Ranked battles, radio location skills (RDF)

[Aureolus]

just played a couple of ranked battles where the opposing team had the RDF skill. Totally destroyed skill tactics. Went to fast cap in DD and got located, changed to second cap to throw them off and almost got ambushed by stealthy DD who was being advised by RDF use from a CA equipped with same ( I was using islands to disguise my approach he was being steered by CA). Did successful flanking moves twice and got located but not spotted (unable to press attack) by another CA  sporting the skill. Tried to break contact in another game (successfully) but got hunted by 2 DDs and the CA with skillset. Couldn't evade even with smoke. One of my teams was down to me and 2 ships and would have had a fighting chance except we couldn't maneuver to ambush or surprise them because RDF "discovered" us.  This is a [edited]skillset. Why don't u drop it and just make every ship location visible?

 

RDF needs to be dropped or a counter needs to be added. Has taken tactical options from the game. Any enthusiasm I had for ranked battles has greatly diminished. If I continue to see it in greater frequency I will no longer have any interest in ranked battles. Am member of closed Beta and really like the basic game. Shame they are messing it up.

[HazardDrake]

Oh I know, I've wrecked people numerous times due to RDF giving me info I shouldn't have.

 

Still keep YoYo-ing between Rank 5 and 6 though... 

[RivertheRoyal]

If you can't beat em—join em. If it bothers you so much, take the skill for yourself. Maybe it'll show you all it's strengths and weaknesses. I know I better learn how to counter a ship by playing it myself. Apply the same sort of theory to RDF. 

[Qweef_Facial]

Located does not mean detected.  RPF only shows to the center of the grid square you are in, not directly at you.  It isn't hard to counter RPF at all.

[BrushWolf]

It isn't that useful, you also know you are detected by it. Adapt and overcome.

[Sethanas]

-Stuff-

 

Its funny cause I've run into it several times and just laughed at it really..... They're giving up some pretty awesome skills to get such a meager benefit, a little intuition could just as easily foil flanking maneuvers tbh. Just start thinking of what they were forced to give up to get that.

[1HandTiedBehindMyBack]

It isn't that useful, you also know you are detected by it. Adapt and overcome.

 

Just because potatoes can't use it doesn't mean its not useful.  If nothing else it gets your guns on target, and also makes guess torps  lot more accurate.  For ranked with the small maps with lots of islands its pretty amazing, its just a matter of what skills you want first and what you give up.  To often the forum acts like everyone has unlimited 19 skill point commanders, but mark my words skills like this will hurt the game in the long term.

[atPrick__]

i politely ask the to keep following it when I have an idea where they are....

[inktomi19d]

just played a couple of ranked battles where the opposing team had the RDF skill. Totally destroyed skill tactics. Went to fast cap in DD and got located, changed to second cap to throw them off and almost got ambushed by stealthy DD who was being advised by RDF use from a CA equipped with same ( I was using islands to disguise my approach he was being steered by CA). Did successful flanking moves twice and got located but not spotted (unable to press attack) by another CA  sporting the skill. Tried to break contact in another game (successfully) but got hunted by 2 DDs and the CA with skillset. Couldn't evade even with smoke. One of my teams was down to me and 2 ships and would have had a fighting chance except we couldn't maneuver to ambush or surprise them because RDF "discovered" us.  This is a [edited]skillset. Why don't u drop it and just make every ship location visible?

 

RDF needs to be dropped or a counter needs to be added. Has taken tactical options from the game. Any enthusiasm I had for ranked battles has greatly diminished. If I continue to see it in greater frequency I will no longer have any interest in ranked battles. Am member of closed Beta and really like the basic game. Shame they are messing it up.

 

I'm not positive DDs should be capping in ranked, at least not by trying to rush ahead of the team and sneak something before the enemy notices. That gets DDs killed because they are likely to trip over another DD anyway. What's worse, is that if you drop smoke to get away, you drop that smoke in range of enemy torpedoes, and you might bait your team to come up and hide in a dangerous spot.

 

In ranked, it's a hell of a lot more important for the DD to screen for incoming torps, spot, and smoke their team. Caps don't win most ranked matches.

 

There are two caps in ranked, and as soon as one lights, the whole enemy team knows precisely where you are anyway.

 

 

I used RPF on my Atlanta for a while, but I got rid of it because it was either costing me 2km of gun range, or 25% torpedo detection range, and I usually know where undetected enemies are anyway. I found it useful for telling when an enemy was about to come around an island, or for tracking down runners at the end of a match. They would be useful for finding ships that are flanking, but everything that matters in a ranked match is focused in a small area of the map, so a ship sliding down the 1 line tends to be far away from doing anything useful anyway. I play BBs  lot too, and a flanking DD is basically only a threat if I fail to notice that they aren't present with their team and I wander off on my own and I drive in straight lines.

 

The part of the ranked match that really matters is where two teams face off against each other, and in that case RPF gives no useful information because you know where the enemy team is.

 

 

I actually found it most useful on my Mahan, since it let me know if I was about to trip over another DD or go around a corner into an ambush, and I wouldn't be taking 13km shots on that ship anyway.

[amade]

I led half the enemy team on a merry chase when I figured out who had the skill, while the rest of my team flanked the BBs they left behind while chasing me. The skill is very much a double edged sword. Most of the time, it's just likely to mislead the user than help them. The few times I encountered it in Ranked, it hasn't put me off from doing what I want to do... in fact in some situations it lets me know where there might be enemies nearby using just some logic and basic trigonometry. Enemies having the skill can often be useful to you.

