How to not let team down in Enterprise

[CG59]

Hello, 

I bought the enterprise, and have been practicing manual torp and DB drops in co-op and Training room. What would you say is the skill level required to not let my team down in randoms, and is fighter locking a valid tactic in Enterprise? 

 

Thanks

[Kapitan_Wuff]

Strafing is arguably more important than manual drops. With your down tier'd fighters you are going to struggle if your just fighter locking. But at least you have a large reserve of fighters. 

[AdmiralHattori]

The thing that your team appreciate the most is your fighter patrolling and scouting. Understanding strafes is pretty important and Enterprise leans towards air superiority rather than damage [too situational with her loadout]. Locking fighters could be a valid tactic but if you can make the first move correctly, you should have a higher chance of winning air and I find it difficult to lose your entire fighter reserves unless you played extremely reckless with them.

[StoneRhino]

Get out of co op first. Then play either cv line up to tier 8. Then jump in enterprise and you will be a good addition to your team. Short of that just jump into randoms now while there are still inexperienced playing her and get lost in the crowd

[AVR_Project]

I think you are doing a wonderful thing by doing this in Co-Op.

Every carrier has it's quirks, and you need to get the 'muscle-memory' to work for you by repeating strategies and skills.

Folks have a lot less signals/consumables/camo tied up in Co-Op..  When you let down 11 Random players, they are less than gracious - especially if they are kissing those dragon flags goodbye.

You will find the bots will occasionally challenge you when you get too sloppy.  You learn how to read the field and not make the same mistakes in Random.

---And don't even think about taking an Indy or Ryujo into Ranked...  The place is infested with a wall of Clevelands.

 

 

[DerKrampus]

I've been Co-Oping it up as well.  Oddly, I've found Enterprise to be a bit easier to handle than the Kaga.  Probably, because the DBs are more or less "fire and forget."  Their autodrop radius is perfectly acceptable for engaging battleships.  Frees me up to focus on my fighters or TBs.

[PerrythePeriscope]

Hi CG59! 

Good to hear you practicing with the Enterprise in COOP. 

 

Right now there is a lot of volitivity surrounding the Big E, but ignore that. Its a nice alternative to the Lexington once you get to know her. 

As others have pointed out, the Big E requires a very different strategy from all other USN CV playstyles. 

 

Here are some tips Ive learned from playing the Big E.

 

1. For modules, you can go a few diff ways here either being a AA platform, service expert, increase durability, or increase cruising speeds. I tried both speed increase and durability loadouts. Speed will make your flight times shorter by a few seconds and I found it useful when having to get my fighters around fast, but since youll be dodging fighters and taking AA fire, Its not a bad thought to take the strike plane durability boost either. However your planes will be slower in flight. 

 

So either you get in and out quicker for all planes, or make bombers last longer when taking fire. 

 

In the end I liked the strike plane durability module better. 

 

This will also help against higher tier AA which is important. 

 

2. The Big E requires more time to get all squads airborn than other USN CVs. This must be considered in your overal strategy. You should adapt a "Delayed Strike" strategy to maximize the Big Es power. 

 

Que up your launch your fighters FIRST then que up all your bombers to escort your CV AFTER your fighters. Be aggressive with your fighters! From the start of battle, you have the fighter advantage by having so many in reserve. Try to strafe and destroy all enemy fighters. This is critical because enemy fighters will be your downfall in the Big E. You already have low bomber count, and your bomber planes are fragile. Its critical to keep the sky enemy fighter free to increase the chance to get your bombers to their target unscathed as theyll need all the health they got to weather the AA crapstorm heading your way. 

 

Once your fighters have shot down all the eneny fighters, swarm strike your target. Do not fiddle with manual drops much...you want them in and out spending as little time in enfmy AA as possible!

 

3. Torp bombers from the Big E are best to hunt DDs and cruisers. Due to their wide spread drop, BBs can weave through them rather easily were high speed ships will have difficulty. Doesnt mean you cant bomb BBs with them, but these are no longer your main damage dealers.

 

4. AP dive Bombers are your life's blood. Unlike other USN CVs, your Dive Bombers will be your heavy damage dealers...that is against BBs and high tier CAs. Its critical to get good at lining up drops from bow to stern or visa versa quickly and spend little time in AA gun fire. However if you go this route, know that your dive bombers wont do much good against DDs or CLs...youll need your torpedo bombers to handle them. 

 

5. HE bombers from the Big E arent useless... because of the drop pattern, you actually can land more hits, thus more chances to cause fires, than the Lexington. However, you won't do near the immediate damage, nor the overal damage as a Lexington dive bomber would. 

 

So in short, youll cause more fires, but do less damage. While not as "unique" or appealing as the AP bombs, this allows you to tackle all ship types and not have you rely so heavily on your torp bombers.

 

In summary, the Big E is all about methodical and aggressive strikes. Your planes are fragile and slow, but have numerous fighters. Keep the skies clear and dont let up. Plan your strikes. Practice getting in, bombing quickly, and getting out. Playing around with fine tuning your bombing runs and having your planes linger in enemy AA will be the death of you.