Graf Zeppelin Dev Update

[StoptheViolins]

Quote

Internal test, Graf Zeppelin.
HE bombs now feature new circle drop pattern. It allows attacking from any angle with the same efficiency. However, ships with narrow hulls (destroyers and cruisers), will be receiving fewer hits, and it will take skilled manual attack to set several fires on a battleship.
AP bombs have more consistent penetration now, with 20 degrees normalization and drop angle improved from 75 to 90 degrees. The tradeoff is 5 seconds bomb flight time, which gives aware players some time for evasive maneuvers.
Secondaries range is decreased to 6250 meters in stock, but accuracy is improved by times. That means with AFT and Manual secondaries skills any target within 7500 meters range will receive consistent hits.

 

Sauce:

https://www.facebook.com/wowsdevblog/?hc_ref=ARTWSSS4hBXhV52U7NKULhakG8Szj_lL-KKbHtiJyvryBT4m2rVkGk1s6RG2WkEq5ww&fref=nf

[TTK_Aegis]

5 second flight time on bombs? What's the usual bomb flight time? Because that seems long. 

[renegadestatuz]

3 minutes ago, TTK_Aegis said:

5 second flight time on bombs? What's the usual bomb flight time? Because that seems long. 

1-2.

[Bril01]

5 minutes ago, TTK_Aegis said:

5 second flight time on bombs? What's the usual bomb flight time? Because that seems long. 

 

Maybe they are trying to balance the AP bombs so they don't completely obliterate CAs, giving them a few seconds to maybe dodge a bomb or two before they land.  It probably won't make any difference on BBs.

[Kooltracker]

                                                                No it just means that is that much harder to hit RUS CA and RUS DD

[TTK_Aegis]

6 minutes ago, renegadestatuz said:

1-2.

 Yeah that's what I thought. Quite the delay then.

 

4 minutes ago, Bril01 said:

 

Maybe they are trying to balance the AP bombs so they don't completely obliterate CAs, giving them a few seconds to maybe dodge a bomb or two before they land.  It probably won't make any difference on BBs.

Still, when I see DBs coming in I start turning early in my BBs, and can disrupt aim /some/ with the current near instant drop. Five seconds is going to mean an alert BB player can move to put the drop diagonally across the hull instead of along it at the very least. 

[FayFay731]

12 minutes ago, TTK_Aegis said:

5 second flight time on bombs? What's the usual bomb flight time? Because that seems long. 

A destroyer's rudder shift is much faster than 5 seconds, it could probably commit a full turn once the bombs hit the water. THese bombs are only good for battleships, other carriers and cruisers.

[StoptheViolins]

1 minute ago, FayFay731 said:

A destroyer's rudder shift is much faster than 5 seconds, it could probably commit a full turn once the bombs hit the water. THese bombs are only good for battleships, other carriers and cruisers.

So Zep captains will need to start cross dropping bombs...

[Edgecase]

3 minutes ago, StoptheViolins said:

So Zep captains will need to start cross dropping bombs...

What's the point? They literally just made the bomb drop a perfect circle so it doesn't matter what direction you come from.

Edit: Misread, only the HE gets the circle.

[TTK_Aegis]

5 minutes ago, StoptheViolins said:

So Zep captains will need to start cross dropping bombs...

They could... might be a good strat. One along a BB and two offset to each side. That way regardless how they turn they're taking one drop along the hull. 

[Umikami]

16 minutes ago, FayFay731 said:

THese bombs are only good for battleships, other carriers and cruisers.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

[Nanaki]

So, nerfed secondaries when they were already not very good (due to the ship's large concealment), and nerfed the only thing resembling all-purpose weaponry.

 

Is Wargaming listening to feedback on these ships at all?

[Hyyena]

6 hours ago, StoptheViolins said:

 

Sauce:

https://www.facebook.com/wowsdevblog/?hc_ref=ARTWSSS4hBXhV52U7NKULhakG8Szj_lL-KKbHtiJyvryBT4m2rVkGk1s6RG2WkEq5ww&fref=nf

5 SECONDS? WTH. Thats a lllllllooooooooooooonnnnnnnnng time.

[Tzarevitch]

8 minutes ago, HyenaHiena said:

5 SECONDS? WTH. Thats a lllllllooooooooooooonnnnnnnnng time.

Yeah. That's huge. Any DD and most CA/CLs should be able to dodge. DDs can probably all but run out of the circle. It'll be interesting to see what the tests show.

