Advanced Carrier Guide

[Syrchalis]

Alright, it has been a long time since I updated my expert guide and quite frankly I don't think I can salvage it. Too much has changed in terms of CVs and too little did I update. Add to that, that I don't like the format anymore and you see why I want to it remake completely. You will see that I use certain parts of my old guide, because some are still relevant. Before we get started, one more thing:

 

Disclaimer

This guide is meant for advanced carrier players. This is not a beginner guide. If you know your way around CVs, but you are just sailing at the edge of becoming really good and really want to take the next step, this guide is for you. Now, let's get started.

 

 

This guide will have four sections. Operations, Tactics and Strategy, as well as Mechanics. This is not meant in a military sense but in a game design sense.

Operations will teach you how to perform certain actions correctly.

• Torpedo Drop
• Bomb Drop
• Fighter Barrage
• Countering the above

 

Tactics will touch on mid-term goals during the game and how to get the most out of the tools you have at your disposal.

• Withering
• Cross Torpedo Drop
• Ammo Management
• Baiting
• Imminent Death

 

Strategy will be about the grand scheme of things inside of matches and before the matches.

• Modules
• Captain Skills
• How to carry
• Why you shouldn't use air superiority decks

 

Mechanics will briefly touch on many hidden or badly explained mechanics that are relevant for carriers.

• AA
• Spotting
• Torpedoes

 

Abbreviations

DCP - Damage Control Party (the ability that repairs modules, fires and flooding)

REP - Repair (the ability of BBs and high tier CAs to repair hitpoints)

FP - Fighter Plane

TB - Torpedo Bomber

DB - Dive Bomber

 

 

Operations

Torpedo Drop

There is basically three cases. The enemy is turning his ship away, he is driving a straight line or he is turning towards the planes.

 

Case 1

The enemy ship is turning away - or in other words "he is making sure to collect all the torpedos". Why so many do it anyway I will explain later, but for now let's focus on our part in this. If you see an enemy turning away, you should drop your torpedos in a 90° angle to the ship, depending on how fast he turns. The slower he turns the more this is true, so for battleships (aside from the Warspite) this basically always true. For faster ships the angle should be smaller.

 

Case 2

If he drives in a straight line, nothing changes. You can give your drop a slight angle, like 100-110°, but not more, as torpedos get too slow if the angle is too big. Note that ships that drive straight are deceptively fast. An Amagi driving straight for example can make 32,5kts with speed flag. Adjust your drop point accordingly

 

Case 3

If he turns towards your planes it can become difficult. You need to reposition so that you are actually behind his ship, so that your drop angle is around 135°, making him turn into your torpedos. The faster the enemy turns the bigger the angle has to be of course.

 

Always keep in mind the distance of the drop from the circle outline you get when manually dropping (it increases with tier) and the delay that was introduced (torps appear in water only a second after the actual drop). The higher the tier the more you need to aim infront of the enemy ship usually. However, since your planes get faster too, this isn't necessarily always the case. The biggest factor is of course the speed of the enemy ship.

 

Evading Torpedo Drops

Two effective ways to deal with torpedo drops.

 

If you see them coming at you from a distance, turn your STERN towards them and keep turning AWAY. Wait, didn't we say turning away was bad? No, and here is why people do it. If you show them your stern they can't torp you directly and have to fly around you. The distance gets increased because you are driving away with 20-30 kts. It gets further increased because you keep turning your stern towards them. This time is valueable since most CVs have very good AA and can take out most planes in the time it needs them to reposition.

 

If you get caught by surprise turn towards the planes and go full speed backwards. Most will not anticipate the sudden reduction in movement speed. Do this only at the last moment, otherwise the enemy will adjust. You have to learn the right moment by experience - but in general, don't get caught!

 

Bomb Drop

For dive bombers it is actually really simple. You want to approach the ship from the bow if possible. Since it is driving towards you with 20-30 kts, this will make your planes arrive faster, so they take less AA damage. In case of smaller ships you want to attack from the stern, since they have less AA and it's a lot easier to hit from there, because you can reposition your bombers attack point. If attacking from the front you have little time to reposition your drop point, since you will approach the enemy so fast. Never attack from the side.

 

Always use manual drop. Even on DDs. Especially as IJN. Only use auto drop with US dive bombers if they are panicked by AA ability or a fighter attacking them, because their auto drop is a lot more accurate than the manual drop in that case.

 

 

Evading Bomb Drops

This is simple - just keep turning so they need to reposition. There is not much more you can do.

 

Fighter Barrage

As this is still rather new and just recently got buffed and bugfixed as to make it actually viable I still have a lot of learning to do myself, but I can still give you a few hints. If attacking planes head-on you will usually get half the squad at best. If attacking from behind you easily get the whole squad. From the side is mostly random, but it's better than head-on.

 

If you are facing an air superiority CV as strike CV you can and should engage his fighters with barrage head on. But only if you hit all of his fighter squads. You will usually get more fighters just with the barrage than you have yourself. So for example if I barrage 18 Essex fighters with my 6 Essex fighters I usually get 9 kills. You will still lose the fight, but much slower and thus he won't have ammo to hunt your bombers and probably lose a squad as well.

Extra points if you manage to hit his bombers as well as the fighters.

 

Evading Fighter Barrages

To evade them, just make 90° turns with your planes. The aera is big, so you really have to anticipate. If they are already barraging they get a speed buff and it will be too late. If he holds onto the barrage when you attack a ship, make a fake run so he can't attack again for a few seconds. Note that barrage expends only half the ammo of the fighters.

 

 

Tactics

Withering

This tactic is all about abusing the damage over time effects fire and flooding.

The first thing you need to know is how these mechanics work. Both reduce the HP of a ship by a percentage of it's total health every 2 seconds. They have many secondary effects and properties though.

