Redcap375

Git, i wanted that! Might have a pop at some later.

If you need that 7% more accuracy to hit a DD at 6km with an Atlanta then oh boy you have bigger fish to fry . I'm sure you don't really need that 7% mate. Even if you somehow completely miss you only have to wait what, 5 seconds to fire another 14 shells (not including AR )? Each to their own i suppose and it is the captains choice but personally the AA range MOD pays dividends and helps the team a whole alot more (God send with a CV div). More CV's at tier 6-7-8 too. Longer the reload time, the more i'm inclined the go for the 7% accuracy. Or if your using a torp boat. Saying that, i'm using the AA Range MOD on the Buffalo. I'm that kinda team player. Two games in it so far and 2 wins. Love it.

This ^^. You don't use a Uzi to be accurate (Atlanta).

And there is a problem with CV's , yeah sure chaps. I want to play the same game you lot are.

There is a single rule that i have lived by since playing this game....Half AA spec (or fully depending) any ship, period. I know what a CV can do against pants team players. In doing so, I have been sunk less by a CV than another other ship BY FAR. I honestly cant remember the last time i was sunk by one, truly. Following: Lion: AA Flag (standard), AFT, AA range Mod and BFT. Bring that lovely short and mid AA out further. Even gives your secondariness a boost, what's not to like? I have suddenly gone for a good target into a nasty nasty shock for the CV player. 47 max planes kills , cheers easy Freddy: AA Flag, AFT, BFT and 2 fighter planes. 30 planes, boom. Not bad for a BB again. Slap MMA skill and dear god. Gne: As above with MAA i think. 42 planes. AP bombers my Ar**. Sharn: As above (without MAA but with range MOD). 30 planes, boom. No worries. Alabama: Full AA spec (AFT, MAA, BFT, AA Range MOD and flag). 35 planes. Can talk about cruisers but you all know what they can do (Mino: 31 planes, Cleveland: 54, Hipper: 30 ect..) I know that some ships just don't stand a chance (Shimmy, kongo ect) but come on, we need some weak links. Having the ability to blunt a CV attack is paramount. Yes you only see CV's in what? 1/4 games? But when they do show up you can sit back and relax alot more. Your still a good player and that AFT or BFT can still help other things so it's not a wasted skill. So you have the AA range MOD with no CV's? You can still aim and hit things cant you? Its not a massive difference but one hell of one against CV's. You might not blow every plane out of the sky or prevent some kind of drop, but it will cost them more planes than they think and will go for another target in the game. Oh, call me crazy but i also use Secondary Arm Mod to increase survivability of the mounts. I always have as I love secondary builds too. Secondary builds and AA goes hand in hand skill wise. Yet people will continue to moan about CV's in this game. I cant for the life of me think why. If every player at least half AA spec their ships, the CV population would vanish nearly over night. Are you really worries about those AP bombs Bismarck ? THEN SLAP MAA, FLAG, AFT, BFT ON AND SEE THE DIFFERENCE TO THOSE ENTERPRISE BOMBERS. 2 of those skills fit perfectly with your secondary build anyway. Yet people still don't and moan when they get deleted going solo against AP bombers. If you decide not to, which is fine, then play the game and don't go solo! Come to peace with that.

FID Typ 8 Mod. 2 2 0 3 0 0 FID Typ 8 Mod. 1 1 2 1 0 0 GK layouts MOD 2 (2-0-3) Extremely deadly or extremely pants. Every DD/CL player will be laughing, every German BB/CA will be crying. Horses for courses. He's the killer which seals the deal: DD's win game more often that not. This Mod cant really touch them. The single biggest killing factor that makes this layout pants. RNG is also a factor like all bombers do. It does have 2 sets of fighters but unlike the Enterprise say, they have fewer and weaker.. Even more when DOG FIGHTER is thrown into the mix. Strafe and pufff. If you was against a team full of BB's then this would be murderous in the right hands. But it aint. MOD (1-2-1) Defo the better of the bunch. It's more flexible and can pack a punch if controlled correctly...But. One set of fighters syndrome and predictability. You have 2 German BB's on your team...I wonder what the enemy CV will be going for? I have 2 fighters to stop your wave and you only have one to escort it. Escorting it means that my own strike force can do what i wants anywhere over the map. You send the fighters to get them (they are fast) then good luck chasing 4 groups over the map. Whilst your doing that i'll annihilate your strike buddy, cheers easy . At least the Lex has stronger and more strike planes to slightly offset the 1 fighter syndrome. The GK has no such luck (fewer and weaker, oh dear).

