please send help

[khaenn35]

(Previously on Iowa stuff by me: http://forum.worldofwarships.com/index.php?/topic/104654-konnichiwa-iowa-senpai-bows/page__view__findpost__p__2567401)

Someone please send help.

The Iowa is currently my worst, worst nightmare, and I would appreciate it if someone looked at my replay to see what I did wrong.

I tried my hardest: Falling back when we were screwed, aiming for citadels... I screwed up a few times, but for others, I can't tell if it's RNG (so many broadside, perfect shots aimed for the cits, so many misses) or my [edited]skill. Please, I implore the WoWs community, send help before I lob my laptop straight out of my 9th floor apartment. 

https://wowreplays.com/Replay/31073-khaenn35-Iowa-Land_of_Fire

[kyle26_2016]

You and I have had plenty of disagreements in the past, However i 100%agree with your statement about the IOWA being a nightmare. I know many people love this ship(i cant imagine why,seriously)however i had many of the same issues ,ATROCIOUS accuracy to say the least ,armor absolutely BLOWS ,it burns like no other(not to mention takes loads of damage from the HE hits themselves),people CLAIM that the pen is great,although if i had a dime for every hit on a VERY slightly angled enemy that simply bounced off I'D be a mother fckin millionaire,at 1 point the bow citadels  and subsequent detonations(particularly from YAMATO) got so absolutely out of control that i had to place detonation flags on it to prevent it.In short my opinion is that it was a terrible ship with lots of AA(which does no good when their aren't any aircraft to shoot at)

[GhostSwordsman]

You and I have had plenty of disagreements in the past, However i 100%agree with your statement about the IOWA being a nightmare. I know many people love this ship(i cant imagine why,seriously)however i had many of the same issues ,ATROCIOUS accuracy to say the least ,armor absolutely BLOWS ,it burns like no other(not to mention takes loads of damage from the HE hits themselves),people CLAIM that the pen is great,although if i had a dime for every hit on a VERY slightly angled enemy that simply bounced off I'D be a mother fckin millionaire,at 1 point the bow citadels  and subsequent detonations(particularly from YAMATO) got so absolutely out of control that i had to place detonation flags on it to prevent it.In short my opinion is that it was a terrible ship with lots of AA(which does no good when their aren't any aircraft to shoot at)

 

I agree pretty much fully as well. I feel there's a lot of bias around here concerning the Iowa. I mean yeah, it can be tough to deal with if the team doesn't focus it down, but otherwise it's like a way oversized cruiser, without the nimbleness of said cruiser.

 

Simply put, I've started saying this: The Iowa is on par with the worst ship(Izumo) in the game at the moment, and somehow it's also the best battleship in the game(by player opinion)?

[Rowstralker]

I am waiting to purchase this ship so this discussion is very germane to my decision on going forward with the US BB line or stopping at the NC and re-focus on getting up the IJN or German BB's.

 

Thanks

Row

[Cruxdei]

I am waiting to purchase this ship so this discussion is very germane to my decision on going forward with the US BB line or stopping at the NC and re-focus on getting up the IJN or German BB's.

 

Thanks

Row

 

US BB line is all about North carolina,iowa sucks and montana AA is useless because you hardly see tier10 CV

[Rowstralker]

^^ this is exactly what I keep hearing and keeping my credit account 15.5 million healthier.

 

Row

[Mordran]

I can't watch the replay (at work) but based on your survival rate in it, it seems to me that you're probably being too aggressive and it's easy to overextend in the Iowa if you're not careful.  I had the same problem with the Iowa but do fine in the Missouri (got the Iowa probably quicker than I should have and cut my teeth there).  Can you kind of explain how you generally use it?

[Cruxdei]

 

I agree pretty much fully as well. I feel there's a lot of bias around here concerning the Iowa. I mean yeah, it can be tough to deal with if the team doesn't focus it down, but otherwise it's like a way oversized cruiser, without the nimbleness of said cruiser.

 

Simply put, I've started saying this: The Iowa is on par with the worst ship(Izumo) in the game at the moment, and somehow it's also the best battleship in the game(by player opinion)?

 

i thought the Best tier8 BB was bismark by player opinion,maybe it's pure patriotism that iowa get so much love?

[VanMeister]

I am waiting to purchase this ship so this discussion is very germane to my decision on going forward with the US BB line or stopping at the NC and re-focus on getting up the IJN or German BB's.

 

Thanks

Row

 

This was exactly my dilemma.  I decided to listen to the voices of reason and stopped at NC.   Just purchased FDG and have not been disappointed at all.  The AA strengths of the Iowa just don't matter enough to make up for the Detonation and freak citadel chances for me.  It is only my opinion and I know everyone has mine.   Just go with your gut!

 

That is all!

 

[JToney3449]

Problem is the Iowas design doesnt work in this games mechanics. All or nothing armor in this game means it eats retarded amounts of HE dmg that really wouldnt hurt the ship, plunging fire not working in this game worth spit means the low shell velocity is just a weakness not a strength.  Then throw in the fact that the cit the devs gave the iowa, montana, and bama are massive combined with huge turning circle, well rip you getting shot in the side. The bama atleast gets great TDS protection and fast turn circle to offset this.  Toss on 1 last kick in the balls, that the yamato can bow pen you so your bow armor cant even protect you fully.

 

The Iowa atm is a fantastic heavy cruiser, its a sh*t bb however.  But they said they plan to buff it by lowering the cit, how much we dont know so wait and see.  I dont regret getting my Iowa or my Missouri though i do pretty well in them, but I know if Iam in my yamato or bismarck I can carry more.

[Mordran]

 

This was exactly my dilemma.  I decided to listen to the voices of reason and stopped at NC.   Just purchased FDG and have not been disappointed at all.  The AA strengths of the Iowa just don't matter enough to make up for the Detonation and freak citadel chances for me.  It is only my opinion and I know everyone has mine.   Just go with your gut!

 

That is all!

 

 

I was the exact opposite, I just never could like the FDG, it was a ship of extremes for me.  At the time that I had it I was trying soooo hard to make the balls out secondary build work but just spent a lot of time on fire and not able to do much in response.  If I had it to do over, I'd probably run a hybrid concealment-secondary build and tone down the aggression a bit.  I do own a Kurfurst now that I've never used, but I'm debating on just selling it and sticking the captain back in my Bismarck because my experience with the FDG was so mediocre.  That being said, I click much better with the IJN and US BB in general.  I think sometimes it's just a matter of what fits your playstyle the best. 

[kyle26_2016]

Problem is the Iowas design doesnt work in this games mechanics. All or nothing armor in this game means it eats retarded amounts of HE dmg that really wouldnt hurt the ship, plunging fire not working in this game worth spit means the low shell velocity is just a weakness not a strength.  Then throw in the fact that the cit the devs gave the iowa, montana, and bama are massive combined with huge turning circle, well rip you getting shot in the side. The bama atleast gets great TDS protection and fast turn circle to offset this.  Toss on 1 last kick in the balls, that the yamato can bow pen you so your bow armor cant even protect you fully.

 

The Iowa atm is a fantastic heavy cruiser, its a sh*t bb however.  But they said they plan to buff it by lowering the cit, how much we dont know so wait and see.  I dont regret getting my Iowa or my Missouri though i do pretty well in them, but I know if Iam in my yamato or bismarck I can carry more.

 

well said,the design of the ship and the way the game mechanics work don't mesh i couldn't have said it any better,tbh my solution was simple yet effective.stop playing the high tier US battleships 3-8 are competitive which is all we can ask for 9-10 simply are not

[kyle26_2016]

Problem is the Iowas design doesnt work in this games mechanics. All or nothing armor in this game means it eats retarded amounts of HE dmg that really wouldnt hurt the ship, plunging fire not working in this game worth spit means the low shell velocity is just a weakness not a strength.  Then throw in the fact that the cit the devs gave the iowa, montana, and bama are massive combined with huge turning circle, well rip you getting shot in the side. The bama atleast gets great TDS protection and fast turn circle to offset this.  Toss on 1 last kick in the balls, that the yamato can bow pen you so your bow armor cant even protect you fully.

 

The Iowa atm is a fantastic heavy cruiser, its a sh*t bb however.  But they said they plan to buff it by lowering the cit, how much we dont know so wait and see.  I dont regret getting my Iowa or my Missouri though i do pretty well in them, but I know if Iam in my yamato or bismarck I can carry more.

 

as well as your statement about the massive citadels the way i see it is this,IOWA and MONTANA represent the way the game was designed at the start where pretty much everything (except destroyers who lack a citadel)had relatively large citadels where as nowadays with the 2 exceptions being IOWA and MONTANA the others have received citadel reductions  and laughably(IMHO) the reason given for it was "balancing" purposes

[GhostSwordsman]

 

i thought the Best tier8 BB was bismark by player opinion,maybe it's pure patriotism that iowa get so much love?

