RN Captain Skills

[Kapitan_Wuff]

So I'm kinda at a loss with my RN CL Captain skills. I am at the Leander and expect to keep moving the Captain up the tree. I have BFT, TAE, & SI. None of the t4 skills seem great for the RNCL line, thinking CE for number 5.  What are y'all using and why?

[Ivlerlin]

T4 I'd go with AFT or SE to progress to T5. 

 

If you're close enough AFT means you have the possibility to set fires on targets. Also if you're on the back line your AA bubble is assisting with Planes. 

 

SE gives you added survivability through HP. And if i recall correctly Damage Repair is Percentage based so you'll be recovering that little bit more ever so faster. 

 

MFCAA if you don't care for Secondary ranges. IMO it's a toss up for AA assists since T5-9 you have DP Secondaries and in the case of the Neptune DP Main Battery also. For Minotaur it's less useful since it only affects it's DP Main Battery. But it does double it to a fairly high DPS value. 

 

Edit: Since I never mentioned what I'd actually take; it would be AFT. Because I tend to play overly aggressive and AFT, SBM2, Torpedoes, And Main Battery shots can be alot for a target to deal with when they're all in range. 

[cfedler]

I'm using BoS(because more survivability is key), Last stand(because light cruisers), Superintendent(becuase smoke will save your life) and SE at t4 for more HP(going back to more survivability). And CE is definitely the way to go for the T5 skill. However I'm also fine with hearing other peoples insights into thier choices if they Differ

[Kapitan_Wuff]

I've heard RN CL line is not a AA line, wonder if AFT or Manuel AA is worth it.

[TheLastSterling]

For me, I'm going with: BoS,EM,SI, can't decide wether for AFT or SE, and finally CE.

 

For why:

 

basics of survivablity since nothing else helps RN cruisers very much. These ships are fragil and need every HP it can and if they need to repair something they need it now if not, then shortening the DOT of fires, floods and others really helps. BFT sounds good, however the lack of defensive fire and that you should be near friendlies or manuevering kinda leaves it lacking and that BFT does not affect the 152mm guns RoF. Though if BFT were to affect the 152mm guns, then maybe I would reconsider.

 

expert marksman because to survival is to maneuver a lot in the ships and EM speeds up the guns to fire before turning again. TAE sounds good, but torps for cruisers are not really meant as offensive weapons unlike on DDs, though they are a close second since everything else is usless here.

 

Superintendent because more smoke and heals. this is a little harder to pick since vigilance and HA are very much useful, but super is my preference here.

 

fourth skill no idea but SE has some appeal when HP is critical to these ships, if not, they AFT.

fifth skill is CE. No brainer here.

[Ivlerlin]

I've heard RN CL line is not a AA line, wonder if AFT or Manuel AA is worth it.

 

They're about on par with the IJN in terms of number of secondaries and calibre of. And had DE not been such a great choice for the IJN's I'd probably take AFT for them. 

 

But your choice are Buff AA/Secondaries or Mitigate HP Pool. 

[cfedler]

 

They're about on par with the IJN in terms of number of secondaries and calibre of. And had DE not been such a great choice for the IJN's I'd probably take AFT for them. 

 

But your choice are Buff AA/Secondaries or Mitigate HP Pool. 

 

Actually the RNCLs have MEh secondaries at best. The best is the Neptune with 6x2 102mm 3 turrets on each side. The Minotaur doesn't have any secondaries. And up until the top tier ships their AA is also Meh. But the AA on the Neptune is Decent and the Minotaur has Great base AA at 94, but only because those 2 ships have Dual Purpose main Guns. So i really do feel like BTF and AFT(while useable) are not the ideal choices. So i'd go for skills that buff survivability

[Kapitan_Wuff]

While my first though for t5 skill is CE (and most people seem to think its a no-brainer) but with the importance of consumables with the RNCL line what about jack of all trades?

[Ivlerlin]

While my first though for t5 skill is CE (and most people seem to think its a no-brainer) but with the importance of consumables with the RNCL line what about jack of all trades?

 

I've got 3 Captains in the making.

