RN Light Cruisers - Tactics advice? (Emerald and onwards)

[Lea_Flamma]

Hi y'all!

Once more I find myself in the need of your assistance. As I mentioned in the other topic "My Take on British (RN Cruisers)", I am actively pushing the RN Light Cruiser line and am currently sitting on the Tier V Emerald. But since you helped me a lot with my Myoko and Atlanta in "Cruisers - How to?", I have been strugling with the RN line quite a bit.

 

I understand the role of Atlanta and how to play her, and I am comfortably finding a role for myself in her. I also learned to understand the nature of Myoko and her kiting and stall potential. But the nature of RN Light Cruisers is still a foreign idea to me. I tried to play them as an Atlanta, but the arcs of the shells are so so and she lacks the bonus damage from fires. She has smokescreen and echolocation which makes it seem, like she should be good for contesting caps. She also has heal, which makes it even better in regards to being an early cap rusher. Her AP rounds are splendid against DDs and CLs. But there are a few problems I have with that.

 

1. For a start, I fail to do absolutely anything against CAs and BBs.

In the RN Cruisers thread, which I decided not to hijack, Cagliostro_chan and lafeel has been most helpful in their advice, but even aiming where they told me to yields inferior results. A charging BB gets 4-6 hits into the superstructure and suffers ~500-700 damage. It is just too low to be of any use and impact. Atlanta has her HE spam. Myoko has very good torpedo angles for kiting charging BBs. RN cruisers so far have none of that. You do have 7km torpedoes, but you have to expose a lot of broadside to let them out. Smoking is an option in such a situation, but not always a possibility. And considering the detection radius sits around 9km I believe? Torpedoes have a range of 7km. So the BB needs to seriously potato to rush blindly into a smokescreen.

 

2. I am not hundred percent sure, what is the role of a RN light cruiser.

On Tier V the AA is not bad, although you lack the Defensive AA. You only have the special AP shells, so being a bothersome DoT dispenser is also not an option. Playing like a big DD seems to be viable, but the detection range and size of the ship make you an instant target to your side of the map. I feel like islands are a must have in terms of survival, but the shells are a bit too shallow compared to what I am used to with Atlanta, while they do have that insanely long flight time. Rate of fire is mediocre, to say the least. It is not bad, but far from being, what I would expect from a light cruiser. Is Emerald best used as an escort of friendly BBs? The range of your guns would seem like you are meant to be played closer to the enemy.

 

3. Consumables?

Is there any reason to pick spotting aircraft or catapult fighter over the smokescreen? The smoke, although does not come with a lot of uses, seems to be crucial to your survival. She has paper armor and any form of shells landing on you quickly reduce you into a pile of floating debries. Your AA is decent enough, that I don't feel the need for catapult fighter, although the spotting aircraft is tempting, as I seem to struggle with the ships so so range.

 

4. Higher tiers?

Is the feel of RN ships more or less consistent throughout the tiers? Or are there any drastic changes happening in the later ones? From the replays of Minotaur I have seen, the ship is delivering insane damage with its AP shells and fire rate. I just don't feel it on the Emerald. So far I have pushed IJN Torp DDs to Tier VIII and Cruisers to Tier VII and the lines have been somewhat consistent in their gameplay and feel. Although Kagero seems to be a massive change, with its gun range so low. I was just curious, if the RN has something like this happening, when the guns on the ships change to suddenly be able to deal damage to BBs?

[lafeel]

Just dropping this as a example of what the Fiji (the tier 7) can do when the stars align just right. The playstyle doesn't change, they just get better at it.

[HaachamaShipping]

3 hours ago, Lea_Flamma said:

It is just too low to be of any use and impact. Atlanta has her HE spam. Myoko has very good torpedo angles for kiting charging BBs.

You do realise you are comparing a T5 with two T7s?

3 hours ago, Lea_Flamma said:

4. Higher tiers?

Is the feel of RN ships more or less consistent throughout the tiers? Or are there any drastic changes happening in the later ones? From the replays of Minotaur I have seen, the ship is delivering insane damage with its AP shells and fire rate. I just don't feel it on the Emerald.

From Leander on, RN Cls kind of get decent tools for their job. Emerald is basically like Omaha. Core concept-wise, the same as subsequent ships, but kinda T5 garbage. Dallas, helena and Cleveland all are so much better tier for tier.

[Lea_Flamma]

13 minuty temu, Cagliostro_chan napisał:

You do realise you are comparing a T5 with two T7s?

Yes, I am aware of course. But honestly I didn't feel much difference between Furataka - Aoba - Myoko. I believe Aoba gets the better guns, but other than that, the gameplay style is mostly the same. Both Atlanta and Emerald are light cruisers. Although I guess the better comparison would be Flint and Emerald. Still you are going to face Tier VIIs in your Tier V vessel, so they are not too far away from each other, I guess.

 

I am mostly confused with the role of Emerald and overall RN Cruisers in the game. Lack of HE is a big of a nuisance, I admit.

