EsaTuunanen

Major threat would be IJN DD getting first shot with their off the charts module/gun knock out power HEs so more stealth would allow them less time to be the one who gets to shoot the first salvo.

Especially when number of played matches has (once again) increased by 20 from time of my previous post. Sometimes feels like that number keeps increasing around the clock.

Gunship DD player still needs patience, or at least skill to not rush into place where getting spotted means getting nuked by heavier enemies... Especially if you have seriously obstructed field of view preventing you from detecting anything really dangerous getting close. And that proper planning goes double for Soviet DDs with their cruiser slow turning guns. Because if you have to start maneuvering for example because of torps then IJN DD can wreck you unless you have good space to allow slower turns.

Even if everyone had "bad day"? As in getting less XP than lowest scoring player in winning team: You sure that wouldn't go to mocking/patronizing area? That shows only total sum of damage done by you. (at least according to preview image)

I wonder if I've seen that BB player. Recently saw one AFK BB which came into life probably something like ten minutes after start of the match. (didn't have time to keep checking time) It would be easy to confirm validity of that by monitoring players reported for botting. But I know below 7k average damage player with soon 3900 matches with stats hinting heavily to use of bots for grinding, but he clearly hasn't gotten ban. (can't see anyone doing that badly... as in sub-10k average damage in T6 BBs) And/or education systems of some countries.

And DDs actually need some amount of competence/help from rest of the team because of being unable to stand direct confrontation against most ships. Unless enemy consists of "rudder disability" players and you're in some IJN torpedo machinegun being able to launch stealth torps at rate of incoming enemies.

Eventually with fewer ships around DD's speed and stealth makes it influential simply through capping. But IJN DD torpedoing multiple heavier enemy ships in early match before they have time to do damage can indeed turn battle even if getting sinked in the end. (Some Isokaze/Minekaze can wreck attacking flank in couple minutes) For USN DD such torping just isn't really possible and goal should be (besides capping) taking out enemy DDs and helping team decrease number of enemies. Maybe allowing you to torp someone coming from behind island's corner. (never showing yourself) Later you could try to rush close to some distracted lone BB, if you haven't lost much of hitpoints. Which is really the most devastating torpedo attack: You can make it impossible for enemy to dodge any of torps instant nuking high health BB which would otherwise win against possibly heavily damaged your team BB. Also later with fewer enemies gunships can help own BBs by firing at enemy BB. One salvo might not make much damage but dozen salvoes can do enough damage to deny enemy BB one last salvo. Trick is really in balancing between properly agressive and suicidally agressive to have as much positive influence to match as possible. Too much carelesness/mistake and DD's fragility quarantees at least heavy damage without anything gained. But if you don't do much to help team before "end game" it increases the chances of enemy team having gained unreachable superiority in points/ships. This replay has that perfect balance. (and one in 100 match RNG luck with fires) https://www.dropbox.com/s/eoc4qfudmpcetbt/20160220_231945_PRSD001-Gremyashchy-1942_08_NE_passage%20Team%20Carrying%20HC%20with%20guns.wowsreplay?dl=0 (open file in WorldOfWarships.exe if replays aren't familiar) If you don't have damage counter mod that "first contact" netted 21½k damage to that Aoba giving advantage in northern half of the map.

130mm AP does 2500 max damage so full damage potential is even higher than those 7k salvoes of normal penetrations. Unless your armor is on heavy end of the scale for cruiser you shouldn't show your side for them below medium range. That Soviet 130mm gun was actually kinda like "semi-cruiser" gun. Despite of only 3mm bigger caliber than USN 127mm shell is lot heavier (so longer and ballistically better) and fired at notably higher velocity. From short range lightly armored cruisers turn into swiss cheese very fast without heavy angling: (check minimap) https://www.dropbox.com/s/1parmmlfw53ql0k/Kuma%20Citadelled.jpg?dl=0 Next three citadel hit salvo put that Kuma out of its misery.

And slower firerate is mostly compensated by 203mm guns hurting DDs really lot and being lot harder to dodge unlike for example Cleveland's shells from 10km range. Unaware and lone lightly armored cruiser is also rather easy target for citadel hits if not at high health. If player is looking to other direction you can pump couple AP salvoes into him before he has found you.

