Kriegsmarine

[KlaiggeB]

Okay. I'll admit it. I need help.

No matter what I do, no matter what strategy I employ, I simply cannot destroy enough British ships to continue past turn 12.

Looking for help/ideas because the most I've been able to do is destroy 9 British Ships.

If you can help, please email me at xxxxxxxxxx

Thanks!

boly

[bru888]

boly, as you see above, it's probably not a good idea to include your personal e-mail address in a forum post. Besides, that's what this forum is for so why the privacy?

So if you are willing to elaborate here, which scenario are you talking about? I just finished Kriegsmarine a little while ago, so I may be able to help.

[Mojko]

I recommend viewing this discussion. In there, you can find a replay for each scenario of the Kriegsmarine, so you will be able to see how the victory can be achieved.

[KlaiggeB]

thank you, Bru... I didn't want to put my email address, but the fact is, I'm frustrated and desperate.

I'm at the Norway scenario.

No matter what I do, I can't sink enough British ships by turn 12, so it knocks me out with a defeat.

Now the goals are to take the capital by turn 12; Can't do that because 1 transport can't get by 2 Norwegian gun ships.

I'm stumped and I'd appreciate any tips you can give me.

boly

[bru888]

Take a break. I'll post more tomorrow when I have time. For now, this is key to taking Narvik: Put warships here to protect the infantry transport and get the job done quickly so that they can return to sea and join the upcoming fight against the British Navy.

Screenshot 2.jpg (110.82 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

[bru888]

OK, here's the rest. WARNING: I am assuming that I will not be SPOILING your fun by telling you these things since you have played the scenario before. Other readers should heed this SPOILER WARNING.

This post talks about the Narvik scenario of Kriegsmarine. I looked at it in the scenario editor.

See what I said in the post above. There's a random scenario trigger setup in which an enemy destroyer and a gunboat may be repositioned from near Narvik to the fjords off this bay to the north and south. If they are in those fjords, then they could end up behind your convoy. My advice is to keep one warship in the rear to guard against that possibility.

There is an enemy supply ship moving down the bay, on its way down south someplace. I think this is a decoy, frankly. I wouldn't waste time chasing and sinking it because it does not count for anything. Destroy it only if it is blocking your way up the bay. Also, the enemy infantry on the tip of the southwest peninsula is window-dressing as it does not seem to do anything. A supply ship is down there as well. Don't waste time on them; Narvik is your first goal. Be careful around that peninsula with your planes, though, because there is an AA gun nearby, too.

A trigger reveals the positions of two British battlecruisers (HMS Repulse and Renown) in the beginning of the scenario. I believe that is another decoy to take your attention away from Narvik and chase after them. Let them come to you.

One other aspect of setup: If you are playing on Difficulty IV or V, they move the other British naval units away, further west, so that you don't find them as quickly, I think. Play on Difficulty III, then!

One of the primary objectives is to capture Narvik by turn 12. If on turn 13 you are not in possession of Narvik, you lose. Bear in mind that there is another trigger in there about if you lose the German infantry transport, the only ground unit that you have in the game, you automatically lose the scenario because then you have no way of taking Narvik.

The other primary objective is to sink 12 British warships. Supply ships do not count, but submarines do. However, I don't think there are any British submarines in this scenario. You have to sink a total of 12 ships in 30 turns.

The secondary objectives are rather straightforward. Don't lose any more than 4 of your own warships or something bad will happen to you in future scenarios. Down a British plane, however, and you will be rewarded. You can look at the descriptions for these objectives for some idea but I don't know specifically how these effects are handled in the campaign file.

There are a British cruiser and three destroyers in a group in the west. There are another cruiser and four destroyers in the north. Both groups are idle or defending until their orders change. The west group will start sailing to attack the bay on turn 3 and the north group will do so on turn 7.

Meanwhile, the two British battlecruisers that you see in the beginning will go on the attack immediately. Get ready for those because they are powerful, one level below battleships.

So far, we've talked about only 13 British warships, and you need to sink 12 of them! However, on turn 9, an aircraft carrier is spawned in the north, giving you one more ship to shoot at. Along with the carrier, a torpedo bomber is spawned. That is the target for one of the secondary objectives. If you go after the carrier, you have to smash it quickly. If you only damage it, it will retreat and exit the map, taking the torpedo bomber with it.

You get 27 naval command points to deploy; you need to decide what will comprise your fleet. I would recommend no submarines. I also recommend no additional battleships (you already have the Schlesig-Holstein, if it survived the first scenario, and an auxiliary Scharnhorst). You are facing cruisers and destroyers and you need to meet fire with fire and speed with speed. So maybe . . . 3 cruisers (=12 CP) and 5 destroyers (=15 CP)? [Alternative: 3 cruisers, 4 destroyers and one support ship for fixing damage. Consider: It takes time and resources to fix ships; you have one less warship to fight with; and the enemy seems to target support ships first.]

So how do you go about this? As I said above, Narvik is your first goal. Place three destroyers in the bay to protect and escort the infantry, two in front and one behind. Steam ahead and deal with the enemy destroyer and gunboat as they appear. Ignore the supply ship. Get to Narvik, pound the enemy infantry from dockside, land the infantry and take the city.

Meanwhile, group the rest of your fleet around your auxiliary battleship, south of the mouth of the bay. Keep your ships together for mutual fire support, especially when the enemy's torpedo bomber comes calling - use your AA fire on your battleships and cruisers. Take on the enemy fleets as they appear north of you - the battlecruisers will be first. Don't forget how to conduct naval combat in this updated version and don't forget to use torpedos, especially against enemy cruisers.

As soon as you can, bring your destroyers back down the bay and hit the enemy in the side. Just realize that there are mines in the opening of the bay so you are going to need to go slow when you return to sea. Stay a bit to the south in the mouth of the bay.

You have 4 air command points. You can only put one warplane into the air (there are no fighters to purchase in this scenario), so I would go with the Fw 200 Condor. It's a bomber, not a torpedo plane, but the Fw 200 can bomb repeatedly (not wait a few turns to reload) and seems to be able to do more damage in general. Don't worry about refueling; when the time comes, just find the air exit hex at the bottom of the map (upward pointing arrow). Refuel, repair, and redeploy in the following turn.

Use the remaining air command point for an Arado Ar 196 recon plane. Use it to find those other enemy fleets. You do get a bit of help on turn 9 when a Bf 110 C fighter bomber shows up. It's not much use against the enemy navy, but you can hunt for their torpedo bomber with it.

So, now that you know the game plan and if you time things well and fight brilliantly, you should be able to divide and conquer, defeating the enemy in stages. That's my advice, anyway.

[GiveWarAchance]

I didn't read that cause of the spoiler alert. I don't have the navy campaign yet but it must be good. I like navy the best cause I like ships and especially battleships.
Be careful about taking advice from bru888 because he usually melts his way through tough battles with nukes or by grinding for 170 turns until every ant and mouse in the region has been exterminated.