A discussion with the Cruiser drivers at the lower tiers (3-5)

[AMajor]

First of all, I am one of you.  I play cruisers about 2/3 of the time (USN and Russian). I know the frustration and the fun of this type of ship.  I have begun to play dds (both USN and IJN).  I never knew how frustrating we, as drivers of the lower tier cruisers, can be to our dd brethren.  Honestly, when I play these ships, you guys are driving me nuts!

 

1) I'm hiding behind the island because I'm setting an ambush.  I see the ship coming around the island (that's what I do).  You are not "saving" me by cutting in front and it messes up my shot that took some time to set up!  If I didn't see you charging from behind, my torps have already been released and I can't call them back.  I didn't mean to hit or kill you, you drove into them.  Hang back, let me take my shot, and if I miss, THEN come rescue me.  If I've done my job well, I won't miss, and you can claim the kill of a wounded ship.

2) I need the support of cruisers to hold the CAP once I get there because my guns are not great (especially if I'm in a IJN dd).  If you see me heading for one of the CAPS, please don't be too far behind!

3) I sometimes have to run away.  I have very little armor and I can't take much damage.  I'm not abandoning you, I just need to hid behind an island and heal for a little while.

4) Holler if you need smoke cover.  I'm fast and if I can, I will make you disappear.  Remember, however, that I just expended a very valuable commodity.  I am going to expect you to return the favor.

5) Watch the mini-map.  I'm putting my butt on the line to scout for you.  Don't get so focused on what you're shooting at that you don't see that a much more dangerous ship has just popped that is closer to you.  I probably took damage getting you that information.

 

That's enough for now.  Cruisers are fun because they can do some damage.  Don't forget that the you need the little ships to be successful the for mid and endgame.  Lose your dds  early because you didn't support them and have the other team have theirs and they will come back to bite you in the butt.

 

I know.  I've done it.

 

 

 

[Vekta408]

#1 Setting up and ambush by sitting behind an island isn't a very efficient use of your concealment. Ambushing someone is all fine and good but it's more of a situational tool rather than your main goal. We (you) are the eyes for the ships behind you. You don't need to set up ambushes to have an impact on the match. Simple by being out in front lighting up incoming ships you're doing a lot for your team. If you see an opportunity to ambush someone great, punish unwise plays with an ambush in those situations. They'll set themselves up for it more often than not especially at lower tiers.

#2 Once (you) are in a cap does not mean you have to stay in it. There is more than one way to hold a cap. Sometimes the best way to hold a cap is to stall the capture of it by the enemy team. Give ground. They can waste time pushing you out so they can start to capture it and you can waste more of their time reset them while you give ground so your bigger ships can counter push. Again, providing or denying vision by itself is a very powerful tool. 

#3 DD's can heal?

#4 Don't do it expecting to get a favor back. Do it because you want to win. Make the choice based on your judgement that smoking X ship instead of yourself is what is going to give your team the most gain. Be "selfishly unselfish".

#5 F3 key is your friend. Sometimes you have to punch it 3 or 4 times. Double click and ping your mini map to. Never expect other players to be more situationally aware than you are until they actually are. 

 

 

 

 

[AMajor]

"#1 Setting up an ambush by sitting behind an island isn't a very efficient use of your concealment." - Have you played the dds?  It is deadly.

"#2 Once (you) are in a cap does not mean you have to stay in it." - True.  That's the cruiser captain in me talking.  I do get stubborn with a USN dd because I can do some damage with the pew-pew guns.  That's my failing and I'm trying to correct that.  What I'm tired of is getting to a CAP and have NO ONE anywhere near me.

"#3 DD's can heal?" - wrong words, right thought.  Sometimes, you get a battle and you lose half of your damage points in the blink of an eye.  You need time to retreat and think about what just happened and what you did wrong.  As a dd driver, if you ran away and used smoke to cover your retreat, you will need the cool down time to get it back (as well as your situational awareness).

"#4 Don't do it expecting to get a favor back." - it's been 50/50 for me so far.  Some games, ships that I've helped have come back to bail my butt out of a jam.  Others' not so much.  My intention with the comment was to remind to cruiser drivers that karma is out there.

"5 F3 key is your friend" - what the heck does the F3 key do?

[Vekta408]

32 minutes ago, AMajor said:

"#1 Setting up an ambush by sitting behind an island isn't a very efficient use of your concealment." - Have you played the dds?  It is deadly.

"#2 Once (you) are in a cap does not mean you have to stay in it." - True.  That's the cruiser captain in me talking.  I do get stubborn with a USN dd because I can do some damage with the pew-pew guns.  That's my failing and I'm trying to correct that.  What I'm tired of is getting to a CAP and have NO ONE anywhere near me.

"#3 DD's can heal?" - wrong words, right thought.  Sometimes, you get a battle and you lose half of your damage points in the blink of an eye.  You need time to retreat and think about what just happened and what you did wrong.  As a dd driver, if you ran away and used smoke to cover your retreat, you will need the cool down time to get it back (as well as your situational awareness).

"#4 Don't do it expecting to get a favor back." - it's been 50/50 for me so far.  Some games, ships that I've helped have come back to bail my butt out of a jam.  Others' not so much.  My intention with the comment was to remind to cruiser drivers that karma is out there.

"5 F3 key is your friend" - what the heck does the F3 key do?

