Having trouble with IJN cruisers, help needed

[AshFall]

Heya. I seem to be having a lot of trouble being effective with the IJN cruisers. I either get destroyed super quickly by BBs or sometimes close sneaky dds (less often), or just cant seem to do much damage aside from torpedoes. 

 

Gameplay tips, advice and help are all much appreciated. 

[Venatacia]

Try not to be the first one spotted and stay with your Battleships to support them with AA cover and from approaching Destroyers. Let your Battleships do the long range work and once they pick a few ships off, sail in and clean up.

[Vikingnewt]

im struggling myself with IJN cruisers... especially crossing the gap to the aoba from that piece of #¤%& t4... but from what i've figured is that they really shold be played like bad destroyers, using guns alot to take out any enemy destroyers, laying torps for cruisers, and then using superiour maneuverability to close to torp range on a BB that followed or some cruisers.  DD avoid torps waaay to easilly, but then, it only takes one to kill em.

[OVanBruce]

You need to pick your fights well with the IJN CAs. You are no Cleveland who can tank anything they shoot at you.

 

Being effective with IJN cruisers means to roam around the battlefield with your superior speed and then bring your firepower where there are no BBs to fight against. You need to practice your gunnery more since your advantage lies in your bigger alpha and precision. Once you start doing citadels consistently against enemy cruisers you can play a more agresive role. Most of your guns are in the front so don't fear trying to close in for some shotgun salvoes on the citadels of their ships. The exception is, obviously the OP Cleveland which you need to do plunging fire to citadel it. Your ideal distances when fighting against enemy cruisers is bettwen 8 and 10 kms where you can accurately attack the citadel of the enemy ships and use your torps too.

 

Learn to dodge: Change course, decrease speed, do both, etc etc. The less they hit you the better.

 

Your torps are a great zoning weapon too. When going to C on fault line, for example, use then to cover the whole channel with torps so the enemy must manouver or simply become nervous which can give you an advantage.

 

One of the most important things you must take into account as IJN cruiser is that you don't want to be focused ever. Use those yank ships as shield so they can eat all the damage while you do the damage with your bigger alpha and precision.

 

Another thing is that you need to use the islands as cover. Positioning is key since it sometime can give you the One on One duels you desire. In that sense if you manage to put islands or other teammate bettwen you and any third party you can focus on your prey and kill it without interruptions.

 

Finally, [edited]the Clevelands, let then burn in hell.

[sunday]

Best advice: use torpedoes only defensively, and never, ever, turn the ship to unmask torpedo tubes - only fire them if you could do it without turning.

[OldGrandad]

Heya. I seem to be having a lot of trouble being effective with the IJN cruisers. I either get destroyed super quickly by BBs or sometimes close sneaky dds (less often), or just cant seem to do much damage aside from torpedoes. 

 

Gameplay tips, advice and help are all much appreciated. 

 

Well you are getting there! In that I mean, you will soon be with one of the best cruisers in game, the Mogami. Regarding gameplay, what you can't do with the IJN cruisers and that is to rush in as currently the IJN cruisers armour is weak and will not take long to be destroyed. Hang back and work in conjunction with other cruisers and pick off those dastardly destroyers. Torpedoes are a last defence but again if you are lucky to find a sleepy enemy BB.......  

[AshFall]

The mogami is one of the best? What of the Myoko?

 

Anyway, you write that the cleveland has crazy survivability, but the stats put the cleveland and Aoba at the same survivability... what makes the difference?

[King_Sizzle]

Step 1, grind through the so so ships to tier 7

 

Step 2, buy Mogami

 

Step 3, profit

 

 

I rushed to the Cleveland along the USA line and yea it's good but I'm enjoying in the IJN line way more keep away from BB's and enjoy wrecking all the cruisers and destroyers you find

 

Also like said above do not consider the torps a primary weapon, I don't recommend trying to turn to get an opponent in the arc

[Devantejah]

The mogami is one of the best? What of the Myoko?

