Is there anything you can do against fires in a BB?

[Riggerby]

So, Up until now i have mostly played Cruisers. Germans specifically, And, Having paper armour ive amost always had AP slugged at me, And i could counter that with angling, but, recently i started going down the US BB line, And, Fires are becoming an issue i have never had before. 

 

I mean when i was in my German cruisers, Fires werent that common, And if i did get them i could easily stop them, I would barely loose any health if i did leave them, And, Well, It just wasnt an issue. But, Now in BB's. Its absolutely crippling !. The amount of times my North Carolina gets spammed Cruiser HE (Japanese ships are the worst) and every single salvo i take causes a fire, Let alone the 5-8k in HE damage too!, Or say having a DD sitting in smoke just spamming HE at me, And im taking on 3 fires, Ill put them out, And within 30 seconds i have 3 fires again.

 

This isnt a rage post about HE or anything, I just want to know i can improve, I mean, I always angle my ships to deal with AP, But.. Can i actually do anything against HE ? Or do i literally just have to endure taking insane amounts of damage and cooking to a crisp all the time?.

 

(Edit - I have all modules and crew skills i possibly can to reduce risk of fire but its still not good enough, I would say fires are my single biggest loss of health in BB's).

[RNGsama]

Remember that fire damage counts as light damage and is therefore mostly HP that can be regained through the repair party consumable.

A few tips for elongating your lifespan in a game as a BB being spammed by HE:

• Don't be the first one in (but don't be the last either), keep up with your cruisers and share the damage.
• Use terrain to your advantage, put tall islands between you and the enemies to disengage. Or even better, you can use islands to shield yourself and only engage a few enemy ships at a time.
• Go bow on if your ship has decent concentration of firepower in the front (e.g. North Carolina and onwards) and keep it there, you can try snaking your way forwards to utilize your No.3 battery, but remember that firing an extra salvo generally isn't worth losing 10k HP for. 
• Time your damage control parties. There is no point in putting out 3 fires if you know you will get set on fire again immediately once your immunity period ends. Try go stealth by not firing (if you are far away enough), getting behind solid cover or if you are absolutely desperate, turn and leg it. It's far more difficult to set multiple sections of a ship on fire if it is pointed directly towards or away from you.

The most important thing is just to not get yourself into a position that you cannot retreat from. Going bow on against 3 HE spamming ships alone at 12km and there's almost nothing you can do anyways.

[22cm]

I would say fires are my single biggest loss of health in BB's

 

As it should be,  because there is nothing else left

All BBs from tier 8 play only bow-on to ding AP,  high tier carriers are rare while low tiers are not a threat due to  buffed AA, torps and Jap DDs have been nerfed into oblivion and on top of this there is Radar now… so there is only one thing left:  fire. 

BB players whine too much. 

[ColonelPete]

(Edit - I have all modules and crew skills i possibly can to reduce risk of fire but its still not good enough, I would say fires are my single biggest loss of health in BB's).

 

If that is the case you are an extremly rare captain. On Average fire sums up to less than 20% of your damage.

 

Make sure that you do not get focussed.

Let the fire burn.

As soon as you can maximize your repair ability, start the repairs.

If you have 3+ fires on you (and they are burning long) or you are out of the crossfire, you can use Damage Control (but check the skies first for enemy planes).

If the damage adds up, make sure you get out of the danger zone and pull back. One or two repairs later you are back in business.

[Francois424]

 

As it should be,  because there is nothing else left

All BBs from tier 8 play only bow-on to ding AP,  high tier carriers are rare while low tiers are not a threat due to  buffed AA, torps and Jap DDs have been nerfed into oblivion and on top of this there is Radar now… so there is only one thing left:  fire.

BB players whine too much.

 

Well if overpens from BB and even cruiser guns could open up to 4 flood holes in your cruisers, and you could only put them out once every 90-120sec... we'll see how much you'd whine too.

But to be fair, I could give you a HP regain ability every 3min as well.

I think you'd still whine.

 

 

I've played every class in the game, but more BB than anything else.  BB is the only class in the game that suffers un-repairable DoT effect (when on cooldown), that even with an HP repair ability is still crippling.

Having found it's not as bad in CoOp, I have since switched from 90% PvP to 90% PvE.

