14:18.11 long game!

[Gen. Ripper]

Ahh so long,

This game was extremely tense, I was SA, and Caranthir was EU and Ohrengun Asia

At first I was happy with the placement, since South America is my favourite, and the other two were close to each other and I had assumed a war between them would break out leaving me to mop up the pieces. Well, after a small exchange at the start, they sat back and the naval warfare commenced.

I had initially deployed the bulk of my fleet to defend against the EU fleets (9 Battleships 8 Carrier’s) and left 3 battleships and 3 single Carrier’s for the Pacific.
A couple of loose Carrier’s placed to move around my eastern Coast for subs as well.

The naval battle between the EU and my Forces basically lasted nearly the entire game, between stalemate and an odd sinking here and there, then the Asian fleet turned up on my West Coast --- Bugger --- I had hoped he would flank up the Baring straits for the EU but I guess that was a long shot. Being pinched by two fleets wasn’t so great, but I managed to hold back the Asian fleet for quite some time inflicting heavy losses from my own assets, until the slag sub launched (backed up with bombers) and hit me hard.

Anyway, the game was already quite long by this point, and no one wanted to attack for fear of exposing themselves…the problem was, I had almost no navy (as did the other two), which could be tasked for Offensive roles. Also Bombers were now tasked as coastal patrols, and could not be spared…

At this point, I thought well…might as well launch, since I promised Asia Revenge for hitting me, and started the chain reaction that led to the end game J

Of course even the launching process was slow, and very tense!

Anyway…. had a great game, we all played great!

[caranthir.pkk]

Intense game! You definitively decided the game by attacking Asia. I had my assets set up to strike him but I don't think I would've survived both of you.
Definitely learned some things though - you're hands down the best naval player I've seen since I can remember. It took me way too long to adapt to your strategies and you had me sweating it in the Atlantic for the longest time. Anyone who thinks their naval skills need sharpening, take a lesson from Ripper

cara

[Ace Rimmer]

Anyone who thinks their naval skills need sharpening, take a lesson from Ripper

Do tell... (details)

[Gen. Ripper]

mm im sure its all common sense anyway, the naval fights that is, and I have already mentioned my tactics before on many posts (in fact I belive one of Ace's posts I commented on before)....anyway, I play a slow game, cant stand "rushing", I try and make the minimal force complete its objective, not over powering

[caranthir.pkk]

Anyone who thinks their naval skills need sharpening, take a lesson from Ripper

Do tell... (details)

Oh well a few key points would be that Ripper not only manages single carriers very well, but he uses them do dash forward, scout with fighters and then follow up with naval nukes. A lot of people try to play that way but never manage to do it well. Also, what a lot of people forget and what I have been forcing myself to do more diligently, is his resupply flow between airfields and carriers. It seems like he has an endless supply of fighters and he uses them aggressively to attack your ships and keeps you on your toes constantly. The second you shift your attention to another theatre you lose an asset; thats extremely stressful. I definitely count the micro/macro managing of re-supplies to the advanced school of defcon and Ripper has it dooooooown...

cara

[Gen. Ripper]

Well, I postion every air-field within fighter reach of the others, (not a problem as EU mind you) so I create steams of fighters to re-supply, The naval Nukes I tend to use as against clusters of ships, or when I am in need of "extra" firepower or lack power myself (such as the case in our fight, we had basicly fought till we ran out of assets)

The Battleships I hardly ever use as an Offencive tool, more of a screen to shoot down fighters and attack undefended Carrier's (not to mention to draw fire)
and I also use subs as ship to ship platforms although ONLY if i know there are no carrier's around on sub watch.....

[Gen. Ripper]

ohh..also you might not have known since i was out of radar range, but I edge forward with carrier's too and scout out Battleship groups (with bombers flying behind supporting, normally one on naval mode and one with a nuke on standby)

Since the carrier's have a radar range much more than the battleships it appears as if the fire is just coming out of nowhere

[Ace Rimmer]

Anyone who thinks their naval skills need sharpening, take a lesson from Ripper

Do tell... (details)

Oh well a few key points would be that Ripper not only manages single carriers very well, but he uses them do dash forward, scout with fighters and then follow up with naval nukes. A lot of people try to play that way but never manage to do it well. Also, what a lot of people forget and what I have been forcing myself to do more diligently, is his resupply flow between airfields and carriers. It seems like he has an endless supply of fighters and he uses them aggressively to attack your ships and keeps you on your toes constantly. The second you shift your attention to another theater you lose an asset; thats extremely stressful. I definitely count the micro/macro managing of re-supplies to the advanced school of defcon and Ripper has it dooooooown...

cara

Hmm, this is something I have been putting off until the end of the game when I'm more focused on defense and my carriers are back home. I typically try to overwhelm another's navy before they begin.

Also, I've noticed that more and more players are starting to use nukes against naval units and have become adept at avoiding them.

