What do you do with your old ships?

[Dinner]

In HOI2 DD:Arm I mean. Even with the new upgradable attachments the old ships just don't seem as good as the new ships and they end up sunk. The only difference is now you've spent a whole lot of extra IC on the attachments. Is it better to disband them and get your IC back, trade them to smaller allies who don't have a navy, or just keep them in service doing Anti-Sub patrols? I personally have never found sub blockades to be very useful in this game since all the big powers amass such large stock piles of resources prior to the war so even if you cut off all convoys they can still keep their industry running for another 4-5 years without a problem.

The sole exception seems to be old carriers since the CAG improves rapidly and the main ship itself never actually sees much action. Then there is the carrier bug in the current version which makes upgraded CAGs invincible. It's supposed to be that when you upgrade an old CAG to the new version it takes the newer versions stats but due to a bug it adds then new stats to the old stats. This produces CAG groups which are MASSIVELY super powered with attach values in the hundreds instead of the regular 20-30 range. I hope they fix that bug soon because right now it is a game killer if you're playing Japan or the US.

[BeBMan]

Depends - scrap or sell old screens, keep old capitals seems to be the common wisdom.

Scrapping them brings back some MP, selling them of course some money/resources. However, getting rid of them one way or the others saves you the supplies.

I personally try to sell most CLs and DDs of level 1-2. Level 3 can still be ok esp early in the war, or they go into transport fleets used in not that dangerous areas. With smaller nations you may possibly keep more of the old stuff.

Old subs can still be ok for some convoy raiding. Otherwise scrap them as well.

Old BBs are always useful, if only for shore bombardment or escorting transport fleets. And of course even upgraded I expect them still somewhat inferior to brand new types, though with good leaders it still possible to be successful even with those older models.

[Main_Brain]

As Axis I gift Old (Bad Range) Ships to Japan/GER
As Allies to UK/US. Smaller Allies have too bad Doctrines to efficently use them.

I use Sub Blockades not for Blocking Industry (UK) but to cut Invasion Troops of their Supply (~ US in Africa; Japan in China)

The MP Gains of disbanding the Ships are too small for me, so its not really attractive to me. The Building cost i save my Ally clearly overweights the MP.

I usually escort my Transport Fleets with a Single CV/VL Combo.

[Dinner]

OK, I'm going to try to disband or sell the old screens and upgrade the capital ships.

[General Ludd]

When I intend to be a naval power I usually scrap all the starting ships and streamline to advanced ships so that I can build a fleet of those - the first batch will usually be finished in the first yer of the war.

[Dinner]

All the starting ships including capital ships and level 3 ships?

[BeBMan]

Depends which nation you play. As US or any other with enough IC it's certainly doable, though I personally wouldn't do it. Esp. not with capitals - a BB II or CA III has still a lot of value IMO. Not to mention CVs, which get better with CAG updates.

With smaller nations you may simply need your IC to build something else....

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Oerdin
All the starting ships including capital ships and level 3 ships?

I'll keep the battleships.