AOBA

[anonym_EFwxJOPWzlER]

I don't normally play cruisers as i'm not great with them, i have had AOBA in port for a long time and just kept ignoring it, well today i took it to the seas, what an awesome ship, very agile and deadly AP, AA does not seem to great but really good ship, must use this more often, great credit earner

[Brynd]

I don't normally play cruisers as i'm not great with them, i have had AOBA in port for a long time and just kept ignoring it, well today i took it to the seas, what an awesome ship, very agile and deadly AP, AA does not seem to great but really good ship, must use this more often, great credit earner

 

After banging my head against the deck of a Furutaka for a few battles, I've been nudged in the direction of a willing Aoba and so far, so good. Need to play it a bit more before I know it enough to really comment on it though.

[VC381]

Glad you like her, she's just one of those ships that looks great and feels right, fast and responsive. My only complaints are turret traverse and the arc on the rear turret.

[Barkyro]

After the furry taco(Furutaka) the Aoba was a heaven sent really I suggest you go with the turet rotation mod and skill since it has pretty bad traverse speed and take advantage of its AP. Torps are more situationals so dont try and use them always as you will suffer citadels when side on to even from any T6 DD(minus Mutsuki I think but I havent tried tho ) ). Just keep angled and you can even dodge some BB shells. Fire chance is also really good on the jap 203's as well so keep that in mind also

 

Side note: AA wise I would suggest you use the AA consumable as it can hold its own against a T6 CV and the HAC is not really that good on IJN CA's.

 

Hope this helps.

 

All the best,

Barky

[Crooq_Lionfang]

Aoba is a great ship, just about where a Tier 6 CA should be. Its main problem has always been the Cleveland on the same tier, though I havn´t played either after the AFT/BFT changes

[VC381]

You can kite and dodge a Cleveland as long as you have room to do so, if he takes the bait he won't hit you and/or will run into your torps, but if you're close on equal terms you're not sailing away from that fight.

 

I second the turret rotation module, the alpha damage is enough that you can afford to lose some DPS. That extra 1 second reload time you will lose anyway when your turrets aren't on target or you're waiting to place your shots for those citadel hits. She doesn't need the accuracy mod.

 

Why the Furutaka hate? Obviously the Aoba is better but I really enjoyed my Furutaka as well, wasn't something to get rid of as soon as I could (unlike Omaha, hated that thing).

[piritskenyer]

Cruiser section guys, it's there, use it!

[Barkyro]

 its main problem has always been the Cleveland on the same tier

 

Well true and not true. Even back then the Cleaveland could be citadeled by Aoba even if slightly angled the main problem was the darn things(citadels) were damn small and not in the center but slightly to the right and left of the funnels. Now they made the Cleavelands citadels bigger so should not pose so much of a threat as it did back then

 

I know most of you already know this but ill just add thsi as well in case some of you do not or are new.

This is the best video on the Cleaveland citadels I could find (also really good to watch all of it especially if you are a new player)

 

All the best,

Barky

[NemesisActual]

Aoba is fantastic, great cruiser that can really punch above her weight.

[Admiral_H_Nelson]

 

This thread has arrived at just the right time! As you can see from my signature, I have recently begun to replay the Aoba. My first attempt at playing this ship (Autumn 2015) was not good.

 

Before I started to replay Aoba I had 30 games in Furutaka, and that went rather well. My damage per game was 65% higher than the first time that I played it. I moved on to Aoba with confidence - but it has been horrible.

 

Aoba is an "improved Furutaka", so it should not be THAT different, but I just cannot get the hang of it and I would welcome any suggestions for help.

 

What I've done so far

 

• I've watched and re-watched the YT videos by Notser, Kenliero, Business6 & Ubiru.
• I've googled for playing tips (Everyone suggests keeping a narrow profile and using only the front guns when possible).
• I've tried hit-and-run, island ambushes, torpedo ambushes even (!) but results are very mediocre.

 

In 8 games of the "replay", the best damage that I've scored is 27,909, with an average-per-game of only 22,029 (about 5k less than Furutaka). The EU server average for this ship is 28,181 (Warships Today), so every game is below par! I have only managed to survive 2 games, even though my team won 6 of them. Every game seems an uphill struggle, even though matchmaking has been very fair.

