El2aZeR

Well, you'll inevitably want to pick Emergency Takeoff then (finally some use for this worthless skill lol). Which in turn will hamper your ability to fly strikes and provide air cover, basically giving the enemy CV free reign during the time you spend drawing fire. Doesn't strike me as a particularly desirable gimmick to have. Though tbh I think WG is simply going to make Shinano into her designed Yamato-class form (with the 10cm guns replacing the 127mm secondaries), place her at T9 and give her some stupid gimmick like DFAA accordingly.

You'd have to replace the entire mid-range AA suite as well. Remember that CV DFAA is in its original form, only boosting the mid-range AA aura. Penetrating the original AA suite would be all too easy with T9 aircraft, even with 10cm guns in place of the 127mm ones. Which still doesn't address her other shortcomings. Speed and concealment are important, armor and HP are not. Then again I'm talking about CV play on the highest level. The average player will likely not care except when he inevitably gets smacked around in his inferior CV. Fact remains however that there'd be no reason to pick Shinano over Taiho, inevitably making her weaker and thus imbalanced. Actually she's close to her designed hangar capacity. The reasons why she didn't irl is due to quirks in older aircraft design as well as failure of the Japanese industry to replenish losses or provide more modern aircraft, which obviously don't translate into the game.

The thing is that Shinano doesn't fit anywhere into the current progression of CVs. She would require major changes regardless of whether she comes into high or low tier. Her plane reserves scream low tier, but for that she has too much HP and AA. On the other hand her reserves and AA are thoroughly inadequate beyond T8, not to mention her lack of speed and potentially concealment. Best you can hope for is a PvE scenario build around her. Shinano would be a disaster if she enters PvP play in her alpha state, especially given WG's inability to balance CVs. Making her a T8 Saipan, which would be imo the most reasonable option, would hardly be enjoyable to play considering low reserves is not something you want to deal in the face of high tier AA power. A full fleet CV conversion brings with it its own problems regarding balancing (too many reserves and you need to give her planes that get instantly murdered by high tier AA, give her normal reserves and she'll just end up far worse than Shokaku), not to mention it will surely offend purists.

Oh, I agree, but bowtanking should not be entirely disregarded and is useful in some situations. As I said, a good USN BB captain will recognize what to use when and adapt accordingly.

No, speed and concealment are paramount for repositioning and adapting to the flow of battle, ensuring the least amount of flight time possible. 27kn doesn't cut it at high tiers anymore. Even with a total conversion Shinano would be hard pressed to go higher than T8. You have it the other way around. The fact that she was originally a Yamato class is a huge liability and requires severe buffs to make her viable at high tiers. Stop buying into the myth that anything with Yamato stamped on it will make it good.

Because obviously those are the leading factors in CV play, unlike things such as concealment, speed and plane reserves.

Basically yes, T8+ USN BB citadels are still incredibly easy to hit. You're just not in danger of getting instantly deleted anymore when broadsiding, but don't be surprised if you take crippling damage. However if you do not want to bowtank you can also stay mobile, try to dodge and tank with your belt. A good USN BB captain knows when one is preferable over the other and will alternate according to the situation. Tanking in USN BBs is rather dubious anyway since your armor really doesn't hold up well against HE shells. You need to be constantly aware of your positioning or you will fall rather quickly. That doesn't mean you should never tank, just keep in mind that you're not going to get away with things other ezmode BBs can easily shrug off.

Even if that were the only deck armoring (which it isn't), 32mm of deck armor is sufficient to bounce all shells except Yama's 460mm ones at the ranges given in the game. In regards to AP shells, there is basically no deck armor, only overmatch.

A support CV resupplying others is an interesting concept, to be sure, but on the other hand would that really be viable in the face of another enemy CV? You cannot really force attrition if you lose every fighter engagement due to superior enemy numbers. Ofc you could avoid that by forcing mirror MM, but really, the idea of a CV having near infinite amount of planes goes against the concept of CV play itself, as the ability to completely disregard plane reserves would be overpowered. Well, that'd be because 2vs2 CVs doesn't exist T8+ anymore.

Honestly I'd like to see the bow armor nerf tested again. That or just raise the citadel of every BB to pre-nerf Montana levels so people can reliably punish broadsiding.

Shinano would make a sorry T6 CV at best, if not T5. Alpha screenshots are hardly any indication, if you'd watch some of the dev diaries Essex was once planned as the USN T10 CV. Even with a complete fantasy refit I'd be surprised if she goes higher than T8.

Nah, all you need to do is give them a friendly "Feels just like 1944" in chat.

