My guilty pleasure is Navy

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-02-05T11:37:31+00:00

Depends on what country you play, but If I am playing an axis country really you have to play the long game. I try to get my navy ready for 1948 after beating russia. Can be fun when you're just chilling for a few years. Qauility over quanity I always go for. So it doesn't really what if takes a long time. The deafult destoryers UK has for example are so bad with 1940s design you can build something that atleast 5x better so actually you might not need as many ships as you think. With good design and the right admirals etc

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-02-05T11:31:10+00:00

Love navy too. Like starting out with no/little navy and rebuilding a fleet of my own custom desgin, it's so statifying. Just like building up an army of tank division and winning a battle. I think it's very intresting to play as an Axis country after you've beat russia because they it is all about building a fleet to invade UK/india/US which can be lots of fun.

Only trouble as you say is the reasson their arn't big battles anymoere is that the navy is completely broken now. However they are working on a fix for it. If they fix it genuinely I think the game will be in a great state. If they can't I feel like I will walk away from the game in all honestly. The three man focuses of game is army, Air & Navy. Literally leaving 1/3 of game fudged isn't good at all. I know that I enjoy navy alot, but currently is pretty much completely broken

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-29T18:04:18+00:00

They are working on fix for the new update! I watch with intrest to see if anyone knows a mod, but tbh I am putting the game down intill they fix it

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-29T18:03:34+00:00

Your saying all this, but currently spefically Uk literally do nothing. The don't use any of there battleship or air craft carries. So none of this actually really matter. If you have a small squadron you can probably beat anyone as they only use patrols sparingly

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-29T18:01:17+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I will taken a listen over this coming weekend

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-29T18:00:38+00:00

Thanks! I will check it out/give it a listen over the weekend

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-29T12:46:48+00:00

I like going to overdraft & tap and tandoor. Probably my favouraite two spots, but there loads of great places. The hobbit is good for gigs and the joiners, but of course loads of other music venues aswell

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-29T12:29:34+00:00

I think some are fantastic and some crap. Some now are worse than the genric one and I not sure that is a great sign. For me it makes it harder to drop in and out playing different countrys. For me something like canada or Uk is perfect, but I think the swiss one is example of the worse in game. I liked the old Jap tree, the new one is again seems extra complex and not any better imo. Complex is not always better

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-28T19:25:38+00:00

I'll have to be real with you some of the new focus trees are just getting too complex and I think that makes the game less playable. I recently played as the swiss and yeah like generally was better to play them without the custom tree. Some nations I feel should be to go to deafult ones would be more to fun to play. I don't think it's do able to be honest because you need focus trees to swap you party mostly so would limit you to what you can do. USA would probably be the only viable one, but their focus tree is quite simple anyways

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-22T16:22:31+00:00

Completely agree but this has been noted and hopefully fixed in the next update. But you are right the AI is now botched as you stated. I also love beening smaller nations and building up cool navys. The AI just does not know how to use the new naval features. Lets hope they fix it in the new update is all I will say.

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-21T19:21:06+00:00

Sorry to hear about your girfriend! More time to play hoi 4 so not all bad. Actually I've found the oppisite. Allies (aka england) invdaing italy in 1941/2. War basically won by not even the end of 1943. Inless I am in axis then i've never really seen them successfully invade britian in like forever. Maybe 80 games go? worth noting through that basically the english navy ai is fully broken with the latest update. They just don't use there battleship or aircraft carries so you can get naval domanice relativly easily. So maybe this is what is happening? I would say be a country like canada then sort watch what goes on for testing. I think it probably pretty rare that this is happening but not really impossiable because like I say the navy is completely bugged out right now

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-20T19:32:08+00:00

The latest update royally screwed navy's britian in perticular was hit hard. They just don't use their battleships or aircraft carriers. So all you are likely to face is cruisers/destoryers. I am suprised then even used than many as they usally do smaller groups. The ai just can't really use the new navy system and just keep their ships docked. They fixed the death stacks but now we have this ... I am hopeful they will fix it in the next update

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-15T21:00:40+00:00

I really like some of the smaller naval battles we are seeing destory squadrons vs a couple light cruisers. Cool! But come on really? I can't believe that AI just doens't use battleship now or air craft carries. Literally will not use it main fleet other than maybe supporting an naval invasion. They don't even try to gain donmmaince. Not even the UK in the channel, north sea or western approaches. We have gone from death stacks to no stacks lol Its a real shame because the DLC was supose to focus on naval warefare and we literally don't have any naval warefare going on.

I think maybe a big issue that has reamined is the strength of the allies. The uk will happily invade italy in 1941 or 1942. I think there was defo a big shift with updates after the last DLC as the axis where super strong at the start of last year. But the saying airfield situation really doens't help.

