Im really curious to hear what the thoughts are on the viability of the new Battleship unit in AA50. In revised, the battleship was the only unit that provided an amphious assault support. Now there are two. the cruiser. Which unit is more vaible, the cruiser or the battelship?
The differences between the two pieces are:
1) cost
2) attack/defend
3) BB absorbs a hit
So:
at 12 ipcs, a cruiser is 3/3 in battle. that is 4ipc/die point on both attack and defense.
at 20 ipc, a battleship is 4/4. that is 5ipc/die point on attack and defence.
Right off the bat you can see the the cruiser gets more bang for the buck in battle. But does it? The ability to absorb a hit is pretty valuable. the cheapest ‘fodder’ unit is a sub at 6 ipcs. But depending on naval make-up, transports at 7 ipc will be used alot as fodder too. So the battleship purchase save you one fodder unit per combat, on the attack or defense. the ipc diff between the unit is only 8ipc. the cost diff is nearly made up the very first naval battle. Over the lifetime of the purchase, the battleship saves so much more money.
if you had 60 ipcs to spend on capital ships, would you buy 3 battleships or 5 cruisers?
60 ipc
3 bb
–—
12 attack
12 defend
6 hits
5 cruisers
15 attack
15 defend
5 hits
the battleship are at a disadvantage with die points. However, the three battleships can absorb 3 hits with no ipc loss. Does the increased attacking and defending ability of the cruisers make up for the IPCs saved by the battleship? I dont think it does, cuz the BBs have hidden attack and defense value. those three units that they spare have attack and defend value right? That has to be added to the value of the battleships. but wait, there’s more:
Shore bombardment - The cruisers can bombard the same as the bb for less cost. thats roughly a value of 2/3(3ipc) or 2 ipc per amphibous assault. Does the more cost efficient method of inflicting damage on the enemy tip the scale in the cruiser’s favor? Our 5 crusiers now bombard at 2/3(15ipcs) 10 ipcs damage per assault vs 3 BBs 2/3(9ipcs) 6ipcs per assault. a diff of 3 ipc per assault.
In your guys opinion, what the best purchase here? Is the more cost efficient assaults more viable then the more cost efficient naval battles?