In-Game Fine Tuning the Atago

[SchabeOink]

Hi all,

I would like to check with the community the setup of my/any Atago and what can be done in-game to fine tune it!

I am aware of the ongoing "Buff Atago dpm and range" thread, but felt this wouldn't have a place there. 

 

My Atago is running the following:

- Captain Skills (11/12):
1 Expert Loader / Basics of Survivability
2 Expert Marksman
3 Vigilance
4 Survivability Expert

 

- Modules:
Main Battery Mod.1
Gun Fire Control System Mod.1
Damage Control System Mod.1
Steering Gears Mod.2
Target Acquisition System Mod.1

 

- Camo: Type 10 Atago

- No Premium Consumables

 

Playstyle: Pretty much straightforward support CA, I circle behind the DD line and provide fire-support for whoever needs it. Anything above ~10 km gets HE, below ~10 km AP.

I find that I am mostly happy with my selection of Mods and Skills, but wonder what other setups would be like. I for example don't miss Superintendent, as I seldom feel I need a 3rd Repair Charge, not to speak of additional Panic AA and Catapult Fighter.

 

Given my setup, I would like to ask you guys about two alternative builds I think are possible:

- Is maxing out AA worth on Atago? We're talking AA Guns Mod.2, Basic and Advanced Firing Training, and Manual AA for those who have time for that.

- How about going full Stealth? Referring to Concealment System Mod.1 and Concealment Expert, because sneaking up for surprise torps and gun volleys sounds tempting. I don't think proper invisi-fire would be a thing on her now would it.

 

Any help and general discussion about Atago playstyle & fine tuning welcome!

[Vanhal]

I don't think Atago is worth maxing AA. Nothing worth "maxing" there, Atago have problems with even 6 tier planes.

[piritskenyer]

I disagree with you there Vanhal. While not worth maxing for AA, Atago's AA certainly is no slouch.

 

SchabeOink: I just use my current Cpt in Atago, that being a cpt that is generally specced for CA's, who's going to go on to the Ibuki and then the Zao.

1. Situational awareness and BFT (slight boost to secondaries and AA)
2. EM and IFA (IJN CA's are made of glass, so you have to maximise your avoidance IMO)
3. Supernintendo: a pretty generalist skill, comes in handy with the heals on the Atago now and later on with the Ibuki and Zao. Also one more def-AA and cat-fighter charge.)
4. Demo expert: You have the best HE, so why not make it even better? Again, this is a skill that is not ship, but rather class (or nation even) specific.
5. (Not yet reached) Concealment expert.

[procrastinatingStudent]

I use the same mods but instead of Target Acquisition i use the concealment system just so it lets me disengage from fight a little faster.

 

when it comes to captian skills (lvl 13):

- situation awareness and basic fireing training 

- expert marksman and last stand

- superintendent 

- demolition expert

 

prem repair party II

normal defence AA 

 

my general play is BURN IT ALL DOWN! 

but really its to get close set fire to a lot of people until they notice me then get back out.

 

to answer question 2, im not sure if it is even possible to fire undetected and if so it would be a thin gap but the atago can do well stealth wise more so if you are setting BBs on fire as 30-50% of my damage tends to come from fires 

 

[Sancho89]

Target Acquisition System Mod.1             -------------> NO

3 Vigilance ------------------------> NO
4 Survivability Expert            -------------------------> NO

EDIT* Camo setup 9.1 km bye

[mrak1979]

Situational awarness is mandatory! Expert loader isnt worth in any situation. Target acquisition isnt bad but concealment is much better! Superintendent Im using in avery ship which have repair party for others vigilance is good option and safe your skill points to expert concelamnet! Atago have very good concelament + modul+camo + captain skill you get surface detectability of 9.4km!!!!

