El2aZeR

Well, I did specify "full AA build". Then again this does tie in with the whole "lol AA skills" problematic we agreed on earlier. (Also as far as MAA value goes KM BBs hold only the middle ground in high tiers, surpassing IJN and the RN ones while being inferior to USN and FR BBs.) Well, Midway does get the plane survivability upgrade so her T8 TBs are effectively T9 as far as HP goes (which is one of the reasons why Shokaku upgrading to Taiho enjoys such a ridiculous power spike. Not only do you get an extra TB squad, but your strike planes are effectively T10, with Haku planes being T11. Again the whole upgrades/skills vs stock problematic). Still I've seen them falling like flies in DD DFAA when playing both Midway and Fletcher/Gearing. You're not wrong, I stated over and over again that spotting is perhaps the most powerful ability that a ship can have in this game, but the big issue with that is that spotting is literally the only thing a CV can do without being given an opening. Without spotting a CV simply doesn't play any role anymore. A CV isn't a damage dealer, planes need very specific circumstances to have a chance of reaching the target (and I believe we can all agree it isn't the CV's fault if the majority of the playerbase wants to expose themselves to strikes like the abysmal players they are), they cannot contest caps or soak damage for their team by their very nature. Spotting is their only inherent ability, take that away and you will need to dramatically boost something else. Which, if you're reading a bit into WG's official statements regarding the CV rework, is going to be damage dealing, an incredibly stupid move to make in my opinion. This is why I was vehemently against the smoke firing change as smoke was the direct counter to a CV's spotting ability. Likewise why I could tell that the introduction of both Hydro and Radar are disasters in the making. A CV could already provide great amounts of intelligence (even if no one played them at that time), if the CV population recovers just a little bit both Hydro and Radar will be more than just overkill in regards to the spotting situation. And then ofc came RN BBs which can reduce even the most heavily fortified AA bastion into something that will maybe shoot down 2 aircraft on approach. And they even cater to the braindead playstyle of the average player. This is a hole that WG dug themselves in by making so many bad design choices over the years it isn't even funny anymore. And if the CV rework is going the way I think it will go (and WG has given me no reason to doubt myself in their statements) then I expect the whining about CVs to dramatically increase.

Programming and 3D Art are two entirely different departments. Anyone who has basic knowledge in programming can tell you that fixing a bug is often not nearly as easy as it sounds. And personally I haven't experienced any fps drops since they rolled out the minipatch, which probably means the problem is a hardware specific one, making it much harder to track down and fix. Anyway, getting off topic here, so... I would've preferred to have the camos come for free with specific challenges or a campaign related to the space event, even if that meant they would only provide the standard concealment/dispersion bonuses. Also I am thoroughly disappointed we didn't see a return of

Yamato/Monty citadel distance: ~1.3km Iowa citadel distance: ~3km NC citadel distance: ~5km Neither Izumo nor Amagi can take citadel hits due to turtleback. You can however break their turrets at close range which is kinda funny. To achieve citadel hits on Monty, Iowa and NC you need to aim for the waterline. Ranges given above also need flat broadsides, if you get closer you will be able to score citadel hits at slight angles. I imagine Moskva will have a much easier time than my DM due to Russian Bias stalinium shells I mean, superior penetration power.

Personally I would try: Revert HE penetration rules to CBT ones (HE always penetrates regardless of armor). Cut down fire chance and BB HE alpha (especially RN BB HE alpha) to compensate. Give T6+ cruisers heal, additional charge at T9+. I don't particularly care if this makes BBs camp even harder, because it is impossible to make BBs camp harder.

Assuming you're an expert at playing them: IJN CVs (USN CVs are okay up to Independence. Ranger, Lexington and Essex remain vastly inferior to their IJN counterparts. Midway and Haku are basically equal, both have their merits and weaknesses. Personally I'd rate Haku superior, but Midway is more comfy to play.) Utility DDs (typically USN and KM ones, some PA, RU and premium ones work very well, too) Utility cruisers (USN and RU ones rule supreme thanks to radar. KM ones are good too but have to forsake DFAA for their special hydro. RN CLs can also unleash extreme potential at times but are tricky to play) Though really, if you excel in any ship class nowadays you can usually carry as average player skill has fallen deep into the abyss.

