15 point Dunkerque Captain?

[th3freakie]

So, at 118 battles played with this sexy beast, my Captain has finally reached the rank of Vice-Amiral d'escadre.

 

With most BB captains that aren't German and/or tier 7 and above, you go for Concealment Expert, to get you close to your enemies before administering high speed steel injections, but is that worth it with the Dunkerque?

 

I currently have this build, which serves me well against airplanes, since most of the frenchie's AA comes from the 16 x 130 mm guns, which have the most range to begin with. It also helps the secondaries, which are quite fearsome for anything that gets behind/next to you.

 

But I'm not sure it is the best. Overing the CE skill in-game suggests major improvements to concealment, and manual secondaries, even if capped at 15, might make up for losing lesser skills if they indeed get one or two more fires per brawl.

 

Anyone got experience with other options for 15 point capitaines français?

[piritskenyer]

I probably will take the following skills:

1. AFT
2. EM
3. Super
4. MAAFC
5. CE

 

Not sure if I'm going to be taking AFT instead of CE though, it might improve AA even further. CE would bring the detection down to pretty okay levels, which would allow for even more tactical flexibility (which is already pretty nice thanks to the speed.

[Affeks]

I use this (superintendent before vigilance), or will be when I get the rest of the points. Though CE is really good it's not really fitting of my playstyle, so sacrificing that CE for AFT and BFT is worth it in my eyes. Also the 130 mms shred DDs that come at you from either side or behind so depending on what ships hit the French BB tech tree I might even consider trying Manual secondary soon which would look like this with the last three points being put in superintendent. as vigilance is more usefull when playing insanely aggressive

[RUSSIANBlAS]

Manual AA with AFT looks like where I'm going with Dunkers high level captain skills. Covers her biggest weakness (bad AA)

[Masterrix]

"Jack of all Trades" for Dunkerque

 

Dunkerque is very often target of HE shells because of her bow-positioning towards the enemy.

 

this means Dunkerque takes a lot of light damage and is very often set on fire

 

with Jack of all Trades...

- u can heal the light damage quicker and more often

- u can delete fires quicker and more often

 

in combination with premium consumables for heal and repair, Dunkerque will be a very tough nut

[th3freakie]

So no-one actually has a Dunker with CE already? Interesting. I'm very curious to know how to works, but not enough to stop enjoying all those crashing airplanes around the French Lady. It is also a delight when enemies get close enough for secondaries to work and their health just starts melting.

[xCaptainObviousx]

I think CE would be a bit of a waste on Dunkerque, you're not gonna get that 16.9 km base detection down to anything usable without the t8 concealment upgrade.

[Affeks]

I think CE would be a bit of a waste on Dunkerque, you're not gonna get that 16.9 km base detection down to anything usable without the t8 concealment upgrade.

 

Pretty much why I don't run it. At tier 5-7 matchmaking maps have little room to move in, so actually flanking with 14,5 km detection when the enemy spawn 20 km away from you is a lost cause.

[Affeks]

So no-one actually has a Dunker with CE already? Interesting. I'm very curious to know how to works, but not enough to stop enjoying all those crashing airplanes around the French Lady. It is also a delight when enemies get close enough for secondaries to work and their health just starts melting.

 

I would actually go with a secondary build for two reasons: Historically the French BBs had a good amount of secondaries and with aggresive designes such as Richelieu and Alsace I expect their gameplay to reflect that. Also the wierd secondary layout of Dunker makes you play her in some wierd and funny ways when trying to get a good angle to release that HE spamming goodness.

 

To be honest the best way to skill a captain for Dunkers is either full AA or partial AA with Jack of all trades. Personally I still go with full AA spec since I rarely have the need to extinguish those fires and the bow on potential of the Dunkmaster gives me plenty of time to repair damage over the course of the match. So fires and other ships I can outplay... but if a CV sets his sights on me its not always as easy dodge when that would leave your juicy broadside open..

[piritskenyer]

 

I would actually go with a secondary build for two reasons: Historically the French BBs had a good amount of secondaries and with aggresive designes such as Richelieu and Alsace I expect their gameplay to reflect that. Also the wierd secondary layout of Dunker makes you play her in some wierd and funny ways when trying to get a good angle to release that HE spamming goodness.

 

To be honest the best way to skill a captain for Dunkers is either full AA or partial AA with Jack of all trades. Personally I still go with full AA spec since I rarely have the need to extinguish those fires and the bow on potential of the Dunkmaster gives me plenty of time to repair damage over the course of the match. So fires and other ships I can outplay... but if a CV sets his sights on me its not always as easy dodge when that would leave your juicy broadside open..

 

Given she's a prem BB, you can actually have different captains (when time comes) for different builds. Sure, module wise it's only a partial rebuild, but you could shuffle concealment, secondaries or AA for her depending on cpt.

[Affeks]

 

Given she's a prem BB, you can actually have different captains (when time comes) for different builds. Sure, module wise it's only a partial rebuild, but you could shuffle concealment, secondaries or AA for her depending on cpt.

 

I like to keep my captains as simple as possible... I use the same captain for Gremyaschy, Murmansk, Molotov, Leningrad, Kutuzov and the Russian Cruiser line. I would like to keep it simple for MN ships as well, but yes depending on how the lines will look I may shuffle captains for some variety.

[piritskenyer]

 

I like to keep my captains as simple as possible... I use the same captain for Gremyaschy, Murmansk, Molotov, Leningrad, Kutuzov and the Russian Cruiser line. I would like to keep it simple for MN ships as well, but yes depending on how the lines will look I may shuffle captains for some variety.

