Hammerbolt

Hia foks I've been coming back to the game, after almost a year of "1 game a week"... and I stopped playing CVs long before that. Everything is sooo diferent now. I believe I understand most of the changes on CVs now, but still stuck on somethings. First, just to confirm: - I can only command/send 1 squadron out at a time? - I can only move the CV around via autopilot when I'm flying a squadron? - CV air defense/fighter cover is automatic? And my problems: -"engine cooling" - every squadron I launch (currently using the Furious) has this icon but, no matter how many times I hit it, nothing happens. What am I missing? -"patrol fighters" - are these escorts for the current squadron? If so, are they activated automatically, or do I have to wait for them to come? - I cannot actively intercept enemy squadrons? - If I'm not at the helm, will the CV manouver alone to avoid torpedoes?

Ahhh... so the "CAP" is basically a drop off section from a passing squadron. Got it. I've been sending out fighters on spot/rocket runs right from the start, and only after the bombers. Thanks for the help, folks, very usefull.

Thank you for all that! Can you just explain how to place the CAP?

How do we keep track of this? I've selected sides, I've played 3 games with the RN, but I can't find any place ingame where I can see what my progress is.

Hia folks, sorry if these are noob questions, have been out of the game for severall months... I have my eye on the british carrier line (yes, I know we are still a long ways off from that). For that I was thinking of training up a captain so as to switch him when the CV comes up. Is this a good idea? What are the problems with it?

I won't cripple my RN ship+captain with wrong skills, right now. I realise I will have to pay to switch skills latter on, but I will first need the XP to have them! :D

It's a good point, but my play time is very limited, about 2-3 hours per week, so the sooner I start the better!

Thanks for the info!

Hia folks I'm trying to get back into the game, after severall months of absense. I remember that the Essex air group consisted of 3 fighter squadrons and 2 bomber squadrons. But now I have 2 fighters, 2 bombers and one TB, and there seems to be no way to change this. Is this correct?

Ah, ok, thanks for the info.

When playing Essex vs japs, the barrage trick is the only thing that allows me to (most of the times) carry out intercepts. Any decent jap commander will bunch up all seven of it's groups, to stop my fighters on a 3v3 fighter fight. If I don't use barrage, I don't stand a chance of stoping a single bomber...

Same problem... and I can login into World of Tanks without problems...

Hia folks Can anyone say how much XP we gain from shooting down aircraft with a ship's AAA?

Not bad, anyway. Specially now with the Cleveland. Thanks for the info.

And this is the main reason why I've dumped torpedo bombers...

There's another factor players ignore, concerning CVs. When you play BB, DD, or CC, you're handling one object, engaging one target. When I'm playing the Essex, I have to handle six objects: the 3 fighter groups, the 2 bomber groups and the CV. I have to calculate and carry out intercepts for the fighters vs multiple enemies, while picking targets for the bombers and setting up the runs, while making sure the CV stays away from the front... we don't "play a CV", we play a mini-air force and it's base... and have to move and worry about all of them all of the time...

Both CV and AAA depends a lot on tier and player skill. I play mostly my Essex (3 fighters x 2 bombers). Have 1 BB (Warpsite, bought a few days ago), the rest are T4-5 US and USSR cruisers, who's sole purpose is to get credits to keep the CV going. When playing the Essex, I allready know that I cannot attack ships in groups: the AAA at T7 and above is nasty, 9-10 absolute murder, specially those in cruisers and BB. A bomber group approaching a group of 2-3 ships has almost zero chance of even attacking. So I have to hit isolated ships, or ships at the edge of a group. And I only send a single bomber group if I have no choice. But I've seen players who send their attack planes in single files (one after the one) or at multiple targets; they all get shot down achieving little. I also live in dread of the infamous "Ninja DD": that one DD that seems to be made of stealth, avoiding all views and radars to sneak up on me and go "HI! MUCH TORPEDO LOSS! BYE!" To anyone that complains "CV are OP!!", I say this: don't play hero! If the fight has CVs, then don't go off on your own; stay as near as possible to the fleet. This applies specially to BBs, who don't have the speed to rush back to the massed AAA cover. If you do go on your own, keep your eyes on the map, not on the zoom. The moment a bomber pops up, that's your enemy, not that jiucy-DD-capping-must-get-him. At least a 3rd of my CV kills were lone heroes; love them. Also, AAA is not magic. It's not sure. Go check combat reports from WWII and you'll see how many planes got past them, even in the latter stages, when ships had more guns than spines on a porcupine. If you're sailing a BB, then AAA is pretty much your only option, but DDs and CGs have teh speed and manouvering to gtfo of the way. And prioritize your AAA fire! If you can manouver, aim at bombers first, TBs second. Trust me, it's harder to hit with torpedos than with bombs; it takes time to aim with torpedos, and you can dodge them. So you can use a combination of dodging and priorities to get rid of the TBs. Yesterday, on my Murmansk, I was atacked at the same time by 2 TB groups and 1 bomber group, I dodged the 2 torpedo groups who attacked at the same time, one from each side, and shot down 2 bombers. Took one bomb hit. So, not only I managed to avoid the attack, but that CV wasted an entire attack firing on me (a fast, dificult target)... when he had fat, easy, isolated BBs to hit.

Been grinding credits all day to be able to upgrade and play CV... right in the first CV game, server crash...it's a conspiracy...

About to win a game with CV... boom, someone torpedoes the server...

?!?!

Same here, right mid-battle.

Hia folks While playing with the Lexington, I've noticed that, at game's end, I always pay at least 40k for "auto-repair". My question is "repair of what"? I've received no damage whatsoever, so what repairs are these?

... WG should split this section up, then: "Maintenance costs" and "Repair costs"...

What... fuel, crew pay?...

Would someone please explain these team listings? For a moment I thought I was in a test server. Bad enough getting teams at half size... and then I saw a tier 10 CV on the other side! Are getting back to pre-patch MM?!