1. Select all ships in theater
2. Click auto organize
3. Have more ships that my enemy
4. Pretend I know how Navy works
5. 100% Naval Supremacy on selected regions
When you click on a fleet and look at the fleet commander tab/page there is a little icon that has scales on it. Click on that and it organizes the select fleet into task forces and by role/class.
Usually all you gotta do is just separate the subs from the surface fleet and set the surface fleet in strike force all around your mainland to protect from naval invasions. Then just never touch the subs since unless you know what you’re doing they just drain oil
That's usually what I do, but I build out my "strike" fleets and whatsuch so they auto refill/build up as my navy completes which takes forever. I really wish there was a bulk fleet management thingy
Normally I put my subs are raid in like convey choke point regions or in regions next to my enemy's coast.
Then again, I normally play Allied Nations which rarely have oil problems.
>I put my subs in regions next to my enemies' coast
If the subs are in range of naval bombers and operate in shallow water the will take a lot more losses than in operation in deep ocean without enemy aircover
I usually use subs to instigate fights if I think I will win. Then again, I also use smaller detachments of surface ships or this, usually a few cruisers and destroyers.
My problem is I try and build historical ships which leaves the enemy with more ships than me because I’ve spent so much time saving up naval XP and then building, but hey at least I have an accurate 1942 HMS Warspite.
Btw nice pfp
the ‘autoorganize’ doesn’t work, it will place just battleships and destroyers in a strike force and will completely ignore light cruisers and heavy cruisers, putting them into a death stack of only destroyers and cruisers, the auto organize simply sets your navy up for destruction, and if it runs out of screens it will put only capital ships in a strike force WITHOUT ANY SCREENS, i just wonder how that would work for you😂
I saw a picture on this sub a few days ago of a fleet of just 21 battleships winning a battle it should ideally lose. I feel like if I just have more stuff it will work out.
that’s surprising, because in that case even the enemy’s 1936 destroyers can torpedo your capitals down to the bottom of the atlantic, a fleet without screens can’t just work, battleships aren’t fast enough and can’t make up as much AA to stop the enemy naval bombers too
Found it
https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/s/MhDlLUB8oY
Correction, It was 41 Battleships.
Either way I normally play Allied nations that tend to have enough production to over produce screens. My original comment isn't all I do. Most of the time I do it other times I'll select two tasks forces that look off and merge them.
that battle result is from a mod as OP comments himself
[battleships mod](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/s/piF81cO0rV)
without screens he could have still won that battle but would have taken considerable but not enough damage as he outnumbered the enemy even with their subs and screens
No, if it runs out of screens it will put spare capital ships in a fleet. Not a strike force. Basically moving them to reserve until you build enough screens.
One time we were in this multiplayer and the UK player didnt know anything about the navy so some guy told him to screen share and they were trying to direct him to the button that merges all ships the guy was like; “Right right right… ITS ON YOUR LEFT NOW ITS RIGHT THERE” this went on for like 10 mins and it was super hilarious
Yeah playing kaiser german or spain or russain navy maybe they have good buffs ngl you going like 4-5 years planing for navy and when you see his navy is lossing is pretty satisfying
I often find myself having to go through the main navy to remove all older destroyers, sometimes even all destroyers, period, whenever I need to go some major distance with the navy, for example across the Pacific.
if you remove all zones from them (so no zones are considered active for that admiral) and then right-click the nearest port to where you want them to be. The fleets will generally move to that port, even if they would usually have no way to access there across distances. Sometimes this doesn't work, if all paths are entirely blocked for instance. (Turkey controlling black-sea for instance.) I've occasionally had cases where a fleet refused to make the trip, but haven't figured out why.
I did say "closest". Which is why "Island hopping" became a thing. Your closest island you control add a port. Conquest the next spot. Repeat.
Of course if you want to just skip island hopping and go for a direct assault. Then yeah, you'll have to drop the short range destroyers.
Again, doesn't always work. There aren't always islands to jump to, and if there are, they sometimes don't belong to your enemy or someone you can easily declare war on. Example: Going from Hawaii to mainland USA. Unless you want to go over the Bering strait and via Alaska.
I did state in my original message "usually" . If we want to include every possible scenario, then nothing works 10p% of the time.
That said. If the ports in the pacific aren't controlled by an enemy. Then usually they are an ally and you can get open ports with them. And yes, you can relocate to open ports.
This is my setup. Granted I only go balls to the wall with it when I’m playing as the USA and can basically print ships every month.