[Gen. Ripper]

Although I guess the "best" defence is space, it limits your oppents re-supply, and gives you room to manover in, I much prefure to fallback at the edges of my Battleships range and use bombers to fire over, rather than risk my own ships... I try and play the "Defence in depth" or the "Sword and Shield" tactics

[Ace Rimmer]

ohh..also you might not have known since i was out of radar range, but I edge forward with carrier's too and scout out Battleship groups (with bombers flying behind supporting, normally one on naval mode and one with a nuke on standby)

Since the carrier's have a radar range much more than the battleships it appears as if the fire is just coming out of nowhere

Interesting tactic. We have almost the exact opposite approach. I lead with groups of battleships, groups of carriers close behind scouting ahead with fighters, and have large groups of bombers already airborne. I keep the bombers behind the battleships to screen against fighters.

I prioritize targets as such...

1. Bombers, if seen, as they are not replaceable.
1a/2. Carriers, because of their nuke payload.
3. Battleships
4. Fighters

Subs will take priority over all if found.

[caranthir.pkk]

Anyone who thinks their naval skills need sharpening, take a lesson from Ripper

Do tell... (details)

Oh well a few key points would be that Ripper not only manages single carriers very well, but he uses them do dash forward, scout with fighters and then follow up with naval nukes. A lot of people try to play that way but never manage to do it well. Also, what a lot of people forget and what I have been forcing myself to do more diligently, is his resupply flow between airfields and carriers. It seems like he has an endless supply of fighters and he uses them aggressively to attack your ships and keeps you on your toes constantly. The second you shift your attention to another theater you lose an asset; thats extremely stressful. I definitely count the micro/macro managing of re-supplies to the advanced school of defcon and Ripper has it dooooooown...

cara

Hmm, this is something I have been putting off until the end of the game when I'm more focused on defense and my carriers are back home. I typically try to overwhelm another's navy before they begin.

Also, I've noticed that more and more players are starting to use nukes against naval units and have become adept at avoiding them.

I tend to play a similar strategy in six player games because its a lot faster gameplay, but in any match that isn't decided in the first five minutes you are in trouble. The problem is, if your decapitating strike misses and he dodges you, you are exposed and vulnerable. As you are trying to catch him and pin him down he has the time to chew you up with bombers that you cant catch. I sunk his main Atlantic fleet in a decapitating strike which also weakened me. He then played attrition under the cover of his silos and I didn't have enough firepower left to thrust in and remove his remaining naval units - shit situation I can tell you The only way I eventually managed to grab him was to mirror his tactics and re-load my carriers with fighters and try to swarm where I was guessing his carrier to be.

[Gen. Ripper]

Interesting tactic. We have almost the exact opposite approach. I lead with groups of battleships, groups of carriers close behind scouting ahead with fighters, and have large groups of bombers already airborne. I keep the bombers behind the battleships to screen against fighters.

I prioritize targets as such...

1. Bombers, if seen, as they are not replaceable.
1a/2. Carriers, because of their nuke payload.
3. Battleships
4. Fighters

Subs will take priority over all if found.

This was, or rather is my primary attacking strat too, however, somtimes you need to change, in the case of caranthir he wasnt pressing his advantage, and basicly holding then line, in which case its better to engage with the Carrier's longer radar range, if his fleets were moving towards me then I would try and screen with Battleships (although at this point I dont belive I had any left)

[Gen. Ripper]

All this talk make's me want a game

althougb I have a weird problem with the net im my house....ive noticed that if I use Sky+ or BT vision thingy downstairs then the net basicly cuts periodicaly and of course during defcon this is very frustratring (was just playing DoD and it dropped me, but not as much time invested there)

[Ace Rimmer]

Based on your experience how would either of you rate me strictly in terms of use of naval units? Honest opinions please.

[caranthir.pkk]

Interesting tactic. We have almost the exact opposite approach. I lead with groups of battleships, groups of carriers close behind scouting ahead with fighters, and have large groups of bombers already airborne. I keep the bombers behind the battleships to screen against fighters.

I prioritize targets as such...

1. Bombers, if seen, as they are not replaceable.
1a/2. Carriers, because of their nuke payload.
3. Battleships
4. Fighters

Subs will take priority over all if found.

This was, or rather is my primary attacking strat too, however, somtimes you need to change, in the case of caranthir he wasnt pressing his advantage, and basicly holding then line, in which case its better to engage with the Carrier's longer radar range, if his fleets were moving towards me then I would try and screen with Battleships (although at this point I dont belive I had any left)

The problem was, after the big clash, I didn't have enough firepower left and I didn't know where the rest of your fleet was. Also, I didn't have the location of your silos, so if I had made a dash for your coast I would've needed much better firepower. I was caught between a rock and a hard place: dash forward and hope to catch the rest of your navy and possibly be wiped out by airfields/silo nukes or play for time and hope that asia was coming for you