RN Cruisers...just...how?

[Gebbly]

I've read various posts and watched a selection of videos but I just cant get the hang of RN cruisers. I managed to get through the pain of early tiers and things got a little better at the Leander and I am now trying to get the hang of the Fiji.

I understand the idea of trying to hide and hit from cover, I can last a fair way into battles or even all the way through. I know giving a battleship my broadside is asking for a one way ticket to port. Having said all that :

1. If I'm in a stand-off with another cruiser I can be bow on shooting at their broadside, each of my salvos will do maybe 5% damage to them. Each time they hit me I will lose about 20% of my health. The amount of damage that the Fiji puts out against cruisers and battleships compared with the amount of damage taken seems horrible.

2. Shooting at battleships seems to be pointless. Sometimes it gets to the stage in a battle where due to losses on both sides I will have to take on a battleship alone. I know that I should be aiming at the superstructure but even then its like throwing paper planes at a brick wall. Last battle I played I was shooting a battleship for quite a while over islands or dodging his shells. According to the after game report I hit him 33 times for a grand total of 9000 damage.

 

Has anyone got any advice at all about actually being able to do significant damage in a battle? I am also concerned that looking at the tech tree as I get higher up the line the remaining tier 8, 9 and 10 cruisers all have the same 152mm guns. If I can hardly do damage to battleships now how bad is it going to get trying to damage a tier 10 battleship?

 

How can I make a meaningful contribution to my team if I just cannot get the damage output?

 

I would be grateful for any advice at all about playing the RN cruiser line.

Thanks.

[Hanse77SWE]

34 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

1. If I'm in a stand-off with another cruiser I can be bow on shooting at their broadside, each of my salvos will do maybe 5% damage to them. Each time they hit me I will lose about 20% of my health. The amount of damage that the Fiji puts out against cruisers and battleships compared with the amount of damage taken seems horrible.

Do you get overpens on you hits? If "yes" shift your aim. You probably take damage because they shoot HE at you and then it doesn't matter if you're bow in or not.

34 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

2. Shooting at battleships seems to be pointless. Sometimes it gets to the stage in a battle where due to losses on both sides I will have to take on a battleship alone. I know that I should be aiming at the superstructure but even then its like throwing paper planes at a brick wall.

Don't shoot at superstructure. You'll only get overpens. Aim in the hull over the armor belt. When you get the right type of ribbons for your hit then your aim is right.

 

Read up on how AP works here: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Ammo

[Gebbly]

Thanks for the reply Hanse77SWE. That was useful information. I tried creating a training room with some stationary battleships for target practice to see what would happen hitting different parts of the ship. I dont know if its the same for all battleships but firing at a Colorado as you suggest just over the armour belt was a much better effect. Aiming right where deck meets conning tower superstructure seemed to be most effective.

[Hanse77SWE]

@Gebbly Good work!

 

Have a look at the armor model of different ships in the port and continue these tests in training rooms and you'll figure out where to shoot on all the ships.

[Adm_Ballsey]

@Gebbly This is the one for the Leander but you can find the complete playlist on my channel covering both light and heavy lines. I hope this helps you.
 

Leander

 

[Gebbly]

Thanks Adm, those are interesting videos, I watched a few last night. From those videos it looks like I need to not engage with a target until I can try and single someone out on their own. It also seems from those videos that I need to get closer to targets so I can leverage my torpedoes as well as guns. When I started with the RN cruisers I was getting within 8-10kms before engaging but finding if a battleship suddenly spotted me I was toast and so fell back to engaging enemies from about 14-15km. I shall try holding off engaging until I can sneak closer and find individual targets.

 

Hanse's aiming suggestions proved useful against battleships and I notice in your videos when shooting at battleships the leander and cruiser were aiming at that same spot but when shooting at other cruisers or destroyers the captains were lowering their aim to the waterline. I guess in the case of cruisers the 152mm guns have enough penetration to damage a cruisers citadel.

 

I'll try combining this advice and report back in case anyone else finds this useful.

 

If anyone has any other suggestions to help learn the RN cruisers I'm all ears. 

[steveraptor]

 

 

RN CL has one big advantage over all other cruisers in the game. Their detection distance. Leander with camo + CE drops her detection range to 9km.

This means you out-spot all non-DD ships in the game, and the terms of engagement are always in your hands when going against BBs and Cruisers.

