Am I playing this game wrong? What is my role?

[_DiscoDave_]

Had about 500+ games so far and not a great lover of ships, but bit the bullet after getting bored with WoT and AW, so tried ships instead, and quite like the game!

 

I like the cruisers, and play them quite a lot. I do have quite a few premiums to earn some coin, that includes Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, so play BBs now and again.

 

Now, when the game kicks off, I'll almost immediately go and support the DDs, only if there is a 3 or 4 base capture game, to cap as fast as possible and move on to the next base or help defend the base if there are enemies around. If its a straight 2 base cap game, I'll try and loiter around the outside of the map with another cruiser and try and pick off whoever I can. I do not feel comfortable going through the middle. The problem is, I get killed rather quickly, or if my luck is in, which is rare, I'll strike gold and have a good match. I have often been shouted at for not protecting BBs, who are more often than not, sitting at the back of the map with their long range guns, which I cannot match, so I feel useless knowing I can't hit anything if I am protecting the BBs, so I drift off in search of targets! Even in my BBs, i will move forward rather than loiter at the back, but I look around and always seem to be in the company of a lone cruiser or 2, until an enemy BB shows up and the cruisers run off, leaving me to deal with them on my own. I know my stats are rubbish, but I am trying, but maybe I'm being to aggressive? 

 

I really dunno how to play this game?

Loiter at the back with most of the team, and out of range, meaning I'm doing jack to help my team, or go forward, die quickly and get slaughtered in chat.

 

Any help would be great.

[Quetak]

there was quite nice topic recently so you can find some tips there.
 

http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/60296-team-please-dont-go-opposite-sides-of-the-map-play-your-role-and-other-tips/

 

GL&HF with ships

[Nechrom]

Standard battles with cruisers can be a bit of a slog early-game and is very much map dependent whether or not you can afford to be a bit more aggressive early on.

For example a map like Estuary is very good for allowing early aggression while Two Brothers is not.

A lot of the time you'll have to spend the beginning of the map basically just following your team around watching how the battle develops and keeping an eye out for enemy DDs.

 

Of course it also depends very much on which cruiser you're currently sailing. They can vary quite a lot in playstyle. 

[LittleNipper]

Stay with other players and don't rush... pick enemy off in team one by one..!

 

[xXx_Blogis_xXx]

With ca , diff by nation max range spam makes u more chance stay alive try not show side

[Aotearas]

That's a hard question to answer since there's many ways you can play a cruiser to great effect which are largely dependent on the map, mode and the ship.

 

It's typically not bad for a cruiser to keep pace with the battleships at the start of a match if there are CVs involved. If the enemy tries to strike a ship near you, your AA suite can help either defend, or it could simply deter the strike alltogether (obviously works best for cruisers with the Defensive AA Fire and strong AA). Other cruisers are a better help pushing after the DDs to support them (mainly against other DDs in the initial clash), but you typically want to do that in a cruiser with low detectability so you won't simply get spotted and focus fired by everyone on the enemy team.

 

That's for the starting phase of a game. After that, you really have to play your ship to its strengths and be that annoying lil' bastard that's putting BBs on fire and making small but regular dents into everything (work that dpm!).

 

The game tells you that you're supposed to kill DDs and support BBs, but that's bad advice if taken literally. As you've noted already, you don't have the range to compete in BB style slugging duels. You also don't have the health and armour to charge headlong into enemy fleets to get at their DDs.

 

Playing cruisers is managing a very thin line between being useless and being dead.

 

 

The best advice I can give is work on that situational awareness. Knowing where to stay clear off and where to poke your nose in is quintessential. That will help you to pick your fights as you want them.

 

Now, the second best advice I can give you is play all the classes (at least a bit) to understand how they play. Know their strengths, their weaknesses and how a player using them thinks. It makes anticipating enemy actions as mentioned above a LOT easier.

 

What I hopefully shouldn't have to tell you, but will emphasize anyhow ... abuse that rudder and speed control like mad. A cruiser that's changing course and speed is annoying as hell to play against. Watch your enemies' guns. When they fire, turn hard to dodge! If you do that, not only will the enemy have a hard time hitting you, but if you do that consistently, they will soon pick other targets to shoot at since they know you're hard to hit and prioritize other ships first.

