Gronk

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Posts posted by Gronk


  1. 9 hours ago, baldrick said:

    ...

    Bayern, Texas and the other tiny, fast CLs I despise, only because I never got one and have suffered a lot from them. They pack a respectable punch and are small and fast enough to be almost unhittable at any range except point blank. Not only excellent fleet disorganisers and CV hunters but given time and space to manoeuvre they can get ANY ship. Definitely OP.

    I find myself wondering if the fast CL and and new DD50 are going to make upgrading the secondary weapons worth while.

    -1

  2. I really like and agree with everything you said. I would just like to add / emphasize a couple of points.

    A) If you are in a DD or CL, you are very maneuverable and fast compared to the bigger ships. Please go around them. It will only take your ship a few seconds to do so. Do not cut them off, force them to turn, or worst yet block and stop them. It takes them a long time to get moving again or get pointed back in the desired direction. Plus many of them have such a long range, they are not even looking at the part of the field where their ship is located. If you cause them to get stuck, immobile, or just pointed in the wrong direction it can greatly reduce their effectiveness and even make them quite vulnerable for relatively long periods of time.

    B) Support each other. Especially late game against a tough enemy. Gang up on the big guys. You will rarely win by hiding in a corner of the field while the enemy picks off your allies one at a time.

    C) The DD's, CL's, and SS's are the only ones that can find/track a submerged sub. The BB's, CA's, and CV's need your help in dealing with them. Often it is enough to just stay close enough to keep general track of where they are so that the BB's and CA's can shoot them when they eventually surface for air.

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  3. Ok, I have been working on leveling all 5 nations. Highest with IJN since I liked some of their wierd light ships.

    After discussing some things on line and with what little I have experienced with the IJN BB and SS, I am changing my plans and wanted to see if you folks agree with my thinking. From what i have heard, read, and experienced; the first available BB, CV, and SS are not worth the cost of purchase and time to level the crew. So you are better off to keep leveling the crews of your lighter ships until you can purchase the second or third of the category. Do you agree?

    If so, the following would be my general recommendation on what to purchase and level. Obviously there will be some differences based on personal preferences and nation ships.

    A) Switch to the level 3 DD as soon as possible. The beginner one isn't very good. Do not buy the gold purchased DD since you will be in it for so short of a time it isn't worth the gold. Upgrade equipment in maxd Harbor Assault configuration for either salvo or torpedoes. Chose based on the nations ship and/or preference. Example Soviet and US torps seem to be pretty ineffective to me. At least compared to the guns for the same ships. Don't get too worked up over the DD build choices. You will replace it in your Harbor Defense and Harbor Assault lineup with the level 50 DD fairly soon. Work the crew up to veteran stars.

    B) Get both the level 8 and 18 non-gold CL's. Note: Many think the gold purchase 18 CL's like the Bayern and Kitikami are well worth the purchase. Outfit one for HA salvo and one for HA torps. You want at least 1 front rank ship outfitted for torps or it is unlikely you will be able to sink enemy ships during the HA's. Work the crew of both up to veteran stars. You will have both ships in your HA lineup for a long time. So it is well worth the time to get them to veteran and outfitted for HA.

    C)  Get 2 CA's. Here is where you might want to spend gold for a specific ship or different configurations while leveling and then for HA after you switch to a different ship. Which ships you chose will change some with nation and when you plan to get your first BB. For example: I like the Furious better than the County due to the range. And the Mogami(1944) is fun and effective in fleet actions, but horrible in in HA since it never launches it's planes in HA. I believe some people are choosing to not equip their CA's with a level 5 HA set because the HA special attacks are not quite so devastating and don't help at all in the second part of the HA. So far, I am still equipping mine for max critical special attack. However, I may change my mind after some more experimentation. You will want to get at least one of the CA's to veteran status. Work on the other until you eventually get it to veteran or decide to replace it with a BB.

    D) Get the level 50 DD and advance to veteran status. Sub it for the level 3 DD in your HA and HD lineup. I don't think many people are equipping these for HA special attacks. Though there is disagreement on whether to max guns, torps, or hedgehogs - I think everyone gets max engines. With max engines and a good captain, these are extremely difficult to hit.

    E) Skip the initial BB, CV, and SS. You won't have veteran status on both of your CA's yet anyhow. Pick one of them when you get the level to buy the second or third in the category. Work on it until you get at least most of the stars. These are the category of ships for which most people have been saving their gold. Also upgrades very wildly between captains. Some love the SS. (I am finding them very difficult with novice crew. So it is extremely time consuming to get the crew leveled.) Others find sinking capital ships from afar with the CV to be very fun. Then too, there is the allure of the ponderous wall of BB's.

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  4. I was the one that started this thread and I was way wrong. The level 50 DD is quite strong. And with max engines and maneuverability, nearly impossible to hit.

    I'm thinking I might like the hedgehogs better than the torpedoes. They seem to do a better job on the subs and even pretty good on surface ships if they get close enough.

