Is It Viable to Create Very Large Fleets, Comprising 30+ Ships?

[((Satan Chosen))=((Endless War))]

I see that the admirals have a "limit" of 10, but what does that, TRULY, mean? Are there any real problems with giving admirals control of very large fleets, like a strike-force of 30 ships, for example?

Given your experience, what do you people believe is the ideal number-of-ships, comprising a fleet, including submarines for trade-interdiction, destroyers for convoy-escort, mine-laying, and strike-forces?

For-the-record, as for mine-laying, I have found that a stripped-down pre-war destroyer with a mine-laying-rating of "2" is ideal, predominately because it will not be involved in fighting, and the cost is very cheap.

[Captain of the 4th Company]

The Admirals can have 10 fleets (I think thats what they are called). But each fleet can have more than 10 ships (although at some point you start having penalties).

[RyansPlace]

You may find these helpful. I can maintain relatively large navies only after expending a lot of resources on fuel refining and storage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFs6rgC1a3Q&t=371s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDnuoOJkAo

[Bramborough]

The Admiral limit is number of Task Forces, not number of ships. Yeah, most players' typical CV or BB task force probably has 40-50ish ships, maybe more. Patrol TF's might be anywhere between 4-10 ships, and there's probably several of them in a given fleet. A single admiral might easily command around 100 ships or more without coming close to his 10-task force limit.

As far as Task Force composition/numbers, there's tons of threads here and on the Paradox forums. Just off top of head, a typical US or Japan Strike Force TF might comprise 4xCV 4xBB 4xCA 8xCL 24xDD (44 ships). (I'm not selling that as "ideal"...just a ballpark example).

[Bored Peon]

Admirals can control 10 task forces. You can stuff as many ships as you want into a single task force, however there is limits and penalties.

Important thing to know about an admiral is their orders. For example you can have an admiral with a patrol fleet, strike fleet, escort fleet, convoy raiding fleet etc. However obviously this can cause some skill conflicts, penalties and limits. Also some frustration when you take the UK's navy consolidate it into one task force to divide it up "easier."

The other thing to know is this for example. I did a recent game as Netherlands, I put both my sub task forces under the same admiral. I had one sub fleet in West Indies and the other in the English Channel. Once the war started both task forces ended up in the English Channel, not what I wanted.

[Bramborough]

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

The other thing to know is this for example. I did a recent game as Netherlands, I put both my sub task forces under the same admiral. I had one sub fleet in West Indies and the other in the English Channel. Once the war started both task forces ended up in the English Channel, not what I wanted.

Took me a while to catch on that the sea zones are assigned to the parent fleet, not to the individual task force which happens to be selected when you assign the zone. So whenever you add a zone, ALL the TFs in that fleet are going to try to expand their mission to include that sea zone as well (whether they can effectively/efficiently do so or not).

What I've found is that it all works best if fleets are organized by both geographic area AND function. In this case, you probably needed two separate submarine fleets; one for home area and one for the Caribbean. Even if each fleet was just one task force apiece.

In each general theater, I usually wind up having three or four fleets. One for Patrol/Strike, one for Convoy Raid submarines, maybe one for Convoy Escort. Sometimes a separate fleet for Invasion Support and/or Mine Warfare. So if I've got stuff going on Pacific, Atlantic, and Med all at the same time, it gets complicated. Anywhere from 9-15 separate fleets (not counting home-area fleets established for training/reserve purposes), many of which aren't very large. But ensures the right ships doing the right missions in the right sea zones.

The obvious downside, however, is that this requires a lot of admirals, lol. A few of the lesser fleets (mine warfare, for example) can get by without one, though.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Bramborough:

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

The other thing to know is this for example. I did a recent game as Netherlands, I put both my sub task forces under the same admiral. I had one sub fleet in West Indies and the other in the English Channel. Once the war started both task forces ended up in the English Channel, not what I wanted.

What I've found is that it all works best if fleets are organized by both geographic area AND function. In this case, you probably needed two separate submarine fleets; one for home area and one for the Caribbean. Even if each fleet was just one task force apiece..

Yeah that is eventually what I caught on to. Like for example if you want the UK to cover escorting from Gibraltar through the Suez and you want to divide it up into 3 sections then you need 3 admirals to keep each fleet in their own section. Otherwise all your fleets are just going to clump together.

The other annoying thing is the deep water can prevent your early class and coastal class ship from being moved around or operating in certain areas.

Originally posted by Bramborough:

A few of the lesser fleets (mine warfare, for example) can get by without one, though.

I found making an admiral into a miner makes a huge difference in laying mines. It is too bad you can not have mine placer and minesweeper on the same admiral.

[((Satan Chosen))=((Endless War))]

Do you people think that some of these problems, especially with sea-zones and admirals' fleets wanting to stay in that specific zone, are going to be resolved, with the next patch?

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by (((Who)))Did911:

Do you people think that some of these problems, especially with sea-zones and admirals' fleets wanting to stay in that specific zone, are going to be resolved, with the next patch?

If you can not move a fleet somewhere else, then you need to look at the fleet and the course it choose. If the fleet has any shallow only ships (coastal ships and early light hulls) then that fleet will not enter any deep water.

My biggest complaint is the inability to turn exercise off if a fleet is repairing. I found it annoying the other day while doing some training before the war. Then today the war started and it would not let me turn it off and the fleet ran back out to exercise and was sunk.