 

Yeah, but that is your cruiser captain. If you have a separate BB or DD cpt, you can shuffle him around the same way on all the prems you have. An example I can bring is the selection of cpt's I can use on my Atago if I so choose. 

I have the cruiser line cpt that is a classic DE-CE built cpt, but I could also use a BB cpt with a skillset that has for instance AFT instead of DE, which would make Atago better against aircraft, but a wee weaker against ships. 

 

I understand your philosophy, as I have a similar one, but given that there are more than one lines (and more than one ships in a line), there is possibility to have differently geared cpt's and thus differently built premium ships, which is part of the reason why premium ships can potentially be extremely versatile. 

 

The Dunkerque could have

1. a rather good-for-the-tier detection range at 14.1km with a CE cpt (that's a 100m's better than NewMex and Warspite, assuming they don't have CE), 
2. an excellent secondary build with B/AFT and MSAFC (and SBM2 (or even just ASM1))
3. an excellent AA build with B/AFT and MAAFC (and AAGM2).

Now all of these options even if only paired with ASM1 (the most common choice for a generalised build around) each eliminates one particular weakness completely.

N°1 makes you less visible and thus you won't be the thing people see first. This is particularly useful in higher tier games where the number of things that can hurt you is much higher, so not getting seen as early is a good thing.

N°2 doesn't actually remove a weakness, rather it improves something that's already "okay". The secondaries can do a nasty number on a DD as is if you play smart, but are often criticised for not being as good in a BB-on-BB fight as other nations'. Well, yes, but that's down to their positioning rather than their actual power. If a DD tries to (literally) bumrush you, you can do a number on him with a secondary build by basically showering him in shells. Sure, this works best with SBM2, but ASM1 also buffs secondaries a little.

N°3 makes you a far less juicy target for carriers as high as T7. T8's still don't really care, especially if they focus you, but with B/AFT and MAAFC you'll see a fair amount of DPM coming out of your DP armament, and if you have all the range extension (AAGM2), you'll be able to do a nasty number on attacking T5-7 planes, esp if you send up your fighter for extra dispersing of enemy planes.

It's a bit like moving the power-management slider in one of those Startrek games.

 

And therein lies the versatility of a premium ship: if someone has differently trained cpt's the ship can basically fill different roles. Of course it's difficult for ships that don't have a national line and thus require a dedicated cpt (Blyska, Dunker, Warspite while she was alone, Perth, Panasians, etc), but with time and effort it can be excellent.

[Affeks]

 

Yeah, but that is your cruiser captain. If you have a separate BB or DD cpt, you can shuffle him around the same way on all the prems you have. An example I can bring is the selection of cpt's I can use on my Atago if I so choose. 

I have the cruiser line cpt that is a classic DE-CE built cpt, but I could also use a BB cpt with a skillset that has for instance AFT instead of DE, which would make Atago better against aircraft, but a wee weaker against ships. 

 

I understand your philosophy, as I have a similar one, but given that there are more than one lines (and more than one ships in a line), there is possibility to have differently geared cpt's and thus differently built premium ships, which is part of the reason why premium ships can potentially be extremely versatile. 

 

The Dunkerque could have

1. a rather good-for-the-tier detection range at 14.1km with a CE cpt (that's a 100m's better than NewMex and Warspite, assuming they don't have CE), 
2. an excellent secondary build with B/AFT and MSAFC (and SBM2 (or even just ASM1))
3. an excellent AA build with B/AFT and MAAFC (and AAGM2).

Now all of these options even if only paired with ASM1 (the most common choice for a generalised build around) each eliminates one particular weakness completely.

N°1 makes you less visible and thus you won't be the thing people see first. This is particularly useful in higher tier games where the number of things that can hurt you is much higher, so not getting seen as early is a good thing.

N°2 doesn't actually remove a weakness, rather it improves something that's already "okay". The secondaries can do a nasty number on a DD as is if you play smart, but are often criticised for not being as good in a BB-on-BB fight as other nations'. Well, yes, but that's down to their positioning rather than their actual power. If a DD tries to (literally) bumrush you, you can do a number on him with a secondary build by basically showering him in shells. Sure, this works best with SBM2, but ASM1 also buffs secondaries a little.

N°3 makes you a far less juicy target for carriers as high as T7. T8's still don't really care, especially if they focus you, but with B/AFT and MAAFC you'll see a fair amount of DPM coming out of your DP armament, and if you have all the range extension (AAGM2), you'll be able to do a nasty number on attacking T5-7 planes, esp if you send up your fighter for extra dispersing of enemy planes.

It's a bit like moving the power-management slider in one of those Startrek games.

 

And therein lies the versatility of a premium ship: if someone has differently trained cpt's the ship can basically fill different roles. Of course it's difficult for ships that don't have a national line and thus require a dedicated cpt (Blyska, Dunker, Warspite while she was alone, Perth, Panasians, etc), but with time and effort it can be excellent.

 

And that there is the reason I almost solely only play premium ships atm. I hate how captain training works tbh, I agree that when you get a new captain on a ship he should need training, but why would he suddenly forget how to command the previously trained ship? Godamn I just want to have the same captain for both Amagi and Nagato.... If that were the case I'd be much more inclined to keep all the ships in a line and rather pay good money to get me some silver to buy the next ship in the tech tree instead of using the silver I get from selling ships...

[th3freakie]

So it seems everyone specs their Dunkers to either AA or Secondaries. Makes sense. With the AA build I posted above, which also helps Secondaries, you get these sort of results: