Naval Invasion Help

[Handy]

I cannot figure out how to accomplish what I'm trying to do... I've got the US navy and I'm trying to invade the USSR via the Sea of Japan. I have various naval invasions coming from Guam, Midway, and several other places to land in and around Vladivostok.

I have carriers, I have subs, I have cruisers, I have battleships, I have CAS and naval bombers and fighters on the carriers. I've got to cover a lot of area for the invasion support, but what I'd like to have happen is that the troop transports steam up into the ocean, and invade WITH THE HELP OF THE #$&#$#@$ Navy and Air Support. But what happens is that the ships escort them to the shore and then leave. I go back to figure out what happened to the ships once all my people are dead. Those ships are docked Guam or Midway picking their nose. At no point did the invasion battles show air support at all.

I feel as though I'm missing a very fundamental principal here. If I'm throwing 48 troops at a beachhead with naval superiority and what should be bombardment and bombing, I'm hoping I can make a dent, but nothing.

In short, how do you force your fleet to actually support the invasion?

Is there not a way I can just grab a boat and say "please go to this place in your range, and if you need to rebase, please do so?" The way that naval combat requires missions and won't let you freely move the ships is murdering my brain.

[TasteDasRainbow]

'Invasion support' mission focuses on getting troops to the landing point and CAs/BBs bombarding in assistance until they either land or fail and retreat.

Carriers will have to be micro'd by parking them outside the landing point and assigning their carrier air group to operate over the air zone you plan to land in.

Naval invasion order with invasion support will always park at the start of the invasion path in order to escort the naval invaders continuously from start to finish.

[mk11]

Naval Invasion support mission only gives support until the initial landing is complete. If you want the ships to continue with shore bombardment then you need to move them to the adjacent sea area and give them no orders. That way they will stay around and provide bombardment, they may also get involved in naval battles.

[OXKART]

guam to russia sounds like a range problem , make sure u have capital ships . all so dont send every man to the ports .. send 2 or 3 man to every beach front u can .. send 5 to a port and 3 to the sides of a port. that way u can attack from the side of a port and u will will not be exposing man on or transports. its a risk but thats war. make sure u have a plan .. 2 wave of men or another port and front so ur landing don't have to push throw the russia army with a lv 2 port have a back up plan . u may need to take a closer port to resupply ur ships.

[robphx387]

Another trick that helps is to remove the sea zones you passed from the active order after you've passed them. Isnt a 100% fix, but usually is enough if you have some BBs in there to actually bombard with.

[Handy]

Thanks all for the advice -- I took a detour and played as Japan and forced myself to learn how to play with a navy. I think the biggest learning I had was that with tricky zones at the end of your range, you really need to do a little bit of micromanagement in splitting your groups so that you don't have low range ships preventing you from reaching the very end.

I think also the tip about removing the orders is a good one. As soon as you get to the landing zone, you need to turn off orders and tell them to move to the sea zone so that you can support with air. I'm not sure why ground invasion order wouldn't launch the air support in the same way it does for naval battles but... it is what it is.

[mk11]

Originally posted by Handy:

I'm not sure why ground invasion order wouldn't launch the air support in the same way it does for naval battles but... it is what it is.

It is a tricky one. If you provide ground support you have the wrong bombs on the aircraft if enemy ships turn up and it is Midway again. Hence, game makes the player decide if the risk is worth it.

[Kromanos]

If you like to have air support, park your fleet on the beach, select the planes of the air craft carriers and assign them the missions on the area your troops are fighting. The rest of your fleet will automacally support your troops with bombardement.
As Japan try taking siam, built a port on the thin part to british malaya in the direction to India, then Invade Iran (ask itlay to use their naval bases in africa, afterwards invade irak and your fuel supply is covered for the whole game if you built some silos