incoming fire alert Commanders skills: Priority Target and Incoming Fire Alert

[Adm_Hoshiko]

I think that there is a problem with those 2 skills - Priority Target and Incoming Fire Alert, while they are a great skill they are pretty useless when you've been shoot by multiple ships at least Incoming Fire Alert  --- I can not position myself and angle if I don't know which ship is shooting on me and I have hard time ( and lose a lot of precious time ) to look around me to see where do shells come from ( not to mention that you can hardly see them on T10 on 16-20km away - maybe only Yamamots shell you can see fast )..

 

So WG please can you make it for at least Incoming Fire Alert some marker over ship so we know fast and clear which ship is shooting on you so we could use that skill normally, it is a real problem in T10 battles where every ship have 20-26km range and with fast France shotgun shell it will become even bigger problem  - thanks ..

[RAHJAILARI]

Well, Incoming Fire is a 1 point skill anyway, so it cannot be very accurate to begin with. I have it only for DM and only because I couldn't think of anything else to do with the last remaining skill point. Same applies to the Priority Target. Neither is going to be of much use, if you are constantly under fire (like a BB) or in a DD with enemy ships firing over you all the time. Both these skills are most useful to Cruisers. Not so much for BB or DD, but of course there are exceptions, as always.

[Adm_Hoshiko]

well I do talk it for a cruiser use ofc., while for Priority Target I do understand that it intend to show you a shear number of ships shooting at you so it is let's say ok but Incoming Fire is useless if you are in cruiser spamming some BB and than 1 of 6 BBs or whatever is shooting at you - so now you have to look in zoom or however which one is shooting and than angle or slow yourself - in a lot of situation that skill will be more burden than help because you will angle on most probable "shooter" just to found that some "ninja Montana" from the other side was shooting at you and not 4 of the BB that you are aware of and are most obvious choice to be a "shooter"

[pra3y]

Actually its pretty easy. 

 

a) Everytime the IFA sign flash means someone is shooting at you. 5 flashes means 5 ships and 1 flash means 1 ship.

 

b) Having map awareness. Know what ships there are on the enemy team and what can hit you and what can't from what range.

 

Say start of the game in your CA you push forward to support your DDs and get spotted and shot at. At that point in time when the IFA flashes do not turn away from moving forward. Slow down if you must or angle left or right abit but do not turn away cause you'll just eat broadsides. Also usually only BBs will have the range to smack you at the start of the game.

 

At the end of the day IFA is an abilty that can help you alot but it requires you to know how to use it properly. 

 

Ps: on a side note I think there is a bug with IFA right now where if an enemy ship shoots at you a few seconds after you drop back into concealment again the IFA sign will not flash. I feel that its a recent thing since I don't remember something like that in the past and I've always been using IFA. Did WG make any changes to IFA?

 

 

 

[RAHJAILARI]

Hmm... Perhaps you are trying to misuse the skill a bit? I have always taken it that the Incoming Fire skill is intended, as a gentle message to "Duck, like he*l right now you dumba*s!" rather than to help you re-position your ship. Anyway for that purpose (to aid dodging) it totally works, but not for tanking or angling.

[pra3y]

2 minutes ago, RAHJAILARI said:

Hmm... Perhaps you are trying to misuse the skill a bit? I have always taken it that the Incoming Fire skill is intended, as a message to "Duck, like he*l right now dumba*s!" rather than to help you re-position your ship. Anyway for that purpose it totally works, but not for tanking or angling.

 

Nah you can actually use it for tanking or angling but only for CAs. BBs are too sluggish and have enough armor to not have to use IFA while a DD relies more on concealment than tanking so.....

 

You should see all those beautiful water splashes when the enemy shells hit the water left and right of my CA 

[Adm_Hoshiko]

ok but why not get marker from what direction you been shoot from ??  if I can see that marker when shells hit me why can't I see it when shoot upon if I have a skill just for that ??

 

in game we see all ships HP, hydro/radar through island, closest target , we can hide 300m long BB by 2-3 km of detection just by capt. skill and so on - why they you have so redundant skill for such a important thing in game ..

 

I do use it and it help me but not nearly enough as it could if it work just a bit different

[RAHJAILARI]

Heck no thanks Dude @pra3y. Currently learning to Mogami, would not even dream of trying to Angle-Tank anything. They would soon plaster the nearest wall with my guts if I attempted anything of the sort.

[RAHJAILARI]

6 minutes ago, Cime said:

ok but why not get marker from what direction you been shoot at ??  if I can see that marker when shells hit me why can't I see it when shoot upon if I have a skill just for that ??

