Naval Transport

[marquo]

Is there a way to give orders to move a naval transport unit to an anchorage, load a land unit, transport and unload it in the same turn; assuming it can all be done in 15 days?

[Captain_Orso]

No, the game engine does not allow that. There are only a few ways embarking and disembarking can be combined with land movement[SUP]1)[/SUP].

In these explanation a stack of transports and land units will be termed an invasion-stack.

Embarking in an harbor.
Within a region with a harbor you can embark a land-stack directly onto transports by drag-n-dropping the land-stack's tab in the Stack-Panel onto the transport's tab in the Stack Panel. This newly created invasion-stack may now be plotted to move . This move may take more than one turn. If an invasion-stack ends its move in a harbor, the land-stack will immediately automatically disembark into the city of that harbor upon their arrival. If the invasion-stack's move does not end in an harbor, even if it moves through an harbor, the land-stack will remain embarked on the transports. The land-stack cannot be plotted make any other land movement during this turn.

Embarking from the shore.
Embarking from the shore always takes 5 days.

If at the start of a turn you have a transport fleet in a coastal region and a land-stack adjacent to that fleet, you can drag-n-drop the land-stack onto the transports fleet to plot them to embark onto that transport fleet[SUP]2)[/SUP].

If at the start of a turn you have a transport fleet in a coastal region and a land-stack which is not adjacent to that fleet, you can plot the land-stack to move adjacent to the transport fleet and then drag-n-drop the land-stack onto it to have them embark onto that transport fleet, or you can simply drag-n-drop the land-stack directly onto the transport fleet to allow the game engine to plot their move to the nearest coastal land region and to embark onto that fleet from there[SUP]2)[/SUP][SUP]3)[/SUP].

You cannot use the Move by Rail SO with a land-stack the turn it will be embarking onto transports. It's simply not allowed by the game engine. If you give the land-stack the Move by Rail SO and subsequently drag-n-drop it onto transports, the Move by Rail SO will be canceled without comment and the Move by Rail SO button will be darked out and un-clickable.

Disembarking.
-- Per the Distant Unload SO.
If you wish to invade with the all of land-units of an invasion-stack--disembarking directly from the transports into a land region without the use of an harbor--, at the beginning of any turn before the invasion-stack reaches the final coastal region from which you wish to invade, you can click the Distant Unload SO button and select a land region--which will then blink dark blue--as the invasion-stack's invasion target. This region will remain the invasion target for disembarking your land-stack until disembarking has completed or the Distant Unload SO button is canceled. As soon as the transports reach a region adjacent to the target region the entire land-stack will commence with disembarking[SUP]4)[/SUP].

-- Per the Drag-Off method.
Land-units of an invasion-stack which is adjacent to its invasion target region at the start of a turn may disembark by selecting the invading land-units and drag-n-dropping them into the invasion region. Once this is done corps status may be reinstated within the rules for creating a corps command. A stack disembarking in this method may be plotted to move beyond the invasion region during the the turn in which they are disembarking[SUP]4)[/SUP].

It is not necessary to disembark all land units of an invasion-stack, but only one invasion may be plotted with an invasion-stack at a time. Only when first land-stack had completed disembarking may other units in the invasion-stack be plotted to disembark.

If you wish to invade into two or more regions during the same turn, you have two options:
1. Create separate invasion-stacks at the outset and do not merge these into one stack.
2. Create separate invasion-stacks from one invasion-stacks while they are at sea. This option can work well if you intend on using the drag-n-drop method to disembark. This allows you to sail a single well protected fleet up to the invasion area without a chance of them having different departure times from their starting harbor or being caught singly on their way to invasion. But you must ensure that you can divide up your transports to completely carry each individual invading land-stack, so planning is of the utmost importance.

If you wish to use the second option with Distant Unload, you should divide up your stacks prior to reaching the coast, otherwise you are simply waisting time, which costs cohesion for your land-units.

Aside the difference in how you mechanically use Distant Unload or Drag-Off there is also a difference in how units fight once they have their feet on solid ground again. Using Distant Unload may get your troops into the shore quicker, but they fight somewhat worse than those using the Drag-Off method. This is simply a fact discovered through experience.

[SUP]1)[/SUP] If you embark a corps commander onto transports, the he will lose its corps command. A leader eligible to create a corps may do so at the outset of disembarking--in other words, as soon as he is in command of his own stack which is no longer stacked with transports--while otherwise following the corps creation rules, which include being within the command radius of an army command. An army command embarked on transports still have a command radius.
[SUP]2)[/SUP] A transport fleet may be plotted to move during the same turn on which an land-stack is plotted to embark on it, in which case it will wait for the land-stack to embark before moving.
[SUP]3)[/SUP] At times it can occur that when drag-n-dropping a land-stack onto a transports which are not adjacent to the land-stack, that the plot is refused with a message saying that the land-stack cannot reach the destination. In such cases, first plot the land-stack's move to adjacent to the transport fleet. Once that movement plot has been accepted and then drag-n-drop the land stack it onto the transports.
[SUP]4)[/SUP] Disembarking always takes 5 days, whether using Distant Unload or the Drag-Off method. Disembarking can start on one turn and be completed on the next. As long as disembarking is not completed the transports cannot move away from the coastal invasion region, but they may be plotted to move, which will then start as soon as disembarking has completed.