How to build a fleet?

Besides trying to have more ships than your opponent, the only rule that I use in every game, is that I never buy cruiser or battleships unless I have no choice.  They are the most cost inefficient units in the game.

My fleets are usually made by multiple of this:

Carrier
2 fighters
2 dd
2 submarines

@Noll:

My fleets are usually made by multiple of this:

Carrier
2 fighters
2 dd
2 submarines

Agreed

Everything except cruisers. As for Battleships, its good to have at least one for every big fleet so you don’t have to take kill cannon fodder type ships (like DD and subs), it helps you preserve your fleet strength. It can be annoying when you pick off lone ships and they get lucky hits, but BBs sorta provide a safety net. Having the option to bombard during amphibous attacks is nice too, especially if the enemy has AA guns. Fortunately every major naval power starts with at least one so you won’t have to worry about spending 20 ipcs.

Depends.
Defensive builds: carriers for existing planes to land on, planes, carriers and finally, enough DDs for continuous blocking and ASW.
Offensive builds: carriers for existing planes, submarines, enough DDs for blocking and ASW.

Sometimes I build offensively to get rid of a fleet (during a counterattack) I cannot defend against. Especially during the early stages of the war in the pacific when Japan has much more air than they have carriers to land them on. This means their fleet is a LOT weaker when attacked but very hard to defend against (at places in range of heir aircraft)…

@Young:

@Noll:

My fleets are usually made by multiple of this:

Carrier
2 fighters
2 dd
2 submarines

Agreed

Second it.
CR and BBs are never a good build in my games. When I build a BB its more prestige thing… “look at my big boat there!” or to draw attention, which actually can help you on a psychological level against an unwary opponent.

I find buying one BB with Japan the round (or the round before) it declares war to US is pretty awesome - if you mass all your BBs in one fleet you get free hits and usually they survive. Rebuilding a fleet around them is a lot cheaper afterwards

In general carriers (fts for def, ftrs/tacs for attacks) and lots of destroyers for block outs and to take hits.  Bmrs can also be an important part of fleet building (air power in general). Many times it’s all about the counter attack and if you can reach the other guys damaged capital ships in the aftermath (even if he retreats).

I know people hate them but I like having a couple cruisers in my fleet accompanied by a good screen of subs and DDs to protect carriers. I’d rather spend 4 more IPCs and have two slightly less powerful rolls of the dice in a battle while still having the ability to soak the two hits a BB would get with one unit.