 

And hide that broadside of yours! Broadsiding cruisers are dead cruisers!

[SDGsteve]

Protect the BBs that are not out sniping on the outsdie of the map and protect the ones in the battle,I like to get in the battle in a BB and some of the time I do get covered and sometims not (qiuite alot of not) most of the time when I ask for support form the crusiers and we stick togather we have a good battle and mostly win,I play crusers and BBs and like to get in the fight and would like to see more team play as in covering unfortunatly alot of players in BBs /Crusers/ and even DDs think its good tactics to sit outside the battle and pick off ships,then complain/rant at or near the end when they are the only ones left and are being slaughtered.

 

Try to read the game not easy sometimes but go with the flow a team who sticks togather is the team that usaly wins in my experance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[beercrazy]

how do dave

 

cruisers:

 

I personally will try and help the dd at the start of the game with all but American cruisers and if I'm in a American cruiser then I will try and help with aa if enemy have a carrier

when helping the dds I will try and give support fire till we take the cap (domination games only) then pull back to get some big gun support from the bbs

if its a standard game where its just the 2 caps its best to stick with the biggest bunch of ships and try and give support fire where possible

 

battleships:

I find moving with a group and pushing as far forward with cruiser and dd support works well

if you see a enemy broadside cruiser when in a bb focus your fire on them because you will get the citadels the bbs are there to do

don't ever go alone in a bb ever ever

there is nothing wrong when in a bb and you lose half your health and fall back and leave the others to engage while you heal up

 

dd:

play em like you did the light tanks in wot and aw and you should be ok

 

cv:

don't play em they are bad at the moment that's why most games don't have em in it

 

and never stop raging pal it makes the world go around

[Agantas]

You can share replays of your gameplay at wowreplays.com. The site is partnered with WG and uses your usual WG account login. There are guides in this forum on how to enable replays (someone might be nice enough to dig it up for you).

 

Feel free to show us replays of your play and ask for advice on how to improve your play with that particular ship or such. 

 

As for game modes, Domination is about conquering caps (you need to have more than enemy team, then you can play defensively), while Standard is about defending your own cap (first priority) and possibly attacking if an opportunity presents itself it is good to remember that you're not in a hurry to charge anywhere in standard mode; Solo yolo is in fact detrimental there, since your team is likely to lose a ship for no gain, thus giving enemy the point advantage.

[AnotherDuck]

One thing I can say about hanging out with the battleships in the back is that most cruisers have fairly accurate guns even at max range, so while a battleship would do better getting closer than max range, a cruiser at max range can still hit reasonably well (especially if you have an aiming module). This is generally what works best for me if I'm directly facing battleships and I'm their prime target (which is a bad idea in a cruiser, but sometimes hard to avoid). If the enemy battleships have closer and more important targets than you, you can move closer without risking too much. And again, don't show a broadside.

 

When it comes to early cap support, it is a dangerous game to play, but it's like that for the destroyers as well, in particular the enemy destroyers you're going to meet (because you can eat them for breakfast given the chance). Make use of islands to cover you from battleship fire, while at the same time try to not hide behind islands to the degree you can't fire on the enemy destroyers. The idea is to sink or scare away the enemy destroyers from the cap, so that your allied destroyers can cap in peace. Often it's best to be just outside the cap, but it depends on the map, what your battleships are doing, and other things.

 

As a small note, if you get close to where there are enemy destroyers, pop a plane if you have one. Most destroyers try to hide behind islands, so if you can get an aerial spot of them that's going to make them think twice about advancing and threatening your destroyers, and it can spot ambushes.

[Humorpalanta]

You possibly can't play this game wrong because there isn't a good way either. Everything is just pure luck.

If RNGesus loves you then you are gonna be a hero but if RNGesus hates you no matter what you do you will be punished like me.

[Kenliero]

You possibly can't play this game wrong because there isn't a good way either. Everything is just pure luck.

If RNGesus loves you then you are gonna be a hero but if RNGesus hates you no matter what you do you will be punished like me.

