Expedition/Introduction

Expeditions are the backbone of naval economy. They provide a safe, steady income of virtually all common in-game resources with the exception of Improvement materials.
 * The fuel, ammo, steel and bauxite gained from expeditions can accumulate beyond the soft cap. This makes expeditions the best way to stockpile resources for events.
 * Expeditions also provide experience, making them useful for passively leveling weak ships.
 * A few expeditions are sortie support expeditions, which provide additional support fire for difficult sorties and events.
 * Many expeditions are also quest requirements.

Expeditions themselves need to be unlocked first, usually by completing other expeditions or quests. Once they have been unlocked, they can be repeated indefinitely. The list of expeditions does not change from one update to another. However, support expeditions for special event maps might be temporarily included during events.

Unlocking an expedition
Expeditions are unlocked by completing Quest A4.



Normally, completing an expedition will unlock the next one in numerical order. However, there are exceptions:
 * Expedition 5 unlocks Expedition #9.
 * Expedition 17 unlocks Expedition #21
 * Expedition 18 unlocks Expeditions #22, 25 and 33.
 * Expedition 20 unlocks Expedition #27.
 * Expeditions 1 through 8 unlock Expedition #32.
 * Expedition 26 unlocks Expeditions #34 and 35.

Additionally, some expeditions requires clearing a certain map and completing multiple expeditions. They are:
 * Clear 1-5, Expedition #9-20 and 27-29 unlocks Expedition 30 and 31 (for Quests D5 to D8).
 * Clear 1-5, Expedition #9-18, 25, 35 and 36 unlocks Expeditions 37, 38, 39 (for Quests D9, 11, 13, 14).
 * Clear 1-5, Expedition #9-18 and 22 unlocks Expedition 23 (for Quests D10 and D12).

Sending a fleet on expedition
To send fleets on expedition:
 * 1) Access the Sortie screen and click the rightmost, blue button.
 * 2) Select an expedition.
 * 3) Select a fleet to send on expedition.
 * 4) Click the bottom right button to send the selected fleet on expedition.

Once unlocked, an expedition can be repeated indefinitely without any penalty to subsequent runs. However, an expedition can only be attempted once at any given moment. Multiple fleets can go on different expeditions, but not the same expedition.

The first fleet (main fleet) cannot go on an expedition; only the second, third and fourth fleet can.
 * Quest A4 unlocks the second fleet at the same time as expeditions
 * Quest A14 unlocks the third fleet
 * Quest A16 unlocks the fourth fleet.

Every expedition has its own success conditions. Failure to meet the conditions results in a failed expedition. In which case, the fleet would still consume fuel, ammunition and time specified by the expedition but no resources or reward will be returned. HQ XP gain from failed expeditions is significantly reduced to 30%, however, Ship XP gain remains unaffected. While this might prove desirable for those who want to suppress their HQ level, it is generally not recommended due to the resource costs involved.

Check the top right corner in home screen for the bubble indicating an expedition has returned, click on the home screen to obtain rewards.
 * Expedition quests only counts when the expedition fleet returns therefore, one only need to activate the quest when the fleet returns.
 * Expedition can be completed earlier by entering the main screen when there is less than one minute remaining.
 * Ships lose 3 morale per expedition.

Lightly or moderately damaged ships do not affect the outcome of the expedition. However, having a ship that is majorly damaged or under repair in the fleet will prevent that fleet from going on expedition.

Recalling an expedition
In the event where the wrong fleet was accidentally sent on expedition, an "Expedition Recall" is possible to cancel the expedition and save the time otherwise would be wasted on expedition.

An expedition canceled in this manner yields no resources, rewards, or experience. It is also counted as a fail in Admiral's profile. Supply and morale required by the expedition are still consumed. This should only be used with discretion, especially since a recall cannot be cancelled.

The recalled fleet does not return immediately as it will take a while to return to base. The calculation for return call time is as follows:

The smaller time between remaining time and elapsed time / 3.

For example, a fleet is sent on expedition #1 (15 minutes), then after 6 minutes, it is recalled.
 * 1) The remaining time is 9 minutes.
 * 2) The elapsed time is 6 minutes.
 * 3) The smaller number of the two, 6 minutes elapsed time in this case, is divided by 3.
 * 4) The final recall time is 2 minutes.

Ratings and rewards
Expeditions will always yield the primary resources upon success and they will always grant experience unless recalled. However, secondary item rewards are not guaranteed to be obtained upon success.
 * For expeditions that give only one type of item, there is 50% chance of getting the item.
 * For expeditions that give two types of items, the item listed on the left of the game screen will have 50% chance. The item on the right will always be rewarded upon Great Success, and it has a low reward chance with Normal Success.

The outcome of expeditions depend on several conditions. There exist four possible outcome ratings; each of which has different resources, experiences and item rewards yield ratios.

Normal Success
Meeting all the following conditions guarantees a Normal Success:

1. Fleet's supply

Fleets sent on expedition must be fully resupplied. Missing even a bar of supply results in a failure.