#1 check my profile

#2 just another thing to try

#3 Sure, I partly agree. By the time you loose that much HP though it's time to think about the next game. Every point of HP is precious. Fight it out this game, reflect on it in port. (or while eating the fish'n'chips and saffron rice that just arrived mmm )

#4 I just never assume I'm going to get anything back when playing DD. "Selfishly unselfish" is what I play that class by. 

#5 F3 makes the game say to all team members "requesting fire on this target" or something similar. Just make it a habit of using it. You are in a better position to what ships are most likely to become an issue first. Worse case scenario you F3 and your team ignores what is probably an easy target. Best case scenario you F3 and the 3 battleships and 2 CA somewhere behind you all opening up on the same guy and shred him for being the guy out front. 

[AMajor]

"#1 check my profile"- I don't know how to do that.  Please let me know how.  I'm sure that when I do, you have lots of dd time.  All I'm saying is that in MY experience with the game so far, I've been very successful setting ambush points near islands with my dd boats.  If I should be doing something different, PLEASE share that knowledge with me.

"#3 Sure, I partly agree. By the time you lose that much HP though it's time to think about the next game." = I disagree.  Even a damaged dd with only 1/3 of her HPs left is enough to distract the other team, run for CAPs, and even kill a CV (I've done it - multiple times).  Remember, I'm learning on these ships so I get hurt early.  They may be even more deadly wounded  because they are pissed.

"#5 F3" - Please point me to a website of video that tells me what that does.

 

 

[VannKraken]

OP makes some good points about supporting DD's.  However, you have to take into account that lower tier cruisers might have to bail out of supporting a cap for the same reasons that DD's, do.  Namely, no armor and no heal.

I have almost no experience in driving DD's, but it seems like a good plan for a DD to have an escape route in mind to get out of a cap that gets too hot.  So often, they seem to just stick it out and die in the first few minutes.  It's much harder to win the later game stages if you have no DD's left on your team...

[Vekta408]

The thing is the stuff that works great in the lower tiers is far less effective in the upper mid and high tiers. CV and scout planes off battleships will spot you sitting behind that island. Hydro and radar can see through islands. There is nothing wrong with a good ambush but it becomes much more dangerous and difficult to pull off with all the things that can see over, around and through islands. At best it's just not as ideal so you'll have to go about an ambush a lot differently outside of the low tiers. At worse you'll form really bad habits and it'll get you killed a lot. 

The more HP you have the more options you have. As you get lower and lower on HP what you can risk doing diminishes significantly. Again you can get away with it in low tiers. It's working right now and that's great but when those CV can manual drop (and are decent at it) getting to that CV is a different ball game. All I'm saying is be ready for another learning curve outside of the low tier DD scene.

YouTube is your friend.

 

 

[crzyhawk]

16 hours ago, AMajor said:

First of all, I am one of you.  I play cruisers about 2/3 of the time (USN and Russian). I know the frustration and the fun of this type of ship.  I have begun to play dds (both USN and IJN).  I never knew how frustrating we, as drivers of the lower tier cruisers, can be to our dd brethren.  Honestly, when I play these ships, you guys are driving me nuts!

 

1) I'm hiding behind the island because I'm setting an ambush.  I see the ship coming around the island (that's what I do).  You are not "saving" me by cutting in front and it messes up my shot that took some time to set up!  If I didn't see you charging from behind, my torps have already been released and I can't call them back.  I didn't mean to hit or kill you, you drove into them.  Hang back, let me take my shot, and if I miss, THEN come rescue me.  If I've done my job well, I won't miss, and you can claim the kill of a wounded ship.

See your point 5.  Before you shoot torps, look at your map and verify where your teammates are too.  You are responsible for what you shoot, and if you hit a teammate it's YOUR fault, end of story.  Don't make excuses for yourself.

2) I need the support of cruisers to hold the CAP once I get there because my guns are not great (especially if I'm in a IJN dd).  If you see me heading for one of the CAPS, please don't be too far behind!

Depends on the minimap.  If there is a battleship around when you go into the cap, I am not going to commit suicide to try and cover you.  Sometimes, it's just not the right time to cap.  I'm not going to force it, just because you did.

3) I sometimes have to run away.  I have very little armor and I can't take much damage.  I'm not abandoning you, I just need to hid behind an island and heal for a little while.

You don't get a heal.  You have to be smart about when you engage and disengage.  If your teammates are being boneheads and you have to abandon them, so be it.  All you need to do to disengage is get far enough away to stealth up, then you can get aggressive again.

4) Holler if you need smoke cover.  I'm fast and if I can, I will make you disappear.  Remember, however, that I just expended a very valuable commodity.  I am going to expect you to return the favor.

Never expect favors to be returned.  You're going to be highly disappointed.  You smoke your teammates because it's the right thing to do, not because you expect some kind of repayment.

5) Watch the mini-map.  I'm putting my butt on the line to scout for you.  Don't get so focused on what you're shooting at that you don't see that a much more dangerous ship has just popped that is closer to you.  I probably took damage getting you that information.

Good tip.  Too many players ignore their minimaps.

 

That's enough for now.  Cruisers are fun because they can do some damage.  Don't forget that the you need the little ships to be successful the for mid and endgame.  Lose your dds  early because you didn't support them and have the other team have theirs and they will come back to bite you in the butt.

 

I know.  I've done it.

 

 

 

my answers in bold