[VC381]

Yeah, it's been covered already but the Atago isn't a "sit back and support" ship, or at least that's not how I play mine. My captain is only level 11, currently 1 point spare as I have:

 

1 - SA

2 - EM

3 - High Alert (ideally I would have Super here for the extra heal and AA barrage but this isn't an Atago exclusive captain and Super doesn't do anything useful on the Furutaka that I'm grinding with the same captain)

4 - DE

 

Also camo module is an absolute must. Even without the tier 5 captain skill I have 10.3km detection range. With the speed and forward facing torpedo arcs you can close to torpedo range and launch within seconds of being spotted (with the captain skill you're invisi-torping, 16 torps total if you do a 180 and sequence launch). Also at <12km your AP obliterates any cruiser not tier 10, they can't angle against your first salvo if they can't see you coming! I don't claim I'm an expert player but I play mine as a cross between a battlecruiser and a giant destroyer and I love it. I'm always rushing (sometimes I die horribly) but I have it set up to work like that and when it does work things just die, or they run screaming from you and then die anyway.

[Ictogan]

What I use for a captain:

1. Situational awareness

2. Last stand(the Rudder gets disabled pretty easily)

3. Superintendent

4. Currently using survivability expert, because this is also my Fubuki captain, but if this captain would be just for the Atago, I'd choose Demo Expert

5. Concealment expert

 

Modules:

- the one that increases accuracy

- the one that lowers rudder shift time

- the one that lowers concealment

 

For premium consumables I use the heal, with the amount of money earned I barely notice the cost and it helps significantly.

[mrak1979]

Yeah, it's been covered already but the Atago isn't a "sit back and support" ship, or at least that's not how I play mine. My captain is only level 11, currently 1 point spare as I have:

 

1 - SA

2 - EM

3 - High Alert (ideally I would have Super here for the extra heal and AA barrage but this isn't an Atago exclusive captain and Super doesn't do anything useful on the Furutaka that I'm grinding with the same captain)

4 - DE

 

Also camo module is an absolute must. Even without the tier 5 captain skill I have 10.3km detection range. With the speed and forward facing torpedo arcs you can close to torpedo range and launch within seconds of being spotted (with the captain skill you're invisi-torping, 16 torps total if you do a 180 and sequence launch). Also at <12km your AP obliterates any cruiser not tier 10, they can't angle against your first salvo if they can't see you coming! I don't claim I'm an expert player but I play mine as a cross between a battlecruiser and a giant destroyer and I love it. I'm always rushing (sometimes I die horribly) but I have it set up to work like that and when it does work things just die, or they run screaming from you and then die anyway.

 

High alert isnt worth it on any ship! Use premium consumable it will safe you more money then you spend to it. Vigilance and superintendant is more usefull. I have on tier 7,8 vigilance and tier 9 and 10 superintendant because of repair party.

[MATREKUS]

 

High alert isnt worth it on any ship! 

Tell that to Pensacola captains. Not to mention the new RU CAs....

[medi0815]

Tell that to Pensacola captains. Not to mention the new RU CAs....

 

Sorry this skill is only needed by captains who sailing in straight lines. All other captains are at every time in incalculable movements so they only will get lucky hits and therefor this skill will not safe you too.

[procrastinatingStudent]

 

Sorry this skill is only needed by captains who sailing in straight lines. All other captains are at every time in incalculable movements so they only will get lucky hits and therefor this skill will not safe you too.

 

Explain that to all the captains running while I set them on fire over and over 

[MATREKUS]

 

Sorry this skill is only needed by captains who sailing in straight lines. All other captains are at every time in incalculable movements so they only will get lucky hits and therefor this skill will not safe you too.

 

That skill is very usefull in Pensa....cause the ship is very nimble dancer and incoming fire allert msg comes before I even see the shells coming from distance. So, yes, its essential skills for Pepsi and like ships (German and RU CAs)...Those are very fragile ships and avoiding damage in time (both from AP and HE fires) is very much needed...

[Solo_Wing_Potato]

High alert is the skill that lowers the repair party cool down isn't it?  Incoming fire alert is the skill for incoming shell warning.

 

high alert might be worthwhile on a BB but it's in 3rd place behind both supe and vigilance.  3rd line skill is a tough call on the Atago, the premium heal will give you that extra heal that would come from supe freeing you to use vigilance in its stead.  Most of my recent games have involved a fair few DD's.  That said you could get 4 heals.  Tough call and not as straight forward as some might think.  1 heal after all isn't going to give you back the amount you loose to a torp hit.  This is all based on the assumption that you get the concealment module instead of the target acquisition,  your detect ability will be 10.4 great for disappearing when you need to (no commander skill).

