Carriers.

[Jason z.]

Carriers
When i have an enemy ship approach my carrier with fully in supply tactical bomber planes
Nothing happens.
However if a plane approches my carrier it will take off and engage the enemy fighter.
Why doesnt planes take off and attack i comming ships.?
Ive tried everything from setting planes to escort the carrier or setting planes to escort the escort ships.....nothing works. No matter what i do not a single plane will engage a ship on its own like they engage incomming fighters.
To the developers.....please please please fix this
If the planes can take off on their own and engage enemy planes then they SHOULD go engage incoming ships on their own too .
Idk they dont but the game will be better if they did

[GIJoe597]

My first thoughts are about the unit Rules of Engagement. Are you certain it is toggled to "Engage Naval Targets"?
Additionally;
What speed is the game at when this happens?
Do your air units have a Surface Attack stat?

[Jason z.]

Ive tried settingROE naval units only. Ive ran the game on the entire speed spectrum trying to get tactical bombers to engage incomming enemy ships.
Ive made sure they where in supply.
Ive tried letting the ministercontrol them( the minister is horrible at naval warfare by the way)
Ive tried juat about anything i can think of and i read the manual several times.
I gurentee you gijoe if you have a carrier in full supply and an enemy ship will sail right up to your carrier attack it and not one of your planea will attempt to attack it(there was a time or two where when the enemy was right next to my carrier and then they decided to do something but that ship should have been swarmed by all the planes on the carrier as soon as it was detected miles and miles away) but most of the time your planes will not move.

Now if an enemy aircraft approaches a carrier one all the planes will take off to fight of that aircraft as soon as the carrier or escort ship detects them comming

But approaching enemy ships not so much not one plane will even take off.

Im convinced this has to be a programming error, because like ive said ive tried everything. Setting the planes escort the carrier or a destroyer close by.
If the planes took off and attacked enemy ships like they do fighters, the carrier issue would be fixed.
If the planes on a carrier can detect and attack incomming planes on thier own they can or should be able to attack incomming ships on their own too !
All i can say is try it out gijoe

[SGTscuba]

Remember, attack range of aircraft against ships is limited to a hex or 2 normally. Planes usually have much higher AA attack range so will launch to engage the unit as its in their attack range. Normally my planes engage ships if they have missiles at a decent distance. (limited by either the visual range, missile range or the games max targeting range (250km I think)

Could you send us a screenshot of the planes stats and the distance the enemy ships are.

[Jason z.]

If that is what it is .....Thats is the problem! The planes should be going off the carriers radar.not their own whole grounded on the deck......give the planes extra visibilty for ships only......
Those planes should be assulting ships at much greater distances then just one or two hexes away.

[SGTscuba]

Look at the attached picture. Compare it with your fighter bomber and you'll see why they auto attack. Units only auto attack with THEIR attack range, not their visual range. Only missiles fire out to visual range (provided missile range is great enough to reach and distance is less than 250km which is max auto targeting range)

[Jason z.]

Il try to wrap my strategy around those numbers but my carriers shouldnt be getting their ass kicked by one destroyer that snuck thru my escorts.... ships should be harrasses long b4 they get into gun range
Ive been playing 1936 start ww2.

[GIJoe597]

You can and should set your planes to "Air Patrol" around your carrier if you are stationary. Set it 3 - 5 hexes away from you facing the expected enemy, along an axis of their advance. If you are moving, keep assigning them along your path, out to at least 10 hexes. That is what I suggest.

After I read your post last night I did a test. I logged in as USA, moved a Carrier Battle Group to Japanese waters, then declare war on China. The group consisted of 1 CV, 5 planes, 6 DDGs, 5 subs. Additionally I based 1 "AWACS" out of Japan and used it in conjunction with the CBG. I was able to clear the East China Sea of Chinese shipping and subs with very little attack plane input. The DDGs where very diligent at attacking and sinking surface and submerged assets.


On a side note; Are you stacking your escorts in the same hex as your carrier? You should, you can have 7 ships in the same hex with no issues. This is essential for 2 reasons as far as I am concerned. One, it has all your firepower/spotting concentrated and two, the escorts can resupply from the carrier as required.

