BLUB__BLUB

Clan name a dead giveaway.... LOL! I think what we need now is a few operations where you hunt subs. See how that goes. I can see Santa rolling in on a big fat BB, followed by cruisers transporting X-mas trees, needing protection from Grinches in subs... How about it @MrConway

Probably. I just noticed I had no more shatters. NONE in some games with KGV. I'm leaving it on until I have more points on the captain and a re-spec might be viable. But I dunno what I think of Lion and Conqueror yet... Conq with IFHE? Trololololll! Another tip on surviving T8--> T10, maybe a very stupid one. But I found it works. KEEP THE HEALTH UP. Use your heal when you can use it to the fullest, do not wait "until you have to". Why? >>> because they always pick on the one with the lowest health. I have been sailing next to a Monarch in my New Mexico, he was half health and I was 3/4. Even if he is harder to hit, and the NM basically is a slow turtle "all or nothing" piñata, they still shot the Monarch...

No it doesn't. Yesterday I had such a DD (Acasta). I knew generally where he was so I blammed some HE in his direction. And then he made the mistake of shooting... got detected... I had to reload but now I knew where he was. So I 'rushed' him (OK.... 20kts US BB... lol... maybe I just walked over leasurely). He fires torps, since my nose is his direction, I ate none... then does it again, this time he is closer, I eat one... He starts firing at me, so now he is clearly visible, front guns aim, HE loaded.... BAMMMMM he dead. I lost ~10% health due to the torp hit the rest just healed fine.

Which makes sense, I can citadel most cruisers with HE. Then I can conclude the angle of the armour is not calculated. I believe you guys, just that I think WG is not telling all. Like on the KGV (insane fire chance) I got 1 or 2 fires without IFHE. Lots of shatters. WIth the IFHE on I got 2 fires almost every salvo, sometimes even 3. Reduced fire chance? Might be 'confirmation bias', but I wasn't expecting it. But now, I think that HE-pens have higher fire chance than HE-shatters.

80K in the IFHE-Bone-Aarghh in a tier X game, not so much damage but we won and I pushed the final drop by killing the Edinburgh. Too bad the Yamato (was behind the Edinburgh hiding in the smoke) denied the ram by shooting me at te he last second. I also have 1 karma now, well that won't last long I'm sure.

I guess you misunderstand - I mean the angling. I When angling, the shell has a thicker piece of metal to penetrate. I wonder if THAT matters. Because at an angle, the thickness of the metal that the shell has top pen is greater. With an Atlanta, if angled, normal HE 95mm might just not cut the cake. 95mm angled is > 123mm straight face-on. When NOT angled, always shoot AP (unless in KGV, then you might as well tickle them). At broadsides, not even IFHE beats it. Plus you can't shoot through the bow to hit the citadel with IFHE, it will explode on impact. On KGV you have to use it for bow-camping BBs, as the AP will not even pen the (angled!) front armour. You are right. I have not much trouble in the Bone-aargh when in a Tier X match. Can't expect to be top dog, but still. Those poor cruisers are much more getting shafted than the BBs. BBs have more armour and can hardly be penned, and they have larger heals and health pools. Where at their own tier they are a two-shot kill when broadside, now they are a one-shot and usually they do not even have to go broadside. This is what I just did in the Bone-Aarrghh. Killed an Edinburgh from 2km... needed 3 shots (LOL dispersion, ah well, he had pretty good health...), but hey, I avoided the torps... and he couldn't hit me either. I also finished off a T9 BB (Musashi) that I was peppering with (IF)HE from a long distance. When he came closer my teammates got him good, but I had the finisher. The Yamato that was in the smoke from the Edinburgh got me though, just before I could ram him. Dammit.

