Naval forces
In this guide, we will take a look at how to use the various naval units and tactics in Call of War.
This guide is the edited version of @General Nightman ‘s COW classic guide. Also a big shout-out for the contributions of both @whowh and @JesterTheSheep @Hornetkeeper
Types of Ships
Submarine: Probably the best naval unit in Call of war, the submarine is cheap, fast and easy to build. It's very good against battleships and transports. However, the submarine is quite poor against cruiser, stacked destroyers and aircraft carriers. Naval bombers are also deadly to a sub. Submarines are stealth units that can only be revealed by naval bombers and destroyers of the same level or higher. They are also revealed when fighting another unit.
Destroyer: A small, quick little ship, this ship is excellent against submarines and transports. The destroyer has most of the strengths of a submarine, but it is not hidden, is 35% faster than subs and costs only slightly more to build. Destroyers also has more AA firepower. Destroyers are the only naval unit capable of finding subs. This is not a joke: you NEED destroyers in every single stack. Send those subs packing!
Cruiser: The next step up in the naval lines comes the cruiser, the "middle of the road" ship. This ship is fairly fast, has good firepower against naval units, resistant against subs and does a little damage to troops on the ground. But it truly excels in anti-aircraft, having the strongest defense amongst all the ships. However, a cruiser is no match for a battleship or aircraft carrier. It also costs a lot more to build than a destroyer or submarine. Cruisers always need to be stacked with destroyers to protect them against submarines.
Battleship: The king of the sea, the battleship has a range of 70km, doing devastating damage to naval units and troops on the shore. Additionally, it has a large line of sight of 90km. This is perfect to patrol your coast or to find enemy ships in the ocean. Properly escorted, the battleship will deal immense damage. However, battleships don't stand a chance against submarines or naval bombers. The battleship is quite a bit slower than the rest of the ships and costs more resources to produce. Battleships always need to be stacked with destroyers to protect them against submarines. They also need to be stacked with cruisers to protect them against air units. Naval bombers can be as devastating as submarines.
Aircraft Carriers: The modern king of the sea, the aircraft is truly the ruling class. They are fast ships, able to keep up with the smaller escort ships. Carriers are just as vulnerable to subs as battleships and a cheaper lv2 destroyer can engage and kill a lv1 carrier. In addition they will not survive a bombardment from a battleship or cruiser. It requires both subs, destroyers, cruisers battleships and or planes to protect it. The aircraft carrier will carry interceptors, naval bombers, attack bombers and tactical bombers. A level 1 carrier can carry two planes, for every research level that you upgrade you get an additional 2 places. For example, a carrier level 4 will carry 8 planes.
Naval Tactics
Using an aircraft carrier
One of the most commonly asked questions about naval units is, "How do I load airplanes onto a carrier?"
First, sail your carrier out of port. (Ships in port are protected from subs until they sail out for the first time.) Then, check the carriers’ stats to see how many planes you can load onto the carrier. Lastly, fly out your planes from an airbase in range of the carrier and them on the carrier.
Submarine Blockade
One of the tactics that Germany used to great effect in World War 1 and 2 was a submarine blockade of Britain and the allies. A submarine blockade will alert you to incoming enemy movements, stop landing troops, and keep your coasts secure. To create a submarine blockade, you'll need to have a sizeable number of subs to cover your entire coast.
Place a submarine on each "dot" on the ocean to prevent any ships from slipping by. Now, you have to be smart about this. If you are Africa and have conquered Europe, you would not line the underside of Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey with subs. You would place 2-3 subs at the Gibraltar strait, and cover the entire expanse with only a few subs. Take a look around your maps to see where the "choke points" are. A good idea is to place one sub at each dot, and have a "quick response" team of 2-8 subs (or other naval units) in reserve for every 3-6 dots. The single submarine will hold incoming enemies until your larger force can arrive. Important to know is that without High Command your subs will not engage with ships of a soon to be enemy. If you aren’t at war those ships will continue to sail further and just sail over your submarines. If you have High Command then put your subs on aggressive fire settings and all will be fine. Remember to give all AI nations ROW or shared maps so that you don’t end up in an unwanted war with AI.
