Colorado - Repeated Pens When Angled?

[nhf]

Have not played Colorado in a few patches.  Played a T6-T8 game today.  Every BB that fired at me in that game penned me angled bow on.  Fluke or something changed?  I was dead early (before firing a third time) in something like 5 volleys from 3 BBs (Bis, NM and NC) through the bow.  Is the CO really that weak against T8 BBs?

[Ajatcho]

LOL 15in and 16in pens bows, even when dead on they will overmatch your armor only NC can bounce 15in and 16in guns not Colorado

[Grevester]

Tier 7 battleships are in an awkward spot where they get overmatched* by the caliber they use. Still playable.

[Arlios]

Tier 7 BB's have a thing against each other called overmatch, the size of the shell they fire is large enough to negate any kind of angles on 25mm or less armour, aka the bow and upper belt. 

 

You have the armour to bounce 14" shells and lower, but that's all. 

[inktomi19d]

11 hours ago, nhf said:

Have not played Colorado in a few patches.  Played a T6-T8 game today.  Every BB that fired at me in that game penned me angled bow on.  Fluke or something changed?  I was dead early (before firing a third time) in something like 5 volleys from 3 BBs (Bis, NM and NC) through the bow.  Is the CO really that weak against T8 BBs?

"Angled" and "bow on" are not the same thing. 

 

When you are bow on you are presenting the extremely thin armor on your bow but at a very acute angle. This exploits the games auto-bounce mechanics, but if you don't get a bounce then you're showing your thinnest armor so it really does nothing else for you. 16" guns will overmatch your bow, so they never bounce. 

 

Angling your armor means that you are approaching at an angle instead of straight on. Generally it's about the angle where your rear guns can fire. This does three things. First, the angle will still cause many bounces. Second, it rotates your citadel enough that the corner gets hit, which can cause bounces. Third, it shows your thick belt armor which will soak up most hits.

 

Angling is less likely to bounce hits than going bow on, but you will still bounce a fair number and you will show thick enough armor that you can't be overmatched. The Colorado has excellent armor if you angle well, and crap if you don't. 

 

[The_first_harbinger]

This phenomenon is exactly why I'm not a big fan of American dreadnoughts. In an arcade battle game like Wows the "all or nothing" armor scheme really means "gets penned everywhere" armor scheme. Still, Colorado shares this awkwardness with many other battleships, and giving it's solid artillery performance and good repair, you should be able to play alright providing you don't over-extend

[Doomlock]

I have yet to get her myself, still grinding the NM. However I know the NC and the Iowa are worth it.

[Psycodiver]

Yes you will get penned but you can make your citadel near impossible to penetrate by angling at 30-45 degrees to enemy fire. The ships has a 343mm box made of middle fingers surrounding the citadel so make best use of it by angling it

[Ace_04]

Don't go straight bow on against T8+ battleships.

 

Try and angle your ship about 10-15 degrees so that the side belt armor of your ship can absorb and bounce as many shells as possible.

[Landing_Skipper]

I was really surprised the first time another Colorado citadeled mine through the nose. Most other BBs should turn in to incoming fire. With Colorado, you actually do better sometimes turning out a bit to take the shots on your belt when they thought they had your bow over-matched. 

[CapnCappy]

Yeah, as others have said, you have to angle, not straight bow on. About a 30 degree angle or less but not straight on. You still can take a lucky one or if they aim higher, you can get nasty pens or lose a turret.

[inktomi19d]

4 hours ago, Landing_Skipper said:

I was really surprised the first time another Colorado citadeled mine through the nose. Most other BBs should turn in to incoming fire. With Colorado, you actually do better sometimes turning out a bit to take the shots on your belt when they thought they had your bow over-matched. 

It's actually great practice for other BBs. What the Colorado has to do to avoid cits is the same thing everyone has to do against a Yamato, and the same as everyone has to do when uptiered. And the CO is actually really good at it. 

 

[nhf]

9 hours ago, inktomi19d said:

"Angled" and "bow on" are not the same thing. 

 

When end you are bow on you are presenting the extremely thin armor on your bow but at a very acute angle. This exploits the games auto-bounce mechanics, but if you don't get a bounce then you're showing your thinnest armor so it really does nothing else for you. 16" guns will overmatch your bow, so they never bounce. 

 

Angling your armor means that you are approaching at an angle instead of straight on. Generally it's about the angle where your rear guns can fire. This does three things. First, the angle will still cause many bounces. Second, it rotates your citadel enough that the corner gets hit, which can cause bounces. Third, it shows your thick belt armor which will soak up most hits.

