Battleship Bombardment

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    • Battleship Bombardment

      I want to share a strategy that I use in end-game scenarios where most player have gone AI and the robots are declaring war on you. THey have built up lots of unit and are sending big stacks toward your territory.

      This strategy will only work if the countries have coastlines, if not, it won't work.

      So basically you're just bombarding those stacks to death with battleships.

      Here's how I do it:

      • Research battleships level 3 or higher
      • Churn out 10-stacks of battleships (you don't really have to worry about subs because AI rarely produces naval units)
      • Send them to dock along the robot home cities or cities where they have large armies (that you don't want to have to fight melee with)
      • Any stacks that enter range of battleship will be automatically fired upon (even if you don't have premium)
      There will be 3 ways the AI will react:
      1. Send most or all units in the stack to the place your battleship stack is located. This is GREAT! (they have to take 2.5 hours to embark, plus transports are horrible against battleships no matter how many units are in there)
      2. Send most or all units in the stack to another province - in this case you can choose to follow them if you are online and they are staying near the coast.
      3. Stay in the city. The only bad thing about this is, buildings in the city will take major damage, as well as morale.
      How damage works:
      • If you have stack of 10 lvl 3 battleships, they should be giving at least 50-60 damage per iteration
      • If you have stack of 10 lvl 6 battleships you can do about 150 damage per iteration, depends on doctrine
      • Axis doctrine works best for this strategy since those battleships have highest ground unit damage stats
      Soo... if robot enemy has stack of 20 units and 1000 HP in city, it will take x iterations to destroy it...
      • 10 lvl 3 - 20 iterations (10 hours)
      • 5 lvl 6 - 14 iterations (7 hours)
      • 10 lvl 6 - 6 or 7 iterations (about 3 hours)
      One thing to watch for... if the robot stack has ranged units that are within range of your battleships, they will probably fire at you, but usually not a big worry cuz most ranged units don't do big damage against ships.

      Hope this helps!
      “A battle fought without determination is a battle lost.” - Josip Broz Tito
    • Things i have found incorrect or misleading:

      "Churn out 10-stacks of battleships (you don't really have to worry about subs because AI rarely produces naval units)"

      Not only is this painfully false, they love to spam Subs and Destroyers, thus the possibility of this failing already, and if it was a Player that went Inactive, they could have had the strongest navy in game, and would then proceed to decimate your vunerable fleets with Subs and NB's.

      • 10 lvl 3 - 20 iterations (10 hours)
      • 5 lvl 6 - 14 iterations (7 hours)
      • 10 lvl 6 - 6 or 7 iterations (about 3 hours)
      You did not account for the 20% variation and the Home Defense Bonus, about an Hour added, plus, if there are any forts, this will take about an hour and a half to 2 hours more for each level.

      "One thing to watch for... if the robot stack has ranged units that are within range of your battleships, they will probably fire at you, but usually not a big worry cuz most ranged units don't do big damage against ships."

      You completely ignored the possibility of Naval Bombers, and the AI upgrades those a lot then spams them, so you could lose your entire stack if you go offline at the wrong moment.

      Overall, i see a multitude of things wrong with this, first of all, where are your Fleet Support Ships? as i said above.

      Things i have found to be 100% correct:

      1. Send most or all units in the stack to the place your battleship stack is located. This is GREAT! (they have to take 2.5 hours to embark, plus transports are horrible against battleships no matter how many units are in there)
      2. Send most or all units in the stack to another province - in this case you can choose to follow them if you are online and they are staying near the coast.
      3. Stay in the city. The only bad thing about this is, buildings in the city will take major damage, as well as morale.


      This is unarguable, it is the full truth.


      Everything else in this post i have found nothing to say about, my solution to this would be to NOT underestimate the AI.
      "I have not failed, i have just found 10,000 ways that wont work." - Thomas Edison

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    • Fox-Company wrote:

      Things i have found incorrect or misleading:

      "Churn out 10-stacks of battleships (you don't really have to worry about subs because AI rarely produces naval units)"

      Not only is this painfully false, they love to spam Subs and Destroyers, thus the possibility of this failing already, and if it was a Player that went Inactive, they could have had the strongest navy in game, and would then proceed to decimate your vunerable fleets with Subs and NB's.

      • 10 lvl 3 - 20 iterations (10 hours)
      • 5 lvl 6 - 14 iterations (7 hours)
      • 10 lvl 6 - 6 or 7 iterations (about 3 hours)
      You did not account for the 20% variation and the Home Defense Bonus, about an Hour added, plus, if there are any forts, this will take about an hour and a half to 2 hours more for each level.

      "One thing to watch for... if the robot stack has ranged units that are within range of your battleships, they will probably fire at you, but usually not a big worry cuz most ranged units don't do big damage against ships."

      You completely ignored the possibility of Naval Bombers, and the AI upgrades those a lot then spams them, so you could lose your entire stack if you go offline at the wrong moment.