1st run - BFT, EM, SI, AFT, CE. BoS, TAE (alt ship Campbeltown)

2nd run - BoS, EM, SI, SE, JoaT, HA (alt Belfast or Warspite)

3rd run - BFT, EM, SI, AFT, MFCAA, IFA, LS (alt Belfast)

 

all have the Minotaur in mind as I'm building them but if i happen to find a keeper along the line for them that those may be the homes for 2 of them. 

[Ivlerlin]

 

Actually the RNCLs have MEh secondaries at best. The best is the Neptune with 6x2 102mm 3 turrets on each side. The Minotaur doesn't have any secondaries. And up until the top tier ships their AA is also Meh. But the AA on the Neptune is Decent and the Minotaur has Great base AA at 94, but only because those 2 ships have Dual Purpose main Guns. So i really do feel like BTF and AFT(while useable) are not the ideal choices. So i'd go for skills that buff survivability

 

with the exception of the German and some USN; all the Cruisers have 'MEh' secondaries. Especially when you hear 'secondaries build' and automatically think Bismark, Yamato, Negato, Warspite. 

 

Cruisers have DD's taped to their hulls and BBs have Cruisers taped to theirs. 

 

If you intend to go into harm's way (charge smoke clouds), then Secondary Builds on Cruisers can potentially hurt DDs a great deal. Since in addition to Main Battery if you're close enough your Secondaries are also lighting them up. IF you build for them then if you can naturally spot a DD they will be inside Secondaries. 

[SweetRollThief]

I've heard RN CL line is not a AA line, wonder if AFT or Manuel AA is worth it.

 

manual AA is not really worth as most of the AA dps comes from the smaller caliber mounts. I am personally goinng with SE for the extra HP. Dont feel the other skills will be as consistently helpful.

[Kapitan_Wuff]

I ended up taking BOS, EM, SI, SE, and when I get the points CE

[SloppyJ0e]

SORRY TO SOMEWHAT NECRO THIS THREAD....BUT.....

 

Doesn't Survivability Expert, while a nice small boost to your HP pool, also mean that fires do more damage to you since you have now increased the HP of your ship?  Idk.  I can see SE for DDs, but for Cruisers that have quite a bit more of a HP pool in addition to a longer cooldown on Damage Controls, I just don't know if SE is optimal.  I would, however, like to hear more about other's opinions on their T4 Captain skill selection because I am torn between SE and AFT.  Thanks in advance!

[RenamedUser_1016493851]

Necro? You have no sense of time.

[Roadrider7021]

SORRY TO SOMEWHAT NECRO THIS THREAD....BUT.....

 

Doesn't Survivability Expert, while a nice small boost to your HP pool, also mean that fires do more damage to you since you have now increased the HP of your ship?  Idk.  I can see SE for DDs, but for Cruisers that have quite a bit more of a HP pool in addition to a longer cooldown on Damage Controls, I just don't know if SE is optimal.  I would, however, like to hear more about other's opinions on their T4 Captain skill selection because I am torn between SE and AFT.  Thanks in advance!

 

     T4 skill should generally be AFT with a small exception for the Neptune which would really benefit from Manual AA. But if you're going to Minotaur or are staying at a lower tier, AFT should be your choice unless you have a specific build in mind. SE would not be my choice as a few k of deletable hp is less desirable than a really decent AA bubble and secondaries can start some fires when the enemy is pushing your smoke fire base.

[mofton]

For myself, I got my 15 pointer yesterday through adroit use of a Warspite + Dragon Flags. I did want a Capt. who would also be useful on the Warspite, so there was some inclination towards secondaries-useful skills.

 

1 point:

I went with BFT, 10% more AA is useful and I do find myself using my secondaries a surprising amount. Best secondary game included detonating a full HP Mutsuki with them, and starting a full-burn fire on a Gneisenau with them. It's unreliable but the secondaries are surprisingly good at at least T6.

BoS looks good but: LS negates worries about engine/rudder, fire is less of a problem with repair (and cruisers don't suffer as badly as BB - you take far fewer hits, burn is a %, turrets repair quickly and you have 4) and CL get rapid cooldowns on repair anyway, especially if you go premium.

 

2 Point:

I went with EM. Turret traverse at least up to Edinburgh can use a little help, and keeping guns on target and singing is effectively more damage. the 0.7' is equivalent to 10% and can mean the difference between keeping guns on target in a turn or not. LS is useful, but I decided against on the basis that: you have a rapid repair cooldown, so are only hit by this when on cooldown and it's unlucky to take successive propulsion hits. If in smoke you may be less worried, or if running away already, or if you can just stealth-up it may not be a problem. TAE is a possibility but the effect is slight and you should be using guns more than torpedoes. In many torpedo scenario's you'll be dead or they will, before a 2nd volley is needed.