The Naval bomber intelligence written by @Hornetkeeper
A submarine blockade is a good strategy for keeping track of your enemy, however, for large shorelines, naval bombers are just far better. They can cover a large area and quickly arrive to attack when needed, so you will only need 10 naval bombers where you would need 40 subs to protect with the same effectivity. You can focus down the vulnerable parts of the enemy navy on top of that, while submarines couldn't reach the vulnerable convoys without ramming into the forward ships.
If you leave bombers patrolling they will save the enemy ships within the patrol circle as intelligence reveals. The reveal is saved when the plane is patrolling over the unit, and it needn't finish patrol and do damage, so even if the enemy has a lot of AA defence your bomber will save the enemy ships as intelligence before it dies. If you then wake up to your dead sub you have to scout the area well as the only you know is the name of the enemy army (from newspaper reports). If it says flotilla, could be one with 1 battleship and 3 destroyers, or 10 battleships, 10 destroyers and 20 transports.
However, if you use naval bombers, the patrol saves not only the composition but also the current orders of the enemy army, so you know where it was heading to as well. The time you'd arrive to the place with enough subs would be very late usually, but naval bombers can arrive within 1 hour max if you have proper air transfer.
If you're active you can scout a large area as well, subs could also do that by spreading into single units but if then a fast naval force struck through the subs couldn't do anything before merging, and quite a few would probably get destroyed. With naval bombers, you can just merge them at airports and draw them all to the place, and arrive far quicker than subs would.
The only downside for naval bombers I see is the airports. You have to secure them by upgrading them and building a lot of buildings in the province to reduce the chance of the airport being targeted.
Other than that, and chokepoints like Gibraltar, I don't see sub defence making much sense. The bombers are limited to range from their airports or have to go on vulnerable carriers, making subs a valuable scouting and hunting unit for sneaking behind the main front and destroying unescorted or unmerged ships. They do well if you focus on upgrading and massing them and can destroy fleets, even those with destroyers. But they are just not suited for passive defence of a larger area, they only work that way on chokepoints.
True, this is for the 95%, but I still think naval bombers are just more specialized in defending your shoreline, subs only defending chokepoints and scouting or sneaky attacks far in the enemy seas.
A naval blockade
A naval blockade combines both a submarine blockade and the intelligence of naval bombers in the most probable pathways used at sea for an invastion. Behind the line of subs there are small stacks of destroyers, submarines and battleships that can sail to anything that slips trough.
On the pictures below you can see a coastline protected by 17 subs, 15 naval bombers, 4 destroyers and 4 battleships.
Escorting Transports and Planes
One of the best ways to lose a map without fighting much is losing all your army at sea. Unescorted transports have about 50 to 70% of their original health when at sea, at a 12HP each. The best way to try and prevent this is escorting your convoys with naval units.
Cruisers are a good choice, they provide protection against air, subs and destroyers. Submarines are always a wise decision. It's also not a bad idea to send ahead a submarine ahead to scout the route and see if any unpleasant surprises await along your planned route. If you want to be a 100% sure also put battleships in your stack and enough carriers so that your entire air force can land on them. Remember also to make naval bombers so that they can take out large stacks of subs when needed.
In 1.5 Plane transports, can be escorted by naval units. However it's still better to load them on a carrier so that your planes can operate at sea. Carriers are good shuttles across the ocean, and they can protect your transports (and carrier) while at sea.
Stop and Drop
You see a large force of transports coming. You want to lose as few of your naval units as possible. So what do you do? You use the "stop and drop" tactic. Have a submarine or submarine squadron stop the transports. While they are halted, bring up your ranged naval units and bombard them without taking any damage to your bigger ships.
Bombarding Land Units
Sometimes, you can bombard land units from cruisers and battleships, to soften up a landing or clear out a coastal city. Battleships work best for this, because they have a longer range and can do more damage to infantry and armour. While destroyers look like they can bombard the shore, they do no damage to land units, only naval units.
Doctrine Tips written by @JesterTheSheep
Allies
DO: keep those upgrades handy! It's better to outfit your boats with the latest technology than it is to replace destroyed navies, especially aircraft carriers.
DON'T: worry about mixing stacks. Speed isn't really relevant on the sea, just focus on getting to your target in one piece.