 

Flooding

• Lasts 2 minutes
• Deals percentage damage, decreasing with higher tiers
• Slows the ship down
• 1 flooding effect per ship
• Chance to flood is low in the middle section of the ship, high at bow and stern

 

Fire

• Lasts 1 minute
• Deals percentage damage per fire
• Carriers take 50% bonus damage
• Increases detectability of the ship by 4km
• 4 fires per ship, one per section (front, rear, mid, superstructure)

 

Your enemy here is the DCP consumable. It repairs all modules, extinguishes all fires and fixes all flooding immediately, as well as making the ship immune to these effects. What you need to learn to exploit this mechanic to the max is not just the cooldown of DCP, but also how long it grants immunity, as both these values vary greatly.

 

Free consumable cooldown (payed consumable cooldown)

Battleships (BB): 120 (80) seconds

Carriers (CV): 90 (60) seconds

Cruisers (CA/CL): 90 (60) seconds

Destroyers (DD): 60 (40) seconds

Warspite: 90 (60) seconds

 

Immunity duration

USN battleships: 20 seconds

German battleships: 15 seconds

IJN Battleships: 10 seconds

All other ships (including Warspite): 5 seconds

 

Now that you know the values we can start abusing this. Since flooding change got nerfed hard, we always want to attack first with torpedo bombers. There is a good chance you will destroy the engine of the ship and cause flooding, both which will usually be repaired instantly. Dive bombers deal low damage directly, but if the fires they cause can burn for the full duration - which they can if you attack after the immunity of DCP wears off - they become even compareable with torpedo bombers.

In case you do not cause flooding, use one dive bomber to burn the ship, wait for the fire to disappear and look at the game timer at the top right. Depending on what ship it is, wait a moment and attack with the other dive bombers.

 

Cross Torpedo Drop

This tactic is very simply explained. You position two torpedo bomber squads around a ship, but attack with one first. The ship will react and turn, which gives you the opportunity to hit even better with the other squad, as he cannot change his course anymore.

 

Against DDs you need a different tactic. You want to drop torpedos really close and in the direction it is driving. If the DD turns to the left or right he will eat torpedos, so he is forced to drive straight. This is your chance to torp him from the side.

Since torpedo speed got nerfed hard for IJN this is a lot harder to execute, but the converging spread helps a lot. This of course also works with very mobile cruisers too. Bigger ships can be hit more efficiently.

 

Ammo Management

Fighters have limited ammo. Whenever they are out of ammo you are vulnerable or at least your bombers are. If you lose a fighter squad you will usually be even more vulnerable due to the increased serving time. That's why it's important to manage their ammo.

 

One important information - barrage consumes around 50% of your ammo, so you got two barrages per fighter squad.

 

Make sure you know what the enemy carriers planes are doing. Are his fighters up? Do they have ammo? Are they currently returning? Same for bombers - are they up? Did they already attack? Make sure you don't keep fighters with less than half ammo around - except if bombers are coming right now and you know you can barrage them.

 

If you want to expend your ammo fast so you deal the damage quickly and the fighters can return more quickly, use barrage. If you want to lock something down to delay it, click them instead.

 

Baiting

This is a very important tactic against other carriers. The most simple use is to make his fighters follow yours over ships that have good AA, allowing you to win the fight. Most do not fall for this however. There is a lot more you can do though.

 

You can send divebombers to a ship and distract enemy fighters, while you attack a far away ship with torpedo bombers. Just make sure he spots your dive bombers first. The same works with fighters too.

 

As long as you have equal amount of fighter squads (=not planes!) you can lock his up with yours and attack unhindered. This is the advantage of IJN's squad size and count.

 

Countering this strategy comes down to how perceptive you are. If you see only divebombers, do not commit your whole ammo to them (again - Ammo Management!), especially if you know his torpedo bombers should be up as well. Read your opponent, don't let him fool you.

 

Imminent Death

Sometimes you can see your death coming, because you're burning out or are slowly pummeled by a DD. Since you cannot command your planes after death, make sure to use autodrop. This is the only reason to ever use autodrop (except US DBs). The planes will carry out your order even after you died. Make sure you use the small white arrow that is on the circle around your target, to optimize the angle of your auto drop. Just click on it, drag and drop it.

 

 

Strategy

Modules

125k

Air Groups Mod 1

Nothing else makes sense here really.

 

250k

Damage Control Mod 1

Your steering and engine usually won't get damaged, but less fire chance is really important

 

500k

Flight Control Mod 1

Air Groups Mod 2

AA Guns Mod 2

All those work well. Usually you want Air Groups Mod 2, because without it your fighters will have a disadvantage. However with the rise of barrage ammo is much more important for fighters than HP, so you can also go with the others. For Essex/Midway I really suggest the AA mod. For Taiho/Hakuryu I really do not recommend it because their AA is simply FAR too weak for T9/10 planes.

 

1Mil.

Damage Control Mod 2

Steering Gear Mod 1

Propulsion is rather useless for us. Steering is okay, especially with the abysmal rudder shift of high tiers, but usually our problem isn't the rudder anyway, but the turning circle which gets not really better. Damage Control Mod is the best all around solution, because together with the captain skill we can push fire duration to 42sec, which means 18sec less waiting for starting planes a WHOLE lot less damage - if we ever get set on fire without DCP.

 

2Mil.

Concealment Mod 1

No other option here really. Our aquisition range is already the whole map. Torpedo detection won't help with our horrible rudder shift and if we spot a ship we are already in trouble anyway - usually everything shoots at us as soon as they are in range so we can see them anyway.

 

3Mil.

Flight Control Mod 2

Air Groups Mod 3

AA Guns Mod 3

Nearly no decision. Air Group Mod 3 is simply so good - 15% hp for bombers means a whole lot damage we won't lose to AA. 20% AA efficiency is not nearly as good as 20% AA range. 5% plane speed is not to be underestimated, especially since it allows bombers to reposition faster and so take less AA damage. However it's not as good as 15% HP.