 

3 Point:

I went with SI. There are just so many consumables to use from Emerald on up and smoke in particular is vital. Good use of hydroacoustic search can make VG less important, and you are a maneuverable cruiser. HA is the only other worth considering, but premium gives you a far bigger boost than HA and I don't even feel you need that on a cruiser until higher tiers. 

 

4 Point:

I went with AFT. Survivability Expert was a strong consideration, the others are junk. AFT improves both secondaries (for whatever that's worth - see my view on BFT) and AA, increasing the range on AA is very useful as a plane shot down on the way in is worth any number shot down on the way out and range = kills before drops. SE is worth about 8% of HP at mid-tiers and on these CL it's more likely to be useful as it compounds with the heal. I was 60/40 on AFT over SE.

 

5 Point:

I went with CE. At least on Leander so far, it makes your detection 8.8km! The effect isn't quite as glorious on some of the later ships, but especially Fiji (only ok detection, no concealment mod) and Neptune (outright bad concealment!) seem to need it to perform. Some people run JOAT which reduces cooldown on consumables, of which there are many by 15%. 15% is even better than it sounds, with premium smoke the gap is already short and this makes it even better. However movement is life, movement is capping and CE assists movement. 

 

 

I try and look at how likely I am to do something vs. how useful a skill is there. As a run-down of more to less likely in any given game I will:

 

Almost certainly fire my guns (so EM)

Almost certainly take some damage

Usually fire torpedoes

Frequently need to disengage

Frequently get set on fire

Frequently engage hostile aircraft

Sometimes suffer repeated engine/rudder criticals

Never use spotter/fighter aircraft (so never AS)

 

So balance how much you'll use a skill with how big a boost it is.

[Ivlerlin]

@mofton

JoaT is more an 18pt build. As it allows access to both SI and HA. 

HA + JoaT + Prem DCP is on about a 45s CD. 

 

[mofton]

@Iverlin

 

HA only works on the DCP which I think is of less value than the smoke, though it does make the cool down rather swift!

[Ivlerlin]

HA's CD reduction is definitely less valuable than SI's +1 to all consumables. Hence why the combination of both is more an 18pt build than a 15pt build. 

SI will serve you better since you don't "need" to run Full PremCons. Just the ones you need +2 for i.e. DRP and Smoke. 

 

But if you own a Warspite HA + JoaT as a 15pt build does work. The Warspite has the same DCP as the CLs. Short duration, short CD. And 45s for DCP on a BB is great while stacking the other survival skills and JoaT for minimal Fire duration. 

 

So if the Captain sits in the Warspite more than a CL the 15pt JoaT build with HA instead of SI first holds some potential (but who am i kidding SI's strengths are better than any of Lv.3 captain skills on the first run through). 

[Gaishu_Isshoku]

Here's what my Minotaur captain looks like and the reasoning behind it:

 

1: BFT. Although you don't have access to DF, your base AA strength is extremely strong and benefits from this. Also, the other option, BoS, is rather moot with a JoaT build as the DCP CD becomes almost the same as fire duration.

2: Last Stand. None of the other options here are particularly noteworthy. If your situational awareness isn't the best, incoming fire alert may be of some use but I believe LS to be the best option.

3: Superintendent. Obvious choice, you want that extra smoke and heal.

4: Survivability Expert. This slot is a mix-up between the AA upgrades and this; due to the rarity of high tier CVs and the fact that DF is not available, I opted for SE. It provides a roughly 9% increase in hitpoints and synergizes well with the super-heal.

5: Jack of all Trades. Again, this one is a mix-up between this or Concealment Expert. I decided that JoaT fit my playstyle better; combined with the High Caliber flag, smoke has a 16 second downtime. I do almost all of my shooting from inside my smoke or behind an island and find the base 11.2km detection to be adequate for positioning and moving around the map. If you want a more mobile playstyle, take CE + Concealment System Modification 1.

6: I plan to take Vigilance as my 18th point, to make sitting in my smoke a little bit safer.