[piritskenyer]

 

Sorry this skill is only needed by captains who sailing in straight lines. All other captains are at every time in incalculable movements so they only will get lucky hits and therefor this skill will not safe you too.

 

IFA is not only for cpt's who sail in straight lines, it's for people with tendency to tunnelvision.

[VC381]

I don't understand the logic that only captains that sail in a straight line or are tunnel visioned need high alert. You could make the same simplistic argument about Vigilance on a cruiser, that if you are changing course regularly the normal torpedo spotting distance is more than enough. Personally I don't feel I get hit by stray torpedoes often enough to make me want to take vigilance (I do get torped, but I know why that happens that it's not situations where vigilance would have saved me). On the other hand, every second counts for not taking that extra fire/flooding damage, or getting your steering back etc.

 

Also the premium consumable argument isn't a great one either. If you want to improve something it's worth going all out to improve it rather than using one method of improvement to justify not using the other.

 

Ultimately it comes down to personal choice. To be honest I find all the other tier 3 skills a bit underwhelming so for me it's a binary choice. Superintendent on all ships that strongly benefit from it (anything with a heal or smoke, so all BBs/DDs and high tier cruisers) and high alert on everything else (erm... low and mid tier cruisers).

[SchabeOink]

Great input you guys, much appreciated!

 

Following the advice in this thread (and having read up on the actual numbers behind the Target Acquisition Mod.), I've mounted the Concealment Mod. and replaced Expert Loader with Situation Awareness, but retained Expert Marksman and Vigilance. So far so good, I feel

 

[...]

Also camo module is an absolute must. Even without the tier 5 captain skill I have 10.3km detection range. With the speed and forward facing torpedo arcs you can close to torpedo range and launch within seconds of being spotted (with the captain skill you're invisi-torping, 16 torps total if you do a 180 and sequence launch). Also at <12km your AP obliterates any cruiser not tier 10, they can't angle against your first salvo if they can't see you coming! I don't claim I'm an expert player but I play mine as a cross between a battlecruiser and a giant destroyer and I love it. I'm always rushing (sometimes I die horribly) but I have it set up to work like that and when it does work things just die, or they run screaming from you and then die anyway.

This happened several times now! I can't do it consistently (yet), but pouring 5 citadels into an enemy cruiser who had no idea I was coming was...awesome

 

[...]

For premium consumables I use the heal, with the amount of money earned I barely notice the cost and it helps significantly.

Gotta admit, I wasn't aware the premium consumables could also be paid with credits until I read your post

Made my Atago's life much easier, having that 3rd charge with decreased cool-down and as you said the cost is negligible.

 

Some more input on play-styles perhaps?

[Solo_Wing_Potato]

Some more input on play-styles perhaps?

 

 

It's risky and can cost dearly if all goes wrong but early game I like to follow one of the DD's in 3 cap domination.  If your behind by about 5k then I find once your allied DD spots an enemy DD you have a small window before your spotted to decide how to play things (i.e if theres cover nice and close then you can be on your way there before you choose to fire), the Atago's not fast firing as you know but that initial salvo is normally worth around 4 - 7k if most or all shells hit. 

This is especially a valid tactic if your DD's are outnumbered or are IJN vs US or SN counterparts.

 

Like I say though it is super risky!

 

Also holding fire in the Atago is important, if you find yourself in trouble then 20 seconds of no gun shots will, provided the enemy is more than 10.4k away, render you un-spotted again at which point you can calmly re-asses the situation.

[IamTroublemaker]

These are the skills I use at the moment on my Zao (Atago) captain:

1 - situation awareness

2 - expert marksman (or last stand, your choice)

3 - superintended + vigilance (later on, after you take 4 point and 5 point skill)

4 - demolition expert (more fire chance)

5 - concealment expert (more stealthiness)

 

Let me explain why. The main strengths of Atago (and all other IJN CAs) are stealthiness + fire chance, which is exactly why you cannot miss with demolition expert which gives you 3% more fire chance per shell and the concealment expert which will enable you to stealth fire with Ibuki and Zao (if you have the range module), as for the Atago, it will enable you to stealth torp or simply sneak up or run away easier from your opponents or tricky situations.

