HQs, I'm not sure if this made the original PLAN notes but HQs are not included in AMPHIBIOUS plans but rather SEA_TRANSPORT plans only. This is intentional and a way to make sure that AMPHIBIOUS plans have been successful before sending over an HQ.

For example, writing up hypothetical scripts for a 1944 campaign you could send an amphibous assault and then check to see if an objective has been captured such as Brest. Once it has a follow up script for SEA_TRANSPORT could then be included to send over an HQ. This follow up script must be a minimum #SIZE=1 and then an HQ unit will automatically be assigned on top of the original SEA_TRANSPORT unit... so essentially you still need at least one non-HQ unit to send as part of the SEA_TRANSPORT plan. Hopefully this makes sense.

[Timskorn]

Ah, thanks very much for the clarification Hubert. Makes my life a lot easier with less guessing.

Hmm...I can see both the pro's and con's with not sending an HQ over until an objective is met. The good thing is that an HQ won't get dropped off first and bushwacked, or get in the way of offensive units. The con is if the attack fails to get the objective within a few turns, the lack of supplies will make them ripe for a turkey shoot if the player decides to counter-attack. At any rate, this helps in deciding how to plan amphib attacks! More units!

As for the sending of naval vessels, I noticed the US sent ships with the transports that were sent to the UK. Not sure why they went.

[Hubert Cater]

Not sure, they could have been looking for Axis subs and in this case it was just coincidental.

[Timskorn]

Ah, that's probably it, thanks.

[Edwin P.]

Good news about additional scripting for naval units in general. Why? If the Axis takes Gibraltar I would like to be able to send the Italian Fleet through to the Atlantic or have the UK move its Mediterranena fleet to the Atlantic.

Example:

Allied Opening Naval Strategy:

30% Hunt German Subs in Atlantic

20% Sink Italian Fleet - Send French and UK Fleets to Central Mediterranean to attack Italian Fleets when Italy enters the War

20% Prepare Defense of Eastern Med - i.e. Ambush the Italian Navy and Transports when they enter the Eastern Mediterranean.

30% Concentrate Allied Fleets in Atlantic - i.e move UK fleets from Mediterranean to the Atlantic

I would also like the option to script operating air units from the UK to Egypt or Malta or Gibraltar to support the Allied Fleets (be they UK or French).

[ April 28, 2006, 07:03 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]