A thread for tips

[FlyinJ]

I've figured out some very useful things, share your own here!


Setting up "egress" waypoints for attacking aircraft

Set up two waypoints for the attacking fixed wing. Then drag an attack order off the first waypoint. The fixed wing will then attack the ground asset and as soon as its done it will fly to the next waypoint in the chain.

You can also drag attack waypoints off a linked circular flight plan around the island and they will do the same.


Getting items delivered directly from an island

Remove all links in the barge map (you don't need to do this once you understand how everything works- I suggest doing this the first time so this method is guaranteed to work)

Link the island with what you want to the carrier
Link a barge to the island
Go to the stockpile screen and set how much of the thing on the island you want

(because it is on an island, you won't see the stock on the stockpile screen because that screen only shows warehouse stock. The barge will still retrieve it from the island if the island has it)

The barge should now collect that amount from the island and bring it to your carrier


Another tip is when you start to attack an island you think will have something you want immediately, have a barge deliver you something from the warehouse as you attack. Make sure that barge doesn't have a return order to the warehouse (unlink it from the warehouse). Then it will idle next to your carrier after delivering.

When you capture the island, you can then immediately use that barge to transfer what the island produces to your carrier.


Attacking AA ground units

Outfit a heli with 2-4 gun pods. Hover outside the range of the ground AA units and manually fire the gun pods at them

Outfit a fixed wing with 4 bombs. Manually drop them all at once from high altitude, most likely one will get past the AA fire.


Deploying torps quickly

Outfit a heli with torpedoes. Fly to just outside the ship's missile range and fire the torp manually.


Blueprints

The amount of shields an island has is how many blueprints will be unlocked of that type when you capture it.\

Get range and bearing of target

Drag a line off your carrier. It will show range and bearing of cursor position on the bottom of the screen. Very useful for torpedo attacks.

Get shield ratings and what an island produces on the holomap

This mod will do that:

UI Enhancement Mod a écrit :

https://github.com/Quantx/CC2-UI-Enhancer/releases

No more running between the stockpile map and the weapon station map to figure out where to go next

[Katanshin]

Dexter092 ITA a écrit :

This seems to be missed by many folks so far, looking in the forum here and there:


- You can double check carrier scope's aiming (or any gimbal camera really) by opening the map (TAB on keyboard). As long as in range of the map, a green cross will be showing exactly where you're pointing (just make sure the green symbol is overlapping the intended target or is closeby it), to make sure waves, trees or other obstacles aren't fooling its aiming that would result into a missed shot.

You can use the green cross to land hits on enemy units with the carrier gun, too, useful is line of sight prevents visual aiming

[Samgau]

FlyinJ a écrit :

Dexter092 ITA a écrit :

This seems to be missed by many folks so far, looking in the forum here and there:

- Units command console allows you to see which unit has a loadout you've previously made without having to go on the other side of the bridge to see the unit settings, and allows you to give order before they even leave the carrier. Just enter one of the screens and click the carrier itself (Blue square with white cross). You can see which unit has what, and deploy from there by also giving orders, setting up timed waypoints, create loop waypoints, give attack orders... all while it's still exiting the carrier.

- You can set aircraft travel altitude by selecting one of its waypoints. Any waypoint made in sequence with the one you've set will remember such altitude. Any brand new path (drag and drop from the aircraft icon itself) WILL reset altitude back to 400m.
For early game, any ground unit with GUNs will be unable to shoot an aircraft traveling 1000m over them, so you can set an albatross to fly at 1100-1400m (remember! range of fire is relative to the ground!) to reduce chances to be hit to zero, as they won't fire. Useful for "close range, high altitude" recon or carrier weapons guidance.
Keep in mind higher altitude also means less precision for unguided bomb drops.

- Laser guided missiles are guided through the gimbal camera under "Guided Missile" (NOT Carrier MSL!) weapons choice.
Missiles do not need to be on the same aircraft using the gimbal camera.
Missiles which gimbal guidance has been interrupted (by clicking again to "interrupt support") will continue to last marked position, allowing multiple missiles to be shot at once. But they WILL strafe aside due to wind, so attempt to compensate the aim before releasing the laser guidance. Useful against stationary targets such as turrets or parked aircrafts. Can be shot from beyond gimbal target acquisition (5000m+), useful when you cannot get close to target area.

- You can double check carrier scope's aiming (or any gimbal camera really) by opening the map (TAB on keyboard). As long as in range of the map, a green cross will be showing exactly where you're pointing (just make sure the green symbol is overlapping the intended target or is closeby it), to make sure waves, trees or other obstacles aren't fooling its aiming that would result into a missed shot.

Woah, so you are saying that I can outfit a seal with 4 laser guided missiles and tell them to fire from a gimble-equipped albatross?