I know, but 'angle of impact' mainly decides if it BOUNCES or not. So, HE never bounces. It explodes on impact. But it DOES shatter, and I almost haven't seen any shatters since I put IFHE on... A LOT less than before. So, even if it ignores angle, it still might calculate the 'relative thickness' of the armour. Ah well, every German BB will shake hands. Just sacrifice more goats to RNGesus. Man he must be getting real fat. Also, it works two ways: often when I do 'fart in the general direction' of a cruiser sneaking up behind an island, and still hits (LOL). Noticed that in Hood I can hit quite reliably at almost max range, in Monarch it starts becoming a problem at anything > 10k. Yeah but you do get a spotter plane. I have the same thing with most BBs, the US ones have it too. You get ~3 salvoes and then you have to wait for the trick to pop up again. If the plane doesn't get shot down. Not much of a problem to me, I like to get up close (< 15 km) and shoot them in half with AP. I do not play that style, usually (in Hood, for example) I do the hit and run. A full hit with a cit (if I'm lucky), then run away and if they chase you shoot backwards. Good luck on doing that in a ship that has all turrets up front...

Agreed. The Ap on Monarch is decent enough, I hardly use the HE anymore. But I already had IFHE from King George, next 4 points I might decide a re-spec of the captain, depending on what Lion/Conqueror brings. IMO the King George is a worthless POS, Monarch too but at least it has decent guns. I'm beginning to think Queen Elizabeth at T8 would have been better if it had some speed.

I think that too, plus it is NOT clear at all if they calculate the thickness of armour 'straight' or also consider the angle. Angled at 45 degrees the thickness of the armour that a shell has to pen increases by factor 1.4 so I dunno. I'd not put IFHE on a BB under KGV. Queen E has plenty pen in AP, the rest just burns the socks of anything else AND has good AP. KGV, Monarch are just "Battlecruisers". The LOLZ of it is, I have Hood too (battlecruiser pur sang!) and it has same guns as QE, no problems there. I had no problems at all with Queen Elizabeth. Monarch also has a much more decent caliber (though basically it is a pimped KGV at tier 8, yaiiikszzz). The main reason I put IFHE on King Grog the Filth was because it could not even tickle other boats.

I did, but is is because the AP on KGV is severely lacking. The caliber is just really small. I have the same captain now on Monarch, IFHE doesn't give the same rewards it did as on KGV. Might be 'confirmation bias' but I was really chuffed with it. That said, might also dump it when I respec the captain. It is also related to the playstyle, I never camp, I go forward with my mates as I usually play in a division. CE wouldn't do me much good. Would/will take AFT, much better for my playstyle. BTW wishing you luck in that KGV. It is a lot different than QE. Some people do good in KGV but not me. I like to get close and blast them in two, but forget that.

Ah well thanks. That also gives me a new idea for the 'buff of USA BBs' (even if I think it is unnecessary).

??? Does that mean when you shoot HE at a T10, he has 50% less fire chance than when you shoot at a T8?

Yup. Usually I try to find something to shoot at, but I rarely manage to keep the guns firing 100% of the time. You can always run Adrenaline Rush if you like, and get some quicker reload. But if they want to buff them, more speed (simply: how much more would they need... would be A LOT) or armour (the "all or nothing" is a basic trait, and very much determining the 'character', as is the speed) isn't the answer IMO. IF they need a buff, I'd rather have something that makes them SUFFER less from the above. Really more accuracy is not doing anything about the suffering, but more like compensating the suffering with the ability to deal more damage. The main thing US BBs suffer from is HE-spamming ships, from which they cannot escape due to lack of speed. Really in the New York or New Mexico or Arizona, 99% of kills is due to fires. So best buff would be some fireproofing, and they can do that in an number of ways. I have an idea how to do it, too - thanks Amiral Potato. Just improve the Fire Resistance Coefficient for US BBs.