[GulvkluderGuld]

On 4/19/2019 at 2:42 PM, Lea_Flamma said:

I am mostly confused with the role of Emerald and overall RN Cruisers in the game. Lack of HE is a big of a nuisance, I admit.

 

RN cruisers are one of the most skill-intensive classes in the game with great flexibilty. 

They are DD hunters, assassins and zone-controllers. They depend on timing and game knowledge to take out key targets or reach key positions.

Or they can hold the entire enemy team stuck on one flank by smoking up and spamming anybody who ares to push (as long as there is a spotter alive). Only a particularly stupid BB pushes the smokescreen.

 

They are fairly weak until the Leander and Fiji (possibly the most OP silver ship in the game), then get bulkier and squishier with Edinburgh and Neptune while not getting insane ROF untill the tier IX Neptune.

Also, they get radar from tier 8 as an alternative to smoke (used mainly in Ranked and competitive where there are no CVs)

 

Their main downside is lack of HE. 

Three experimental ships (2 now pulled from sale) showed that HE spam from smoke was too strong (Mikail Kutuzov, Belfast and Flint says Hi!).

To compensate, they can smoke literally anywhere, like their own personal island cover.

 

Instead they get semi-AP, which does monstrous damage vs flat broadside, but not very effective vs angled targets, which ties into "timing, game knowledge and the zone-controller" idea.

See an island-hugging cruiser reversing, maybe too far out? Sneak up and take it out with 2-3 salvos, be sure to wiggle while doing it (or get blapped) and have an exit strategy (an island, or smoke to cover all LOS angles)

Shadow a friendly DD pushing forward / into a cap? Blast the enemy DD he spots (and same as above except you maybe can use the DDs smoke)

Smoked up and holding most of the enemy BBs at bay (usually 10+ km away)? (stay angled at all times in the smoke) Spam anyone who dare show a broadside - they have to show bow or stern in.

Most broadside BBs dont like getting spammed and will break off or go bow in. 

If bow in and closing, their options are push, reverse or break and show broadside, and that is the chance to punish them. If they reverse or break off, great. You are here to make them break off while farming damage, mission accomplished.

If they keep pushing, feed them your fishes (preferably point blank where they cant miss, with an exit-island close by). Then scoot!

 

You do not kill BBs with RN cruisers, unless 1) they rush your smoke 2) you are able to sneak into 3 km range before detection and torp them.

You kill their support (spotters) and leave them no choice but to withdraw to the blue line.

 

Once you get to know the class, they can be played incredibly aggressively and are one of the most fun classes in the game.

 

[Lea_Flamma]

21.04.2019 o 23:38, GulvkluderGuld napisał:

 

RN cruisers are one of the most skill-intensive classes in the game with great flexibilty. 

(...)

Once you get to know the class, they can be played incredibly aggressively and are one of the most fun classes in the game.

 

That is a lot of useful info, thank you very much.

 

I had a recent romance with the Tier VIII IJN Cruiser, so didn't play much with the RN gals, but with the information you provided, I kind of have a better idea of what to do. I did play aggresively with the DDs, as a DD lover I alwaus found myself left alone against enemy push. I try to maintain a constant presence around the DD, to provide some AA as well as help them blop the enemy DDs. But then I find myself struggling against a pushing lemmingtrain. Three BBs and four CA/Ls are a bit much. Although it might be mostly my fault to not retreat in time and kite away with torps... So much to learn!

[GulvkluderGuld]

6 hours ago, Lea_Flamma said:

That is a lot of useful info, thank you very much.

Glad i could help. 

 

Should maybe add: be prepared to get blown up when making a play because you missed something and an unspotted BB or cruiser decides to gift you some heavy AP gifts. you really need to know where every single ship is and if they have an angle to shoot at you before making a play. RN cruisers have thinner armor than other cruisers so some get overmatched through the bow, even by some cruisers. Since everyone knows that, they also tend to get focused. So always wasd if spotted.

 

 

Don't give up untill you get the Fiji, it gives you a good feel for the power and limitations of RN cruisers. Special challenge to git gut at angling: try gunboat in the open at 12 km+  on a flank where it is possible to angle vs all enemies (it is extremely hard but quite fun).

 

finally if you are vs lemming train - leave smoke before they get so close you cant disengage unspotted and always plan out which island to hide behind next. sub 10 km is probably bad medicine to begin with, after you smoke up first time it will be obvious if the train pushes or get stuck.

[piritskenyer]

On 4/19/2019 at 1:54 PM, lafeel said:

Just dropping this as a example of what the Fiji (the tier 7) can do when the stars align just right. The playstyle doesn't change, they just get better at it.

A fire. With a Fiji. I see you like to let your secondaries rip

[lafeel]

5 minutes ago, piritskenyer said:

A fire. With a Fiji. I see you like to let your secondaries rip

The 48 secondary target hits do show this as well. ;)