tocqueville8

Imho it's better to take accuracy than range on the secondaries, if points are too scarce for both. The reason is that at long range you won't hit much anyway, and in nose-in standoffs you have the option to get a bit closer to the enemy BB/supercruisers, if you so choose. Plus there is the occasion where you use secondaries for self-defense against rushing DDs (their "real life" purpose, as I understand), in which case it's all about the accuracy and rate of fire, not the range at all.

There are interceptors now, but I'd say fewer than 10% of the CVs I meet spec into them. I'm assuming they're really good against strike aircraft, but honestly, my most productive fighters are probably those that spot.

Yeah I went that way in Random, but in Ranked you can get 1 CV + 3 DDs, which feels about the same as 2 CVs and 5-6 DDs in Randoms. And that's a 'nope' for me.

Agreed. Also, there's the occasional super-salty DD player who will complain "stupid fighters, you've told them where I am!!!", as though I could drop fighters in some stupid spot on the map and thus fool the enemy team into thinking there's a DD there. I had one such specimen, in a Jutland, go on and on to me in chat after a battle we'd easily won (where my Kaga was relentless, if I say so myself), about how me giving him fighters twice in a row around the cap (he thanked me the first time...) spoiled his "perfect ambush" against an Ostergotland (it would've been a fair fight, actually), thus making him lose more hp which meant he had less hp later, which meant he would've been able to sink the last enemy DD himself before that DD could launch a final set of torps which sank (Flesh Wound) our other BB (who showed broadside to a dead DD out of carelessness), which was pointless anyway because we steamrolled them. Some people are just never happy.

I disagree. There are plenty of premium ships (the ones that are supposed to "sell") that are so-so at best, or were good but have been nerfed: Tiger '59, California, GZ, Fenyang, Indianapolis and Graf Spee with their paper armor, Z-44 for dubs, Duca di XYZ (neither is popular), etc. Meanwhile many T9 ships, that you'd think would be paywalls to T10, are great (Iowa, Mogador, Z-46, Yugumo, Fletcher, Udaloi...). And those that were despised (Izumo, FdG, etc.) have been buffed over the years, and now they're perfectly respectable.

True, but never rely on it. Many DD captains simply won't switch back to guns, especially when sailing torpedoboats (say, a Fubuki or a Halland). It's worth pointing out that on some DDs, especially at high tiers, the torps outrange the guns, so you might torp a distant target without being able to lock your guns on him even if you wanted to (as @Astolfo_Is_My_Waifu pointed out, torps have an "infinite lock", guns do not). In short, if an Asashio is torping you from over 11 km or so, PT won't tell you a thing about it. A false negative. Exactly. It's useful in general, but it's mostly useful to assess how "hot" a position is or whether some BB is trying to snipe you from across the map and it's not just your immediate opponent you should be worried about. But there are also going to be plenty of false positives from people who are just browsing targets and locking onto you for a few seconds to see if you're worth taking a shot at, if you're turning and such. With Fire Prevention, you can usually dmgcon after 2 fires unless you're massively exposed (in which case no captain skill will save you, only an island might), and sometimes with only 1 fire going. After all, letting 2 fires burn is twice as bad as letting 1 fire burn... Especially in the chaotic environments of mid tiers, where concealment doesn't matter much, FP is the single best survivability skill you can take.

When you think about it, it's not too different from having 4 turrets 2 at the front and 2 at the back. The penetration is great, they overmatch 30 mm and the rate of fire and accuracy (with the module) is nice.

Well surely...I mean...I regularly hit all 4. I think the lesson here is that I'm closer to the skill ceiling of the Kaga than to that of the Lexi or Shokaku

First of all, there are more ways to counter HE spam than anything else in the game: - Dmg Con Mod 2 - Fire Prevention - extra heal skill - (former) Dreadnought flag - (former) Fireproof flag - Basics of Survivability Second of all, I find this haughty attitude very unappealing: - "it does not encourage the player to learn about the game or get better at it" - "it makes players lazy and inattentive" - "...instead of playing the game in the spirit for which it was intended" - "their own understanding is limited" Switching ammo to maximize results requires more skill than throwing AP at everything and anything, for sure. Firing nothing but HE gives worse results than alternating in a dynamic way depending on the target environment. It's what you propose that would make players, if not "lazy and inattentive", then surely frustrated, as in many situations there would simply be no decent option to deal damage, instead of different compromises between alpha and consistency that suit different situations better or worse. And bad players are bad for all sorts of reasons: very young, very old, very distracted, special needs, too stressed, not enough sleep, not competitive at all, haven't researched the game mechanics and just want to shoot stuff, poor strategic sense, don't read or understand chat...whatever. It's fine. Shooting nothing but HE is surely not the best tactic, not even in the Conqueror and such. But it's not the worst tactic, either, compared to a zillion other "mistakes" that players, even players better than you and players better than me, make in this game. What's a Dunkerque supposed to shoot at a bow-in Sinop, in this grand scheme of yours? Or an Alsace at an angled Yamato, which overmatches her anywhere, btw? How is a Fuso supposed to deal with a North Carolina?

I'll look forward to meeting your non-HE Richelieu in my very-yes-HE Baltimore :)

Well, sure. Or IJN CAs would launch their own reconnaissance planes. Or Catalinas would fly from an airfield at Midway. Who spotted the wake of the Arashi and followed it to the Kaga and the other CVs? The same squadrons that performed the attack...

