Co-op: The ultimate Trashcan trainer?

[DingBat]

I admit I play co-op now and then. I primarily do it when checking out new ships or new builds, but I may also do an extended tour when people become too much for me. 

 

Anyway, I tried rebuilding my Trashcan with the repair kits instead of smoke. Ok, so far. Then I went and tried it out in co-op. Hilarity ensued. I should have seen it coming but, still

 

The second, and I mean the second, I opened fire, half the bots shifted fire to me. I've seen this before with other destroyers in the past, but I'm still grinding for my first tier 10. I've never played a tier 9 destroyer in co-op before. Now, every enemy ship has the range to shoot at me. And boy, did they take advantage of that ability. My "Priority Target" counter never went below 3 and was at 4 and even 5 for most of the battle. It was like playing with a paper boat in a hail storm. It was shoot-dodge left-shoot-dodge right-cease fire for a bit-shoot-dodge left-shoot-dodge right. For 10 straight minutes. 

 

I was laughing while this was going on, but afterwards it struck me: This might be the single best training simulator a Trashcan driver can get. 

 

Ok, and note to Wargaming: This bot behavior is extremely open to abuse. When half the bots are firing at me, what AREN'T they firing at? That's right, my teammates battleships, who just calmly took the bots to pieces. It's probably not a big deal as I suspect there's not a lot of high tier co-op play, but you can definitely take advantage of the bots single-mindedness.

 

[Filthy]

Playing DD's against bots is brutal in co-op, every bot wants a piece of you. I've seen bots halfway across the map totally ignore the ship right next to them and fire long range at a spotted DD.

And you're right there is no high tier co-op play. Tier 8 is as high as you'll find games with humans as team mates, 9 and 10 are mostly bots on your team.

[wadavid]

Drawing (hopefully inaccurate) fire has always been a way that the big VMF destroyer leaders can contribute to the team. You can Pied Piper half the enemy team at you, and as long as you stay alive, you are causing hundreds of otheriwse-cruiser-murdering shells to fall two boat-lengths behind your tiny(ish) 48-knot ship. And while they're shooting you, they're​ ignoring your team's (still-concealed) Fletcher capping and torping them. Real players focus you just as much as the bots do, and as long as you are aware of it and use it to help your team, you'll do well.

[KnightFandragon]

To bad thats all Coop is.

[Canadatron]

Yeah Coop is a brutal time in a DD. Bots will drop everything to shoot a DD. Battleship at 5km off their bow? Nope. Shoot the DD that popped up at 11. It's a really good trainer, honestly.

 

I've seen my PT counter at 7 before on my Atlanta, which also tends to give the bots a raging hard on.

 

[Taylor3006]

You should try sneaking a DD around the flank of a bot fleet like going after their carrier... The entire bot fleet will follow you even though you have never been spotted. Playing DDs against bots is rough.

[AVR_Project]

You should try sneaking a DD around the flank of a bot fleet like going after their carrier... The entire bot fleet will follow you even though you have never been spotted. Playing DDs against bots is rough.

 

Where did you think RD came from?

Bots have been using it forever.

I think it has more to do with your user profile, than what ship you bring in.  If it sees you do well in Random, or have a few hundred games in...  You are toast.

Case in point -- I took my brand new Mutsu into Co-OP and was summarily suicide charged by every bot DD and cruiser.

[Herr_Reitz]

I rarely take a destroyer in coop for this exact reason. When my team has bot dd, I follow them because as you suggest, I know every red ship will usually focus on destroyers... funny thing though... the action you describe, total focus on your destroyer, does not seem to happen "as totally" when my team has nothing but bot dds. 

 

No doubt it is just my localized perception. 

[BanditSE1977]

 

The second, and I mean the second, I opened fire, half the bots shifted fire to me.

 

I was laughing while this was going on, but afterwards it struck me: This might be the single best training simulator a Trashcan driver can get. 

 

Ok, and note to Wargaming: This bot behavior is extremely open to abuse. When half the bots are firing at me, what AREN'T they firing at? That's right, my teammates battleships, who just calmly took the bots to pieces. It's probably not a big deal as I suspect there's not a lot of high tier co-op play, but you can definitely take advantage of the bots single-mindedness.

 

 

I been playing PvE pretty much straight from October,and most of the DD players don't seem to realise this!They sail up to the center of the map,get spotted,focused and dead real quick!

 

Your right though,PvE would be a good way for DD players to work on keeping concealed,as the punishment is worse then PvP for being spotted.

 

The bots preferences are open to abuse.They will nearly always focus DD>CA/L>BB ( have seen people say CV over everything else,but as CV will usually be the last spotted I haven't seen it myself).Like you said,the BB players can abuse this by being able to focus and get closer than usual while the bots are distracted.

 

Wouldn't object to WG adjusting the bots AI to make them less focused though to make it more interesting.

 

High tiers are fairly well populated these days,I play late USA time,and even with the pop down around 3000 I can get full teams fairly often,although usually around half and half.

[Francois424]

When my Coop partner was still playing, I used to lure ships into an ambush for him (as a strong CA, BB, or his Japanese T5 carrier).

I got crap for points, but as a team we totally owned them.

 

Sometimes I had a few Torpedoes hit (my job was to lure them, not die).

 

Bots needs to not all see the DDs the second they start moving...  Maybe give the bots a 25% chance of focusing on the DDs like they do now.

In the meantime, knowledge is power.  Use it to your advantage with islands or team mates.

[awiggin]

The bots have enhanced RDF. Not only do they know where you are, they know what you are...and they really hate DD's...

If you watch closely, you'll see a number of them pre-aiming at you before you're ever spotted.... 

[JervisBay]

.......9 and 10 are mostly bots on your team.

Which is one reason I like playing PvE and with what higher-tier ships I own.

No humans other than myself makes for some interesting battles yet without the crap that often flows in PvP.

[BanditSE1977]

The bots have enhanced RDF. Not only do they know where you are, they know what you are...and they really hate DD's...

If you watch closely, you'll see a number of them pre-aiming at you before you're ever spotted.... 

 

I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

 

Also,love your avatar...Skipper!

[Eisennagel]

Which is one reason I like playing PvE and with what higher-tier ships I own.

No humans other than myself makes for some interesting battles yet without the crap that often flows in PvP.

 

Definitely my experience too.