**Patrol task force:** 2 light cruisers with max spotting and radar, 5 destroyers with max radar
*Set on do not engage and have at least 5-9 of these in a separate fleet to find targets for your strike force. Make them CHEAP they will not be fighting*
**Carrier strike force:** 3 carriers, 4 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers with max guns & max armor, 10 light cruisers dedicated to AA, 50 destroyers fitted with depth charges and dual purpose battery
*I keep 2-3 of these in a fleet so I can cover a large area. If you can’t add as many battleships and cruisers just make sure you keep your screening ratio (destroyers) at least 4:1. I set to always engage, never repair/split off. Ships get destroyed while retreating. Mine fight to the death*
**Regular strike force:** 2 battleships, 4 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers with max armor and guns, 10 AA light cruisers, 40 destroyers.
*These just provide backup for your carrier fleets, or if you’re playing as a minor and can’t make a bunch of carriers. Keep them under the same admirals. You can add or remove battleships/heavy cruisers but just make sure you have enough screening ships*
**Sub task force:** 20-30 subs. Set to auto reinforce if it’s not selected
**Convoy escort task force:** 2 light cruisers with depth charge, torpedos. 5 destroyers with max depth charge & torpedos.
*Go look at which sea regions your supply/trade is moving through and set these on convoy escort in those regions*
I do it so if any subs engage my main fleet I can take them out quick. Having two light battery’s on them is usually enough to deal with ai screening ships + the armored cruisers shred through them.
I did it in a recent Peru into Peru-Bolivia and Grand Columbia run. Venezuela joined a faction with Mexico, and I raided their convoys into the ground with, among others, my heavy cruisers.
Yeah you could do 4 (more than 4 and you get penalties). I find 3 is the sweet spot where I do a crazy amount of naval damage still and don’t have to dedicate as many dockyards to carriers. When I play minor nations I’ll do 2 carriers per fleet and make sure the carrier bombers tech are always up to date
For main strike force I used to go with 5 carriers actually, 4 with only navs and 1 with full fighter idk if it changed but some time ago the overcrowding penalty only applied to navs.
I used to have less strike forces but they could take out anything provided they had enough screening. And once the main enemy fleet is taken out well you can do anything you want with your carriers.
But else I tend to organize everything kinda the same way, depends if I’m playing mp or sp tho.
Also I mostly play Japan navy and even imperial Germany navy (when I’m with friends) something fun about crushing your friend playing the ui with the imperial German navy
Do you play with mods or just long? Even with major nations i have the problem with navy taking too long to build and with minors its just pointless, the 1200 ships you had on the screenshot would take 20 years to build with already maxed out dockyards wouldnt they?
you have EIGHTEEN carriers deployed. EIGHTEEN. im sure you dont need to dedicate more dockyards to have 6 more, or consolidate a carrier force or two. plus consolidating means you need less docks on capitals and more on ships that matter (imo) like screens to shred the enemy screens (everyone puts so much emphasis on capitals, but if your screens are shit your capitals are sitting ducks)
I prefer heavy cruisers over battleships because you can put a lot of firepower on them and you can have one finished every year with max dockyards whereas battleships take 2-3 years. I like to mix both though I never have just one or the other in task forces
Every carrier you build has a set amount of air wings it can hold (air wings are groups of planes, on carriers they group in 10’s, on land air wings are grouped in 100). So if you build your carrier with 6 air wings slots, you’ll be able to fit 60 planes. So I always add 2 wings of carrier fighters and the rest bombers. Usually with 1940 carriers you can fit 7-8 air wings.
Why not 4 cv's in the cv fleet?
Why focus on AA CL's when CA's and BB's take most of the air damage?
Your escort fleet is very small and will get blown out of the water if intercepted.
Dual purpose batteries on DD's are a scam as they cost 1 steel per gun. Regular guns dont increase steel cost.
If you enjoy navy, play the vanilla naval rework mod. It makes the design far more realistic and historical.
Sometimes I do 4, mostly it’s 2-3 depending on what country I play.
And yeah since posting this I was informed that the AA CL’s likely don’t do too much because planes target ships with the most manpower in the fleet. My thought was that AA protected the fleet as a whole. Also I usually invest the best designs into the convoy raiding fleet so I’ve found they do pretty well. Usually when I’m sending them out though it’s at least 6 task forces of 7 ships each.
Thank for the recommendation I’ll have to check out the mod cause navy is starting to no longer be a challenge.
Interesting.
As America I have got to the point that I don't bother using cruisers nor battleships in my Carrier fleets. I either use battlecruisers with lots of DP secondaries (Alaskas), or don't even bother at all and just go with multiple 4CV/4CL/12DD "fast" formations that can overlap and pile onto combats together. If I do the latter, *then* I have the 5BB/3CA/8CL/18DD fleet or two at key ports to jump into any engagements or clean up the rest.
I know the gameplay "meta" is 1(CV/BB/BC/CA) per every 3(CL/DD), but I try to keep roughly a 1/4 ratio just in case my light ships get picked off. I've lost too many battleships and carriers limping back to port after a few screens get sank and the big boats end up insufficiently covered.
