A short CV positioning guide and how to use (IJN) fighters vs (USN) fighters [New Dawn sample]

[Figment]

A few weeks ago I made a topic on the south strategy for BBs on New Dawn. In this guide I'm not going to discuss how to approach a target, as that's fairly obvious. What I'm going to talk about is where to bring and position your carrier.

 

 

Many CV users think distance equals to safety. This is only partially true. There are downsides to being far away from the enemy.

 

If you look at the map above, draw imaginary lines to several regions on the map from each of the dots. Common sense (speed vs distance) suggests the longer the lines, the worse the position is to engage that region. So let's talk about reducing flight travel time as logistics are very important in this game. Like with BBs, you will want your CV to be able to cover the areas that need help the most. Which might be anywhere on the map. So keeping your distances short is imperative. You might want to support a single side, but, you might need to get in a position to aid both sides. Especially if you're the only carrier in the game. When there's two carriers, you may want to have both players split their attention to their own side, or concentrate attention depending on what's happening. To get air superiority, concentrating and strongly coordinating your team's fighters initially is recommended. After all, once you have air superiority, you can go for any target you like and only take good care near AA ships.

 

Positions that are closer to the front have the added benefit that the return flight, where the chance of being chased by enemy interceptors is highest, are as short as possible. You'll encounter interceptors that are being sent after you after all. So if you can get your aircraft on board fast, they have less time to deal damage to them. Furthermore, you'll get the enemy units in AA range sooner, detering if not destroying them.

 

Your fighters should primarily be used defensively as an IJN player. Circle friendly ships you expect will see enemy attacks. Try to panic bombers before they engage your ships. If they fly with interceptors, try to engage those interceptors within the short AA range of the friendly ships, though if you're fighting a lower tier interceptor squadron, the 5-6km range is often good enough. Especially if you're talking Clevelands or better. With IJN fighters, you can't afford to go after bombers if their interceptors escort them. First focus on taking out their fighters, otherwise you can't help your friendly units anyway as you'll just waste your fighters to rear gunners and a stronger fighter squadron.

 

When enemy fighters follow you back to your ship, select the appropriate fighter or bomber squadron to concentrate AA upon with your carrier is quite important. You prioritise fighters your own fighters are engaged with, while you recall other aircraft back. Otherwise you prioritise the approaching aircraft that's nearest, UNTIL it reaches your inner AA range, then you switch to a squadron chasing your other bombers one: this will save you more bombers since now both fighters are less effective under AA fire and are losing aircraft. If possible, intercept the one closest to your carrier with your interceptor, keeping it in your inner AA radius, then switch to the next one once it is destroyed. You generally don't lose many aircraft doing this, because these fighters have been spending their ammo on your torp bombers, are at reduced health and generally drop quickly under combined interceptor and ship AA.

 

Of course if an enemy bomber follows in, your ships AA should be focused there immediately as soon as it gets within AA range. When it drops its payload or lost one or two and another bomber comes within range, switch to the next bomber immediately. With some luck you'll cause panic. Especially if you can get your fighters to support.

 

In general, recall your fighters as soon as they are low on ammo or lost a few fighters that can be replaced. Don't leave weak fighters out to fight.

 

 

Does this tactic make you vulnerable to attack? Yes. It does. Both DDs and aircraft will try to reach you. DD threat you can reduce quite easily as there's a lot of islands to hide behind nearby. Of course you have to start moving on time if you get threats within say 16km that won't be stopped or deterred by you and your team.The air threat is relatively low, since they have to go all the way around an island with torp bombers to get a good angle on you, while your AA starts firing as far as the other side of the big island. But yes, always keep an eye on potential threats. Whether you get attacked in the far end of the map or closer by doesn't really matter anyway, as long as you take appropriate action. If you're closer to your allies, you're more prone to getting support. If you're near the middle, it also makes it more likely another CV will support you with fighters as the distance to cover isn't as large.

 

 

 

USING IJN FIGHTERS

So, some people say "well IJN don't have good fighters and less too, so we're screwed anyway when we face USN CV who get default air superiority". Not really. So, how do you fight two USN carriers then? Many CV players claim it can't be done. Well. It can. Below an anecdote

 

 

 

 

I took my ship to the island in position 11 as a forward AA bastion to retreat to. This reduces the distance your own bombers need to fly, both to target (more sorties). It allows decent control over the center area (good for DD hunting / support), it also allows you to flee to any side if one of your flanks is failing. It allows you to support any flank under threat. Heck, it even helps you cap B near the end of the match if it's needed.

