Leading your aim - A guide to glory!

[Shepbur]

Hello again everyone!

 

The purpose of this guide is to support players of all abilities and areas of experience to improve their skills and better their in-game performance! Many players agree that it's extremely hard to hit enemy ships at long-extreme ranges reliably, and will often take some time to range their shots in to the target. Additionally, many destroyer and cruiser players can panic in difficult situations, mis-judging their lead aim with torpedoes and denies them of that last kill. Throughout this guide i aim to support you in these matters to make sure that you're as effective as possible in the oceans!

 

Judging the range of a target & Basics of combat

There is a simple tool which you can use to judge the distance of your target, and accurately range in on the target in the first salvo. Having selected your target using the "X" key, you can then press "Alt". This results in extra information being shown on the screen to you, including the range to the enemy target, the range to your current point of aim, and the travel time of your shells to reach the point of aim.

To accurately range your shots, you will need to match up the range of your point of aim with the range to the enemy target as closely as possible. However be aware, you will also need to give a lead-aim depending on the speed of the enemy ship (see further into the guide), as well as the direction in which the ship is coming.

 

On-coming traffic

If an enemy ship is heading directly towards you, the easiest way to range your shots to hit on-target is to aim slightly in-front of their bow. This is normally enough lead for most ships, (given the range they're spotted at) to land on-target first time, or be extremely close with very little need for adjustments.

In the mirrored situation, where an enemy is heading directly away from you, i've generally seen the correct lead aim to be the bridge of the ship. (This is normally ~2/3rds up of the tallest tower on the ship). Again, this is normally either a first-time hit, or requires very little extra aiming to get the shots landing cleanly on the deck of the enemy ship.

 

The more complicated situation is when an enemy ship is heading towards/ away from you at a slower pace while heading near parallel to your own path. This is probably the most difficult situation to aim accurately in, and requires you to watch the speed at which the enemy is gaining ground towards you, the affect your own speed and direction has on this, as well as the speed at which the enemy ship is going horizontally to you. Each and every one of these situations is different in its own right, and so i'm not even going to attempt to give a rough diagram or guide on aiming in these situations. However what i can suggest is watching your target for 2-3 seconds before firing your first ranging shot. Gather a good estimate for his horizontal speed (see below "Long range fire-fights"), then add/minus ~ 0.5km from the range at which you're firing at the ship depending on if they're heading towards or away. This will normally give a reasonable starting point for you to range further shots from.

 

Long range fire-fights

It's well known that one of the greatest advantages of the Battleships in World of Warships is the range and power of their main calibre guns. With ranges extending far out, often past 20km range they're capable of knocking out enemy ships before they can even return fire. Despite this amazing advantage, it's very rarely used as a result of the ineffective and difficult aiming which is seen at ranges past 15km.

 The easiest way to land your shots on-target at any range is to guess or estimate a lead-aim on the target, then adjust your aim from there, slowly "ranging" in until you hit the target spot on. This can be very useful, however it can take some time, especially at range, as while you might not always need to wait for your guns to reload, there's an extremely long delay from your shot being fired, and seeing exactly where it landed in comparison to the target. While more experienced players will often be able to hit on the 2nd salvo, it can sometimes take a newer player 3-4 to train themselves onto the target - time which is too expensive to waste!

 

Below you can see a rough guide as to the positions you should be aiming in regards to the targets speed (in knots) while fully zoomed in. The image is universal in terms of range at which it can be used at, however be aware that this is a rough guide to give you a better chance at hitting your target quickly, rather than being a definitive statement! Different guns ingame have different shell velocities... so each ship will be slightly different.

 

 

As stated earlier, the above image is to be used as a rough guide for your first ranging shot, from which you can then change the aim further dependant on where your previous shell hit.

It's advised when firing the first salvo on a new target from a ship with a long reload time (20+ seconds) to fire 1 turret at a time. Waiting for the shells to land, before re-correcting and firing the next turret. While this is still suggested for ships with faster reload times (5-15 seconds), it's not as crucial.  This is done to allow you to start landing damaging shots onto your target as quickly and efficiently as possible, giving you more chances to correct your aim as fast as you can.

 

That's great! But how do i know how fast a ship is going?

It's extremely difficult to give a single answer for this (even for each ship) as it changes depending on the situation and the ship in question!

From my own experience, it's normally safe to assume that the enemy ship will be travelling between ¾ and full speed. I normally assume the latter of these two speeds (as the speed drop from performing a manoeuvre is normally only ~3 knots), and use the following basic rule to determine the speed of ships of each class:

Destroyers                 30-35 Knots

Cruisers                     25-30 Knots

Battleships                 20-25 Knots

Aircraft Carriers         20-30 Knots

These are normally good estimates for most ships of each class (given the odd low-tier exception such as the Langley (15kts)). And are often a very strong starting place for your first ranging shot.