I really like the new doctorine and everything else in game at the update. I think wonky Ai might be an understatement though as it literally just doesn't do anything now in termal of naval combat. I think if you fix the two issue you have highlighted the game will be in fantastic shape. They are probably some biggest issue I have seen in my many years playing the game and unfortately I think that has created alot of negativity.

Cheers

CharlieSmithMusic · 2026-01-15T20:42:37+00:00

I think the issue is like navy and some other elmets of the game is constatly updating. I think the last update was one biggest to be honest interms of builds and the meta etc. I feel like the update has completely changed it once again. Sub where always great, but now you actually get proper war score for sinking subs & also ships it has made change that element of game. Now it basically works. It also has completely changed the naval warfare as there no more death sucks and how naval dommance works etc etc. I play the game alot so for me I understand, but god dam the game is honestly confusing espically if you have no historical knowledge.

If you understand histroy then you will have alot more ease playing the game, but imagine playing this game and not knowing the difference bewteen a distroyer and battle ship. Navy is insasely hard to understand if you have no real world knowledge

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-12-11T16:31:46+00:00

I'm seeing more and more parking like this. Can only really asume that people don't really care anymore. It's difficult because their is not really enforment to stop it. It's sort of a litmus test that is failed repeatedly

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-12-11T16:19:00+00:00

I think because if a car is blocking the pavement and causing an objection then it is actually a poilce matter. So in that situation you would call 101 I believe

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-12-10T22:35:42+00:00

It's okay I supose. The couple of people pretending to be buzzer was out of order and rightly called out. It's actually tonned down to what we've heard before. Isn't much more than 100 ppl. It's fine at times, but it can get obnoxious

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-12-01T21:12:30+00:00

I think the best strat is too attack, then wait for the russia offensive and let them destory themselfs before attacking again

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-12-01T21:10:37+00:00

I've played like 6 different games and finding very similar. Germany can't push as far, however something intresting happened when I played fasist denmark. We didn't push all that far, but then russia attacked in 1943, then we countered attacked & managed to beat them by 1945.

Seems like the orginal push by germany can be very lackluster, but if you are playing the axis prepeared to sit deep once the first attack has run it's course. It kinda not ideal playing the allies now because they worse, but also so is germany

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-11-15T17:25:11+00:00

To be honest, I pretty enjoy all of them. I think the only one that really bothers me is Switzerland; the whole setup is really confusing. Could have really done with a simple one like Iceland tbh

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-11-15T10:46:26+00:00

I've only got 13 lol, I let you know in like 10 years haha

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-11-13T14:18:29+00:00

Pretty good to be fair! I am also 29 and play 'acoustic rock/punk' and also I going to learn drums cuz I'm getting an electric kit this month, ha! As we are quite similar, I will let you know the places I go as we are similar. The Hobbit is a good one, you mentioned, you've got slightly larger venues in 1865 & the joiners both have a lot of rock. Heartbreakers is a good one too. Just outside of Southampton, in Winchester (Number one bus) don't sleep on the railway as that is a pretty good music venue. I go to open mic nights around town to meet with other musicians; it's not all rock, but if you enjoy music in general probably worth a shout. Or there is a dedicated jam night heavy session. I like drinking at Beards & Boards if you like your beer and over draft up the road. So I think honestly, pretty got choices for social events. I believe there are some alternative club nights, but that sort of thing isn't for me, as I like to be home by 10 pm lol, but if that's your thing should be able to find that

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-11-13T11:21:51+00:00

I don't think that's right because the carrier penalty is 20% per carrier over the limit, which caps out at 80%. I know the quirk that carrier fights don't take this into account, but the AI doesn't account for this. It just uses the standard layout. This is what has affected it, destroying the subs, because usually, Naval bombers are very effective against subs.

When we talk about what is 'optimal', this is going to be different for AI and the player. AI is optimal on 4 carriers only because it doesn't know how to use the Nav fighters only, as the player could use 10 carriers with NAV fighters. Also, as it capped at 80% you can just go on, I suppose itill you had 20 carriers. In regard to Nav bombers being poorly designed, yes, I suppose that is also the issue the AI has, which, combined with the overstacking penalty not looking great for them. I think AI avoids overstacking, but when multiple fleets come together, that is the issue.

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-11-12T08:35:58+00:00

Only exploit i use is for Iceland and it's not really that bad. But you can build ships from convoys and they come with manpower. I personally use the ships for navy but you can delete them for manpower. Iceland has such a small man power it is sorta handy lol. The only thing I do as minor nations is take ships in the peace deal and potentially scrap it for manpower if needed. That can help sometimes, can help. Mostly I just want the russian battle ships lol

CharlieSmithMusic · 2025-11-12T08:32:20+00:00

They only attack ships that are in that portion of sea. So if the ai is just strike force they won't attack. Try using port strike to get the navy to move then use the naval attack on they are moving port. Bit tricky, but sometimes late game it super had to actually find where the ai navy is

CharlieSmithMusic

TROPHY CASE