Plans for introducing aircraft preparation time at the beginning of each battle, aircraft carrier matchmaking.

[GOMBEE8626]

Aircraft preparation time at the beginning of the battle was tested on the 0.8.4 Public Test.

The purpose of the change was not only to delay the detection of the enemy team but also to achieve the almost simultaneous beginning of battle for all ships. Destroyers are fighting at the control area, cruisers and battleships are firing at the spotted targets. Presently, this flow is broken by early detection from the air. We want to bring the timing of battle to the point that the aircraft are near the control area at close to the same time as other classes.

Preparation time influenced the battle as it was intended: later spotting allowed destroyers to reach the control areas undetected, which ensured active battle for other classes. 

However this change created a long waiting period for the aircraft carrier player without any actions to perform other than setting the ship's route. We want to preserve battle dynamics without excluding the aircraft carrier commander from the game for almost a minute. It has been decided not to introduce the preparation time for squadrons in the tested form, and to consider other options for influencing the aircraft's time of arrival to control areas:

• Move aircraft carriers' spawn points away from control areas;
• Move other ships' spawn points closer to control areas;
• Add the preparation time for planes in the beginning of battle, but no longer than 20 seconds;
• Additionally change to engine boost - planes will start with the engine boost depleted, which will not allow them to accelerate at the beginning of battle, but will make boosted maneuvers possible in the active phase of the battle.

The implementation of these points will make battles more active, without creating discomfort for players on aircraft carriers. We are not ready to report on the exact timing of the introduction of these changes, but we plan to do this around the autumn updates.

In one of the next updates we plan to introduce a soft limit on the number of aircraft carriers in battles of VIII - IX tiers. In the first minute of waiting for the player whose been waiting for the longest time in the queue, there will be a restriction - no more than 1 aircraft carrier per team. From the second minute of waiting the battle will be assembled with a limit of no more than 2 aircraft carriers per side, and no more than three starting from the third minute.

This change will significantly reduce the number of battles of VIII - IX tiers with two aircraft carriers in each team. This will be specially noticeable for tier VI ships: they will fight against two tier VIII aircraft carriers much less often than is experienced now.

Please note that the information in the Development Blog is preliminary.

[Ordrazz]

13 hours ago, GOMBEE8626 said:

However this change created a long waiting period for the aircraft carrier player without any actions to perform other than setting the ship's route. We want to preserve battle dynamics without excluding the aircraft carrier commander from the game for almost a minute. It has been decided not to introduce the preparation time for squadrons in the tested form, and to consider other options for influencing the aircraft's time of arrival to control areas

With all due respect to the Game Devs & the administrators & Testers,

Battleships, Cruisers & Destroyers ALREADY SUFFER THIS PROBLEM, & HAVE DONE SO SINCE DAY 1 !!

we already have to wait at least a minute , until our ships have started their engines & slowly raise steam, & get to within ANY range at all, before they even SEE anything to attack, let alone be in range to fire at it, (ok a wee bit faster for DDs), & we have to pot around & wait until we are there, so all we CAN do is set the ships route.....   so we can just watch & wait for this to happen (a lot of us would flip between Youtube & the game until we are in range)......

SO WHO REALLY IS SAD, IF the CV has to do nothing for a minute while he gets into position while he waits for his planes ??????   THE REST OF US REAL WORLDERS HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THE DELAY..... only the CV players themselves will whinge, because they wouldn't be able to spot & attack the whole fleet within the first 30 seconds like they do now !!!  we can put up with it, so should THEY !!!  

some DDs have to wait at least 90 seconds for their torpedoes to load, & with little to no AA, & crappy pew pew guns, they are sitting ducks, no matter how much they dodge, & since a lot of games are 2 or 3 CVs, if the first CV doesnt wipe them out or severely damage them, be assured that the other CVs will, because they also see form the first CV where the victim is..... same things happen to cruisers more often than not, so if the cruiser DOES make it to the battle line, they are usually half dead & get blatted by the first BB or heavy cruiser while still dodging subsequent CV strikes & / or spotting...

 

The effect that its having, is like trying to go for a walk, & being non-stop attacked by mosquitoes.... how enjoyable is this seem to you & the Devs??

Of course, all the new unicum "CV pros" who use the said class to bolster their stats & win rate & to lord it over others, will say "git gud, everything is fine, get used to it, you gotta adjust, you just don't play CV so you don't understand,  you have poor skill so you complain etc etc...." ... but there are lots of people like me, who play all tiers not just high tiers, & i play to ENJOY THE GAME, not to grind, rank up, complete lines, stroke my own ego etc......  we are not a vocal minority here.....

I strongly encourage the DEVS to take out Oleg, or Kolberg, or Karlshrue, or Molotov, or Arizona, or New Mexico....on the live servers,  & see just how ejoyable it is... some of these ships we pay good money for, & now cant use them because of CVs....

the CVs have largely just been transformed into "damage Farmers".... the skill & the mortality of them has been taken away.....

I hear many people rage, including from my own clan, even though we are experienced players, we often get little enjoyment from ending up in a rage state, because we are buggered before we get to the battle.... hasnt the sharp drop in DDs been noticed as yet???

 

Even ships like Atlanta, & other ships that have DFAA, now have trouble shooting planes........  Texas, whats the good of even Texas now???

having a "Port Queen" or 2 isnt bad, but when it starts being half or 3/4 of your fleet turning into port queens, who's going to bother playing ??

the situation needs fixing, & I dont mean WG going into the phama industry to sell blood pressure pills.....

 

 

Ordrazz

 

 

[dejiko_nyo]

Thank you for at least listening to the conatructive feedback once in a while.

[Lupis]

So will surface ships get a preparation timer as well? It's only fair if they get one as well.

[RalphTheTheatreCat]

51 minutes ago, Lupis said:

So will surface ships get a preparation timer as well? It's only fair if they get one as well.

How would that assist surface ships?

The prep time was to delay CV's getting planes over a DD early in the game.

[Taipan17]

A CV enters a battle with it's Aircraft armed and ready for immediate flight. DD, CL, CA and BB should also enter a battle in a comparable state of readiness. That is the Main Battery and Torpedo tubes loaded, ready to fire.

The option of having CVs spawning further from the Control Area(s) combined with DDs spawning closer to Control Area(s) seems like a very sensible solution.

 

22 hours ago, GOMBEE8626 said:

We are not ready to report on the exact timing of the introduction of these changes, but we plan to do this around the autumn updates.

Three months to implement such changes is stretching the bounds of credulity. WG staff are more competent than that.

[dejiko_nyo]

2 hours ago, Lupis said:

So will surface ships get a preparation timer as well? It's only fair if they get one as well.

Surface ships already has this 1 minute of time wasting before combat starts. I would prefer they start close to each other. As it stands now, 2 to 3 minutes of the game is wasted doing "posturing" because of delayed engagement. Games need to be sped up, not slowed down.