Tips on not sucking in the Pensacola

[FloatingTankAce]

So I have had the Pensy for about three weeks and with flags and premium time, have gotten all the upgrades and have about 50K exp in her. However, I basically still completely suck in her. I've tried hiding behind islands and playing passively,. racing around and trying to hit things and then escape, and staying close to a bunch of other ships (ideally battleships) all to basically no avail. Although I do like the guns a lot (do great damage), think she's really manoeuvrable, and also AA is decent (but no Cleveland),  however she's just so papery and gets so focus fired that I get wiped out in short order unless our team is steamrolling the enemy.  Now, my relatively new captain does not have a tier IV skill so no concealment expert (I am hopeful this will help me a lot). 

Essentially I find that I rarely get a good game unless my team is just dominating and the enemy is in retreat so I can tag along and farm damage.  Anything I can do to mitigate a failing team and still get reliably decent damage before I go down to Davy Jones's Locker? 

[X15]

Ambush cruisers with AP for battleship esque alpha strikes, because you actually have accuracy. Always be on the move with your rudder swinging. And unless ambushing from behind and back behind an island be at max range.

[Zim_Xero]

Concealment Expert is a no-brainer with some ships.  With long gun-ranged ships that will constantly be firing... I don't see much gain.  Just sayin.  The Pensacola should benefit from it enough to warrant the cost.

[FloatingTankAce]

Yeah, my life massively improved when I got CE for my Belfast captain. I was able to get into concealment so much easier and stay alive when not in smoke. 

[ckupf]

It's been heavily buffed since I played it but stay at range and shimmy like your mother taught you. AP is awesome inside of 10km, and usable at any range. Make those 10 8" guns count.

 

Someday I want an answer for WG why she doesn't have the torps she carried IRL.

[HMCS_Devilfish]

With no Torps and slowwwww gun reloading and turrets on the Pensacola the best way I had playing it was ... not to play it

[vonKaiser]

Concealment Expert and when you open up those guns and go loud on the map make sure you're heading away from the enemy and offering them as little target as possible.  Do NOT rely on your armor or luck to avoid citadels, this ship you'll have to actively avoid being hit at all if you want to survive. 

 

[FloatingTankAce]

You're right! She did have torps IRL. I always assumed they were removed prior to WW2 or something like that (like Hood's were) which is why she does not have them in the game but I just looked it up and it looks like she always had them.  That would make her a much better ship close in. 

[Doomlock]

Someday I want an answer for WG why she doesn't have the torps she carried IRL.

 

You're right! She did have torps IRL. I always assumed they were removed prior to WW2 or something like that (like Hood's were) which is why she does not have them in the game but I just looked it up and it looks like she always had them.  That would make her a much better ship close in. 

 

The torpedo tubes were removed prior to 1941. And the A hull is at least 41 timeframe.

[FloatingTankAce]

 

 

The torpedo tubes were removed prior to 1941. And the A hull is at least 41 timeframe.

 

Ah Ok - that is what I thought but could not confirm it. 

[BladedPheonix]

play it like a DD! use islands to your advantage!

 

[Capt_Binkley]

I found keeping my bow to the enemy and relying on my front 5 guns worked well.  Treat your back guns as a bonus when you get conditions just right.  And keep your distance.  The Cleaveland is a brawler.  The Pensicola is not.

[Exciton8964]

People can give you a lot of tips but it doesn't change the fact that it is a very challenging ship to play. You need very careful positioning to perform well in the ship.

 

I highly suggest you play other lines of cruisers first(IJN cruisers are by far the easiest). USN cruisers are the hardest to play well. You need to improve yourself significantly to do well in this ship(and all the following USN cruisers) consistently.

[FloatingTankAce]

Yeah, I have started up the IJN cruiser line and am at Kuma but the US ones were fine until Pensy. On the test server I had consistently much better games in Baltimore so I am looking forward to that. I like the RN ones due to their smoke and concealment so I will be grinding up there eventually. Still, I think I enjoy BB's the best. 