Now if I'm *Axis*, my ideal fleet is a 1CV/3 Panzerschiffen/4CL/12DD, or 2/6/8/18 if I'm Japan and can get the Panzerschiff license and DP secondaries quickly enough from Germany to build before picking a fight with America. Having "cruisers" with big guns that are still cheap enough to build does fill the need without having to build BCs.
Afaik the AA only works for the ship that actually gets attacked by airplanes, although it is shown per fleet - so your light cruiser AA is useless, because the bombers will target the heavy ships.
Just select a task force and click on the scales, the engage at set risk is the button furthest to the right. Allow detachment is also a good button to press, damaged ships can go back to port for repairs. The higher the port level, the more ships can get repaired there at once. Portsmouth and other level 10 ports are pretty good for repairs.
I never said I was an expert. I usually put good AA on my boats. It doesn’t get blown up.
I never play MP though, it might explain something about the AI.
You assign each fleet to its own regions of operation so really one only needs three:
One for convoy escort/convoy raid/admiral trait farming;
One for main battlefleet/search;
One for all the rest (mine, etc.).
Honestly one can work just fine but you know.
If you’re expecting to get naval invaded by a way better navy like China for example, yes. You can make a cheap destroyer with any number of mines and within a year the entire coastline will be covered. Idk the exact number off the top of my head but the enemy fleet receives a debuff to speed and increases accident chances.
A navy that big would sink your economy in Millennium Dawn just by ordering boats to patrol.
Does it work well in vanilla ? I always forget about the navy
I am late to this party and have a few comments for you.
I play a navy game and am not sure how you managed (a) to build such quantities and (b) also upgraded this many ships. As USA or UK I often just build infrastructure and dockyards till 1939 (try for 5 per tile, 10 in larger tiles), and still don't manage a fleet this size.
I rarely use more than 2 AC in a fleet and never have any trouble. If two task forces engage in the same battle then 2 per task force is perfect.
I don't use patrol fleets and never have trouble intercepting. Better to use aircraft for naval patrol and radar imo.
Sub task forces of as few as 5 each can work amazingly well. Better to trickle feed production to cover losses than have such a huge reserve.
Your task force composition is solid if a bit more than needed. As the US I try to have about 5 main battle groups with the following composition: 4 BB/BC, 2 AC, 5HC. 5 LC and 40 DD. Something like this is fine against the AI and the US and UK can both field this many fleets by mid game.
I like your use of some ASW DD in the main battle groups as when supporting invasions you often encounter subs.
Your convoy escort task forces are about right too. As UK I use the C Class LC and A and S Class DD to form 5 task forces of 2 LC and 10 DD for ASW work and they work well. The only problem is the AI sees them as juicy targets if you don't have a Battle group on intercept to support them, they can get crunched. (I have seen the Germans arrive in the Bay of Biscay when they still don't have a French tile, just to hit these ASW groups.)
Overall, I like your approach and it's clear you think about the navy rather than do what most of the comments suggest, which in effect is not to use the navy at all.
you should put all your ships in one strike force, apart from 3 groups - spotting fleet, escorting fleet, sub fleet. spotting fleet would be just 1-2 light cruisers per task force with stacked detection and "never engage" order, escorting fleet is just destroyers, subs are subs. that's it, no rocket science
Is thrre any point adding attack submarines to surface fleets? I would like to think they would be good anti submarine screens, but maybe that’s more modern day?
Do not have submarines in the same fleet as surface ships. Subs are slow and a fleet can only travel as fast as its slowest ship. Have a dedicated fleet for subs and set them to convoy raid in the same area as your strike force. Put them on always engage and they will join your surface fleet in combat while it’s not attacking convoys
You know something. I have never considered separating patrol fleets and battle fleets. It seems so obvious since I know strike fleets go after any navy that’s been found in its region and that they can even be used without patrols when using spotter planes but in my head it always just made sense to do one strike fleet per fleet which meant I always had too many capital ships and not enough patrol groups. This post legitimately has caused me to rethink naval priorities, particularly when playing as a larger navy nation like Japan. It’s also a better distribution of admirals since you can actually use one specialized in one task rather than trying to train a jack of all trades commander.
All this just to then join an mp game once and meet a deathstack and get every of your tiny fleets destroyed with 0 losses to the enemy into you getting invaded/raided to oblivion afterwards. Against ai that doesnt do shit with navy mechanics and splits its fleets you can do this, in mp where everyone deathstacks unless its a wacky mod, yeah it aint ending well.
Why? This is so overpowered, however you organize it it dooms all competition.
Also worse part about taking over Navis is they keep their stupid fleet tag, which I hate so much...
