Vitelius

Until you get to 12km torps, no happy times. Even then the problem is you're slow and have no smoke - good luck running when you're spotted. Yeah, you can spam long range torps that do little damage and that's about it. I'm really struggling to figure out a proper way to play those things.

The DBs really need a buff of some sort. More accuracy and a small chance to hit citadel (AP bombs?) Right now the accuracy is garbage and there's no point in ever risking manual targeting because it basically gives you close to zero accuracy bonus. I've tried manual targeting a stationary BB with 2 full US squadrons, right smack in the fat middle. Both squadrons scored only 2 bomb hits, 4 out of 12 bombs, pathetic. You get the same result using automatic targeting. They're in a pretty pathetic state at the moment. With the new patch you can now see the bomb stats too. Notice how the accuracy or the damage doesn't change at all for different tiers while ships just keep getting more HP. You'd imagine later bombers could carry larger/more bombs...

Yep, the Ranger has no really usable configuration. 2-0-2 is the only one that can effectively fight against a 2-2-2 configuration. The 1-1-1 is just outright silly, the only reason to take it would be to get both a fighter and a TB but having only 3 squadrons is just pointless: you get raped in the air by a balanced 2-2-2 setup and your strike capability is no better than Independence's. I say give the Ranger a TB squadron to work with to go along with the 2 fighters. 2-1-1 or hell, even 2-1-0 would be better than what we have now. The dive bombers are useless and the Ranger's damage potential is close to zero. The Ranger's "strike" setup just adds insult to injury, who actually thinks 0-1-3 is a good strike setup? It's like a badly mimicked wannabe IJN strike setup, sacrificing the only advantage of the US carriers: their fighters. Alternatively give a major boost to XP given for shooting down enemy aircraft. If the US carrier gimmick is air superiority then make it worth playing, otherwise what's the point? I have to stick with the 2-0-2 setup since it's the only one that plays the US carrier strengths. Getting XP is a real grind but at least I can comfort myself for playing the carrier's strengths and not throwing the dice with a full "strike" setup or god forbid use the fully gimped "balanced" 1-1-1 setup.

It can be ridiculous when the matchmaker craps on you, throwing you into a match of tier 7-8 ships as a tier 6 carrier - every attack just turns into a suicide attack. Other than that I've not faced major problems. It's all about choosing your targets carefully, avoiding AA heavy cruisers and not running into boosted AA fire when you notice a cruiser activating the ability. Lone BBs, destroyers and lower tier cruisers are your main targets. Destroyers can be tricky but are very squishy. T6+ cruisers I tend to avoid unless they're alone and there's no better target available.