 

For the upgrades, I use

1st slot: main battery mod 1

2nd slot: gun fire control system mod 1 (or you can take the AA upgrade, but the AA is weak already anyway IMO)

3rd slot: propulsion mod 1

4th slot: steering gears mod 2

5th slot: concealment system mod 1

 

Again, its all about the stealthiness. It is a MUST on Atago.

 

Use premium repair and heal (if you took vigilance instead of superintended) because its a premium ship and you will earn credits anyway. As for the camo, I use the new Type 5 Type 10 Atago as Atago benefits from it the most.

 

The point of this ship is to use your range and your amazing fire chance to set everything you see on fire. Most of the time people use repairs on the first fire you set, and with a bigger fire chance, most of the times you will set them on fire again with the next salvo, which they wont be able to repair.

 

[VC381]

 

 

It's risky and can cost dearly if all goes wrong but early game I like to follow one of the DD's in 3 cap domination.  If your behind by about 5k then I find once your allied DD spots an enemy DD you have a small window before your spotted to decide how to play things (i.e if theres cover nice and close then you can be on your way there before you choose to fire), the Atago's not fast firing as you know but that initial salvo is normally worth around 4 - 7k if most or all shells hit. 

This is especially a valid tactic if your DD's are outnumbered or are IJN vs US or SN counterparts.

 

Like I say though it is super risky!

 

Also holding fire in the Atago is important, if you find yourself in trouble then 20 seconds of no gun shots will, provided the enemy is more than 10.4k away, render you un-spotted again at which point you can calmly re-asses the situation.

 

I would agree with this. You have a lot of alpha damage and a low shell arc so you can cripple or finish off a DD quite easily, but really killing DDs should be a means to an end not an end in itself. The end is to have an area you can operate without being spotted, using your excellent concealment to be aggressive but with a safety net. As I said, I like to hunt cruisers and get quite close in doing so, you just need to be very aware of whether you are presenting broadside to enemy BBs.

[T_H_0_R]

As for the camo, I use the new Type 5 as Atago benefits from it the most.

 

I was under the impression (and based on my Kamikaze premium skin, this should be true) that all premium ship skins now include not only both bonuses, but a bonus to XP and -5% to repair cost.

 

Unless Atago was left out, her premium skin is the best choice?

[IamTroublemaker]

 

I was under the impression (and based on my Kamikaze premium skin, this should be true) that all premium ship skins now include not only both bonuses, but a bonus to XP and -5% to repair cost.

 

Unless Atago was left out, her premium skin is the best choice?

 

It actually does, I did not notice that change. My bad then

[Solo_Wing_Potato]

 

I would agree with this. You have a lot of alpha damage and a low shell arc so you can cripple or finish off a DD quite easily, but really killing DDs should be a means to an end not an end in itself. The end is to have an area you can operate without being spotted, using your excellent concealment to be aggressive but with a safety net. As I said, I like to hunt cruisers and get quite close in doing so, you just need to be very aware of whether you are presenting broadside to enemy BBs.

 

 

 

Sorry I've not been very clear there, I primarily engage the DD with the intention of allowing the allied DD to cap uncontested, its gaining the cap which is the goal for me.  It would be nice if I could take out the DD but I don't want to follow that through if the situation is unfavourable.  After the DD's gone (deleted or just high tailed out of there) I normally go quiet and choose what to do next.  Sometimes its not worth opening fire in the first place mind, depends what's coming your way and if you have backup.

 

 

Your definitely right about knowing where ships are in relation to yourself and angling accordingly......just need to be putting that into action at the moment the last few days I've been playing absolutely (edited), my brain seems to be refusing to think things through at the moment

[piritskenyer]

When you want to burn your way to the top

 

 

 

[StringWitch]

 

I was under the impression (and based on my Kamikaze premium skin, this should be true) that all premium ship skins now include not only both bonuses, but a bonus to XP and -5% to repair cost.

 

Unless Atago was left out, her premium skin is the best choice?

 

Where do you get the repair cost reduction from? None of my premiums have it (including Kamiaze). Far as I know the repair cost reduction is only for permanent camos on tech tree ships.