 

Anyway, you write that the cleveland has crazy survivability, but the stats put the cleveland and Aoba at the same survivability... what makes the difference?

 

Myoko can do a lot of damage if you aren't killed in the first few salvos which can happen since the citadel seems to be bigger than the ship. (Slight exaggeration)

 

Cleveland have a very small citadel, or it's hidden very well while the IJN cruisers are very easy to citadel.

[OnboardG1]

The first four tiers vary from marginal to downright egregious. The Aoba is tolerable but so depressingly squishy that it's quite hard to bring those 8" guns to bear. The Mogami is where things step-change. You get a good set of 6 or 8 inch guns (I prefer the 8"ers because of the penetrating power), the speed to flex and enough armour to stop citadel pens if you give enough angle.

 

You need to play it as a cruiser crusher first and foremost. Anything you see in your class you can kill with good gunnery. Your torp launchers are for area denial and opportunistic attacks only. They aren't your main armament. Aside from the aforementioned ducking and diving you have a very short detection radius of 10.8km, so if you're firing at max range and a BB notices you you can stop firing and exit stealthy.

[OVanBruce]

The mogami is one of the best? What of the Myoko?

 

Anyway, you write that the cleveland has crazy survivability, but the stats put the cleveland and Aoba at the same survivability... what makes the difference?

 

Very small and low citadel make her hard to do max damage. Also, her armor is so thin that most shots at close distance overpen. Combined with 12 6 inchers guns that reload at 7,5 secs.

[Coenraad]

Stay back a bit at the start and let others be focussed on. And learn to aim for citadels. Zigzag to avoid incoming fire and run away as soon as you are about to become main target. Japenese cruisers are soft but should get a little better after 0.3.1. Yesterday i sailed my Mogami and met an enemy Mogami and killed him in two salvo's while losing 20% myself. Citadel hits are super importand, also vs Clevelands etc.

A good tactic if the situation allows is to sail towards the enemy so you don't show that large citadel.

[Coenraad]

Btw Mogami and Myoko swap places in 0.3.1

[DumbleDerp]

Try not to be the first one spotted and stay with your Battleships to support them with AA cover and from approaching Destroyers. Let your Battleships do the long range work and once they pick a few ships off, sail in and clean up.

 

Yep, agree with this. My first few games I tended to charge in and get wiped out. 

 

I'm not saying hang back, but don't go in alone. Try and put yourself into a situation where you'll have room to look and measure the situation, but can then also act quickly enough to have a positive impact. Do not rush in with destroyers, but try to be ahead of your battleships to support your DD's.

 

Don't underestimate the Aoba, if you go in as support and then switch to assault when a flank opens up it's a very useful ship. Had a lot of fun with it.

[OnboardG1]

I'd be interested to see if they swap the reload rates too.

[BigEXP]

Follow the BBs in your team and try to use your torpedoes as much as possible to hit the enemy ships..

[OnboardG1]

Oh god no I disagree. First mistake Japanese CA drivers make: "I have torpedoes, I must be a DD, I must use my torpedoes". Your Toros have stupid firing arcs, poor range and a long reload time. They're there for targets of opportunity only. Trying to manoeuvre to fire them without some very smart planning will get you dead.

[Jungoman]

I am at Ibuki right now.. I am trying to love them but tbh, it is not working. I dont get the idea behind the IJN cruisers while USN cruisers r solid at everything except maneuverability. Torps? ummm... every good captain u r facing will know that u will try to torp him at one point and will sail based on that. And that angle of torp launchers... oh god.

[OVanBruce]

I must recognize that you need to love IJN cruisers to get into then since USN cruisers are easier to play with.

 

One mistake on an IJN cruisers means death or a fuckton of damage but one mistake on an USN cruiser can easily be 5k damage and a bit of adrenaline.

[Exustio]

Seems like the IJN cruisers have the same problem as the IJN destroyers as it requires more skill to be effective in them, thus resulting in a longer time to master them. 