 

in game we see all ships HP, hydro/radar through island, closest target , we can hide 300m long BB by 2-3 km of detection just by capt. skill and so on - why they you have so redundant skill for such a important thing in game - 

Well, they could certainly do that if they wanted to. BUT that would probably mean that it would become a 4-point skill or some such, just like the Radio Location skill.

[Adm_Hoshiko]

lets say that this is for Hindenburg/Roon and Zao question

[Adm_Hoshiko]

3 minutes ago, RAHJAILARI said:

Well, they could certainly do that if they wanted to. BUT that would probably meant that it would become a 4-point skill or some such, just like the Radio location skill.

well ok I would spend it for that - even 4 skill - but I would say that this would be worth about 2 skill top maybe max 3  - Radio location is of far more use for DD 

[RAHJAILARI]

Well , a matter of perception I guess. Keep in mind that WG Dev's apparently do not play the game themselves all that much so anything could happen. After all, when you think about it the Radio Location skill is not that hugely useful either. Initially, early and mid-game you will just find out that there is a DD somewhere in the general direction of the enemy. Well, I can figure that one out for myself as well and for no points at all. It is only useful endgame, when hunting for that last pesky DD, if ever or when looking out for that lone flanking Yolo-DD. So its use is quite limited and situational too, some would say it should be a 2 or maximum of 3 point skill also.

[WolfGewehr]

Back then, before they added IFA, we were taught to check the horizon every now and then for possible incoming shells. Well, I guess it's good to have such trap skills, sadly only worth of one point.

[RAHJAILARI]

Heh, yeeah... I have the IFA only for DM as a filler-skill (until I can think of something more useful to pick for 1 point only, already have the Expert Loader also and no catapult aircraft on board), since I could not think of anything else to use the last skill point on. Sad, but true. Otherwise I am old school and content myself with eyeballing-the-horizon-thingy. Sometimes it works.

[Adm_Hoshiko]

well because you use it on DM so probably at that moment you are behind some island and in ZAO/Hindi/Moskva ect you will be kitting so every now and than you will have to look for island to not notser yourself :) or some ships that was on the other side of map but are not anymore ( because if you kitting after 3-4 salvo you have gone far away and close to other side enemy ships or something ) - all in all you don't have to just "scanning the horizon-thingy."  you need 360 awareness while shooting every 8-10 sec - it would be of big help if you by that skill know from where those shells are fired and by who and not to ask yourself ( sometimes ) who is now shooting at me

[RAHJAILARI]

Well, I play mostly IJN Cruisers. So basically I just skip a salvo, regain concealment and stick to launching torps, if in a tight spot. Resume firing, once I have rejoined own fleet, if any are still left. DM is different, since you only have guns, anyways that's how I justify having the IFA skill in this case, because I have to keep firing to get anything done. Hehehe! So I guess usefulness also kinda depends on personal playstyle and ship too. Still very much testing and trying out different skill combos tho. WIP, as they say.

[pra3y]

@Cime  this is one reason why I think the extra markers are not needed if you know what you're doing:

 

Broadside baiting with IFA 

 

 

So you're in your Roon, Hindi, Zao, Mogami or any old cruiser. You show that nice broadside to all those nice enemy ships on the other end while letting loose your guns. That of course makes you a very nice juicy target for all those enemy ships. (Assume engagement distance is about mid range)

 

 

So they'll all aim and shoot at you. Of course they'll have to lead their shoots in front of where you'll be in the next few seconds and then fire their guns thinking what a nice cruiser you are offering up your nice broadside. Your IFA symbol flashes, telling you that you're being shot at. Ok next will be a contradiction of what I said above but hey that's one way of using IFA and this is another 

 

 

As the IFA symbol flashes, quickly do a hard right. Since those shots are "committed" to hitting you where they thought you were going to be and not where you actually will be they'll just splash harmlessly. Since BB guns take time to reload, you get a 20~30 sec breather. CAs are abit tricker since they have fast reload but heck a) they don't do as much damage as a BB shell and b) if you're potato enough to show your broadside to another CA and let it use AP on you without some angling you deserve to sink anyway.

 

So there you have it, one way to use IFA by "controlling" the enemy ships 

 

@RAHJAILARI interested now?

Doesn't really matter which CA you're in tbh, as long as the rudder shift is decent 

[RAHJAILARI]

Yups, I know how it works and have tried it before also but actually this is exactly what I will do anyway with or without the IFA warning. I just usually base my maneuver on the knowledge, that whenever a Mogami (or any cruiser I and Mr Murphy are in) fires a salvo, everyone  and their mother WILL to drop whatever they are doing and fire at it immediately. So I will automatically change speed and start dodging right after firing, they will all miss.

