Naval gunfire support

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's War in the West >> Naval gunfire support

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Naval gunfire support - 8/9/2017 4:30:11 AM

battleground

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Joined: 4/26/2009
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I have just finished the two intro games and am curious that I can find nothing I
can see so far as naval gunfire support from warships.. something that is integral
to any coastal landing as any German at Salerno could tell you. What am i missing?
Thanks!

Post #: 1

RE: Naval gunfire support - 8/9/2017 5:55:35 AM

Devonport

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If you place one (or more) of the naval Task Forces used for invasions adjacent to an axis unit in a coastal hex it will engage when a land unit attacks. TF activity is shown in the battle report.

(in reply to battleground)

Post #: 2

RE: Naval gunfire support - 8/9/2017 6:59:24 AM

Fallschirmjager

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From: Chattanooga, Tennessee
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Just be careful about using them next to enemy ports as they will take damage and once damaged it takes a very long time in friendly ports to repair them. And you also need these TFs to launch amphibious invasions.
Take it from someone who has had his plans delayed by weeks or even months by having my TFs laid up in port repairing because I was careless.
They are a powerful asset, just use watch over them and try and keep them out of danger as they can take damage quickly and take forever to repair.

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RE: Naval gunfire support - 8/9/2017 7:18:56 AM

loki100

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Joined: 10/20/2012
From: Utlima Thule
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager

Just be careful about using them next to enemy ports as they will take damage and once damaged it takes a very long time in friendly ports to repair them. And you also need these TFs to launch amphibious invasions.
Take it from someone who has had his plans delayed by weeks or even months by having my TFs laid up in port repairing because I was careless.
They are a powerful asset, just use watch over them and try and keep them out of danger as they can take damage quickly and take forever to repair.

but remember you can move them to offshore of an attack - they will join in, as Devonport says look at the detailed combat report - and then move away. You can even move a TF out of a port where its preparing for an invasion, as long as it is back by the end of the turn all the preparation pts are retained.

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Post #: 4

RE: Naval gunfire support - 8/9/2017 9:57:26 AM

Fallschirmjager

Posts: 6793
Joined: 3/18/2002
From: Chattanooga, Tennessee
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quote:

ORIGINAL: loki100

quote:

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager

Just be careful about using them next to enemy ports as they will take damage and once damaged it takes a very long time in friendly ports to repair them. And you also need these TFs to launch amphibious invasions.
Take it from someone who has had his plans delayed by weeks or even months by having my TFs laid up in port repairing because I was careless.
They are a powerful asset, just use watch over them and try and keep them out of danger as they can take damage quickly and take forever to repair.

but remember you can move them to offshore of an attack - they will join in, as Devonport says look at the detailed combat report - and then move away. You can even move a TF out of a port where its preparing for an invasion, as long as it is back by the end of the turn all the preparation pts are retained.

They can accumulate damage by moving through Axis controlled or contested sea zones.
Or at least I believe so. If I am correct then they can take damage even if they do not end the movement/combat phase in hostile waters.
Later in the war this becomes less important but early on when you need them to add their guns to Italy and Sicily there is still many contested sea hexes in the area.
Once you land in northwestern Europe and are using them to take port hexes (which is what I mostly use them for) then they take little to no damage since the hexes they move through are allied controlled.
It has been awhile but I believe even in 1944 when trying to take hexes like Brest, Le Harve, Lorient etc if there is enough Axis in the hex with a fort level it will generate a small amount of naval into the immediate surrounding hexes which can cause some small damage.

I am going off memory so much of what I stated could be incorrect.
Or maybe I don't have the best use for them. But I find after I land in France I find the best use for them is to crack Axis held ports which can be damn hard to take.
After I make land fall and break through the beachhead I always have to create an entire Corps whose sole job is to move around coastal France, Holland and Belgium and use lots of artillery and naval guns to take forts.
Most human players and especially the AI will leave behind a division+ in almost every port and it usually has a fort level of 3+ which makes them really hard to capture.
But as the Allies I find you need almost all of them in order to keep your supply chain flowing.
Even the smaller ones like Granville, St. Malo, Nantes and Berck just to name a few off the top of my head.
Even those size 1 or 2 ports combine to bring in a lot of freight and if they are closer to the front lines and the rail lines are repaired and keep divisions on the move and on the attack and keep the Axis off balance.
But most players and the AI garrison every damn hex and you have to blast them out with liberal amounts of HE and fight for every inch.

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RE: Naval gunfire support - 8/10/2017 5:25:10 AM

battleground

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Thanks...tho I would have expected a separate naval element besides the landing ships escort. The records of the US light cruisers
and the two British BB (the 'Terrible Queens'), among many others, has them being called for to support already landed troops and were separate units.

(in reply to Fallschirmjager)

Post #: 6

RE: Naval gunfire support - 8/10/2017 9:01:51 AM

loki100

Posts: 10920
Joined: 10/20/2012
From: Utlima Thule
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quote:

ORIGINAL: battlegroundvehicles

Thanks...tho I would have expected a separate naval element besides the landing ships escort. The records of the US light cruisers
and the two British BB (the 'Terrible Queens'), among many others, has them being called for to support already landed troops and were separate units.

think that was a design decision/abstraction. Basically the TFs mix your amphib capacity with your ability to bombard. Simplifying the naval war was one reason why the game starts with the invasion of Sicily as by that stage the axis had no real naval capacity left and mostly it can modelled via the interdiction/port control mechanisms.

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Post #: 7