Just murdered one yesterday in the Enterprise 100% record still present. Don't get me wrong, like any CV if they spot a solo ship like a Tirp or Bis then it WILL make a mess with AP bombs. But you can do the same in the Enterprise or Lex. It is completely the BB players fault, no worries. He should know that AP bombs can make a mess of German ships. I have no sympathy and i also play German BB's so I know the score. Skill plays a massive part in CV life. It's not a case of angling your BB and your fine. In the Kaga yesterday against a Sapian. Managed to sink 4 ships (nearly karken if the DD didn't take the CV out at the end on 345 HP!) and we won the game. Normally the Saipan would completely annihilate the Kaga all things being equal but this player was so hell bent on following my planes around i just used friendly AA (tier 5-6 game) to even things up and dodge his strafes. He knew how to strafe and did a good job like you would expect in a Sapian but still lost. Reason? It's not so much to do with the CV, but with the knowledge that captain has. My Kaga wouldn't have stood a chance if I had played the Saipan. They are totally opposite in every way. A good GZ player can cause chaos, yes, and those that own them normally have half decent skill. But against a Enterprise and Sho it's still worse IMHO. All things being equal the GZ is on par with the worst of all tier 8 CV's. Not played the Lex for ages as i HATE CV's with only 1 set of fighters. But a very good GZ player against a novice CV player (still get alot at tier 8) will normally win anyway as he has the knowledge, knows what to hit with what and how to strafe. The one fighter syndrome is normally the one that really tips the balance regarding good CV players. 2 fighters to strafe with cant not be overstated. The player makes the CV work, the type of CV just gives him more to work with. If he is a dummy that does a "point and click" job then he will get facerolled extremely quickly against any other CV that knows at leased how to strafe. The GK is just worse to do that in. If i have never lost against GK (some very good) then how good can it really be, come on? I have lost plenty of times against good Enterprise and Sho players (not including AA of ships but the quality of CV play). You know what WG do to reward players that spend hours learning how to play CV's, get that knowledge and practice? THEY CHANGE IT Good incentive to actually play the game ay. Oh, i did see a DD get completely owned by a GK in close combat, it's quite nasty. Even messaged him to watch it but you know . I hope that player learnt his lesson like we all do but it was fun to watch . Kaga is also half decent at doing that too.

Build? Close knife fighting or Long(ish) range spamming? Pros and cons?

Chaps So i have it in the port now (cant wait to take her out). Any recommend builds, captain skills and tips how to play this thing before she goes on her first outing?

Can you even get through the Buffalo AA? Defensive AA, ATF and MMA will be nasty i would presume. Can't see it being high on the CV hit list. That's how I would skill it anyway. looking forward to it when I get back from holiday kron less so.

Lol, No he's not a pushover and one of the best CV players around but completely beatable in that thing. In that setup, 1 set of fighters is restrictive and so is not being able to kill DDs and CL. His great ability is restricted in that CV. Only so much a great F1 driver can do in a 1.0 Vauxhall Nova.

The enemy CV player was completely mince and the enemy team made that so easy for him, you could do it in a tier 6 CV. A good player would have made his life a misery there but the team was crap regardless. This is an example of bad team play and enemy CV play. To date, I have never lost against a GK...period. So from a CV captain point of view its crap and always has been. But if your in a German BB and the like then be worried if your CV player is a patato. It can cause massive damage to them just like any AP bomb. But don't forget this lads....its pathetic against DDs which is a massive disadvange!! That alone wouldn't get me to play in the thing anyway. DD players are laughing, heavy cruisers and some BBs arnt.

Essex at 3rd? What is she smoking..