 

Aoba is a lovely, handsome ship and I want to like her - but she just ain't working for me This is depressing.

 

[Cosseria]

You're not alone. I have always enjoyed Aoba, but never managed to get past a meager 44% WR.

[Crooq_Lionfang]

 

Well true and not true. Even back then the Cleaveland could be citadeled by Aoba even if slightly angled the main problem was the darn things(citadels) were damn small and not in the center but slightly to the right and left of the funnels. Now they made the Cleavelands citadels bigger so should not pose so much of a threat as it did back then

 

I know most of you already know this but ill just add thsi as well in case some of you do not or are new.

This is the best video on the Cleaveland citadels I could find (also really good to watch all of it especially if you are a new player)

 

All the best,

Barky

 

I didn´t mean to say that Cleveland vs Aoba in a direct duel was Aobas main problem. I meant to say: why play an Aoba, while the Cleveland was so much better in so many ways. It used to pale in comparison for a long time

[Barkyro]

I really disliked the Cleaveland for one :/. Probably just me but I simply hated the damn shell arcs but true 99.99% of the players would choose Cleaveland over Aoba any day. For me personally the USN CL/CA line started at the Pensacola which is the first US cruiser to get the 203 mm guns (4600k citadels at last) since I really do not like or enjoy spam ships but as I said that is just me.

@Crooq_Lionfang sorry if I bothered you was not an intention. I still think the info might come in handy for some new people reading this thread.

 

EDIT; @Admiral if you want later today I can buy her back and we can division if you think that might help as I saw I had an average of 33k on her(no idea how actually makes me curious). Just ping me in the Forumites chat or on TS I should be there after 6 UK time/ 8 RO time.

 

All the best,

Barky

[puxflacet]

poor furutaka...so much hate...she carries considerable punch and you should always try to storm lonely bbs becouse of her torpedos and shes very slim from the front...also she is one the most beautiful ships in the game imho

[puxflacet]

I really disliked the Cleaveland for one :/. Probably just me but I simply hated the damn shell arcs but true 99.99% of the players would choose Cleaveland over Aoba any day. For me personally the USN CL/CA line started at the Pensacola which is the first US cruiser to get the 203 mm guns (4600k citadels at last) since I really do not like or enjoy spam ships but as I said that is just me.

@Crooq_Lionfang sorry if I bothered you was not an intention. I still think the info might come in handy for some new people reading this thread.

 

All the best,

Barky

 

i hated cleveland when i unlocked her...and still im feeling uncomfortable with her

[Omnichr0n]

 

After banging my head against the deck of a Furutaka for a few battles...

 

I did that at the start of my Furry grind, but then I stumbled over

(starts really at about 1:40), and now the ship is a keeper for me!

 

Aoba is quite nice, although I haven't gotten to play it that much, and I do seem to meet ships that handles me quite well. I also dislike the torps on the Aoba compared to the Furry.

[AnotherDuck]

I did that at the start of my Furry grind, but then I stumbled over

(starts really at about 1:40), and now the ship is a keeper for me!

 

That video kind of sums up what I like about Furukata. It plays like a small, agile battleship armed with torpedoes with a great firing arc. It has awesome damage for a cruiser at that tier. You can easily citadel all cruisers you'll face, as well as battleships in the right situations. And if you're really lucky, a St. Louis.

 

Aoba and Myoko get better in most aspects except the torpedo firing arc, which gets worse, so it's easy to see why Furutaka gets overlooked. But it has big guns.

[VC381]

I agree with Barkyro, a ship might be "better" but not everyone cares only about playing the "best" ship in a category (and I keep using quotes because there are so many factors in the game there is really no objective best ship). Or they might not like some of its traits, or they just want to play a specific ship for looks or history reasons.

 

Anyway I don't actually play my Aoba that much but I just try to use my speed to be in the right place at the right time, sneak around, shoot at things that aren't in a position to shoot back. The key is waiting to place good shots not spamming I think.

