1)
Parameter Naval Attack (NA) of Ground units
At the moment, this parameter for all "normal" units, except for specialized ones (for example, coastal battery) is 0 or 1.
In my opinion, this requires correction.
a) Units with Ranged attack > 0
Can't a 152mm AT field battery do serious damage to a destroyer or gunboat approaching the coast?
Is there a need to increase the NA parameter? I think yes.
b) Units with Range = 0
The only chance for such units to enter into a combat clash with the Naval Unit is to attack some Destroyer that approached the coast or entered the port on the previous turn.
In general, putting a Capital Ship into a port to defend a hex port is the last and not the best action, which can only be understood in case of a total shortage of Ground units.
Real Ports often do not have such a large water area to keep the ship safe from mortaires fire and even large-caliber small arms fire. The damage will not be significant, but it can be quite sensitive.
That is, Naval Attack of INF (especially HW INF), Tanks can be more significant than 0 or 1.
c) In many "land" scenarios, the nearest ship is in hundreds kilometers from the battlefield, or the ship is present in a very minor role (eg LC, France). And this NA parameter is not used at all. Which means it can be used for some other purpose! For instance...
2)
Minefield
a) The minefield cannot attack itself, but inflicts losses on the attacking Ground unit.
Only one unit class meets this requirement. It's Air Defense. Air Attack parameter = 0.
b) The minefield cannot move by itself. MVT = 0.
c) The minefield must never move.
d) The minefield can be destroyed by certain classes of units: INF, Tac Bombers, AT.
Not all INF units are equally effective in removing mines. Engineers and Sturmpionieres do it best, and cavalry and paratroopers do it worst. The minefield can be cleared by special tank units (Bridge or Engineering tanks), but not by regular tanks.
It is required that some units effectively attack the minefield, while others do not. How to do it:
Assigning to AD unit Target Type = 3 (Naval (!)). MVT Type = 6 as for Naval unit.
And assign some serious NA value to all Ground units that effectively cope with the demining task (INF, AT)
Do not forget that you can clear mines with the help of artillery bombardment of a minefield or even air bombardment.
For example, I'm currently testing something like this:
INF Sturmpioniere NA = 20-30
AD Minefield GD = 5-6 (may be 8?)
SA = 8-10, HA = 8-10
These parameters of Attack should be adjusted later, may be increased to 12-15.
It is only example which looks good in testing sandbox for now!
Icon - group of black dots.
This "Passive" minefield has one drawback. When a unit moves into the hexes closed by the "fog of war", the unit stumbles upon such a minefield and does not suffer losses.
Such minefields can be used as "removable blockers" on roads. Or placed close to FORT units to prevent immediate attack to FORT by Player's INF or Tank units.
But you can also create and use:
3)
Active Minefield or "Minefild with small fortifications"
Unit Class = 1 (Tank)
+ Organic Transport: Destroyer or Capital ship with Range = 0, SA=0, HA=0. Ship is much better than Submarine for H2H and still great for H-vs-AI mode, because the minefield will never be located in the port.
MVT Type = 6 (Naval)
Target Type = 3 (Naval)
MVT = 0
SA = 10-15 (or more)
HA = 10-15 (or more)
GD = 8?
There are even possible to create 3 types of such "fortified" minefields.
Anti-personnel Fort minefield: SA = 10, HA = 1
Anti-tank Fort minefield: SA = 1, HA = 10
Mixed minefield: SA = 10, HA = 10
Icon - group of black dots of different sizes and some kind of Strongpoint.
4)
Usage of Ground INF Units with increased Naval attack in Scenarios
So, in the new Campaign Scenario, where minefields are involved, you just need to copy the new equipment file with new NA for some units.
If the Scenarios action takes place only on land, then you can use one common file for all Scenarios.
If some Scenarios contain enemy ships there is a choice to use minefields or not (i.e. to increase for some INF units and Artillery Naval Attack or not).
- I've checked now what happens if INF with NA=30 will attack all four types of Capital Ships (with standart PGF PG Campaign SA and HA) and Destroyer placed close to coast. INF losses are 2-3, Ships losses 1-2. On enemy turn Ships attacked INF units. Only destroyer has been heavily damaged (STR=1 after attack), but all Capital ships were a winners causing significant losses to INF. So I was expecting a disaster for the ships, but it did not happen
First of all, usage of minefields depends on the location of the minefields on the Scenario map. If the enemy's minefields are far from the coast, then the Player's Engineers will hardly have enough time to walk to the coast and attack ships.
In addition, it is not at all necessary that the AI will expose all its ships to attack at once.
And the Player is unlikely to want to take a couple of Engineers to the seashore for a one-time attack, and expose them to the attack of the entire enemy fleet.
That is, there are a number of practical considerations that make raising the NA of INF and AT Ground Units fairly harmless to enemy ships.
I think using minefields on a battalion (and company) scale would be very interesting. On a divisional scale, minefields are of little importance due to their small geographic size.
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All of the above referred to the case: the enemy has minefields.
I'm very interested in testing what the AI will do when it encounters the Player's minefields. Does the AI use its own Engineers with increased NA? I don’t know yet
Since the topic is non-standard and unusual, some nuances may appear here that I did not take into account and did not see during the development of minefields and their testing.