How to Indianapolis?

[CaptainKaitoGhost]

Recently received the USS Sharkbait as a gift (Much appreciated, Yureikuma!).  So far, I've only played it in a Co-op battle, but my first impression is this ship is terrible.  Guns just don't seem to hit hard, and take forever to reload.  Captain skills would likely help (so far just have PT and EM), but I don't think I have any idea how to effectively play this ship.

[MajorRenegade]

think it as the pepsicola but with radar

[Kapitan_Wuff]

Your first impressions were wrong. The guns are highly effective, that AP is a monster.  Just play it like the pensacola or other high tier USN CLs. Never broadside, always be wiggling.

[Teahee]

The Indianapolis is certainly not as strong as the Belfast, or the Scharnhorst (or the Flint), but it is by no means a bad ship. You simply have to play to its strengths:

• Your guns are really good, you have good HE, and awesome AP, in addition to respectable range for a tier 7 CA
• While your armour is non-existent, you do have good maneuverability, so dodging shells at mid to long range is easy
• Your radar is now the best at tier 7, with a 9.9km range. 
• You have usable concealment, and adequate AA protection (provided you take DFAA)

Play as a long range support ship, but don't be afraid to push in towards the end of the match - although keep in mind that any shells that hit you will do damage. Use AP on broadsides at any range - even against BBs. Use the HE to burn down angled ships, or to smack DDs for big hits. 

 

In terms of captain skills, I would highly recommend the following:

1. PT
2. AR 
3. DE
4. CE
5. AFT

The remaining points can be put into skills such as:

• VIG (If you have torp problems)
• SI (If you plan on using the captain on higher tier ships)
• EM (If you find the turrets too sluggish)

 

[Vulgarr]

This is my Indy build.  Focusing on it's ability to use its guns effectively, while staying as hidden, or nimble as possible.

http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/1010001000000010000010100010000119

[RipNuN2]

It's a little dated but still useful.

 

 

[Panzer1113]

The Indianapolis is great, as long as nobody is shooting at you.... Guns are good, but any large caliber shell seems to always be a cit.  Have fun....

[Ensign_Pulver_2016]

3 hours ago, Vulgarr said:

This is my Indy build.  Focusing on it's ability to use its guns effectively, while staying as hidden, or nimble as possible.

http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/1010001000000010000010100010000119

Does the IFHE help you out on the Indianapolis?

 

I am working up a commanders on my New Orleans and Pensacola. I had thought I would be able to spend those 4 points on another skill.

Although, at 12 and 13 points, I'm still not halfway. It seems like forever going from 15 to 16 on another ship.

[GreyFox78659]

Seeing as the navy originally classed the Northampton class (Portlands were flagship conversions of the Northamptons) as a CL not a CA due to it not having much armor. I see why people tend to not like it. Indy needs to be played like it potential incoming round will kill it but you can one shot anything smaller than you or badly damaged. That is to say play it like a sniper ninja go for soft targets finish off bigger ones and stay unseen.

[CmdNicol]

I bought it because of the ships history and I lived In Indy for 20 years. I never play it. The best way to play it is don't. Its a horrible ship in the game. I bought the Arizona mostly for its history, the difference is it can be quite fun to play

 

Ps. When I first bought it I played it a lot until the power creep and Russian bias made it irrelevant and horrible to play. Its outclassed by every other ship at its tier. At least it was a gift and you didn't waste your money on a bad ship

[HazeGrayUnderway]

On 9/2/2017 at 7:41 AM, MajorRenegade said:

think it as the pepsicola but with radar

 

I would like to add a much more sluggish Pensacola but with Radar.

 

Pensacola has trash armor and Indianapolis has better armor for a Cruiser engagement.  But WoWS is not littered with Cruisers, it's littered with Battleships, and BB caliber shells do not care about Indianapolis' armor.  To them, it's as good as Pensacola's.  You are often having 4-5 BBs per match, guaranteed, with DDs and Cruisers fighting over roster space scraps.  With that many BB caliber shells flying in a match, Indianapolis' improved protection is meaningless.  In the BB heavy meta that is WoWS, IMO, Pensacola's maneuverability is superior to Indianapolis' mediocre armor improvements.

 

Last Tier VII Ranked was not kind to Indianapolis, either.  She was a bottom feeder, only the Ranger was worse than her.

 

You have Schors with her aluminum can armor, Myoko-class which are literally floating citadels, Colorado which many hate so much, the Yorck that is often widely derided, the famously super-vulnerable Atlanta, punching bag that is Pensacola... All of these, and more, did better than Indianapolis.

[bigalow87]

two numbers jump out at me from your chart haze. it has the best main battery hit rate of the bottom feeder CA's, yet it has the bad damage total numbers. It's hitting ships but doing little damage. Is that from an over reliance on AP rounds? And a 21% survival rate is abysmal, just a terrible way to handicap a ranked battle team...