Chaps I wanted to take this opportunity to say that helping your fellow CV Captain win games on behalf of your team (so that means you too) is becoming harder and harder. I want this to change. A lot of this is down to lack of knowledge, or lack of CV knowledge to be precise. Those that simply don't play CV's don't understand the micromanagement involved, the number of tasking they have and expectations (some unreasonable) some people might have. The last 2 nights I have witnessed some appalling teamwork, i mean really bad. Now I know this isnt new but IMHO it's getting worse. So i wanted to give people that don't understand CV's a bit of advise in order to make the CV Captains life easier. In doing so, It will massively increase the likelihood for you to win the battle. Average players thoughts I am a German tier 9 Tank spec Freddy. I am strong and will smash my way through anything. The CV player will surely provide me with a fighter as i am not AA spec and have a torp belt of cardboard. Resulting salt "No support CV, your S***". CV Players thoughts I have 1/2 sets of fighters and 3 ships going solo. I have to spot 3 different caps and attempt to knock out the first DD in time. I need to support that DD going into the cap and stop him form being spotted. I need to position my fighters in order to support the fleet as a whole in case of a strike. I need to recce the enemy team enough for the team to see what they are doing. I need to spot the torps coming towards the BB from smoke. I need to engage the enemy fighters going for my own strike. I need to shot down and strafe the enemy fighters to keep the DD safe. A CV player (good ones) will always try and support you the best they can. But you have to understand that there is a pecking order and you might not even be in the top 10. Here are a few things you can do to help matters. 1) Pair up. If you believe that you have poor AA or not enough to stop at least half the enemy planes then find a AA buddy. That doesn't mean following him around the whole game, but always look for locations that have a friendly AA ship in the general area. Enough to think if that guy pops his defensive AA, the CV player is gonna have a hard time trying to hit you. 2) Enemy AA ships. Take a look (or use the mini map) to see what AA ships the enemy has in on front of you. If you are a DD player and are screaming for friendly fighter to help cap but on the other side of the HIll is a Mino and Des, then the likelihood of the CV player sending fighters are SLIM TO NONE. Don't throw salt at him just because he doesn't have invulnerable planes. Planes last for a matter of seconds in heavy AA if your lucky. Would you push into a Moskva and Des with radar? Then don't expect the CV player to send planes in. 3) Positioning. You are a sneaky DD and are behind enemy lines. You are doing well and then suddenly you get spotted by the CV player .You scream for friendly fighters as your a Shimmy with a rifle on board. Guess what? A CV captain will not send his fighters though enemy ships (most of which have good AA) in order to support your death wish. Factoring the time to takes to get there, the likelihood that when they do they will make a difference (those that are left) and knowing the enemy will now be all over you, isnt going to go in your favour regarding support. Look at the ships the CV player has to get though first and the time it will take. 3/4 times sending plane behind enemy line results in a very few or none returning. Unless you are a AA spec Fletcher, KIDD or DD with good AA (defensive) then come to peace with the nightmare you might now face. If your on the flank and not surrounded by AA ships then completely fine and we/I will always bat enemy planes off you. But make the decision easy for us by not putting yourself in crap positions we cant help you with. 4) Torp dodge. Don't make the enemy CV captains life easy. The amount of people i see sailing in a straight line and getting whacked by torps in simply astounding. Break this down: DD/CA captain both the hardest and easiest to hit. One of the best times to sink a DD is when he starts slowing down in order to smoke. DONT. A good CV player can judge the time it takes for you to stop and when you do will receive a wall of torps. Keep moving, even when in smoke. Create a smoke circle but whatever you do don't just slow down and stop. BB Captains Always turn into the torps and not away from them. I'm sure i don't need to tell you why but in case it's about torp arming and surface area 5) Manuel AA knowledge. You receive a AA buff when you select a certain group of planes right? So knowledge of section is paramount. If you are in a Bismarck and you have a set of Enterprise torp planes and a set of AP bombers coming your way then concentrating on the Bombers will SAVE YOUR LIFE. I know that a AA spec Bis can destroy both but if your anrt then know/learn what planes are going to do the most damage to you. Just one 1 set of AP bombs can blow up a Bis just like that or strip 1/2 of your health, but the spread on the Enterprise torps can only hit so many (if you adopt point 4, 2 if hes lucky) A Fletcher is the opposite and should target the Torps as AP bombs do squat. So know what planes to target first. 6) Helping win fighter engagements. Fighters cant hurt BB's right? So why would you care about the dog fight that is going on near/above your head? Well simply selecting the enemy fighters will apply the Buff and help your friendly CV win what could be a close air battle. Those remaining planes could then be used to at least mess up the drop that will be heading for your team, or spot a incoming DD. Help as much as you can lads. Even sail into AA range to help those fighters out if it doesn't put you in a bad position. A good CV play will always try to use your AA anyway and wont get caught in a fighter battle they cant win, but some people are still learning or have no choice, so give them a helping hand. 7) Concentrate fire. One of the many jobs of a CV captain is spot and hopefully kill the enemy DD's. DD's are IMHO the most important ship in the game so we/you need them dead, pronto. If a CV player is spotting a DD or low concealment ship and has announced it on the F5 then focus fire. It's the best example of the selfish comment a CV captain can make as he knows that those planes will start to fall out of the sky. But he does it for the good of the team. If you don't use that opportunity then the CV captain might not bother the remainder of the game. He's not gonna lose planes for nothing. Chaps, you really don't want to make a selfish CV captain. 8) Priority targets. An action has a reaction right? I have a Zao and a mino in front of me and one is going to die . Now the Mino is just bouncing shells off my bow deck but the zao is burning me alive. Your instinct is to kill the Zao but think about it. That 8.4 km AA mino of death might be a means to an end. If i wipe him from the face of the earth the CV player has a single lovely Zao to drop on. A target not even factored as it was surrounded by the Mino/Des AA. You will also keep DD players happy as another Radar ship as met it's end. If you kill a AA heavy Ship you will increase the likelihood for the CV player to help the team and in turn you. This sounds so simple right but the amount of people i see just tunnel vision on a certain ship and not seeing the bigger picture is shocking. Having a half decent CV captain on your team against no AA heavy ships on the enemy team will 3/4 win you the game. Other 1/4 is the enemy CV captains but he has heavy AA still to deal with. Summary Nothing is more frustrating (in a good way) that seeing the enemy fleet support eachother, play as a team and doing all the right anti CV things. Whilst on your team they are moving around like depressed lemmings, getting killed one by one, and throwing buckets of salt at the CV player for no good reason. I want both teams to be equally as good as it makes the game more interesting and less one sided. I don't care if it makes the enemy CV captains life a misery, but it will make 2 of them, not 1 . Playing your heart out in a CV whilst watching your own team throw it away is tiring and saps the CV life out of you. I hope this helps. P.S You can probably forget all of this when the CV re-work comes, but lets go out with a bang ay.

