Whats the point of the long re-spawn timer of spotter plane consumable?

[Mad_Dog_Dante]

The spotter planes consumable that help extend the ships gun range temporarily has always been a mystery to me (over 3 years now). I'm bad with it, and I feel I'm in a never-learning-loop due to the way the spotter plane consumable is handled. Aiming with it is different and needs practice. The consumable has a weird long re-spawn value that keeps me from getting more practice time. Take my Murmansk: 360 sec reload for the consumable. That means i can launch one ever 6 minutes up to a total of 24 minutes because I have 4 consumables. Isn't the standard match length 20 minutes? Whats up with this?

 

My main issue is that I don't get enough practice time to git gud with it. I usually get 1 or 2 uses in a round for a total practice session of 200 seconds. because not every situation calls for this consumable, and not every use gets it's full 100 secs of potential use because ships fall off detection etc. And since I suck at it and don't enjoy the consumable I avoid slotting it whenever possible. Which keeps me uneducated.

 

Why is the timer on the consumable A. Broken because extending beyond the actual round time and B. So limited and restricted in its frequency instead of it's number of uses?

[ColonelPete]

• not everyone uses superintendent
• It is a temporary bonus and not a permanent increase in gun range

[Tyrendian89]

Don't worry! Soon^tm  WG will have your Spotter Plane Practice needs covered, at the low price of an upcoming T7 Premium Cruiser called the Lazo, which only has something like 15s of cooldown on its Spotter Plane consumable!*

 

*at least as per the last iteration of the ship that went into testing; I dont recall seeing too many complaints about it balance wise so it might just be a question of when WG can fit it into their release schedule...

[Srle_Vigilante]

So people don't camp at 25km and snipe cruisers and destroyers the whole game.

I personally don't use them at all. I find them to be the most useless things in the game.

[RUSSIANBlAS]

Spotter planes are mostly used for lobbing stuff that are either smoke camping or island camping. The higher viewing angle helps you be more precise.

 

Also you aim exactly the same as you do normally. It's actually no different, don't let the changed angle fool you. 

[Procrastes]

21 hours ago, Srle_Vigilante said:

So people don't camp at 25km and snipe cruisers and destroyers the whole game.

I personally don't use them at all. I find them to be the most useless things in the game.

I've always kinda preferred the fighter planes. They protect from CV attacks, and they pitch in with spotting incoming torpedoes and destroyers. They also help with peeking over islands that I'm planning to sail around. On top of that, they look cool when they fly around your ship with a badass attitude. When you're sad and lonely on the outskirts of the fleet, when your friends are far away and your enemies are closing in, you've always got your fighter buddy. You launch her into the air, and suddenly you're not alone anymore - she will fight beside you! What's not to like?

 

I'm wondering how this will all change with the new, reworked fighter float planes. From what I've heard, the new fighters will be more like a sort of short-duration counter to a single incoming air attack, than the current multi-role flying li'l helper. I think I'm going to miss that.

 

And maybe the carrier rework will signal a new era for the spotter planes, as well? Will they fade into obscurity, or enter a new, golden age of opportunity?

[anonym_2hneAFaIyP4T]

46 minutes ago, Negativvv said:

Spotter planes are mostly used for lobbing stuff that are either smoke camping or island camping. The higher viewing angle helps you be more precise.

 

Also you aim exactly the same as you do normally. It's actually no different, don't let the changed angle fool you. 

Hmmm... in practice I have found you need to aim a bit lower because of the viewing angle... but that might be wrong?!

 

2 hours ago, Srle_Vigilante said:

I personally don't use them at all. I find them to be the most useless things in the game.

Sort of. I don't use them in cruisers, but in BB's they provide 'better' spotting distance/torp spotting (although fighters kind of do this anyway) and make smoke-shooting/island lobbing a piece of cake. Only time I use the 'extra' range is if in end-game chasing the last ship or two and trying to farm a bit more damage.

 

They make close-quarters aiming a pig though, especially against DD's. Would love to be able to have a 'land' command when finished dealing with the target you launched it for

[jss78]

I'm much better at judging the movement direction of the target from the spotter plane's vantage point.

 

Excluding rare cases like the Warspite (short range, good accuracy) I don't give a  about the range extension.

[Ubertron_X]

Apart from the fact that the spotter plane recycle time is indeed to short too shoot all the ships camping in smoke and/or behind isles, the one improvement I would really like to see is a normal vision / spotter vision toggle when the plane is up. Rarely use it just to increase range...

[250swb]

Maybe mine is a newbie answer, but for the long respawn when a spotter plane comes back to ship it needs to be hauled out of the water, placed back on its gantry, then refuelled. Perhaps WG is modelling some sort of realism, even if in real life it is an unrealistically short time?

[Ronchabale]

With premium consumable spotting aircraft 2 the reload is reduced from 360 secs to 240 secs

Jack of all trades will shorten reload of all consumables by 5% (If u are in a british BB Jack Dunkirk is 10%)

[BLUB__BLUB]

1 hour ago, Ronchabale said:

With premium consumable spotting aircraft 2 the reload is reduced from 360 secs to 240 secs

Jack of all trades will shorten reload of all consumables by 5% (If u are in a british BB Jack Dunkirk is 10%)

Also, if it gets shot down the counter will start over and you can use all four.