[Airglide2]

Nooooot a big fan on the debuff on the secondaries.  I mean I'm glad they took my advice and tried out what 7.5km range looks like, but I have yet to hear it's overpowered on this ship.  This ship is big, and chances are it'll be the only KMS CV for a looooong time, so why just have it, you know?  That circle idea is just...bad.  That Wade Saulding in the Facebook comments has the right of it.  I am happy about the normalization and angle change though.  Glad they looked into LWM comment, I think.

 

Then again, this is still in testing, so I'll hold my breath some more.  However with it rumored it coming out this month, time seems to be running out.

[Nanaki]

9 hours ago, Airglide2 said:

Then again, this is still in testing, so I'll hold my breath some more.  However with it rumored it coming out this month, time seems to be running out.

Based off "No Stairway, Denied!" it can be inferred that Graf Zeppelin was originally supposed to come out this month, but has been delayed for more testing.

[LittleWhiteMouse]

Effectively, AP bombs now are a form of aerial torpedo with that kind of delay.

[StoptheViolins]

1 minute ago, LittleWhiteMouse said:

Effectively, AP bombs now are a form of aerial torpedo with that kind of delay.

 

So much for rocket assist...

[Noacuracy]

nice, been wanting to try out some AP bombs.

btw OP, I want some sauce.

[Frenotx]

I'm disappointed by the secondary nerf,  but intrigued by the bomb delay. I've for a long time felt a long delay would be necessary for DBs to ever made comparable to torpedoes. By giving the enemy ship a chance to evade (like torps), you open up the option to make the DBs both strong and RELIABLE if the ship doesn't evade (like torps).

 

As for the secondaries, was the longer range really a problem? I mean, the GZ is already going to be severely disadvantaged against DDs when loaded with the AP bombers, so a capable secondary battery makes sense. On that note, it would be glorious to be able to mix your DB types- 1 AP squad and two HE, for instance.

[Psicopro]

Agree with the "5 seconds is a long time" crowd.  The change does sound like they might be attempting to do the impossible - make dive bombs require skill to use.  I am for seeing how these play out.

[Hyyena]

4 hours ago, Frenotx said:

I'm disappointed by the secondary nerf,  but intrigued by the bomb delay. I've for a long time felt a long delay would be necessary for DBs to ever made comparable to torpedoes. By giving the enemy ship a chance to evade (like torps), you open up the option to make the DBs both strong and RELIABLE if the ship doesn't evade (like torps).

 

As for the secondaries, was the longer range really a problem? I mean, the GZ is already going to be severely disadvantaged against DDs when loaded with the AP bombers, so a capable secondary battery makes sense. On that note, it would be glorious to be able to mix your DB types- 1 AP squad and two HE, for instance.

Then you remember the bombs is only about RNG and not really matters your aiming.

Unless the circle become something small them a DD.

 

 

And secondaries nerf suuuuuucks. They really wanna destroy this ship. Sad because is one most wanted ship for me.

[Frenotx]

31 minutes ago, HyenaHiena said:

Then you remember the bombs is only about RNG and not really matters your aiming.

Unless the circle become something small them a DD.

 

 

And secondaries nerf suuuuuucks. They really wanna destroy this ship. Sad because is one most wanted ship for me.

With a longer delay, and thus more opportunity for counterpart, WG could change the DBs to be less RNG-dependent. For instance, they could make the bombs fall in a predetermined pattern inside the ellipse, like how torpedoes drop in a predetermined pattern in their drop cone.

[Hyyena]

7 hours ago, Frenotx said:

With a longer delay, and thus more opportunity for counterpart, WG could change the DBs to be less RNG-dependent. For instance, they could make the bombs fall in a predetermined pattern inside the ellipse, like how torpedoes drop in a predetermined pattern in their drop cone.

wg change the DB to be less RNG and more skill needed to become a great weapon in hand of good players? HAHA good luck with that.

[VTAdmiral]

If this is an attempt to make dive bombers act like the Fritz X, it's a pretty sorry attempt.