 

As some say, torpedo's are weapons of opportunity and u should be using your superior maneuvrability to put yourself in positions where u can do the most amount of damage with the least amount of chance of receiving dmg. Reason being why your torpedo's are weapons of opportunity, is that your concealment range from surface ships extend far beyond your torpedo range, meaning they will spot u before u get your fish in the water, that being said, use torpedo's only if you have the upper hand in the fight (usually u can surprise ships when they come round a island) Other then that, use guerilla tactics, ambush hit and run tactics. 

 

Using the japanese as AA cover for your BB's is a mistake as in most cases, USN cruisers will do the job better. 

[Pivke]

i play cruisers a lot, currently im at tier 6 in both trees (Aoba and Cleveland)

the difference between those two is like night and day

with cleveland you can do a lot of work for your team, to help win the game. with aoba, than the rest of the team needs to do all the work to win the game for you.

 

for the Aoba torpedos, the most use i found for them (still not very often) is when you need escape from multipe enemies. because their fire arc faces somewhat backwards, you can do some shoots when you are zig-zagging to dodge enemy salvos when running away. or if you can suprise enemy ship thats sailing around an island. and thats about it.

[ToomasWoT]

I'm up to the mogami and unlocked everything for it today. Generally, theyre good at dealing damage, not so good for taking damage, rapid firing guns, fairly mobile, you need to learn to zig-zag like a destroyer to minimise incoming damage, try to keep others at range. I dont use the torps on them that much other than blind firing them next to an island or forcing someone into manouvers when they get too close

 

Love the Kuma, has really nice guns and fire rate on them and if you zero in on the citadel of an enemy kuma/phoenix/omaha you can wreck them in about 3-4 salvos, really bad when you start taking hits however, kind of need to surprise an enemy from a blind side, Aoba was ok but I didn't like it that much, used 20k free exp just to get past it, my problem was I was one of the first to get spotted and rekt by BBs 15 km away before I even got to do anything, nowhere near up to par with the cleveland unless you can use your torps on something.

 

And then there is the Mogami, really good ship, have had no trouble doing 70-100k dmg in games, if you learn the evasive "zig-zag of F you" you can go 2v1 vs. clevelands and pensacolas and wreck them, torpedo launch angle is really weird, you can only launch them behind you, for running away I guess, but you won't be doing that much unless you're outnumbered, the 200mm guns are not worth it (yes, I did actually try them for one game), all in all a great ship with great guns, speed and manouverability and good AA aswell, I can understand why theyre swapping it to tier 8 coming patch, it stomps most things.

[Pivke]

i am about to reach the Mogami, tomorrow probably (only 5k exp missing)

so its recommended to play the Mogami with small guns?

and how is the turret turning speed compared to the Aoba? because i needed to put faster turret/slower reload upgrade on that thing, the turrets were turning slow as hell.

[Verdius]

i am about to reach the Mogami, tomorrow probably (only 5k exp missing)

so its recommended to play the Mogami with small guns?

and how is the turret turning speed compared to the Aoba? because i needed to put faster turret/slower reload upgrade on that thing, the turrets were turning slow as hell.

 

Then you will love the Myoukou. That ships guns turn slower than its hull. For the Mogami it is not great, though still manageable. If you can anticipate where the enemy is coming from you wont get too much hinder from it, although sharp turns might make it a bit slow to get your guns on target. 15,5 cm guns are recommended since the DPM on those things will wreck anyone unlucky enough to run into you.

[Magni56]

i am about to reach the Mogami, tomorrow probably (only 5k exp missing)

so its recommended to play the Mogami with small guns?

and how is the turret turning speed compared to the Aoba? because i needed to put faster turret/slower reload upgrade on that thing, the turrets were turning slow as hell.

 

Mogami works with both guns. The 6-inchers are great for murdering DDs and cruisers from more up close. The 8-inchers are great for mid-long range engagements due to their higher velocity, flat trajectory, good penetration and high accuracy. Their AP shells also do more to battleships than merely annoy them. Also, they turn a lot faster if your captain doesn't have AIming Expertise trained.