 

Mister Humor, you must cap the Pure Luck. Every time I win, I win because I have Pure Luck, but every time I lose, it's because the enemy has the Pure Luck.

[Lin3]

_DiscoDave_ your role as a cruiser is very simple.

 

Hunt down and kill any DD 's that get spotted and are within range of you. At first you will only hit them at ranges below 7 kms. With practise you'll be able to hit the pesky blighters at longer range. Fire torps into smoke for lol DD blind shot kills.

 

Keep your distance from BB's and burn them down. Your role is to start as many fires as you can on as many BB's as you can. Whilst dodging most of their shells.

 

Citadel any cruisers that are stupid enough to show you their sides at medium to short range, whilst keeping properly angled against them. Spam them with HE otherwise.

 

Use your fighters and defensive AA fire to disrupt enemy bombers.

 

 

Use the WASD keys for Eurobeat torp dodging.

[Lin3]

You possibly can't play this game wrong because there isn't a good way either. Everything is just pure luck.

If RNGesus loves you then you are gonna be a hero but if RNGesus hates you no matter what you do you will be punished like me.

 

Cruisers are probably the least RNG dependent ships in the game. For a light cruiser you're looking at over 100 hits for an OK game. 150 hits for a good game.

 

[Admiral_noodle]

See? OP starts with "am I doing something wrong?" And help is st hand!

 

OP. May I also recommend YouTube channels:

 

Notser

Flamu

IChase

Aerroon

 

These are good players. Search their content for cruiser replays. See how they play and what they do. All of them explain what and why they are doing what they are doing.

[Aotearas]

You possibly can't play this game wrong because there isn't a good way either. Everything is just pure luck.

If RNGesus loves you then you are gonna be a hero but if RNGesus hates you no matter what you do you will be punished like me.

 

Welp, if I'm so lucky, why haven't I won the bloody lottery yet?

[AnotherDuck]

Welp, if I'm so lucky, why haven't I won the bloody lottery yet?

 

Because you've used up your luck on this game.

[Ubertron_X]

Your role as a cruiser is not to die early while doing as much of your job as reasonably possible. In general, the fewer opponents left, the more you will beginn to shine.

 

BBs and DDs have it much easier to survive the early stages of the game, the former through thoughness, the later due to stealth.

 

So my general advise is to start the game slowly. Do not overextend while chasing DDs or supporting caps and do not overexpose while fighting other capital ships. If this means you can not fire because of danger of getting spotted and blown out of the water, then do not fire but wait until everybody is occupied.

 

The skill incomming fire alert can be your friend to stay alive. If it goes off immediately use WASD hax.

 

In the later stages of the game it is often almost easy to hunt lone DDs or to harrass lone BBs.

 

[Aotearas]

 

Because you've used up your luck on this game.

 

But it's not in luck's best interest to monopolize the game: if I won the lottery and suddenly were to be swimming in disposable income, I could buy all the premium ships and stuff. Surely WG would put forth a good word to Lady Luck under these circumstances?

[krautjaeger]

@OP

 

Lots of good info here already. First of all, find your own thing. Take others experiences, your own, and then reflect on it and find something that suits you. Don't plain copy others, because that rarely works well and you may end up feeling disenchanted if it gives you no fun doing so. While this is a team game, in random battles it really isn't. While it is noble to go in and support, try to find out before the match starts if your team is interested in doing tactics. If you get no answer at all, or if they say 'no' (which actually happens...) you know you're pretty much doing your best and own thing. If you get a 'yes' then sort it out with them, and follow through.

 

Also props for coming to the forums and ask, and welcome. Wish more people do like you.

[cherry2blost]

Had about 500+ games so far and not a great lover of ships, but bit the bullet after getting bored with WoT and AW, so tried ships instead, and quite like the game!

 

I like the cruisers, and play them quite a lot. I do have quite a few premiums to earn some coin, that includes Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, so play BBs now and again.