 

Captain Skills

Tier 1: Usually you want rear gunners or -15% fire duration. The latter is more reliable by far, but you don't get set on fire that often either. If you got an extra skill point, feel free to get 10% AA dps. Situational Awareness can be good too, as it makes sure you know when a DD is close sooner as well as when and where to hide and if it's working or not.

Tier 2: Torpedo bomber reload or less fire chance. Usually the former is better, because the 7% is not a flat value. If a ship has 20% fire chance it will lose 7% of that 20%, meaning 0.2*0.07=0,014 -> 1,4% less fire chance - so a total of 18,6% instead 20%.

Tier 3: -10% on DCP usually, because 10% of the Dogfighting Skill isn't much, you will still lose against higher tier fighters and mostly you won't even fight those after mirror matchmaking. Yes you can still be matched with 2 tiers higher CV on your and enemy team, but then those 20% won't help much anyway, as all ships will wreck your planes with their AA anyway, so winning fighter fights is kinda irrelevant.

Tier 4: Aircraft Servicing Expert, no question. It's simply really good. Only other option is 20% AA range, but usually it's not that important. If you want better AA take the module.

Tier 5: Air supremacy, no matter if IJN or US. It hurts more to not have as IJN (by a lot) but both should always go for this skill. Note - it does NOT affect torpedo bombers, just dive bombers and fighters.

 

How to carry

We all want to win - and carriers are really good at carrying a team to victory, even though your team mates are maybe not that great. There is very different ways to do so and your method should also depend on your team.

 

Damage

The most reliable, brute force way of carrying is by pure and sheer damage. Carriers can hardly cap and decap so naturally they deal more damage than other ships (otherwise they would suck). To understand how to carry by damage you need to be aware of some things. First off, dealing 15.000 damage to a T10 DD is equal to 100.000 damage to a T10 BB - one dead ship is one dead ship, just because the number is smaller doesn't matter. However, for this method it does matter. While the 15.000 damage to for example a Shimakaze are worth the same as 100.000 to a Yamato, every ship, especially cruisers can easily deal those 15.000 to a Shimakaze. But you will probably lose 4-5 cruisers if they try to deal 100.000 damage to a Yamato. So while in general the damage >number< is not relevant, because it matters WHAT you damage (a DD or a BB), for this strategy the number is important, because those 100.000 to the Yamato have to be dealt by someone. And you excell at that as CV.

 

If you can finish off a target, you can do so. If you only damage 5-6 ships a lot, they are still there and still shoot your fleet. However, in general we don't want to go for kills. If there is two BBs, one with 10.000 HP and one with 60.000 we want to attack the 60.000 one. And no we will not use one of our two torpedo bombers to finish the 10.000 one off. This strategy relies on you dealing a ton of damage. If you deal 200.000 damage, that's 200.000 damage your team does not have to deal to win. As most BB/CA/DD drives don't go beyond 100.000 damage in their games (some good ones do, but they are rare) you are essentially worth two ships already (in damage, you still don't cap/decap).

 

Alright - now this strategy is always good, simply because it works with every team. It doesn't matter how good or bad your team is, if you are on a roll you can just brute force your way to victory. I had many games with 8 kills and way above 300.000 damage in my Essex, simply forcing the win.

 

Priority Targets

This strategy is about kills, not damage, contrary to the above Damage Strategy. We want to take out targets that are particularly dangerous. A strike loadout carrier is the biggest threat here, as it is also the biggest threat to you. And if you die, you cannot win the game anymore for your team. Other good targets are dangerous DDs (Fubuki, Shimakaze) and the highest tier battle ships (e.g. if the enemy team has 3-4 T8 BBs and one Yamato).

I repeat - it's about removing those targets, not about dealing high damage. All that matters is that those targets are gone and won't bother your team anymore. This strategy is good if your team is not a hopeless case. You cannot really carry that hard with it, but if you have some capable players in your team that have trouble with CVs for example, taking out their CV will improve their performance a lot. If you play in a division this is usually the best tactic.

 

CV Sniping

Now we need to talk about CV sniping naturally, as CVs will be your main target. This is the strategy to take out the enemy CV right away, preferably in one bomber run. Most CVs, except for Lexington and Midway are rather stealthy, so finding it is already hard, but you can assume where it is by knowing the spawn locations on the map. If you don't know those, just look where you spawned yourself and mirror it to the other side of the map.

When fighting another strike deck CV you can go through the middle of the map or along the border. The border is good to hide your intentions, so that cruisers won't turn around and protect the carrier. Killing a carrier with (at least a bit competent) cruiser support is pretty much impossible. Through the middle has the advantage that you will arrive a lot faster and if both your CVs have bad AA and no protection from cruisers (e.g. Hakuryu versus Hakuryu) then the one arriving first usually wins.

In the old days you would take your fighters with your bombers to protect them, but with the new barrage it's best to leave them right above your CV. If the enemy wants to lock up your fighters with his, your CV's AA will help you kill them fast. If your CV has weak AA for it's tier (Taiho, Hakuryu) then you have to barrage his fighters. If he is stupid enough to engage your fighters only just when he is attacking, barrage the hell out of his fighters AND his bombers at the same time. I've gotten 18 plane kills with one barrage before.

Against a fighter deck CV you don't need to worry about getting killed at all (except Taiho, Hakuryu) but even the two exceptions can't kill you in one run. So make sure to use your fighters as distraction. Make sure to barrage his fighters, as to thin them out. Even if he kills your fighters fast, he will have little firepower left to engage your bombers. Don't send your bombers through the middle.

 

Support

This last strategy is mostly if you are playing air superiority decks. It's success depends greatly on your team, so if you have bad teammates you will hopelessly lose with it. For this you don't need to be using strike decks, but generally you should not be using air superiority decks (explained below). There are ships that should use those decks regardless, that's why we even have this section.