[MajorHavoc]

good for stealth dd's and dd hunters imo.  

[Compassghost]

I just played one where a DD was using it in the R5 to R2 queue. It mattered nothing at all to me.

[shootieboats]

Dunno...I liked having it on the Blys, and didn't give up any more useful skills to take it. So....yea.

 

YMMV.

[Compassghost]

I should probably mention that I jam RDF with my Nagato. If they can already see me, and RDF me, they can't see the DD shadowing me and providing me cover.

[TheKrimzonDemon]

I've been in a total of 2 battles with RPF, so, not many are using it. I also, not only won both those battles, in a DD, but sank the 3 ships using it myself, as the DD who'd been "located." It's not OP. Players are Op. And UP.

[Cruiser_Chicago]

RDF is a broken skill if you know how to use it. For example if there is a spotted ship that is 10km away from you but your RDF is indicator is pointing towards a COMPLETELY different direction... Well, now you know there is an un-spotted enemy that is within 10km of your ship. You can then accurately predict where the mysterious ship is by looking at your mini-map. It's not infallible and not always useful (pointing towards a spotted ship), but it's still a very powerful skill because of the information it can provide. 

[HazardDrake]

It isn't that useful, you also know you are detected by it. Adapt and overcome.

Explain how an IJN DD is supposed to "adapt" to being run down and slaughtered because they can't outrun the Sims that is pursuing them?

[HazardDrake]

I've been in a total of 2 battles with RPF, so, not many are using it. I also, not only won both those battles, in a DD, but sank the 3 ships using it myself, as the DD who'd been "located." It's not OP. Players are Op. And UP.

Then you're probably playing a BB that is rarely at the front. RPF is incredibly common in ranked.

 

RPF makes good players eveb better by giving them information they should not have. It tells me if an enemy is pushing a cap at the start or if I can be more agressive at pushing through and around. Etc etc etc. 

[Taichunger]

Explain how an IJN DD is supposed to "adapt" to being run down and slaughtered because they can't outrun the Sims that is pursuing them?

 

What? You can't adapt to a DD using an unfailing pointer to your location, with infinite range, that works through islands and other objects, and is faster and has higher gun DPM than you? 

 

Obviously it must be you, because WG would never foist a broken mechanic on us because it wanted ships killed faster.

 

 

[_WaveRider_]

I certainly believe you OP. Had run ins with RPF myself and came off worse because of it. Unfortunately though this is a subject that has many people entrenched in the 'It does nothing - waste of points' or 'It does everything - the end is nigh' (tried to be as fair as possible with the polar opposites).

 

Fact is, it does something and yes it depends on the circumstances  (or is 'situational') and the team make up, but doesn't that count for many skills in game?

I just find it strange that a game that incorporates concealment as part of the mechanic introduces a skill that basically gives you the direction of a concealed ship nonstop throughout the game and that ship that relies on stealth doesn't even know what ship may have it.  Oh, and wait for all the 'trick the player into following you back to your ships', or 'triangulate the position of the RPF ship with friends' (come on, some people have problem knowing where a ship is if it's just laid smoked).

It's a conspiracy to make DDs find each other and die earlier I tell you!

[awildseaking]

Located does not mean detected.  RPF only shows to the center of the grid square you are in, not directly at you.  It isn't hard to counter RPF at all.

 

You act as though this information is so meaningless that you can preface it with "only." Located may as well mean detected. We're talking about stealth. It's not like every round is Ocean 1v1. You literally cannot stealth torp in the RL meta. You can fire torpedoes and stay concealed, but the enemy will always know where they came from and can narrow down direction and speed enough to dodge them perfectly every time. No more surprise attacks.

 

What is this mythical counter to RL other than having a teammate sail in front of you?

[_Spade_]

Located does not mean detected. RPF only shows to the center of the grid square you are in, not directly at you.  It isn't hard to counter RPF at all.

 

I wish people would stop posting this. That's not how the skill works. Yes it points to sectors, but RPF sectors do not correspond to map grid sectors.

[Sethanas]

Explain how an IJN DD is supposed to "adapt" to being run down and slaughtered because they can't outrun the Sims that is pursuing them?

 

Thats where those green atlantas/fijis/belfasts/myokos etc etc have to earn their pay...

 

By that logic AFT and CE are both OP...
Being in a BB getting stealth fired by a blys or other dd... is it a problem? yes! is it kinda lame? yes! is it OP.... not really no, are you screwed? yes! You cant run away, cause you're too slow, you cant shoot em cause you cant see them and you cant really dodge all the shots either. In your situation you can always turn around and engage, hardly ideal but the BB being cut to bits by invisifire cant do jack.

 

The game has a certain amount of rock paper scissors to it, RPF is hardly the worst of it. RPF can be useful, but so can a great many other skills that you could have gotten with those 4 points.

[Rilak]

Your too paranoid. I was able to sneak near a friendly DD. In my crusier  Then we both smashed the bold CL that came hunting our DD. 

  If you were going b then because you were located you changed your plan that is crazy.  If anything you can use that info to determine a enemy is close and prepare 

[SweetRollThief]

I retrained my atkasuki captain and added RPF when I started playing in the rank 5 bracket. I think it is very helpful in a meta where 90% of the team is undetected 90% of the match.