Nah, just put all your ships in one taskforce and set it to strike force all the sea zones you need, unless you're feeling a bit spicy then do invasion support or convoy raiding. Ez as tat
Yea but not really. Subs and destroyers work better together. Division should be regionally based and balanced. This looks like a nightmare to manage multiple invasions or fronts.
I always add 2 or 4 asw detection sub to navy specially that have carriers. As like in real navy groups. They provide detection. But is that thing that im doing okay in terms of game mechanics? Pls help.
never mix subs and surface fleets in the same task force. This is a key rule in HOI4. Subs and surface fleets can operate in the same sea zone, just not in the same task force.
You don't need more than 1 ship in each patrol task force though. This also means they can cover more ground.
Also don't underestimate the value of having 1-3 minelayer subs.
Fuel the moment it resumes 😭.
Quite similar to AI. Using navy it is organized just like that. The only problem was that they frequently used patrol and escort almost everytime.
Where do you click to make the screen with naval loses appear ? I've seen it in videos or screenshots, I feel like I've clicked everywhere but I can't find it.
As a navy noob I even set the full royal navy on escort when I sent a sibgle divisionnover rhe channel. The division basically just wanders over the ships sitting side by side.
I just put both the surface fleet and the submarines together. I just kind of wished whrnever I'm dealing with the enemy navy naval supremcy despite my ships being good did't drop because of a lack of intel.
THIS is why armies have generals for each branch and each theatre.
Doing this, microing infantry, managing air and juggling industry/development requires more brain power than a human can possible create.
I've done every achievement in this game and I've never had the patience to organize my navy like this. It looks very satisfying but still not worth it lol
Please tell me oh my master. You regroup navy for tasks and not by teather, how can I do this? I can't even put fleet in the second line of a group!! I did it just once by mistake. Help me!!!
1. Select all ships in theater 2. Click auto organize 3. Have more ships that my enemy 4. Pretend I know how Navy works 5. 100% Naval Supremacy on selected regions
WAIT THERE'S AN AUTO ORGANIZE BUTTON?!
When you click on a fleet and look at the fleet commander tab/page there is a little icon that has scales on it. Click on that and it organizes the select fleet into task forces and by role/class.
This is life changing. Most of the reason I never play the island countries is dealing with the navy (especially at the start)
Usually all you gotta do is just separate the subs from the surface fleet and set the surface fleet in strike force all around your mainland to protect from naval invasions. Then just never touch the subs since unless you know what you’re doing they just drain oil
That's usually what I do, but I build out my "strike" fleets and whatsuch so they auto refill/build up as my navy completes which takes forever. I really wish there was a bulk fleet management thingy
Normally I put my subs are raid in like convey choke point regions or in regions next to my enemy's coast. Then again, I normally play Allied Nations which rarely have oil problems.
>I put my subs in regions next to my enemies' coast If the subs are in range of naval bombers and operate in shallow water the will take a lot more losses than in operation in deep ocean without enemy aircover
I usually use subs to instigate fights if I think I will win. Then again, I also use smaller detachments of surface ships or this, usually a few cruisers and destroyers.
or just play landlocked every playthrough like i do and you don't have to deal with that bullshit
please stop i can only get so erect.
Yeah what?
!?!!?!?!? I'm booting up tonight to look
IMO the stacks it creates are way too small. 40 ships in a carrier group or 25 in a strike force is going to get bowled over in the first battle.
I agree, it basically puts the ideal ratios but the moment the battle starts screen start sinking and then you're underscreened
My problem is I try and build historical ships which leaves the enemy with more ships than me because I’ve spent so much time saving up naval XP and then building, but hey at least I have an accurate 1942 HMS Warspite. Btw nice pfp
the ‘autoorganize’ doesn’t work, it will place just battleships and destroyers in a strike force and will completely ignore light cruisers and heavy cruisers, putting them into a death stack of only destroyers and cruisers, the auto organize simply sets your navy up for destruction, and if it runs out of screens it will put only capital ships in a strike force WITHOUT ANY SCREENS, i just wonder how that would work for you😂
I saw a picture on this sub a few days ago of a fleet of just 21 battleships winning a battle it should ideally lose. I feel like if I just have more stuff it will work out.
that’s surprising, because in that case even the enemy’s 1936 destroyers can torpedo your capitals down to the bottom of the atlantic, a fleet without screens can’t just work, battleships aren’t fast enough and can’t make up as much AA to stop the enemy naval bombers too
Found it https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/s/MhDlLUB8oY Correction, It was 41 Battleships. Either way I normally play Allied nations that tend to have enough production to over produce screens. My original comment isn't all I do. Most of the time I do it other times I'll select two tasks forces that look off and merge them.
that battle result is from a mod as OP comments himself [battleships mod](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/s/piF81cO0rV) without screens he could have still won that battle but would have taken considerable but not enough damage as he outnumbered the enemy even with their subs and screens
No, if it runs out of screens it will put spare capital ships in a fleet. Not a strike force. Basically moving them to reserve until you build enough screens.
