Escort Ship

[milesjb]

I'm playing my first sea battle in "Pacific" and I have an escort ship. What do they add to my force except being a target of distraction ?

[terminator]

Finally they have the same function as the Escort Girls ?

[bru888]

Perchance that is the destroyer escort sent along with the oil tanker Neosho as it tries to safely leave the area in the Battle of Coral Sea? If so, then "escort" is just a term; it still is just a destroyer sent along (by your allied AI) to accompany the oil tanker. Hint: Don't depend on it alone.

[milesjb]

I'm sorry. It wasn't escort, it was "Support Ship "'

[bru888]

I'm sorry. It wasn't escort, it was "Support Ship "'

Ah, very good. Well, don't overlook Support Ships, my friend. They can do a couple of useful things like lay/remove mines and in particular repair your ships at sea. And, in a pinch, they can fight but not very much; maybe on a par with gunboats. They are very vulnerable to damage, though, so keep them away from the front lines if you can.

[GabeKnight]

I always thought the support ships to be kind of a waste of CP, because besides mine clearing, there's not much to do with them. Using the repair ability (like the medical jeep) on my units results in an even increased experience loss compared to "regular" repairs in ports.

BUT one thing I've never considered before is their ability to repair supply ships. Can't do that in ports or otherwise AFAIK.

[milesjb]

How do support ships make repairs ?

[bru888]

How do support ships make repairs ?

A ship has to be damaged, of course. Then this ship and the support ship must be next to each other at the beginning of a turn and neither can do anything else. You must have sufficient resource points to do the repair. If all these things are in place, you will see a repair icon light up in the support ship's Unit Abilities panel. Be careful when doing this operation that neither ship can be attacked during this turn because apparently they are very vulnerable at this time. Their icons turn orange indicating very low efficiency and therefore they are in danger if attacked.

[milesjb]

Thanks. That really is helpful.