Axis
DO: Save battleships for last. Given how expensive they are to begin with, producing battleships isn't really possible until mid-game. I'd say wait until about day 8 to start looking into it.
DON'T: waste all of your resources on capital ships, like battleships and carriers. They're very, very expensive, and difficult to replace. Instead, focus on using what you already have, and build new infrastructure as needed. If you can get away with not using a capital ship, do so.
Comintern
DO: Mass produce destroyers as soon as possible. They're basically your best seaborne option.
DON'T: Don't have a ranged battle with Axis powers if you don't have the numerical advantage. Axis have a higher attack bonus while comintern has reduced attack power, you're never going to do any worthwhile damage. Don't be afraid to retreat and pull your ships out of a battle
Pan-Asian
DO: As you have 10% less HP you need to avoid to be locked into melee combat. As you are 20% faster your battleships will be almost as fast as a cruiser from another doctrine but you will have a longer range. The Pan-Asian battleship has an additional 10% HP which nullifies the Pan-Asian -10% HP penalty. On top of it your battleship deals an additional 10% damage to all units, so both air, land and naval units. This makes the Pan-Asian Battleship one of the best naval unit in the game. They should be the core of your navy but well protected with destroyers and cruisers so that you are safe from both air and subs.
DO: Destroyers are your friend. Station destroyers sporadically across your waters. You have longer viewing distance, meaning you can hunt down subs even more efficiently.
DO: Hit and run. Pan-Asian is faster than the other doctrines so you can just shoot with your battleships and sail out of range without taking counter damage.
DON'T: get too close. Especially if you see enemy subs or battleships. You have reduced hitpoints, and you're much easier to sink.
DON'T: be afraid to retreat. If you don't pull your ships out of a deadly battle, you may lose them altogether, and that doesn't help at all.
Advanced tactics: how to stack?
How many destroyers in a stack
The answer is simple, for every battleship you need a destroyer and for every two cruisers you need one destroyer. As battleships are more vulnerable to sub attack you need to protect them better. Some players will argue that only one destroyer to spot a submarine is enough and that the cruisers and battleships bombardment will do the rest. That might work against one or two subs but not against larger stacks of subs.
The wolfpack stack
One of the cheapest and most effective stacks is 10 subs stacked together. They will almost take out anything. If you see those 9 juicy battleships protected by only 1 destroyer. Put your wolfpack stack on forced march and get in there. Subs are faster than battleships so even if they try to fire and retreat you will still catch up with them.
The multi functional stack
You make two stacks of 5 destroyers, 5 cruisers and 5 battleships. With 5 destroyers you are safe against subs and with 5 cruisers you are safe against air units. Use those two stacks to outflank your enemies from two sides and there’s no escape. If you encounter larger enemy stack then pull back, merge your two stacks and go in for the kill. It’s always handy to keep a wolfpack stack close by. Lock the enemy in melee battle with your cheap subs and bombard the enemy without taking counter damage.
The invasion stack
Taking your army at sea to invade another country always presents a high risk. Add 5 carriers’ level 2 to both of your multi functional stacks. Each stack can now be protected by 20 planes which is great. Put all your land units in one stack and use the other stack to scout ahead. You can use your planes to scout even further. You should definitly have fully upgrade naval bombers to detect and destroy any subs or wolfpack stacks that you might encounter. Remember also to upgrade your transport ship technology. This will give your convoys better defensive stats and it makes them faster too. "Researching transport ship lv4 is highly recommended for any larger naval invasion, and also the militia strategy related to that. You just spam 50 lv1 militia, embark them on transports and merge with your navy and the valuable transports. This is vulnerable to nukes, but before those get released, this strategy rocks.": @Hornetkeeper
Other out of the box suggestions written by @whowh
1 destroyer is the core of every naval stack. That leaves 9 more fighting spots, and 10 additional HP meat shields. Add 1 cruiser for the view range (have to see what's around you) and some AA cover. That leaves you with 8+10 slots left.
(This is definitely not recommended as it’s too easily countered with a wolfpack stack of 10 subs. The suggested stack has a very low anti air value and would be torn to shreds by naval bombers. Using both the wolfpack stack and naval bombers against this would be very effective.)