[bigalow87]

Another odd thing is I have never gotten a detonation on the enemy with this ship. I have with every ship I own, even got one with my Krysny, but not with Indy...

[HazeGrayUnderway]

3 hours ago, bigalow87 said:

two numbers jump out at me from your chart haze. it has the best main battery hit rate of the bottom feeder CA's, yet it has the bad damage total numbers. It's hitting ships but doing little damage. Is that from an over reliance on AP rounds? And a 21% survival rate is abysmal, just a terrible way to handicap a ranked battle team...

 

USN Cruisers are actually pretty good in the Cruiser vs Cruiser fight.  The guns of Indianapolis are like Pensacola, New Orleans... They're actually decent to shoot with.  The USN Cruiser AP is actually pretty stronk.  But the HE sucks and you'll not survive long to do more hits, more damage.

 

Indianapolis can shoot well, but her mediocre concealment, worthless armor doesn't add up well.  Having worse handling than the maneuverable Pensacola is the worst part, because stacking that with the poor armor, it's just a bad, bad combo.  Again, the guns are GREAT... You just won't survive long to make more use of it.

 

That is why I believe you see Indianapolis have good MBH%, but very meh damage to show for it.  She makes hits, she doesn't live long enough to do more hits, more damage hehe

[WhiteRecon]

I like mine from the Christmas crate.  My survival rate is pretty low, and God help if in a T9 battle. 

[HazeGrayUnderway]

On 10/4/2017 at 10:32 PM, WhiteRecon said:

I like mine from the Christmas crate.  My survival rate is pretty low, and God help if in a T9 battle. 

 

I like to think of Indianapolis and Atlanta as training wheels on what High Tier USN Cruisers are really like.  If you don't have those Premium USN Cruisers, then tech tree NOLA at Tier VIII is the standard trainer to get you ready for Baltimore and Des Moines.

 

Indianapolis, Atlanta, NOLA, Baltimore, DM.  They're all super squishy Cruisers, they all got decent concealment (Indy's got buffed not long ago), they all got Radar and possibly Radar + Hydro options.  You can try to shoot at range in the open, but that only gets you deleted.  You learn to propose and make sweet love to your Island Waifu.  She is the only thing that keeps you from getting 1-shotted from all the BBs out there.

 

Even after attaining Des Moines, it took me a very long time to come to a rather simple epiphany with USN Cruisers:

 

The more I try to leverage their guns, the worse off I was.  The more I leverage their stealth, radar, hydro, AA, the more I won.  I didn't necessarily did great damage, but I affected the matches more.  I did terrible with Baltimore and even Des Moines.  But once I saw the light, I eagerly started using Baltimore, Des Moines, etc. more and did much better.  Especially using High Tier USN Cruisers in Divisions.  For Tier VII, Indianapolis, Atlanta are your first ships to push that agenda.  Better get used to it, the rest of the tech tree ships in this line are like that.

 

Look up the stats for Tier VII-X USN Cruisers.  Their damage average is awful.  Baltimore's damage average is so bad that Tier VII Cruisers do better damage than her.  If you want a DPS Cruiser Line, USN Cruisers are not that.  Go IJN, go French, go German, go Russian.  Any of them, just not USN Cruisers.

 

This is one of the very few lines in the game where the gameplay truly shifts into different styles.  You get the power, security, safety of Cleveland, slinging shells with the best of them.  Then WG tosses us the likes of Pensacola, NOLA, Baltimore, Atlanta, etc. afterwards, all super squishy, all having trouble doing damage.  You try to play like sturdy, DPM monster Cleveland style with the later USN Cruisers, you is gonna get rekt.

[MzFortune2001]

As a highly skilled and deadly Indianapolis player (sorry could not continue without laughing.) I am an awful World of Warship player.  I really enjoy the Indianapolis. She turns well and guns are good. Though with my skill level I should be describing her underwater handling qualities. Not as fun as Atago but close for me anyway. I am a little biased toward Japanese vessels. 

Good luck 

CaptainKaitoGhost-san 

 

[Cpt_Cupcake]

On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 1:55 PM, Ensign_Pulver_2016 said:

Does the IFHE help you out on the Indianapolis?

 

I am working up a commanders on my New Orleans and Pensacola. I had thought I would be able to spend those 4 points on another skill.

Although, at 12 and 13 points, I'm still not halfway. It seems like forever going from 15 to 16 on another ship.

IFHE really doesn't help 203mm guns. Its an exceptionally good cruiser killer, use that AP on anything showing you broadside regardless of range.

[Ensign_Pulver_2016]

6 hours ago, Cpt_Cupcake said:

IFHE really doesn't help 203mm guns. Its an exceptionally good cruiser killer, use that AP on anything showing you broadside regardless of range.

Thanks. I have foregone IFHE on the Pensacola for BFT and one point saved for AR. The New Orleans commander, to be moved to Baltimore, has three of  thirteen points saved. I want to see whether I need EM on ships with only one rear turret. 

