Indianapolis assistance please

[philjd]

Ok, recently bought the Indianapolis in order to help train up my US CA captains - ouch, I cannot get her to work in a constructive way. I either end up getting sunk or rubbish contribution due to having to retreat out of harms way due to damage taken.

Radar cruiser good against DD's.. well.. it would be nice to be able to survive being in range to use it.. hence..help!

 

(I've looked at a few YT vids over 'how to' etc but cannot seem to translate those into game action. I'm not bad with cruisers and like the Pepsi, but this one is just..... frustrating. Haven't had a single battle yet where I came away with "ahh, this is how to do it" even if it went badly for that particular battle).

[VC381]

She's basically like the Pensacola but a little less agile so you can't troll dodge all day (and now less stealthy as well but with a slight RoF buff and longer range). Don't be too drawn in by the radar, it's not worth your skin if you don't have islands to get in range to use it.

 

She's a decent medium range flanker. Try to use AP more and seek out broadside targets, especially enemy cruisers but BBs will suffer too if you aim a bit higher. Use the extra range to HE BBs a bit more than you would in other US ships; more Myoko style. Leave radar rushes for later in the game, work out where the enemy BBs aren't and seek out Belfasts and such things that you eat for breakfast.

[SinkTheOthersNotMe]

Radar is purely for self-defense and the occasional 'perfect situation', don't try to actively hunt DD if they are supported because your ROF and fragility don't allow you to do so.

Best way to play:

- Start of the game, stay at max range and shoot HE at BB/AP at anything broadside while keeping track of enemy's BB and CA, once they have all been spotted then you know how best to move.

- Like said above, always be on the lookout for innocent enemy cruisers broadside or slightly angled that your US special AP can hurt.

 

Kite whenever needed, always time your turns, use CE for your captain

[RUSSIANBlAS]

Little reason to use it now that Pepsi got buffed...

 

Although T7 USN Cruisers function like poor man's BB the way their 203mm performs vs other Cruisers. Slapping your competition for 10k salvos can be fun. 

 

As with all cruisers get priority targeting and engage brain before firing. E.g let BBs and non thinking Cruisers fire and get focused first then open fire, stop when your targeted use rudder and slip into stealth. Repeat until a lucky citadel blows you up or you run out of things to shoot...

[El2aZeR]

A bit outdated, but still relevant:

 

[Darth_Glorious]

Use Steven Stegal on it if you have him.

Stay bow on all the time if you can because the ship has very low HP and  very vulnerable due to slow turning rate.

[Odo_Toothless]

16 hours ago, philjd said:

(...)

(I've looked at a few YT vids over 'how to' etc but cannot seem to translate those into game action. I'm not bad with cruisers and like the Pepsi, but this one is just..... frustrating. Haven't had a single battle yet where I came away with "ahh, this is how to do it" even if it went badly for that particular battle).

Indi is a really good ship, which can make a lot od damage - up to 100K in a good game. But there is one condition. You must first play a lot of NO/Balti and Des. Then return to Indi and you will see how easier is playing in lower tiers ... heh

How to play ? Go fast to the nearest islands all the time beeing invisible and try to ambush with AP ships on middle/short range - especially try to ambush DD near caps sourrounded by islands. Here you can use your radar with success beeing rather safe. Don't push, but always shoot in retreat.  First make turn back (when still in invisibility), then shoot and kite away. Keep in mind that you have not only AD keys, but WS too, so change your speed when uder fire constantly. And don't overuse AP on angled ships, becouse you will see a lot of bounces. In such situations HE is better. Especially when having 16% fire chance with DE.

When facing a lot of BB keep you distance, and lit one after another on fire. In middle game, when there is a lot less ships you can pick your targets and attack them one by one on shorter distance, but you must know that even V tier Omaha can shred You with HE to pieces very fast.

Anyway you have to be a really good cruiser player with a lot of high tier games, to make her shine. When I get Indi some months ago I had about 32-35K avarage on her  and I was not impressed at all. Half year later I am averaging about 55K and I like this ship very much. She is really a better Pepsi. Still the best "cruiser" is a Scharnhorst ...

You can read/watch a lot of how to play, but only practice can help You. Good luck.

 

[Lord_Solidus]

Play it like you where a sniper

-Max range

-Rain HE on bb's

-AP snipe CA/CL showing broadside

-Stay BEHIND you team

-YOU ARE A SUPPORT SHIP

-NEVER SHOW YOU BROADSIDE, showing broadside = Death

-Radar is for defence ONLY...

[xenopathia]

 

On 6/29/2017 at 4:32 PM, philjd said:

 

Once I didn't like the Indy and posted two threads about it.  Here are the threads that have great information and opinions:

My mistake was buying it before grinding the Pepsicola. After having enough experience with Indy,  Pepsi (and New Orleans) grind was a joy.

[MeTaLMooSe]

Indy is getting another buff I believe. Decreased surface detection and a radar buff.

I took her out yesterday after reading this and had a thoroughly enjoyable game and all the above advice is so true.

[philjd]

Thank you for the feedback guys - I have parked her for the moment to concentrate on ranked and the RN line - will pick her up again once I refocus on the US CA line.

[22cm]

10 minutes ago, philjd said:

Thank you for the feedback guys - I have parked her for the moment to concentrate on ranked and the RN line - will pick her up again once I refocus on the US CA line.

 

Indy is OK.

Indy gets a double  buff next patch, both on concealment and radar.

So next patch can use Radar better, until now to use Radar you had to cover behing an island and light targets in the cap for the other players in your team to shoot at.

Or, go to the areas on the map that BBs avoid, better follow a destroyer that goes there and act like an escort for that destroyer.

