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Found 3 results

  1. A cunning plan for surviving in Great Battle Dear captain, you have played and dominated Online Experts and think of trying your skills in Great Battle. Ideally you have a couple of nice DDs and CLs, built the level 41 CA or found a C tier DD/CL/CA at the lottery and built it. This Plan is for you. Note 1: You don’t need a BB/CV/SS. Note 2: You will meet A & S tier BBs that seem impervious to any damage (hulls into the 60 thousands) and put out 20-30k+ broadsides at great ranges (2800 I consider short, 3000 average and 3300 long range) Note 3: High tier CVs are fast, have lots of planes and can kill the high tier BBs with 2-3 squads of torp bombers. They also have great hulls and many short range guns for protection Note 4: High tier SSs are fast (submerged close to 30kn normal, 40kn overheat) with many torp tubes (10-12) shooting 6-8k damage torps. Also many have quite powerful deck guns, scouts and some even bombers Note 5: Scared yet? S tier BBs can call a nuke strike every 5 mins and S CVs airstrike every 4 minutes Note 6: A good player with a DD/CL/CA can be as useful as any of the above, turn the tides of battle and win. So, how do you win a battle where you can be squashed like a bug? 1. Pick your ship role(s). A DD/CL/CA can be one or more of the following: ASW (Anti Submarine Warfare), AAW (Anti-Aircraft Weapon), repairship or minelayer. Might also have quite good guns (some of the higher tiers put out damages comparable to BBs) 2. At the beginning of battle you have some seconds that enemies are visible. Check their line-up, note the BBs, CVs and SSs 3. Check your own side BBs, CVs and SSs 4. Depending on your role, choose your strategy. In general escort a BB or CV and provide your services 5. Be smart. Survive. Speed is your ally, rudder your friend. Whenever you feel threatened run. Always swerve your rudder; hard. Make them miss, respect a battleship’s space – close in and you’ll be squashed. 6. The more successful you are at protecting your allies, the better the chances at winning 7. Ideally your ship should serve 2 or more of the roles below ASW ASW weapons are the hedgehogs, torpedoes and mines. Note that subs can deep dive and avoid the ASW weapon (HHs will explode harmlessly, torps will sail past, mines will stay there – deep dived subs will have to crawl away at 3kns. Additionally note that mines are invisible to subs). BBs are particularly vulnerable to subs, they are (the majority) slow, (most) lack any defences vs a submerged sub and cannot detect submerged subs (few have a small sonar that is generally useless). As an ASW escort you need to (in order of priority): 1. keep track of subs. Keep them in sonar range so they are visible 2. Block their path to your allies 3. Wear them out with HHs and torps. If they deep dive fast enough to avoid your weapons try to supress them. If they spend their time in deep dive they are not threatening your allies and will eventually run out of oxy. No need to take unnecessary risks by going too close If there are no major surface threats you can actively hunt enemy subs or aid an allied sub duelling another (sub duels often happen between the enemy-allied lines and closing in to the enemy line is not wise) AAW Killing scouts. Kill the enemy scouts. Once more: kill the enemy scouts. BBs fire well beyond their visual range, without scouts they are blind – your level 1 DD can win a battle just by keeping your allies invisible to the enemy. Other than scouts; move between enemy bombers and their target, they’ll have to either go round you to the other side (you can too by sailing a much smaller distance), over you (you’ll kill several or all of them before reaching their target), switch target to someone else or switch their target to you (torp bombers are quite easy to evade, dive bombers will have to go directly above you) Finally fighters: many times you will see allied and enemy fighters locked in combat; note that your AA fire can and will shoot down allied planes as well so be careful and judge the situation. If the enemy fighters chase allied bombers just fire at them, the bombers are doomed anyway Repairship Pretty straight forward. Just escort a BB and repair it. Repair other allies when you get the chance and feel free to change the ship you escort if needed. Note that repair line is visible through fog of war, so disengage (by long press of repair button) when not needed Minelayer If you are a dedicated minelayer then choose an area to rig: in front of your allied CVs if any, a choke point between islands or just an area close to centre (has to be inside the occupy zone appearing at 5 mins) work best If not a dedicated minelayer just drop mines as you go. The more the better. If you double back or encounter other allied mines