The topic here seems to deal with the ability to form "armies" with naval and air units, much the same way they are formed with land based units. My idea is to form combat groups of these units that aren't armies in the sense of units locked together as one, but rather as a means by which to more efficiently conduct combat operations without having to give the same orders to multiple units doing the same thing. This concept is actually an extension of the "battle groups" idea submitted in
this thread . Also check out my "Escort" idea in the same thread.
First, I'll address naval groups. If naval "armies" are to be called "Fleets", then call the combat groups "Task Forces". I initially thought researching a tech for this ability would be a good idea, but since the overall objective is to reduce the tediousness of issuing combat orders for groups of attackig units, I saw the point of others who felt that tech research in order to gain this ability would be overly complicating things. Combat groups are merely a simplification of large-scale combat events and not intended to confer any advantage to a player who uses them other than not having to micromanage every unit in a stack. There is no combined Hit Point bonus or extra movement like in Armies, each unit in a combat group is an individual unit that is capable of recieving and executing group orders, and which has the option of leaving the combat group at any time.
Some basic groundwork on "Task Forces". In order to form a "Task Force", whenever two or more naval vessels are in the same square, you should have an option to "form/join Task Force", like through an icon. A "Task Force" can be individually named (credit
jonathan_95060 from the "battle groups" topic for the idea) like
TF 58.1 or
Monster Navy, etc. A "Task Force" moves as a stack, so it can only move as fast as the slowest unit in the stack. Units in a "Task Force" could be individually ordered, top to bottom, according to the whims of the player, though I'd prefer decending order of either defensive strength or bombardment power. Each unit in the stack can be identified, or "seen" as an individual unit (with the proper abilities, in the case of subs), and individually attacked by subs. Additional units may jon a "Task Force" at any time, and any unit in the "Task Force" can leave at any time by activating and splitting from the "Task Force". Other units may occupy the same square as a "Task Force" without actually being part of the "Task Force". (Micromanagement would still be available for those who desire it.)
I see basically three uses for such groups of ships:
Naval vs naval engagements,
Bombardment of ships or shores, and
Landings
A Task Force can perform any or all of these actions provided it has the requisite movement and attacks available. Ideally, an action icon, like the Bombard icon, would be shown while the Task Force is active, indicating which actions can be performed by the Task Force. The actions could only be taken without any movement involved, i.e. engagements and landings could only be performed against an adjacent square, bombardments only against squares within maximum range (1 or 2 depending on composition of the Task Force). Naturally, the "Landings" option would only be available if transport capable ships were present in the Task Force.
The "Engage" option would allow the Task Force to attack an adjacent enemy naval unit, stack, or Task Force (provided it hads the movement to do so) and "group attack" the taget square until one force is destroyed. The unit with the highest attack rating would attack until either the first target unit or the attacking unit itself is destroyed. Then the next unit would attack, and so on, just like all the units were individually told to attack under the current rules. This would go on until all the defenders are destroyed, all the attackers are destroyed, or the attackers run out of attacks. I would like to see a gameplay option where the player can choose whether Carriers and transport capable ships engage enemies. Personally, I'd rather have those types of vessels wait in the attacking square, and have just the combat vessels move to engage the enemy. Depending on the outcome of the battle, these other vessels would either move to join the combat vessels in the newly secured square, or stay in the attack square. If there were no surviving attacking vessels, they would then become active as the sole surviving members of the original Task Force.
"Bombard" would be similar to how it is now, with the exception that all capable ships in the Task Force would bombard the target square sequentially (if in range for the ship type). The bombardment would continue until all ships have bombarded or all viable targets in the square have been removed (terrain improvements destroyed or units reduced to one hit point, etc.). If there are stil ships capable of bombarding, a new target square can be selected and the reamaining ships would bombard that square. All ships which do bombard would have the normal mobility deduction like they do now.
The "Land" option would be the same as it is now, except all transports in the Task Force would land all their units on the target square. If there are enemy units in the square, any Marines carried by the transports would attack until they run out of attacks or the enemy is destroyed. If the enemy is destroyed, all remeaining units will land. If the enemy is not destroyed, all uits remain on the transports, and a different landing square could be selected (if it is clear, since there are no more Marines able to attack). If necessary or desired, a Bombard action could be performed before the Land action in order to soften up defences.
I'm out of time, so I'll post my air grouping ideas later.