 

You want to read the enemy CV and anticipate his attacks. Spread your fighters to shoot his bombers. Be smart, don't let him lock up your fighters and pass them with his bombers. Spot for your team - send fighters and bombers (empty or not) to reveal DDs. Note that DDs in smoke screens (not moving) cannot be revealed by aircraft.

 

Make smart use of your limited bombers. Decap with them and only ever attack lonely targets. Remember - if a ship has good AA and shoots down 4 planes each attack on it, if you attack it with a swarm of 16 bombers, 12 will get through. If you are playing an air superiority deck however you maybe only have 8 bombers, meaning only 4 will get through, halving your attack power. That's why it's important to pick weak targets and group up your bombers.

 

Conclusion

There is no "best way" of carrying a game. You have to adapt. Switching from pure damage to priority targets (e.g. a DD capping) is often mandatory for success. Part of why CV are so good is because they can switch their tactic quickly, unlike a BB for example that is slow and can't quickly rush to a point after playing defensively for a while. Keep your eyes and mind open. Sometimes spotting a DD with an empty divebomber is more important than having it return and reload.

 

Why you shouldn't use air superiority decks

Currently air superiority decks are bad. There is only one ship that should use it and two that can use it. Aside from those, avoid them like the plague. As you can read above, the best way to carry teams with random teammates is by damage - or by removing priority targets. Either requires you to have strike power, something all AS decks lack, especially the US ones. The only thing you can do with AS decks is the support tactic and if your team sucks you are doomed.

 

Not convinced?

Alright - both sides have 12 ships, you as CV, plus 11 random players on your side and the enemy side has a CV too, as well as 11 random players. Let's assume those 11 random players are equally good (or bad). To have a greater impact than the enemy CV you need to deal more damage. Remember, CV can not cap/decap well, so damage is your best bet.

Let's imagine for simplicity, you have 1 FP and no other planes. And he has 1 TB and no other planes. The best case scenario for you is - shoot down his TB before they attack. If you manage that, both of you did 0 damage. You went EVEN.

If he ever only hits one torpedo, he did more than 0 damage and since you cannot deal damage, you lost - no matter what you do.

 

In reality both CVs will have some bombers. But to actually win against a strike CV with an AS deck you would need to push his damage below your own. Imagine yourself in a Ranger 2/0/2 setup. Those two DBs struggle hard to even deal 10-30k damage. Pushing a 2/2/2 Hiryu below that is nearly impossible. If he hits one torpedo run he is already ahead so much that you can't catch up in damage, even if he randomly detonates just then.

 

The effects of spotting are minor and just because you can spot a bit better with your fighters doesn't mean the enemy CV won't spot for his team. To add to that, he has kill potential on you, while you do not have kill potential on him, putting you in a very bad position.

 

To further proof my point. Bogue is often played as AS deck (2/0/1). Zuiho CANNOT be played with an AS deck (it only has 1/1/2 and 1/2/1 setups). Zuiho has massively better winrate than Bogue.

 

Okay, but why does anyone use them then? Because it's easy. Fighters require nearly no skill. But managing bombers, especially versus an AS deck requires a lot of skill - but you also get a lot more out of it. Don't go the easy way guys, be strong for your team, take strike deck.

 

Should use AS Deck:

Hakuryu

Simple - Hakuryu has massive strike power (2 TB 2 DB) AS WELL AS massive air superiority (4 FP). A 1/2/2 Midway will be entirely dominated by the setup. A 2/3/3 Hakuryu will also lose. Pushing those CVs damage down with 4 fighters is easy and 2 TB 2 DB can deal loads of damage. Remember what I said two paragraphs above? This ship excells at it. It's the only one. It is perfect to push enemy CV damage down hard as well as deal loads of damage on it's own.

Fair warning though, managing four fighters and two different attack squad types requires massive APM, map awareness and skill. It's the only fighter setup that is more difficult than a strike setup.

 

Can use AS Deck:

Taiho

A weaker version of the Hakuryu. With just 3 fighters it's not that amazing at dealing with enemy bombers, that's why the deck is just viable, but not strong. Plus the 2/3/2 deck of it is really powerful, because you get 3 of the best planes, but still have two of the other types.

Ryujo

The weak bombers of the Ryujo make it a bad fighter CV, but with 3 FP you can easily dominate a Indepedence, even if it's AS setup as well (2/0/1). You might not win against his fighters by default, but he only gets one divebomber and you still have a torpedo bomber, so usually you will pull ahead. If he is smart and uses 1/1/1 setup, you have to make sure his bombers don't deal too much damage, but since you win air superiority it should be possible.

 

Mechanics

Anti Air

Basically every ship has several AA circles around their ship - their size dependant on the range of said AA. If you enter those circles the AA automatically starts firing. So far so good. If the enemy selects a squad to focus fire the AA deals 50% more damage. The overall damage is probably something like this - if it says 200 damage per second, then it rolls a number randomly between 0 and 400 and deals that as damage. Why is it probably like that? If you carefully watch the AA of a ship you attacked many times (e.g. I play tons of Essex, so I face many Essexes and I myself am defending a lot against bomber attacks) you sometimes see how planes drop from the sky and other times they barely get a scratch.

No matter how it works exactly, the damage is random and the DPS is just an average.

The AA consumable increases the damage of AA and makes all planes panic in ALL circles of AA (including the long range DP gun circle). This one is usually 7km huge, but can be even bigger on the Des Moines for example. DP guns get 6x damage and with focus firing even 9x, so especially Cleveland and Baltimore can make planes rain from 7km.

 

Spotting

In this game it works like fog of war but reversed. Usually all units have a vision radius in which they reveal all enemy units. However in Warships it works the other way around - every ship has a concealment radius. If an enemy plane or ship enters it, it get's revealed. The radius is different for planes and ships.

