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If bb players want games to start faster, they should accept and fix the problems
that they create for cv's.
One thing they could do that would fix just about every problem cv's face is to
realize that the bb's greatest concern should be protecting their carriers. Especially
towards the middle and end of WWII and even towards the beginning, the carriers
ruled the seas. There were few significant battles that were dependent upon bb's
to win, especially after Surigao Strait. If a cv is well protected in all warfare areas
(undersea, surface, air), it is easily capable of delivering death much faster than a
battleship could. This is not to say that bb's are useless, far from it. They, along
with smaller ships, are the screen that keeps the cv alive.
If NF would allow pitched battles with organized fleets, you would see intelligent
organization once again. With four cv's, two would be loaded with nothing but fp's
to rule the skies while the other two were db's and tb's to rain death from above,
damaging, crippling, and destroying capital ships like so many sitting ducks. The
bb's would form a screen of heavy armor and even heavier broadsides to keep the
enemy fleet far away from their death machine toting flat-tops. The CA's and CL's
would serve as AA platforms and advance artillery against BC's and enemy cruisers.
The dd's would be dedicated to asw platforms and the all-important WWII role of
creating well aimed torpedo walls.
Regardless of NF's insistence upon negating tactical battles, the bb's role is still to
rain death in order to protect the carrier. If you want to provide a big incentive for
CV players, give them better protection from enemy bb's and get the teams CA's and
CL's to provide reliable AA cover.
When that happens, you will very likely see a real increase in CV populations. Until
then, CV players are constantly relegated to backseat roles of scouting for bb's who
refuse to scout for themselves and providing FC for bb's because there either aren't
any AA ships, the AA ships suck, or the bb's failed to protect the AA ships.
CV = Fighter cover, deliver death at arms reach of the fleet (standoff)
BB = Shield for fleet (primarily cv's)
CA = fast heavy hitter with low armor, AA
CL = armored AA, anti-DD, Torp walls
DD = Torp walls, part-time AA, ASW, fast but unarmored gunships (anti-dd, CL)
FF = ASW, Dumbfire missiles (fire and forget) to throw at enemy ff's and dd's
SS = silent hunter, ASW if no ASW ship nearby
(in real life navies, ff's in a fleet would best used in chokepoints to lure enemy ss's
out for dd's to kill, thus fire-and-forget)
If people can get over their greed and accept these roles as gospel, you will see
better success, higher xp gains, shorter games, happier players, more players!
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edit a few minutes later...
Of course fleet tactics are difficult to perform on a map this is barely large enough to
allow one fleet to maneuver, let alone two.
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