 

 

 

 

[lup3s]

I've played every class in the game, but more BB than anything else.  BB is the only class in the game that suffers un-repairable DoT effect (when on cooldown), that even with an HP repair ability is still crippling.

Having found it's not as bad in CoOp, I have since switched from 90% PvP to 90% PvE.

 

Op to T8, battleships are the only ships (apart from some premiums) who can repair damage; fire damage is light damage so you can actually repair most of it.

Other ships that can't put out a fire will suffer unrepairable DoT effect, so I don't really understand where you're getting this.

 

@OP:

As RNGSama mentioned, timing your damage control and HP repair ability is the key (together with knowing which battles to fight or flight from).

It's not because you're in a battleship that you're able to take on multiple HE-spamming cruisers; unless you're okay with trading your ship for sinking one or two of their ships.

[AnotherDuck]

• Don't be the first one in (but don't be the last either), keep up with your cruisers and share the damage.

 

I'll add to this one that you can be the first one in, if you have a quick exit strategy. Going in, taking some fire, and going out to let someone else take over the tanking role is effective, spreads the damage more, and it lets you wait out the cooldowns on consumables. Just make sure you don't exit by showing a broadside to other battleships, or if you do, only do it after they fire, so you can make the turn during their reload. That's where using islands really come in handy.

 

Speaking of consumables, use premium ones if feel you can afford it. Shorter cooldowns and an extra repair can help a lot.

[ColonelPete]

  BB is the only class in the game that suffers un-repairable DoT effect (when on cooldown), that even with an HP repair ability is still crippling.

 

 

Are you claiming that DDs, CVs and Cruisers do not suffer fire and flooding?

Did you really think before you wrote that sentence?

[Francois424]

 

Are you claiming that DDs, CVs and Cruisers do not suffer fire and flooding?

Did you really think before you wrote that sentence?

 

Fire does % hp based damage, so not a concern for DD.

Torpedoes are dangerous, but both a cruiser and DD have MUCH QUICKER repair consumable, and the DD will often die from it.

So yes, BB are the only class in the game where it matters.

 

 

I stand by my post.

[ColonelPete]

But it is just wrong. If your consumables are on cooldown, no class can repair DoT damage. But you claim that applies only to BB.

 

Btw. since fire is % HP based, a DD will die as fast to fire as a BB, probably even quicker since the HE, that is starting the fires, does more damage to DD.

[AgarwaenME]

 

Fire does % hp based damage, so not a concern for DD.

Torpedoes are dangerous, but both a cruiser and DD have MUCH QUICKER repair consumable, and the DD will often die from it.

So yes, BB are the only class in the game where it matters.

 

 

I stand by my post.

 

% based means it matters JUST AS MUCH for DDs. and infact more as these ships can't repair this (and as noted by others, fire damage repairs nearly fully). And that is on top of fires increasing your visibility range which takes away your defensive abilities. BBs do not have worse armour while under fire, so in fact DDs are WAY WORSE off (and that is on top of being far easier to set on fire in the first place). A BB that burns down to 1% and gets away, can sit out for 2 repairs worth, and return to the battle with 40% HP. No other ship class can do that.

 

And sure, CAs and DDs have lower cooldown on repair, but NO DD can repair damage done, and only t9+ (and atago) CAs can, and for A LOT LESS with FEWER CHARGES.

 

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, period.

 

[chaosrealm93]

So, Up until now i have mostly played Cruisers. Germans specifically, And, Having paper armour ive amost always had AP slugged at me, And i could counter that with angling, but, recently i started going down the US BB line, And, Fires are becoming an issue i have never had before. 

 

I mean when i was in my German cruisers, Fires werent that common, And if i did get them i could easily stop them, I would barely loose any health if i did leave them, And, Well, It just wasnt an issue. But, Now in BB's. Its absolutely crippling !. The amount of times my North Carolina gets spammed Cruiser HE (Japanese ships are the worst) and every single salvo i take causes a fire, Let alone the 5-8k in HE damage too!, Or say having a DD sitting in smoke just spamming HE at me, And im taking on 3 fires, Ill put them out, And within 30 seconds i have 3 fires again.

 

This isnt a rage post about HE or anything, I just want to know i can improve, I mean, I always angle my ships to deal with AP, But.. Can i actually do anything against HE ? Or do i literally just have to endure taking insane amounts of damage and cooking to a crisp all the time?.

