How Do you play the Sims?

[black_falcon120]

Hi guys,

 

I stopped playing soon after the game came out of beta, and when I came back, the Sims so bad, the shells take so long to land and deal so little damage that I feel like I'm throwing feathers at the enemy, as they appear to be about has fast, deal about as much damage and have the same accuracy, has the sims been changed to rely more on torpedoes? 

 

 

[ajappat]

I think it indeed had some nerfs to it when game went live. I don't know the details though. Later they added longer range torps, but you'll have hard time relying on torps that go 49 knots and deal 8k dmg, atleast it can ninja launch them now.

 

All in all, it's not great ship, but does it's job for occasional captain retrain.

[txtspeak]

usually I set it to jack of all trades and make friends with everyone in the town

[mtm78]

Sims a support DD, it can't out spot IJN DD's so you can't yolo when there are still many cruisers around. Team up with some allied DD's, try following IJN DD's on your team and help them secure cap points. In a 1v1 against a Kiev/Blys you need to close the distance as their shell arc is more favourable to medium range engagements, this even applies to fighting IJN DD's. During late stages of battles you can engage distracted enemies, you can stealth fire with AFT and especially against isolated BB's you can be a pain with your constant HE rain. Shell arc makes this only viable against BB's though, CA's will evade your shells easily let alone DD's. 

 

I have only ~30k avg dmg or so with Sims but 63% win rate. It's not a damage dealing DD ( against capital ships, it murders DD's at close range though ), it's becomes a bigger and bigger threat the more enemy ships are dead and isolated, low health cruisers can be gunned to death. 

 

I am using the long range torps, stealth torping is possible but the low dmg per torp make it not really worth it. If you want to snackbar an isolated BB.. you need the flooding damage to actually sink an not even full hp Nagato. 

 

The thing is, besides it's lower damage potential, it has quite an high credit multiplier so it's not a bad income generator. 

[Linushg]

I use it for the hit missions for the ARP ships. But yes the arc feels way higher and dmg isnt that good anymore. My tip is to focus BBs and DDs as you can outdamage all DDs you meet and piss of a BB so much that its hilarious (and get quite a lot of hits). Crusiers is a NO GO for the new sims.

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

I use my Sims to Cap / defend Cap / kill DDs / set other ships on fire and harass them from smoke.

 

HE vs DDs / to set other ships on fire / AP vs cruisers and BBs which show broadside (after I set them on fire).

 

With concealment expert you get the concealment down to 6.6 km, Hatsuharu has 6.7 km, Kagero 6.8 km (without camo / camo expert skill)

 

I use offensive smoke A LOT, works prettty well imho (will see how that changes with radar).

 

Here are some nice example videos of what you can do with the Sims:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cap / defend cap / kill DDs = lots of XP. ;)

 

[mtm78]

Trigger_Happy_Dad, on 18 March 2016 - 09:25 PM, said:

With concealment expert you get the concealment down to 6.6 km, Hatsuharu has 6.7 km, Kagero 6.8 km (without camo / camo expert skill)

 

WITH concealment expert / module my Kagero has 5.4km concealment range... ;)

 

It's not 'fair' to compare mismatched setups. On the other hand, Sims is a premium so you're more likely to be able to use high skill point captains on her, BUT if you made it to Kagero you're supposed to have a good captain as well. 

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

 

WITH concealment expert / module my Kagero has 5.4km concealment range... ;)

 

It's not 'fair' to compare mismatched setups. On the other hand, Sims is a premium so you're more likely to be able to use high skill point captains on her, BUT if you made it to Kagero you're supposed to have a good captain as well. 

 

If I got an € each time I meet some tier 5-9 japanese DD player with his captain still in re-training and without camo I'd be filthy rich!  ;)

[Peffers]

with my set up I've a range of 15.5kms and just spam HE at BBSs or dogfight DDs.  Found it quite useful for 3000 hits.

[black_falcon120]

Ah cool, that makes sense, btw what is AGT?  Also, won't people spot me the second I open fire, and kill me? Also, should i be using the long range torps?

 

The sims was just OP during the beta, I could out duel half hp cruisers with ease. 

 

I haven't been setting any skill points on any captains, or putting any modules on any ships, as they cost too much, it sounds like I need to change that.

[mtm78]

AGT, think you mean AFT = Advanced Firing Training -> + 20% range on main guns smaller than 139mm. 

[black_falcon120]

Ok, that makes sense, but won't that make the accuracy even worse?

[mtm78]

Dispersion increases with range yes, but it is mostly flight time which goes through the roof. At max range it's iirc almost 20 seconds of flight time which means everything except 'lesser skilled' BB's will be able to dodge your shells. Leading get's hard, as you won't have feedback on your shells for 20 seconds either. 

 

So, I don't like it, it's basically spray and pray unless your target doesn't evade and you're a good lead ( comes with experience ). But it can be useful, resetting cap without getting spotted, killing of low hp targets, putting BB's on fire and those kind of things. 

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

Dispersion increases with range yes, but it is mostly flight time which goes through the roof. At max range it's iirc almost 20 seconds of flight time which means everything except 'lesser skilled' BB's will be able to dodge your shells. Leading get's hard, as you won't have feedback on your shells for 20 seconds either. 

 

So, I don't like it, it's basically spray and pray unless your target doesn't evade and you're a good lead ( comes with experience ). But it can be useful, resetting cap without getting spotted, killing of low hp targets, putting BB's on fire and those kind of things. 

 

This!

 

I tried AFT on my Sims when I was an unexperienced DD player, having that kind of range seduced me to stay at long range = low impact on the game, low damage, low XP....