What kind of stacks does this open up?
1. Bombardment Stack.
The most basic, most universally applicable stack is bombardment. You have 1 destroyer detecting subs, 1 cruiser detecting surface and air units, leaving 8 slots for Battleships. That can do a lot of damage to coastal targets and normal surface fleets. (again not recommended for the reasons stated above)
This is my go-to stack. My typical setup is 1 DD + 1 CL + 8 BB.
2. Anti Air Stack.
You're going to need this to support naval invasions, or counter surface fleets carrying naval bombers. In addition to the standard 1 destroyer + 1 cruiser, the AA stack has a mix of carriers and cruisers. Depending on your carrier research, that could mean 1-2 carriers with 8-10 Interceptors each, or 3-4 carriers with 4-6 interceptors. The rest is filled with 6-7 cruisers. They protect the fleet from bombers while the interceptors are away, or refuelling. And the cruisers provide some bombardment ability against small groups of destroyers/subs.
My typical setup is 1 DD + 8 CL + 1 CV carrying 10 interceptors. This is enough for most invasions. Assuming your opponent has similar research levels as you, the opponent would need 30+ naval bombers to stop you. If you're afraid of rockets, just add some HP in the form of transports (next). By the time the opponent builds enough rockets to sink your fleet, you should be able to take 1 province, build an air field, and move your interceptors. The carrier group has done its job, and it can go home.
3. Meat Shield Stack.
Research level 4 transports. Take a standard bombardment stack. Add 10 transports filled with cheap, disposable army units. That's an extra 250 HP in your navy stack. It's like an extra 5 battleships. You can now get into gun fights with fewer losses.
4. The Nasty Surprise Stack.
Take a stack of 10 submarines, and add 10 level 4 transports. You have just over-powered your submarines. A greedy opponent will see 10 undefended transports and rush in with their surface navy. Your subs will tear them to pieces. Even a good opponent, who knows how to detect subs, will get more than they bargained for. The transports can effectively double the HP of your submarines, making them more effective in battle. 10 destroyers attacking 10 subs + 10 level 4 transports, who do you think will win that fight?
By specializing your stacks, you can beat enemies who follow more traditional tactics. The typical enemy stack looks like this: 5 DD + 3 CL + 2 BB. Your bombardment stack will tear it to pieces. If the enemy starts to load more battleships, you're going to run into something like this: 3 DD + 2 CL + 5 BB. Time to add some transport meat shields. When the opponent tries to copy you, stacking battleships, that's when you flip the script. Time for a Nasty Surprise stack of subs and transports, tearing his battleships to pieces.
5. The Cruiser Spam
Going only for cruisers is a very good strategy and is often used by the more experienced players in the game. Starting the game with a cruiser spam and upgrading them afterwards is probably the best opening strategy. You put a single destroyer in that stack and you can take out subs from a distance. Going exclusively for cruisers makes them resistant against subs so you need one destroyer in a stack. They are very effective against air and they are faster then a battleship and can win against them with an equal resource output.
"One cruiser is vunerable to battelship but two cruisers aren't.
See a fight with about equal resources - 32 lv2 cruisers against 25 lv1 battleships.
This depends on the size of the front, on a smaller one the cruisers have to split to do full damage, exposing themselves to focus fire unless the player really manages them well.
But just a straight-up comparison:
201.6 damage * 1824 hp (cruisers) VS. 215 damage * 1300 hp (battleships).
The research costs are in favour of the cruiser so we used level 2 ones there. If we used lv1, yes, the battleships would win with equal resources.
520 hp * 59.8 damage (cruisers) VS. 468 hp * 77.4 damage (battleships).
Not even mentioning that the battleship player needs cruiser research for AA defence anyway, so we could add two extra cruisers to the cruiser player to match the research costs for the battleship player. Battleships are slow on top of that, so whenever split up you can send your cruisers after them and hunt them before they merge back with the other part of their army. The extra view range helps the cruiser a lot there.
I just don't use battleships at all. Cruisers suit me far better." written by @Hornetkeeper
In this guide, we will take a look at how to use the various naval units and tactics in Call of War.