Funny, just yesterday I lost all 12 Midway TBs to a single Republique for 2 torp hits. I also murdered the [edited] out of 2 Hakuryu strikes in my Montana, trading a grand total of 3 aerial torp hits for over 30 strike planes. Don't even have AA dps upgrade or MAA slotted. I guess perpetuating lies is the only way you can keep your side of the argument alive. Your DDs all horribly misplay and you expect to have even a remote chance of winning the match? And blame it on the enemy CV? Don't make me [edited] laugh. The CV is just picking targets presented to him on a silver platter, why shouldn't he play for the win? If he's in a division with a bunch of others, even better. Now he has 2 other guys playing for the win on his team in a team game where the majority of the players play not for the win but for their own personal enjoyment while disregarding teamplay completely. This is a [edited] team based PvP game, by its very nature it's a competition. If the enemy team has 3 guys playing for the win and you have no one but yourself, you deserve to lose every time. And if this game had no RNG element to it you would do so every time. This isn't Equality Simulator 2015. You do not deserve to have equal chances under every circumstance. A game's balancing system is only there to provide competitors with equal chances outside of the human factor (and ofc RNG), MM does that for both teams for the most part. If you have maybe over a quarter million players you can start thinking about skill based MM. Right now WoWs is struggling to breach even 30k on the EU server, with a record peak of ~45k almost 3 years ago. If your team is better than the enemy one, you win. If the enemy team is better than yours, you lose. If people want to play for their own personal gains while disregarding their teammates, they can do so but they lose all rights to complain about getting their behind kicked by teams that play for the win. Equality cannot and should not be found here. You think some amateur soccer team should stand a chance against the world champions? That some random sports club should be able to stand up to Olympic athletes? DON'T. MAKE. ME. LAUGH. Oh, and btw, if CVs were so overpowered as you describe, how come CV divisions work at all? Taking two more ships with you shouldn't matter if a CV is so overpowered it can simply strike everything anyway, no? How come just two ships specialized for AA can make a CV ragequit? Could it be that *gasp* the counters to CVs are actually extremely effective and it is the grand majority of players that are just too [edited] to use them?

Still hoping for a proper Fletcher. I'll even take Willie D. regardless of her -9000 luck stat.

Meanwhile here I am still listening to Touhou songs. Praised be ZUN.

Problem is he could also end up on my team. I would much prefer having competent teammates and enemies rather than having incompetent [edited] on both sides.

Canceled. I know these were meant as jokes, but it never hurts to put the actual information out there.

8 in Fuso, Hiryu, Enterprise & Taiho. Out of those I won only with Fuso if I remember correctly.

Well, good thing plunging fire doesn't exist in this game then. To achieve plunging fire in this game you need ranges in excess of 25km as any shell falling onto the deck at an angle below 30° will auto bounce unless it overmatches said deck plating. A Bismarck e.g. would need close to 30km range to overcome auto bounce.

Alright, now that I've actually gotten some sleep and finally understand what you're proposing, it does sound intriguing to say the least. I'd love to see something like this tested. Although regardless of such a new mechanic an experienced CV player will inherently go for exposed targets while ignoring ones that will cause a lot of losses, thus once again making the outcome more or less binary. Losing 3 planes out of 10 is fine, losing 6 out of 10 is thoroughly unacceptable. This inherent aspect of CV play won't change.

I'm guessing you forgot MAA is a thing. Also long range guns don't get blasted nearly as easily as mid/short range ones do (which is another problem WG has created recently with the introduction of RN BBs, capable of stripping you of your entire mid/short range AA suite with 2-3 hits). As far as AA is concerned BFT is the only one. Guess I'm just lucky. Then again the point of DD play against CVs is to never make yourself a target to begin with. Can't even remember the last time I died to a CV (whether directly or indirectly) without my entire team falling first. Uhm, considering Midway TBs are T8 with ~500 less HP, I kinda doubt that? Spotting, promoting diversity in captain skills (though that's questionable as you're simply switching from full AA to survivability) and viable ships along with the inability of some clans to snatch themselves a good CV player, as was explained in the official statement. In a competitive setting the strike potential of a CV matters exactly zero as the CV is usually incapable of striking anything (although I believe the far reduced player count that WG went with in CBs could've changed that), spotting is literally the only thing they're good for but since spotting is the most powerful ability a ship can have in this game that makes CVs incredibly influential even if they cannot deal a single point of damage.

...I am way too tired to decipher what you've just written, guess I'll take another look at it tomorrow. All I currently see is numbers that make my head hurt. Though I applaud your effort in... whatever it is you just created. :D

In general AFK'ing, teamkilling and killing yourself could be punished by an automated system. Though apparently support does actually handle such reports if you send them with enough evidence (aka replay).