Wouldn't touch the Mino with a barge poll in a CV if i had a choice. The Zao can be AA hell like any tier 10 cruiser, but regarding the Zao, 9/10 it isn't because of they way people generally Spec it. Stole this from another post but everyone said it was accurate just to show the AA potential when spec: it's crazy. If it's wrong then please comment. T10 Cruisers Ship Base DPS*Range (DPS*km) MAA DPS*Range (DPS*km) MAA Benefit (%) Minotaur 3125 3621 16% Des Moines 2877 3195 11% Hindenburg 2299 2718 18% Henri IV 1830 2173 19% Zao 1677 2114 26% Moskva 1592 2038 28% Hardly anyone has MAA on Zao's and 1/2 run Hydro. Zao's turn slower, wider, longer and are a bigger target. The Mino is the opposite and turns on a penny. Plus you will spend more time in a Mino AA then a Zao's by a fair margin. Not much about stats and the like and i'm sure you will prove me wrong mate (in a good way) but IMHO Mino no, Zao alot better. It is 8.6 Km I should know as it's how I spec it, shame on me. Plus that lovely MMA is situated in those duel purpose main guns on the Mino. A lot harder to break than the squishy AA/secondary mounts on the zao that melt with every HE salvo.

This ^^

My god that is the truest thing I have ever heard People simply refuse to learn how to play CV's. Instead of going "Hey, i'm gonna learn how to do this or that" they say "F*** this S***. If you cant strafe at tier 7 (most) then forget the rest of the line chaps as it isn't for you. Do yourself and the TEAM a favour. Come to peace with it and move on. How do you think the Good players learnt? By giving up every time they got owned by a better player? Nope. Life doesn't come on a silver plater, you gonna earn it. Learn to play it or move on to another ship, their is nothing wrong in that. All of this doesn't matter anyway now as WG is going to completely change the whole thing to something so noob friendly your eyes are gonna bleed. And one of the reasons is the OP. Not to sound harsh but there it is. Might sound abit salty (apologies) but the teams I had yesterday whilst playing in the Tahio was short of disgraceful. Even when your CV skills are bob on and you are completely owning the other CV player, your team still drive solo into the enemy and die one by one. After telling them to Chill.

Just had a game in the Tahio and that amount of salt thrown at me...Reason? Because 3 German BB's went completely solo and got sunk one after another.. And what makes it worse is that 2 were purple players. I mean come on guys you should know better. And that's after telling them all to "AA support eachother" and spotting there DD's up for half the game. It was one of those games when 5 ships couldn't even kill one kinda match. Summary If you have P*** poor AA, don't go solo in a german BB! Had to get that out, cheers

This ^^ Anyone will struggle hard if he's half good.

CE would be my first choice. DD's still get smashed regardless, you still have AP on those lovely broadside cruisers and BB's still burn. IFHE helps with BB damage but having the ability to hide quicker or pop up before the enemy knows what's going on has help me alot more.

This ^^ I would personally have AR instead of EM but it's a personal choice. I also use seconday/AA Arm instead of Main Arm as i don't have the guns knocked out that much. But again its all personal choice and both are good. I have to admit that i was being abit of a sadist and had Manuel AA instead of IFHE for a while. But that was a pure fun build and when div with a fellow CV captain. Melts even teir 9 planes (training).