I wanted to try secondary Alsace when I regrinded her, but I ended up going for full-sniper (Dead Eye included), and I had a blast. The HE is really strong, and you can play her as an oversized cruiser. Because she doesn't overmatch much with AP, losing fire chance to IFHE isn't recommended, imho. Georgia is still viable as a secondary platform after the rework, imho: IFHE isn't needed, you wouldn't take accuracy in slot #3 anyway (though turret traverse would be nice), and the secondaries are pretty accurate even today. I run Fire Prevention and will be getting either the extra heal or the close quarters skill once I reach 21 points. Personally, the Georgia performs smack-dab in the middle of my T9 average, and I know I could do better in terms of positioning, so I wouldn't say a secondary build is a mistake. I've always run full-secondary (including the last module) on the République, which does not need IFHE, and I find her just fine, a good performer. And again, I'm someone who often makes bad decisions trying to use the secondaries at all costs.

I know the Lexi is way better against DDs, but apparently I'm just not good enough to carry games on that alone, and I find the Kaga to have much better stopping power against the big ships. Or maybe it's just that I got the Kaga months after grinding Shokaku and Lexi, with more experience and all...

Agreed, especially on T9 where you often get all-T9 games, so no CV whatsoever.

Meh. When I played T7 Ranked a year ago, I was abysmal, like 40-45% WR as opposed to my usual 60% or so. Why? - weak ships for the meta: Blyska, Nelson and Fiji in a world of Haidas, Sinops and premium radar cruisers - generally, I'm more of a strategic player than a "Brave Brawler" type, and I guess in Ranked everyone wanted to cap as quickly as possible (in those clumped-together caps that were actually from lower-tier maps) and every match turned into a cluster**** decided by radar/hydro, torps and overmatch, which is just not my style. Does it mean it was rigged? No, I just brought the wrong ships, often with sub-par captains, and I wasn't quick enough to adapt. And yes, T7 Ranked is silly because there are like 3 radar cruisers and they're all premiums, whereas T8 and above are more "democratic", in that anyone can get a Baltimore or a radar Mino, if they so choose. I learnt to live with it and I've started playing Scharnhorst (could've been a Gneisenau, but it's about captain retraining), Alaska, Kitakaze, Z-46, JB etc. in the new format (and Lightning and Odin in the August season).

I mean...you're the expert, but I find the Kaga a lot stronger than the Shokaku, personally. And I even like the Shokaku...

I always recommend the Hood, but your requests are all over the place. The Kii is also nice: secondaries, AA, great tops...

If they turn radar on they'll see enemies from 50% further away than anyone else...

Imho the Minnesota is miles ahead: the sigma increases by 0.1 and you get that sweet, sweet USN dispersion module. She's also a small target with a super-tight turning circle. As long as you don't get any funny ideas about flanking or going on your own anywhere, the Minnesota should do just fine.

I know the value of good concealment, but high tiers are infested with Balans Botes with radars that would outrange my torps by quite a bit, and that's the main constraint on DDvDD interactions, in my experience. I'm very much at ease with the Asashio, which is similarly stealthy, but that thing can snipe BBs across the map and basically ignore the radar cruisers in between. Right now I'm thinking: - the Immelmann is a farmer, but I have the Kaga for that, and besides achievements don't give flags anymore. Also, she's a fake premium from a fake line, which is uninspiring. As far as T10 troll-CVs, I'd rather get the FDR: built in steel, I like the namesake, and I understand she operated mostly in the Mediterranean - the Pommern is strong, but I'm not sure what she would add to Scharnhorst/Bismarck/Odin/FdG - the Marco Polo would allow me to use Sansonetti on another ship, but she seems like a generic Soyuz clone (not that that's a bad thing...) - the Yoshino...I have Azuma, Ibuki and Zao, I don't see the point - the Flint...at least she was real, but I have enough spammers already (I'm abysmal with the Colbert, though the smoke is enticing...) - the Moskva...seems like a good ship for carrying, but won't I get basically the same deal once I reach the Petro? - the Z-44 probably needs a gimmick competitive, but I'm tempted by the idea of playing a ship with low expectations. Then again, I'm liking the Z-31 and I'll surely grind the line, so won't that be too many German lolibotes?

Is there something I'm missing about the Neustrashimy? I mean, she looks like an Ognevoi with a superheal and slightly better concealment: is that it? I'm pondering which coal ship to get after the auction, and I'd need about 70k more for the Neustrashimy, but I'm not sure what she would add over the Ognevoi and Grozovoi, both of which I have...

A Musashi makes little difference against a Fuso: the 35 mm deck only a Shikishima can overmatch, and for the 26 mm parts a Queen Elizabeth is enough.

Cyclone is basically just for brawling BBs, some radar cruisers and supercruisers, CVs and possibly torpedo boats (if CVs and radar cruisers allow them). IMHO it's less enjoyable than Ocean, despite being maybe 20-30 times more common.

Fuso has a 152 mm casemate and a 35 mm deck, iirc, as well as a small superstructure: it's a pretty good hull for T7, if you keep it angled.

At range, a DD will get a couple of torpedo hits on an angled Kremlin, at best. If we're talking about rushing the Kremlin, the DD has to get there first, risking being spotted by other DDs, hydro, radar, planes, proximity (if coming from behind an island). And you can shoot at the DD, while most planes will strike anyhow.