 

That's kind of what I was getting at in my comment. It's quite obvious to see if you just look. Go and read some of the old Yamato vs. Iowa threads. People genuinely believe the Iowa-class BBs were the absolute best battleships ever built in the entire world, and that no other battleship was superior to the Iowa-class. And why? All that I had read pointed only to their length of service being the reason, compared to other battleships from other nations. At least, that's what it eventually boiled down to.

 

I wasn't going by tier, I just said best battleship, period. Also, I was only speaking in relation to the NA server, Bismarck is surely the most popular, and maybe even the best, BB of all the other servers by player opinion. Sure, the Bismarck is popular, but outside of the initial few weeks after the release of the German BB line, Bismarcks don't fill the entirety of the T8 BB queue numbers(it partially helps that there are more than 3 total T8 BBs though), however, looking at what you run into at T9, you see a lot of Iowa's and Missouri's, a moderate amount of FDG's, and rarely the Izumo.(at least, that's what I've experienced personally)

[khaenn35]

I can't watch the replay (at work) but based on your survival rate in it, it seems to me that you're probably being too aggressive and it's easy to overextend in the Iowa if you're not careful.  I had the same problem with the Iowa but do fine in the Missouri (got the Iowa probably quicker than I should have and cut my teeth there).  Can you kind of explain how you generally use it?

I use it as a midrange Bowtanker, but the lack of maneuverability gets me out of position every time. So I tried using it as a support ship.

[JToney3449]

Best way to use the Iowa in my exp is to use full AAA + concealment.  Follow your cruisers on their push, stay dark get to 12km of an enemy cruiser then 'Surprise Mother*cker!' them and hit delete.  Go with upgrades to your main batter accuracy and to your AAA range.   But remember even with your godly AAA a single CV throwing everything at you can and will wreck you.  Granted you will kill atleast 20 of his planes but when they have 100 of them and are getting 50-100k dmg they could care less.

 

Try and keep your bow straight at the enemy to keep your 2 forward gun spread as tight as possible when you fire, combine that with the upgrades and the Iowa's nice dispersion at 12km and you should be getting multi cit hit deletions pretty regularly.  Remember that the low shell velocity of the USN ships makes for plunging, so aim slightly above the water line this will keep more of your shells from hitting the water and the plunge will still go into most cits.  

 

Try to avoid fighting multiple cruisers solo as they will HE spam you and the Iowa will melt and burn badly.  When fighting other bb and closing the distance travel at a slight diagonal to them to absorb shells with your belt, once at the proper angle and range about 2-3km turn into them and fire into their side, if another USN/IJN BB aim for cits, if its a KM BB always aim for its belt of secondaries for those sweet 20k dmg volleys.  Do not turn with other BB's as a general rule, move past them so you dont stay broadside and eat cits.   If you are broad side to other ships firing AP expect to eat at least 2 cits at 12km or more, at 6km or less expect to eat up to 6.

 

Don't feel to bad, even a yamato at point blank can be deleted from full health by cits broadside.   I don't suggest secondary builds for USN they have the range for it at T9-10 but they lack RoF and DMG, good at setting fires but only usually 1-2 per BB brawl.   And most DD will dance through the low DMG and bad velocity to torp you.  Add in the face that Iowa takes horrible HE dmg at close range against other BB secondary and you really don't want to put yourself in that.  When and where you can use islands, Iowa has insane shell arc and can sit next to a tall island and still fire over it.  

 

My last and final suggestion, play it in co-op about 10 times this will help you get used to its guns, and practice some tactics in a relaxed game.  Always good when adjusting to ships.

[khaenn35]

Best way to use the Iowa in my exp is to use full AAA + concealment.  Follow your cruisers on their push, stay dark get to 12km of an enemy cruiser then 'Surprise Mother*cker!' them and hit delete.  Go with upgrades to your main batter accuracy and to your AAA range.   But remember even with your godly AAA a single CV throwing everything at you can and will wreck you.  Granted you will kill atleast 20 of his planes but when they have 100 of them and are getting 50-100k dmg they could care less.

 

Try and keep your bow straight at the enemy to keep your 2 forward gun spread as tight as possible when you fire, combine that with the upgrades and the Iowa's nice dispersion at 12km and you should be getting multi cit hit deletions pretty regularly.  Remember that the low shell velocity of the USN ships makes for plunging, so aim slightly above the water line this will keep more of your shells from hitting the water and the plunge will still go into most cits.  