That is fantastic

Seals cannot carry laser missiles. Only air planes but you could have a razorblade carrying 2 lazer missiles and have a albatross shooting that missiles via a observation cam

[Swiftcore]

TelluriumCrystal a écrit :

It is possible to overwhelm ship CIWS and ground AA with a sufficiently large missile barrage. I've been able to reliably get at least one missile through using 4 or more simultaneous launches. Use go-codes to ensure simultaneous delivery and try to launch from significantly different angles (>15 degrees per launcher). Do not have them fire two missiles at once, make them fire one, travel a short distance, then fire another. Razorbills with IR missiles are excellent for this. Missile seals/walruses should work too.

If engaging ships with razorbills using this method expect to lose 1-2 razorbills per strike unless you manually control the one getting shot at to dodge the retaliatory AA missiles.

I've been loading laser guided missiles onto my razorbills to overwhelm ship defenses. You just have to launch them and make sure they're within range of the enemy ship, then use the bridge camera to lase the ship. This might not work as well if the ocean is choppy since the ship will briefly duck in and out of sight as the waves raise and fall.

[rottielover]

Capturing an AI warehouse can net you some good gains. In my play through I have not gotten torpedo blueprints despite capturing 23 islands. However in a "hail mary" play I went all the way to the top right island (enemy AI starting island) warehouse, captured it and found it it starts with the same load out that your starting warehouse had in it, 24 torpedoes and the rest. Use the barge trick mentioned in the first post to immediately capitalize on your prize.

Speculation: Capturing AI controlled islands seems to change the AI behavior depending on the situation. In my case, the AI had captured 1/2 of the map, the entire north, and then captured one of mine, when I captured it's starting island warehouse and 4 islands around that, the AI has not captured another island since. I believe it to be hunting me currently....

Enemy AI controlled islands get the same number of type of units based on their shield count (personally I think that's a little crappy. I had to clear out a bunch of units to take an island, why doesn't the AI have to expend resources doing the same AND leave those islands MORE vulnerable to counter attack??? Anyway, if you choose to use this strat be prepared to see about the same number of ground units and turrets as normal.

Tip from this - If I am correct, then I've set the AI to a different "mode" and should not have to worry about island capping as much at this phase, time to stock up on supplies and start hunting the enemy carrier...

Be careful what you trade, this is a war of attrition against an enemy that doesn't have the same supply shortages you do, so don't go wasting a bunch of missiles trying to defeat the AA turrets and guns, try and get the 160mm blueprint if you can by capping Large Munitions islands and take those out with the carrier gun. If you can't do that try and use ground forces, trust me running out of cruise missiles (and torpedo's) means you're in for a slug fest...

By the same token, "He will triumph who know's when to fight and when not to fight" - you don't always have to fire a shot to take an island, it is possible ( and you get an achievement ) to get your virus bots in, and your delivery seal out without being seen or firing a shot, especially 1 shield islands. By the same token, study the island in advance on the map, scout all the enemies, and clear out only what you need to in order to get your virus seal in and back out, this can save you a TON of time and resources, especially if you are at the phase of just trying to unlock BP's.

Keep in mind your barges can be shot up, so watch those supply lines and make sure you clear out resistance at islands you plan to use to build things.

I have not fully figured this out, but it seems you can link 1 warehouse island to another and get your barges to xfer the items over. Useful to take the fight to the top of the map, but be careful, nothing says that the AI won't come snag it.

[FlyinJ]

TV guided missiles can take out enemy ships, but you need to fly them into their aft.

Their AA guns can't track behind them.

[Junkz]

Torpedoes Info..
Range = 20km
speed = 2200m a minute
now you can pin point your activation to the nearest 500m or so

[Atova]

Some beginner tips I put together

https://youtu.be/651Yx2dcoH4

[Tomn]

So here's something worth noting - you don't HAVE to source all your islands to a warehouse, it's possible to set up a supply chain directly to your carrier - as long as you don't need stockpiles and just want supplies immediately as you need them.

Here's how it works - only one island at a time can link to the carrier, be it a warehouse or a factory, but multiple islands can link to the same island. So if you have, say, a light munitions factory near your carrier, you can link your other factory islands to that light munitions factory, then link the light munitions factory to your carrier, and this will cause anything ordered and produced on those islands to be shipped first to the light munitions factory, and then to the carrier. This will save you the time it takes to get to the warehouse first before then moving to the carrier.

It's important to note, however, that items will ONLY get shipped this way if you place an shipping order on the carrier. Without an order, everything will sit on their production islands. Warehouses are thus still worthwhile if you can capture one near your axis of attack - you can stockpile supplies there and then ship them out to your carrier. But if your production islands are closer to you than to the nearest warehouse, and you don't need to build up a stockpile of anything but just need fuel RIGHT NOW, it makes sense to ship directly to the carrier instead.

