Before each combat round each player allocates his naval air squadrons to attack enemy land bases in range or the enemy fleet, while up to half his naval air squadrons may be CAP (combat air patrol - flying in defence of their own combat group). Each player then makes a search roll to see how many enemy combat groups are located (if not located they cannot be attacked that round). The search roll is affected by radar, and will be higher, the more friendly combat groups a player has and the more nearby airbases containing at least one friendly squadron (the number of squadrons in each base is irrelevant, so it is better to build a network of small forces), and the more enemy combat groups which are escorting a supply line, or carrying invasion troops (it therefore makes sense to group these "slow" elements in a single combat group - players also sometimes place a single 9-factor fleet as a decoy in the first combat group to make the fast carriers harder to locate and attack). Although some element of the fog of war is (obviously) lost naval battles are perfectly playable solitaire by making rational deployment choices for each side.