 

(Edit - I have all modules and crew skills i possibly can to reduce risk of fire but its still not good enough, I would say fires are my single biggest loss of health in BB's).

 

 

get the captain skill, ship perk and fly the flag

[22cm]

Fire does % hp based damage, so not a concern for DD.

Troll feeling here? So loosing 100% of 10k is less important then loosing 50% of 50k?!

[22cm]

 

1. BB is the only class in the game that suffers un-repairable DoT effect (when on cooldown), that even with an HP repair ability is still crippling.

 

2. Having found it's not as bad in CoOp, I have since switched from 90% PvP to 90% PvE.

 

This 2 sentences aggravate the troll feeling even more. 

[SinkTheOthersNotMe]

These days I am starting to play a lot the izumo and yami and I seldom worry about fires and I am not hidding at the back of the map and I am usually the one holding a flank and tanking (in reverse usually) because there is no choice (for example yami alone because team fled and being bow on against 2 yami and 2 izumos).

 

As the OP said BB specifically:

 

- Low tiers and slow BB: Have the upgrade slots with the Damage Control System Modification 1 and Damage Control System Modification 2 if possible, captain skills High alert + Jack if all trades + of course premium consumables.

Most important is: Watch your minimap often and check who your facing and at what range, in a new york facing a kongo and a murmansk at 10km is ok as you can citadel the murmansk easily and kill the kongo easily too, now facing a BB + 2 murmansk and a omaha at 6km = you will burn to death no matter what.

 

- Medium tiers BB (6-8): Usually I do not have fire issues anymore (the kind that kills me from full HP) except if facing a division of budyoni or the likes, but then I know from the start of the game that I have to worry about those and I have to rely on the rest of the team to deal with them if possible.

 

- High tiers: No fire issues as long as I do not go too close to a zao (or let is invifire) or a desmoines -> this said those guys usully try to avoid being in the line of fire of an izumo or yami, I always try to maintain a range of 14 to 18km at high tiers especially while DD are still in the game -> if DD are dead and there are some CA/DD in my team left to spot then I charge as I am pretty sure I can citadel any CA and deal with BB.

 

 

As I also play quite a lot DD I also enjoy spamming HE either from a distance with USSR DD or from smoke in USN and IJN DD -> especially at big juicy BB once I have killed the opposing DD.

In such a case, if you are in the BB then you stear away -> ASAP except if you are in the terrible position of risking taking several broadside citadels in which case you are in a bad situation anyway.

 

Secret I learned playing BB at high tiers is:

Go forward -> you are there to tank anyway but do it as to:

- Have DD and CA a bit in the front so they can spot the DD and torps

- When the enemy team is spotted do not hesitate to go in reverse (usually around 15km I start going in reverse if the bulk of the enemy team is coming my way) while of course keeping track of DD

- Do not hesitate to turn tail (and try to time it with enemy's BB salvos) and lead a fighting retreat, if for example your DD and CA on your side turned tail or died and do it while changing speed, it does marvels at avoiding a citadel

 

Then following those I seldom have fire issues because zaos and the likes are either too busy with the rest of the team or too scared of your big bad BB.

 

Plus do not forget, you might be the yamato who got scared of the big bad zao spamming fire from 18km and turns away just to have my izumo/yami double citadel you because I was waiting for you to show me your broadside.

 

 

[Ferry_25]

IMO you're grinding too fast. It seems you have skipped South Carolina and New York alltogether and rushed to the NC. Bought Tirp and Wasp and went in yolo-ing. Please don't take me wrong. Not trying to paternalize you. Playing BB's is very much a matter of building up experience (and I don't mean the points on you ship). BB play is a matter of patience. Angling against HE is useless: most of the times the fires aren't killing your ship: it's your collegue BB's with the red paint. Angle against them. (look at the minimap for at least 50% of the gametime). My sincere advice: go back to South Carolina and play at least 50 battles per BB and slowly grind upward. That way you'll be doing yourself and your teams a big favor.

[Riggerby]

 

Are you claiming that DDs, CVs and Cruisers do not suffer fire and flooding?

Did you really think before you wrote that sentence?

 

The Difference here is, DD's and CV's and CA/CL dont usually get HE spammed like BB's do... Everyone slugs AP at Carriers because theyre floating citadels, Everyone slugs AP at cruisers because, again, theyre floating citadels, And, Usually when DD's get into a fight Chances are what ever they are fighting already has AP preloaded and will use that against it.