 

Try to avoid fighting multiple cruisers solo as they will HE spam you and the Iowa will melt and burn badly.  When fighting other bb and closing the distance travel at a slight diagonal to them to absorb shells with your belt, once at the proper angle and range about 2-3km turn into them and fire into their side, if another USN/IJN BB aim for cits, if its a KM BB always aim for its belt of secondaries for those sweet 20k dmg volleys.  Do not turn with other BB's as a general rule, move past them so you dont stay broadside and eat cits.   If you are broad side to other ships firing AP expect to eat at least 2 cits at 12km or more, at 6km or less expect to eat up to 6.

 

Don't feel to bad, even a yamato at point blank can be deleted from full health by cits broadside.   I don't suggest secondary builds for USN they have the range for it at T9-10 but they lack RoF and DMG, good at setting fires but only usually 1-2 per BB brawl.   And most DD will dance through the low DMG and bad velocity to torp you.  Add in the face that Iowa takes horrible HE dmg at close range against other BB secondary and you really don't want to put yourself in that.  When and where you can use islands, Iowa has insane shell arc and can sit next to a tall island and still fire over it.  

 

My last and final suggestion, play it in co-op about 10 times this will help you get used to its guns, and practice some tactics in a relaxed game.  Always good when adjusting to ships.

 

The thing is, I could do all that and my shells would still follow RNG. But thanks for the reminder on the Yuro vid, and some of the tips (I have it specced for that), have a +1. 

[Mordran]

Ok so it took me a while to figure out how to use the Iowa.  My stats in it aren't completely horrible, but my Missouri stats are essentially what my Iowa stats should have been and I feel like I've got a good grasp on playing it now, so I'll throw out how I normally use it.

 

At the start of the match, depending on which caps the team decides to use, I try to push up behind my cruisers and DD to support a cap but I don't roll into the caps right away.  You want to be close enough to be an imposing force, but not so far up that you get focused down right away.  If there are islands to the edge of the cap in the direction I'm coming from, I hang near those, preferably aimed in a direction where I can move forward around the island when it's time but behind it enough to act as a torpedo barrier and to give me some cover from the side from the other team's shots.  Don't be afraid to use islands as much as possible to make it difficult for the other team to focus fire you or get your broadside while you shoot at what's exposed to you.  It's generally bad to be caught out in open water in a BB, this isn't unique to the Iowa.  Don't bow on-reverse unless you absolutely have to, you want to keep your back guns in the fight as much as possible (if you're always bow on, you're losing 1/3 of your potential damage) and you become an easy torpedo magnet if a DD can get you flanked. 

 

When I'm fighting over a cap, I'll throttle down to 1/4 speed and if the enemy is making their hard push there or getting too close then I'll go into reverse if I can't make a turn.  Don't bow on-reverse the second a red is spotted, it's a time-buying tactic, not an all-use one and if you do this every time you will get burned down and essentially be useless as a tank to your team.  I can't stress enough, stay angled as much as you possibly can, bow on only when you need to, and if you have to make a turn try to time it between BB shots.  You'll need to control your throttle a lot more on the Iowa to avoid overextending.  Your survivability in it is pretty low so that tells me you're getting overextended a lot, or not positioning very well.  Leave the scope between shots and pay attention to your minimap and look around you at the location of the enemy.  Pay attention to where the enemy battleships are and always try to stay angled to them if they're within a range that they can be an immediate danger to you (this depends on the range and the battleship).  I see Iowa drivers constantly act like their ship will fall apart the first time someone farts at it, and that's simply not true, you just can't roll into a cap with your balls out without analyzing the situation first.  It's ok to take some damage, you just don't want to eat citadels, and your angled belt is pretty solid.  Ideally you want to be far enough up that you can help keep your DD alive because you can absolutely faceroll if they screen for you, and you are the best option to help keep them alive too.  There are also times where it's better to kite the enemy and make them chase you and fire over your shoulder, and you'll probably want to do this when your team sent a light force to the cap that the enemy has sent their heavy push to.