    So I've been putting 3 in the engines, 3 in the main gun, and 2 for the hedgehogs.

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  5. On 11/7/2017 at 3:38 AM, baldrick said:

    learn to deep dive fast as the control is a bit unwieldy.

    Quick question on this statement. Is there a way to dive deeper?!? Is that why some subs never seem to get hit by torps and hedgehogs?

    If so, how? I've been trying and not succeeding.

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  6. Is it just me, or does Harbor Assault seem kinda messed up now?

    The defensive buildings seem a bit tougher. I agree with that, since I thought they were kinda weak before. I like the fleet maneuvering and attacking change. My ships will actually launch torpedoes and target ships halfway intelligently.

    However, I can attack and wipe out fleets which should be much more powerful than me. Sometimes with slight damage. Just today I attacked with a DD, 2 CL, and 2 CA. All are veteran except one of the CA has zero crew xp. They are geared up for HA.

    The opposition was 3 CL, 2 BB, and a CV. From the icons, they were also at least somewhat geared up for HA.

    I only lost the DD and one CA. The other ships were not even badly damaged. I know I am supremely awesome :D, but that seems kinda ridiculous.

    Then, of course, I got wiped out by the defensive buildings. But still...

    1

  7. The Kitikamai and Mogami 1944 both take a while to master. But both can be very fun and effective.

    The Kitikami is a torpedo cruiser, so obviously max the torpedoes. I wouldn't bother advancing the guns at all. I maxed the engines to get into and out of torp range quickly. Then 2 in armor to survive their fire a little bit longer.

    Tactics are to cruise across the the enemies line of advance in front of your allies. Aim your tubes in the general direction of the enemy advancing toward you at approximately the max torpedo range. Fire a salvo of torpedoes every few seconds until all 5 are launched. This will give a crisscrossing set of tracks that are extremely difficult to avoid. Reverse direction, pick a new target, and repeat with the other set of 5 launchers. A key point is to never travel in a straight line if you even might be in range of the enemy. Zig-zag back and forth across your base course to make it difficult for them to target you.  That plus your speed should allow you to survive until you have launched your torps. Then run away until all of your launchers are reloaded. Then come back and do it again. This can sometimes kill up to 5 or 6 ships in the first minutes of the battle with a lowly little CL. Including CA's and BB's. BOOM!

    The Mogami 1944 is in my opinion even harder to master (mine is almost completely leveled to veteran). But it is really fun when it works. This is a mini-CV. But is useless until you get some advancements. You must advance the flight deck 2 times to even get anything other than scouts. I wouldn't bother with the 3rd advancement since I almost never run out of aircraft before getting killed or winning anyway. You should get the fighter and torpedo bomber advancement. I am unsure on the dive bomber advancement. I got it, but the dive bombers rarely seem to hit their targets. However, I may just not be approaching the targets correctly. I also maxed the engines to stay out of gun range.

    Tactics for this ship seem to vary a lot among captains. Personally I do the following (I got this from a fellow in my fleet, I can't take credit). Immediately start the torpedo planes arming.

    Start the fighters arming. Engage engines and maneuver to keep the bulk of your allies between you and the enemy.

    Your fighters will launch first. If the enemy has a carrier, use your fighter squadron to intercept their attack planes (it is hilarious to see an enemy carrier run out of attack planes). You click the general area where you want the fighters to go and they will circle when they get there, shooting down any enemy planes they see in the area. Some battles, all I've done is use my fighters to neutralize an enemy carrier until the gun ships can sink it. If they don't have a carrier, use your fighters to shoot down all their scouts. this makes it very difficult for the enemy to find and target you and your allies. If you have shot down all the scouts, use the fighters as your scouts until they run out of fuel and return.

    When your torpedo bombers launch, send them in the general direction of the enemy. Then look for a CA or BB (DD and CL a very maneuverable and hard to hit with torp bombers). Maneuver your planes in front of the target. If you can get them to launch from about 45 degrees to either side of their course, you are almost guaranteed a hit if not a kill. A ship that is slowed from heavy damage can usually be hit from any direction. Don't get too close to the ship before designating the target. Torp bombers need time to run toward the target before they drop torps. So if they are too close, they will turn and fly away before beginning their attack run. This may make the attack come from a poor angle and they will be taking AA fire the whole time.

    Both torpedo bombers and dive bombers will not attack hidden ships. So if you lose track of a ship in the 'fog of war,' the bombers will turn around and head back to your ship. If they still have sufficient fuel, you can stop them and send them back toward a new target.

    As always, experiment around with the possibilities and see what works best for you. Hope this help.

    1

  8. Figured out some of it. On the small phone screen, I was mixing up the fighters and dive bombers. And you were right, I think I was getting the torpedo planes too close before I gave them the ship to attack. I was trying to maneuver them for a perfect angle shot. I also thought you could have the fighters strafe targets. Apparently not.

    For upgrades, I already have all 3 plane and 2 of the flight deck upgrades. I will get 2 of the engine upgrades, then I will have to decide where to put the last one. Probably the flight deck. I do seem to lose a light of bombers in the first attacks when there are lots of planes to shoot at them.

