El2aZeR

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/WorldOfWarships/comments/7xxfm7/072_qa_transcript_with_lordofdroid_and_sub/ Yeah, it's France/Republique instead of Richelieu being discussed, but the same logic applies. Although the latter part especially makes me go

Range is still a legitimate point, though. It's not like Conqueror needs it. All it does is encouraging the horde of braindead BB players to camp even further back. (Although it's hardly something that's only an issue with the Conqueror. The same can be said about almost any high tier BB.)

Dragon must be enabled in filters.

Well, she's not super model slim like Iowa and Saratoga, so there's that at least. Aside from her large fuel capacity Intrepid is pretty normal and I actually quite like that. In general I've grown pretty fond of her design after digging up all these things. (Maybe her hair could be a bit thicker, though. It's very close to the head, right on the edge of looking a bit abnormal which is another factor that adds to the misperception of her head being too small.)

The proportions in that are actually wrong as it follows the lines of her top (which isn't tucked into her belt contrary to first glance impressions). Her huge..... displacement just makes it look like she's thicc when she's actually fairly slim. And ofc the shoulder life preserver thing adds to that. More accurate:

So, does that mean you're canceling my subscription to your...... Oh, wait, I'm not supposed to mention that, aren't I?

....German is weird. Do you have a source on that?

Someone adjusted the head to be a bit bigger. (On the right, original on the left) It does indeed look better, but I have no idea whether it's proportional. In fact the longer I look at it the more it seems off. I think I know what the actual problem is, tho. Her fuel tanks are way too large. Judged by my trace above, how the belt fits as well as her limbs it would suggest that Intrepid is actually a fairly skinny girl, which frankly does not pair well with two huge balloons. Seriously, one of those AvGas storage containers is almost as big as her head. The shadow they throw goes all the way down to her navel. It blows her chest to body ratio way out of proportion, giving us the illusion that everything else is too small. E.g. Iowa too has large fuel tanks but her overall stature makes such capacity look natural. In her damaged art they aren't nearly as big, which looks just fine. EO is online btw.

Difficult to judge tbh. I believe it's just an optical illusion due to the life vest thing and her puffy sleeves that make her shoulders look wider than they actually are. I tried roughly tracing her actual body lines and they do look proportional.

Initially I had the same impression, but after taking a closer look I actually found that I like Intrepid's design tbh. Her outfit could've been a bit flashier (with what being an Essex and all) but the rigging, the 5"/38's, the web belt, the life vest shoulder thingy and especially the Springfield with the side elevator all fits. (My gun nut side is yelling that she should be using a Garand, tho.) Also Iowa and Saratoga are both confirmed to drop in E-7 "with certain conditions" (whatever that means).

Intrepid is a potato. I need that potato. *Freedom intensifies with 40/36/21/15 plane slots* As for Tashkent

Update for the EO has been delayed apparently, but at least Zuihou K2 (B) has been released.

Nope, tech tree AP bombs can be used on USN CVs T8+. They were exclusive to the Enterprise for quite some time though and she is balanced around the inclusion of AP bombs (she has a horrible TB spread as a trade off). Removing AP bombs as a global change still wouldn't pose much of a problem however as you'd only need to rebalance a single ship.

Yes. The targets didn't have AA enabled and the manual drop circle on tech tree AP bombs is about the size of a DD. It's impossible to miss if you do it right.

