Need Help with my Essex

[sulghunter331]

Any tips on how to use an Essex class CV, any videos that you can point me towards? I probably failed my way to the top, not able to do any significant amounts of damage in any game, even when top tier.

[Xenostryker]

Most USN CV successes are based on manual "drop" skill in that if your reasonably good with the ellipses and arcs you should be ok.... and if not.... then RIP. This goes for both stock/AS/Strike package. There is always an element of RNG that cant be overcome but otherwise, practice makes perfect

 

 

[Peregrinas]

Considering that AA has been gradually getting stronger (and strike aircraft becoming weaker in one update) and the removal of one of two torpedo bomber squadrons since the last time I played Essex, I don't think it's too much your fault. For me, Essex was like heaven after dealing with Lexington which I though was the worst experience in a CV I ever had, but again, this was back in the fall/winter of 2015.

 

Best bet would probably go with 1/1/3 and just get better at sending in 1 TB and 1 DB together and bait the damage control, then send in the other two DB together and try to spread both attacks over the entire ship to get 2+ fires going. (Or do it the other way for chance of less fires but with flooding, though TBs have quite low flooding chance)

[sulghunter331]

Most USN CV successes are based on manual "drop" skill in that if your reasonably good with the ellipses and arcs you should be ok.... and if not.... then RIP. This goes for both stock/AS/Strike package. There is always an element of RNG that cant be overcome but otherwise, practice makes perfect

 

 

 

I've always have had trouble with nailing turning ships with manual drop. Any tips there?

[Peregrinas]

 

I've always have had trouble with nailing turning ships with manual drop. Any tips there?

 

I can't really say anything quantitatively that can help. When I see a turning ship, I have a "feel" for the approach vector that will more or less allow the drop zone and ordinance to line up with the ship in its turn, though I definitely don't get it right every time but close enough is still acceptable if pressed for time when you don't want to hang around in AA for too long. Experience is a great teacher.

[vak_]

Any tips on how to use an Essex class CV

 

First of all, here are the CV priorities for random battles:

 

(1) Killing enemy ships. Don't ever feel bad about expending an squad sortie on a ship with 1K HP, unless he was going to die within 5-10 seconds of your strike anyway. In WoWS, even if the ship has 1 hit point left, the salvos still do full damage and the torpedoes are just as deadly. You see a BB crawling back behind enemy lines at 1K health? Kill him, that way he doesn't heal up and come back to citadel the bejeezus out of your team's ship. You see an RN cruiser at 1K hiding behind terrain? Kill him, so he doesn't smoke up when the consumable is off cooldown, and wreck your teammate with impunity for a minute or two. An absolute majority of games is won by kills, always remember that.

 

(2) Damaging enemy ships. This is a corollary to point #1. If you take off half HP from an enemy battleship, it will become that much easier for your teammates to kill that ship. Remember, absolute damage doesn't matter; the percent damage does. For example, generally cruisers should be prioritized over battleships if you're certain in your ability to hit them with minimal airplane losses, just because losing 20k health is so much more impactful for a cruiser than a battleship (not to mention that cruisers don't have good torpedo bulges and will take full torpedo damage). Drop those heavy-[edited]bombs on DDs, even one hit will make their day that much worse (and give you lots of dough and XP)

 

(3) Protecting your ships from the enemy, i.e. preventing the enemy carrier from killing and damaging your ships. Yep, this is a less important task than killing and damaging the enemy ships. If you have to choose between protecting your strike airplanes that are going to target and protecting your fleet from the enemy air, most of the time the former is a better choice. If you play air superiority game, the best you can hope for is shutting down the enemy carrier (which is not always possible). That means you simply eliminated two carriers out of the match, and now it will come down to a coin toss based on the skill level of the other 22 players. Why would you ever want that?

 

(4) Scouting. That's right, this is the least important carrier duty. Let's not forget, we're talking about Random Battles here. Truth be told, most players won't be able to properly utilize the vision you're giving them. If I have to choose between killing and damaging enemy ships, and trying to enable my teammates to kill and damage enemy ships, I'll almost always chose the first option -- because I know that CV in my hands is most likely much better at killing and damaging enemy ships than my teammates. Now, don't for a second think that point 1 is always more important than point 4, for example. Use common sense. You have to call off a strike for a half a minute in order to wreck the enemy bomber clump? Do it. You have an opportunity to shadow an IJN destroyer that's harassing your advancing fleet on the strong flank, even at the cost of less efficient strike? Do it. Always do the thing that will get you closer to victory.

 

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Now, with that in mind, some specific Essex tips:

 

(1) Run the 113 loadout. Rest of them are garbage.

 

(2) I assume you know what skills to run (servicing expert, dogfighting, torpedo armament expert, air supremacy, etc.), but are you running Evasive Maneuver? It's a very OP skill for only 1 point. With a click of a button your strike aircraft get 75% more HP, which makes them a lot more durable inside AA auras or when fighters are on their tail. Best thing is, it doesn't matter if they still have ordnance or not, so you can use this whenever you're under attack. Now, here is an unpleasant part: you have to micromanage a lot more. After your airplanes drop bombs/torpedoes, and they are not under attack, you have to manually send them to a point near your carrier, and only once they are there you hit F. This way you don't lower their return speed by 30%.

 

(3) For upgrades, you should be running AGM1 / ACM1 / AGM3 in the first three slots.

 

(4) Use manual drops, both for torpedoes and bombs. I can't stress this enough -- this is what separates bad USN CV players from good once. If you can't hit a turning BB with a TB or DB manual drop, practice in training room until you can.

 

(5) Always keep your carrier moving. Circle around in the beginning of the match, then follow the bulk of your team in mid-game.

 

(6) Prioritize properly. KM and IJN BBs, for instance, are a pain to your team, but are very vulnerable from air. Ninja DDs are just asking for a triple DB drop and some shadowing. DDs also die extremely well to a manual torpedo drop; practice this as well until you can nail 'em most of the time. Don't be afraid to leave an empty DB just to light some DD that your team is shooting at. Also don't throw your airplanes at strong interlocked AA auras, unless you absolutely have to.

 

(7) Conserving your torpedo bombers is more important that conserving dive bombers - you have less of them, and they generally do more damage. When going into a strong ship AA, send a DB(s) first, and follow it up with a TB. Ship AA will concentrate on the first strike airplane that has entered the AA aura, so unless the enemy player manually shifts focus, your TBs will suffer a lot less losses than they would otherwise.

 

(8) Damage over time from fires and/or flooding is your friend.

 

 

P.S. Post your typical Essex game replay. It's easier to offer constructive criticism that way.

[sulghunter331]

 

 

P.S. Post your typical Essex game replay. It's easier to offer constructive criticism that way.

 

How do you do replays? (I know, my inner nooblord is showing)

[chaoqwe]

 

I've always have had trouble with nailing turning ships with manual drop. Any tips there?

 

For dive bomb dropping, you need to consider 'drifting' of the ship.

 

That means, if a ship is turning right, you dropped your bomb and all bombs ended up at right side of the enemy, then you failed to take 'drifting' into account.

Because the ship body 'drifted' a little bit to the left then you might have predicted.

 

This principle also applies to gun aiming, which, if used properly, can render your enemy's WASD hack worthless (not totally, but pretty much at short range).

[vak_]

How do you do replays? (I know, my inner nooblord is showing)

 

You need to enable them. You can either do that via Aslain's modpack, or do it manually in the client (search for "enabling replays" on the forums for the latter).

 

Once you do that, you'll have a separate replay folder in your WoWS folder