Panocek

CV have "infinite" amount of planes but battle time is finite. Combine that with long "preparation" timer for new aircraft and you end up with less aircraft than RTS CV, so CV for late game prowess needs to conserve aircraft just like DD and CA need to look after their hp. Preparation timers: 47/117/55 on tier 4, 72/89/56 on tier 6, 79/80/76 on tier 8, 66/99/76 on tier 10. So on Midway to restore obliterated TB squadron of 9 aircraft, you need close to 15 minutes, almost entire battle. And from my experience so far AA have too extreme effects. Either it does nothing or due to amount of flak bursts squadrons gets obliterated, somehow this is the most prevalent on dive bombers during their bombing run - I've lost count of cases where entire squadron evaporates due to flak. What might work to lessen obliterating effects of condensed AA while keeping CV in check would be moving flak bursts to large caliber AA only, reducing significantly damage per burst, enable it to overlap with other AA with minimal distance of 1km (to be adjusted), but add temporary "panic" effect, increasing spread of hit aircraft. On other hand, to promote "skill play" and to avoid leaving DD in the dark in terms of AA, large caliber mounts could have restricted AA firing arcs (already modeled in game for main and secondary dual purpose guns) and rate at which they fire bursts would be tied to mount rate of fire - Gearing bow on would throw 4 bursts every 3 seconds, giving very small window to drop ordnance accurately, while Iowa broadside puts out 10 bursts every 6 seconds, providing bigger window to do so. That way small and mid caliber AA do the damage, while large caliber throws CV aim

Tier 8+ ships have plenty of AA, getting uptiered with T8 CV againt Woosters, Minotaurs and other wall of guns can be particularly not fun. Though Ranger meeting Baltimore or NC might have similar experience.

Use free respec and build Bismarck into AA, though as base ship is lacking in that department, you're unlikely to knock many tier 10 planes on your own. On other hand AA cruisers are having field day

RTS CV player would bomb you to force DCP then follow up with torpedoes, which used to quite reliably trigger flooding. That was modus operandi. Now, its constant hounding, pestering and bothering. Though reworked IJN CV are almost BB killers - AP bombs can reliably citadel battleships, torps deal tad more damage than USN, rockets are lacking to the extreme though.

You would be matched against Hakuryu before 0.8.0 and you would be butt fluffed just as fine.

I don't find whole sector switching worth the effort and certainly it works against you when you're target and squadrons keep switching sides as they fly over you. I'd stick to AFT and for extra giggles add BFT if you don't have better ideas for 2nd 3point skill

There is only so much skill you can apply when all of a sudden randoms blob up in every battle, like in some sort of clan battle. No solo yolo adventurers, only so tightly packed blob of guns Shimasashio skippers would cackle themselves to death.

Except damage on planes is like damage on Conqueror - pointless unless you can put it down.

Mine CV just works. Granted, I tend to not yolo into nearest blob of guns and even odd DD can cause some quality hurt due to flak when not careful. If anything gameplay is just not really thrilling.

They are more of an anti capital ship weaponry - ability to dent BB and Moskvagrad can be handy, though at expense of spraying DDs with HVARs. They are extra lacking on Kexington, 4 of them is just not enough

I have wild suspicion my old build of PT/AR/SI/CE/AFT/BoS/EM would work just fine. And from what I see Sector switching is biggest waste of pixels since ever - no increase on damage inflicted in game

I guess AA packed BB could do the trick - if you throw enough crap in the air, something is going to hit someone. USN from NC onwards would be prime one, as they have lots of flak bursts by default and they can take AA mod 1 for some more without sacrificing accuracy upgrade. Atlanta from what I see can deliver nasty AA umbrella until she is targeted by CV, as her main dakka decides to go AFK when planes get closer than 3.5km

Fighters were death sentence on PTS2 I think, since PTS3 they are more of a inconvenience. Especially as catapult ones spend like 30s taking off and herpderping around before intercepting strike aircraft. And then is question if they can catch it boosting away

It works just fine, add some AD to that and unless you throw yourself at 4+ sized blob of ships or two high AA ones, casualties should be minimal That and don't be afraid to recall planes. Damaged planes once they return will be repaired and ready for next sortie, shot down ones, not so much.

From what I see, stacking AA from multiple ships is the way to go, though borderline meme builds on high AA ships can inflight helluva casualties on their own. So yeah, "buff AA" if you boat around in Normandie or Mogami, not so much if you can Minotaur/Des Memes/Wooster

Impossibru. Yamato shoehorned into tier 9 isn't OP enough?

That and some hightier boats can put out quite a wall of flak which at times can be unavoidable

15% more damage from flak bursts. Considering base value can border on 2k territory, damage increase can be significant. Issue - potatoes already die to flak bursts while competent players usually fly around it

WSAD is life. Also some good read with some audiovisual tips https://forum.worldofwarships.com/topic/180535-how-to-play-cv-rework-my-compilationguide-of-what-to-expect-and-how-to-play/

Negative on my end, played (coop) battles in mine ironing boards, still list return for FXP

With no short range AA I'd expect wall of flak causing significant emotional events for planes all their time, which might be way to go for maximum dakka - on PTS Conqueror used to put 18 flak bursts from Bofors with no minimal distance, making her one of the best self defense AA actually. On live she's nerfed to only 14

What AA defense

Yep, range what used to occupy small caliber AA is taken by mid caliber. Easily seen in tech tree on Henri IV and Reeeepublique. Des Moines AA goes down from 580dps to 171 if planes get closer than 1.5km

On other hand you can make nice quick buck from selling changed AA upgrade - I have 39 of them to sell for 1.5mil each

Add to that Flight Control mod1 giving one plane less on deck, SE giving 15hp/tier to planes, Midway losing two rockets and 1% fire chance on HVARcats. On other hand, IJN TB with concealment build can not only stealth torp on Haku, but can play spooky and stealth spot anything bigger than DD. New CB meta?