 

Whereas, What happens when a cruiser or DD comes across a BB? Oh thats right.. They switch to HE and spam it until it burns to a crisp. Lets not forget to take into account dive bombers either which are pretty much a gurantee to cause 1-3 fires... yes, All the classes suffer from Fire, im not saying they dont, But, You cannot sit here and say BB's dont have the most HE fired at them... When i play cruisers i will be set on fire a couple times per match at most, If im in a BB, Probably upwards of a dozen times a round. Everyone just spams HE at them...

 

IMO you're grinding too fast. It seems you have skipped South Carolina and New York alltogether and rushed to the NC. Bought Tirp and Wasp and went in yolo-ing. Please don't take me wrong. Not trying to paternalize you. Playing BB's is very much a matter of building up experience (and I don't mean the points on you ship). BB play is a matter of patience. Angling against HE is useless: most of the times the fires aren't killing your ship: it's your collegue BB's with the red paint. Angle against them. (look at the minimap for at least 50% of the gametime). My sincere advice: go back to South Carolina and play at least 50 battles per BB and slowly grind upward. That way you'll be doing yourself and your teams a big favor.

 

I skipped those ships because i hated them. This is a game afterall, I want to have fun playing it, Not slug around at 18 knots firing shotguns whilst getting absolutely slaughtered by DD's. Low Tier US BB's are just beyond horrible. So i didnt play them. I did pick up the New Mexico and Colorado and just hated every minute of them, I couldn't work around just how slow everything about them is, Atleast the NC can move..

 

To be honest, I feel as though im fairly happy with how i perform ingame. Whilst i certainly dont have amazing stats or anything im certainly not a bad player. 

[ColonelPete]

 

The Difference here is, DD's and CV's and CA/CL dont usually get HE spammed like BB's do....

 

We were not talking about a difference. He was claiming something false.

[lup3s]

 

The Difference here is, DD's and CV's and CA/CL dont usually get HE spammed like BB's do... Everyone slugs AP at Carriers because theyre floating citadels, Everyone slugs AP at cruisers because, again, theyre floating citadels, And, Usually when DD's get into a fight Chances are what ever they are fighting already has AP preloaded and will use that against it.

 

 

 

I skipped those ships because i hated them. This is a game afterall, I want to have fun playing it, Not slug around at 18 knots firing shotguns whilst getting absolutely slaughtered by DD's. Low Tier US BB's are just beyond horrible. So i didnt play them. I did pick up the New Mexico and Colorado and just hated every minute of them, I couldn't work around just how slow everything about them is, Atleast the NC can move..

 

To be honest, I feel as though im fairly happy with how i perform ingame. Whilst i certainly dont have amazing stats or anything im certainly not a bad player. 

 

CVs also get shot a lot by HE; setting a CV on fire essentially removes him from the game for some time, as the planes can't land or take off.

At medium to long distances, CAs also get shot a lot by HE (by DDs or other CAs); especially if they're not giving broadside. At long distance the DDs' and CAs' HE performs way better than their AP.

And about DDs... Why would you ever fire AP at DDs? Unless it's the only target to shoot at and you've got AP loaded, or it's to clear your barrels and load HE to wreck that pesky DD..

I think DDs take (relatively) the most HE damage of all classes.

 

 

I think you're problem is that you haven't learned the most basic tactics by skipping lower tier ships. Because you're sailing slow ships, you need to read the mini-map better, judge the situation better, know beforehand what you'll do and where you're going to sail, know how and when to escape a battle if you're under heavy fire, and just simply know how to survive and take advantage of the amazing broadside and brawling power of the USN BBs.

Wyoming and New Mexico are amazing ships for their tier, and New York and Colorado are also pretty good. Of course, if the New Mexico is the first BB you're playing, it's almost no surprise you have no fun playing it, as you don't know how to play the slow USN BBs (and at tier 6 this is more punishing than at tiers below).

 

Imo:

S. Carolina >>> Kawachi

Wyoming >>> Myogi

New York < Kongo

New Mexico ~ Fuso

Colorado < Nagato

 

[AnotherDuck]

The Difference here is, DD's and CV's and CA/CL dont usually get HE spammed like BB's do... Everyone slugs AP at Carriers because theyre floating citadels, Everyone slugs AP at cruisers because, again, theyre floating citadels, And, Usually when DD's get into a fight Chances are what ever they are fighting already has AP preloaded and will use that against it.