This guide is the edited version of @General Nightman ‘s COW classic guide. Also a big shout-out for the contributions of both @whowh and @JesterTheSheep @Hornetkeeper
Types of Ships
Submarine: Probably the best naval unit in Call of war, the submarine is cheap, fast and easy to build. It's very good against battleships and transports. However, the submarine is quite poor against cruiser, stacked destroyers and aircraft carriers. Naval bombers are also deadly to a sub. Submarines are stealth units that can only be revealed by naval bombers and destroyers of the same level or higher. They are also revealed when fighting another unit.
Destroyer: A small, quick little ship, this ship is excellent against submarines and transports. The destroyer has most of the strengths of a submarine, but it is not hidden, is 35% faster than subs and costs only slightly more to build. Destroyers also has more AA firepower. Destroyers are the only naval unit capable of finding subs. This is not a joke: you NEED destroyers in every single stack. Send those subs packing!
Cruiser: The next step up in the naval lines comes the cruiser, the "middle of the road" ship. This ship is fairly fast, has good firepower against naval units, resistant against subs and does a little damage to troops on the ground. But it truly excels in anti-aircraft, having the strongest defense amongst all the ships. However, a cruiser is no match for a battleship or aircraft carrier. It also costs a lot more to build than a destroyer or submarine. Cruisers always need to be stacked with destroyers to protect them against submarines.
Battleship: The king of the sea, the battleship has a range of 70km, doing devastating damage to naval units and troops on the shore. Additionally, it has a large line of sight of 90km. This is perfect to patrol your coast or to find enemy ships in the ocean. Properly escorted, the battleship will deal immense damage. However, battleships don't stand a chance against submarines or naval bombers. The battleship is quite a bit slower than the rest of the ships and costs more resources to produce. Battleships always need to be stacked with destroyers to protect them against submarines. They also need to be stacked with cruisers to protect them against air units. Naval bombers can be as devastating as submarines.
Aircraft Carriers: The modern king of the sea, the aircraft is truly the ruling class. They are fast ships, able to keep up with the smaller escort ships. Carriers are just as vulnerable to subs as battleships and a cheaper lv2 destroyer can engage and kill a lv1 carrier. In addition they will not survive a bombardment from a battleship or cruiser. It requires both subs, destroyers, cruisers battleships and or planes to protect it. The aircraft carrier will carry interceptors, naval bombers, attack bombers and tactical bombers. A level 1 carrier can carry two planes, for every research level that you upgrade you get an additional 2 places. For example, a carrier level 4 will carry 8 planes.
Naval Tactics
Using an aircraft carrier
One of the most commonly asked questions about naval units is, "How do I load airplanes onto a carrier?"
First, sail your carrier out of port. (Ships in port are protected from subs until they sail out for the first time.) Then, check the carriers’ stats to see how many planes you can load onto the carrier. Lastly, fly out your planes from an airbase in range of the carrier and them on the carrier.
Submarine Blockade
One of the tactics that Germany used to great effect in World War 1 and 2 was a submarine blockade of Britain and the allies. A submarine blockade will alert you to incoming enemy movements, stop landing troops, and keep your coasts secure. To create a submarine blockade, you'll need to have a sizeable number of subs to cover your entire coast.
Place a submarine on each "dot" on the ocean to prevent any ships from slipping by. Now, you have to be smart about this. If you are Africa and have conquered Europe, you would not line the underside of Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey with subs. You would place 2-3 subs at the Gibraltar strait, and cover the entire expanse with only a few subs. Take a look around your maps to see where the "choke points" are. A good idea is to place one sub at each dot, and have a "quick response" team of 2-8 subs (or other naval units) in reserve for every 3-6 dots. The single submarine will hold incoming enemies until your larger force can arrive. Important to know is that without High Command your subs will not engage with ships of a soon to be enemy. If you aren’t at war those ships will continue to sail further and just sail over your submarines. If you have High Command then put your subs on aggressive fire settings and all will be fine. Remember to give all AI nations ROW or shared maps so that you don’t end up in an unwanted war with AI.