[SGTscuba]

You can and should set your planes to "Air Patrol" around your carrier if you are stationary. Set it 3 - 5 hexes away from you facing the expected enemy, along an axis of their advance. If you are moving, keep assigning them along your path, out to at least 10 hexes. That is what I suggest.

After I read your post last night I did a test. I logged in as USA, moved a Carrier Battle Group to Japanese waters, then declare war on China. The group consisted of 1 CV, 5 planes, 6 DDGs, 5 subs. Additionally I based 1 "AWACS" out of Japan and used it in conjunction with the CBG. I was able to clear the East China Sea of Chinese shipping and subs with very little attack plane input. The DDGs where very diligent at attacking and sinking surface and submerged assets.


On a side note; Are you stacking your escorts in the same hex as your carrier? You should, you can have 7 ships in the same hex with no issues. This is essential for 2 reasons as far as I am concerned. One, it has all your firepower/spotting concentrated and two, the escorts can resupply from the carrier as required.

He is playing '36 scenario so I assume he has WW2 aircraft which explains how they got past.

[GIJoe597]

I undestand, but the ship spotting ranges are still much better than planes in that era. Planes sitting on the deck are no good.

[SGTscuba]

I undestand, but the ship spotting ranges are still much better than planes in that era. Planes sitting on the deck are no good.

Yes, and their auto attack ranges are terrible so its likely the carrier will have been sunk before they engage the ship whereas the planes would take too much time to sink the ship, thus allowing them to launch.

I agree though, you should either have an airborne patrol, or don't leave your carriers unguarded.

[Jason z.]

I undestand, but the ship spotting ranges are still much better than planes in that era. Planes sitting on the deck are no good.

Yes, and their auto attack ranges are terrible so its likely the carrier will have been sunk before they engage the ship whereas the planes would take too much time to sink the ship, thus allowing them to launch.

I agree though, you should either have an airborne patrol, or don't leave your carriers unguarded.

My problem is the planes should be able to see far off targets because the carrier sees them . the planes should take off on their own and strike the enemy ship threat.
That is hpw it works in real life..the carrier sees threats and launches and then vectors its plane complement.
I suggest the battlegoat pll change carriers to where you can place the planes on the carrier and the planes visibilty and their attack range increases. changes and they need to change the surface attacks numbers. Or at least do exactly how hearts of iron handles carriers. In fact planes in general should all be hearts of iron style.
Unless your willing to micro manage carriers they are worthless.
Its stupid the plane can fly around many many hexs but can only auto take off and strike the enemy one hex away.....thats some serious stupidity to me .

I should be able to sail an fully equipped carrier from a to b by it self and its planes should auto ass kick any ship the carrier seea on its radar range. Thats how thats supposed to work

[Jason z.]

Remember, attack range of aircraft against ships is limited to a hex or 2 normally. Planes usually have much higher AA attack range so will launch to engage the unit as its in their attack range. Normally my planes engage ships if they have missiles at a decent distance. (limited by either the visual range, missile range or the games max targeting range (250km I think)

Could you send us a screenshot of the planes stats and the distance the enemy ships are.

Hell some of the carriers have longer and more powerfull surface attack ranges then the tactical bomber planes!
That needs to change.
Planes surface attack ranges should be all or most of their flying range.
Its almost comical that some carriers have longer surface attack values then planes that can fly hundreds of miles.
Idk if the developers are being lazy but i bet if they went and change the planes surface attack vaules to match their ranges carriers will work properly

[dax1]

Its almost comical that some carriers have longer surface attack values then planes that can fly hundreds of miles.

[Jason z.]

Look at the attached picture. Compare it with your fighter bomber and you'll see why they auto attack. Units only auto attack with THEIR attack range, not their visual range. Only missiles fire out to visual range (provided missile range is great enough to reach and distance is less than 250km which is max auto targeting range)

So your telling me a plane that can see 99km
That has a range of 2150km
Can only auto attack a surface ship by itself from the deck of a carrier 40km away?