You sure it was base exp? (Base exp is the exp value shown on the scoreboard with all your teammates and enemies. The value shown on the main screen is the exp value you earned after all factors such as flags, premium account and first win bonus have been added.) Don't have the mission anymore, so I can't check if there are any other requirements you're potentially missing.

If you have a replay you should apparently contact support. Wouldn't get my hopes up, though. Is it just me or would Zui-Zui look better with just one tail? Then again I'm not a particular fan of twin-tails in general.

For that shot at that distance I need the enemy to give broadside and nothing else. If you cannot hit a moving target at that distance you must really suck at this game. What you probably haven't realized is that the decrease in spread is not linear. KM BBs are plenty accurate at close range. If you cannot make them work, well, sucks to be you. But just to humor you: Well, damn, RNGesus has screwed me once in 6 salvos. "OMG RNG HAS SO MUCH INFLUENCE YOU GUYS ARE NOT GOOD AT THE GAME JUST LUCKY I AM THE BEST SHUT UP!!!111" Long range fire is more likely to hit submerged citadels, which is why Conqueror is virtually immune to citadels at close range. Also T8+ USN BB citadels are still slightly above the waterline which becomes apparent when you take a single look at them in the armor viewer. 10/10 demonstration of game knowledge. Plunging fire does not exist in this game because auto-bounce exists. For true plunging fire you need ranges in excess of 30km, which is thoroughly impractical as anyone with half a brain should know. That means KM BBs are currently the only BBs completely immune to machinery citadel hits (barbettes can still be hit and penetrated, when lucky). 10/10 demonstration of game knowledge. Again. Bismarck easily handles +2MM. NC and Amagi are a bit more tricky in that regard. If you cannot, well, sucks to be you. The WASD is not very strong with this one I see. To which you obviously have the relevant data. Hint: The data you have referenced in your opening post is not supporting your theory in any way, shape or form because it only represents those who currently play the Conqueror, not the global playerbase. So now that you have repeatedly demonstrated your lack of game knowledge, not to mention straight up lied and tried to steer the discussion away from your failure to interpret data correctly, why should anyone take anything you say seriously? In fact, by comparison, why should people take you seriously against the word of one of the most trusted, skilled, knowledgeable and beloved CCs currently playing the game? One that has recently characterized NC as "how BBs should be" and Iowa as "challenging to master"? One that says KM BBs are braindead? But you're probably going to tell me that he is also stupid and sucks at the game like the rest of us. And one last thing: If USN high tier BBs are so overpowered, why are YOU unable to make them perform? The premium versions no less which are far superior to their tech tree counterparts.

Unlike the service cost change this one is much more noticeable, so it shouldn't take quite as long for the playerbase to adapt, or at least it shouldn't with a respectable amount of average skill. However since the average playerbase in this game is abysmally bad I guess it's going to take another year at least until even the last potato has realized smoke has been changed. On a different note this was a hilarious buff to CVs as I thought it would be, though.

Play T8+ and you'll never have to face 2vs2 CVs again. On your way there, just use your teammate as bait if he's of a lower skill level. Don't be afraid to sacrifice his planes if it means you're getting a strike through or can strafe several enemy fighters.

You must be not afraid of gulag to demand nerf to glorious premium boat comrade.

Pretty sure that applies to all classes, really. Which says much about the basis people want to be balancing around.

Quickly give up on your faith in humanity, otherwise the people playing this gamemode will sap you of it incredibly fast. EDIT: Should be noted that this applies to this game in general, actually.

Meanwhile the CV players smile at the ignorance of both, content in the fact that they have managed to produce delicious, delicious salty tears from two more salty scrubs who refuse to l2p.

I agree that KC and AL are two entirely different games. Pretty much the only thing they have in common is the general concept of "WWII warships = waifus", really. Also KC you can play "passively" (aka while doing something else), while AL you have to play actively (unless the level of your ships far exceeds the level of the map you're doing). Imo it doesn't make sense to play one over the other since you can play both at the same time. :D

I'd probably just abuse the island cover found in your general area and see how everything develops. Patience is an important, if rather boring virtue to have.

Conqueror has sufficient armor to bounce any AP shells short of Yamas 460mm ones. Anyone who doesn't angle will still do better in Conqueror than in her contemporaries thanks to the nature of her gameplay, gimmicks and heal.

Tl;dr: "Total nonsense because I interpreted data wrong." Seriously, before spouting some of the hilarious things you write you should first check what your source is actually telling people and then l2p. Also "Omg USN BB citadel so hard to hit pls nerf I don't suck at this game you are all wrong and I totally know what I am talking about with less than 1k T8+ games played shut up noobs!"