 

The Langley in this match threw its fighters at the enemy fighters, getting double teamed by three interceptor squadrons without ever shooting down any fighters himself. The Langley lost squadron after squadron trying to attack and attack with his fighters "protecting" his bombers or keeping the fighters stalled. It got him some damage and two kills, but cost him most his aircraft.

 

In contrast, I lost 3 fighters total and 5 bombers, one of which to a Kongo I was torping, so I lost 8 aircraft in exchange for shooting down 21 fighters and 15 bombers (and a scout plane in the last seconds of the battle). I on the other hand kept my fighters close to a BB and CA of our team on the weakest flank, where I expected enemy bombers to come, that's where those 15 bombers were shot down (6 on their way to me, 9 in defense of the BB).

 

 

My bombers were initially blocked by those interceptors but I made them come back for a landing before they made any attempts at an attack. In doing so, luring the enemy fighters over my ship and shooting some down with rear gunners probably. I recalled my fighter from the BB protection, made my bomber go in a straight line while being pursuited by an enemy fighter squadron and strafed it starting from a good distance it couldn't intercept me, shot down three fighters, got it within range of my CV as the bombers were returning and I sailed towards them, then let my fighters intercept the interceptors to keep them within 2.5km of my carrier. I lost 2 fighters, they 6.

 

[goodman528]

Thank you for taking the time to write this guide.

 

In closed beta I was very aggressive with positioning my CV as forwards as possible, often with team mates screaming "WTF CV go back!" in chat. But in open beta because the repair costs are prohibitively high at tier 8+, I've become much more conservative.

 

I disagree with the 2 CV matchup splitting between the flanks. I think it's much better if you both strike together, preferably taking out an enemy CV first, then pushing one flank as far as possible.

 

For fighter usage, I think you should use your fighters to only engage enemy bombers. If you are aggressive enough with it, the enemy will be seeking to engage your fighters with his fighters because he wants to protect his bombers. Then your bombers can have free reign over the enemy, which is your real objective with your fighters.

[Figment]

In closed beta I was very aggressive with positioning my CV as forwards as possible, often with team mates screaming "WTF CV go back!" in chat. But in open beta because the repair costs are prohibitively high at tier 8+, I've become much more conservative.

 

Is that because of risk mitigation? Because generally you should be able to get a good score with CVs to cover your costs. Especially when you play aggressive.

 

goodman528, on 16 September 2015 - 12:06 PM, said:

I disagree with the 2 CV matchup splitting between the flanks. I think it's much better if you both strike together, preferably taking out an enemy CV first, then pushing one flank as far as possible.

 

For fighter usage, I think you should use your fighters to only engage enemy bombers. If you are aggressive enough with it, the enemy will be seeking to engage your fighters with his fighters because he wants to protect his bombers. Then your bombers can have free reign over the enemy, which is your real objective with your fighters.

 

For fighter usage, I think you should use your fighters to only engage enemy bombers. If you are aggressive enough with it, the enemy will be seeking to engage your fighters with his fighters because he wants to protect his bombers. Then your bombers can have free reign over the enemy, which is your real objective with your fighters.

 

Actually we agree for the most part. Hence why I recommended at the very least initially working together and why I'm not having my fighter join my bomber teams, but protect against enemy bombers, rather than fighters. I only pull them back when my bombers need support near my CV and to keep the enemy fighters from retreating, forcing them to stay within my AA range.

 

Thing is, it really depends on the deck you have. In the above case, if you only have one set of fighters (and one backup squadron) like with the Zuiho, you can't afford to send them out to aggressively hunt the enemy, since you'll likely end up in a fight over your head. Do they distract? Certainly, but you might just end up giving them aerial superiority for the remainder of the match, whereas in the above case, I ended up with aerial superiority in the end. If you have a fighter setup, aggressive hunting is more of a possibility. Realise though that the above results were attained while having 8 fighters total, one squadron of 4 and still ending with a full squad and one or two held in reserve on board (!). You can't throw them away against two USN CVs without risking getting camped by them if anything goes wrong.

 

But we are fully agreed in the sense I too think a concentrated and coordinated effort between two CVs can make a very big dent, especially if you take out the enemy CV or heaviest AA units. On top of that, creating an AA bastion with two CVs is definitely saver than alone (provided of course you don't make yourself too easy to double torp. ;)).