Changing reporting to include some kind team voting would block "Dunning-Krugers" and center of the world fail boater brats. But then again it would be probably hard to get everyone to pay attention to that after the match. With some earlier sinked players possibly already in new matches. Enemy having Kolberg and Karlsruins sure helped (then again had one BB more) but for a once had team playing as team. It was standard two cap battle in Fault Line lasting seven minutes before enemy apparently run out of points. Omaha and St. Louis stopped lone enemy cruiser in that gap between islands and land in east. Two DDs trying through center were spotted and chewed. And most of the team went to west with good sense making formation with DDs in front and close spawned Wyoming tanking damage for cruisers and enemy "train" just got slaughtered with focused fire and torps one by one. (with their BBs not in time to tank damage/support properly) Too bad there wasn't option for "everyone in team plays well". Would have used that. Unless you take screenshot after the battle or when client is still logged in same session with battle results in memory they're gone.

For as long as they stay at positive credits/XP these screw the team players aren't really punished. Unlike team mates who have to fight against worser odds and hence are more likely to sink faster doing less damage and getting less credits and XP. While these battlesheeps can have some weakened enemies to finish and even survive. Plus players you sinked being able to report you. I don't think anyone in enemy team had better than that "bad day" performance in this, including three detonations: Could stack those list and have nice even score decrease... So some kind requirement for reaching certain amount XP in relation to winning team's average XP would be sensible. Or auto-Karma system could just look at individual scores between teams for checking if loosing team had players doing well. (for example loosing team players reaching XP of third to fifth best winning team player would get karma) I sure wouldn't want automatic positive karma from bad match performance which just happened to be least bad in bad team.

It's still total MM fail when enemy team doesn't even have a single tier IV ship but more like Tier V+½ team with those BBs. (and also only torpedo boats which could counter those BBs) Hence enemy team getting division of New York, Fuso and Zuiho? I've yet to see a single proof that MM gives a damn about balancing divisions between teams.

Then again you would think DDs are able to dodge those torps not even aimed at them.

Nope.

Remember that fighter/spotter planes of battleships and cruisers also count.

Lowest carriers (especially USN ones) are easy to citadel with DD HEs. Bogue is really nice for that when having side visible. Langley is annoying with it's open hangar deck "leaking" shells through. (though engine room/citadel is more in rear) Against anything with some armor HE should be aimed at deck and superstructure. Also bow and stern can be lightly armored, and those are two of the four spots you can set fire in BBs. (two or three fire makes good BBQ) Some cruisers like Furutaka have annoyingly armor in most places mostly negating low caliber HE damage. Bouncing AP does zero damage. Like non-penetrating AP hitting too thick armor. 130mm AP you get at tier V is very nice for side showing cruisers. From perfect straight angle Kuma takes citadel hits up to 10km, Phoenix and Omaha up to 9km. Because of second sloped armor Königsberg is more specific on hitting point but also it can be citadelled to similar range. Furutaka and Aoba can be citadelled from 7km. Nearing 5km you get penetrations from also non straight angle and at point blank range lightly armored cruisers need heavy angling.

So do we then report as bots those coward BBs who run away from enemy to hide behind islands which even block their firing line and once they finally stray out from there keep running even from cruiser. (though they sure seem not to be afraid to keep heading toward spotted DD)

This is what can happen when everyone plays as team... and other side not so well. "Everyone in team plays well" option would have been useful choise. Standard two cap battle in Fault Line. Enemy run out of points in seven minutes.

So have you yet gotten High Caliber just with DD's guns?

General: If you're behind don't try to catch flank already steam rolling enemy, but if help is needed elsewhere go there. Instead of wasting time going after lemming train half map away support that possible nearby slow BB. BBs: Support cruisers and tank some hits for them. Don't run away from enemy cruiser breaking to rear leaving sinking them to DDs. Don't run to corner/edge of map to hide behind island... Especially if enemy DDs have had time to possibly ready ambush in there! Don't rush in alone against half of enemy team including DD, but against superior force use that rudder to turn around and make enemies spend more time as your targets before they can get to torping range. Some team mate might even give crippling broadside to one of the enemies chasing you or take out that DD allowing you to keep scoring damage and XP lot longer. Avoid constantly showing your side to enemy BB to have a longer and happier life. CA/CL: Support BBs and DDs. Don't run away from that DD breaking to rear and CV. Remember to prioritize destroyers closing on team mates. Don't rush in alone against superior force, but try to keep ahead of them shooting them to slow their advance at least some. Don't ever fire torps which can't reach enemies with own team ships in front of you. And what ever you do, please don't keep showing your side to half of the enemy team: Even DDs can citadel many cruisers. DDs: Your job isn't to find out if you can find a hole in edge where you can fall off the map, but to scout ahead of your team. In gunboat try to look for those unaccounted enemy DDs possibly sneaking into caps/rear. Use that speed to move to places where you're needed most. You aren't armored against anything, don't suicide rush against cruisers, but keep spotting them for team mates. If you can do it without major risk to yourself and situation allows it use smoke to shield team mates and spot targets for them. CVs: You aren't stationary land based airfield. If team has moved away to one flank while other is open, try to move yourself closer to them. Especially when other flank is falling apart with enemy pushing in. Even if you don't care about helping the team that will help you get more XP. Don't use unnecessary long flight routes: Especially in Big Race route them so that they do at least little scouting instead of wasting five minutes over that land mass. If there's enemy torpedo boat coming after you keeping him spotted by planes is going to increase chances of team mate sinking that pest before you eat fish. It gets tiresome to so often try to fill holes in team work left by half of the team not doing their job. Though I guess that gets occasional plus. I'm halfway to 100.