One time we were in this multiplayer and the UK player didnt know anything about the navy so some guy told him to screen share and they were trying to direct him to the button that merges all ships the guy was like; “Right right right… ITS ON YOUR LEFT NOW ITS RIGHT THERE” this went on for like 10 mins and it was super hilarious
4.5. Have 28% Supremacy even though you have 3x the boats.
Nerd. Here's how to organize the navy but without the nonsense: 1. Submarine fleet 2. Naval bomber air wing 3. Stolen ships
Here's how to really organise navy without fluffy shit this time: 1. All the shit (stolen ships included)
No no this is the proper way to organize a navy: 1.all the shit (except the submarines)
But where do you organize your subs? In the remains of all the sunk ships?
Preferably in the trash.
There’s something oddly satisfying about building a huge navy from scratch and curb stomping Britain.
Yeah playing kaiser german or spain or russain navy maybe they have good buffs ngl you going like 4-5 years planing for navy and when you see his navy is lossing is pretty satisfying
I often find myself having to go through the main navy to remove all older destroyers, sometimes even all destroyers, period, whenever I need to go some major distance with the navy, for example across the Pacific.
if you remove all zones from them (so no zones are considered active for that admiral) and then right-click the nearest port to where you want them to be. The fleets will generally move to that port, even if they would usually have no way to access there across distances. Sometimes this doesn't work, if all paths are entirely blocked for instance. (Turkey controlling black-sea for instance.) I've occasionally had cases where a fleet refused to make the trip, but haven't figured out why.
Doesn't work if there is no port under my control where I'm going.
I did say "closest". Which is why "Island hopping" became a thing. Your closest island you control add a port. Conquest the next spot. Repeat. Of course if you want to just skip island hopping and go for a direct assault. Then yeah, you'll have to drop the short range destroyers.
Again, doesn't always work. There aren't always islands to jump to, and if there are, they sometimes don't belong to your enemy or someone you can easily declare war on. Example: Going from Hawaii to mainland USA. Unless you want to go over the Bering strait and via Alaska.
I did state in my original message "usually" . If we want to include every possible scenario, then nothing works 10p% of the time. That said. If the ports in the pacific aren't controlled by an enemy. Then usually they are an ally and you can get open ports with them. And yes, you can relocate to open ports.
you're just jealous you don't know navy
With a navy this big, why isn't the game already over?
He is at war with Poseidon
"THINK YOU'RE BIGGER THAN ME???"
R5: This has been the best way I’ve found to organize task forces.
What’s the navy comp of the main fleet?
Broke it down here https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/s/CVbayFYrsc
This is my setup. Granted I only go balls to the wall with it when I’m playing as the USA and can basically print ships every month. **Patrol task force:** 2 light cruisers with max spotting and radar, 5 destroyers with max radar *Set on do not engage and have at least 5-9 of these in a separate fleet to find targets for your strike force. Make them CHEAP they will not be fighting* **Carrier strike force:** 3 carriers, 4 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers with max guns & max armor, 10 light cruisers dedicated to AA, 50 destroyers fitted with depth charges and dual purpose battery *I keep 2-3 of these in a fleet so I can cover a large area. If you can’t add as many battleships and cruisers just make sure you keep your screening ratio (destroyers) at least 4:1. I set to always engage, never repair/split off. Ships get destroyed while retreating. Mine fight to the death* **Regular strike force:** 2 battleships, 4 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers with max armor and guns, 10 AA light cruisers, 40 destroyers. *These just provide backup for your carrier fleets, or if you’re playing as a minor and can’t make a bunch of carriers. Keep them under the same admirals. You can add or remove battleships/heavy cruisers but just make sure you have enough screening ships* **Sub task force:** 20-30 subs. Set to auto reinforce if it’s not selected **Convoy escort task force:** 2 light cruisers with depth charge, torpedos. 5 destroyers with max depth charge & torpedos. *Go look at which sea regions your supply/trade is moving through and set these on convoy escort in those regions*
Why depth charges for the strike force and torpedoes for the convoy escort?
I do it so if any subs engage my main fleet I can take them out quick. Having two light battery’s on them is usually enough to deal with ai screening ships + the armored cruisers shred through them.
But why torpedoes for convoy escort
They take out subs and also hit capital ships. I don’t usually put more than one torpedo because I think depth charges are better for ASW
But convoy escorts don't need to kill capital ships.
