Campaign Map Mechanics questions, a little help?

[Iuvenalis]

I'm still a little fuzzy on some of these mechanics. Anybody mind answering?

Why should I put a ship in port A vs port B?

Do I need to "defend" each port with ships?

Do certain ports cover certain sectors of the sea? (Ex. my English channel ports only enter English channel battles?)

What does the "In being" vs. "Sea Control" choice do in game? (I understand the real life concepts)

[AurumCorvus]

The game, apart from the big regions (like N. Europe and Med, etc,) is further subdivided into smaller regions like North Sea, English Channel, Baltic Sea, Irish Sea, etc. This second region is heavily determined by the port (through range plays a role in getting events outside of this region). So, for example, if you place your ships at Plymouth or Portsmouth, you'll get very good control over the English Channel. On the other hand, Rosyth and Scapa Flow give you very good control over the North Sea, especially if Germany skimps on range and the British do not (in the actual campaign, the British can't afford to skimp on range due to their global commitments, so this will be a huge advantage).

Additionally, you'll have noticed that each port has different tonnage they can take. While it doesn't seem to matter atm, it will prove to be a cap of some sort on overburdening their abilities (especially far overseas). And, yes you can expand them but that costs money.

You do not need to defend ports. Even irl, unused ports weren't really a target. Since it's unused port, it means that the fleet already has a better port and you'll do practically nothing.

Sure, if we get invasions, ports will matter a lot more (remember that D-Day is the *exception* due to Mulberry Harbours, all other naval invasions needed a port of some kind relatively quick.)

Nonetheless, unless the devs go off the rails, you will always get a chance to fight an anti-invasion battle. There's just no way you can make a naval invasion happen without the other Navy realizing something is up and getting a chance to fight (too much activity and too slow).

Your third question I kinda answered already. It's port and range that establish how far away you can go to participate.

Sea Control means that you go out and challenge the other side. In WW1, both sides did this a lot with their CLs and DDs. These ships will generate missions and join missions.

In Being means it's anchored at port and won't participate in anything short of port strike. Like both capital navies in WW1 (but moreso German), it means they don't get threatened from any mission. It just calmly sits around and force the others to burn fuel and life.