try to group them together or make long strings. A particularly tricky tactic (but immensely satisfying when it works) is to sail over a sub and drop mines directly on top of it. This usually results in the immediate destruction of the sub (or you if you don't get it right). You will need the fastest and smallest ship for this - DDs and the small, premium CLs (Texas, Tiger, Dhonburi, Bayern and Gamelin) work best for this. Running parallel to sub and somewhat behind it, hit OH speed and aim just ahead of it, at the last moment turn hard towards it and drop your load - practice makes perfect. Minesweeper Your DD/CL can also detect enemy mines (the only classes that can). Help allies to navigate through enemy minefields. Hedgehogs can also destroy enemy mines. Though not very successful may come handy sometime Gunship While not in the roles listed, your ship has guns, use them to take out small ships or add your damage to whatever the heavyweights are shooting at. Here you can use the skills you learned in online beginners and experts. If you get in the unfortunate position where there is an enemy BB but no allies to kill it (BB, CV or SS) try to gang with any survivors and attack it. If there is nothing blocking your path to an enemy CV grab the chance and chase it (you need speed, some good guns with a good range for this, CVs are fast and many pack some nice guns for self protection) Further reading 101 a beginners guide by Ibby. Everything needed to play and enjoy the game for day 1 to advise for experienced players. A must read. Unofficial battle tips by me. Quite dated but valid in many points. Just note that when it was written there was no "research" (only shipyard ships), no minelayers, no Italy, no France, no occupy zone at 5 minutes, no repair skill and no BB/CV had AAW, ASW or sonar Some other advice Tip 1 was you don't need a BB, CV, SS. Building a BB/ CV/ SS early in the game is the wrong thing to do. D & C tier BBs have weak hulls, building them is a waste of resources and will give the wrong impression about BBs. D & C CVs and SSs also have weak hulls but if played well a good hull is an inconvenience not a fatal flaw. While sub-par and weak they can still play their intended roles in gb. Fighters are as strong as on the high tier CVs, bombers some 30-40% weaker. Subs suffer from low torpedo counts (6-8 tubes are typical for D-C tier subs, while B,A & S have 10-12). In addition BBs, CVs and SSs of B tier and higher will need some 10-11 million steel to build and upgrade, with third upgrades needing as much as 3 million steel; a level 12 steel depot is needed for that
  2. tactics

    Tired of, and bothered to see ships charge blindly in combat I start this thread for discussion: Note1: classes are not definite, Light and fast CAs with short main gun range may fit better in the CL & DD category. CL & DD is a very mixed basket with different individual roles - a different thread is required for their roles in battle to be further analysed. Mogami (1944) may play the CV role, CA role or a mix of both depending on setup, battle phase and conditions. Note2: Phases are not clearly distinguished and lacking fleet communication captains should observe field and act accordingly. 1st phase: Opening Goal of 1st phase is to setup battle line CVs: Launch fighters to establish air superiority. Stay behind main fleet CAs & BBs: Group together forming a battle line, launch scouts to reveal enemy CLs & DDs: Form a loose group in front, but close to main battle group of CAs and BBs. Don't cut across bows, use superior speed to pass clearly ahead or turn around the stern. SSs: charge ahead independently towards enemy's big units. dive if needed to cross path with others. 2nd phase: First contacts Goal of second phase is to manoeuvre into an advantageous position CVs: Keep skies clear of enemy planes, If no enemy fighters in the air try to get some damage on enemy capital ships and break their line. Change positions often, keep close but behind main fleet. CAs & BBs : fire at enemy ships as they come in range. If strong ships in range gang them, if only smaller pick them of individually. Manual aim is a must in extreme ranges. Surfaced subs are a priority. CLs & DDs : avoid stronger ships, keep distance, increase speed, manoeuvre, whatever it takes to make them miss. Move to block path to enemy subs. If manual AA is available keep close to friendly main battle group and shoot down enemy planes. Gang up to kill charging enemy DDs and CLs SSs: Try to bypass enemy small ships, concentrate on the big ones. Chance kills of DDs and CLs are welcome but risky. Engage enemy subs if you feel confident, diverting them from your battle line is equally important. 