6.15 Operation tips for 5 staring it.

[Skavies]

You can spec the Gneisenau for some nasty AA to help 5 star this.  93 AA rating.

Upgrades:  Secondary armament 1, Damage control 1, AA guns mod 2, steering gear mod 2.

captain skills:   tier 1: Preventative maintenance and Direction center for catapult fighters.    tier 2: Expert Marksman.   tier 3: Basic Fire training.   tier 4:  Advanced fire training and manual fire control for AA.

This gives you a 328 DPS out to 7.5 km for the targeted planes, which mostly melts them before they can drop.  sometimes 1 torpedo bomber gets to launch before it dies.

Yes, you are giving up your secondary build that so many German BB's use.   Yes your secondaries stink, yes your main guns aren't much better, but 75 airplane kills makes up for it in this operation.

 

General advice....

 

Get in front of the lead transport ships and turn sideways so they ram you and slow down.  Use this to corral them right at the start of the match.  Get your team to help with this part.

Stay in front of the repair circle, especially if you are using the German BB AA build above, so you can defend the whole group from air attacks.  (not necessary if you have a competent cv player-if such a unicorn exists)

you don't need to be very far in the lead, just be the closest ship to the enemy carriers until you are within 7.5km of them (behind the island is fine, AA fires through the mountain).  2-3 boat lengths is a good amount of lead in front of the first AI ship you are protecting.   What you don't want is some suicidal person in front of you where your AA doesn't have enough time to melt the incoming planes.   They can be beside you, or right behind you providing fire support.  More than about 5 of your boat lengths is too far forward, and you will get torpedoed by destroyers, set on fire by cruisers and shot at by battle ships.   You won't live long.

Your team will have to spread out to stop all the AI transports from escaping, they like to use all of the channels out of the assault zone.  (the AA German BB should go up the center with the repair ship to get within 7.5 km of the carrier to shut it down entirely).  Send the mostly useless dd's to get the unarmed transports (if your group is infested with one or more of them).   While I love playing a dd, they are not very good choices for any of the operations so far, the DPS on them is simply too low.

 

[SuperNikoPower]

This is some really good advice. You guys should definitely give it a try. 

[Skavies]

Thank you, it almost felt like cheating the win when it happened, who would AA a German BB in the live server, and corralling the npc ships seemed like abusing the game mechanics, but it worked beautifully.... Twice.

[klymar8]

 So would a total AAA specced Atlanta with a 19 point AA commander ; which I have gotten 4 "Clear Sky's" with ( two before they changed it and two since and best plane kills 68 ) work ok instead ?  Otherwise I would have to use the Scharnhorst (these are the only tier 7's I have) .

   I am asking for when it comes to the regular game after Public Test .

[SeaRaptor]

50 minutes ago, Skavies said:

...who would AA a German BB in the live server, and corralling the npc ships seemed like abusing the game mechanics, but it worked beautifully.... Twice.

My record for plane kills in Gneisenau on the live server is 55, so some of us do. =)

My advise to people is: take a Yorck.  She utterly wrecks face in this scenario.

[Skavies]

This was meant for getting it in public test where you've got the 15 point captains, and very likely not going to level one up to a 19 point one.

Wrecking face is good, but the actual threat to the 5 star win comes from the planes causing problems so you can't defend the troop ships, and the enemy ships escaping.

If your team is not dodging torpedo bombers, they can kill the ships that threaten your transport ships with whatever stupid ships they bring.  Maybe one or two will bring the Yorck and wreck face for you.

You aren't going to get on top of the team ranking unless they are complete trash, but you can heavily influence the odds of the random team mates you do get winning this if you can deal with the planes.  Personally I suck at being a cv, so this was what I thought would work best for me, and it did.  I thought about the Atlanta, but the cool-down on focused fire made me decide to go with the all the time very high damage German BB AA build instead, plus you have repair so you can stay in front of the repair circle instead of inside it.

[Vader_Sama]

AA spec Gneisenau has a much more value to the team than a secondary spec Gneis. You're only sacrificing .8km range on your secondaries in order to get 7.5km range long range AA and most of the time your're gonna find yourself within 5km of enemy ships towards the final leg.

Combination of Scharn and Gneis is optimal for this operation where the Scharn will make up for the close quarter brawling while the Gneis provides an AA umbrella

 

I already have my Gneisenau in the live server spec out for AA, except I only have a 10pt captain so, no manual AA yet.