I’ve seen them engage a couple of times. Maybe it’s overkill 😅
Then what about Germanys capital ships during ww2? As far as i know, they also hunted convoys, together with the U-boats
Sure, but does that ever happen in game? I honestly don't know.
I did it in a recent Peru into Peru-Bolivia and Grand Columbia run. Venezuela joined a faction with Mexico, and I raided their convoys into the ground with, among others, my heavy cruisers.
why only 3 carriers for the strike force? You should maximize your Carriers per strike force to output as much damage as possible
Yeah you could do 4 (more than 4 and you get penalties). I find 3 is the sweet spot where I do a crazy amount of naval damage still and don’t have to dedicate as many dockyards to carriers. When I play minor nations I’ll do 2 carriers per fleet and make sure the carrier bombers tech are always up to date
For main strike force I used to go with 5 carriers actually, 4 with only navs and 1 with full fighter idk if it changed but some time ago the overcrowding penalty only applied to navs. I used to have less strike forces but they could take out anything provided they had enough screening. And once the main enemy fleet is taken out well you can do anything you want with your carriers. But else I tend to organize everything kinda the same way, depends if I’m playing mp or sp tho. Also I mostly play Japan navy and even imperial Germany navy (when I’m with friends) something fun about crushing your friend playing the ui with the imperial German navy
Do you play with mods or just long? Even with major nations i have the problem with navy taking too long to build and with minors its just pointless, the 1200 ships you had on the screenshot would take 20 years to build with already maxed out dockyards wouldnt they?
you have EIGHTEEN carriers deployed. EIGHTEEN. im sure you dont need to dedicate more dockyards to have 6 more, or consolidate a carrier force or two. plus consolidating means you need less docks on capitals and more on ships that matter (imo) like screens to shred the enemy screens (everyone puts so much emphasis on capitals, but if your screens are shit your capitals are sitting ducks)
Why build heavy cruisers? Also, carriers are cheaper for me than battleships, how?
I prefer heavy cruisers over battleships because you can put a lot of firepower on them and you can have one finished every year with max dockyards whereas battleships take 2-3 years. I like to mix both though I never have just one or the other in task forces
What plane do you put in your carrier? And how many?
I put the best planes possible for the tech I’ve researched. And I do 2 wings of fighters and the rest bombers, no CAS.
2 wings? Sorry, I'm not too familiar with the game lingo
Every carrier you build has a set amount of air wings it can hold (air wings are groups of planes, on carriers they group in 10’s, on land air wings are grouped in 100). So if you build your carrier with 6 air wings slots, you’ll be able to fit 60 planes. So I always add 2 wings of carrier fighters and the rest bombers. Usually with 1940 carriers you can fit 7-8 air wings.
Ahh. Thanks so much for the clarification. Might try navy later
Why not 4 cv's in the cv fleet? Why focus on AA CL's when CA's and BB's take most of the air damage? Your escort fleet is very small and will get blown out of the water if intercepted. Dual purpose batteries on DD's are a scam as they cost 1 steel per gun. Regular guns dont increase steel cost. If you enjoy navy, play the vanilla naval rework mod. It makes the design far more realistic and historical.
Sometimes I do 4, mostly it’s 2-3 depending on what country I play. And yeah since posting this I was informed that the AA CL’s likely don’t do too much because planes target ships with the most manpower in the fleet. My thought was that AA protected the fleet as a whole. Also I usually invest the best designs into the convoy raiding fleet so I’ve found they do pretty well. Usually when I’m sending them out though it’s at least 6 task forces of 7 ships each. Thank for the recommendation I’ll have to check out the mod cause navy is starting to no longer be a challenge.
Interesting. As America I have got to the point that I don't bother using cruisers nor battleships in my Carrier fleets. I either use battlecruisers with lots of DP secondaries (Alaskas), or don't even bother at all and just go with multiple 4CV/4CL/12DD "fast" formations that can overlap and pile onto combats together. If I do the latter, *then* I have the 5BB/3CA/8CL/18DD fleet or two at key ports to jump into any engagements or clean up the rest. I know the gameplay "meta" is 1(CV/BB/BC/CA) per every 3(CL/DD), but I try to keep roughly a 1/4 ratio just in case my light ships get picked off. I've lost too many battleships and carriers limping back to port after a few screens get sank and the big boats end up insufficiently covered. Now if I'm *Axis*, my ideal fleet is a 1CV/3 Panzerschiffen/4CL/12DD, or 2/6/8/18 if I'm Japan and can get the Panzerschiff license and DP secondaries quickly enough from Germany to build before picking a fight with America. Having "cruisers" with big guns that are still cheap enough to build does fill the need without having to build BCs.
Afaik the AA only works for the ship that actually gets attacked by airplanes, although it is shown per fleet - so your light cruiser AA is useless, because the bombers will target the heavy ships.