 

 

 

Short-range Destroyer Duels

While long-range fire-fights are a major challenge for all ships, what's often forgotten is the close-up duels which destroyers and cruisers can often find themselves in. While they are able to deal damage with their guns to enemy ships with the short range and great accuracy, their abilities to use torpedoes is often hampered. With un-predictable launch times and ships turning towards and away from them at awkward angles, they are unable to confidently rely on the torpedoes lead-aim to hit the target with the reliability which could have been seen at ranges of 4-6km.

This part of the guide is focussed mostly on duels which occur at 0.5-2km range, however the basics learnt here can be applied to firing torpedoes at any range.

 

Over-reliance on lead-aim

One of the most useful tools for a player who is using torpedoes on their ship is the in-game lead-aim function. By selecting their target ("X" by default), a grey cone will appear, showing the player where to aim to hit the enemy ship. It's reasonably accurate and can give a player a strong hit-rate with their torpedoes if used sensibly. However many players will come to rely on the lead-aim too strongly, forgetting how it's been calculate and what it shows.

 The lead-aim for the torpedoes shows the player where to aim IF the enemy ship remains at a constant speed and course after the torpedoes are fired. It cannot take into account the affect that turning or slowing down has on lead-aim point. As a result, the player will need to be able to judge and fore-see what their enemy is going to do. While it's near impossible to teach a player this (especially through a forum guide), i can give you guidance on what to do if you know what the enemy is doing!

 

Turning in the tide of battle

So! The enemy ship is turning in close range as you're trying to fire your torpedoes. If you use only the lead-aim given you will most likely miss with most, if not all of your torpedoes. So how are you supposed to aim then? Well... it's a little difficult to understand at first, but once you've got over the first barrier it's really easy to understand! Basically, you have to lead aim into the direction the enemy is turning. That means if your enemy is turning to port, you'll need to add a slight lead-aim to their port side, and visa versa for a starboard turn. This applies for any direction which the enemy ship is facing in relation to your own. As you can see in the below diagrams:

 

As above with the lead-aim with guns at long ranges, the lead-aim you add to the calculated aim will differ on a couple of things, these being the enemy ship's speed, the enemy ship's manoeuvrability, and at short ranges of 0.5-2km your own ships speed and direction.

In most occasions in short ranges below 2km range, the lead you will need to give the turning enemy ship will be 0.3-1x the calculated lead-aim cone. This means that you will need to aim just outside the calculated lead-aim, up to the point at which the aiming cone is on the edge of the calculated lead-aim cone. To increase your chance to hit if you're unsure of your lead, remember to switch to a "wide-spread" format for your torpedoes. While this can increase your chance to hit in some situations, it can also spread the torpedoes apart far enough to occasionally allow an enemy ship to pass between the torpedoes un-harmed. So it's ill advised to use the wide-spread unless you're sure you need it.

 

Gaining the upper hand

As with all naval combat, "crossing the T" still applies, however unlike in long-range combat with guns, short-ranged duels using torpedoes need a large target to get a strong chance of success. As a result of this, you need to try and manoeuvre your ship so the enemy is pointing at least to 30º (and increasing) away from your ship. This will mean that the enemy will be showing their broadside to yours, however with a successful torpedo salvo hitting them in the following 6 seconds, the affect of their broadside on your own ship is normally negligible.

 Be aware however that at angles above 30º, will often give the enemy ship a chance to fire their own torpedoes! So once you have fired, turn towards the enemy to cause them to miss, and minimise the cross-section of your ship that they can see!

[Ambiorix1032]

Great work Shep ! +1

[artisticgoose]

Nice work Shep!!!!! Plus here to. Well done!!!

[rajkob]

I cant see pictures or diagrams !?!

[Shepbur]

I cant see pictures or diagrams !?!

 

Sorry >.< this is a direct copy from the alpha forums, i will re-upload everything Soon™ and update the links in the guide as well

 

Edit: Sorted Turns out it was TuccySoon™ instead!

[rajkob]

THX i ca see pictures now

 

[RusNo1Conscript]

Splendid work comrade thanks for the guide and your contribution 

 

[Xaajuk]

Nice work! Very helpful guide.

 

[renhanxue]

I made this for targets going towards you/away from you. Don't try to lead a target in range, the game will figure that out for you. Keep your cursor level with either the target's bow or their bridge regardless of the angle they're heading relative to you.

