I like big CVs and I cannot hide, all you peewee captains can't deny...

[AnuSuaraj]

...that when you see a carrier roflstomp, you're all "OMG WHY?!"

 

No, I don't play CVs. I just like them really a lot. One could say that I have a carrier fetish, if one was a bit kinky.

 

I've noticed that in these parts a lot of people don't like carriers, giving these beautiful behemoths such lovely epithets as "sky cancer" and demanding that CVs get "nerfed" or "removed from game..."

 

I have a name for these people, nothing offensive, I just call them NOT Alpha testers.

 

You see, the NOT Alpha testers, unlike us YES Alpha testers, have not witnessed WoWS gameplay that is completely void of aircraft carriers.

 

While most of the people who oppose CVs would probably imagine such game play as some serene nirvana in which battleships and cruisers could calmly exchange gunfire and not worry about the sudden onset of torpedoes delivered from whatever nameless bomber squadron, I, having seen it firsthand, simply know better.

 

WoWS game play with carriers out of the equation was, quite simply put, kind of meh.

 

Just try to imagine the following:

 

Firstly, at the start of every battle all the ships scatter all over the map, turning the battle at hand into a series of isolated duels which entail a great deal of unnecessarily prolonged maneuvers.

 

Once those isolated duels come to their inevitable conclusion, the winning parties from one team begin to scan the map to find the winning parties of the other team. Now, at this point we enter a period known as "the long voyage". It's basically one big chunk of the battle during which absolutely nothing is happening. You just glare at a bunch of friendly ships as they travel to the last known location of the enemy ships.

 

Of course, there are always a few of those strong-willed individuals who don't think much of the minimap and would much rather "go toward some meaningless island over there" because the voices in their feeble minded heads tell them so.

 

So even if the bulk of the two teams would meet before the battle timer ran out in order to resolve their differences over a cup of coffee and a few high explosive shells, the game would still end in a draw because of some BB beached on a remote island somewhere.

 

Of course, there were also situations in which battles ended in a definitive way practically at the start. Some overzealous DD would usually sneak into your cap whilst you were casually steering toward the enemy formations.

 

Most players would turn around toward the cap immediately only to realize half way there that they had no chance of reaching the cap in time. And so the battle ended, giving out a rich bounty of two-digit XP rewards to all the parties involved, including that base capturing DD.

 

But the most special battles by far were those were entire teams set course toward opposing sides of the map so that by the time they finally found each other, the battle's timer was practically all timed out. Here, have another draw.

 

I had 15% draws in Alpha, and the worst part was the fact that even those battles in which I won or lost could be just as frustrating.

 

And then we finally got carriers.

 

A lot of people remember only the bad things that a carrier did to them. Like that one time when they get beached on an island, and a two full squadrons of torpedo bombers appeared to give them a nudge with their remote controlled super water thrusters, you know, the ones that were oddly projectile shaped and instead of giving your BB a nudge made it go boom boom...

 

Or that one time that some CV decided to bomb your cruiser and set it on fire right after you had used your magical scroll of super fast repair-iness .

 

Most human mammals are like that, they just remember the bad.

 

No one remembers that time that a carrier bombed and killed that BB which was just about to kill one's already half dead cruiser, or the time when a CV's squadron spotted an enemy DD just as he was about to torp your ship and then proceeded to chase him away, or that time when a squadron of fighters showed up to fend off a herd of torpedo bombers that were heading your way...

 

So I'm gonna talk a bit about all the good stuff that carriers do for us every battle, about all the useful stuff that their presence brings.

 

Firstly,  carriers dish out a LOT of damage. Ha, you thought this was a bad thing, right? Am I right? I am right, aren't I? Please say something FFS! Stop feeding my deep seeded insecurities! What?! I am not a virgin! AM NOT! I HAZ GIRLFRIENDS! LOTS of them! What? Wait, what did I say?! Never mind. Let's just move on. *cough*

 

Let's talk about why carriers doing lots of damage is a good thing.

 

Firstly, let's take a look at what CVs mostly target with their squadrons:

 

1. Isolated and quite blatantly stupid BBs - juicy snacks for both CV and DD players alike, these lumbering and drooling imbeciles honestly deserve to get sunk as their further presence in the battle can only be a hindrance to the normal battle flow.

 

2. Other CVs - if you really hate carriers so much than you will appreciate the fact that your own carrier is the most efficient anti-CV tool.

 

3. People who like to beach themselves on islands - ups, I kind of messed up there. Oh well, at least I get to look at those pretty planes doing figure eights above my ship...mhmm explodyyyy...

 

And yes, when the three groups listed above are not present, carriers will just go for anything. And they will still do lots of damage. And that's a good thing because everything in WoWS has shittones of HP and that's why carriers are there to push things along, to keep things dynamic and fast paced rather than slow and constipated.

