Three Men in a Tub

[Straight Arrow]

The bottom’s out of my tub; I’ve been playing a pbem game where Allied merchant shipping in the Atlantic has been wiped out twice by a skillful opponent using U-boats.

This I did not foresee, and as merchant ships take 2/3 of a year to build, I had pull most of my transports from around the world and use them as merchant shipping to keep the rebel cause from taking over in the UK.

I’ve placed large number of destroyers and light cruisers under a leader with sub chasing skills into my merchant ship stack, but it doesn’t seem to help much.

How does one counter the U-boat scourge?

[Nikel]

You cannot

[epaminondas]

The bottom’s out of my tub; I’ve been playing a pbem game where Allied merchant shipping in the Atlantic has been wiped out twice by a skillful opponent using U-boats.

Hot damn! I need to talk to him/her.

[Straight Arrow]

I've been scratching my head and trying to come up with counters to the U-boat menace and a skillful Central Powers player who invested heavily into undersea boat production. This musing is far too late for my current pbem game where Austria-Hungry and Great Britain are racing to see who hits 100% rebel alignment first.

Here's what I've uncovered so far:

The Allies must have twenty-five commerce ship elements in Atlantic Shipping Box to guarantee enough imports. If shipping fall below this number, lack of imported food and goods will harm British morale by -1% alignment in the UK.

Lack of imported food and goods in the Mediterranean will also harm British morale by -1% alignment in the UK.

Thus, it is possible for Great Britain to lose 2% alignment to the rebels each turn if there is a shortage of ships in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean Shipping Boxes.

Start building shipping right away. Don’t wait unit the bottom is out of the tub. It takes 240 days to build a merchant ship, that’s 16 turns out folks.

Building extra transports is not a waste of money and war supplies; all unused ocean transports can be added to merchant ship stacks to increase income and war supplies through foreign trade.

The Allies will receive fixed American merchant shipping in the Atlantic when the US enters the war.

The Allies must escort their merchant fleet and the stack should be Green/Green evade combat; this will allow escorts to stay on station longer without resupply.

Create Hunter-Killer Task Forces out of light cruisers and destroyers and give them skilled commanders with orange/orange orders. Move the TF in and out of the Atlantic Shipping box each turn. This gives them a contact check when it enters and again when it leaves the box. So that is 3 extra chances per turn to locate the enemy.

The CP player will be shuttling U-Boats back and forth through the English Channel to rest and resupply. There is only one route free of mines they can use. Consider having a Hunter-Killer Task Force prowl this route.

Any other suggestions or comments? I could use all the help I can get.

And @ Epa, the man who has been beating me like a drum is Stauffenberg; I think it would be well worth your time to drop him a PM.

[epaminondas]

And @ Epa, the man who has been beating me like a drum is Stauffenberg; I think it would be well worth your time to drop him a PM.

That's very worrying. I've committed to a game against him and if he's smart enough to make the U-boats work in EAW I don't fancy my chances.

Sorry for clouding your thread - won't do it again.