      Overall, i see a multitude of things wrong with this, first of all, where are your Fleet Support Ships? as i said above.

      Things i have found to be 100% correct:

      1. Send most or all units in the stack to the place your battleship stack is located. This is GREAT! (they have to take 2.5 hours to embark, plus transports are horrible against battleships no matter how many units are in there)
      2. Send most or all units in the stack to another province - in this case you can choose to follow them if you are online and they are staying near the coast.
      3. Stay in the city. The only bad thing about this is, buildings in the city will take major damage, as well as morale.


      This is unarguable, it is the full truth.


      Everything else in this post i have found nothing to say about, my solution to this would be to NOT underestimate the AI.
      I think you and me have different ideas about what the AI is capable of builidng/producing.

      I just finished an America Homefront map as Mexico City, and of the 5 full-inactive countries I used this strategy on, 4 of them had not produced one naval unit. (the 5th one had 1 destroyer and 1 sub, both level 1)

      As for naval bombers, the AI rarely researches past level 1 of those, which means they are just food for my interceptors.

      And as for Fortress defense bonuses, that value will continue to decrease as the fortress gets damaged via bombardment.
      “A battle fought without determination is a battle lost.” - Josip Broz Tito
    • Brando Dilla wrote:

      Fox-Company wrote:

      Things i have found incorrect or misleading:

      "Churn out 10-stacks of battleships (you don't really have to worry about subs because AI rarely produces naval units)"

      Not only is this painfully false, they love to spam Subs and Destroyers, thus the possibility of this failing already, and if it was a Player that went Inactive, they could have had the strongest navy in game, and would then proceed to decimate your vunerable fleets with Subs and NB's.

      • 10 lvl 3 - 20 iterations (10 hours)
      • 5 lvl 6 - 14 iterations (7 hours)
      • 10 lvl 6 - 6 or 7 iterations (about 3 hours)
      You did not account for the 20% variation and the Home Defense Bonus, about an Hour added, plus, if there are any forts, this will take about an hour and a half to 2 hours more for each level.

      "One thing to watch for... if the robot stack has ranged units that are within range of your battleships, they will probably fire at you, but usually not a big worry cuz most ranged units don't do big damage against ships."

      You completely ignored the possibility of Naval Bombers, and the AI upgrades those a lot then spams them, so you could lose your entire stack if you go offline at the wrong moment.

      Overall, i see a multitude of things wrong with this, first of all, where are your Fleet Support Ships? as i said above.

      Things i have found to be 100% correct:

      1. Send most or all units in the stack to the place your battleship stack is located. This is GREAT! (they have to take 2.5 hours to embark, plus transports are horrible against battleships no matter how many units are in there)
      2. Send most or all units in the stack to another province - in this case you can choose to follow them if you are online and they are staying near the coast.
      3. Stay in the city. The only bad thing about this is, buildings in the city will take major damage, as well as morale.


      This is unarguable, it is the full truth.


      Everything else in this post i have found nothing to say about, my solution to this would be to NOT underestimate the AI.
      I think you and me have different ideas about what the AI is capable of builidng/producing.
      I just finished an America Homefront map as Mexico City, and of the 5 full-inactive countries I used this strategy on, 4 of them had not produced one naval unit. (the 5th one had 1 destroyer and 1 sub, both level 1)

      As for naval bombers, the AI rarely researches past level 1 of those, which means they are just food for my interceptors.

      And as for Fortress defense bonuses, that value will continue to decrease as the fortress gets damaged via bombardment.
      You still have to take those into account, if the fort is lvl 3, it will take twice as long, and if the AI keeps fixing it (which they do sometimes) it will take 4 times longer. and you can say what you want about your experiences, i am a long time veteran, and i know how the AI thinks, and the AI in your map may not be Airforce/Navy Oriented, which some are, and the ones that are, would eat you alive. and there is no 'different idea' i am telling you what they can do.
      "I have not failed, i have just found 10,000 ways that wont work." - Thomas Edison

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    • Honestly, i would not recommend this tactic to players, it is asking to die, especially of the player came back from AI, you may lose, like, your entire navy.
      "I have not failed, i have just found 10,000 ways that wont work." - Thomas Edison

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    • Brando Dilla wrote:

      Fox-Company wrote:

      Honestly, i would not recommend this tactic to players, it is asking to die, especially of the player came back from AI, you may lose, like, your entire navy.
      It's mainly for in the end-game when they've been AI all game and you are too spread out to defend all borders effectively.
      I have had an AI come back once, decimated my fleet, but i still won nonetheless, but that is because i have years of experience under my belt, i would 100% NOT recommend this to new players, but this i would,
      The Importance of Upgrading Troops and their Composition.

      This goes slightly into depth about this, and more, but, really, it is like telling your army to march up to enemy tanks and punch them, sure, it may take them by supprise, but you die nonetheless.
      "I have not failed, i have just found 10,000 ways that wont work." - Thomas Edison

      Need Support? Send a Ticket here! - Support Form.
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