The Naval bomber intelligence written by @Hornetkeeper
A submarine blockade is a good strategy for keeping track of your enemy, however, for large shorelines, naval bombers are just far better. They can cover a large area and quickly arrive to attack when needed, so you will only need 10 naval bombers where you would need 40 subs to protect with the same effectivity. You can focus down the vulnerable parts of the enemy navy on top of that, while submarines couldn't reach the vulnerable convoys without ramming into the forward ships.
If you leave bombers patrolling they will save the enemy ships within the patrol circle as intelligence reveals. The reveal is saved when the plane is patrolling over the unit, and it needn't finish patrol and do damage, so even if the enemy has a lot of AA defence your bomber will save the enemy ships as intelligence before it dies. If you then wake up to your dead sub you have to scout the area well as the only you know is the name of the enemy army (from newspaper reports). If it says flotilla, could be one with 1 battleship and 3 destroyers, or 10 battleships, 10 destroyers and 20 transports.
However, if you use naval bombers, the patrol saves not only the composition but also the current orders of the enemy army, so you know where it was heading to as well. The time you'd arrive to the place with enough subs would be very late usually, but naval bombers can arrive within 1 hour max if you have proper air transfer.
If you're active you can scout a large area as well, subs could also do that by spreading into single units but if then a fast naval force struck through the subs couldn't do anything before merging, and quite a few would probably get destroyed. With naval bombers, you can just merge them at airports and draw them all to the place, and arrive far quicker than subs would.
The only downside for naval bombers I see is the airports. You have to secure them by upgrading them and building a lot of buildings in the province to reduce the chance of the airport being targeted.
Other than that, and chokepoints like Gibraltar, I don't see sub defence making much sense. The bombers are limited to range from their airports or have to go on vulnerable carriers, making subs a valuable scouting and hunting unit for sneaking behind the main front and destroying unescorted or unmerged ships. They do well if you focus on upgrading and massing them and can destroy fleets, even those with destroyers. But they are just not suited for passive defence of a larger area, they only work that way on chokepoints.
True, this is for the 95%, but I still think naval bombers are just more specialized in defending your shoreline, subs only defending chokepoints and scouting or sneaky attacks far in the enemy seas.
A naval blockade
A naval blockade combines both a submarine blockade and the intelligence of naval bombers in the most probable pathways used at sea for an invastion. Behind the line of subs there are small stacks of destroyers, submarines and battleships that can sail to anything that slips trough.
On the pictures below you can see a coastline protected by 17 subs, 15 naval bombers, 4 destroyers and 4 battleships.
Escorting Transports and Planes
One of the best ways to lose a map without fighting much is losing all your army at sea. Unescorted transports have about 50 to 70% of their original health when at sea, at a 12HP each. The best way to try and prevent this is escorting your convoys with naval units.
Cruisers are a good choice, they provide protection against air, subs and destroyers. Submarines are always a wise decision. It's also not a bad idea to send ahead a submarine ahead to scout the route and see if any unpleasant surprises await along your planned route. If you want to be a 100% sure also put battleships in your stack and enough carriers so that your entire air force can land on them. Remember also to make naval bombers so that they can take out large stacks of subs when needed.
In 1.5 Plane transports, can be escorted by naval units. However it's still better to load them on a carrier so that your planes can operate at sea. Carriers are good shuttles across the ocean, and they can protect your transports (and carrier) while at sea.
Stop and Drop
You see a large force of transports coming. You want to lose as few of your naval units as possible. So what do you do? You use the "stop and drop" tactic. Have a submarine or submarine squadron stop the transports. While they are halted, bring up your ranged naval units and bombard them without taking any damage to your bigger ships.
Bombarding Land Units
Sometimes, you can bombard land units from cruisers and battleships, to soften up a landing or clear out a coastal city. Battleships work best for this, because they have a longer range and can do more damage to infantry and armour. While destroyers look like they can bombard the shore, they do no damage to land units, only naval units.
Doctrine Tips written by @JesterTheSheep
Allies
DO: keep those upgrades handy! It's better to outfit your boats with the latest technology than it is to replace destroyed navies, especially aircraft carriers.
DON'T: worry about mixing stacks. Speed isn't really relevant on the sea, just focus on getting to your target in one piece.
