Hearts of Iron IV – Beginners Guide to Navy
When you make a fleet, you see multiple missions you can execute. The missions will be explained below.
Naval Exercise
- Generates naval experience and trains the admirals and boats. Accidents sometimes occur during training that need to be repaired.
Patrol
- Using Radar and Sonar submarines/lightcruisers/destroyers you scout the area for enemy fleets.
Strike Force
- While your recon task forces patrol, you have your main task force on strike force.
- When an enemy fleet is located, your main task force on Strike Force will engage the enemy fleet.
Convoy Raid/Escort
- Using destroyers with depth charges, you can escort your convoys so they can supply locations and transfer resources.
- Using submarines with torpedoes and preferably radar, you can raid enemy convoys and prevent them from transferring supply and resources.
Minesweeping/Laying
- Lay mines that damage large enemy fleets, or sweep them with destroyers.
Naval Invasion Support
- Protects convoys participating in naval invasions and helps bombard the shore.
In Naval Combat, you want at least twice as many screens as capitals. This is because the game is programmed to reduce your capital ships efficiency by 50% if you don’t have a 2:1 ratio of screens to capitals. It’s also highly recommended to have carriers and naval bombers, they give huge damage to enemy carriers and capitals.
Recon
In your main surface fleet, making a couple task forces each including 2 recon ships is very useful for finding the enemy fleets. Each task force should have one recon destroyer and one recon submarine.
Put these task forces on patrol, and your main task force on strike force. Your main force will attack the enemy fleet on any sightings.
Use dockyards to produce more ships. Ships cost resources. Next to the button that lets you select more ships, there’s a button that lets you increase the amount of dockyards you’ve assigned to repairs.
If you have 10 dockyards assigned to repairs, and your ships are at level 7 port, only 7 dockyards repair.
Aircraft Carriers
Carriers are one of the most important parts of your navy. Classified as a capital ship, a carrier can hold carrier planes. It is recommended to put a ratio of around 1:2 on the carrier of Fighters to Naval Bombers. If you have 80 deck space, then 30 fighters and 50 naval bombers.
When designing a carrier, you want your secondary battery to be dual purpose. Two deck spaces on the bottom row, one anti air and one deck space on the top row. Anti air is very important as a carrier.
Capital Ships
Capital ships need to have a 1:2 ratio between screens and capitals. For every capital you have in a task force, you should have at least two screens. Capital ships are meant to deal heavy attacks and hide behind screens.
Super Heavy Battleship
- Designed to spearhead any navy, a Super Heavy Battleship has the most slots and the strongest armor.
- Very hard to sink but heavily reliant on anti-air and its surrounding screens.
- Makes for the perfect Pride of the Fleet. Massive production cost.
Battleship
- Most efficient capital considering the production cost and utilization. Reliant on anti-air and screens.
- If it has good anti-air and screens, it is almost impossible to sink and can crush enemy navy if well built.
Battlecruiser
- Mix between Heavy Cruiser and battleship. Weaker armor. Cheaper than a battleship.
Heavy Cruiser
- Like a light cruiser but stronger armor and centered around heavy attack.
- Recommended to have one or two dual purpose cannons.
Screen Ships
Screen ships are designed to protect your capital ships and keep them safe from enemy ships and aircraft. Your screens should have strong anti-air and are centered around light attack.
Light Cruiser
The most efficient screen for defending capitals is the light cruiser. Unfortunately, it is not cost effective to be your only screen. It’s still recommended to build these. Should have good anti air, which is basically just some standard batteries and also some dual purpose cannons. You want to aim for a high light attack and high armor on these guys.
Destroyer Screen
Destroyers can be used for convoy escorting or as screens. As screens, you want them having incredibly high anti air to defend your capitals from enemy planes. This is why EVERY turret/cannon on your destroyer should be dual purpose.
Destroyer Escort
Your only gun should be a tier one dual purpose main turret. The rest of the slots should be depth charges. Destroyer Escorts are for locating and destroying enemy submarines trying to raid your convoys.
Destroyer Recon
Weakest armor, dual purpose for main turret and a strong sonar. Not made for fighting, made to be paired with a recon sub for finding enemy fleet.
Other Ships
These other ships include Submarines, Convoys, and some miscellaneous ships.
Raiding Submarines
- Made with an engine and torpedos, use these to raid enemy convoys.
Recon Submarines
- Put a sonar on these, and pair them with recon destroyers to locate enemy task forces.
Convoys
- These transport supply and resources. Keep these alive if you want them.
How to Design Ships
Here is how to design ships to kill a navy!
Make this as carriers, 4 carriers maximum per battle, or 5 if you go base strike. Spam it full of naval bombers only. Of course it doesn’t have to be the 1940 hull, its just the one I had researched.
Make either this or…
This for destroyers, either works the first is just cheaper (by a whole 500 IC, so its not that big of a deal).
Make this for convoy escorting (I forgot to research better depth charges cause I’m inept).
Make this for cruisers.
After that you want to combine your entire fleet together, and then split off any subs that you have. You can use the subs on convoy raiding in the same sea zones that you have your surface fleet on strike force.
Strike force means the fleet sits in port until a battle happens, at which point they move out to engage, meaning they don’t use any fuel while still providing supremacy.