Now planes also work like this. They get revealed by planes and ships in 8km range. This means that DDs can see planes without being seen. This is important to know, because it could ruin your sneak attack. Note that DDs usually don't have below 5.9km ship reveal distance, but their plane reveal distance can be tiny, like 3km and below, so the chance to have your planes spotted without knowing about it is huge if you fly over DD areas.

A plane ignores mountains. The only thing that can conceal a ship from a plane is a smokescreen. If a ship sits in a smokescreen and doesn't move you cannot reveal him with planes.

 

 

THIS IS STILL WIP. GIVE ME TIME. MAKING IMAGES TAKES TIME.

 

 

+1 For who recognizes the carrier in the title image.

[GulvkluderGuld]

Nice guide. Great work Syrchalis!

 

Fighter Barrage is an awesome tool post 5.2, as it lets you play balaced setups into AA decks, due to the threat value of that one fighter squad. 

 

Only problem is how one deals with CV sniping with just one Fighter squad (esp. if there is an excorting F).

Do you have any advice on that? 

 

I randomly stumbled on barraging parallel and in front of a ships broadside as the strike goes in when defending other ships. This works quite well (2/2 times i got 12+ plane kills with one squad), but on snipes, usually the enemy CV will try to lock up my fighter as his 1st priority. So where do I position my fighter?

 

ps: I ditched my Indy back around patch 4 due to hopeless battles against Ryujos, but now in 5.2 found that WG finally fixed CVs. Maybe my question is a noob one that doesnt belong in this thread, if so I apologize

[T_H_0_R]

Nice guide, have a +1!

 

Also, I like your signature.

[Syrchalis]

Updated. Finished Strategy section. Will soon finish the Mechanics section too and add some more pictures where I think they are necessary. Picture requests at certain spots & questions welcome. I'll also give a +1 to who recognizes the carrier in the title image - for fun (hint, hint, it's my favorite carrier (not in the game)).

 

 

After I am done, I will write a german version of the guide.

[ilhilh]

Really good guide.  It confirms that plenty of the things I do are correct whilst giving me food for thought on areas I can improve on.  Will keep an eye out for the final section being finished.

[GulvkluderGuld]

l

Imminent Death

Sometimes you can see your death coming, because you're burning out or are slowly pummeled by a DD. Since you cannot command your planes after death, make sure to use autodrop. This is the only reason to ever use autodrop (except US DBs). The planes will carry out your order even after you died. Make sure you use the small white arrow that is on the circle around your target, to optimize the angle of your auto drop. Just click on it, drag and drop it.

 

 

At tier 6 and still have not figured out how to rotate an autodrop. I even looked for an arrow yesterday and couldnt see it. Guess I don't autodrop enough 

 

Syrchalis, on 06 January 2016 - 11:13 AM, said:

 I'll also give a +1 to who recognizes the carrier in the title image - for fun (hint, hint, it's my favorite carrier (not in the game)).

 

Open hangars in two decks? Looks fairly old? Had to do a google search, but I figured it must be british.

The first "modern" CV, Ark Royal probably?

[Syrchalis]

Yup, Ark Royal, my absolutely favorite ship ever.

 

SoonTM it will be mine.

[GulvkluderGuld]

Yup, Ark Royal, my absolutely favorite ship ever.

 

SoonTM it will be mine.

 

Ark Royal was a cool ship

Looking forward to see armored CVs introduced too. 

Those british CVs should stand up to most DB HE attacks without much trouble. 

CVs will need AP bombs to really hurt them!

[olmedreca]

Nice guide, few comments (probably IJN centric):

 

Torping

If you are completely confident in predicting enemy movement, or lack of it, then with new IJN speard you can potentially score more hits by dropping torps a bit further away from target.

 

If you need to torp under AA barrage then you should aim at bigger groups, torps missing first target may score a few bonus hits at ships behind it.

 

Bomb drop

While DB manual drop should be always used then possible, torpedo drop and fighter barrages are usually more crucial. So if you simply have excessive amount of stuff going on at once, and cant micromanage everything, then DB manual drop is the least important thing.

 

Baiting

Sometimes it is worth using „live bait“ for fighter barrage. Most simple example: 2v2 USN vs IJN fighter engagement. If both USN fighers engage the same IJN fighter then it is almost always worth it to barrage then all with second IJN fighter.

 

Cruiser AA consumable can be also baited. One way is simply having one squad to attack in advance, so that barrage is over by the time next attacks arrive. Other way is to turn back then cruiser activates AA, and either wait, or preferrably hit something else nearby to avoid wasting time.

 

If enemy fighters close in on bombers, and you cant make it back, nor do any anti-ship damage, then just waste his time by running away towards most remote corner of map.

 

Imminent death

You can also give last orders to your fighters. Either to engage some enemy squad, or to patrol over some friendly BB.

 

Captain skills

While I do prefer rear gunners, I would consider Situational Awareness also a legitimate choice.

 

How to carry

I would add that ultimately it is not about any single way. Most important feature of carrier is the fact that it is extremely flexible. You can do lots of things, you just need to know what to do at specific moment. In same game you can do crapload of general damage, finish off some priority target, decap, scout enemy DD etc.

 

CV sniping

High risk, high reward strat. If you get him with 1st strike, then it is an easy life afterwards. On other hand, every strike on CV that fails to get a kill is a tremendous waste. Usually there will be nobody else in your team that can „finish the job“, lower health doesn't really reduce enemy CVs damage potential, and strike on CV at backlines takes longer time lowering your sortie rate.

 

Why you shouldn't use air superiority decks

Rule of thumb: if it doesn’t have TBs then it is not suited for random battles.

 

Also few other things I would consider relevant:

 

Cycling squads

With high tier carriers, especially IJN ones, you will have lots of squads that need to land, reload and take off. It can get quite crowded then close to combat. TBs do more damage then DBs, so it is usually worth it to give them priority for fastest possible cycling at cost of DBs spending more time waiting. Sometimes it can be also crucial to get fighters up asap for defence, on other hand if enemy cv is dead then they have lowest priority.