Axis
DO: Save battleships for last. Given how expensive they are to begin with, producing battleships isn't really possible until mid-game. I'd say wait until about day 8 to start looking into it.
DON'T: waste all of your resources on capital ships, like battleships and carriers. They're very, very expensive, and difficult to replace. Instead, focus on using what you already have, and build new infrastructure as needed. If you can get away with not using a capital ship, do so.
Comintern
DO: Mass produce destroyers as soon as possible. They're basically your best seaborne option.
DON'T: Don't have a ranged battle with Axis powers if you don't have the numerical advantage. Axis have a higher attack bonus while comintern has reduced attack power, you're never going to do any worthwhile damage. Don't be afraid to retreat and pull your ships out of a battle
Pan-Asian
DO: As you have 10% less HP you need to avoid to be locked into melee combat. As you are 20% faster your battleships will be almost as fast as a cruiser from another doctrine but you will have a longer range. The Pan-Asian battleship has an additional 10% HP which nullifies the Pan-Asian -10% HP penalty. On top of it your battleship deals an additional 10% damage to all units, so both air, land and naval units. This makes the Pan-Asian Battleship one of the best naval unit in the game. They should be the core of your navy but well protected with destroyers and cruisers so that you are safe from both air and subs.
DO: Destroyers are your friend. Station destroyers sporadically across your waters. You have longer viewing distance, meaning you can hunt down subs even more efficiently.
DO: Hit and run. Pan-Asian is faster than the other doctrines so you can just shoot with your battleships and sail out of range without taking counter damage.
DON'T: get too close. Especially if you see enemy subs or battleships. You have reduced hitpoints, and you're much easier to sink.
DON'T: be afraid to retreat. If you don't pull your ships out of a deadly battle, you may lose them altogether, and that doesn't help at all.
Advanced tactics: how to stack?
How many destroyers in a stack
The answer is simple, for every battleship you need a destroyer and for every two cruisers you need one destroyer. As battleships are more vulnerable to sub attack you need to protect them better. Some players will argue that only one destroyer to spot a submarine is enough and that the cruisers and battleships bombardment will do the rest. That might work against one or two subs but not against larger stacks of subs.
The wolfpack stack
One of the cheapest and most effective stacks is 10 subs stacked together. They will almost take out anything. If you see those 9 juicy battleships protected by only 1 destroyer. Put your wolfpack stack on forced march and get in there. Subs are faster than battleships so even if they try to fire and retreat you will still catch up with them.
The multi functional stack
You make two stacks of 5 destroyers, 5 cruisers and 5 battleships. With 5 destroyers you are safe against subs and with 5 cruisers you are safe against air units. Use those two stacks to outflank your enemies from two sides and there’s no escape. If you encounter larger enemy stack then pull back, merge your two stacks and go in for the kill. It’s always handy to keep a wolfpack stack close by. Lock the enemy in melee battle with your cheap subs and bombard the enemy without taking counter damage.
The invasion stack
Taking your army at sea to invade another country always presents a high risk. Add 5 carriers’ level 2 to both of your multi functional stacks. Each stack can now be protected by 20 planes which is great. Put all your land units in one stack and use the other stack to scout ahead. You can use your planes to scout even further. You should definitly have fully upgrade naval bombers to detect and destroy any subs or wolfpack stacks that you might encounter. Remember also to upgrade your transport ship technology. This will give your convoys better defensive stats and it makes them faster too. "Researching transport ship lv4 is highly recommended for any larger naval invasion, and also the militia strategy related to that. You just spam 50 lv1 militia, embark them on transports and merge with your navy and the valuable transports. This is vulnerable to nukes, but before those get released, this strategy rocks.": @Hornetkeeper
Other out of the box suggestions written by @whowh
1 destroyer is the core of every naval stack. That leaves 9 more fighting spots, and 10 additional HP meat shields. Add 1 cruiser for the view range (have to see what's around you) and some AA cover. That leaves you with 8+10 slots left.
(This is definitely not recommended as it’s too easily countered with a wolfpack stack of 10 subs. The suggested stack has a very low anti air value and would be torn to shreds by naval bombers. Using both the wolfpack stack and naval bombers against this would be very effective.)
