North Carolina secondaries build

[nooberg]

Have some mad person tried secondaries build on NC ?

Because I'm about the take the plunge, just got enough exp. for the 5-th skill and I'm thinking about getting manual secondaries.

Together with AFT and the module gets me 7.6 range. Its not quite like Japanese BBs, but its something.

 

None of the other options seems...fun.

Max AA ? She is quite strong already, but there are carriers in 1 out of 5 games, and in the games that there are carriers, in 1 out of 5 they come after me. Until now there was only one game where carrier attacked me seriously and I actually took damage.Unlocking AFT seems enough of a buff, also BFT is coming later.

Concealment. Seems very popular with US battleships, perhaps the most effective build. But that's not my style. I start shooting the moment I see the enemies and I stop only when I'm dead. I don't like to waste even a single gun cycle not shooting at someone. Even the islands are not safe !

Jack of all trades. Useful but boring. Nothing like charging forward, all guns blazing. Seems more suited for sniping style of play, where you have time to heal. Because when the big engagement goes down you either lose or win the game in under a minute, no time for recharging them consumables.

So, these are my thoughts, share yours perhaps ?

[Comrad_StaIin]

ye I like it keeps DDs away

[Sander93]

Tried secondary builds in the test server and even on the Montana I found the performance quite pathetic. IMO it's much better to invest in primary armament or AA.

[Comrad_StaIin]

Tried secondary builds in the test server and even on the Montana I found the performance quite pathetic. IMO it's much better to invest in primary armament or AA.

 

the problem on NC is that you cant invest much on primary armaments because the lack of upgrades and the AA already really strong 

on the NC I found a secondary build to be quit helpful in CQ 

but on Iowa and Montana a Secondary build isnt really worth the effort because the Secondary firepower is the exact same as on the NC

[Molybdane]

North Carolina has an equal number of secondary batteries as the Iowa and the Montana so considering the number of barrels only, the NC is as good as it gets. That makes boosting secondaries something to consider. I have AFT on my NC at the moment, and the amount of lead she spits out at a range of 7,6 km or less is enough for most ships to turn tail and run. So maybe manual seconaries isn't worth it as:

 

Secondaries are good enough as they are with AFT.

You really want something else anyway for your Iowa and Montana later on.

[deadly_if_swallowed]

I used max AA on my NC - BFT, AFT, and AA range module. Now I use the same captain (and module) on Iowa, and recently unlocked manual AA (needs some getting used to though). Secondaries are nice and may scare away some smaller ships but they deal too little damage to be worth buffing imho. Better perfect your strengths i.e. main guns and/or AA instead of buffing a weakness or mediocre feature.

[TheIdesOfMarch93]

Manual secondaries are worth it only for IJN battleships and Tirpitz because they have AP secondaries instead of just HE secondaries. Highly dissuade you from taking that! 

[Comrad_StaIin]

Manual secondaries are worth it only for IJN battleships and Tirpitz because they have AP secondaries instead of just HE secondaries. Highly dissuade you from taking that! 

 

Tirpitz Secondaries also fire HE only...

[deadly_if_swallowed]

True. Those 150mm HE shells still pack some more punch than 127mm dual purpose rounds, and you may want to bring your Tirpitz veeery close to the enemy anyway

 

[Comrad_StaIin]

True. Those 150mm HE shells still pack some more punch than 127mm dual purpose rounds, and you may want to bring your Tirpitz veeery close to the enemy anyway

 

NC is really good at close range too

[deadly_if_swallowed]

NC is really good at close range too

 

That is also true. Acutally every BB is great in close combat (except for Yamato and Warspite when their main turrets cannot keep up - that may be too close then). But in close combat I find NC subpar to Tirpitz due to the armor layout. NC's strong bow armor allows you to get close to the enemy but can fairly easily be citadelled through at close range, and her rudder shift and size do not allow such evasive maneuvers a Tirpitz can do.Tirpitz has ridiculously strong belt and citadel armor that requires less extreme angles to bounce shells imho. And torps

NC's 127mm spam a lot of HE but fire will be the main source of damage. Tirpitz's 150mm guns can actually hurt stuff.

[nooberg]

My expicience so far is that for AP anything less than 207 will do almost nothing to BB armor. So HE and fires are more helpfull.

NC is supbpar to Tirpitz in close combat because of torpedoes. I personaly try to keep them Tirpitzess at arms lenght (6-7 km. range). This way his secondaries can't reach me, and I'll have easier time dodging torps. Does't always work but thats the idea. 

 

Also, we're talking about NC only. I plan to keep it and this captain will stay on her.

 

Another question - does the Secondaries module (-20% dispersion) and Manual Secondaries (-60%) stack and in what manner ? What will be the final ( - % ) dispersion ?

[nooberg]

Sorry for the spam, just wanted to post a quick update - I went ahead for the secondaries and now I'm testing it, the best way - Trial by Fire.

Here is a quick video of going close and personal on a contested point.

In the end, secondaries did about 15 k damage, 9 by direct hits and 6 by fires. Not too shabby. They have the potential to tip the scales in your favor or scare away someone.

For now, I'm pleased with their performance and I still have time till 04.08 to respec. Until then, sea trials continue.

[SmartassNoob]

@_Kyoshi @Kaseko

 

How are BBs good at close combat exactly? Close range is where the enemy ship can out-drive your turret rotation speed and you can't necessarily shoot low enough to do significant damage. And let's not forget torpedoes and ramming. Is that what you want? In my experience you should never let the enemy get "close" to your BB.