 

Here are other useful things that carriers do:

 

- Carriers use their planes to scout and spot enemy ships, most notably cloaked DDs, thus making the game more dynamic and lively. With a more dependable input regarding the location of enemy ships, you can make tactical decisions just by glancing at the minimap, instead of playing cat and mouse games. They also limit the movement range of DDs and effectively reduce torp spam...

 

- Carriers can reset cap whores. Those battles that you lost because of just one enemy cruiser/DD that had sneaked into your cap when you weren't paying attention? Your carrier can bomb him to oblivion and thus prevent an unsatisfying loss just when you started winning.

 

- Carriers promote TEAMWORK by forcing people to think about AA cover and things of that sort. There is a reason why most animals travel in herds. It is easier to avoid predators that way. Carriers as the ultimate predators will inspire teamwork even in the most antisocial of WoWS players. This is important because it prevents draws due to over-scattering of ships.

 

- Carriers add much needed tactical depth to the game... Without carriers WoWS is basically a game in which you just aimlessly drift around and exchange volley after volley with your chosen foe. Without carriers you don't have to think about tactical formations, or situation awareness, or anything but your next shot. You might think this is interesting but trust me when I tell you that sort of a thing gets tedious in no time at all.

 

- Carriers also add to the skill curve by separating the good players from the target fixation stricken dweebs, they prevent draws and static game play, they murder those WoT clowns that think they can "hide behind big rock just like with my heavy tonk.",  they prevent that "long voyage" thing from Alpha I've talked about earlier, because with planes in the air there's always something to think about and be mindful of.

 

CARRIERS MAKE WOWS A BETTER GAME!

 

And no, we can't nerf them (much). Why, you ask? Have you ever played a carrier? Carrier game play in WoWS can best be described as playing a crappy bird's eye view naval RTS made in the year of our lord 1998.

 

The only joy that you get from playing the carrier is exactly the ability to dominate matches and make an inherently larger contribution to the battle than any other class ever could.

 

We don't have enough carriers as is, because carrier game play is so generally unappealing, so if we nerf carriers (too much), we might expect exactly no one to want to play carriers anymore, and no, that's not a good thing.

 

Without carriers, this game would suck. I know that because I've already played that particular game.

 

Gracias.

[Andreevson]

I, as a cruiser captain, wish for the CV's to stay.

I like shooting down planes.

[Sybeck]

So there were no spotter planes in alpha or alpha testers didn't think to use them?  Agree with post though.

[Kirasa]

So there were no spotter planes in alpha or alpha testers didn't think to use them?  Agree with post though.

 

Spotter planes don't help much on a 60km map with DDs being able to torp from 20km away.

[CroPanzer]

The only problem with carriers is how the MM handles them, they are awesome in the game, but it's no fun having Independence vs zuiho; or hiryju vs langley showdowns as the lesser carrier is almost always useless and takes up unnecesary space for some more worthy ship. The 2cv per game cap is fine, but they need to keep the same number of carriers per team, and +\- 1 tier spread for them, otherwise the higher tiered carrier almost always dominates the game, as it can bomb the opposing one into oblivion.

[Spellfire40]

The only problem with carriers is how the MM handles them, they are awesome in the game, but it's no fun having Independence vs zuiho; or hiryju vs langley showdowns as the lesser carrier is almost always useless and takes up unnecesary space for some more worthy ship. The 2cv per game cap is fine, but they need to keep the same number of carriers per team, and +\- 1 tier spread for them, otherwise the higher tiered carrier almost always dominates the game, as it can bomb the opposing one into oblivion.

 

Depends on the setups and Tirs for example i have no trobble dealing with a indipendence if its balanced in my bogue because my figher will allways win over his thanks to the captain skill. Normaly you get an plus 1 diverence unless the CV is in a fail division and is the lower tired ship or you play at hours with very few players. There are cases were its unfair 6 vs 7 for example because DPS tribbles for fighter there. CV nuking isnt that easy unless both sides have strike decks and one decides to play fair and dont employ mapedge kiting.

 

cya

 

Spellfire40

[AramilG]

Anu,I think I love you...

[Grydneg]

[...]

 

 they murder those WoT clowns that think they can "hide behind big rock just like with my heavy tonk."

 

[...]

 

You sir deserve a medal.

[AnuSuaraj]

Anu,I think I love you...

 

I really can't blame you.

 

How could you not fall deeply in love with such a big and manly blob of cynicism, condescension and mockery?

 

God, I'm sexy.

[OVanBruce]

Yeah, CVs need to stay to make the game more dynamic. That said, CVs need a rework on their gameplay to make their skill ceiling much much higher if they want to keep being the big damage dealers in the game. Currently, it's too easy to make CVs effective when you don't have an enemy CV with fighters in front of you.

[HOKUM302]

[edited]

[Hanszeehock]

 

God, I'm sexy.

 

Chokes on food..........

 

[mtm78]

Yeah, CVs need to stay to make the game more dynamic. That said, CVs need a rework on their gameplay to make their skill ceiling much much higher if they want to keep being the big damage dealers in the game. Currently, it's too easy to make CVs effective when you don't have an enemy CV with fighters in front of you.