 

 

[Ujenele]

 

Penzacola is one of my favorite ships.  I have played her a lot and have a above average WR in her (57% iirc).  Unlike most others I actually do not like the concelment buff on her, and CE for me would make it worse.  They allow you to get much closer to the enemy in the opening than you should be.

The way I play mine is as follows:

Opening,  head towards the enemy full speed along with the DDs.  Once I am spotted, turn tail and run.  Dont have to wait till incoming fire alert goes off, you are the cit pinata the shells will be on the way,  kite and WASD to avoid the enmy shells while firing HE at the BBs to get a fire going.  Once the enemy loses interest in missing you, turn back towards the enemy, wash and repeat, however this time expose a little broadside to the enemy.  WHY???  You are close to the max range so they have much closer threats they would rather focus on. You get to use all your guns. and finally, you are already spotted so you will need to turn tail when the incoming fire alert goes off, being broadside your 180 is already halfway done.

Midgame, look for flanks to exploit.  if we have a group of ships at the 6 line and the reds have ships at the 8,  Iam going for the 10.  2 reasons.  If there is a DD trying to flank I will get to him before he gets to our BBs (Pepsi excells at DD killing) 2.  Each red is going to either ignore me or manuver there guns away from our larger force.  What usually happens is 1 or 2 ships start shooting at me I dodge and lay into the broadsides of the ships that are bow on to our main force.

Endgame - You are the DD hunter killer, as long as you stay reasonably away from red BBs your will be able to do great things to the CAs (use AP) and the DDs (HE) that are out there.  You see smoke, charge right into it and pop that Hydro.  The secondaries on the Pepsi are awesome and she can dodge torps like nobodies business.  Another end game strategy,  chain fire BBs. They hate that.  I once had 2 BBs chase me for the last 5 min of battle because I would just stay at max range raining HE shells on them starting fires and dodging there shells.

If you play the Penzacola right, you should have around 1 million in potential damage.

Hope this helps

[AureliusIII]

Concealment Expert and when you open up those guns and go loud on the map make sure you're heading away from the enemy and offering them as little target as possible.  Do NOT rely on your armor or luck to avoid citadels, this ship you'll have to actively avoid being hit at all if you want to survive. 

 

This. Can't stress this enough. If you're angled and sailing away, you are making yourself a very unappetizing target, despite being a 'Cola. Never be on the front line, always be prepared to retreat. This goes for every cruiser, but particularly relevant to the Pensacola. 

[Zarenno]

 

If you want to be as amazing as I with killing DDs, you can use this build for the Pensacola (Also American Tiers 6-10) [if you want to, I recommend the cleveland, it has more secondaries, and they are the same as the Baltimore's]

What you will need:

Sexy Pensi:
15s Reload 203s (Gun upgrade)
B Hull
Gun Range Upgrade

Upgrades:
Main Armaments Mod 1
Secondary Battery Mod 2
Damage Control Mod 1
Steering Gears Mod 2

Captain Skills:
Priority Target - Preventative Maintenance -  Expert Marksman - Adrenaline Rush - Basic Firing Training - Advanced Firing Training - Manual Fire Control for Secondary Armament - Direction Center for Catapult Plane
Total: 18 pts
Optional: On a 19 point captain, Remove DCCP and Adrenaline rush, for Concealment Expert.

^6.8km secondaries with like 3.8s reload.

How to play it:

-Stay close to team
-Stay close to islands
-if your alone and you see a lone cruiser, feel free to rush him. (Dont run away, only wimps run, like myokos)
-HE spam bow on BBs, AP spam them if they are within 10km and have broadside exposed. 
-Good Arc on shells means that you can Mortar like an Atlanta. 
-When you see a dd, hydro up, select him on secondaries and shoot. (He will be deleted pretty quick)
-When with team, hide in smoke and rain hell
-Alone with an Enemy BB? Depending on what it is, you can burn them down, and stay angled, so that you bounce shells.
-Planes are great at spotting behind islands and stuff, use them whenever you can, you get 4 uses!
-AP any broadside Cruiser within your 15.6km range, for massive Cit Damage!