What kind of stacks does this open up?
1. Bombardment Stack.
The most basic, most universally applicable stack is bombardment. You have 1 destroyer detecting subs, 1 cruiser detecting surface and air units, leaving 8 slots for Battleships. That can do a lot of damage to coastal targets and normal surface fleets. (again not recommended for the reasons stated above)
This is my go-to stack. My typical setup is 1 DD + 1 CL + 8 BB.
2. Anti Air Stack.
You're going to need this to support naval invasions, or counter surface fleets carrying naval bombers. In addition to the standard 1 destroyer + 1 cruiser, the AA stack has a mix of carriers and cruisers. Depending on your carrier research, that could mean 1-2 carriers with 8-10 Interceptors each, or 3-4 carriers with 4-6 interceptors. The rest is filled with 6-7 cruisers. They protect the fleet from bombers while the interceptors are away, or refuelling. And the cruisers provide some bombardment ability against small groups of destroyers/subs.
My typical setup is 1 DD + 8 CL + 1 CV carrying 10 interceptors. This is enough for most invasions. Assuming your opponent has similar research levels as you, the opponent would need 30+ naval bombers to stop you. If you're afraid of rockets, just add some HP in the form of transports (next). By the time the opponent builds enough rockets to sink your fleet, you should be able to take 1 province, build an air field, and move your interceptors. The carrier group has done its job, and it can go home.
3. Meat Shield Stack.
Research level 4 transports. Take a standard bombardment stack. Add 10 transports filled with cheap, disposable army units. That's an extra 250 HP in your navy stack. It's like an extra 5 battleships. You can now get into gun fights with fewer losses.
4. The Nasty Surprise Stack.
Take a stack of 10 submarines, and add 10 level 4 transports. You have just over-powered your submarines. A greedy opponent will see 10 undefended transports and rush in with their surface navy. Your subs will tear them to pieces. Even a good opponent, who knows how to detect subs, will get more than they bargained for. The transports can effectively double the HP of your submarines, making them more effective in battle. 10 destroyers attacking 10 subs + 10 level 4 transports, who do you think will win that fight?
By specializing your stacks, you can beat enemies who follow more traditional tactics. The typical enemy stack looks like this: 5 DD + 3 CL + 2 BB. Your bombardment stack will tear it to pieces. If the enemy starts to load more battleships, you're going to run into something like this: 3 DD + 2 CL + 5 BB. Time to add some transport meat shields. When the opponent tries to copy you, stacking battleships, that's when you flip the script. Time for a Nasty Surprise stack of subs and transports, tearing his battleships to pieces.
5. The Cruiser Spam
Going only for cruisers is a very good strategy and is often used by the more experienced players in the game. Starting the game with a cruiser spam and upgrading them afterwards is probably the best opening strategy. You put a single destroyer in that stack and you can take out subs from a distance. Going exclusively for cruisers makes them resistant against subs so you need one destroyer in a stack. They are very effective against air and they are faster then a battleship and can win against them with an equal resource output.
"One cruiser is vunerable to battelship but two cruisers aren't.
See a fight with about equal resources - 32 lv2 cruisers against 25 lv1 battleships.
This depends on the size of the front, on a smaller one the cruisers have to split to do full damage, exposing themselves to focus fire unless the player really manages them well.
But just a straight-up comparison:
201.6 damage * 1824 hp (cruisers) VS. 215 damage * 1300 hp (battleships).
The research costs are in favour of the cruiser so we used level 2 ones there. If we used lv1, yes, the battleships would win with equal resources.
520 hp * 59.8 damage (cruisers) VS. 468 hp * 77.4 damage (battleships).
Not even mentioning that the battleship player needs cruiser research for AA defence anyway, so we could add two extra cruisers to the cruiser player to match the research costs for the battleship player. Battleships are slow on top of that, so whenever split up you can send your cruisers after them and hunt them before they merge back with the other part of their army. The extra view range helps the cruiser a lot there.
I just don't use battleships at all. Cruisers suit me far better." written by @Hornetkeeper
BMfox
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Moderator
EN Community Support | Bytro Gmbh
Check out my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BMfoxCallofWar
Found a bug or need help? Send a ticket here!