2. Flagship's level

The level of the flagship (first ship of a fleet) must be greater than or equal to the flagship's level specified by the expedition.

3. Total level of fleet

The sum level of every ship in the fleet, including the flagship must be greater than or equal to the total level of fleet specified by the expedition.

4. Ship types

Most expeditions require a certain number of ships of specific types. The ships in a fleet can be in any order but the required number of ships in each type must be met. Some ship types can be used as substitutes for another ship types, some remodeled ship types and their old model are not interchangeable, while other types follow a one-way relationship.
 * Light carriers [CVL] and Seaplane tenders [AV] can be used as substitutes for Fleet carriers [CV]
 * Aviation submarines [SSV] can be used as substitutes for Submarines [SS]
 * Aviation cruisers [CAV] and Heavy cruisers [CA] are not interchangeable.
 * Torpedo cruisers [CLT] and Light cruisers [CL] are not interchangeable
 * Battleships [BB] and Fast battleships [FBB] cannot be used as substitutes for Aviation battleships [BBV]
 * Light carriers [CVL] and Fleet carriers [CV] cannot be used as substitutes for Seaplane tenders [AV]

5. Number of ships in fleet

Fleets sent on expedition must contain at least a certain number of ships. After ship types requirements are meet, wild card ships (denoted as type XX in expedition tables) can be added to meet the minimum number of ships condition. Extra ships beyond the minimum number to help with other conditions are allowed.

6. Number of drum canisters and drum carriers

Expedition 21, 37, 38 also require Drum Canisters to be equipped. The total number of drums and the number of ships carrying drums must be greater than or equal to a minimum value.

Great Success


Great Success is an advanced form of success. It grants 50% additional resources, double (x2) the Admiral experience, double (x2) the ship experience, and great success item reward if applicable.

Great Success still requires Normal Success conditions to be met. The factors that affect its chance of occurring are also different depending on the expedition type:

Regular Expedition
All ships participating in the expedition must have at least 50 morale ('sparkling') for a chance at Great Success. The chance for Great Success increases approximately 19% per sparkling ship.

Drum Expedition (21, 24, 37, 38)
Unlike regular expeditions, Great Success has a chance of occurring even if only some (or none) of the participating ships have 50+ morale. Equipping additional Drum Canisters increases this chance. Ships with 50+ morale still increase the chance of Great Success, but at a lower rate of approximately 16% per sparkling ship.

The Great Success chance is determined by the initial state of the fleet - ergo, even if none of your ships are sparkling when the expedition returns, you can still get a great success rating as long as they were sparkling when they left.

Support expedition
Support expeditions involve sending a fleet into an expedition to provide additional bombardment during the opening stages of Combat. There are two types of support expedition; normal support and boss support: Events usually come with their exclusive support expeditions (e.g. Expedition 133 & 134) that can only be used throughout the event. These event expeditions are unlocked by default.
 * Expedition #33 is a normal support expedition (15 minutes). It gives support at every node other than boss node with ~50% chance to trigger at each node.
 * Expedition #34 is a boss support expedition (30 minutes). It gives support at the boss node with ~80% chance to trigger.
 * A common setup for support expeditions is 2 DD 2 CV/L 2 BB.  Using CVL can offer good firepower at less cost than BB.  However, do not use more than 2 carriers to prevent from switching to aerial support.

Sparkling your ships (mainly flagship) increases the probability to trigger support while using fatigued ships reduces it. Currently, support expeditions only work in World 5 and events. Furthermore, support does not work on nodes that begin in night battle. Support expeditions will end if either of these two conditions are fulfilled: It is recommended to start a sortie immediately after the support expedition has been sent in order to avoid the timer running out halfway through the sortie.
 * 1) Finish a sortie.
 * 2) The timer runs out.

Support Types
A support expedition requires a minimum of at least 2 DDs (Destroyers). The other 4 slots affect what type of support will be provided. The three types provided are Aerial Support, Long Range Torpedo Attack, and Support Shelling:

Shelling damage calculation
Ship's damage is dependent on firepower stats. However, CVs and CVLs are calculated differently using the following equation: Firepower (FP), Torpedo (TP), Divebomb (DB)

$$Damage= 55 + (1.5 * FP) + (1.5 * \sum(TP)) + (2.0 * \sum(DB)) $$

For example; a fully modernized Kaga Kai with 4 slots of Suisei Model 12A, which provide a total sum of 40 dive bombing power (10 dive-bomb for each Suisei Model 12A):

$$Damage = 55 + (1.5 * 49) + (1.5 * 0) + (2.0 * (10 + 10 + 10 + 10)) = 208 $$

Accuracy, overweight penalty and AP Shells do affect support expeditions' performance. Therefore, it is recommended to sparkle your fleet or equip accuracy equipment (i.e. radar) onto your fleet. As ships in support expeditions cannot utilize artillery spotting, equipping a seaplane is not recommended.