Make Spotter Planes Useful Again

[sulghunter331]

• Idea: Spotter aircraft provide temporary sigma bonuses to users with each successive shot.

 

• Explanation : Launching the spotter aircraft will allow users to have tighter shell groupings against a specific target with each volley after the first. Once a player fires the first volley at the target, the second volley will have a tighter grouping than the first. The third volley would then have a tighter shell grouping than the second, and so on for each successive volley.

 

• Restrictions: 1. The player must maintain target lock-on on the target ship for the duration to maintain the sigma bonus. Breaking target lock will reset the sigma bonus. 2. The sigma bonus does not take into effect until the shells of the volley land ( on target or otherwise), that is, if a ship is able to have multiple volleys in the air at one time the volleys that are fired before the first one lands will have the same sigma as the first.

 

• Justification: To more closely emulate the role that spotter aircraft had performed when they were used. They acted as forward observers for the ship's artillery, scouting for targets, but also observing the fall of shot, providing corrections to the artillery plotting room, adjusting the next volley to make it more accurate than the last volley.

 

Comments: The recent podcast with Sub-Octavian included an explanation of the difference between sigma and dispersion prompted me to revise my earlier idea of making the spotter plane have a more effective use besides simply extending main battery range. Any comments are welcome. If you think my idea is no good, or could use an improvement, I would be more than glad to hear what you have to say.

[_WaveRider_]

My only thought is that spotter planes already give 20% extra firing range, spot DDs sneaking up on you and highlight torpedoes. With many cruisers having this ability there is already a continuous and/or large no go areas for DDs.

[Wowzery]

I'd rather see them actually make the fighter plane useful instead.  It just circles and doesn't attack any enemy squadrons.  Doesn't seem to even help defend your ship.

[Raptor_alcor]

I'd rather see them actually make the fighter plane useful instead.  It just circles and doesn't attack any enemy squadrons.  Doesn't seem to even help defend your ship.

 

Er, it DOES attack enemy aircraft it just waits until the enemy aircraft are within it's circle before even bothering to engage so it's worthless 75% of the time. 

[Retnav54]

 

Er, it DOES attack enemy aircraft it just waits until the enemy aircraft are within it's circle before even bothering to engage so it's worthless 75% of the time.

 

I've tried out the two fighter plane skill on the French D-T at Tier 4 - having two planes aloft at the same time, going in opposite directions, significantly increases the chances that at least one of them will be in a position to engage incoming aircraft in a timely manner - and with Dogfighting Expert as well, against Tier 4 carriers, I've actually managed to shoot down upwards of 6 to 7 planes in a match - but the main thing is to get at least one to engage, to get the "panic" effect against TB's and DB's, not the number of planes shot down. Even then, at Tier 4, being one of only two ships that carry catapult aircraft, with the likelihood you're going to be the only air-capable ship on your team - and the spotting advantage having two planes aloft at once can give you - in this case, having the CDC skill is worth spending one point.