 

On my Cleveland, the IFHE and MFCAA combined with AR makes a potent Tier 6 flame thrower/no fly zone. 

[HazeGrayUnderway]

7 hours ago, Ensign_Pulver_2016 said:

Thanks. I have foregone IFHE on the Pensacola for BFT and one point saved for AR. The New Orleans commander, to be moved to Baltimore, has three of  thirteen points saved. I want to see whether I need EM on ships with only one rear turret. 

 

On my Cleveland, the IFHE and MFCAA combined with AR makes a potent Tier 6 flame thrower/no fly zone. 

 

Honestly, the Tier VII+ USN Cruisers do not need EM.  It's nothing at all like Cleveland's rusty turret rings.

[UrPeaceKeeper]

I literally just uploaded my review of this ship today!
 

You can probably skip about 5 minutes in and miss the majority of the history stuff, or listen to it if you want the historical side of Indianapolis!  About the 15 minute mark the battle video starts and I explain more in depth how it plays.

[Ensign_Pulver_2016]

On 10/6/2017 at 5:20 PM, HazeGrayUnderway said:

 

Honestly, the Tier VII+ USN Cruisers do not need EM.  It's nothing at all like Cleveland's rusty turret rings.

Thanks. I am trying NO and Baltimore w/o EM.

[bigalow87]

I got a citadel hit on a North Carolina last night, i didn't even know that was possible. Where does one aim at a BB that makes it through the armour for a cit? I assume some BB's are immune to 8" AP cits, such as the German line. I did 109k damage in that game, which is my high score in this ship. Sad considering I managed a 167K game in a Perth of all things....it's the lowest high score of all my higher tier ships...

[Big_Tidday_Goth_GF]

I can't make it work but for some reason Pensacola worked just fine for me.  That one extra gun makes all the difference in the world, I guess.

 

Honestly I probably just had some bad luck.  All in all I'm not that much of a fan of the American Cruisers so far, but Pensacola I did have some good times with.  (yes that includes Cleveland I don't like Cleveland and I never will)

[Fletcher7_1944]

18 hours ago, Bolo_MkXX_Tremendous_DMD said:

I can't make it work but for some reason Pensacola worked just fine for me.  That one extra gun makes all the difference in the world, I guess.

 

Honestly I probably just had some bad luck.  All in all I'm not that much of a fan of the American Cruisers so far, but Pensacola I did have some good times with.  (yes that includes Cleveland I don't like Cleveland and I never will)

  Fully agree with you on Cleveland.  Although with the caviat, that if/when they reorganize the cruiser line, un-nerf it, and move it up where it belongs, I may just give it another shot.

  As for Indy, I loved it when it first came out, then disliked it when it dropped off the charts in performance as soon as the mission ended, and now love it again.  I took it out yesterday with my 19 point Colorado captain (survivability/AA build) to grind elite captain xp, cuz I was too cheap to pay the doubloon cost to retrain my Danae captain for Emerald.   Had a blast in it!  As a lover of everything US Heavy cruiser, it felt just right to me.

  Think artillery support.  You are NOT a front line skirmisher!  The armor just isn't good enough, and you need room to allow your maneuverability to help you dodge.   They excel in the flanker role, like the others in this line do.  Blasting things that are not paying attention to you is a specialty.  You can rack up big damage shooting at broadsides- even on battleships. Making other cruisers go away with extreme prejudice is both a joy, and one of your strong suits.  It does, after all, have the same US 8" guns as the other heavies.  The guns are rather accurate, with nice tight groupings, and you lack torpedoes, so there's really no need to ever get that close to the enemy.  (unless you're ambushing of flanking)

  Just ignore the Cap'n Salti's in chat demanding that you throw your ship away, and get right in the middle of it.  You're more valuable raining hell down on ships that are vulnerable to you- while NOT being the focus of them in return.

  The AA when specced for it, (and I nearly always spec US cruisers for AA), can do good work.  My first game out yesterday, myself and an RN cruiser got spawned out on the flank with our CV.  He turned out to be one of those CV's that actually moves up, rather than just sitting in the back, so we stuck with him.  Turned out to be a good decision, as the red CV immediately attempted a CV snipe.  

 Not today, pal.  

 I spotted 3 DB's and a TB coming strait for us, and waited until the DB's were nice and close- then popped defensive fire, and ctrl-left clicked on the second in line.  Man, it lit up like the 4th of july!!  Planes started dropping out of the sky, and the drops missed everyone.  Between his fighter squadron and my DF, the torp bombers never even got to drop.   He kept harassing us throughout the match, but never did much damage.

 We ended up sweeping the left side, smashing everything trying for that cap then taking it and the South one, too.  Fun times!    Best of all, their Colorado was so focused on beating up our Emerald- a task he failed to accomplish- that he completely ignored me: the heavy cruiser 6 km away pounding the snot out of him with all 9 guns,lol.   Made it easy for our CV to finish him off with a beautiful torpedo bomber drop.