[Crooq_Lionfang]

Barkyro, you didn´t bother me at all, I think any useful information readily available - especially for new players - is great. I just had the feeling like my first statement was misunderstood A large part of that impression (Cleve being much better than Aoba) comes from the reputation Cleveland got back in CBT and was already obsolete by the time the game went public and Cleve got it´s underwhelming firing arcs. But as they say: there´s no second chance for a first impression ;)

[_Flyto_]

Aoba is one of my favourite ships in the game :-)

 

I disagree about the turret rotation mod; her turret turn speed is pretty good for a heavy cruiser (it's by far the best on the IJN line, at least), and if you plan to go further up the line you NEED to get used to slower turrets (the Myoko turrets at T7 have the same rotation rate as some battleships!). Meanwhile, only having 6 guns (of which you can often only use 4) means that she can sometimes lack raw damage output, and so I wouldn't want to give them a longer reload time.

Personally I use the gun accuracy upgrade, in the spirit of playing to the strengths of a ship. Aoba is decent at splatting destoyers, but as the only T6 with 8" guns she really excels at citadelling similar-tier cruisers, and accuracy helps a lot :-)

 

Apart from the lack of guns, IMHO Aoba's only real weakness is that her steering gets knocked out easily, so the upgrade that reduces the chance of that is a must.

[AnotherDuck]

Going to agree with not getting the turret rotation mod. The loading time is slow enough as it is. Get the captain skill for it, and that's enough as long as you know how to think ahead and pre-rotate if you need to turn to the other side. When it comes to aiming, think like a battleship captain.

 

The accuracy upgrade is one I usually pick (for most ships, actually), since hitting where you aim is usually advantageous. Aoba gets nice and tight clusters with it, so you'll often hit with most of the salvo. That along with HE against destroyers or AP against cruisers will do a fair amount of damage.

 

You can also take advantage of the fairly slow loading time to reduce the angle momentarily. She's a cruiser, so she turns rather well, and you only need to show a broader side while shooting. Faster shooting ships need to show more of a broadside all the time to get all their guns on target, while the Japanese cruisers T5-T7 (no experience above that) can get away with briefer moments.

[Admiral_H_Nelson]

I really disliked the Cleaveland for one :/. Probably just me but I simply hated the damn shell arcs but true 99.99% of the players would choose Cleaveland over Aoba any day. For me personally the USN CL/CA line started at the Pensacola which is the first US cruiser to get the 203 mm guns (4600k citadels at last) since I really do not like or enjoy spam ships but as I said that is just me.

@Crooq_Lionfang sorry if I bothered you was not an intention. I still think the info might come in handy for some new people reading this thread.

 

EDIT; @Admiral if you want later today I can buy her back and we can division if you think that might help as I saw I had an average of 33k on her(no idea how actually makes me curious). Just ping me in the Forumites chat or on TS I should be there after 6 UK time/ 8 RO time.

 

All the best,

Barky

 

That's most kind of you!   Thank you very much indeed!

 

I have just joined the "forumites" channel using the password (the one that begins with "p").

I have never used it before.

 

I will monitor the channel and contact you when I see your name appear in the list.

 

 

[Shaka_D]

poor furutaka...so much hate...she carries considerable punch and you should always try to storm lonely bbs becouse of her torpedos and shes very slim from the front...also she is one the most beautiful ships in the game imho

 

I was just about to write this, I love the furutaka. Apart from her short range she's an awesome ship and definitely packs a good punch.

[Kazomir]

 

I was just about to write this, I love the furutaka. Apart from her short range she's an awesome ship and definitely packs a good punch.

 

If you have the luck of being in range and having all your turrets on target and they hit... which is 10% of the time.  Nah, sorry, furutaka is bad. Konigsberg, Omaha, Kirov, all better.

[_Flyto_]

 

If you have the luck of being in range and having all your turrets on target and they hit... which is 10% of the time.  Nah, sorry, furutaka is bad. Konigsberg, Omaha, Kirov, all better.

 

It's not about luck, it's about planning. You wouldn't complain that you were unlucky to have battleship guns pointing the wrong way; the same applies to heavy cruisers. Furutaka certainly has an awkward gun layout, as well as a short range for T5, but when you get things right and have your guns pointed the right way from the right distance, she probably has more punch than anything else at that tier, and the low shell arcs make it easy to hit.

 

I had more success with Furutaka than Omaha, and *much* more with Aoba than Cleveland. Some people like shell-spamming light cruisers, while some of us prefer the slightly different style of the 8" ships :-)