Rant/Help

[FunnyGaijin]

I recently moved to Japan and with my new job I actually have more free time than I did back in the USA.  I thought I would have fun starting again on a new account trying to get my ships that I liked.  Boy was I wrong.  T4 Matches were double CV nearly every game and barring games played at tiers where there couldnt be any CVs, I can count the games of Non CV matches on my hands.  I haven't played in a while but this is literally bullsh!t at low tiers.  I thought the iChase videos of the old Hakuryu were bad enough but let me tell you, there is nothing worse than playing in an Isokaze and the enemy Hermes decides he doesn't like you or when its the end of the match in your 3/4 HP New York and both the CVs target you, dead within 3 minutes.  There was literally nothing I could do.  Friendly CVs cannot drop a fighter for protection, I have literally 1 AA, and no other friendly ships have any meaningful AAA.  To top it all off, literally 1 minute after one attack ended, planes would be heading towards my location again.  

Usually I'd put in some constructive feedback to help balance this but honestly, [content removed] that.  I'm done with DDs completely, its not worth the grind.  Planes are annoying even when I'm in a battleship or cruiser but at least you shoot down some planes so it feels like you're doing something (when actually, you're not).

Any tips for low tier DD players, because I had so much fun in my Akizuki, but grinding to her just doesnt seem worth it.

Profanity. Post edited.

~Beaufighter

[ohunt]

Just finished a game with my T6 Farragut, the CV didn't bother me at all, they have better fish to fry (LOL) and I stick close to an Atlanta, T6 CV of course. As I understand it, solo DD playbook is out the window. Any solo DD will most likely then not, be hunted and blown to bits, but again depends on the situation also if your team mates are pressing the CV might just ignore the solo DD for a bit....

I came into WoW a month or two before the 2CV games started so the old way of playing do not impact me at all. This is what I do:-

1) Game Start - stay together with the CAs and BBs for the AA protection and prepare to maneuver. And if the CVs are hunting DDs, stay close...they have only so many planes.

- See how the players split and where they move and this will mostly draw the CV's attention.

2) See where the CVs are and try to avoid their path, they will mainly try for the CA and BB. Unless they are hunting for DDs that is...LOL....and if they are stay close but give yourself room.

- The CVs, depending on what type of plane attacking, some are easier to outmaneuver and each CVs handling are different.

3) Patience. Lots of patience and be aware of the other teams' ship, which ones can shoot at you and what not.

4) Use cover whenever possible.

5) Hide in Smoke and if no ship very near activate your AA and deactivate it after.

6) Be aware of the various detection limits.

7) And if possible learn to play CVs, their strength and weaknesses.

I find WoW very demanding game, situation awareness, which ship have radar and if possible I will move over to where the ship have no radar, lol. Which ship have sonar, their most likely route, their range and so on and so forth and last but not least how your team mates (random) plays.

Oh and most important - Have fun 🙂

Hope this helps.

 

[sunlo2013]

Thank you ohunt! I think we need more of this educational posts so people can learn about how to play in CV game. 

Everything you said are very good tips. Playing in CV game the awareness and discipline is very important especially for DD. But if you play well the reward is amazing.

I just played a game in shokaku, and my team has  a amazing asashio who did everything correctly, position right, contest cap, spotting but not overextended, spam torp. Enemy Kidd (an AA spec gun boat) come and contest cap with him and he did not run away and remain well positioned, so we as CV can give him air support. In the end, we have kill off kidd and won the cap and cleanup remaining BB afterwards.

He topped the scoreboard by large margin. I had 110k damages and 3 kills, still made few hundred xp less than this guy. This guy not even in a good clan but he adapted well. I can't help but give him a positive karma for his performance.

 

[Thyaliad]

Basically what ohunt said.

Never run off by yourself, don't do anything risky without having smoke ready, and most importantly always have an escape plan. Don't feel compelled to rush into the cap just because you are a DD. There is a time and place for everything and that includes capping. Sometimes it is better to hang back a little and observe the enemies' movements.

Also learn how planes operate and which planes can actually harm you and which are mostly useless. For this I recommend trying CVs yourself.

All planes can provide spotting but the only direct threats are rocket planes and HE dive bombers. You should have no problem dodging torpedo bombers as long as you keep turning into them - if you get hit by a CV torp in a DD it most likely means you screwed up somewhere. For the British level bombers you just need to keep moving and weaving and try not to line up bow to stern with his attack run. It is unlikely the CV will ever hit you with these unless you are extremely unlucky and were perfectly lined up with his strike. Japanese AP bombs are a non-issue, they will mostly just overpen, assuming they manage to hit you in the first place.

Rockets are the tricky part. With AA off, rocket planes generally won't be able to attack you on their first pass unless something was already spotting you in the first place. This is because rocket planes have a long attack preparation time, so by the time the CV sees you, chances are you will be too close to attack. The problem is his second pass, as a good CV player can guesstimate where you are going to be and start his attack run early even if he hasn't seen you yet. Keep moving. The more you move, the harder it is for the enemy to guess where you are and the more his accuracy will suffer trying to get a bead on you. If possible try to turn into his planes, so he will have even less reaction time. The goal here is to make yourself a difficult target as possible. The CV will eventually decide to bugger off somewhere, unless you are a direct threat to him or his teammates. Just remember, every futile strike attempt against you is a strike that could have gone against a more vulnerable teammate. Also be aware that different nations have different rocket dispersion ellipses. Unlike British and Japanese rocket planes, US rockets have a horizontal oval dispersion, that means you absolutely do not want to expose broadside to these things.

USN HE dive bombers are the hardest part. It really boils down to how good the enemy CV is. But as always, KEEP MOVING. HE bombs have a vertical oval dispersion, so do not let him line you up bow to stern. Keep turning broadside against HE dive bombers. My suggestion would be to head directly towards his bombers, to give him as little time as possible for his dispersion to shrink, before turning broadside at the last few seconds. If he starts his attack run too late, he would have to drop his bombs from high up, meaning he wouldn't be fully aimed and you would have more time to dodge his falling bombs. Even if he started his attack on time, he would still need to turn his planes and therefore widen his dispersion.

So to recap, torpedo bombers, level bombers and AP dive bombers are mostly ineffective against you apart from spotting. As a DD you do not have to worry too much about these if there are no other enemy ships or rocket planes nearby. Rocket planes and HE dive bombers are the biggest threat - save your smoke for them. Deploy your smoke early if it looks like you are going to be attacked by them. Too often I see DD players make the mistake of trying to save their smoke and end up deploying it too late. They deploy smoke when I am already on my last attack run, meaning the smoke is useless, and even worse they slow down to hide in the smoke, making them an even easier target for my run. Deploy smoke early, or at least not when the planes are already aiming at you.

Hope that helps.

[RalphTheTheatreCat]

Ohunt gets a upboat from me for his response.  It was helpful and not a wild rant.