 

Concentration of force and spreading the map

Not so crucial with the new fighter barrage but still worth noting. Principle with fighter superiority is simple, one can be strong in small area or weak in wide area. If enemy has moderate fighter superiority (like 2-1-1 Lex vs 2-2-2 Shokaku), then head on approach will likely wear you down. If he keeps his force concentrated, then you should just attack stuff on all corners of map, as he can cover only limited area. If he tries to spread out for wider coverage then you can punch through at single point with local superiority. Obviously far harder in practice, but can be made to work.

 

Pregame

If you are not the highest tier ship in the game, then it is sometimes useful to check AA ratings of most likely targets while game is loading. It can give indication what are easy targets (lol @ stock Colorados), and what will be pain in *** to bomb.

[Syrchalis]

CV sniping

High risk, high reward strat. If you get him with 1st strike, then it is an easy life afterwards. On other hand, every strike on CV that fails to get a kill is a tremendous waste. Usually there will be nobody else in your team that can „finish the job“, lower health doesn't really reduce enemy CVs damage potential, and strike on CV at backlines takes longer time lowering your sortie rate.

 

First off, I added a few things from your feedback, because I either forgot them (T1 skill situational awareness comes to mind) or because I think they are simply worth adding.

 

As for CV sniping - I hate it. If I was the lead game designer CVs would have better AA (Taiho and Hakuryu) and they would have AA consumable. It's just such a boring and annoying tactic, but with how bad most players are nowadays, even in higher tiers it's incredibly effective. I use it with caution and I try to avoid it, yet I mostly find myself resorting to it, because it's a solid opening gambit. Even if you fail the other CV will be forced to keep fighters over himself at all times, as one or two DBs can end him (1 fire burns for 10k through it's duration), allowing you to strike other ships. It's not as good as a kill, but it comes close in terms of removing any hinderance for you - with the new barrage you can still defend his strikes well.

 

I added the AA mechanic. I will soon finish that section, but I'm out of time at the moment. If I think of some other interesting sections (specific ship guides for example) I will add those. However I think especially for ships I might make seperate topics.

 

Also added Warspite to the DCP section (withering) because it has cruiser-like DCP (5sec duration, 90/60sec cooldown) - which is an exception.

[Hontaro]

You said that you should use the 4/2/2 loadout on the Hakuryu.

is the 2/3/3 loadout still viable (i.e. have its own merits) though or is it completely inferior to the Fighter loadout/not viable due to opposing Midways/Hakuryus at all?

 

How would you go against clustered groups (assuming there are only clustered groups around, no solo ships)? Would you wait for them to split up or sacrifice some of your planes to bait AA barrage/attack?

[Farazelleth]

As for CV sniping - I hate it. If I was the lead game designer CVs would have better AA (Taiho and Hakuryu) and they would have AA consumable. It's just such a boring and annoying tactic, but with how bad most players are nowadays, even in higher tiers it's incredibly effective. I use it with caution and I try to avoid it, yet I mostly find myself resorting to it, because it's a solid opening gambit. Even if you fail the other CV will be forced to keep fighters over himself at all times, as one or two DBs can end him (1 fire burns for 10k through it's duration), allowing you to strike other ships. It's not as good as a kill, but it comes close in terms of removing any hinderance for you - with the new barrage you can still defend his strikes well

 

I was curious about your statements on CV sniping because as you say its a totally viable tactic depending on the ship you are using and tier of your opponent. I Wish to talk about the reasons for sniping, the tactics in 'how to' you have mostly covered. I liked your idea on giving CV 'Defensive Fire' (but a CA working as a helper is fine too) or some mechanic to avoid the inevitable sinking when a Midway targets you.

 

Little feedback from myself a vet CV player. I play mostly CV in random and ranked and have roughly 900+ CV games to-date. Got Rank 1 in Lexington last season 2 and most likely will get Rank 1 with Shokaku this Season 3 (since its 50 times easier). I also have the Hakuryu and Midway.

 

So with that in mind, I CV snipe very heavily when the situation calls for it. When to snipe varies from game to game but typically it follows one of these three guidelines below;

1) The enemy CV is a direct threat to myself. Usually this means Strike Midway or in some circumstances any CV that attempts to repeatedly bomb me in tiers lower than 10. In this scenario I will actively seek out the enemy Carrier and bomb/sink him in one wave. Also I should note that if I'm dead the enemy CV has a free hand to scout our DDs and bomb anything he pleases.

 

2) The enemy CV is a direct threat to our victory. Various reasons here, maybe his bombing is too good or he is doing a good job of scouting, the list is endless. A really good example would be an enemy Midway/Hakuryu. If left alive they pose a significant threat to my fleet (if not myself) and provided the battle allows for a safe bombing run, sniping said CV has a hugely positive effect on our chances to win.

 

3) The enemy CV has placed himself in a disadvantaged location and/or my bombers while waiting for an appropriate target spot the isolated CV. Basically he has become a target of opportunity not necessity.

 

Should be noted that not all Carriers can snipe as a result I don't try if I can't guarantee a kill in one bomb run. Hiryu, Shokaku and all T9/10 CV's are easily capable of sniping a full HP Carrier of equal tier. Lower tiers it becomes more problematic but also the threat from the enemy carrier against oneself is greatly reduced.

 

 

What surprised me was the level of hostility from enemy Carrier players who were victims to my sniping, across all tier levels. Insults such as scumbag tactics and dirty underhanded attacks are only an example of some of the salty chat replies directly at myself when I focus down an enemy CV. And this is what caught me off guard, when did the CV community decide it was taboo to kill each other but totally fine to kill all other ships? Often the greatest threat to my teams victory is the enemy carrier (see guidelines 1 and 2 above), so since you pose such a great threat why would I not sink you?