Use this distance to escort DDs to cap and help them contest it, if things go hot use smoke.Try to never go below 9km range unless your 1v1 a cruiser ,DD or trying to secure a kill, so you can always go dark if things go hairy, getting below 9km detection range with Leander when facing a BB is usually a death sentence.

Use the minimap to determine where the enemy BBs are.

Effective range of 152mm RN CL is generally, 10-11km, its not worth firing further than 11.5 km unless your trying to finish someone off.

Again with detection, use this to determine when to open fire on a target or not. If a cruiser exposes broadside then open fire, if its bow in and it has back up then don't, or get into a kiting position first.

The heal on RN cruisers allow them to easily brawl with other cruisers and shrug off HE damage, their biggest weakness is BBs.

 

For battleships, never open fire against them if:

1) Your the only target in their sight

2) They are not close to death

3) You have no smoke available

4) They are bow-in

 

Do open fire on BBs when:

 

1) They are busy shooting your allies

2) They are broadside to you

3) They are close to death

4) They just fired their full salvo and their turrets are faced away from your direction

5) Denying objectives to ensure victory

6) You have smoke available and a friendly ship to spot for you

 

 

[Gebbly]

More great advice, thanks Steve. My Fiji has perma cammo and the captain does indeed have CE so I will be giving this a try tonight. Good tip to stay at 9-10km so I can go undetected if things go pair shape. Sounds like I need to work on staying around the 10km sweet spot. Which is interesting as thats almost torpedo range too which is handy if they are pushing towards me.

 

This is all really helpful info, thanks everyone. I really want to get the hang of this line so open to any and all advice.

[steveraptor]

14 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

More great advice, thanks Steve. My Fiji has perma cammo and the captain does indeed have CE so I will be giving this a try tonight. Good tip to stay at 9-10km so I can go undetected if things go pair shape. Sounds like I need to work on staying around the 10km sweet spot. Which is interesting as thats almost torpedo range too which is handy if they are pushing towards me.

 

This is all really helpful info, thanks everyone. I really want to get the hang of this line so open to any and all advice.

I was just like you, also asking for advice about RN cruisers around a month ago , you can even see my thread 7-8 lines below on the 1st page in this sub-forum.

They take time to getting used to, but once you play to their strengths and work around their weaknesses they are extremely rewarding.

I just unlocked Neptune a while ago and I can't wait to get to Mino.

[Gebbly]

Thanks, just reading that other post now. I think I'm about 5k away from Edinburgh so a long way from Minotaur yet.

[HaachamaShipping]

45 minutes ago, steveraptor said:

RN CL has one big advantage over all other cruisers in the game. Their detection distance. Leander with camo + CE drops her detection range to 9km.

This means you out-spot all non-DD ships in the game, and the terms of engagement are always in your hands when going against BBs and Cruisers.

Perth and Huanghe beat Leander's detection.

[Nodslayer]

Loved the line untill i got to Leander then grinded through and Edinburgh is a saving grace,sadly the neptune is a horrid ship and just been ruined with 0 love from WG , i quote a famour player in saying its a "royal speed bump".

 

but going back to line, they are fun to play with bar the two black elephants in the line. Basically choose your fights and when to use smoke, its easy to be dragged into dd battle fighting style early game and dying fast

[Gebbly]

Well I'm trying to hit cruisers at waterline and BBs when encountered on the deck or thereabouts but so far its proving a very painful experience with several losses in a row. Last battle 84 hits on a selection of targets for a huge total of 20,696 damage.

[lafeel]

1 hour ago, Gebbly said:

Well I'm trying to hit cruisers at waterline and BBs when encountered on the deck or thereabouts but so far its proving a very painful experience with several losses in a row. Last battle 84 hits on a selection of targets for a huge total of 20,696 damage.

Might want to reconsider your target selection with a total that low. Or at least where you were shooting at them..

[Gebbly]

Agreed Iafeel, I'm the first to say that I havent got things right yet. Figuring out where I'm going wrong is proving tricky. I'm trying different targets and different locations on ships but not finding a particular solution working for me as yet. I see a lot of people liking the Fiji and Minotaur so there must be a way of captaining them to do damage effectively I just havent learnt what that is yet.

I think I'm getting better at putting myself in the right places and engaging targets without getting pounded. It think the biggest difference to my game now is figuring out how to capitalise on all those hits.

 

I think I'm going to try the RN heavy cruisers as they do get the larger caliber guns as they go up tiers. I got back in my Danae to work up to the first heavy cruiser and taking her out for a battle was immediately so much better. Maybe its in my head but the guns felt like they were doing so much more damage to enemy ships of all types. I'll persevere with the Fiji as I need a huge amount more credits before I can afford the Edinburgh but I think I'll mix in some games with Danae to work towards the Hawkins and see what thats like.