 

A few german BBs are exceptions to that, but I'm sure I don't need to explain why.

 

 

 

 

As for the secondary guns, as far as I know, the secondary guns on high-end american BBs are dual purpose, right? That means that boosting their ability in any way automatically also boosts AA, right? An additional degree of protection from DDs and torpedo planes is never a bad thing. They can show up when you least expect them and when they do you always need all the help you can get.

[RUSSIANBlAS]

BB are all about the main guns, even if Yam or Izumo are buffed up with a secondary build. Its far more practical to have better main batteries so you can potentially one shot anything under a DD every 30 seconds...

[Comrad_StaIin]

BB are all about the main guns, even if Yam or Izumo are buffed up with a secondary build. Its far more practical to have better main batteries so you can potentially one shot anything under a DD every 30 seconds...

 

but there isnt anything to make the main guns better(the accuracy module only gives you 7% which is nothing) so why not do 30k+ free dmg each game?

[RUSSIANBlAS]

 

but there isnt anything to make the main guns better(the accuracy module only gives you 7% which is nothing) so why not do 30k+ free dmg each game?

 

True as the guns on the NC are truly dire for a high tier BB (atleast before the patch). I'd still go for AA buffs although because the NC AA is so strong and so well known, most CV will avoid you and they'll have no way of checking if you're fully upgraded with AA or not until they fly into your field of fire...

 

It's worth a try if you've got a high level captain going spare as I would sooner spec another ship with a good captain. 

 

 

 

 

[Sander93]

As for the secondary guns, as far as I know, the secondary guns on high-end american BBs are dual purpose, right? That means that boosting their ability in any way automatically also boosts AA, right? An additional degree of protection from DDs and torpedo planes is never a bad thing. They can show up when you least expect them and when they do you always need all the help you can get.

 

​Yes they are dual purpose which means that besides their role as secondaries they also serve the AA stats, but their performance is not linked. If you use secondaries upgrade modules it does not increase AA capability.

[KaraMon]

NC AA is so strong and so well known, most CV will avoid you and they'll have no way of checking if you're fully upgraded with AA or not until they fly into your field of fire...

 

On loading screen just look at ship tooltip and AA ratings , Stock NC has 77 , with AA range mod + manual aa 89 , with aft and no manual 99 rating  . Every above average cv captain can check it fast

[RUSSIANBlAS]

 

On loading screen just look at ship tooltip and AA ratings , Stock NC has 77 , with AA range mod + manual aa 89 , with aft and no manual 99 rating  . Every above average cv captain can check it fast

 

lel, I never knew that... 

 

That only reinforces the majority who default to buffing the NC AA as high as it'll go. Whilst not every game has a CV in it, it's better to have the deterrent there to scare off any flying things. It's one less thing to worry about.

 

Also to the OP, consider firing your guns LESS. Just because you are in range of something, doesn't mean its a good idea to shoot it and A) Advertise where you are to everyone and B) Take a shot that's not optimal. 30 seconds between reloads is more than fast enough if you pick your targets carefully.

 

Example, earlier I was in a Tirp and there was a Molotov at about 10km doing it's thing. HE spamming me and generally being a pain, it was moving and dodging like a madman and my guns were on it. I probably waited over a minute before the RU ship thought he'd run towards me and I fired through his bow; one salvo kill. I could have fired two salvos in that time but if I had shot immediately I don't think I would have got a perfect a shot that if I waited. All the time I was burning and losing HP so there was a little pressure there. 

 

A classic example is when a cruiser turns around, wait until its about to sail straight then fire a salvo leading into its turn. I find they all turn at a fairly uniform rate when at high speed. That's far better than shooting the ship mid turn when it's a far smaller target and may even bounce a few of your shells. 

 

[4venger]

I tried most ships with secondary build, and i gotta say, the accuracy is very good! However, there is a slight problem...

 

 

They dont do any damage. At all. Tried it on Izumo on previous tests too and so on.. their damage is just abismal. 

[deadly_if_swallowed]

True. Those 127mm dual purpose guns just spew fire. They can be fairly dangerous for low-hp DDs but are not much of a threat for any larger targets.

For damage you need a larger caliber like the Japanese 155mm/152mm/140mm AP (good dmg, no fire) or Tirpitz' 150mm HE guns.

 

My Yamato's 155mm Mogami turrets have caused a Detonation on Tirpitz once Wish I had a screenshot...

[4venger]

I've done some further NC secondary spec testing, and i have to say it might even be an option!

The fact that Murican dual purpose secondaries (the only secondaries you have really) only fire HE makes them a great close quarters weapon. They still do around 5k damage in 60 hits, so the alpha damage is still pityful, but they set fires. Lots of them on BBs, so it can be a fun thing to go secondary BBQ spec on a North Carolina, however it still canot beat a regular BB spec or the stealth spec.

 

In a game i had 11k fire damage done simply because i went agressive on enemy BBs and they got burned so many times.

[Leo_Apollo11]

Hi all,

 

Today I swapped 2nd "Upgrades" slot from "Artillery Plotting Room Modification 1" to "Secondary Battery Modification 2".

 

This lowered my main battery range to 23 km (from 27 km) but increased my secondaries range to 7 km...

 

 

Leo "Apollo11"

[deadly_if_swallowed]

I tried Artillery Plotting Room on PT Server to try the 27km range (BB invis fire, yay) but honestly, don't take that on higher tier USN BBs. Their stock range is good enough. You probably want to get a little closer anyway. I highly recommend full AA builds on NC and Iowa but that is not the point of this thread.

 

Pls do review your experiences with the secondary range module some time