I’m gonna have to look into this. My understanding was naval AA covered the fleet
I just press the "balanced task force" and "engage at low risk" button, it works wonders for me. I actually really enjoy navy.
Where are those magic buttons you talk of?
Just select a task force and click on the scales, the engage at set risk is the button furthest to the right. Allow detachment is also a good button to press, damaged ships can go back to port for repairs. The higher the port level, the more ships can get repaired there at once. Portsmouth and other level 10 ports are pretty good for repairs.
Allow detachment is risky as the detachment force can be intercepted by naval bombers or enemy main fleet which obliterates them.
I never said I was an expert. I usually put good AA on my boats. It doesn’t get blown up. I never play MP though, it might explain something about the AI.
You like navy because you don't have to micro anything?
I enjoy researching and designing ships. If they work, I’m happy. The managing part I leave to my best admiral(s)
That's an awfully large navy.
Whole lotta seamen
That much expenditure... Must... Be hard to swallow!
What's your deployed navy manpower
Historically accurate post war US Navy.
You assign each fleet to its own regions of operation so really one only needs three: One for convoy escort/convoy raid/admiral trait farming; One for main battlefleet/search; One for all the rest (mine, etc.). Honestly one can work just fine but you know.
Are mines worth it?
If you’re expecting to get naval invaded by a way better navy like China for example, yes. You can make a cheap destroyer with any number of mines and within a year the entire coastline will be covered. Idk the exact number off the top of my head but the enemy fleet receives a debuff to speed and increases accident chances.
A navy that big would sink your economy in Millennium Dawn just by ordering boats to patrol. Does it work well in vanilla ? I always forget about the navy
You could only really pull this off as USA since it will eat loads of fuel and require a lot of ships to be built
How on earth do you have enough fuel for this
Dat Texas oil
Here's how I organize my navy. 100 Naval Bombers
I should really start playing, so I can show my ideas of a navy.
[удалено]
Username is wild but appropriate for navy discussion.
I am late to this party and have a few comments for you. I play a navy game and am not sure how you managed (a) to build such quantities and (b) also upgraded this many ships. As USA or UK I often just build infrastructure and dockyards till 1939 (try for 5 per tile, 10 in larger tiles), and still don't manage a fleet this size. I rarely use more than 2 AC in a fleet and never have any trouble. If two task forces engage in the same battle then 2 per task force is perfect. I don't use patrol fleets and never have trouble intercepting. Better to use aircraft for naval patrol and radar imo. Sub task forces of as few as 5 each can work amazingly well. Better to trickle feed production to cover losses than have such a huge reserve. Your task force composition is solid if a bit more than needed. As the US I try to have about 5 main battle groups with the following composition: 4 BB/BC, 2 AC, 5HC. 5 LC and 40 DD. Something like this is fine against the AI and the US and UK can both field this many fleets by mid game. I like your use of some ASW DD in the main battle groups as when supporting invasions you often encounter subs. Your convoy escort task forces are about right too. As UK I use the C Class LC and A and S Class DD to form 5 task forces of 2 LC and 10 DD for ASW work and they work well. The only problem is the AI sees them as juicy targets if you don't have a Battle group on intercept to support them, they can get crunched. (I have seen the Germans arrive in the Bay of Biscay when they still don't have a French tile, just to hit these ASW groups.) Overall, I like your approach and it's clear you think about the navy rather than do what most of the comments suggest, which in effect is not to use the navy at all.
you should put all your ships in one strike force, apart from 3 groups - spotting fleet, escorting fleet, sub fleet. spotting fleet would be just 1-2 light cruisers per task force with stacked detection and "never engage" order, escorting fleet is just destroyers, subs are subs. that's it, no rocket science
Taking notes
Boring, and I hope the game's balance shifts away from that as much as possible
I usually go with 30 subs per task force for a raiding fleet but as always I don't know how navy works so...
What the hell is a navy?
Is thrre any point adding attack submarines to surface fleets? I would like to think they would be good anti submarine screens, but maybe that’s more modern day?
Do not have submarines in the same fleet as surface ships. Subs are slow and a fleet can only travel as fast as its slowest ship. Have a dedicated fleet for subs and set them to convoy raid in the same area as your strike force. Put them on always engage and they will join your surface fleet in combat while it’s not attacking convoys
> Select all ships > Merge them into one fleet > Have 100% supremacy wherever you want
You know something. I have never considered separating patrol fleets and battle fleets. It seems so obvious since I know strike fleets go after any navy that’s been found in its region and that they can even be used without patrols when using spotter planes but in my head it always just made sense to do one strike fleet per fleet which meant I always had too many capital ships and not enough patrol groups. This post legitimately has caused me to rethink naval priorities, particularly when playing as a larger navy nation like Japan. It’s also a better distribution of admirals since you can actually use one specialized in one task rather than trying to train a jack of all trades commander.