 

Same principle, different application. It does work fabulously and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the entire enemy fleet miss their salvos, while the friendlies get to shoot at them completely unharassed. After regaining concealment, I will repeat. After 3 or 4 baiting runs like this, they would usually get fed up, lose interest and start focusing on others already. Of course, i will still keep dodging just to be safe - Hheheh!

 

Oh yeah BTW @pra3y Thanks for the guide, very nice. I am not questioning the usefulness of this skill at all. Just saying that depending on the ship and build, there are also other 1 point skills, which can be more useful for that particular build. I do not believe in sk. "universal skill"-builds but try to find the set of skills and modules that produce the best result for each individual ship. I also have a dedicated captain for each, so no switching commanders. Ever.

[tank276]

@RAHJAILARI Can be also useful (priority target) in a BB, keeping in mind other info from minimap and from enemy's last known position, u can use/abuse it to know when u r being torped by a DD.

Takes some practise, but it is not hard to achieve.

Also use it on DDs like the likes of Khabarovsk , when u see the number going to 3, 4 and adding up, it is time to disengage.

[RAHJAILARI]

Yup, I remember someone talking about it before. Can be useful for that too, of course.

[pra3y]

9 minutes ago, RAHJAILARI said:

Yups, I know how it works and have tried it before also but actually this is exactly what I will do anyway with or without the IFA warning. I just usually base my maneuver on the knowledge, that whenever a Mogami (or any cruiser I and Mr Murphy are in) fires a salvo, everyone  and their mother WILL to drop whatever they are doing and fire at it immediately. So I will automatically change speed and start dodging right after firing, they will all miss.

 

Same principle, different application. It does work fabulously and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the entire enemy fleet miss their salvos, while the friendlies get to shoot at them completely unharassed. After regaining concealment, I will repeat. After 3 or 4 baiting runs like this, they would usually get fed up, lose interest and start focusing on others already. Of course, i will still keep dodging just to be safe - Hheheh!

 

Oh yeah BTW @pra3y Thanks for the guide, very nice. I am not questioning the usefulness of this skill at all. Just saying that depending on the ship and build, there are also other 1 point skills, which can be more useful for that particular build. I do not believe in sk. "universal skill"-builds but try to find the set of skills and modules that produce the best result for each individual ship. I also have a dedicated captain for each, so no switching commanders. Ever.

 

Fair enough, though I prefer RNGesus whispering to me whenever I'm getting shot at it in my CAs  

[Reniwn]

40 minutes ago, RAHJAILARI said:

 

same as what pra3y said. But instead, I'd turn "away" from those ships, instead of turning "towards" them. You can disengage easier that way, unless you are leading a push.

[Adm_Hoshiko]

2 pra3y - that is very nice but in real life those 3 or 4 ships won't shoot at same time - 1 or maybe even 2 will be and ofc this is the tactics I use also and I will never have a problem with that group ( group of the ships at that one side )  ---- BUT let say that you get warning and start to angle like you show but non of this ship is actually shoot at you but you have been shoot from full left or full right side ( from some ninja NC, IOWA, Monty ) and because you know and been shooted from those 4 when you get warning sign you are turning or maneuvering from those only to be citadeled by ship from whom you didn't expect shell will come from...  If you had directional warning you would know that new side ship shoot on you and you would try to avoid him instead of just rush into mistake..

 

My English is broken and I'am sorry for that but I think you know now what I'am talking about and why would directional sign be viable and should be in that skill - now it could "cost" more but let it be like it should be

[nimlock]

IFA's only strengh is that you can see hostle unspoted plunging fire beig to far away from the action or behind an island you decided to hug. PT only works with direct line of sight while being spoted for the enemy. It's usually a pick for CV's that hug islands for extra concealment, but planes do all the spotting so it's meh considering the menouverability of CV's. Long range BB sniper builds tend to pick it for the rerasons @pra3y mentioned but only the newly added French BB's could utilyse this perk to it's max potential (Fastest acceleration forward and backward with speedboost. The turning radius is also decent).

[eliastion]

4 hours ago, RAHJAILARI said:

Neither is going to be of much use, if you are constantly under fire (like a BB) or in a DD with enemy ships firing over you all the time.

I have Priority Target on most (if not all) of my DDs, thank you very much

And on most BBs as well.

You'd be surprised how much of a difference this extra bit of information makes at times - more than worth the single point it costs.