 

Now, when the game kicks off, I'll almost immediately go and support the DDs, only if there is a 3 or 4 base capture game, to cap as fast as possible and move on to the next base or help defend the base if there are enemies around. If its a straight 2 base cap game, I'll try and loiter around the outside of the map with another cruiser and try and pick off whoever I can. I do not feel comfortable going through the middle. The problem is, I get killed rather quickly, or if my luck is in, which is rare, I'll strike gold and have a good match. I have often been shouted at for not protecting BBs, who are more often than not, sitting at the back of the map with their long range guns, which I cannot match, so I feel useless knowing I can't hit anything if I am protecting the BBs, so I drift off in search of targets! Even in my BBs, i will move forward rather than loiter at the back, but I look around and always seem to be in the company of a lone cruiser or 2, until an enemy BB shows up and the cruisers run off, leaving me to deal with them on my own. I know my stats are rubbish, but I am trying, but maybe I'm being to aggressive? 

 

I really dunno how to play this game?

Loiter at the back with most of the team, and out of range, meaning I'm doing jack to help my team, or go forward, die quickly and get slaughtered in chat.

 

Any help would be great.

 

I personally tend to support the DD's in my cruisers.... low concealment helps here A LOT !

 

In BB always up front deal as much damage and carnage as you can while you attempt to stay alive....

 

welcome to the game and welcome to forums !

 

And if you want to division up feel free to pop into our TS we don't bite !

[_DiscoDave_]

@Everyone who replied.

Many thanks for the info, much appreciated! I will try and take it all on-board, but maybe over the course of a few weeks ;)

 

@Beercrazy.

I need to do some tooning with you and Storm soon, you 2 need to take me by the hand, so to speak

Also, I hated the lights in WoT, but AW is a different matter. If only WOWS had a DD like the VFM5 from AW!

[Aotearas]

Feel free to join the WoWS TeamSpeak server (server adress is: 92.223.3.90:9989) if you want to buddy up with people, provided you have a microphone for the voicechat of course. You can easily find chaps over there. I'm also typically online in the afternoon and on the English channels so if you want to division up and you see my name, give it a poke.

[Nex_Gen]

One thing I can say about hanging out with the battleships in the back is that most cruisers have fairly accurate guns even at max range, so while a battleship would do better getting closer than max range, a cruiser at max range can still hit reasonably well (especially if you have an aiming module). This is generally what works best for me if I'm directly facing battleships and I'm their prime target (which is a bad idea in a cruiser, but sometimes hard to avoid). If the enemy battleships have closer and more important targets than you, you can move closer without risking too much. And again, don't show a broadside.

 

When it comes to early cap support, it is a dangerous game to play, but it's like that for the destroyers as well, in particular the enemy destroyers you're going to meet (because you can eat them for breakfast given the chance). Make use of islands to cover you from battleship fire, while at the same time try to not hide behind islands to the degree you can't fire on the enemy destroyers. The idea is to sink or scare away the enemy destroyers from the cap, so that your allied destroyers can cap in peace. Often it's best to be just outside the cap, but it depends on the map, what your battleships are doing, and other things.

 

As a small note, if you get close to where there are enemy destroyers, pop a plane if you have one. Most destroyers try to hide behind islands, so if you can get an aerial spot of them that's going to make them think twice about advancing and threatening your destroyers, and it can spot ambushes.

 

What my dear Duck fails to mention that dependent on tier and line the max range of ca/l is about effective firing range for the bbs so do not for the love of god show your belly and get used to sailing in zigzaging paterns ie fire, turn in , reload, turn out, fire ...... main thing keep turning and never stop unless behind an island 

 

And use islands as an extra 100-500m of armor. And just learn the gun arcs of ships so you can lob shells over em and wach the bbabys rage and cry as you just plink away at them.

And dont forget to kiss any underage ship(dd) u meet on the cheeks. 

 

And remember as a Cl/Ca captain, you are the perfect gentleman of the high seas, be courtious, babysit the Bbabys, and offer assistance to any underage ships(dds) you meet as they try to go to the lolipop shop (cap).(no pervy stuff tho, it is conduct unbecoming), as for the floating airstrips they are a myth and ought to be treated as such;)

 

[Ryuuteimaru]

I'll be frank currently Cruisers apart from a select handful suck they're little more than battleship fodder, only thing I'll say is don't stick with your teams BB as many people suggest it's a sure way to end your game early.