RDF and a little luck

[Capt_Mexib]

I've sunk my fifth Red DD this weekend using RDF, an educated guess and the Simakaze wall of skill.

The scenario:

Slowly cruising on the inside edge of the cap, when the cap timer stops.

I wait a few moments and don't spot anyone or am spotted myself.

No visible smoke cloud.

The aspect of the RDF does not change, so the Red DD is cruising slowly or stopped.

Cross fingers and unleash the wall of skill.

 

This does work sometimes, but only with the condition above.

 

Anyone else having any luck doing something like this. 

[Sovereigndawg]

I don't find the use of rdf, I haven't found the ship I would waste 4 points on to get it.

[DreadRaybo]

I've had occasional luck doing the same in my Akatsuki.  RDF helps with the "educated guess" in situations like that.  I have found it more useful in ranked play than random.  I have used it to alert my team whether the nearest ship is headed to the same flag we are, or if it is sailing to the other one.  I'm still on the fence if it is worth 4 pts in random play though.

[Jinxed_Katajainen]

Think I've done the opposite a few times.
Guessed where the enemy with RDF is using the 'detected' indicator on my HUD seeing where it would appear and disappear in relation to where I was with my teammates.

 

My only ship with RDF is the RNCLs and only because there was nothing else to really take at Tier 4.. and wanted to try the skill out.

[Sabot_100]

I have found it useful on a Fujin (or other T5 IJN) mostly for avoiding encounters with unseen ships. When you can see a ship at 7K but the pointer is going somewhere else, you may want to avoid that area, or at least approach cautiously to spot them first with ready guns/torpedoes. Since I am often facing T7 ships, anything that helps me avoid getting seen is a good thing. I have used it to aim TT shots into smoke but T5 doesn't have enough TT to put out a true wall. It may not be the optimum skill for 4 points, but it is useful in keeping me undetected. 15TT would cover a lot of the arc. RPF changes a pure guess shot to an educated guess.

[Landing_Skipper]

I have used RL to determine whether or not a DD is staying in their smoke cloud. Don't waste your torps if RL moves away from the smoke. 

 

On New Dawn map I was able to know which way the only ship left on red team was going around the island between A and B caps. 

 

I had a chance at another Solo Warrior, but one of the remaining DDs had RL. The message should have been "You have no hope" instead of "You are the last hope."

 

I've been able to drive directly toward the CV when the other team had more points but CV was their only ship left. 

 

Today I was surprised by another DD coming through the middle of Estuary. I wouldn't have been surprised at all if I had RL. 

 

RL is very useful for stealthy DDs.  If your ship would benefit from AFT, no RL for you!  Fujin, Shiratsuyu, Yuugumo, and maybe even Shimakaze. Fletcher, Benson maybe. 

 

I cannot understand the players who insist that RL is useless. As I moved up in Ranked, I saw it more and more to the point where I tried it. It gives you information you cannot get any other way in some situations. Information that helps you win or at least stay alive. 4 skill points is expensive; however, that does not make RL useless. I only run it on a few DDs, but it improves my play. Especially if I communicate with my team. 

[Delicious_Bait]

I only use RDF on my Soviet destroyers, and that's because they excel at hunting down other destroyers and RDF gives them an advantage in doing that. Most all of the others get CE.

[Vekta408]

Most players won't use RDF to its full potential. I don't understand how it can be an "educated guess" when RDF removes the guessing part. I have both RDF and standard builds. I can do some pretty cheesy stuff with the RDF build that the normal build would use prediction, guessing and luck to do.

[Sabot_100]

I don't understand how it can be an "educated guess" when RDF removes the guessing part.

 

There is still a bit of guessing as to where in the arc the ship is (normally near the center but not always) and you can't tell if the ship is sitting in the smoke or bugging out the back, or what ship it is you are detecting. Compare this to radar or hydro that takes ALL the guess work out.

 

Outside of smoke RPF does tell you SOMETHING is closer than the other ships you can see but not what ship it is (you can often guess based on previous spottings or known concealment values). This can be great information allowing you  to decide if you want to hunt it down or avoid it before you can actually see it.

Personally I would rather not have the skill in the game, but if it destined to remain, I find it useful for some builds.

[Seamus_44]

RDF is useful in DDs early in the game when approaching caps, when entering or escaping from an area or smoke, and hunting the stragglers late in  the game. It is also great with knowing which way to NOT turn when detected and you can't see the red ship.

[Xanthro]

I've sunk my fifth Red DD this weekend using RDF, an educated guess and the Simakaze wall of skill.

The scenario:

Slowly cruising on the inside edge of the cap, when the cap timer stops.

I wait a few moments and don't spot anyone or am spotted myself.

No visible smoke cloud.

The aspect of the RDF does not change, so the Red DD is cruising slowly or stopped.

Cross fingers and unleash the wall of skill.

 

This does work sometimes, but only with the condition above.

 

Anyone else having any luck doing something like this. 

 

I hit ships with the Sims Sea Mines all the time, in ranked, when blind firing without RDF, and I'm not talking about firing into smoke.

Educated guess about where ships are going to be is pretty easy. RDF may aid in that a bit, but it's an expensive skill and other skills provide more utility for most ships and situations.

FYI, my Hindenburg captain has RDF, so I'm not saying the skill is useless, just that the impact is much less than people are making it out to be. 

[Sabot_100]

just that the impact is much less than people are making it out to be. 

 

RPF fortunately isn't very common. Its effectiveness is greatly enhanced by good communications between team members. One of my problems is that I am a slow typist. By the time I tell the team there is a red ship sneaking around the east end of the island, I have run aground on that island. Then there is the unintentional smoke when I thought I was typing a message or the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa when I thought I was out of message mode. Therefore I don't share my knowledge often.

[Sabot_100]

One thing I am picking up from this thread is that the really good players pretty much know most of what RPF is telling them. For those of us that will never have that level of skill in the game, it can be useful. Not necessarily the optimum skill for all builds and player skill levels.