 

I wouldn't rework strike setups at all, I would however reward fighter setups a lot more ( though that isn't as easy as it sounds, you do want fighter setups to take at least the same amount of micromanagement as strike setups require ).

 

A bigger problem in the contribution of carrier captains to the chance to win a match is the MM setting up a very good CV player against a bad CV player. If carriers have such a large influence on the team's chance to win, especially with the low battle amounts we all now have making streaks of 'bad MM' more memorable, people will always complain about it if they get the short stick to often. 

 

But, even good CV players can be countered. I seen Sharana being shut down by enemy team work ( and own team playing bad ) even as single unopposed CV. The trick is to make teamwork be more rewarding in experience. 

[King_Dhuum]

I did expect more replies to this thread.

 

Anyway, i agree with you.

 

But i do think the game needs to hardbalance the CVs. As people have previously mentioned, playing in a CV vs another CV 2 tiers higher (or one tier higher when their fighter dps TRIPLES) there is nothing that poor CV can do. If the other CV has at least a couple of functioning braincells.

So either make the tiering difference between CVs less big (like with the other lines) or make it a requirement of CV tier.

Also both teams need an equal amount of CVs.

 

I have raged quite a bit having to be in a BB that was up against a full strike IJN CV on the enemy tier that was the highest tier, without having CVs on our team. Because we also didn't have any clevelands it was an absolute slaughter and we lost the match in a very very horrible way.

 

In my opinion its the IJN CVs that are most unbalanced when not facing any other CV. I feel that US CVs are way more balanced and may even need a small buff or something. (talking about tier 5-6, cause ive only gotten to tier 6)

 

 

In the end if both teams have balanced CV setups, people will realise that they need to keep their own CVs alive. Then people will more likely protect them from assaults from the enemy CVs in order to not lose their own. Because everyone should know that CVs that have free reign (no enemy fighters) is the most deadly CV.

 

If the game doesnt want to balance CVs, it needs to at least add more heavy AA cruisers on the team with less CVs. So the CV (and his planes) can at least be protected from the enemy. But that would require teamwork, which is still not something that you can count on.

 

[Ragoutrabbit]

Carriers are cancer 10 times worse than arty in WOT.

[Aldramelech]

 

I really can't blame you.

 

How could you not fall deeply in love with such a big and manly blob of cynicism, condescension and mockery?

 

God, I'm sexy.

I'm soooo prettier then you

[Flavio1997]

+1 to the Op, you make nice point and completely agree with you, i also remeber how it was before carrier, too boring. All the peaople that are screaming don't know how it was when langley had 12 tbs

[FLUX2226]

Carriers are cancer 10 times worse than arty in WOT.

 

Not sure if just joking or chronic complaining.

[Multispec]

 

Not sure if just joking or chronic complaining.

 

Probably skill-less monkey who sails his tier 5 Kongo to some remote place behind an island and camps in his imaginary bush, all alone (just as in real life)

 

As a USN CV cap up till tier 7, I can tell that when enemy start working together and sail in small formations my life is an absolute nightmare due to overlapping AA.

[chib1977]

dammit anu ,I attempted to read that to the anaconda tune ........it didn't work after the first paragraph........an simply left me stuck with the image of niki minaj's [edited]......

[MudMonkey]

dammit anu ,I attempted to read that to the anaconda tune ........it didn't work after the first paragraph........an simply left me stuck with the image of niki minaj's [edited]......

 

So.... was it a good or a bad experience for you then?

[Karaya1]

Just read OPs post. LOL'ed hard. I like him.

 

Also i very much agree with him.

[NextToYou]

Me and all my gaming buddies talked about this yesterday in teamspeak and everyone said that carriers actually increase the amount of draws IF the carrier balance is fair. All BBs just camp back behind everyone in games with carriers since they know that if they push to "tank" with their BBs the enemy CV will definitely focus him and sink him.

 

In games with carrier imbalance they ofc reduce draws since most likely team with higher tier carrier / only team with carrier roflstomps totally if player of that CV playeris decent (check my thread about correlation between having a higher tier carrier and a victory).

[specialkha]

Game balanced around CVs would be real bad. And it would be as succesful as Wowp.

[Multispec]

Me and all my gaming buddies talked about this yesterday in teamspeak and everyone said that carriers actually increase the amount of draws IF the carrier balance is fair. All BBs just camp back behind everyone in games with carriers since they know that if they push to "tank" with their BBs the enemy CV will definitely focus him and sink him.

 

In games with carrier imbalance they ofc reduce draws since most likely team with higher tier carrier / only team with carrier roflstomps totally if player of that CV playeris decent (check my thread about correlation between having a higher tier carrier and a victory).

 

Can't blame the CV class for dumb [edited]BB / CA/CL captains who doesn't sail in formations and support eachother. Half a team coming up my way nicely interlocked I might do some damage, but the concentrated AA coupled with Cat Attackers makes sure not many of my planes make it back alive. And unlike any other type of "ammo" planes are a finite resourse.