The thing is that no matter how you twist it such a scenario inherently doesn't exist because losing a lot of planes for minimal damage is a loss for the CV most of the time. It is already possible for this to happen, but an experienced CV player will actively avoid such situations unless forced to take it. Normalization should happen for AA to make it less dependent on skills and upgrades, but the inherent design won't change with that.

The thing is that dealing damage isn't what a CV is primarily supposed to do. A CV's job is to scout, that is their only inherent ability. Attacking anything usually requires the target to be alone, not to be covered by fighters, not being an AA ship and occasionally being HE spammed. This balances out their scouting potential which is arguably the most powerful ability in the game. To compensate for the ease of which aircraft can be countered whenever a CV does get a strike in the damage potential is massive. From a game design point of view the overall system is actually fairly well thought out. I'm not saying that the current AA system is fine. It is most definitely not and there is room for plenty of improvement, but the framework is pretty solid. Any active AA system wouldn't really work unless you overhaul a lot of major mechanics and acclimate the playerbase to what is essentially an entirely new game as I've illustrated above.

There is no battleship overpopulation if everything is a battleship.

Actually there seem to be a lot of hidden mechanics in fighter combat. For example I found that if you "intercept" an enemy on the move you're usually going to win that fight despite having the same numbers/tier/skills and so on. Same thing while or shortly after the enemy is turning. Likewise there seems to be a pretty harsh penalty to strafing, getting caught while or immediately after strafing is usually a death sentence for your fighters. Could just all be my imagination but I've been using these effectively for over a year now and they've rarely, if ever, let me down.

Sure felt like such a victim when I wiped out entire squadrons yesterday by having them enter my over 16km diameter of [edited] you for more than 5 seconds. And I don't even have MAA skilled on my Mino. AA may be passive in nature, but it can 100% deny any damage potential of the CV and he is forced to enter it to deal damage so it's all good. If AA were active, like e.g. fighters, then it would need to lose these abilities and give the CV ways to counterplay it just like fighters, which then becomes a cluster[edited] because it goes against the very reason AA even exists. The ground doesn't shoot you like the fighter would, unlike aircraft and the enemy ship which are both going for your throat. To say that scenario is incomparable to the situations in WoWs is an understatement. AA being automatic but essentially worthless without manual control defeats the entire purpose of having AA to begin with. It also still does nothing against baiting strategies I mentioned. Currently turning in to incoming aircraft and fighting an enemy ship can be done simultaneously, that will not be the case with a system you're envisioning. Having manually controlled AA means such a system must be used in the first place, but as it is in direct conflict with the core of the game it becomes an impossibility unless you overhaul the game almost entirely with that in mind. Sure, it could be done, but not without discarding WoWs as it currently is. The multitasking that playing e.g. DDs needs doesn't require you to forsake the major part of this game entirely. It in fact works towards the goal of conducting surface warfare and does not stand in conflict with it in any way.

No it would not. Air control does not scale well with numbers (which is why having more than 2 fighter squads is often detrimental in randoms), by introducing more CVs into a match you are reducing the amount of AA cover available while making one more player worthless against a skilled CV. Meanwhile the additional CVs on the side of the skilled one get complete free reign due to one player. By upping CV numbers in a match you are ironically increasing the impact a skilled CV can have. Ironic, considering long range AA is usually the most powerful one with a full AA build. Do you even believe what you're writing? Ever seen a full AA Zao? Because I have, and it chews up Haku TB squads faster than you can blink. In high tiers anything up to and including DDs can wipe out same tier planes easily with a full AA build. I've had to content with full AA Fletchers, they didn't even need DFAA to wipe out all 12 TBs from my Taiho. Needless to say Montanas and the like are even more powerful. No they should not. What they should do is finally cull the friggin' BB numbers. No, but I can kill all 12 TBs, more than half of them before they can drop. And that's what matters. The DBs I'm not particularly concerned about although I realize they can easily oneshot me if they get lucky (which is another problem with CV play. DBs are for the most part completely reliant on RNG, thus there is no real skill involved or true counterplay available). And for the record, my Gearing does more or less the same. Grozovoi does the same and more far more easily. It is impossible to drop one because you will lose most of your TBs before you even reach release point. I've had a taste of that just yesterday. No, as it is a big reason as to why CVs are capable of exerting far more influence beyond their inherent design. To talk about current CV balance is to talk about the current meta. If the average player wants BBs to remain the most popular class by far then they should simply accept that they're gonna get their faces kicked in by CVs.

OH GOD. THE DIABETES.