 

For the gunnery end, always shoot at DD.  I can't tell you how often I see BB ignore DD because they mostly get overpens on them instead of big damage volleys, but it makes your job significantly easier if they all die and you still have DD alive.  Your biggest advantage is your mobility and living DD seriously hamper that.  After that, shoot the best target present.  Your sweet spot is anywhere between 8 and 15km.  Shoot what is giving you broadside, what is closest, or what is angled the least to you.  You can eat most cruisers, even if they're angled to you.  I don't know what crosshairs you use, but I use the static type 7.  Fully zoomed in, I give BB a lead of 10-12.5 on the nose, cruisers a lead of 12.5-15, and DD get 15-20.  When I'm fighting German battleships I normally aim about halfway up their hull.  If they're broadside or not angled that well toward you, they may not eat citadels but they will eat citadel-like damage from the pens.  If things are angled toward you too much, don't shoot the waterline, either shoot their superstructure or aim at the upper part of the hull.  Beyond doing these things, you just need to work on your aim because it's not always RNG, sometimes your aim is just bad.

 

Sorry for the long ramble, hopefully you can glean something from it.  I know there are much better Iowa owners here than me (looking at you TenguBlade), so if they have something to add or amend to what I've said then I'll welcome the advice too.

[twitch133]

I see nobody has really analyzed your match yet... So I will give it a stab, even though I have a difficult time with analyzing my own play and figuring out where I went wrong, and what I did right.

 

Your decision to deploy to C seems pretty solid. You had good backing there and your team needed the firepower support with the GK and Izumo both showing up there. Your first salvo on Roon was Ok, good aim, OK RNG. 10 grand on a semi blind shot is nothing to shake a stick at, but that shot could have deleted him.

 

The next two salvos on GK and Roon, looks like you were a little bit off with your turn predictions, and lucky to get any hits. Then you get really lucky with Izumo. You showed him your side for a long time. And he failed to take advantage of it.

 

Third Salvo on Roon looked good, in aim and dispersion. Looks like RNG screwed you there. Next salvo on Mogami, probably would have outright killed him for all 19 grand if he had not taken that big hit before dropping off detection.

 

You then took yourself out of the battle for a lonngg time. With two decent salvos for the range on Izumo though. I think if you put yourself a little bit more assertively on C, you could have racked up another 30-40 thousand damage and a kill or 2. You would have likely died, as most of your support had fallen, but the game was pretty much decided already, and I do not believe you death would have made a noticeable difference in the outcome.

 

The last encounter you had with Roon... You turned the wrong way in the beginning, not allowing you to get your front guns on target and insuring that all four torps were guaranteed to hit you. If you had turned back in, you would have likely deleted him with your front two guns. It is better to risk the ram in this case, which would have been a certain kill, to try and get him with the front guns, than to risk eating the torps on the pass.

 

But that last encounter is immaterial, as the round was already decided at this point.

 

That is just my opinion, likely completely wrong, but just my two cents.

[AnUnderdog]

I struggled with and hated the Iowa. So much so that I finally gave up and FREE XP'd the last 30K or so. That being said, I LOVE THE MONTANA. I don't understand why it gets the bad rap. I don't have that many games in it yet, but even the losses have been fun. 

[khaenn35]

I see nobody has really analyzed your match yet... So I will give it a stab, even though I have a difficult time with analyzing my own play and figuring out where I went wrong, and what I did right.

 

Your decision to deploy to C seems pretty solid. You had good backing there and your team needed the firepower support with the GK and Izumo both showing up there. Your first salvo on Roon was Ok, good aim, OK RNG. 10 grand on a semi blind shot is nothing to shake a stick at, but that shot could have deleted him.

 

The next two salvos on GK and Roon, looks like you were a little bit off with your turn predictions, and lucky to get any hits. Then you get really lucky with Izumo. You showed him your side for a long time. And he failed to take advantage of it.

 

Third Salvo on Roon looked good, in aim and dispersion. Looks like RNG screwed you there. Next salvo on Mogami, probably would have outright killed him for all 19 grand if he had not taken that big hit before dropping off detection.

 

You then took yourself out of the battle for a lonngg time. With two decent salvos for the range on Izumo though. I think if you put yourself a little bit more assertively on C, you could have racked up another 30-40 thousand damage and a kill or 2. You would have likely died, as most of your support had fallen, but the game was pretty much decided already, and I do not believe you death would have made a noticeable difference in the outcome.

 

The last encounter you had with Roon... You turned the wrong way in the beginning, not allowing you to get your front guns on target and insuring that all four torps were guaranteed to hit you. If you had turned back in, you would have likely deleted him with your front two guns. It is better to risk the ram in this case, which would have been a certain kill, to try and get him with the front guns, than to risk eating the torps on the pass.

 

But that last encounter is immaterial, as the round was already decided at this point.

 

That is just my opinion, likely completely wrong, but just my two cents.

Thanks Twitch. It helps. +1