    I've noticed that even if all the torps seem to hit, usually won't sink a BB. That is annoying. Don't know if crew expertise will make a difference on that.

    Now I am trying to concentrate on taking out the CA's and then damaging the BB's after that if I'm still alive.

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  9. Thank you for this info. I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to figure out own my own,

    I'm still having a problem though. Most of the time, my aircraft don't actually attack. They fly about 2/3 the way to the target circle for a while then come back to my ship. What am I doing wrong?

    Also, I have the 3 aircraft improvements and 2 on the flight deck to actually have aircraft to attack with. What do you recommend for the other 3 slots? I was thinking engines to try and keep away from everything else while my aircraft pummel.

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  10. Ok, well I've been playing around with the Harbor Assault now that I have some decent ships.

    I'm a little irritated because an equipment set that works very well in online combat pretty much sucks in harbor assault. For example since my Asama has a scout plane and there are so many ships (in online combat) expanding the invisible areas, FCS upgrades are a waste of space. Plus, with its range, I need speed to stay away more than armor to survive hits. So my Asama doesn't have either the HA critical hit or the anti-aircraft level.  Similar things with all the other ships.

    I guess I could buy the other ships and outfit them for harbor assault, but then I'd have to play them long enough to get the crews experienced. It's taking quite a while to get the ships I really do want up to veteran status.

    Am I missing something? Any suggestions?

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  11. Well, I have not yet gotten into a BB yet. But I have been playing around with DD, CL, and CA with all 5 nations. Note: PvP online battles, ship class Ops, and Campaign missions only. I have not done much of anything with Harbor Assault, since that just seems to be only for resources (no xp of either type) and I have pretty much always had more than enough.

    In general, here is what I've found with the ships I've tried:

    DD and CL with Torpedoes - Max the torpedoes and the engines to quickly get into and out of torpedo range. Then put the other points into main guns or a little armor. Maybe some FCS if it does not have a scout plane. Exception, the American CL's seemed to have better performing guns than the torpedoes (but I'm not certain of that). I assume the Hedgehog is meant to take on subs, but I have not yet managed to get a DD with the Hedgehog into range of a sub before dying.

    CL without Torpedoes - Max range (not necessarily level) of main guns. Max engines to try to dodge incoming rounds and torpedoes as well as stay out of range of fast auto firing secondary cannons. FCS if no scout plane. Armor if has scout plane. I have not found the secondary guns on the CL to be of any use at all. If I get close enough for them to start firing, I seem to be sunk too quickly for them to really matter.

    CA - (Note: I have only 1 or 2 stars for crew on my CA's. Haven't had them long enough to get vet's. So I don't know if that will change my results.) I keep ending up with max on both main gun and armor. The other 2 slots to the engines to try and dodge the BB incoming rounds. Again (but without as much experimenting), I have not found the secondary guns to be worth the slots compared to the armor or engines.

    BB - This is just my guesses/assumptions. Max main gun and armor. Here the secondary guns may be worthwhile since some of them seem to out range most of the CL and some of the CA main guns. That is just from observation during PvP.

    Do you folks have differing observations or suggestions? Especially if geared for a particular ship or nation.

    -1

  12. Ok, I can get through the DD and CL relatively quickly. Looks like I will be in a CA for a pretty long while. Then in BB for a super long time.

    BB, SS, and CV seem to make the most difference in the PvP online battles. Though CA's can make a difference. So I think my nation selection should focus on the CA and BB since I will be there for quite some time before I can even look at the CV and SS.

    I'm kinda leaning toward the KM or IJN. But I will admit that is mostly just from my history knowledge along with the names Tirpitz and Yamamoto.

    So, for those of you that have played forever and leveled up more than one country, any comments on the relative strengths and weakness between one country  and another for their CA and BB ship designs?

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  13. Are all of the premium ships better than the others of the same class?

    From the base stats, it looks like they should be, but I can't tell how they will upgrade until purchased.

    Has anyone done any kind of comparison of the premium ships of one nation vs the other nations?

    With all 5 nations and a starter pack I don't think I should have any problem getting all the premium ships for one of the nations. I'm kinda leaning toward the KM at the moment.

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  14. I have been a little surprised by some of the upgrades available for some ships. Especially the main guns and torpedoes.

    On one ship I upgraded the torpedoes and only get to fire 1 salvo at a time. Yes, there are 5 torpedoes rather than 4, but I would rather fire the 2 salvos of 4 rather than 1 of 5.

    Some of the main gun upgrades give shorter range, longer range, less damage, more damage, more barrels, or fewer barrels. I can't find a way to look at anything but the base stats until after I've bought the ship. Sometimes the upgrades do not turn out to be what I actually want for the ship.

    Does someone have a list/tree of what the potential upgrades do? I had planned to decide on a nation and set of ships prior to buying everything but I'm not ending up with exactly what I thought I would get.

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