 

Final thoughts on the matter, devs have created a game where its possible to nuke the enemy CV with a single bomb wave.... but not equally for all Tiers. Lexington has a much harder time than say Shokaku and Hakuryu has a much harder time against the Midway. The balance is slightly off and this is what possibly makes players so frustrated, you can kill me but I cant kill you .... so please don't kill me! In the end I have no remorse in sinking any ship that threatens the team or myself.

 

What are your thoughts on the issue?

 

[Vulgarny]

I really like to see how you one shoot Lex in Shokaku or vice versa or T10 scenario

[Farazelleth]

I really like to see how you one shoot Lex in Shokaku or vice versa or T10 scenario

 

Assuming I'm also in a T8 CV, I wouldn't try sink the Lex. My mentality being I will out bomb him in a Shokaku giving my team a lead or if playing a Lexington I will out fighter him bleeding his planes dry while performing my own bomb runs. Plus I won't waste a bomb run if I don't feel I can sink the CV immediately (waste of an attack). So in a Lex its really hard with a single TB to do enough damage and proc a flooding. The key to sinking with lower Tiers (4-8) is a staggered bomb attack, the initial alpha strike and force repairs, either from flooding or 1 DB waves fire. Then the instant after they repair follow up with your second DB wave and proc a second fire. Its significantly easier with a Shokaku due to more accurate manual DB drop guaranteeing fires.

 

Assuming full HP,

T7 Hiryu can easily kill another Hiryu and Ranger. A Ranger however can't do the same to another Ranger/Hiryu (due to single DB and low flood chance)

T8 Shokaku just the same as the Hiryu, can kill any T8 CV but the Lexington will find it slightly harder due to single TB wave being easier to avoid most torps

 

T9/10 the US CV's alpha strike alone is enough to sink enemy carriers, if you lose some planes or some TBs miss, repeat the same tactic above. Cause a fire/flood dot, wait for repair then follow up with additional dive bombers. IJN Taiho is still pretty strong against Essex but Hakuryu suffers from not being able to alpha strike the Midway and having to rely on DB fires... also the Midway AA is crazy strong compared to the Hakuryu, so the US CV can take all day to line up a perfect bomb run while the Hak has to perform a perfect run first time to avoid plane loss (and therefore reduced damage done).

 

*edit*

I should however mention that I have not used the Hakuryu since the most recent CV patch which made barrage fighters more viable and tweaked the IJN TB wave spread. After I hit rank 1 with my Shokaku I plan to move the captain back to the Hakuryu and test both Strike 2-3-3 and Fighter 4-2-2 setups against Midways.

[Vulgarny]

You are assuming that enemy CV players is carrot. But I have to say 2nd generation on Cv players this days are carrots. Still you cannot sink in one strike neither on t8 or on t10 assuming similar skill level of CV players. CV sniping is just waste of time

[Farazelleth]

You are assuming that enemy CV players is carrot. But I have to say 2nd generation on Cv players this days are carrots. Still you cannot sink in one strike neither on t8 or on t10 assuming similar skill level of CV players. CV sniping is just waste of time

 

When using the term "one strike" I'm talking all your bombers with a mixture of 'alpha' the initial attack and then follow up 'beta' attack for damage over time fires. T8 its harder to do and typically I don't bother in random because its not worth the extra flight time on slower planes when I can be more productive sinking something else.

 

T10 Midway can sink any carrier it wants, even if the enemy CV has full HP and is the best player in the world. If hes isolated away from a 'Defensive AA Fire' ship and... is not humping/abusing the border its a guaranteed kill. Different story with the Hakuryu, havent used it recently so I can't comment on its effectiveness but previous patches it was weaker than Midway

 

To say CV sniping is a waste of time drastically over simplifies when to and when not to sink an enemy CV.

[GulvkluderGuld]

What surprised me was the level of hostility from enemy Carrier players who were victims to my sniping, across all tier levels. Insults such as scumbag tactics and dirty underhanded attacks are only an example of some of the salty chat replies directly at myself when I focus down an enemy CV. And this is what caught me off guard, when did the CV community decide it was taboo to kill each other but totally fine to kill all other ships? Often the greatest threat to my teams victory is the enemy carrier (see guidelines 1 and 2 above), so since you pose such a great threat why would I not sink you?

 

What are your thoughts on the issue?

 

 

Only at tier 6 so far. Good CV players are few and far between.

I usually dont snipe bad players even when I can, it just ruins their basic learning and game experience. Besides, I will easily outdamage them and kill their planes anyway (even those pesky aa decks)

 

In Ranked games especially it is different. Ranked is about winning, so imo sniping is totally legit.

Butthurt salty players should learn and get better instead of being sore losers.

 

As the skill of the enemy CV rises, I would also consider sniping legit.

Sniping only succeeds if a CV player doesn't pay enough respect to the other CVs kill potential.

If it is an AA deck CV, it is a legit tactic to get rid of the pesky aggressive fighters (or at least make sure they stay close to home).

[Vulgarny]

 

When using the term "one strike" I'm talking all your bombers with a mixture of 'alpha' the initial attack and then follow up 'beta' attack for damage over time fires. T8 its harder to do and typically I don't bother in random because its not worth the extra flight time on slower planes when I can be more productive sinking something else.

 

T10 Midway can sink any carrier it wants, even if the enemy CV has full HP and is the best player in the world. If hes isolated away from a 'Defensive AA Fire' ship and... is not humping/abusing the border its a guaranteed kill. Different story with the Hakuryu, havent used it recently so I can't comment on its effectiveness but previous patches it was weaker than Midway

 

To say CV sniping is a waste of time drastically over simplifies when to and when not to sink an enemy CV.

