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Ship Locking
Ship locking is a mechanic designed to force admirals to use a wider variety of ships. At this time, this mechanic has only been used in Events.
Concept
Ship locking was introduced in the Summer 2014 Event, also known as AL/MI. This event introduced this mechanic to enact the feel of a two front war, following the historical battles of the Aleutian Islands and the Battle of Midway, the former of which was often theorized to have been a feint to draw away the naval fleets stationed at the Midway Atoll. This mechanic was also utilized for the Fall 2014 Event and the Spring 2015 Event.
Details
Ship locking is a mechanic that places a badge on the banners of all ships that go to a specific map. Ships that are tagged for one of these maps cannot be sortied to another map that also places a badge on ships. Badged ships may also be locked from maps that reject any badged ships, despite not applying a badge. Ships that are badged for any map are also unable to be utilized in Support Expeditions for the event, however, going on said support expeditions will not badge ships. This badge only affects ships in the fleet you are trying to sortie, as well as the secondary fleet if Combined Fleet is in effect. In most cases, one or more maps and/or difficulties will be exempted from badging, and will be available for any ship to sortie. Ships are only prohibited from other maps with the ship-locking mechanic, and as such are still able to travel to any normal map or expedition.
Examples
So far, there have been a few events utilizing the mechanic of ship locking.
- Summer 2014 Event
- Maps E-1 and E-2 applied an AL badge to ships, and locked out any ship with an MI badge.
- Maps E-3, E-4, and E-5 applied an MI badge to ships, and locked out any ship with an AL badge.
- Map E-6 locked out all badged ships, despite not applying a badge.
- Fall 2014 Event
- Maps E-1 and E-2 applied a blue badge to ships, and locked out any ship with a green badge.
- Map E-3 applied a green badge to ships, and locked out any ship with a blue badge.
- Map E-4 ignored the locking mechanic, and allowed all ships, badged or not.
- Spring 2015 Event
- Maps E-1, E-2, and E-6 did not partake in the ship locking mechanic.
- The ship locking mechanic did not apply to admirals who chose to complete the event on easy difficulty.
- Map E-3 applied a blue badge to ships, and locked out any ship with a green or orange badge.
- Map E-4 applied a green badge to ships, and locked out any ship with a blue or orange badge.
- Map E-5 applied a orange badge to ships, and locked out any ship with a blue or green badge.
Summer 2014 Event AL (E-1 and E-2) badge
Summer 2014 Event MI (E-3, E-4, and E-5) badge
Fall 2014 Event E-1 and E-2 badge
Fall 2014 Event E-3 badge
Spring 2015 Event E-3 badge
Spring 2015 Event E-4 badge
Spring 2015 Event E-5 badge
Strategy
As with all events, it is recommended to have a wide variety of ships, and this mechanic makes that even more important. Depending on the amount of maps and the configuration of those maps, you could have up to 72 ships locked into one map (worst case scenario, with 6 combined fleet maps all using different locks), assuming that you do not switch ships out for repairs, which would increase that number. As such, it is important to keep track of your ships and make sure you do not lock ships you need in order to meet branching requirements or have the power to beat later maps. As such, it is important to research the event maps ahead of time to plan out your fleet compositions ahead of time. It is also important to balance your ship levels across multiple groups or you could end up with a low-level fleet being your only composition capable of reaching the boss in a later map, making sure to include LOS in these considerations, as it is often needed for branching.