Campaign game - Bombardment and Patrol

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by cheeky_kaleun

So, what does bombardment do?

The developers said that bombardment is intended to have a political effect (primarily for the German side). Namely, to induce the Grand Fleet to divide its units to protect coastal towns, thereby playing into Hipper/Scheer's hands.

In WWI the bombardment of Whitby/Scarborough/Hartlepool caused a public outcry (as you may know). The British public was angry that battleship squadrons were not divided to protect each coastal town & stop these hit and run raids. Especially since British tax payers had spent huge sums of money on the Dreadnought fleet.

The Admiralty (correctly) resisted public pressure - arguing that one squadron of British battleships could be lured out and crushed by the High Seas Fleet, until the whole Royal navy had been "defeated in detail".

Historically the Grand Fleet resisted this political pressure and won the war. In the game, if you bombard enough towns enough times, the Admiralty will divide its forces and you may run into small squadrons of battleships - easily destroyed if you sortie with the whole HSF.

At least that was their intention (can't remember where the devs posted this, but there you have it). As you point out, there are issues with the game, and I don't know if this feature is properly implemented. If it is, it's quite neat!