 

Its not sure kill. It never was and now with better barrage and 2 fighters squads I wish you good luck to sink competent Hakuryuu player in one strike

[Sweetheart]

 

T10 Midway can sink any carrier it wants, even if the enemy CV has full HP and is the best player in the world. If hes isolated away from a 'Defensive AA Fire' ship and... is not humping/abusing the border its a guaranteed kill. Different story with the Hakuryu, havent used it recently so I can't comment on its effectiveness but previous patches it was weaker than Midway

 

 

Finding 4/2/2 haks pretty much impossible to sink in a Midway. Not worth the attempt, which will most likely fail.

[Farazelleth]

 

Its not sure kill. It never was and now with better barrage and 2 fighters squads I wish you good luck to sink competent Hakuryuu player in one strike

 

I never replied to this forum to start an argument on the finer details of "how to" strike. Only why CV players get salty after they die to a CV strike. I can see from your stats you don't own a Midway but that you have a healthy win % on your Hakuryu so your are no noob to the issue.

 

Just because a Midway can one shot a Hakuryu doesn't mean you should, every game its highly situational. I'm merely commenting on the negative feedback from CV players when they do die.

 

 

 

Finding 4/2/2 haks pretty much impossible to sink in a Midway. Not worth the attempt, which will most likely fail.

 

In that instance I wouldn't attempt it. 4-2-2 has reduced strike potential... to the point its not as threatening to a Midway and therefore I'd target something else. Even if the Hakuryu with a 4-2-2 could sink a Midway in one strike... you are correct the 4 fps with barrage would make it impossible and thus a smart CV player would target someone else.

 

As I said to Vulgarny I didn't mean to talk about 'how to' or 'when to' snipe a CV, mainly the reaction from CV players when they are sunk.

[Vulgarny]

As I said. 2nd generation of CV players are carrots. If you get sunk in CV by enemy CV its your damn fault. After all this changes to CVs it way harder now to kill CV then use to be. Also sadly most old good cv players either dropped the game or stop playing CVs.

[Elderdaddy]

 

In Ranked games especially it is different. Ranked is about winning, so imo sniping is totally legit.

Butthurt salty players should learn and get better instead of being sore losers.

 

As the skill of the enemy CV rises, I would also consider sniping legit.

Sniping only succeeds if a CV player doesn't pay enough respect to the other CVs kill potential.

If it is an AA deck CV, it is a legit tactic to get rid of the pesky aggressive fighters (or at least make sure they stay close to home).

 

please dont tell about CV on rankeds coz u have rank 11 and 0 games on CV. U have no idea what u talking about

Farazelleth, on 18 January 2016 - 12:10 PM, said:

 

I never replied to this forum to start an argument on the finer details of "how to" strike. Only why CV players get salty after they die to a CV strike. I can see from your stats you don't own a Midway but that you have a healthy win % on your Hakuryu so your are no noob to the issue.

 

Just because a Midway can one shot a Hakuryu doesn't mean you should, every game its highly situational. I'm merely commenting on the negative feedback from CV players when they do die.

 

 

 

In that instance I wouldn't attempt it. 4-2-2 has reduced strike potential... to the point its not as threatening to a Midway and therefore I'd target something else. Even if the Hakuryu with a 4-2-2 could sink a Midway in one strike... you are correct the 4 fps with barrage would make it impossible and thus a smart CV player would target someone else.

 

As I said to Vulgarny I didn't mean to talk about 'how to' or 'when to' snipe a CV, mainly the reaction from CV players when they are sunk.

 

tell me more about CV and sens in headshot to other CV. Its stiupid and aneffective. U cant kill lex in one attempt with any CV. 

[Farazelleth]

 

tell me more about CV and sens in headshot to other CV. Its stiupid and aneffective. U cant kill lex in one attempt with any CV. 

 

Not with another Lex no, but its possible with a Shokaku. But you'd need a good 6-8 torp hit with your two waves with flooding/fire from 1 DB wave followed up by another DB fire after repairs. Its not easy and only works against noobs. Its too risky to waste all your bombers on a full HP Lex, much safer/easier to bomb DDs for example in ranked play.

 

Nice to see you again Azell, are you playing CV in ranked Season 3?

[GulvkluderGuld]

 

What are your thoughts on the issue?

 

 

 

please dont tell about CV on rankeds coz u have rank 11 and 0 games on CV. U have no idea what u talking about

 

 

You obviously have no idea what I was posting about. Also 11 is my service record, not my rank. 

Why are you acting condescending anyway?

[Syrchalis]

To give my opinion to this matter:

 

Sniping the enmy CV depends on various reasons for me.

• My CV's strike potential
• My survivability (usually that is equivalent to my AA rating)
• The enemy CV's strike potential
• The enemies' survivability (their AA rating + their skill)
• The enemy player

Basically, don't bother sniping in certain scenarios. For example Shokaku versus Lexington. Lexington has Midway-Level AA. Shokaku planes do not have the incredible survivability of T10 planes, so you're basically throwing T1 Eries at a Montana. It's frustrating and not worth it.

Shokaku versus Shokaku it can be worth it, but again, Shokaku has surprisingly good AA for a IJN CV and the tier. Taiho or Hakuryu in a mirror matchup make better targets, because their AA sucks.

 

If I know the enemy is good at avoiding death and doesn't go for me, I will usually not go for them either, because I will just waste my time while he has an impact. If he is completely focused on sniping me, but I'm in an AA-heavy ship I also usually ignore them, because they have no strike potential as long as they go for me. Basically I take one for the team in that case.

 

Players always get angry if caught offguard. And that's the number 1 reason to die from a snipe. I never die in my CVs if I see it coming, but I do sometimes when I get surprised.

 

 

In general CV sniping is risky and not worth it, if the enemy isn't bad. Right now most players are bad, so you can snipe all you want and it's solid.

 

 

Ranked

I wouldn't do it in ranked however, because if you nuke 1-2 ships before you die, you might have already won the game. It simply takes too much time. WIth so few ships around a single BB, CA or DD kill is simply worth so much more, especially since there is no strike-heavy CV in T5-8.