 

[Abstrudo]

I don't know whether to be saddened by your great guide or congratulate you for your work. I rather like new guys not being able to hit me while I'm taking them apart at max range. Curse you for teaching them!
;-)

Good work.
 

[Mian_]

good guide.

 

[warhamsterdave]

Great Topic,

 

Will def be reading this more than once. Well done.

 

Dave

[Velkan_tbo]

I made this for targets going towards you/away from you. Don't try to lead a target in range, the game will figure that out for you. Keep your cursor level with either the target's bow or their bridge regardless of the angle they're heading relative to you.

 

 

Are you sure about that? I ask because I can influence the distance at which the shells fall (even locked on target) by aiming farther or closer from the target, nothing feels automatic other than the camera lock. During far away duels between BBs, while I can guess the lead pretty well, often miss on judging the correct distance, with my shells falling meters either port or starboard side (not RNG misses, most of my salvo falls short or too far). If it was auto, there wouldn't be missed shells due to distance, only by bad lead, right?

[Shepbur]

You need to lead aim +- your targets direction if they're heading towards/away from you. The easiest way to do that is to watch their speed and aim a little ahead of them, using the alt key to tell you the distance to your aim point, and matching it up to a reasonable-sounding number for their current distance from you, and what you expect it to be when your shells land. (remember that if you're heading at 30kts towards, them, and they're heading at 30kts towards you you need to lead aim on them for 30 kts, and not 60!)

[Velkan_tbo]

Exactly, I always need to lead, there is no automatic aiming by locking on target, like suggested in the video. Great posts, Shepbur!

[ciarancummins]

+1, very informative.

 

Can anyone advise on long range shots over islands with a lot of lead? I sometimes find that even though I am locked on a ship, it will actually shoot short and at the mountain, even though previous shots will arc over the height of the mountain? I think the lead indicators are not that helpful at long ranges, because you are generally leading so far one way, there are no markings to base the shot on, just sea. must try get a screenshot and explain in more detail if I am not being clear.

[Shepbur]

Check the range your guns are locked to with the alt key, and make sure that matches with you target. Sometimes an island can block this and lower the range when you're aiming close to the peak of the hill/ mountain.

[Golden_Horus]

Thanks, this helped me a lot!

[CountOfTuscany]

+1 Very informative guide.

 

I have a question about long range engagement. One disclaimer first: only BB played so far is Kawachi (1 co-op battle) and ships played with most range would be Chikuma I think. I watched a couple of youtube vids, including vids of high tier BBs, so I see how long range engagements tend to be inaccurate.

The question:

Is it better to engage long range (plunging fire) with hereby having the risk of losing quite a lot of shots?

OR

is it better to engage more mid range (no plunging fire), with more accuracy but also with more risk to bounce of your shells?

[MaxxyNL]

Good guide Captain! Keep up the good work!

 

[Shepbur]

Is it better to engage long range (plunging fire) with hereby having the risk of losing quite a lot of shots?

OR

is it better to engage more mid range (no plunging fire), with more accuracy but also with more risk to bounce of your shells?

Honestly... i have no 1 answer for that question >.< With current game mechanics there's a goldilocks area at ~3/4 of your range, where you get a decent spread of shots so that you can still score a good 60-80% accuracy with a good salvo, while not being so close that they can accurately hit you back (if they're not as accurate as you that is!). It's very rare to be able to keep the engagement at your absolute maximum range, and pretty much all battles tend towards the 10km mark before people start thinking about turning back and playing defensively.

 

Saying that, that gameplay is pretty much only for the mid/high tier japanese BB's... Warspite and the low tiers play completely differently, and you want to get them in as close as possible. Basically... Use your ships advantages to your own and fight inside your comfort zone. IJN BB's are built in the game for extreme-long range engagements, while other ships like Warspite are built for duels under 10km.

[CountOfTuscany]

Ok, thanks for your reply Shepbur!

I noticed on the lower tiers that it is quite common to see the ships move in to closer combat, I just don't have an idea how this worked in higher tier battles (and the yt vids often seemd like long range battels, when BBs were played).

 

But the USN BBs will be here soon right? If I want to go more into BBs I think I'm more interested in getting more up close (like the 10km range you mentioned) than hanging way back. Are the USN ships also buil around long range engagments or do they prefer it a bit more close and personal? I recall some guy in some Warspite htread mentioned that Pacific Ocean fleets relied on long range engagements, while Atlantic fleets fought at closer distances, due to more intense wave action/storms or smth. In that case RN and KM ships should be interesting I guess.