[ExploratorOne]

Wow!  Not a BB main, but I spec'd up a Gneisenau and Capt and loaded up the operation.  Told the team what I was going to do and we started up.  Had trouble timing my speed to slow down the transports and missed blocking them a couple of times.  Finally got a couple slowed down, but they had already taken a lot of damage.  Melted the planes that attacked within 7.5 km, which i think really took a lot of pressure off of the team.

Pushed to the left (due to how I had to block a transport) and came around the island and worked over one of the carriers to death.  Cut back to the right with a friendly Gneisenau in tow because the transport ships were escaping.  We cleared that side out and ran down the transports.  Circled back through the center channel to help clear up the red ships. and we sank all of the enemy ships.

Unfortunately, it was only a four star - we missed escorting all the transport ships to the water zone.  And, only the friendly Gneisenau and I were left alive.  I think we missed the fifth star because I was out of position to escort the transports through the center channel.  Next time...

43 planes, 122 secondary hits (40k damage), 6 kills (3 secondaries, 2 torps), 165k damage.  2nd on team, beat by friendly Gneisenau.

TL/DR: AA spec'd Gneisenau and the suggested plan can really work.

Thanks!

[ExploratorOne]

Results seem to be team interaction dependent (go figure).  Second battle, all of our transport ships were dead before even reaching the channel...

[IcyThor]

4 hours ago, Skavies said:

You can spec the Gneisenau for some nasty AA to help 5 star this.  93 AA rating.

Upgrades:  Secondary armament 1, Damage control 1, AA guns mod 2, steering gear mod 2.

captain skills:   tier 1: Preventative maintenance and Direction center for catapult fighters.    tier 2: Expert Marksman.   tier 3: Basic Fire training.   tier 4:  Advanced fire training and manual fire control for AA.

This gives you a 328 DPS out to 7.5 km for the targeted planes, which mostly melts them before they can drop.  sometimes 1 torpedo bomber gets to launch before it dies.

Yes, you are giving up your secondary build that so many German BB's use.   Yes your secondaries stink, yes your main guns aren't much better, but 75 airplane kills makes up for it in this operation.

 

General advice....

 

Get in front of the lead transport ships and turn sideways so they ram you and slow down.  Use this to corral them right at the start of the match.

Stay in front of the repair circle, especially if you are using the German BB AA build above, so you can defend the whole group from air attacks.  (not necessary if you have a competent cv player-if such a unicorn exists)

Your team will have to spread out to stop all the AI transports from escaping, they like to use all of the channels out of the assault zone.  (the AA German BB should go up the center with the repair ship to get within 7.5 km of the carrier to shut it down entirely).  Send the mostly useless dd's to get the unarmed transports (if your group is infested with one or more of them).   While I love playing a dd, they are not very good choices for any of the operations so far, the DPS on them is simply too low.

 

This is great advice but you still need teamwork.  If your team mates do not screen for you DD will torp you or BB citadel you. 

I drove a CV a few times in this scenario.  I lost too many planes before we got to the harbor area.  Attacking the enemy CV with air strikes in the harbor area Is almost suicide.  Gneisnau and Ranger with some BB and CA would be very effective. 

I have my Gneisnau up to 96 on AA.  I will check if anyone wants to know the set up.  The first time I drove it I set priority target on a fighter 7km out and it was gone in 2 seconds.  Its a fun AA wagon to drive. 

 

Icy

[IfYouSeeKhaos]

Gnies is the funnest BB in the game(I was gonna say tech tree BB but I like it more than the Tirp even)...but for the operation I gotta recommend the Fiji(Adrenalin Rush in the Figi...can't say enough good things about it)...I took a pretty much straight route to the CV area w/it while team stayed w/transports & it may not shoot down a lot of planes but it can dodge bombs & torps (rudder shift is also a must) & seeing as I was so far forward the CVs were sending all there planes at me anyway so it took a lot of the heat off of the convoy(both for planes & I was center of attention for most all the ship fire also)...5 starred it in 1 try both PT tests & singlehandedly sunk the CV the 2nd time(had a little help the 1st time but mostly me that time too)...by the time I sunk the CV I only had enough life left to take out all the red transport ships before I got sunk but the rest of the team was almost all full health so cleanup was a breeze for them.