 

Whereas, What happens when a cruiser or DD comes across a BB? Oh thats right.. They switch to HE and spam it until it burns to a crisp. Lets not forget to take into account dive bombers either which are pretty much a gurantee to cause 1-3 fires... yes, All the classes suffer from Fire, im not saying they dont, But, You cannot sit here and say BB's dont have the most HE fired at them... When i play cruisers i will be set on fire a couple times per match at most, If im in a BB, Probably upwards of a dozen times a round. Everyone just spams HE at them...

 

Actually, most people shoot HE at DDs and CVs. DDs die fairly quickly if fired upon by pretty much any ship, so any spam against them just means a lot of misses. CVs get citadelled by HE all the time, at least in low and mid tiers. Not to mention, people use HE on them to stop them from launching planes. And they also die pretty quickly, usually while burning from bow to stern.

 

DDs don't switch to HE when firing at a BB. HE is their primary ammunition for almost all situations. And of course CAs switch to HE when firing at BBs. They want to actually do damage, not bounce most shots.

 

Just remember that while someone can set you on fire for a heal or two, you can citadel them for half their life in a single salvo, or more. It's really only fair that ships can do as much damage to you as you can do to them, generally speaking.

[Orkel2]

The only way to defend against fires is to snipe from range and not get close enough. If you get closer than 15km, you will be permanently on fire from the HE spammers that ignore any armor you have. Welcome to tier 9-10 gameplay, let's blame BBs some more for not leading the charge.

[AgarwaenME]

The only way to defend against fires is to snipe from range and not get close enough. If you get closer than 15km, you will be permanently on fire from the HE spammers that ignore any armor you have. Welcome to tier 9-10 gameplay, let's blame BBs some more for not leading the charge.

 

Except it's BBs showing up on the scene that makes other BBs run to the rear. And unsurprisingly as MOST OF THE DAMAGE YOU TAKE IN A BB IS FROM OTHER BBs. And that's beside the fact that fire damage repairs a lot better than AP from other BBs, so when they hit you hard you stay damaged to some extent.

 

Torps and fire? Excuses.

[Spellfire40]

 

Fire does % hp based damage, so not a concern for DD.

Torpedoes are dangerous, but both a cruiser and DD have MUCH QUICKER repair consumable, and the DD will often die from it.

So yes, BB are the only class in the game where it matters.

 

 

I stand by my post.

 

​The % Chance is the least Problem for a DD higher visibility is plus a BB can repair 100% of fire damage. If you click repair when you only have 1 fire ´burnung its nobody else fault.

Also i agree with some of teh Posts. Increased AA nefed Torps what want BB Skipper else till its world of BB and no im not biased i am at t8 for both BB lines as well.

[Spellfire40]

The only way to defend against fires is to snipe from range and not get close enough. If you get closer than 15km, you will be permanently on fire from the HE spammers that ignore any armor you have. Welcome to tier 9-10 gameplay, let's blame BBs some more for not leading the Charge.

​Yes because if they get under 12km You 1 to 3 shot those pesky firestarters with ease. but then you might get your paint scratched. If you afraid of geting dameged you shoudnt get a Warship into Battle its not that a single Firestarter can kill you in under 5 minutes on its own unless ur sails stait.

[lup3s]

​Yes because if they get under 12km You 1 to 3 shot those pesky firestarters with ease. but then you might get your paint scratched. If you afraid of geting dameged you shoudnt get a Warship into Battle

 

this so much

probably the reason why most BB captains tend to camp at the back and shoot at max distance; and then start to whine about the shell dispersion

 

The only way to defend against fires is to snipe from range and not get close enough. If you get closer than 15km, you will be permanently on fire from the HE spammers that ignore any armor you have. Welcome to tier 9-10 gameplay, let's blame BBs some more for not leading the charge.

 

• there are plenty of ways to minimize fire damage
• HE doesn't ignore armor.. you need to hit the superstructure of a BB to do damage with HE (and this damage is minimal compared to the damage by the AP of an enemy BB)
• the closer you get to enemy ships, the more hits you'll land with your BB, the faster the enemy will die. Apart from the occasional lucky salvo, sniping from distance doesn't ensure (consistent) high damage.