El2aZeR

What, you don't believe this is a great reason to support it?

Well, first catch. Dropped on hard difficulty E-1 node F. On my first run, too. Praised be RNGesus.

Well, that's gotta be disgusting as all out. Also obligatory

Memes probably.

No, he'd have 7. It's fairly easy nowadays with free captain exp to train up a new captain to at least 10 points.

Yeah, aside from trying to use the AA of your allies there really isn't anything you can do at that tier. You do however have two TBs, though. What you can do is split them and attack different targets on two different flanks while using your fighters only in a defensive manner. That way it becomes impossible for the Langley to intercept both of your TBs, so you can simply pull the TB that's being threatened by the enemy fighter back while the other attacks without interference.

It's Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dog according to the Chinese zodiac.

Musashi Kai Ni requires 3 blueprints, 3 gun mats and an action report.

Tbh with the USN 1000lb HE bombs I've never experienced a strike in which I haven't gotten a fire (unless ofc the target was already on fire). Demolition Expert seems like a waste of points imo.

I'm a bit sad we aren't getting a Taffy 3 DD. But hey, at least we get an Essex!

Funny thing is that it's not protecting them either. Less dispersion for a BB means a higher chance to hit when you have misaimed. Basically it's to cater to the lowest possible denominator while punishing good play. Again.

...That's Gambier Bay, no?

Hm, looks fine. I'd forgo both HA and ERG and instead take AFT as your own AA can be quite useful sometimes but tbh as long as you have - Aircraft Servicing Expert - Dogfighting Expert - Torpedo Acceleration - Torpedo Armament Expertise - Air Supremacy the rest can be up to personal preference. (Although on Essex the argument can be made to replace TAE with e.g. BFT as you only have a single TB squad and not many in reserve either. I'd still recommend it however as USN service times are godawful.)

Nah, even in high tiers many don't even know how to manual drop, let alone strafe.

And ofc enemy AA is also a factor.

Assuming the game lives this long, they're going to add a new dragon every Chinese New Year from now on, aren't they? Can't say it isn't genius from a money making perspective.

Of course! After all, you're not supposed to ruin their fun in the safe space called WoWs.

Happens more often than you think. I don't believe a single day passes in which I do not get accused of cheating when using strafe.

Nothing in that video is particularly surprising and demonstrates perfectly that iChase has literally no idea what he's talking about when it comes to CV play. To understand why you need to understand how AA works on a fundamental basis. Contrary to popular belief AA isn't completely reliant on RNG. AA is a rising chance over time, derived from the average lifetime one of your planes has in an AA bubble (which in turn is fighter health calculated against AA dps in some way). The chance rises per tick (every 140ms), so every 140ms you have a chance of shooting down a plane, which again rises every tick that passes but tops out at 90%. Depending on whether you lose a plane early or late you squad also receives a survivability buff or nerf respectively. And ofc the same applies to fighter combat. Then there appear to be hidden mechanics in fighter combat as well. Keep in mind that there is nothing official that proves what I'm saying in this section. Everything is derived from my own experience in CV play. There seems to be some kind of interception bonus when you catch an enemy fighter on the move or during a strafe. If both of the fighters engage head on, the outcome is subject to RNG. However if you get caught moving, from behind or from the side, in my experience you're almost guaranteed to lose that fight unless your fighters had enough time to complete their turn when told to engage. Likewise strafing will cause your squad to lose all dps for quite some time immediately after, getting caught while strafing is usually a death sentence for your fighters unless they've shot down enough enemy fighters to diminish their dps. As for general CV play, first of all it'd be helpful if you give us the captain skills and upgrades you've taken just so we can confirm you haven't gone wrong anywhere in this aspect. Then comes the choice between AP and HE bombs. To cut things short, with Essex you should take HE bombs as they do pretty much the same damage as AP bombs to most BBs in your MM spread while offering far more utility. As you only have a single T8 TB squad you need your DBs to pick up the slack. Next is target selection. To make things simple, always go for DDs first. Keep in mind though which DDs can or cannot mount DFAA and either bait their DFAA first or ignore them until later. Unless RNG really hates you you should be able to kill a DD with a single combined TB + DB attack. Even crippling a DD however does wonders for you in the long run as you've diminished his capability to fight your own DDs, thus diminished the capability of the entire enemy team to contest caps. (Not to mention it earns you the most income as the reward for damage is percentage based, as in you get far more credits and exp dealing 5k damage to a DD than you'd get dealing 10k damage to a high tier BB) As for air control, your fighters are NOT an offensive tool. Your fighters are there to defend your team, not to escort your bombers in. If you really need your fighters to keep the enemy busy to strike a target, forget about that target. Attack only targets which present themselves to you on a silver platter, but also prioritize which targets to take out based on the benefit to your team. If your potential target is a BB with high AA, see if he hasn't been HE spammed into oblivion already. AA mounts are easily destroyed by HE shells, especially RN BB ones which can strip an entire ship clean of mid & short range AA in only a few hits. NEVER attack anything escorted by an AA cruiser unless you're absolutely sure he doesn't run DFAA. Even then it's a hazardous endeavor at best. In fighter combat, avoid strafing unless you're absolutely sure you're gonna score. Take your time to observe your enemy. See if he actually knows how to strafe or not (many don't) then act accordingly. Keep in mind the things I've written above, there is no need to strafe when you can win an engagement with simple clicking. Strafing presents a risk, one you should be wary of taking unless your enemy is a complete potato. I'm gonna cut things off here but as @Boris_MNE has already said, it's best if you give us some replays so we can directly address things you're potentially doing wrong. Because clearly we were this good from the get go. We haven't totally spent time and effort to get to where we are now. What you're writing is nothing short of an insult. But as someone who doesn't want to put in any time nor effort to get good at something it's hardly surprising to see something as pathetic as this coming from you. It's always easier to say "oh, he has natural talent" rather than "he has worked hard" to justify your own laziness and incompetence, isn't it?

Well, Tanaka has you covered apparently. Obligatory

Maintenance is underway. And so it begins...

- couldn't sleep, so I decided to play a quick round - high & mid tier completely dead at this time unsurprisingly - cycle through low tier ships - see Shenyang that has been sitting in my port without a single battle played ever - meh, why not Yeah, I think this ship is maybe a bit overpowered?

- release strong premium ship - give her unnecessary buffs to make her borderline op - now potentially considered to be removed from store I wonder where they went wrong?