*REMEMBER: You know why we ask you to recycle your old cans? The Pensacola side armor is just a bunch of them glued together, do not expose your broadside!!

 

Proof:

http://shipcomrade.c...=100&R=109&C=11 (I'm top 6 for damage)

https://worldofwarsh...tShip=pensacola

 

[centarina]

ouch, 609 matches in p-cola.      I don't have that many match in any of my ships  

 

I grinded through p-cola before the buff and did alright.     great agility and good guns with decent range allowed you to dodge most shots.   

[Madwolf05]

So I have had the Pensy for about three weeks and with flags and premium time, have gotten all the upgrades and have about 50K exp in her. However, I basically still completely suck in her. I've tried hiding behind islands and playing passively,. racing around and trying to hit things and then escape, and staying close to a bunch of other ships (ideally battleships) all to basically no avail. Although I do like the guns a lot (do great damage), think she's really manoeuvrable, and also AA is decent (but no Cleveland),  however she's just so papery and gets so focus fired that I get wiped out in short order unless our team is steamrolling the enemy.  Now, my relatively new captain does not have a tier IV skill so no concealment expert (I am hopeful this will help me a lot). 

Essentially I find that I rarely get a good game unless my team is just dominating and the enemy is in retreat so I can tag along and farm damage.  Anything I can do to mitigate a failing team and still get reliably decent damage before I go down to Davy Jones's Locker? 

 

I recommend checking out my Guide on Captain Skills for the Tier 7+ Heavy USN Cruisers here to start with.

 

Specifically for the Pensacola set her up as follows:

 

*Note that she has 4 slots, but they are named as if all are there like at Tier 10. So your 3rd slot will be Slot 4.

 

• Slot 1: Main Armament Modification 1
• Slot 2: Aiming System Modification 1
• Slot 4: Damage Control System Modification 1
• Slot 5: Steering Gears Modification 2

 

Pros:

 

• She CAN angle off most attacks from enemy cruisers to her belt.
• Her 10 gun broadside is the heaviest hitting broadside of any Cruiser at her tier. Combined with her AP shells she can nearly KO every other Cruiser at Tier 7 in one salvo.
• Her AP can hit from angles other nations can't, and her HE damage + fire % is only second to the IJN.
• She's thin and she can wiggle with her fast rudder shift.
• You have a nice concealment range with CE
• You shell velocity and arcs are very usable
• 5 rear facing guns are the most of any Tier 7 203mm Cruiser.
• Her turret angles are fairly good, and you can get most of them on target without risking too much in protection between enemy shots.
• Decent AA package, and even more valuable with defensive fire.

Cons:

• She was under-protected in real life, and was known as a "Tin-Clad" along with the Northampton's because of this.
• Because of her thin armor, DDs can penetrate your citadel with AP if you give them broadside
• She has a fairly large citadel, and it's always REALLY bad when you get shot at by a BB, especially from the rear.
• Her forward facing guns only give you 5 on target without unmasking the rear turrets
• Her speed is fairly unremarkable
• Her range isn't bad, but will leave you wanting more.

She's a lot better ship than she was a few months ago. I recommend trying to mainly play as a support ship. Use your AP to take out enemy Cruiser and CVs, and pour HE and fires on BBs and DDs. Try and maintain a position to the enemy that means you never have to go broadside to them to retreat as much as possible, and go silent and into concealment if BBs start pounding shells your way. Let them loose interest before you open back up. 

 

If anyone needs assistance with the Pensacola hit me up in game.

