It is general consensus that cruisers and battleships are overpriced in OOB and are rarely (if ever) advisable to purchase. Here is a thought, and I look forward to feedback:
As WWII developed, naval battles increasingly were dependent less on big naval guns and more on aircraft. Designs in ships (AAA armament especially) reflected this by the later years of the war, and I am hoping to incorporate that. Say that cruisers and battleships had limited AAA, in each battle they participate in rolling 1@1 before the rolling begins. I feel as though this is a good solution for two reasons:
It reflects reality. When planes attacked warships, They had to wait until optimal range to release bombs/torpedoes, while the ships had been firing all throughout the approach.
It adds value and dynamism to the ships. In every sixth battle in which one of these ships comes up against planes, it will theoretically score a preemptive hit. That comes out to a 1.7 IPC value every 6 battles, on average. 6 battles may be more than many of one’s ships fight in a game, so I feel as though this bonus ability is not overwhelming, especially since no navy will have more than a handful, save for rare occasions.
I know that, in some cases, this may be a large shift. Say Japan attacks the UK BB off Malaya (SZ 37) with a cruiser and 2 bombers. It is possible that, with this new ability, the BB could score a preemptive hit on a bomber and sink the cruiser in a lone round of combat, and should the remaining 2 Japanese units score only 1 hit, proceed to destroy the last bomber in the second round of combat.
I acknowledge that, in such cases, it may be over the top. But it does prove the point that such a tweak would force players to respect cruisers and BBs more, and it would give more reason for purchasing cruisers as screening ships. My apologies if this is in the wrong section of the forum.
Thoughts?
