-
I freely stand to be corrected, but these are some of what I perceive as being the basic things any British admiral needs to be aware of at the beginning of the game. Naturally, as the game progresses, the British will find themselves responding to a more developed French strategy(I usually use the term "French" to generally describe the "Allies"), but I feel these points should help prevent any serious tactical errors from being made early on.
The French start with 21 ships at Brest; 5 ships at Rochefort; 13 ships at Ferrol(8 of which are Spanish); 7 ships at Cadiz(1 is French) plus 14 "In Ordinary"(only 3 of which can be manned early on as long as you don't invade Algiers); 7 ships at Cartegena(all are Spanish and will remain "In Ordinary" until Spanish manpower increases); and 12 ships at Toulouse. Due to the Blockade Restriction, you can't leave less ships in your own fleet than the lowest number of French ships, but still try to keep about 100 strength points at Brest, bringing new ships in to replace damaged ones. Send a fleet to Rochefort as soon as possible, as it starts out relatively unguarded. Every time a French fleet does manage to sortie without being spotted, count masts in the port before giving chase.
If the French sortie from Brest, British manpower immediately goes up to 8, so don't expect the French to leave from there too soon, unless it is to start the invasion of England(!).
Admiral Ganteaume(Seamanship 4, Command 3) is at Brest; Squadron Commander Missiessy(Seamanship 5, Command 4) is at Rochefort; Spanish Admiral Gravina(Seamanship 2, Command 5) is at Cadiz; and Admiral Villeneuve(Seamanship 3, Command 4) is at Toulouse.
If you don't suspect a French sortie, keep blockading fleets on "Loose Blockade", especially at the beginning of the game, as a bad storm will do more damage if they are "Inshore". For ships that are damaged due to weather, don't forget they can then be placed in a nearby friendly port, even if it means ignoring the Blockade Restriction.
Try to keep a Frigate at every major port but Cartagena(until the Spanish Manpower Surge), placing them at "Inshore" to try to spot fleets, they can't fight but they may prevent Fog of War blocks from being created when a fleet sorties. Also, try to keep Frigates you aren't using in a friendly port so they aren't eliminated by bad weather.
Initially, the Spanish don't present much of a problem in the Caribbean, so use your ships there to prevent too many Fog of War blocks being created before a larger fleet arrives. The Spanish will need at least 6 ships to get the Spanish Gold moving, but most of their ships aren't very strong.
Other than the main invasion, the two most likely targets early on for the French are Bantry Bay and Alexandria - invading the first will make it harder to prepare Expeditions, and invading the second will automatically remove some ships from your fleets. The French player pretty much has to choose which he will attempt at the start, and it will be a few turns before he can get his Transports ready again. Naples, too, is an early "soft target", but losing it to an invasion has no real impact on the British fleet, itself.
Get an Expedition going early on the Expedition Track, rather than readying ships, as they are often required for fulfilling an Admiralty Event, and you may not have time to get one ready otherwise(you've only 6 turns to get one ready and in position).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In combat, the French are more likely to try and avoid fighting, especially lengthy battles, so when Windward, generally try to take Full Sail at first, otherwise they will often simply withdraw without a shot being fired. You end up giving up a 1 dice advantage, but the French will at least be prevented from making an easy escape. British ships handle damage better than the French or Spanish do, but having to use Full Sail to keep them in range mitigates the advantage, so if you ever suspect the French admiral intends to stick around and fight, switch to Easy Sail.
Further options are:
1)If the length of battle is only one round, or you don't think the French admiral will make his Command roll, pick Easy Sail/Form Line of Battle
2)If the length of battle is two rounds, pick Full Sail/Admiral's Wake to setup a Running Battle or Break the Line
3)If the length of battle is three rounds or more, assume the French admiral will try to withdraw and pick Full Sail/Close Action for a BTL
Ultimately, the tactics you choose mostly depend upon how well you can judge your opponent's intentions, but don't forget a missed Command roll can make a big difference.
-
Roger Taylor
United States
Unspecified
Virginia
-
Good advice there. Here are my additional two cents.
The Allied strategy will mainly be driven by their objective VP chits, and you have no idea what their big objectives are. If an Allied fleet breaks out undetected, the historical British response is to head for the most valuable British objective until the Allied destination can be determined.
When you have the initiative it's tempting to try to intercept at sea, but if you fail to spot the Allied block it will gain a full move on your fleet. Leave that sort of thing to the frigates. It's easier to spot in a patrol zone, so it's usually best to go to one and hope you guessed right. Even if you guess wrong, there might still be time to get to the Allied target before he can raid or invade.
Besides minimizing storm damage, another reason to put fleets on Loose Blockade is to conceal their strength from the Allied player. You might get away with a weak blockade, allowing a blockading fleet to shrink from storm damage and return those ships elsewhere. While you cannot voluntarily detach intact ships from a blockade below the minimum Allied strength, you are not required to reinforce a blockade that falls below that minimum due to storm damage.
I'd go so far as to say you should not allocate manpower to ships until you have two expeditions ready to go. Besides Admiralty events, there is a random event that requires an expedition.
The Brest blockading fleet has two admirals to spare. You can send them home with damaged ships and have them command new fleets. If one of them has a low seniority number, he's your man for the mission to Algiers if that comes up. (I once got that event when all my senior admirals were commanding blockading fleets, so I had to invade Algiers rather than negotiate.)
Now a note from the Allied side:
I think January is a good time to have the Brest fleet break out, as the spotting modifier is the most advantageous. IMO getting the biggest Allied fleet out under a good admiral is worth maxing out British manpower early. One reason to break out of Brest whenever possible is redeployment. The fleet should not return to Brest, which is a devilishly difficult place to get out of.
A large French fleet can raise much havoc in the West Indies and. support a Spanish gold fleet. The historical Allied strategy had the fleets going to the West Indies to raid, rendezvous, and maximize the mystery of where in Europe they will return, hopefully spreading the British fleets so a returning Allied fleet will not be at much of a disadvantage vs. any British fleet it meets.
[Edit: "...commanding blockading fleets..."]
-
|
|
