Nicholas AA build

[AnimaL21]

I got so bored with farragut lately so i retrained my 14 pt captain for AA duty.  (PT,LS,BFT,AFT, ManualAA), and full spec'd the farragut for AA.  I could never seem to get into any carrier games with it though.

 

Retrained that captain for nicholas and I must say the nich is a TON of fun to run AA interference with.  7.2km range on the big boomers with AFT.  And with the C hull, AA module, AA flag, and defensive fire II its a pretty formidable AA platform for t5.  I want to say its a 33-34 for AA rating.   A few times now I've shredded a whole torpedo squadron as they flew over me.  Now i even get disappointed when there's no carriers in a match.  Way more fun with this than the cleveland ever was because they don't try to avoid flying over you. 

 

Anyone else go full AA on nicholas?  Any good tricks?  Does it matter which way the ship faces for better efficiency aa? 

[Wulfgarn]

It's  funny, when you're spec'd for AA you see CVs less often. When you don't, you see them darn near every match.

 

WG mentioned this was a problem they want to fix.

 

It's funny though, if MM doesn't take into account what you have on a ship, how does it know?

[AnimaL21]

Really AA spec on a Nicholas???  Are you flipping kidding me?  Dude CONCEALMENT IS YOUR FRIEND.

Dude, I'm not a DD newb, i know this lol.  

 

I have max concealment on my entire fleet of ijn dd's for when i want to play that type of game (4.8 in the umikaze is priceless).  Without silent fire though, not exactly sure what you think a concealed nicholas is good for besides spotting?  I really dont seem to have any problems surviving that concealment would help much.

 

That said I'll take CE next, but for max AA spec i needed all this first. 

 

 

[AnimaL21]

It's  funny, when you're spec'd for AA you see CVs less often. When you don't, you see them darn near every match.

 

WG mentioned this was a problem they want to fix.

 

It's funny though, if MM doesn't take into account what you have on a ship, how does it know?

Its frustrating to say the least, as any AA spec cleveland will tell you.  It got so frustrating not getting cv games in farragut i found i was abandoning them.  Thats why i switched to nich and it seems to be cv games more often, even when it isn't you're not quite as under equipped as a C hull farragut with AA spec against radar.  

 

One thing that helps, if you're in queue and there's no CVs waiting, leave queue right away.  I wait til there's at least 1 waiting and it seems like you get the cv game a better percentage of the time. 

 

 

[RTR78]

Div with a cv..

[AnimaL21]

Div with a cv..

 

I did just that yesterday and both battles had dual cv's.  Thanks for the tip, i never really even thought of divisioning with the enemy.   15 planes shot down in one battle which was more than our cv's did, lol. 

[ForgMaxtor]

[snip] Without silent fire though, not exactly sure what you think a concealed nicholas is good for besides spotting?  [snip]

 

 

 

Among other things, stealth torping.  With CE + camo, Nicholas' concealment drops to 5.8km.  Her torp range is 5.5km, but since the torps are relatively slow, it takes a while for the torps to get all the way out to 5.5km.  As long as the target is at least somewhat moving towards you, the torps will have the range to meet the target.  It takes a little practice to learn the timing and correct range to launch torps and then turn away so you don't get spotted, but it's not too difficult, especially against predictable targets with poor maneuverability (e.g., low-tier BB players).

 

Or you can intententionally reveal yourself and go YOLO after your first (stealth) torp launch:  Charge a target, preferably from an angle about 30 degrees off the bow.  Before you're spotted, but close enough that the torps will potentially hit as per above (maybe about 6.5km), turn and launch torps from one side.  Then turn back towards the target and follow the torps in.  If you time it right, the target will spot you and the incoming torps about the same time.  You take advantage of the confusion to close to point blank and fire your second set of torps from the other side.  Or, if it's a cruiser with thin citadel armor and the angle is appropriate,  gun them down with close-range AP.  Fun times.

[AnimaL21]

 

Among other things, stealth torping.  With CE + camo, Nicholas' concealment drops to 5.8km.  Her torp range is 5.5km, but since the torps are relatively slow, it takes a while for the torps to get all the way out to 5.5km.  As long as the target is at least somewhat moving towards you, the torps will have the range to meet the target.  It takes a little practice to learn the timing and correct range to launch torps and then turn away so you don't get spotted, but it's not too difficult, especially against predictable targets with poor maneuverability (e.g., low-tier BB players).

 

Or you can intententionally reveal yourself and go YOLO after your first (stealth) torp launch:  Charge a target, preferably from an angle about 30 degrees off the bow.  Before you're spotted, but close enough that the torps will potentially hit as per above (maybe about 6.5km), turn and launch torps from one side.  Then turn back towards the target and follow the torps in.  If you time it right, the target will spot you and the incoming torps about the same time.  You take advantage of the confusion to close to point blank and fire your second set of torps from the other side.  Or, if it's a cruiser with thin citadel armor and the angle is appropriate,  gun them down with close-range AP.  Fun times.

 I do use both tactics already  You can still yolo charge and stealth torp in that same manner if you set it up right even with 6.5 conceal.  

 

I can't argue with the concealed-til-last-possible-second aspect of the yolo charge making CE useful for the nich.   I suppose i stand corrected, but in both cases its pretty situational even with CE.  

 

One other thing, don't discount mounting up a ramming signal and ramming at the end of your torp yolo if it doesn't knock them all the way out.   They likely repaired the flooding, and don't expect the flood from the ram ;)  Most bb's at nich's tier spread will flood out if they took even 2 of the 12 torps plus ramming damage so you'll get the flesh wound flags too. 

 

 

 

 

[ForgMaxtor]

 I do use both tactics already  You can still yolo charge and stealth torp in that same manner if you set it up right even with 6.5 conceal.  