[rottielover]

I thought of a little more to share now that I beat the campaign.

You don't HAVE to take the islands in order, you can leap frog a bit. Capturing manufacturing facilities in a reasonable order seems to help a lot. Take note of what you start with in the starting warehouse and note all the islands within striking distance, it may or may not make sense to cap that 3 shield when there is a 1 shield just behind it, you can come back and snag that 3 shield later. Your barges can be attacked, but in my experience, even sending them right past an island with boats, the AI didn't go after them. *could change in future patches

The AI capping islands (is rather sadly) just a gimmick to instill in you a sense of artificial urgency, the Enemy AI leaves the normal compliment of defenders on an island, even the boats, so the only "rush" is to make sure you capture what you need for you supplies. Capturing AI controlled islands vs "neutral" makes no difference from the player perspective, you still have to defeat an adequate number of defenders to get your virus bots in.

Once you capture 20 or so islands the game gets slightly easier in that you will have the cash to make pretty much what you need, the big issue is blueprints. In my playthru I never got Petrel or Torpedoes or a myriad of other BP's that would have been useful, instead I ended up capping the bottom left of the map, capped a few to get to the right side of the map, and went up to the AI's starting island and discovered you can "steal" the supplies from it. It's why I beat the campaign I was able to restock on torpedoes and cruise missiles, otherwise I could not manufacture them.

User the BP's you do unlock to your advantage, unlock the 160mm shells? Then get in range with your carrier for island capping and blast away with the gun (assuming your supply line is in decent shape to deliver you fresh shells).

Carrier gun / Artillery / Cannons - These defeat AA emplacements very well, wasting cruise missiles, IR missiles, TV missiles to AA cannons doesn't make a lot of sense but I see it recommended all the time. You MUST scout and plan your attack, getting a cruise missile in to kill those 4-5 ground vehicles on the edge of the island just might open up the space you need to get your guns in range of the AA ...

Save some torpedoes if you can - the AI carrier is a beast, but it operates under similar rules to your own carrier. Try and attack her with torpedoes from the starboard (the side opposite of the tower). If you land a couple of hits you'll knock out her AA missiles (just like if you're carrier were hit in the same fashion), in the same vein, if you hit her in the front or aft you'll knock out her CWIS on that side/quarter, use that opening to your advantage and try and slam a couple of cruise missiles in her from that same direction. If you have the torps to spare, setup a pincer and get your aircraft to deliver torpedoes from two more sides. If you see the black smoke from her weapons, exploit that. In my case I was able to slam about 5 torpedoes into her (diff directions, took out 3 CWIS and the AA), so I turned in and finished her with a couple of 160mm volleys and IR missiles from my razorbills.

[Dexter092 [ITA]]

Junkz a écrit :

Torpedoes Info..
Range = 20km
speed = 2200m a minute
now you can pin point your activation to the nearest 500m or so

Aw yeah, now I can finally calculate the delay properly. Thank you!

[ForrestFox]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but pressing "T" to change the aim to be stabilised really helps when trying to aim, especially in high winds or rough seas.
Even better if the weapon you are using supports tracking (pressing "T" a second time), then the aim will keep following the target youre aiming on.

[matthew.locke71]

TURRETS
May be an obvious one but if encountering turrets stop or withdraw slightly your ground units THEN call in an airstrike carrier attack whatever. like you would do in real life.

[Katanshin]

ForrestFox*RTF* a écrit :

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but pressing "T" to change the aim to be stabilised really helps when trying to aim, especially in high winds or rough seas.
Even better if the weapon you are using supports tracking (pressing "T" a second time), then the aim will keep following the target youre aiming on.

This. I completely missed this functionality until your post. Thanks!

[ArgonianTerror]

FlyinJ a écrit :

Blueprints

The amount of shields an island has is how many blueprints will be unlocked of that type when you capture it.\

I don't know if it's bugged or not, but this is not my experience. I have captured multiple 3 shield islands and received 0-1 blueprints. I don't know if I've ever gotten multiple blueprints from a single island.

[ArgonianTerror]

ArgonianTerror a écrit :

FlyinJ a écrit :

Blueprints

The amount of shields an island has is how many blueprints will be unlocked of that type when you capture it.\

I don't know if it's bugged or not, but this is not my experience. I have captured multiple 3 shield islands and received 0-1 blueprints. I don't know if I've ever gotten multiple blueprints from a single island.

I had created a bug report for this a few days ago and checked it after posting.

Developer a écrit :

Thanks for your feedback. This is how it works but we are considering changing it.

So yeah, the shield rating does not seem to indicate how many blueprints you get, just the general challenge of taking the island.