Try to shoot as much AP as possible, including against BB (but you ll have to know where to aim).

 

[MeTaLMooSe]

TBH I would prefer a turret traverse buff over RADAR.

Indy easily out turns her turrets and can get frustrating when you want to dance.

Some matches you can be the 'grey ship' and nail AP with immunity, other times you just feel you are drifting chum bait for the red team and they all want a bite.

Having started playing Pensa again I feel she's a better ship all round.

[StringWitch]

Thing his, her armour actually works against crusiers and protects her vitals relatively well, especially for a treaty design, it's just that we're playing World of Battleships and of taking serious damage from HE to the upper hull that would be harmless to the boys in the conning tower and gun turrets and engine room in reality. In all the challenges a ship faces to its seaworthiness, that massive freeboard is much better to have than not, but ingame it's just a shell catching wall.

 

Indy is a good example of something that worked in reality suffering under video game mechanics. They could take ships with these 'seaworthy features' that currently do nothing beside make them bigger targets and offer some sort of recompense like retention of more speed during turns or less swaying over to the side (even though Indy should roll over like a [edited]) which potentially alters the armour profile negatively.

 

Ingame the US heavy cruisers of the 1930s are good against their own class but not really anything else. They can give battleships a good slap in the rump but it's scarcely worth your trouble to fire when they're paying attention to your general direction. As with most cruisers in this game you need to have good fire discipline and concede that you're simply less likely to perform as well as everyone else.

 

About consumables and equipment: I can say I find propulsion mod instead of stearing gears to work better for dodging. Indy turns slowly no matter what you do to improve that; I often just show that appetising broadside like I don't care (because at this point I really don't) and rely on quick changes in speed instead. Just entering battle at 3 quarters instead of full is a good way to passively avoid the first salvoes fired at you. I personally don't even bother with the radar; I find the fighter more useful due to its longer lasting effect, ability to spot torpedoes, and the unlikelihood of getting into close range against a destroyer.

[Darth_Glorious]

Why don't use Radar ?, I killed many Flints with it 

[WingedHussar_Adler]

7 hours ago, Darth_Glorious said:

Why don't use Radar ?, I killed many Flints with it 

Peoples are talking about short duration. 25 sec? 

 

But buff is comming to radar :)

[Mr_Tayto]

When is the buff? Bought it because I love the Pensa but finding it a little too... Different. 

 

The radar is not enough of a gimmick to make this ship better than Pensa. Concealment and rudder shift are way more useful but I'd be happy with a range/duration buff on radar and concealment buff. 

 

To be honest I'm going to try her with fighter thanks to the above poster.

[Taliesn]

Buffs are already in game. 10km radar and 10.something concealment with CE.

Better range than Pensa too, IIRC. Definately better than Pensa all things considered.

 

It's a fine ship, one that could be fun catching Belfasts in their smoke whenever we have another Tier VII ranked. 

[MeTaLMooSe]

9.9km/25 sec Radar and 10.8km detection radius with CE.

 

Not bad but Pensa still turns better which I think gives her just enough of an edge to survive better.

Although Indy does have better range so all things being equal she's not a bad ship now.

I still wouldn't go steaming in to hunt DD's though. Radar is best for when the teams are thinned and a DD or RN CL smoke up.

[Mr_Tayto]

Thanks both - I hadn't realised the Radar range had been buffed, sold some dodgy info by my mate that it was 8.4km or something. Nearly 10km makes it ideal for Belfast hunting. I did notice the near-Pensa concealment.

 

I've only got something like 7 or 8 games in her so far, and I do like her, I guess I'm trying to play her like Pensa and going in too close. I like abusing CAs in both ships and Indi definitely has the edge with angling actually working and a bigger shot density to the front when you do so.

[VC381]

Just took her for a spin and have to say the concealment buff is very nice. It's now just agility vs. Radar that differentiate her and Pensacola. I would say each ship has it's place but Indianapolis is very nice. Not that it wasn't before but I'm cool with a ship I already like getting a bit of a "quality of life" improvement.

[Mr_Tayto]

Now I have the hang of her I like her a lot. Nothing makes me smile more than a CA popping up from behind an island at sub 10k. Free damage!

 

She suffers from fire a lot though.

[Aragathor]

On 7.8.2017 at 3:58 PM, Mr_Tayto said:

Now I have the hang of her I like her a lot. Nothing makes me smile more than a CA popping up from behind an island at sub 10k. Free damage!

 

She suffers from fire a lot though.

 

Would you recommend the ship now?

[Mr_Tayto]

Yeah, would recommend it, but it's a high skill floor ship. She's not as good in the turn as Pensa and requires cover a lot more I think, but if you are well positioned and not threatened in the flank by BBs you can charge at enemy cruisers and delete away.

 

I am finding with this ship and also with NO that my preferred use of radar (supporting DDs in the capping phase early game) is not a good idea. I'd be tempted to get rid of enemy DDs early but it just opens you up to focus and early death. Playing this way I rarely make it past the 5 minute point with more than 10% health.

[RUSSIANBlAS]

This is a very good example of a ship that doesn't fit the current BB heavy meta.

 

Indie is best used to kill other Cruisers with AP but when there are hordes of BB doing the same thing your role is a bit redundant. She sucks at killing DD too due to slow firing guns and meh with HE vs BBs. 

 

Not saying the ship can't perform but it's in a difficult place and I can't see the Royal Navy improving her prospects anytime soon 

 

Sadly the Indie shares a space with the Prinz Eugen, both of which I won via Xmas boxes and neither of which I've taken out very much at all.