There is obviously no working penalty system. With WG being more interested in protecting quilties and double punishing normal players who get killed by that spineless scum. If you have replay you could send it to some of the more known Youtubers. Maybe that will get those team killers banned.

1. It's normal to sometimes get "blocked from action". Only experience tells what are the best places and routes to take. And even that doesn't mean enemy cooperates with your plan. But in general avoid going to corners or behind big islands near edges in any ship. (like behind corner caps in New Dawn) 2. Except for planes fast and stealthy DD is best for: "Early warning" aka scouting for positioning and plan of enemy team. (and spotting targets for long range guns) Screening own cruisers and BBs for enemy DDs and torps by moving in front of them for example into cap. Also if you know there aren't enemy DDs nearby to suddenly spot you and only nearby enemies are in tight group you can create smoke screen between your team mates and enemy ships. When done properly enemy can't see your team mates, while they can shoot enemy freely when you keep spotting enemy. (cue for potatoes blindly running through smokescreen...) 3. 0.5.3 seriously nerfed non high caliber/long range AA so not much you can do against planes, except run or hope that no dangerous enemy starts aiming at you. Or pray that RNGesus gives you some plane kills: Tier higher CV can park planes in front of your AA guns for freaking five minutes! 4. Trick is to all the time balance between properly agressive and suicidally agressive. Hold back too much and you don't help team by capping, spotting and overall harassing, besides probably missing some torping chances. Be too careless and you can get get sinked in seconds. That again needs that experience in choosing positioning and routes along with planning ahead for possible "what if" scenarios constantly. IJN and USN DDs have notable differences in how they help team most to win. IJN DDs are stealthier and have good torpedoes which can be stealth launched, but slowly turning slow firerate guns are good only for emergencies and finishing near dead targets. USN DDs again have lot faster turning high firerate guns made for eating IJN DDs for breakfast and capable to causing notable damage to distracted enemies... But until higher tiers range of torpedoes is shorter than ship's detectability radius meaning you can stealth torp only incoming enemies or from behind (island's) "corner" ship spotted by others.

Easier solution would be simply preventing player (and his division) from reporting player who sinked him. (that would prevent most of fraudulent reports from the start)

Only for ships with high caliber/long range AA.Others are probably all over the place from mediocre to bad. I know Gremyashchy well and it used to have decently effective but balanced by short range (2km) "self defense" AA weaponry. 0.5.3 removed 1/3 of DPS from 37mm guns. (32 to 22) And 76mm guns lost 50% now having totally useless DPS of 4 making its range buff from 2 to 3km totally meaningless. Just compare that to DPS of 7 for useless (range) 12mm peashooters and 10 for other useless 12,7mm peashooters. (shouldn't one 76mm shell equal to quite a lot of those?) Add removal of AA focusing to that. Tier 5 CV can simply have planes come and go directly over without more than small risk of loosing plane. Tier 6 CV has barely anything to fear. Just had a match in which Independence kept fighter squad buzzing around Gremy for something like freaking five minutes and couple of that literally above in tight circle. He lost only one or two planes from that squad. I'm sure before 0.5.3 he would have at least needed to try to keep those planes outside AA range most of the time. So long range AA (where accuracy should be worser) shreds anything to pieces fast, but planes can be parked in front of other AA guns without much effect. Sound like well balanced approach. Well, what do you really expect when attacking two tiers higher ship? Especially when high caliber/long range AA was buffed... at the expense of others.