 

Now I use DE (Demolition Expert) instead on my Sims / Benson, it forces me to get closer to the action which is much better imho.

 

ATM I have these skills on my Sims / Benson:

 

 

Also - don't forget that you have an extra smoke / extra speed boost when you use premium smoke / boost (for credits).

[black_falcon120]

Ah, so I need to stay at max range, makes sense. 

 

Also, it appears I've been doing it wrong according to those videos, i was firing HE against everything, it looks like AP isn't a bad idea against light cruisers.

 

Btw how do i stop myself being spotted when I am shooting, I keep ending up in duels with BBs which I can't win.

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

Btw how do i stop myself being spotted when I am shooting, I keep ending up in duels with BBs which I can't win.

 

Use offensive smoke.

 

Get close to enemy, pop smoke, STOP your ship, move backwards and forwards inside the smoke and fire at the enemy. ;)

 

(make sure you have an allied ship / aircraft to spot your target for you while you are in smoke, else you won't see the enemy)

 

If there are enemy torpedo ships nearby, point bow / stern towards the enemy, and keep on moving back- and forwards inside your smoke so you are already moving when you spot incoming enemy torpedos  and can react more quickly.

 

Also, it appears I've been doing it wrong according to those videos, i was firing HE against everything, it looks like AP isn't a bad idea against light cruisers.

 

Works against heavy cruisers too! ;)

 

(start at 0:39)

 

(I use atmaxx coloured tracers from Aslain's Mod Pack, blue = AP, red = HE) 

[black_falcon120]

@trigger_happy_dad  Oh, makes sense, the dispersion isn't good enough, is about 5km the magic number?

 

edit: ah smoke, i keep forgetting it's a DD not a small CL.

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

@trigger_happy_dad  Oh, makes sense, the dispersion isn't good enough, is about 5km the magic number?

 

 

5 - 6km is good to citadel enemy heavy cruisers aye, vs light enemy cruisers it works at longer ranges too.

 

And like mtm78 wrote - the dispersion of the Sims' guns isn't really the problem, the flight time of the shells at long range is a probem though. ;)

[mtm78]

Ah, so I need to stay at max range, makes sense. 

 

Also, it appears I've been doing it wrong according to those videos, i was firing HE against everything, it looks like AP isn't a bad idea against light cruisers.

 

Btw how do i stop myself being spotted when I am shooting, I keep ending up in duels with BBs which I can't win.

 

Your concealment range depends on your equipment setup, if you fire your guns you can add 4km to your detection range ( iirc, don't pin me on exact number might be off a bit ). Basically, if you go for concealed firing you're doing what Trigger_Happy_Dad has just said prevented him from having the biggest impact. Staying at max range is not the best way to play Sims ( though yes, it's how I tend to play it during the opening stages of games or when I feel I don't have proper support / am against superior force ).

 

Unlike Trigger_Happy_Dad I do have AFT on the captain which comes with my Sims most of the times, I don't have a dedicated DD captain and use my CA captain on it which has AFT for AAA boost. 

 

But effectively using it, that is a tough cookie to crack. My hit ratio on Sims is really low because I get lured in trying to stealth fire to much. Guess playing Gremmy with concealment expert has spoiled me to much

 

[Spellfire40]

Well with the invis fire build what is often overlooked is Sims have disco Turets and exelent ruder shift making is a above average knife fighter even better than your average US DD.

[black_falcon120]

Ah, thank you

 

Unfortunately, I have to sleep now, but I will check this thread tomorrow if anyone else has any advice, i treat the sims as more of a credit earner than anything else, so i tend to keep the same captain on it.

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

Ah, thank you

 

Unfortunately, I have to sleep now, but I will check this thread tomorrow if anyone else has any advice, i treat the sims as more of a credit earner than anything else, so i tend to keep the same captain on it.

 

I have no extra premium ship captains, I use "normal" captains from other ships to have 2x daily win = more XP for 1 captain / or to retrain captains for other ships.

 

The really good thing about premium ships is that during retarining the captain has all the skills 100% active.

 

In this example, Stefan Althaus ditched his Nürnberg and switched to the Yorck, I chose retraining for 200k credits.

 

 

If I now put him on a premium ship like the Tirpitz his skills are 100% active during retraining, if I let him retrain on the Yorck the skills are NOT 100% active. 

 

When your Wickes captain moves on to the Clemson, let him retrain on the Sims (+ get daily "double" XP for both).

 

When your Clemson captain moves on to the Nicholas, let him retrain on the Sims (+ get daily "double" XP for both).

 

....and so on - this way you'll have a killah US DD captain @ tier 7 - 8. ;)

 

Good night.

 

 

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

Btw, I also use the slow long range torpedos of the Sims, imho they are better for area denial (for example: scaring away enemy ships from cap zones) and the odd lucky hit at long range....

 

If you want to make sure these slow torpedos really hit your target, you got to get really close.... ;)

 

http://wowreplays.com/Replay/2378-Sims-North-New-scene-for-the-next-episode-project-wrecked-

 

 

[Trigger_Happy_Dad]

1st game this morning, 1x cap, 4x cap defense, killed 2 Fubukis and hit a North Carolina with 6 torps = 2.9k base XP - gg ;)

 

http://wowreplays.com/Replay/2389-Sims-Land-of-Fire-Sims-29k-base-XP-gg-

[black_falcon120]

Ah, thank you, I didn't realise Captain skills remained active on prem ships during retraining, I hadn't really paid much attention to them, as they felt a bit 'gimmicky' and bit of a trap to make you buy dubloons. 

 

How do I play replays btw?