3rd phase: Battle is joined Goal of third phase is to gain advantage by breaking up and overwhelming the enemy fleet. CVs: Keep skies clear of enemy planes, If no enemy fighters in the air try to get some damage on enemy capital ships and break their line (killing enemy scouts is a priority). keep an eye on enemy subs. CAs & BBs : Work as concise group, once enemy capital ships are in range pick them off one by one. Switch your target to most heavily damaged enemy in range (no absolute rule use discretion). Target is to reduce enemy numbers as fast as possible (damaged ships have exactly the same firepower as when full health). When targeted move to extreme range - make enemy miss their shots while your allies fight closer. If not targeted move closer to increase hit rate and relieve damaged allies. Keeping the enemy switching targets keeps more friendly ships alive - change positions inside your group, but don't break away. CAs out of range to enemy capital ships pick off smaller ships in range, support your CLs and DDs. CLs & DDs : 1st priority: actively chase enemy SSs, provide AA cover to BBs, if enemy CV in battle try to move round enemy battle line and chase it 2nd priority: Stay alive, harass enemy battle line, force them to manoeuvre by firing torpedoes, anything it takes to give your big gun pals the upper hand. SSs: chase the big targets, keep an eye on oxygen levels. 4th phase: Closing Goal of forth phase is to finish the battle after a side has a definite advantage. CVs: Scout out surviving enemies, kill them. Move closer to reduce planes turnaround time. Other ships: move in and sweep up scattered surviving enemies. Keep within gun range of enemy submerged subs, they'll have to surface for oxygen. Ships with sonar shall keep them always visible. TL;DR: Every ship has it's role in the fleet, act on it, work as a team, don't charge in blindly
  3. IJN ships are general weaker in hull and thus they can hardly beat KM or RN ships one on one. However, with their fast speed and high damage output, with skills, tactical mind and synergy with others. IJN can form a strong force in field. The core naval philosophy of IJN is using suppressive speed and damage output to reduce enemy’s number in a short time, and to build a long-game advantage. Like the (infamous) surprise Attack on Pearl Harbour, or suicidal Kamikaze attack, Japanese ships never worries about being sunk or damaged, but only care about how much return can one sacrifice win back. Ship buildings follow the above mentality. Torpedo is strongest in Japs. IJN DDs have strong and long range torps that can easily sink enemy CL and CA. Some of the IJN SS has 8 bow launch that make them able to sink multiple ships in one strike. Torpedo tactics need ships to get close to opponents (and avoid getting sunk). As such, IJN has also some ships to help friends to get close. Kitakami can firework 50 torps to disperse enemy ships’ formation, making SSs can infiltrate through the sonar net. Asama brings a BB cannon to help SS to sink DD/CL with sonar. Don’t use Mogami 1944 as a knitting CV. Bring her front with fighters and cover our SS go front without spotted by scout planes. IJN SS is fasted at all and have 47 knot OH speed on surface. They can sneak in and hunt for B.B. and CV. SS is the biggest threat against IJN ships. Most IJN ships are weaker and eating torps is unaffordable for them. If you are using low level DD (or DD50), don’t hesitate to bring hedgehog and invest a bit in FCS to kill SS, and to chase bombers and torp planes (they are in group of five) with your auto AAW and high speed. The longer that both you and IJN CA survive, the longer advantage that we enjoy. Last but not the least is IJN CVs. Most of them has fast speed and high number of flights (after they vetted). These allow IJN CVs stay close with the fleet and protect the ships from air strikes. Don’t be hurry to send torp planes to hunt large ships. Let our CA to hunt some CL with AAW first. However, it’s not bad to some one squad of bombers to make quick attack on med-size ship as an early attack (and let them die to save the time of return flight...). IJN CV is very strong in late game since their fast speed (up to 47 OH speed) can help them knit against BB or SS. effectively. So never die too fast. One more thing. Do not mind doing tactical retreat if facing fiece defence in front of you (like Crossing the T formation has been set up). Don’t get trapped. Use your speed to re-organise your attack at the other side of field. Japanese has created Otsu Tactic (乙戰術)to overcome Crossing the T, split the fleet, attack the head and tail of opponent line of fleet. So, if you use IJN BBs, never forget that you have faster speed then other nations’. Manoeuvre your ship aside and face your starboard to their bow or stern. I’m not an IJN player so perhaps more sharings from you are needed. Feel free to share here and wish you enjoy the Fast and Furious of IJN ships!