I even use the 'have two planes' option on some ships, because it often DOES get shot down!

It's handy on New Mex and Arizona... every day I play at least one poor cruiser gets devstriked.

 

[Mad_Dog_Dante]

19 hours ago, Srle_Vigilante said:

So people don't camp at 25km and snipe cruisers and destroyers the whole game.

I personally don't use them at all. I find them to be the most useless things in the game.

A limit on the number of uses total combined with an up time limit can prevent that behavior. Make it a true situational tool by setting a shorter up time and allow a shorted re-spawn time, while limiting the total number to 2 or 3. Currently it seems so useless , which is why I do what you do: never slot them given a choice or ignore them when a ship has them mandatory.

 

18 hours ago, Negativvv said:

Spotter planes are mostly used for lobbing stuff that are either smoke camping or island camping. The higher viewing angle helps you be more precise.

 

Also you aim exactly the same as you do normally. It's actually no different, don't let the changed angle fool you. 

I'll try that aiming tip thanks!

[Xevious_Red]

-Look over terrain so you can see how they're angling/turning

-Pinpoint exactly where someone in smoke is firing from

-Spot something on the other side of an island

-Get comedy fires on a BB very early in the game before anyone else is in range

-Reset a different cap (e.g. be at A, reset C)

-Finish off low HP ship that is running away and thinks its out of range of everyone

-Get cheeky broadside shots on someone who isnt angling against you because they think you're too far away.

 

Spotter plane has loads of uses

[Mad_Dog_Dante]

13 minutes ago, Xevious_Red said:

-Look over terrain so you can see how they're angling/turning

-Pinpoint exactly where someone in smoke is firing from

-Spot something on the other side of an island

-Get comedy fires on a BB very early in the game before anyone else is in range

-Reset a different cap (e.g. be at A, reset C)

-Finish off low HP ship that is running away and thinks its out of range of everyone

-Get cheeky broadside shots on someone who isnt angling against you because they think you're too far away.

 

Spotter plane has loads of uses

Great ideas. I agree, that's why I find the long re-spawn times weird.

[colin5515]

What is the point of having more than 3 spotter plan consumables?  Its reload is 360 seconds, 6 minutes, a match only lasts 15. So whats the point of having more.

No of consumables 7 or 8, completely useless.  Reload time needs to be decreased.  These are the stats for the Montana. 

[DrMechano]

They're basically a poor mans hydro in my opinion. You use it if your ship has no other option (there are several where they ONLY get spotter plane in that slot), can actually make use of the range/angle to fire over islands (looking mainly at the Zao here, think its one of the only ones where the spotter plane is actually useful if you're combining it with the legendary module), if you suspect a non-smoked enemy DD is nearby and you need to spot him/his torps.

[eliastion]

34 minutes ago, DrMechano said:

They're basically a poor mans hydro in my opinion. You use it if your ship has no other option (there are several where they ONLY get spotter plane in that slot), can actually make use of the range/angle to fire over islands (looking mainly at the Zao here, think its one of the only ones where the spotter plane is actually useful if you're combining it with the legendary module), if you suspect a non-smoked enemy DD is nearby and you need to spot him/his torps.

Planes don't spot torps since 0.8.0.

[DrMechano]

I thought Spotter plane consumeable still did?

[howardxu_23]

2 hours ago, DrMechano said:

I thought Spotter plane consumeable still did?

Nope all stuff that flys no longer can see torps, not even spotters.

[DrMechano]

Well then...just...why WG, just why?

[mil71]

I like to use it to increase my guns elevation that bit more so if someone is hugging an island you get a few more inches elevation to drop a few salvo's into their deck armor and make them move.

[MoveZig]

I have no idea. It wasn't a good consumable to begin with, now it's even worse since it can't spot torps and seems to be spotted from farther away, so ironically it kind of gives away your position too. Cooldown buff is in order imo.

[jss78]

4 hours ago, MoveZig said:

I have no idea. It wasn't a good consumable to begin with, now it's even worse since it can't spot torps and seems to be spotted from farther away, so ironically it kind of gives away your position too. Cooldown buff is in order imo.

 

This is true, flying around in CV plane squadron, you always see those spotter planes first. And unless they've changed it recently, the spotter planes ALSO show which ship they come from, at least if you hold down the Alt key. (Travelling so can't check on the client right now)

 

Those are some damn good eyes on my pilots, telling which plane's from the Nagato and which from the Fuso, from 8 km distance.  If it still works like this, it's honestly a bit too much information given away by spotting a plane.

[DrMechano]

1 hour ago, jss78 said:

 

This is true, flying around in CV plane squadron, you always see those spotter planes first. And unless they've changed it recently, the spotter planes ALSO show which ship they come from, at least if you hold down the Alt key. (Travelling so can't check on the client right now)

 

Those are some damn good eyes on my pilots, telling which plane's from the Nagato and which from the Fuso, from 8 km distance.  If it still works like this, it's honestly a bit too much information given away by spotting a plane.

 

Yup, they're really not a good choice in the first place and only worth it if they're you're ONLY option or its between that or a fighter which in the current meta with CVs having gotten the shaft so you see them only slightly more than the you use to, is equally useless.