Verblonde

It may be data-set size, if you aren't being modest. For example, I have 100% WR in Ryujo, and Saipan (yay?); in both cases though, I've only played one game against real people, and got lucky... I don't know if there is consensus about how many games constitute a decent reflection of one's overall competence in any given ship, but I would expect it to be at least a hundred...?

+1 for splendid gif!

At the moment, I would generally only take AFT if its surface-to-surface value justifies it on its own (so, pretty much only manly BB builds); the obvious exception being Atlanta (or Flint, which I don't have). For me, the issue is that four points is a lot to spend for something that *may* do something. I'm not well enough versed in game design/balance to comment intelligently, but whatever changes are made, I would hope to see something that makes the skill consistently do something, rather than that something being RNG dependent...

Some light reading for the benefit of anyone who may not be familiar with how the game works: http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Economy Choice quote: "Damage is rewarded by the percentage of a ship's hit points removed, not the amount of raw damage done. Thus, 10,000 damage done to a destroyer is worth more than 10,000 damage done to a battleship."

Have a look at my stats - it's very obvious to me that CVs need major buffs...! (It's not that I'm a driveling buffoon in them or anything, oh no...)

I feel this is a bit of an over-simplification; leaving aside the Leafblower (which has camo-burning view range, especially with optics), I get thoroughly fed up with arty players who haven't worked out that firing at the source of tracers is a good idea, or that watching trees/walls getting knocked over can give useful pointers where to fire...

I think there are quite a few, but most of us aren't good enough in them yet to offer helpful advice. The reason many ask El2aZeR is that a) they're extremely good in them, and b) they're usually very helpful, time permitting, with queries - above and beyond usually. To be honest, I've been trying to leave them alone, because it must get wearing to be asked all the time about this stuff. I've been playing mine quite a bit lately, for instance, but at laughably low tiers mainly, so I still effectively know nothing; I imagine that's quite a common state of affairs.

I voted 'boring', mainly because the other option includes two (TWO!) greengrocer's apostrophes, which (as any fule kno) are the work of Satan! <twitch, twitch>

@VoidsX suggest having a look in the clans section of this forum - there're usually quite a few clans on the lookout for new members.

I started from scratch at T4 for both US and IJN lines; although I had Kaga and Saipan from the RTS era (and was rubbish then too), and got T4-8 RN with the crates, I thought it would be sensible to try and acquire the basic skill-set from the ground up. As a result, I only got the US T6 at the weekend, although my first couple of games weren't utterly disastrous. My T8s have only really been facing bots so far, whilst I let my skills catch up a bit more... BTW does anyone happen to know if bots shut off their AA, or leave it switched on? Doesn't matter for IJN torp boats, but it makes an enormous difference for a lot of the lines...

You could always start with 'hello'...?

I've only been playing low tiers against real people, so the rocket planes are spectacularly slow, but that does mean they turn quickly - you do have to guess the DD's movements reasonably correctly though, and it doesn't always work. I should also mention that I'm a DD main, so I often start attack runs against the blank space of ocean where I might be, if I were the DD in question... My T8 CVs have only faced bots so far, and at that level, it doesn't seem to work as well ( although I haven't played enough to know if it's inherent to the planes, or I just suck)... In terms of throwing off the aim (at low tiers), my aim is quite dreadful at the best of times, so knackering it a bit with a turn isn't catastrophic (the aim reduction captain skill does mitigate it a bit though - whatever that's called).

I'm still very much dipping my toe in the CV waters at the moment, having only got to T6 with CVs against real people; however: a lot of DDs are fairly predictable, so I've had *some* success with a hard turn at the moment of spotting, in conjunction with a 'boost' slowdown - DDs will often turn hard when they get spotted, so if you get the turn right, you can sometimes get rockets off in the first pass, if you've guessed where the DD will end up correctly. Playing higher tier DDs, I get the impression this gets harder with more stealthy boats (assuming they turn their AA off); a lot of people seem to not even try and attack with the initial spotting pass, but rather drop a fighter on me, and then circle round for a more considered attack (hoping I won't destroy the fighters fast enough to remove the spotting). The other thing that's quite nasty to counter is an unsporting amount of teamwork: one enemy spots my DD whilst the CV makes his attack run... Edit: note for DD players with good AA: don't fire up your AA the moment the enemy planes enter your outer aura; trigger it when they get a bit closer (like, somewhere in your middle aura) - this way, you get maximum opportunity to damage/destroy planes before they can line up a decent attack run on you.

I think that's slightly unfair: whilst I don't play mine much, the torp build isn't bad against a typical random team, provided you don't need to engage in a gun duel, plus the AA is an unpleasant surprise for CVs that try to knock you off. That said, there are plenty of better T6 DDs, which is partly why I don't play mine much!