 

Angling is less likely to bounce hits than going bow on, but you will still bounce a fair number and you will show thick enough armor that you can't be overmatched. The Colorado has excellent armor if you angle well, and crap if you don't. 

 

I know the difference.  I said "bow on" to be clear the pens were not through the stern.  The 3 BBs were at about my 2 and 10 'o clock.  I was not YOLOing it, and was trying to "tank" for weaker team ships as we contested a cap.  I'm halfway through the CO, so I've played the ship, but had not played the CO in months.  I did not recall ever being repeatedly pennned like that in the CO (i.e. pens were like I was broadside).  I'll consider it over-match of the T8s, with a sprinkle of RNG for now.  Regardless, may need to dial back the "tank for team" approach.  Thanks all.

[AdmiralThunder]

11 hours ago, nhf said:

Have not played Colorado in a few patches.  Played a T6-T8 game today.  Every BB that fired at me in that game penned me angled bow on.  Fluke or something changed?  I was dead early (before firing a third time) in something like 5 volleys from 3 BBs (Bis, NM and NC) through the bow.  Is the CO really that weak against T8 BBs?

Frankly it doesn't take a T8 BB to pen you easy from any angle. A T6 BB can do it too( had it done to me and done it to others ). Colorado is surprisingly easy to pen and citadel and especially through the bow. I still love it but man I cringe every time shot is on the way and wonder how bad this volley will be? LOL

[inktomi19d]

18 minutes ago, nhf said:

I know the difference.  I said "bow on" to be clear the pens were not through the stern.  The 3 BBs were at about my 2 and 10 'o clock.  I was not YOLOing it, and was trying to "tank" for weaker team ships as we contested a cap.  I'm halfway through the CO, so I've played the ship, but had not played the CO in months.  I did not recall ever being repeatedly pennned like that in a US BB, and have never been deleted in only 5 volleys (through the bow) in a US BB.  I'll consider it a RNG fluke for now.

The CO is pretty vulnerable to regular pens (not cits) from all angles. That might just be due to players aiming differently now. KM BBs need to be hit in the upper belt, and other ships have been introduced which need to aim for the upper belt instead of the waterline to be effective, so players seem to be a bit better at aiming high than they once were. 

 

 

 

[Edselman]

In my Colorado, it's pretty tanky against everything in it's own tier but does struggle to handle battleships that are a higher tier than it. Basically, don't go bow on when you face something with a 15" gun or larger, angle so your citadel box is presented as an angle.

[Lord_Slayer]

On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 2:52 AM, nhf said:

Have not played Colorado in a few patches.  Played a T6-T8 game today.  Every BB that fired at me in that game penned me angled bow on.  Fluke or something changed?  I was dead early (before firing a third time) in something like 5 volleys from 3 BBs (Bis, NM and NC) through the bow.  Is the CO really that weak against T8 BBs?

Just to be clear, did the shells hit you in the bow, or perhaps in the barbette? Even angled, a barbette hit is a cit. With those three BBs firing, that's 29 shells in the air and dispersion will have them hitting all around the vicinity of your bow.

[Edselman]

Something rather interesting happened to the other day. I was in my New Mexico getting chased by a full health enemy Colorado and a few other ships and I fire a broadside at the Colorado who was nearly bow on and got like a 35,000 damage broadside into him and he was nearly bow on . . . I'm not really complaining but I acknowledge there could be a problem there if 14" shells can do that to a bow on Colorado.

[Psycodiver]

Thats kinda of weird because it shouldn't but then again I did the same thing to a Nagato in my New Mexico a while back, landed a citadel and several penetrating hits right through its nose. Got to be a RNG thing

[SoarinSkies]

I know I’m late and probably plenty of other people have already said this but, Colorado’s entire exterior is coated in 25 mm exterior plating and according to the 14.3 caliber rule, 25 mm amour gets overmatched by guns with a caliber at or above 357 mm (25mm * 14.3 = 357.5 rounded down is 357). This doesn’t mean however you will always get citadeled by 380mm+ guns because of the angle of entry, but it does mean that if a bb with 380mm + guns hits you anywhere on your main or upper amour belts, or on your stern or bow sections then it pretty much will always count as a pen and do lots of damage 

On 6/16/2017 at 2:52 AM, nhf said:

Have not played Colorado in a few patches.  Played a T6-T8 game today.  Every BB that fired at me in that game penned me angled bow on.  Fluke or something changed?  I was dead early (before firing a third time) in something like 5 volleys from 3 BBs (Bis, NM and NC) through the bow.  Is the CO really that weak against T8 BBs?