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[Template:Anthology](/wiki/index.php?title=Template:Anthology&action=edit&redlink=1 "Template:Anthology (page does not exist)"){.new}
**Positioning** is the term for how the game handles the starting
conditions of a sea battle. This section is based on some gross
simplifications, because positioning is quite complex, far too much so
for a number-crunching examination of it. Instead this part of the guide
focuses on tendencies observed from actual game experience with the goal
of illustrating just the factors within your control that you need to
pay attention to, and their actual effects on naval combat and the
tactics you should use in dealing with it.
**Basic facts:**
- The higher your fleet\'s positioning, the more chance that your
ships will begin the battle in position to fire on the enemy and the
greater chance that your shorter ranged screening ships will be in
position to help defend the heavies;
- The lower your positioning, the more chance you will have to spend
one or more rounds maneuvering before any of your ships can even
shoot at anything, and the less chance your screen will be in
position to defend your more valuable capital ships.
- When there is no real positioning advantage, the opposing fleets
will tend to begin the engagement separated by a distance
approximately equal to the range of the longest-ranged ship in the
entire engagement and both sides\' screens will be slightly out of
position but not badly so.
**What affects Positioning**
- Suprise
Having surprise on your side increases your positioning and lowers your
enemy\'s, which will adjust that starting distance towards the range of
the longest ranged ship in your own fleet and put the enemy\'s screens
further out of position allowing you to concentrate fire on the more
valuable enemy targets.
- Fleet Composition
That said, when dealing with a 30-ship fleet heavy with BBs, don\'t
waste time trying to tweak your fleet composition to improve your chance
of surprise. You have no chance anyway, so instead gear your composition
to best deal with the inevitably poor positioning it will have to endure
most of the time. Generally this means including extra scorts who can
absorb damage for your heavies and provide extra air defence.
- Leadership
Leadership also plays a role in positioning, with higher leadership
values and certain traits imparting bonuses to positioning, but these
are eclipsed by fleet composition and surprise. I cover these further on
in the leadership section.
Like HoI 1, surprise and positioning are affected by yours and your
enemy\'s detection and visibility values. The higher your detection and
the lower your visibility, the more likely it is that the surprise
equation will work in your favor and give you advantageous positioning.
So obviously the main trick to improving that situation is to include a
few subs in your important task forces, since they have decent detection
and VERY low to practically no visibility. A secondary tip is to not
include more line ships than are needed for the mission, since every
surface ship you add increases your fleet\'s total visibility. The only
exception is the CV, which has a correspondingly high detection value to
offset its high visibility, and thus does not really net you a
disadvantage when it comes to surprise. No other line ship has a
sufficiently high detection rating to offset its visibility, not even
the CA.
Positioning is also where capital and screening vessels come into play,
not to be confused with the terms line, principal or escort. For
purposes of positioning, the game divides surface combatant ships into
two classes: capital ships and screening vessels. CLs and DDs are the
only ships which count as screening vessels. All other surface
ombatants, from CAs on up, are considered capital ships. The game
applies a positioning penalty to a fleet if the number of screening
vessels is not equal to or greater than the number of capital ships.
This is to simulate the handicap such a fleet will suffer due to its
lack of picket ships to perform early detection and combat support.
Transports and subs, since they are not surface combatants, do not count
in any way in this regard. They neither help nor hurt your fleet\'s
capital ship to screening vessel ratio. So when considering fleet
composition, first figure out what mix of surface combatants you need to
do the mission, then make sure there are not more capital ships than
screening vessels, and last add whatever subs or TPs you need involved
in the mission.
Combat range is a factor in determining [positioning]{.mw-selflink.selflink} . Each fleet has an optimum combat range it wants to achieve
when entering combat, and if it achieves surprise it will have a good
chance that its positioning will be high enough to start the battle at
that range. For example, Transport Fleets will have their goal to
escape, so their optimum range is 450 km. If this range is achieved, the
transports will be able to retreat without taking damage. Meanwhile, a
CTF needs to be in range for its planes to strike, and yet out of range
of capital ship heavy guns. Finally, a SAG needs to close distance as
much as possible in order to unleash all its firepower.
Given no surprise on either side, imagine a 15-ship CTF entering battle
against a 30-ship BB SAG, with both fleets led by comparable leaders and
composed of medium tech vessels. Since neither side is advantaged by
surprise, the longest ranged ship on either side will tend to set the
initial engagement distance. That will of course be the CVs whose combat
range will likely be around 180km at medium tech. The next longest
ranged ship is the Super Battleship, which has a range of approximately
40km. That means the BBs will have to close the distance by about 140km
before they can even shoot back, all the while being bombed by the enemy
planes. In HoI2, CVs ruled the seas for this reason, with the only
exception of night battles and bad weather. Starting in Doomsday,
however, balance was restored: with the introduction of light carriers,
it became possible for an SAG with CVLs to close distance.
**Combat Range** in Naval battles has an optimal value. This value is
believed to be calculated as described below
- [CV](/wiki/CV "CV"){.mw-redirect} is the highest class in calculating optimal range.
- [Capital Ship](/wiki/Capital_Ship "Capital Ship") or
[CVL](/wiki/CVL "CVL"){.mw-redirect} is the second highest class in calculating optimal range.
- [Screen Ship](/wiki/Screen_Ship "Screen Ship") is the lowest class
in calulating optimal range.
- **Unique class\'s**
- [Submarine](/wiki/Submarine "Submarine") ONLY fleets will
attempt to be at 90% of the maximum range of the shortest range
submarine
- [Transport](/wiki/Transport "Transport") ONLY fleets will
attempt to be at 450+ km and then flee.
**Optimal Range** will always be **90%** of the **maximum** range of the
**shortest** range of the **highest** ship class.
i.e. If you have two [Capital Ship](/wiki/Capital_Ship "Capital Ship")
\'s in a fleet. One with a range of 30 and the other with a range of 28,
the optimal range will be 90% of 28.
*NOTE* , Range of a lower class is ignored. If you have a [Capital
Ship](/wiki/Capital_Ship "Capital Ship") in a fleet with a range of 28
and the rest of the fleet is [Screen
Ship](/wiki/Screen_Ship "Screen Ship") \'s with ranges of 32 the optimal
range will be 90% of the range of the [Capital
Ship](/wiki/Capital_Ship "Capital Ship") (i.e. 90% of 28) The range of
the [Screen Ship](/wiki/Screen_Ship "Screen Ship") \'s is ignored.
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