Whilst I'm hardly magnificence personified with Gearing, the following approach seems to work: Load for AA; I think I have two AA modules on mine, plus the usual stuff for the rest (I don't have the LU yet). I think my captain build is something like this: So, standard DD build for the first ten points; BFT boosts both AA, plus regular dakka; AR boosts everything; SI because the extra smoke is always useful; PM because it's the most useful thing to do with the remaining 1 point (I switched to PT as my first 1 point since realising that the extra information was generally more useful). AA focus as there are so many CVs around these days, although the BFT bit of the captain does play to a notable surface-to-surface strength. Premium consumables throughout (and I have permanent camo, to fund it). Early game (with CV present) I tend to not be excessively aggressive, but try and keep islands between me and the bulk of the enemy fleet, whilst still trying to bag spots on the enemy; the idea is that when the CV comes calling, you can unload DefAA on his planes, and maybe kill some, or at least make them go for an easier target (whilst not getting sunk by any enemy ships that would have LOS to you if the islands weren't in the way). You have 16 km (?) torps, so use them; don't rely on them too much though (hence no TAE) - you don't want to be just a torp spammer. Keep an eye out for silly buggers who don't know to WASD; you can also sometimes knock chunks off people who went somewhere predictable early on, and have forgotten Gearing has a long reach. Make use of your smoke, to shield allies especially, but don't camp in it (obviously); smoke clouds with no-one in them can sometimes bait people to lob torps at you too, which is helpful. Assuming you took SI (and premium smoke), you have plenty of smoke to share. Smoke can also be helpful in encouraging people to pop radar; radar is a major threat, so if you can encourage the enemy to run out early, then great (assuming you get a traditional random team that doesn't get the value of exploding radar ships). If you've been playing IJN DDs, you probably already know how to work around radar, so keep doing all that stuff (as already mentioned, the hard cover thing helps against CV spotting too). Probably a statement of the bleedin' obvious, but leave AA off unless you actually mean to unload on some hapless plane or other - Gearing has long-ranged AA, which'll give you away if it goes off when you don't want it to. Your guns are pretty powerful, so you want to use them, but pick your spots; when you open up, you want as few enemies to have LOS to you as possible, so you only have your isolated target able to return fire (also, have nearby hard cover to run away behind if other enemies/planes show up). You shoot rainbows, so long-ranged engagement is usually unwise. It's basically pretty much standard-issue hybrid play, only with a greater emphasis on AA capability than before the rework; if you don't get a CV, you are a bit sub-optimal (I wouldn't take this build for any CV-free mode, ideally), but not ridiculously so. Incidentally, if you want to polish your methodology a bit at a lower tier, Sims is pretty good - she plays a lot like Gearing (but with shorter ranged fish), and can help train your Gearing captain... Apologies if I'm teaching my grandma to suck eggs, of course.

Firstly, it could be simply the small data-set: twenty battles isn't that many, although to not win a single one (even if afk) is quite unlikely. As to the specifics of what you're doing wrong, I can't tell you (quite apart from anything else, I suck in CVs myself); however, if you upload a replay to the forum - probably the gameplay section - and ask nicely, you'll almost certainly get quite a bit of useful feedback. CVs in their current form are still pretty new, objectively; however, there are a few people who have already got pretty good at them - you'll get familiar with the names who are worth listening to (if you want assess how good they are, have a look at their stats on https://wows-numbers.com/)

This is a question for the competent CV drivers; I'm still messing about at T4 in randoms, trying to work out how to play the things... I'd be interested in the answer as well (I currently have mine almost entirely focused on making the planes better, with a bit of AA thrown in, but I could very easily be wrong, and I don't have GZ yet)...

I'd wait - they're not *that* good!

<pauses to Google> Oh gods, you're right - give it six months, then...

You know what's going to happen, right: someone at WG is going to 'discover' a scrawl on the back of a fag packet from some German archive for another premium CV that can run Stukas..? WG: "open your wallets and say 'help yourself!'"

<sigh> I filtered for wins in solo battles only, and playing CVs only. 'All' these particular stats tell you in this case is that whatever the player in question is doing, their methodology results in them winning a lot more often than not. The point of this game is to win, ergo it's a reasonable hypothesis that studying the behaviours of someone who wins (a lot - this is serious unicum territory) might provide indications as to what sorts of things might increase one's chances of, y'know, winning. All the stats would suggest that walking across a motorway when it's full of traffic doing seventy wouldn't have a terribly happy outcome; not understanding, or being willfully blind to, those stats won't make you any more likely to avoid being turned into mush beneath the wheels of a juggernaut if you try and cross yourself. "lalala, I can't hear you" doesn't make demonstrably provable information any less true...

I think I'll be listening to the person with a 79.22% WR solo in CVs (at time of writing), if it's all the same to you. (says he, disregarding his previous advice about trolls)

Excellent! I have a Bismarck captain that sounds ideal for GZ...!

Although it would have meant work, there might have been something to be said for having a tick box for GZ, which toggled between Stuka skins, and whatever the ship currently has (possibly with Trumpets of Jericho audio as well), whilst leaving the performance characteristics alone...? Admittedly, it might be a bit incongruous having high-speed Stukas zipping about the game, but we'd still have the aesthetic.