My British CV Lineup Idea

[CanadianAdmiral]

Hey guys, I've been thinking about this topic the last few days and wanted to put it out there, even though we are on the verge of the British BBs being released. Here is my idea for the lineup of a full British CV line. I welcome any feedback or comments and suggestions on how WG could balance RN CVs in relation to their U.S. and Japanese counterparts. I'm not that big of a CV player myself, but the British CVs could be something interesting and different compared to the only 2 nations that have CV lines in the game right now. 

 

Tier IV - Argus 

Tier V - Eagle or Hermes (leaning towards Hermes myself) 
Tier VI - Furious  

Tier VII - Illustrious

Tier VIII - Ark Royal

Tier IX - Implacable 

Tier X - Malta or Audacious  

 

 

[anonym_Hf93Jbjm9WjT]

A nice lineup. I think british CVs would bring a unique playstyle, through several unique characteristics.

• One, the armoured flight deck, which would make them immune (in game) to fires preventing takeoff.
• Two, fighter bombers such as the Hurricane, capable of assuring their own aerial defence, but with a reduced loadout compared to dedicated divebombers or torpedo bombers.
• Three, very agile carriers, designed for littoral situations, tactical rather than strategic carriers - quite deadly to any dds that get too close, tough as nuts for cruisers to sink, fast rudder shifts giving them above average ability to dodge torpedo attacks.

Generally speaking a welcome addition to the game, among non-CV players and CV fans alike, because they wouldn't be OP, but would offer alternative playstyles, not so much a counter to Japanese or American CVs, but a way to bypass/compliment them, and so to moderate the current feeling about OP skycancer, achieving balance without nerfing CVs.

[Super_Dreadnought]

3 hours ago, CanadianAdmiral said:

Hey guys, I've been thinking about this topic the last few days and wanted to put it out there, even though we are on the verge of the British BBs being released. Here is my idea for the lineup of a full British CV line. I welcome any feedback or comments and suggestions on how WG could balance RN CVs in relation to the their U.S. and Japanese counterparts. I'm not that big of a CV player myself, but the British CVs could be something interesting and different compared to the only 2 nations that have CV lines in the game right now. 

 

Tier IV - Argus 

Tier V - Eagle or Hermes (leaning towards Hermes myself) 
Tier VI - Furious  

Tier VII - Illustrious

Tier VIII - Ark Royal

Tier IX - Implacable 

Tier X - Malta or Audacious  

 

 

 

I would put Hermes at tier 5, which frees up the name Eagle for use further down the line. Move Implacable and the Audacious class - which would be named Eagle down a tier. Malta gets a 'what if' fantasy armoured flight deck. Ark Royal becomes a premium.

[CanadianAdmiral]

 

 

My reasoning behind the specific lineup is to get ships that roughly have the same number of aircraft as each other (with some exceptions that could be "ahistorically" buffed for balance purposes). 

Specifically, here are the hangar capacity numbers (both in-game and historical, where applicable): 
Tier IV: Argus (15-18 historical); Langley (30); Hosho (24)
Tier V: Hermes (20 historical) or Eagle (25-30 historical); Bogue (28); Zuiho (30)  

Tier VI: Furious (36 historical) or Glorious (48 historical); Independence (37); Ryujo (48)

Tier VII: Illustrious (up to 57 historical);  Ranger (73); Hiryu (72)

Tier VIII: Ark Royal (72 designed); Lexington (81); Shokaku (72)  

Tier IX: Implacable (81 historical); Essex (90); Taiho (83)  

Tier X: Malta (80-108 designed); Midway (136); Hakuryu (100) 

NOTE: I didn't include the Audacious class hangar capacity at Tier X because she ended up flying postwar jets which meant her aircraft capacity was roughly only 60 (initially). I guess it could be buffed to include higher numbers of WW2 prop aircraft on WG's part.  

NOTE: Tier 7 is where the biggest imbalance in plane numbers occurs. If we shift "Ark Royal" down a tier (to Tier 7) it could work better, but would still leave a gap at Tier 8. I was thinking slotting in Indomitable there (81 aircraft), but having two Implacable class back-to-back doesn't really make sense. 

If anyone has any ideas on how to make this work feel free to speak up :D 

[mofton]

24 minutes ago, CanadianAdmiral said:

Tier VII: Illustrious (up to 57 historical);  Ranger (73); Hiryu (72)

This: http://www.navypedia.org/ships/uk/brit_cv1_illustrious.htm

Has a peak of 67 aircraft for Illustrious, 28 Corsairs, 18 Avengers, 21 Barracuda

 

I'm honestly not sure if Ark Royal is a tree or a premium.

[CanadianAdmiral]

1 hour ago, mofton said:

This: http://www.navypedia.org/ships/uk/brit_cv1_illustrious.htm

Has a peak of 67 aircraft for Illustrious, 28 Corsairs, 18 Avengers, 21 Barracuda

 

I'm honestly not sure if Ark Royal is a tree or a premium.

 

If we use this for Illustrious' hangar capacity (still lower than her U.S. or Japanese counterparts), it could still work decently well.

Her aircraft should be very similar in specs to U.S. ones (which makes sense for this late-WW2 aircraft complement). 

[Raulmacca]

I just want to know how they will implement swordfish, slow as hell but able to soak up horrific damage  and operate when other planes simply couldn't and yet also hopelessly obsolete upon paper. 

 

Perhaps swordfish could see clear during cyclones or have an ultra low detection range