 

I can't argue with the concealed-til-last-possible-second aspect of the yolo charge making CE useful for the nich.   I suppose i stand corrected, but in both cases its pretty situational even with CE. 

 

 

Sure, it's situational, but most good tactics are; there are very few tactics in the game that work universally in all situations.  And these are things you can pull off succesfully significantly more often in the Nicholas with 5.8km concealment than you can with 6.5km concealment.

 

Regardless, to circle back to the original topic I think an AA build Nicholas is perfectly viable if this is the way you like to play.  You give up a few things in other areas max out AA, but nothing absolutely essential being successful in the ship, so it's definitely viable.  Personally, for USN DDs at T5+ I prefer to skip AFT and invest more points in the 3-points captain skills DE, SI, BFT, SE.  Starting at T7 when you get true stealth torping ability, TAE is also very attractive for USN DDs.  So there's lots of options for my Captain Skill points on USN DDs, and with the NA Server meta the way it is right now, I just don't think I see CVs often enough to justify going full AA build.  But to each their own, so if it works for you, by all means have at it and swat those flies!

 

I do often equip my USN DDs with DF rather than Speed Boost as even when there's no CVs in the match, being able to quickly shoot down a spotter plane that's lighting you up can really be a lifesaver.  Depends upon my mood whether I take Speed Boost or DF.

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

 

 

Anyone else go full AA on nicholas?  Any good tricks?  Does it matter which way the ship faces for better efficiency aa? 

I've done the same. The Nicholas is my favorite ship. It doesn't matter which way the ship is facing.

 

With CE expert, you can stealth torp ships that are closing the distance on you as well. It makes the Nicholas a jack of all trades. It can citadel broadside cruisers <7 km with AP, it can burn down ships, it can do AA escort, and it can stealth torp.

 

ETA: Actually I guess I don't do a full AA build because I don't do the manual AA. I run PM, LS, AR, BFT, DE, AFT and CE.

http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/0100000000000011000010100000100119

 

It used to be my standard USN DD build through the Gearing until the !@%$@#$% [edited]detection changes in 0.6.3. I can't bear to give up the AA build on the Nicholas though.

 

[AnimaL21]

I've done the same. The Nicholas is my favorite ship. It doesn't matter which way the ship is facing.

 

With CE expert, you can stealth torp ships that are closing the distance on you as well. It makes the Nicholas a jack of all trades. It can citadel broadside cruisers <7 km with AP, it can burn down ships, it can do AA escort, and it can stealth torp.

 

ETA: Actually I guess I don't do a full AA build because I don't do the manual AA. I run PM, LS, AR, BFT, DE, AFT and CE.

http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/0100000000000011000010100000100119

 

It used to be my standard USN DD build through the Gearing until the !@%$@#$% [edited]detection changes in 0.6.3. I can't bear to give up the AA build on the Nicholas though.

 

The manual AA sure makes the dual purpose guns hit the planes hard.  I've got so many other dd's to play with standard builds, i really don't mind burning the 4 points on manual AA for this one because they seem to work really well.    Does it matter which way the ship is pointed for max aa coverage?   Like, should I be broadside to the planes, or doesn't that matter?

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Does it matter which way the ship is pointed for max aa coverage?   Like, should I be broadside to the planes, or doesn't that matter?

 

It doesn't matter. The AA goes in circular auras.

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

So if I pick up manual AA, I would end up with a spare 1 pt on my Captain. (PM+LS+BFT+AFT+MFAA+CE) Expert loader? Hmmm.

[AnimaL21]

incoming fire alert.  it lets you concentrate more without worrying about who is firing.  See the red light go on, turn the ship 30*.   I use it on my 19pt izy captain and its fabulous  

[AnimaL21]

In game yesterday, nicholas shredded a 5 plane db squadron in under 12 seconds.  Only 1 bomb was even dropped.   Planes nom nom.  Makes 'kidding' with Apaosha all worth it. 

 

This must be what its like when mm makes a critical mistake and actually puts a AA spec cleveland in a match with a cv? 

 

Pardon my excitement with this.  As a Kamikaze driver, I am not used to plane encounters turning out in my favor 

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

I decided to go with this build for Benson and Fletcher as well. For Farragut and Mahan, I decided against it because you have the same long range AA capabilities as Nicholas but 1 or 2 tiers higher aircraft. Benson C hull and Fletcher work well though. I think what I lose in other skills I gain in position flexibility from not being afraid of planes and in being able to help out teammates.

 

I'm undecided on Gearing.

[AnimaL21]

On benson/fletcher you could actually use the supercontainer module to make DF last longer too.   Stupid that it can't be equipped at a lower tier. 

 

 

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

On benson/fletcher you could actually use the supercontainer module to make DF last longer too.   Stupid that it can't be equipped at a lower tier. 

 

 

 

You could, but then you would lose AA mod 2. I want the full 7.2 range.

[AnimaL21]

 

You could, but then you would lose AA mod 2. I want the full 7.2 range.

 

Oh, i don't own any t8+ so i had no idea what slot it took.  yeah that sucks for sure!  They need to make the specials their own slot i think  

[ForgMaxtor]

 

You could, but then you would lose AA mod 2. I want the full 7.2 range.

 

Yeah... this is what makes the Extended DF special upgrade absolutely worthless.  I can't think of a ship on which I'd choose longer DF duration over better AA range.

 

And Extended DF upgrade in a Supercontainer this morning.     Oh well.  650K credits isn't worthless.

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Fletcher AA build vs Taiho planes:

 

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Nicholas AA build for 15 plane kills, 13 citadels, and a Kraken:
 

 

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Set a new personal record with a Nicholas, 23 planes:



https://imgur.com/a/szkjc

ETA: The other 23 ships in the match combined for only 16 plane kills. :D