Naval combat question

[Altaris]

If a fleet of ironclads attacks a fleet with troops loaded on it preparing to land an amphib operation, what happens exactly? Do the troops on board get factored into the combat calculations in any way? I have a situation where coincidence has brought about 500 CP worth of my Ironclads in the same zone where it looks like the Union is about to land roughly 1500 CP worth of troops, they look like they have somewhere between 250-300 CP worth of frigates and such. Wondering what will happen should I opt to attack it, any thoughts or suggestions? I'd rather not get my fleet annihilated if I can help it... though Ironclads are so sturdy I'm thinking it's probably worth the risk if I have a chance of a big gain.

[Jim-NC]

Ironclads are tough. I know that the land units can fight in a naval battle (I have seen 2 stacks fight each other in a river - it was weird). IIRC, they tend to take more damage from naval combat.

Your ships may even block the landing.

[Altaris]

Yeah, I'm leaning towards it probably being worthwhile, that land stack has both Grant and Sherman in it, loaded up with 3 divisions worth of troops. I have a pretty solid ratio on CP too from the naval standpoint, but wasn't sure how the troops would figure into it. I've seen them participate before too, but hard to tell what effect they have... but the times I've seen this happen were far smaller land units.

I just don't want to sink all my Ironclads in the attempt, and I don't want to risk them if there's some great effect of the land units swaying the combat results.

I'd prefer to keep the landing from happening, but it's not the end of the world if it does. It looks like he's sending in forces to hit both the forts at the base of the Mississippi south of NO, I've got a nice solid garrison at NO, so it's not the end of the world if he does get them on the ground.

[Longshanks]

Ive seen this before but on a MUCH smaller scale. In my case there werent enuff ships to block mvt. My bet is that younwill blockbthe landing if you get there in time. Pls go in and report back!!!

[Altaris]

To clarify, we're already in the same region at the start of turn (by a fluke coincidence, my Ironclads were just coming back from an engagement off the coast of AL, and he showed up with the invasion fleets for the Mississippi River forts just as I was going back up the river). Wasn't intentionally trying to find an invasion fleet, but here we stand!

I'm pretty sure I'll stall his landing any way going, at least for this turn, and I could pretty much guarantee a fight if I go on Offensive stance. Just not sure what will happen when I do, particulary in regards to what effect his 1500 CP of land troops will have on the outcome.

FYI, my force is BIG, 12 Ironclads, IIRC. It's led by Buchanan, and is around half cohesion (currently about 500 CP). The defending force looks to have around 250-300 CP worth of ships, one of those looks to be a Blockade Squadron, and 6-7 Frigates of some sort... they too are around half cohesion. They are led by Farragut.

Another question, if I happen to get really unlucky and my Ironclads are sunk, do they become available again in the recruitment pool? If so, that would less my concern some.

[Captain_Orso]

I am pretty sure that artillery being transported fight in naval battles, because their ammo usage is visible. And IIRC the infantry units when I checked do not show ammo usage, but I've never looked at a battle report to verify this who's actually fighting.

What I'm also not certain of is if the land units also lose cohesion as the ships do. If I were sure of this I would say have at that fleet, so that when Grant and Sherman land they will already have low cohesion and be vulnerable. That could make a huge difference.

Personally, I'd say, *smack'em* one that they don't forget, but I'm like that

[Altaris]

Well, I launched the attack, managed to sink about 10 blockade ships and a few frigates, but got driven back. Still, no losses of ironclads, so not much of a loss on my part, was worth it to sink some ships.

I did stop his attack on the fort from occurring for this turn, but doesn't appear that I did any noticeable damage to his land forces from the intel screen, I'm still showing about 1200 CP in his land forces.

Was interesting, probably not a real game-changer either way, I'm just glad I didn't end up with a disaster of ships being sunk

[Altaris]

Also, I couldn't quite figure out how the combat ratio was calc'd. We ended up being about even around 450 CP, even though before battle it looked like he was only at about 250-300 CP. Maybe the boarded artillery figured in? Not sure, but it definitely wasn't every single land unit, or it would've been much higher.