Yeah, they should. Somehow I noticed quite a difference. 41% reduced to 38% is still insane though. You are probably right, and I did the same calculations too. And maybe it is confirmation bias indeed. It's not just the belt armour though. What I see is I have almost zero shatters, just pens. My guess is the game DOES take angle, for example you have 80mm - at 45 degrees angle that would give 110 mm. Meaning without IFHE you would not pen, with IFHE you would. IO dunno. Decided to try, just for the hell of it, and seems to work. On KGV it really was the difference between 'oh no not again' and 'hell yeah eat that'. DIT: and a 50% rise in damage output (or maybe I suddenly had an L2P moment, though I doubt that). Aiming for bow and stern regions on moving and turning ships, combined with RNG, well... maybe that is why it helps. I can hit a camping HE-spammer or BB just fine, but 'bow/stern' on a moving object is a matter of how many goats you are prepared to sacrifice.

Yes, could be. I use mostly AP on the Monarch, as it is rather better than the King George V. I got IFHE because of KGV, must say it really got a lot better after that. Will probably re-spec it at some point. But it's still viable because of the guaranteed pen at any angle.

Yeah that's a clear thought. Since they are now HE, maybe spend the 4 points (manual f secondaries also ciosts 4 points) on IFHE? That might have an even more shredding effect on ships sailing into range... extra 30% pen.

It's 1/4 on the British BBS. But I got it for King George V, which has really puny guns. Even cruisers escaped unharmed. AP would not do the job, usually - consider the angle and velocity rules on AP. HE is not susceptible to that (just caliber) and that's it. IFHE adds another 30% over the basic pen, and you never get overpens. And yes it is effective, even if the Monarch (bigger guns) doesn't really need it anymore. I calculated it, should not be of any use - but it still is. The effect is really noticeable. As you do not just meet same-tier, but also higher and lower tier. For me it mostly means reliable hits on anything at distance - even if (especially if) they are angled. The effect in the KGV was amazing, plus there seems to be something WOWs is not telling: after installing IFHE I got more fires than before (on KGV)... my guess is the fire chance on shatters is less, even if they do not say so. The best thing is: a hit means a pen. No overpen, no shatters. So I'm leaving it on, and the captain will finally go on the Conqueror. The only thing it can't do is pen BB armour belt, you need AP for that BUT you also need to have the broadside and the distance. We'll see how it goes in higher tiers, maybe someday I'll re-spec the captain.

Double post...

Triple post... hahahah!

Then the Kii is a more worthwhile premium than the US BBs, simply put. Yeah might get Texas if it's on sale (same a Warspite). Elite Captain XP is not for me yet. I haven't got a 19-pointer. Which is why I use them for captain training. The point on T7 being best for money grinding is valid, T7 Hood does really well.

I'm sure they will 'balance it '....

Which is why the switch to 'all secondaries shoot HE' makes sense, well, sort of. Also, if you have a T7 you have the same sort of '105' problem when you get uptiered.

Well most people have an IQ ~80, right? I do not think they buy it for the AA though, at least it would not be my thing. AA is only useful when you have Cvs and the CV attacks you. And IF that AA is still intact and not shot away (which it usually is). I think most people buy a premium because they need something to train captains on and such stuff. Might be just me thinking that way, if it offers nothing else than the 'silver' ships. I have the Arizona, but I'd never have bought it - the New Mexico is just as good. But I got it in a lucky container. I did buy Hood because it is different. And I didn't buy Warspite because it is NOT too much different from Queen Elizabeth. I'm thinking about it though, as I could use a second ship to train cappys on. But would rather have a RN Cruiser... The added AA may be a 'selling point'. A free cool camo may be another. Maybe you are right. I still don't think RoF is the way to go, it will influence much more than just that US BB, it will influence the stuff around it mostly. Buff the tanking, that is what BBs are supposed to do. They're already good enough at dealing damage.

That is probably also why the OP put it in """quotes""". The weird thing is things like 'SH^T' will get auto-censored.

This is true, I do not use the lock-on when I have a ship that is closer than 5km. Works much better, if it is a DD rushing you, never makes it... blow it clean out of the water.