[FloatingTankAce]

So after getting CE it was much better. I was able to disengage more easily when getting pummeled. Still a challenge though to play consistently well. I just got New Orleans and am going to swap this captain into her so we shall see how they differ. The concealment of NO appeals to me and the Radar will be useful. 

[Teephud]

On 5/23/2017 at 3:12 PM, Zarenno said:

 

 

If you want to be as amazing as I with killing DDs, you can use this build for the Pensacola (Also American Tiers 6-10) [if you want to, I recommend the cleveland, it has more secondaries, and they are the same as the Baltimore's]

What you will need:

Sexy Pensi:
15s Reload 203s (Gun upgrade)
B Hull
Gun Range Upgrade

Upgrades:
Main Armaments Mod 1
Secondary Battery Mod 2
Damage Control Mod 1
Steering Gears Mod 2

Captain Skills:
Priority Target - Preventative Maintenance -  Expert Marksman - Adrenaline Rush - Basic Firing Training - Advanced Firing Training - Manual Fire Control for Secondary Armament - Direction Center for Catapult Plane
Total: 18 pts
Optional: On a 19 point captain, Remove DCCP and Adrenaline rush, for Concealment Expert.

^6.8km secondaries with like 3.8s reload.

How to play it:

-Stay close to team
-Stay close to islands
-if your alone and you see a lone cruiser, feel free to rush him. (Dont run away, only wimps run, like myokos)
-HE spam bow on BBs, AP spam them if they are within 10km and have broadside exposed. 
-Good Arc on shells means that you can Mortar like an Atlanta. 
-When you see a dd, hydro up, select him on secondaries and shoot. (He will be deleted pretty quick)
-When with team, hide in smoke and rain hell
-Alone with an Enemy BB? Depending on what it is, you can burn them down, and stay angled, so that you bounce shells.
-Planes are great at spotting behind islands and stuff, use them whenever you can, you get 4 uses!
-AP any broadside Cruiser within your 15.6km range, for massive Cit Damage!

*REMEMBER: You know why we ask you to recycle your old cans? The Pensacola side armor is just a bunch of them glued together, do not expose your broadside!!

 

 

 

Proof:

 

http://shipcomrade.c...=100&R=109&C=11 (I'm top 6 for damage)

 

https://worldofwarsh...tShip=pensacola

 

 

Zarenno - I see you are truly a master of the 'cola, so will really consider your approach.  The only part I don't understand is the seemingly low priority you set for concealment.  I would think you'd want to prioritize that so you can sneak up, and disengage better. 

[HazeGrayUnderway]

Pray your opponents cannot aim.

[crzyhawk]

On 4/30/2017 at 8:31 PM, ckupf said:

It's been heavily buffed since I played it but stay at range and shimmy like your mother taught you. AP is awesome inside of 10km, and usable at any range. Make those 10 8" guns count.

 

Someday I want an answer for WG why she doesn't have the torps she carried IRL.

because they were removed IRL and she never carried them into battle.

[Abrecan]

Either way we go with this ship, it is a floating death trap. I would be really interested in seeing how she actually stacks up in the meta. I loved my cleveland, and granted I'm an average player, mostly DD's and BB's, I really want to get past this ship, but the grind in her is just almost unbearable. She cannot take a hit, she has limited range, and let's face it her AA is all but useless with the current CV play being hit or miss. She could honestly use a little more attention to bring out her true shine, but I actually have to force myself to play her. I've had maybe 3 awesome matches in her --- I don't know if it's just because I'm a noob, or what, but when you take her out and before you can even fire a shot you're half hp, it's sort of like what's the point? 

[Sinton]

Found this thread today as I was gonna start one called "I hate this G@@D$$$ Cruiser.  My 1st battle was everything that My Cleveland isn't.....but...I read this thread and walked away with 50k damage and 5 citadels!  I died, but it was great for my second time out. I'll reread this carefully again, but I'm not ready to throw my PC across the room anymore!  

Thanks Forum!