I compared the damage between AP and HE bombs in the training room on T9+ BBs. AP bombs For AP bombs I flew 9 strikes on each of the T9+ BBs and then averaged the damage. Both squads were used to strike the same target together. Montana - 21.493 damage per strike Yamato - 19.795 damage per strike GK - 21.640 damage per strike Conq - 19.446 damage per strike Iowa - 21.264 damage per strike Izumo - 22.684 damage per strike FdG - 47.119 damage per strike Lion - 21.262 damage per strike AP bomb damage is heavily dependent on damage saturation. The initial strike almost always caused damage in excess of 25k, reaching over 30k occasionally. Subsequent strikes usually deal around 15k to 20k. I once managed to saturate one Conqueror completely after three strikes at which point I only got 6k following up. This could be important due to heal, but on the other hand you will probably never fly against the same target more than two times anyway, so complete damage saturation should be incredibly hard to achieve and thus negligible. FdG is the only T9+ BB vulnerable to citadel hits. You can probably sink her in a single strike in coordination with TBs. Or just straight up nuke her if you're lucky enough (though that didn't happen in testing). (For a test on how damage saturation affects AP bombs, see a couple of posts below.) HE bombs For HE bombs I only flew 6 strikes per ship as damage was fairly consistent across the board, both damage saturation and nation of the target seemed to play no role whatsoever. Then again with fires being what they are I could never drop the same target too often so damage saturation may become a factor with heal in play, but as I said above it'll probably never be a decisive one since you're rarely ever going to attack a ship more than twice anyway. Also I obviously ignored fire damage. Montana - 23.353 damage per strike Yamato - 25.179 damage per strike GK - 24.437 damage per strike Conq - 21.050 damage per strike Iowa - 22.182 damage per strike Izumo - 23.574 damage per strike FdG - 21.919 damage per strike Lion - 21.821 damage per strike On a good drop you can expect anywhere between 20-30k damage, with opportunity to go higher. Bad drops yield around 10-20k. Conclusion As you can clearly see, HE bombs deal more alpha strike than AP bombs on T9+ BBs (although a very negligible amount). And can set fires. And break more AA. AND properly hurt DDs, too. In addition to that, AP bombs only deal high damage when the target is unsaturated, aka when you don't wanna attack it anyway because all AA is still operational. So what are AP bombs good for? Well, I flew a couple of strikes against T10 cruisers for the lulz. Hindenburg - around 15k damage per strike Des Moines - oneshot without exceptions Zao - either 35k+ damage or oneshot Henry IV - oneshot without exceptions Moskva - oneshot without exceptions Minotaur - 15k+ damage, with the occasional oneshot So yeah, if you wanna hurt BBabies, go for HE bombs. If you wanna celebrate "World of not Cruisers lol" and pray for cyclones or that people dont use DFAA, AP bombs will serve you better. I would only truly recommend AP bombs for Lex as she has plenty of ships vulnerable to them in her MM spread. Even considering that I would not fault you for using HE bombs instead.

You can give orders to multiple squadrons at the same time, making your point moot entirely. Three TB squads can act as one if you simply select them all, reducing the number of squads needing individual micro to 2x fighters, 1x TBs and 1x DBs. Trying to micromanage all squadrons individually can only end in failure anyway thanks to the horrible UI. I would love to see you try killing two same tier BBs in a Shokaku at the same time. Unless they're already low to begin with that isn't possible.

I believe it was in an early Q&A in the development blog that is no longer available.

Remember when they stated that premium ships will always be weaker than tech tree ones? Good times.

BBs camp even in pure BB games.

This actually was tested once. It was ultimately discarded, but nowadays I ask myself whether or not it would've been better to keep it.

Personally I play without CE on all my CVs so I can comfortably take both. If i had to choose, though? I'd probably go for AFT as well. Still doesn't make MAA a bad choice, imo it's a thing of personal preference more than anything.

Extra armor to cause BB AP pens.

Yes, it only boosts the mid range guns. CVs have the old version of DFAA. That said, high tier CVs have incredible DP guns so taking MAA is very much worth it on them.

Well, when it comes to air control it depends. Langley and Bogue are vastly superior. In terms of overall utility I'd rate Indy higher than Ryujo, but the match up itself isn't bad. IJN is straight up better than USN in T7 and T8. With 2 squads against one, it's no contest. Essex has a slight advantage but you have to be careful with your fighters as they are only T8. Same with Midway, except your fighters are a bit beefier now being T9 and you have hilarious reserves. So yeah, air control switches around quite a bit. USN has the advantage in low tier, loses it in mid tier then retains a slight edge in high tier. Don't be fooled, though, fighter combat comes down largely to knowledge and skill. Even with inferior fighters you can at least force parity if you just play it right. It's more difficult to combat e.g. a Midway in a Haku, but it can be done. When it comes to strike capability IJN always has the advantage. USN rely too much on their HE DBs which are extremely dependent on RNG. While AP DBs are extremely accurate your already low versatility takes another hit if you take them and you have to hope MM will be generous in giving you ships vulnerable to them. I will however say that USN enjoy a much slower paced playstyle, having fewer squadrons and longer service times. This is often mistaken as being easier to play, but trust me, it's not. Having these disadvantages in versatility means you have to play with much more foresight as you get fewer opportunities to influence the battle than an IJN CV. Decisions such as when to rotate your fighters, what and when to strike a target and so forth and so on weigh much more heavily upon a USN CV than it ever will on an IJN one. Personally I'd recommend you try both and see which one fits you best. If you only have time to try one line you should start off with IJN. While their pace is much more frantic in nature they teach you invaluable lessons that you're going to need in the future. Anything learned with IJN can be applied to USN CVs, while the other way around it's a lot more difficult. If you have any further questions feel free to stop by in the CV section.