 

In the meantime if anyone has any other thoughts or suggestions I'll try anything to improve.

[ollonborre]

7 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

Agreed Iafeel, I'm the first to say that I havent got things right yet. Figuring out where I'm going wrong is proving tricky. I'm trying different targets and different locations on ships but not finding a particular solution working for me as yet. I see a lot of people liking the Fiji and Minotaur so there must be a way of captaining them to do damage effectively I just havent learnt what that is yet.

 I think I'm getting better at putting myself in the right places and engaging targets without getting pounded. It think the biggest difference to my game now is figuring out how to capitalise on all those hits.

 

I think I'm going to try the RN heavy cruisers as they do get the larger caliber guns as they go up tiers. I got back in my Danae to work up to the first heavy cruiser and taking her out for a battle was immediately so much better. Maybe its in my head but the guns felt like they were doing so much more damage to enemy ships of all types. I'll persevere with the Fiji as I need a huge amount more credits before I can afford the Edinburgh but I think I'll mix in some games with Danae to work towards the Hawkins and see what thats like.

 

In the meantime if anyone has any other thoughts or suggestions I'll try anything to improve.

When it comes to aiming, your AP has a shorter fuse time, so you arm on thinner armor. You also have improved penetration angles meaning your AP ricochets at a steeper angle than usual. What this mean is that firing into the belt is not ideal. Going for the thinner armour just above the belt and even superstructure, that is where you can rack up the damage. It also means that even if a target is bow on going for superstructure damage will still deal some damage so you are not completely toothless, and if they rush you well you do have torps.

 

In the light cruisers it all comes down to supporting your own DD's since your AP chew up enemy DD's really quickly, then finding spots where you can smoke up and provide support, preferably into the enemeis flank. If given broadside the RN CL's are very potent damage dealers, so most enemies will either turn away or turn in, both options that can often leave them out of position.

 

IMO even though they are tricky to play, and apart from the lower tier trash and Neptune (even though it sort of came around in the end) the entire line is a blast.

[Gebbly]

Thanks ollonborre, maybe if I search youtube for videos of people playing the fiji and watch in slow motion paying attention to where they are aiming that will help me find the sweet spot. Homework for this evening :)

[Maris_Piper]

15 hours ago, Nodslayer said:

the neptune is a horrid ship and just been ruined with 0 love from WG , i quote a famour player in saying its a "royal speed bump".

I've heard that so many times and it does seem very fragile when I've come up against it to say the least, That's been my next ship on the Royal Navy LC line for months and to be honest I just don't want to play it so it will probably get left until all else is done, at the moment I'm pondering the Drake and hoping it's not as Dire as the Cheshire ( I should have listened to the CC's on that one) at least I didn't buy the bundle 

[Gebbly]

I have slowly been learning how to allow for the squishiness of RN cruisers, it is possible so dont lose heart. Make use of islands to block flanking ships line of sight. Use your own smoke. If your working with a DD use their smoke too. IF you can push up and bully or destroy an enemy destroyer its satisfying using their smoke :) Never give your broadside to any ship if you can help it. I dont know about tiers higher than the Fiji but certainly in battles with the Fiji I can use the "premium" (or whatever its called) smoke consumable and still make a credit profit (even with my currently terrible damage dealing) meaning an extra charge and faster reload.

 

So far in the RN cruiser line (I have only got to Fiji) I have found the highlights to be the Danae and the Leander, both fun ships. By far the most painful slog was the Emerald, I couldnt wait to get out of that ship. I keep most ships but the Emerald was sold the second I moved on.

I like the idea behind the Fiji and figuring out her guns is surely going to pay off with the other RN cruisers because the guns are the same all the way up to Minotaur which is why I am really trying to figure it out.

I'm hoping the Edinburgh and Neptune arent quite as bad as some people say or its going to be a long miserable slog to get to Minotaur.

[Nit0]

Advice if you have battleships rushing your smoke (it happens sometimes):

- Fire with guns until you can't (make sure you know your concealment in smoke when firing your guns). Constantly move in smoke, if they are good at blind firing into your smoke, it's best to stop firing guns and rather wait for the torpedo opportunity.

