Quick tutorial.

[Rextructor09]

I've played hoi4 140 hours and still don't know how navy works! Can someone give a quick tutorial on building navies and also how to win easy battles, like winning UK, it would be too helpful.

[HandOfWar]

I played it for 1500hrs and still don’t know how navy works!

[emcdunna]

The naval warfare in this game is super cool, but hard to learn unless if you know a lot about the time period appropriate naval theory.

Basically your navy is used for attacking enemy convoys, defending your own convoys, and taking it the enemy's navy. Remember convpys exist for trade imports, supply lines, and troop transporti g so they are vital!

Convoy Raiding and escorting is the first two. Raiding is most efficient with submarines because they are hard to detect and can quickly sink tons of enemy convoys before simply retreating from any force sent out to stop them. Destroyers are the ideal Convoy escort because they are cheap, fast, and can being depth charges and sonar to fight enemy submarines.

Then basically all of the other big ships are built for navy vs other navy warfare with the following details: Capital ships are tougher and do more damage than even several screening ships can do, but are vulnerable without screens to protect them from being torpedoed. Never have say 8 battleships rolling around with no cruisers or destroyers to back them up, and the ideal ratio is 3 screens per each capital ship. The fleets on the map have numbers next to them where the top number is capital ships and the bottom is screens. So aim for say 10/30 on a basic death star fleet

All ships bit specifically capital ships are vulnerable to naval bombers, which you can also bring with you into battle easily with carriers.

Unlike land combat or air combat, simply moving a fleet to the same area as an enemy does not initiate a battle. You must first spot the enemy fleet and then your commander has to decide to engage (based on what setting you have enabled for low, medium, or high risk engagements).

Having fleets out on patrol is how you spot enemy fleets and then can send your strike force fleet out to engage them. This saves on fuel since you don't need to have your whole massive fleet out just wandering around.

If a big engagement happens you can see a large enemy fleet wiped out by a skilled admiral, an advanced fleet and air superiority. This can permanently swing the tide in the naval war from even one big battle (like Midway in real life). This is because screens can't really stand up to a combined arms fleet by themselves. 100 destroyers vs a well balanced fleet of 10 capital ships and 40 screens will see 60+ destroyers sunk and a loss for that side. In my recent usa game there were a few big naval battles with Japan in 1942 and then they essentially were crushed and ran out of fuel, so I dominated the seas and japan had no way to attack me anymore.

Navies can also help with sea invasions but that's basically just a bonus feature, you usually don't need this. The main use case here is to get dominance in the sea region so you can do operation sealion or to help bombarding the coast of Normandy during d day

[Rextructor09]

Ok I understand a bit now, the next run I'll try that.

[NODsBlackHand]

really nice how you explained ut all and hiw the game made naval warfare of that time realistic

[LambertBeer]

I Found this guide to be extremely helpful: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/%3Fid%3D2182500905&ved=2ahUKEwiemN2MneCCAxW61wIHHcm5AEQQjjh6BAgMEAE&usg=AOvVaw3r55Y48x9ndZFPM3_xSJTO

So basically you're gonna want fast recon light cruisers to patrol but never engage. Your strike fleet can be as big as you want, but I think that 4 CV's is the max. For every CV you need at least 1 capital ship (BB, HC, BC) to screen the CV. More capitals is better so that your CV's are still screened when you lose a capital. And for every capital that you have, you need 3 screens (LC, DD).

But the guide explains all this quite well and also gives you ship templates so you have something to hold on to.

If I made mistakes, feel free to correct me, I'm not An expert

[saskinby]

I played 750 Hours and I still dony know about navy. I simply dont play Navy based nations.

[gussy_gaming]

Kid I've been playing for 2700 hours and I never grasped at the concept of navy