Not saying not to have a Gnies w/AA build but a Fiji going out & taking the lead makes a huge difference(& bots are so easy to cit in them)...23 cits for 178K damage 1st time & 19 cits for 177k damage the 2nd.

[Skavies]

you don't need to be very far in the lead, just be the closest ship to the enemy carriers until you are within 7.5km of them (behind the island is fine, AA fires through the mountain).  2-3 boat lengths is enough of a lead in front of the first AI ship you are protecting.   What you don't want is some suicidal person in front of you where your AA doesn't have enough time to melt the incoming planes.   They can be beside you, or right behind you providing fire support.

Tossing a copy of this post into the original.   Apparently people are charging too far forward and getting blown up.

[MrDeaf]

11 hours ago, Skavies said:

Thank you, it almost felt like cheating the win when it happened, who would AA a German BB in the live server, and corralling the npc ships seemed like abusing the game mechanics, but it worked beautifully.... Twice.

I had my Gneisenau specced into AA with MFCAA and AFT, but not full AA, because dispersion issues force the use of accuracy mod.

Going full AA seems to be an easy fix.

6.5km AA with MFCAA is pretty useful in T7, since there seems to be an abundance of CVs to encounter at T7.

[My_no_no_spot]

Thank you.  I didn't realize people were having a difficult time 5 starring the event.

*Additional (my 2 cents)

- Picking the Gneisenau over the other BB's also gives you torpedo's which comes in handy against some nasty tier 8 BB's.

- Picking a cruiser with torpedo (Yorck) and building her to AA spec is also very helpful, 30+ planes destroyed helps your fleet so you're not limited to playing just a BB.  The decent range torps are a nice add also against the tier 8 BB's and miscellaneous ships.  Hitting the slow transports, you can focus your main guns on those pesky DD's and cruisers.

- I have yet to find a competent and worthy DD that can actually contribute to the entire battle and SURVIVE.  I will actually "cancel" a scenario battle during the waiting period if I see a DD in the que also.  This actually goes for ALL scenario based events.  Once they drop their load of torps (the bots are very good at dodging) the waiting time for their torps to reload makes them less effective.  The bots are very good at shooting and anticipating your turning radius while shooting HE so survival for most DD's is limited.

[IsThatreallyTheplan]

Well, as has been said, still need teamwork.  I've given up on getting 5 stars. Kudos to those who have made it.

[SeaRaptor]

5 hours ago, _ECSO_Sgt_088 said:

- Picking a cruiser with torpedo (Yorck) and building her to AA spec is also very helpful, 30+ planes destroyed helps your fleet so you're not limited to playing just a BB.  The decent range torps are a nice add also against the tier 8 BB's and miscellaneous ships.  Hitting the slow transports, you can focus your main guns on those pesky DD's and cruisers.

This is what I did on test; I went full AA spec on Yorck, complete with MFAA (because you don't care about concealment in a scenario).  My best performance was 7 kills, 35ish planes, a dozen torpedo hits, and 200k damage.  Yorck's armor scheme allows her to quickly eliminate the Missouri that shows up mid-game and/or ruthlessly charge the ships that spawn late and wipe them out.

[punkflamingo]

Just got 5 stars in King George. Myself and AA cruiser (fiji) stayed with main group and AA Gneis and another CA went around to nail the pesky carrier. Killed all ships, the only thing we did not max was landing the 1800 troops.

[MaxVladimus]

I won 5 stars with the Pensacola. You can build her for AA spec and take down around 40 planes. Also I won the 5 stars by the 2 ways.

[Taichunger]

On 12/14/2017 at 3:41 PM, Vader_Sama said:

AA spec Gneisenau has a much more value to the team than a secondary spec Gneis. You're only sacrificing .8km range on your secondaries in order to get 7.5km range long range AA and most of the time your're gonna find yourself within 5km of enemy ships towards the final leg.

Combination of Scharn and Gneis is optimal for this operation where the Scharn will make up for the close quarter brawling while the Gneis provides an AA umbrella

 

I already have my Gneisenau in the live server spec out for AA, except I only have a 10pt captain so, no manual AA yet.

I took mine out with Manual AA. Gneis is murderous with manual AA -- I div sometimes with a top Saipan player, so I have the Gneis spec'd for that.

I did the same on PTS and got five stars on first try.