- Don't waste your torps too early, way too often I see people drop them when the target is 6-7km away. You have single torp launch, use it. But wait until they are a 100% guarantee hit, your life depends on it. Usually when the target is 2-3 km away. If it's a ship with sonar, this tactic won't work 😁

[ForlornSailor]

On 4/6/2020 at 7:05 PM, Nodslayer said:

the neptune is a horrid ship

 

On 4/7/2020 at 11:11 AM, motor_g_b said:

I've heard that so many times and it does seem very fragile when I've come up against it to say the least, That's been my next ship on the Royal Navy LC line for months and to be honest I just don't want to play it so it will probably get left until all else is done

 

Neptune is awesome. Fighting with Fiji for the top spot of my favourite RN CL. The only problem is WG stuffing half-cruisers, half-battleships into the same cruiser slot with Neptune.

[lafeel]

On 4/7/2020 at 7:16 AM, Gebbly said:

I got back in my Danae to work up to the first heavy cruiser and taking her out for a battle was immediately so much better.

Friendly warning before hand: The Hawkins is simply horrid, should be smooth sailing after that though (at the Devon myself)

[DFens_666]

Need to correct that one here:

On 4/5/2020 at 9:05 PM, Hanse77SWE said:

Do you get overpens on you hits? If "yes" shift your aim. You probably take damage because they shoot HE at you and then it doesn't matter if you're bow in or not.

Don't shoot at superstructure. You'll only get overpens. Aim in the hull over the armor belt. When you get the right type of ribbons for your hit then your aim is right. 

 

Read up on how AP works here: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Ammo

 

With RN CLs, you can shoot at the superstructure of ships! Their fuse is so short, they can get penetrations there aswell.

 

@Gebbly

The problem with RN CLs is, that they are hard to play. You only have very little games overall, thats why you struggle with them. They are very strong - if you know what you are doing.

 

On 4/7/2020 at 11:23 AM, Gebbly said:

I like the idea behind the Fiji and figuring out her guns is surely going to pay off with the other RN cruisers because the guns are the same all the way up to Minotaur which is why I am really trying to figure it out.

I'm hoping the Edinburgh and Neptune arent quite as bad as some people say or its going to be a long miserable slog to get to Minotaur.

 

well, Edinburgh is basicly a Fiji with better heal and bit better concealment. Neptune has bad concealment but better firepower and more torps. Minotaur has insane firepower and very good concealment.

Out of them all, i enjoyed Edinburgh the least. Fiji, Leander and Mino are the best, followed by the Neptune.

 

- Try to find spots, where you can shoot the broadside of enemy ships. Your damage output will plummet to almost 0 when you have to fight angled ships.

- Some BBs have very weak armor, some rather are rather tough. The tougher ones are mostly germans and russians. But something like Fuso has also good armor with very little superstructure, while a Gneisenau has also good armor, but big superstructure which you can farm. Thats what you need to learn when playing RN CLs. Dont shoot targets where you will just waste your time.

- Cruisers have little armor, you can shoot them everywhere, but you wont be able to citadel them all the time. Due to the shortfuse, you might not even reach their citadel ever, but you can dish out a lot of damage with just penetrating them.

 

Here some of my vids i uploaded:

Its all about knowing where to shoot. You can inflict absolutely ABSURD amount of damage to BBs in short time (like the mino game) when you know how to do it

 

[steveraptor]

Up to Neptune I had major success with Leander, Fiji and Eddy.

Today I spent the entire day in the driving Neptune, for the first time.

 

It was so horrible at the start, to the point that I considered quitting the line.

 

The concealment on that thing is one thing...but its maneuverability is atrocious, it handles like a brick and its HORRIBLE de-acceleration got me killed several times because it caught me off guard.

I thought its going to be the same game-play experience like Eddy but its nowhere near it.

 

Its incredible really, this is the only ship that 5 second after I fire, half of the enemy team stops what their doing and suddenly I get 5-6 guns pointed at me.

I got deleted so many times by BBs with seemingly rail-gun accuracy at 15km+ while stern/bow side that I thought the ship is bugged. I freaking hate JBs with passion, both as a CV player and now as Cruiser.

There are so many deadly BBs at tier IX-X that one mistake and your back at port.

 

After a 5 loss streak I took a break and did something else.

Came back now and tried hugging Islands and cover like dear life and I managed to actually carry 2 games and now finished the night with 5 win streak.

Honestly Neptune was the 2nd big slap in the face after Emerald in the RN CL tree.

 

 

 

[NobleRipper]

Just be like all the cool kids and play Ops. Leander smashes the T6 ones, and Fiji isn't too shabby in Narai...