But you can all feel the OP frustration right? Not nice for players constantly getting placed into tier 10 matches. I'm not saying the MM is wrong, although I tend to side on the 1+ group instead of the 2+ but can live with it at the moment. We no longer just have the US and IJN lines chaps and have plenty of ships to choose from, tier 7 and 8 a prime example. It wouldn't get boring. CV players are used to it (same tier MM). Playing against 1 of only 2 possible CVs to choice from tier 9 is a way of life, so not that bad ay Some people just don't wanna get tier 9-10 ships (cost, upkeep, meta). So their stuck playing against tier 10 ships. Because let's face it, tier 8 is the worst MM in the whole game. At least it's not like WOT MM, can thank God for that. Would you be saying the NO would be fine in tier 10s all the while? Some people wanna walk before they can run (+1) and other like to sink or swim (+2). No one is wrong.

Couldn't agree more. IFHE, AFT, CE, DE, PT, PM and AR will be the standard IMHO. Don't need BFT or Manuel AA (not with AFT & defensive fire). The guns will turn quickly already so EM would be wasted. Have to wait and see if the rudders get shot off quick easy (LS). SI is a good shout but those that use premium don't worry too much about them (3-4 enough in most games). Plus tooling up with IFHE kinda forces you to get DE too (lets face it chaps, along with flags) More salt than the Dead sea. Agree, but those that do understand how to play these kinda ships will know it's not just about YOU doing damage, but the guys behind you as your radaring the cap behind a hill. At the same time completely denying any planes in a 8.4 km radius until the match develops more.. Mino is a perfect example. I will stick my neck out and say that those that play Minos tend to be very good at them, better pound for pound than the other tier 10 cruiser players. You either love it or hate it and you figger that one out very quickly. Those that stick with it tend to be very good, just like high tier 10 CV players. It's not gonna be a line you can just get by with like the German one for example. Grinding then all of a sudden you have the Hindy in your port...No sir. This line is gonna take more skill. Light cruisers are fleet protects. They are not lone wolfs and cant be expected to act like one. You have to have "teamwork" stamped to the back of your head. Too many people think it's a one-man band and don't understand when they get deleted. You got deleted because you came across that Heavy Hindy who will out damage you, out survive you and even out torp you to death. Or that Conq/Lion/Mont with probably a better concealment than you do suddenly pops up and puts you out of your misery in one salvo. Fun times. But unlike the RN line, you have no longish range torps to fall back on....Doom They are high ceiling ships pure and simple. they not a just hop in and see what happens kinda ship. You need to know where you are going, when to re-position and when to engage. It's like Anti Tanks in WOT, you gonna know where you are going to get the most out of the ship and when it's time to get the hell out of dodge. I know you chaps know all this but it just gives anyone who doesn't some tips IMHO. When you think CL, think teamwork and you cant go wrong. By-the-way am that "other" percentage as i have crap winrates in both the Mino (48%) and the Atlanta (56%). But i have always put my hands up and said "it's not my kinda style" and have played both very little. I know what I do wrong half the time and fully admit to it too. I love to tank and defect blows for the good of the team or simply play CV's. These are the worst types of ships to do that in and i learned the hard way far too often. I'm not a smoke and mirrors man, i'm a "slap this around your head" kinda man. Probably why i'm crap in DD's too Looking forward to seeing the New US CL/CA line (as i say behind gritted teeth being a CV player).

IMHO The Atlanta is a high skilled ship to get right. Those 1/4 player that know how to play her do very well and can cause chaos. Those that don't know how to play her die a very quick death. Now along comes the US CL line. The way i look at it is that WG are going to put players into middle-high tiers Atlanta's, if you know what i mean. Radar but no smoke, Lots of guns but horrendous shell time and range, agile but cant take a hit. I can foresee alot of normal players being deleted very very quickly in these things. Thinking they can hunt down DD's at will. They are going to be for a shock when they open fire for 30 seconds trying to hit a DD and get WACKED in return by every man and his dog. But those that can play and understand what the Atlanta is and how it functions will do well. I hope I have those chaps in my team.

The only ship I am actually looking forward regarding the split is the tier 9 Buffalo. Short range guns with no smoke don't tend to do that well. Gonna be funny watching ships scrap over a piece of hill to fire over Not looking forward to playing CV's when this split comes as it will be more AA carnage out there. Might give them a long rest until the re-works comes to be honest and focus more on the Russian CA line. Clan Battles will be here before you know it.