maddogdrivethru.net

When it comes to WoWs, I'm pretty much of a potato.

Having a background in Naval Aviation, however, I do enjoy playing CVs and is the class I do best playing. So I have put together a couple basic tutorials if you will on how to play the Tier IV Hosho and Tier V Zuiho. They both play pretty much the same because they aren't allowed to use "alt" attacks for more precision attacks, but can still be fun to play.

So if you have ever thought about playing CVs, but haven't, take a look and I go over the basics like modules, flags and Captain skills and then play a game and show the fine art of cross dropping.

Mind you, as an old man, when I am playing and recording at the same time, I make lots of mistakes both verbally and in game play. So the more I do it, hopefully the better I will get. Unfortunately it may be too late for this 'old dog' to learn new tricks.

Hosho


Zuiho

So... I put a 0 point Captain in command of my Hosho and launch off to see what I can do. Carrier play has a lot to do with positioning and supporting your fleet. Notice how I am moving about the map (while the other CV Captain on my team doesn't move and gets sniped), support his fighters and attack anything that comes close to my position with some pretty good results. Captain skills ARE important, but how you play can be even more important.

So if you haven't tried CVs before and would like to... jump in... it's fun.

Non CV players hate CV players. I'm sure you've noticed. Getting 0wN3d w/ criss cross torpedoes apparently doesn't sit well

Played the game hundreds of hours, mostly CV b/c I like im too. Even your own team hates you inherently though, unless you turn the tide - then you get a begrudgingly: "GG CV ".

Blindsiding careless skippers who've wandered too far from AA platforms is a thankless job that someone has to do

Oh, I've grew to loathe most CV players simply due to so many of them not being team players. Which is especially noticeable in top tier matches where the team's CV player has, by far, the most possible influence on the outcome of the match. Not pointing fingers at you guys, just the tendency for solo carrier players to be more focused on racking up torpedo & bomber scores rather than concentrating on a team win.

It's not really the selfish CV players to blame, because the WG devs have never properly rewarded them for countering an enemy carrier. Not compared to torpedoing practically defenseless enemy ships. We've literally witnessed both teams CV players making a disgusting "gentleman's agreement" not to attack each other, or each others planes, in All Chat when the battle begins; the most egregious example. Because they know that they get poor rewards for attacking each others planes, and slugging it out with each other, compared to attacking other ships.

WG has only encouraged less team play. I often complain about it, but I also make it a point to compliment our team's CV player and send them a +Rep when they're making an effort to counter the enemy CV. Despite having their potential reward outcomes be lower because they opted for more fighters instead of the money-making torpedo bombers.

Historically you have 2 missions for the CV: air superiority and fleet attack. Battles, however, were not determined by who established air superiority first, they were determined by who destroyed the other forces CV first. By default, sinking the other sides CV gives you air superiority.

In WoWs, the CV is usually the last ship to be sunk and their are a few reasons for this. First, ship AA, especially as you get to higher tiers is so fierce it is near impossible to fly directly from your CV to the enemy CV. Fly your air wing over an AA spec'ed ship and see what happens. Second, the fighter strafe mechanism means that if you group up your strike assets, they can be completely annihilated in less than 15 seconds by a single fighter squadron with absolutely no losses to the attacking fighter squadron. And lastly, because aircraft have no fuel limitations, you can keep your fighter squadrons airborne the entire game.

Thus you are reduced to playing CVs on a par with the Japanese situation after Midway, in which because your strike aircraft are so fragile that you don't have sufficient strength to battle your way to the enemy CV, you attack the closest or an isolated ship ship because of its vulnerability. This is why in competitions, most CVs use an AS loadout as their mission is primarily air superiority.

And this is also why folks complain when a CV successfully attacks their ship.

I tend to complain more about it when I'm running a destroyer.

Because they'll not only attack me with impunity (due to incapable AA on DDs), but also tend to shadow me with their fighters, thus keeping both myself and my torpedoes spotted and ineffective for long stretches of the match. As if running a DD wasn't dangerous enough. The drastic differences in ship AA often encourages them to target destroyers over other ships.

The WoWs meta encourages some ass-backwards targeting priorities.

A 'gentleman's agreement' w/ the proposing enemy CV - guaranteeing he need not protect his strike crafts (which means he's set out w/ mostly strike crafts..). Honest Injun I'm not prepping fighters. btw which area do you plan to strike so I won't accidentally bump heads w/ u?