Hi, this guide will sound much more like a Reddit post. This is more an addendum to my main guide ( https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1682839551&tscn=1553805605 ) but I didn't want to confuse beginners with too much information at once. It's not meant as a perfect guide, more as a suggestion.

It's also very oriented towards the War in the Pacific but it's very accessible to a lot of nations and do not require a long build-up time like capital ships need.

I had this idea when I realized that the only ships that usually at sea are the lights ships doing this missions: raiding, patrol, escort and mine warfare. Capital ships normally don't cruise around. So, if I can quickly sink enemy light ships, in theory, I could win the naval war without fighting their capital ships. Without patrol ships, the strike forces will do nothing.

Now let's start to brain storm. What can we do ? Hmmm ... Use Patrol CLs to start with. They have armor, speed and are very hard to spot while they can spot others. CAs are vulnerable to torpedoes, so it's better to stick with CLs.

Good. But I want to sink the enemy ships before the strike force arrives. I need to slow them down. Oh I know ! Let's use mines. -80% naval speed when 1000 mines deployed.

But if the strike force is close, it won't change much. What if we used port strikes to force them to relocate away ? If they stay, they lose their ships, if they go away, they will be too far. Perfect !

That's basically it.

The next parts will cover more details.

You need to build radars on the coasts to help spotting. They are crucial to spotting. 1 radar by naval region is needed and enough. But a better radar coverage will help your airforce.

It's also important to manage the logistics part: you need to build airbases to accomodate your planes, and infrastructure and ports for the supplies to arrive to your airbases.

Your primary focus will be tactical bombers. So you need rubber and aluminium (quite a lot of it). Tactical bombers are great for naval warfare, but their stats aren't that good. It's all about the range.

Tactical bombers are (roughly):
- 25% as good as naval bombers for naval strikes
- 50% as cost-efficient as strategic bombers for strategic bomber
- 25% as good as CAS for ground support
- 20% as good as fighters for air supremacy

BUT they can do all of that and have a higher range than heavy fighters. Which means that they cover naval areas much, much better than any other planes (except strategic bombers), which changes mission efficiency (enjoy -80% efficiency in the Pacific with naval bombers).

So increase the range and reliability of the tactical bombers and produce a lot of them.

Then make the biggest wings possible (1000). Why ? So that they inflict maximum damage when they find a ship. 100 is just not enough.

They will sink ships, give you air supremacy, support your marines invading islands, strategically bomb infrastructures, airbases and ports, lay and sweep mines, and bring you coffee in the morning.

Heavy fighters have a smaller range, and not needed if you aren't facing a strong enemy airforce. Build them if needed.

Build minelaying subs. Mine naval areas. That's it. Don't forget to regularly look if assigned areas are full of mines or not. You could use the tactical bombers to mine areas but they are busy doing other stuff generally so it's very convenient to have a dedicated mining fleet (plus it's easier to manage).

Build Patrol CLs (as many airplane launchers as possible + light CL guns). Group them a bit (3-5). Either put them on patrol or on raiding mission.