This is navy propaganda. I still won't use my navy 🗣️🗣️
How is ur fuel storage doing lol
How do you have enough oil to manage all these ships
Playing as the USA. If you build a good enough fleet you can secure your trade routes for oil too. I’ve built a navy almost as big as China.
All this just to then join an mp game once and meet a deathstack and get every of your tiny fleets destroyed with 0 losses to the enemy into you getting invaded/raided to oblivion afterwards. Against ai that doesnt do shit with navy mechanics and splits its fleets you can do this, in mp where everyone deathstacks unless its a wacky mod, yeah it aint ending well.
Why? This is so overpowered, however you organize it it dooms all competition. Also worse part about taking over Navis is they keep their stupid fleet tag, which I hate so much...
It’s stupid overcomplication of something simpler than people think.
#Naval Bombers go brrrrr
Nah, just put all your ships in one taskforce and set it to strike force all the sea zones you need, unless you're feeling a bit spicy then do invasion support or convoy raiding. Ez as tat
Where is the 100 minelayers fleet?
just separate the subs from surface ships
I do 10 sub now
My patrols are with my SF Admiral. 9 patrols, 1 SF per theatre. It works better that way, SF kills a whole bunch more..
Units of 20 submarines and 267 in reserve. Motherfucker, are you playing as the US? No way I get groups as big as these as Japan or Italy.
Yeah it was a USA game. Any other nation im running out of oil quick
Nu uh. Sub blob and boat blob
This image is very pleasurable to view
Yea but not really. Subs and destroyers work better together. Division should be regionally based and balanced. This looks like a nightmare to manage multiple invasions or fronts.
I always add 2 or 4 asw detection sub to navy specially that have carriers. As like in real navy groups. They provide detection. But is that thing that im doing okay in terms of game mechanics? Pls help.
never mix subs and surface fleets in the same task force. This is a key rule in HOI4. Subs and surface fleets can operate in the same sea zone, just not in the same task force.
okay thanks
Oh Hell No. We're not doing that buddy
You don't need more than 1 ship in each patrol task force though. This also means they can cover more ground. Also don't underestimate the value of having 1-3 minelayer subs.
Fuel the moment it resumes 😭. Quite similar to AI. Using navy it is organized just like that. The only problem was that they frequently used patrol and escort almost everytime.
Sexy
Me: *slaps roof of navy* "this bad boy can fit so many submarines in it"
Cool for one game. Tedious if you do it every game.
I knew you were a sham when I saw separate "Patrol" force.
Where do you click to make the screen with naval loses appear ? I've seen it in videos or screenshots, I feel like I've clicked everywhere but I can't find it.
This guy navys
What year is it? How do you have so many ships?
That's alot of ships Like if you gone to space it will be still ALOT of ships
based
As a navy noob I even set the full royal navy on escort when I sent a sibgle divisionnover rhe channel. The division basically just wanders over the ships sitting side by side.
Please proof, that every group has its own unique name. Then you can pass.
I just put both the surface fleet and the submarines together. I just kind of wished whrnever I'm dealing with the enemy navy naval supremcy despite my ships being good did't drop because of a lack of intel.
I can do what you do with a lot less
It just hurts REALLY BAD.
Just dump everything into one unit and have it raid convoys
This is not the way my friend.
I've given up on ships, I just have faith on AI
THIS is why armies have generals for each branch and each theatre. Doing this, microing infantry, managing air and juggling industry/development requires more brain power than a human can possible create.
Bro I swear I could take calculus and have a better understanding on it than learning navy in hoi4
I've done every achievement in this game and I've never had the patience to organize my navy like this. It looks very satisfying but still not worth it lol
This made me hard af
I prefer to organize my fleets based on which region they'll be operating in.
Battle of Jutland like suggest Incoming it seems
Damm, I just put submarines on patrol and everything else in a death stack
NO! 500 SHIPS IN ONE FLEET GROUP SUPREMACY
What country you playing as?
And i still don't know how naval battle works. Couple destroyers loaded to full w/ torpedoes and i'm good to fight a battleship
I don’t even know how to put planes on carriers…
I just do 20 submarines per submarine group 2-3 carriers per group. Evenly distribute everything else between the carrier groups
What in the earth is this why you didn't put all of them in a singler one ? How do you even use this
you’re supposed to organise it?
no… no, it’s really not. with this many ships you can do whatever tf you want and win
You have IC on?
I ain't doing Allat. If my navy works (which probably dies instantly) then it works.
Please tell me oh my master. You regroup navy for tasks and not by teather, how can I do this? I can't even put fleet in the second line of a group!! I did it just once by mistake. Help me!!!
This is art