Fighter or spotter plane for Montana?

[Whitebuster]

Do you prefer the spotter or fighter plane on the Montana?

Fighter plane used to be my default option before the CV rework. The fighter has a much shorter cooldown than the spotter and used to be able to engage enemy planes before the first strike. After CV rework, the fighter only engages enemy planes after the first strike, which is much less valuable. On the other hand, the spotter enables more accurate shots through the elevated POV and flies for longer than the fighter

I also wonder if the fighter can help spot torpedoes at a greater range than usual.

Thanks for your opinions, 

[SoothingWhaleSongEU]

I pretty much always default to spotter.

Despite CVs being more common, games without that are still frequent.
Likewise fighters rarely seem to achieve that much at the best of times. Perhaps high tier CV players have other views on this.

I *believe* no form of aircraft, be it a CV or launched from other ship can spot torpedoes since the 0.8.0 CV rework.

[AJTP89]

Spotter. It gives you a nice way to shoot over islands, and is up for longer than the fighter so it's better for spotting.

The fighter likes to watch the CV aircraft attack your ship and not much else. That consumable is pretty much useless. So that by default makes spotter the best choice.

Aircraft of any type can no longer spot torps.

[Whitebuster]

2 minutes ago, AJTP89 said:

Aircraft of any type can no longer spot torps.

This is sad news. WG should let aircraft spot torpedoes again.

[desmo_2]

8 minutes ago, Whitebuster said:

This is sad news. WG should let aircraft spot torpedoes again.

No, they shouldn't.

[Whitebuster]

1 minute ago, desmo_2 said:

No, they shouldn't.

Why not?

[BrushWolf]

Since you don't see a lot of CV's in the upper tiers I feel that you will get more use out of the spotter.

[desmo_2]

9 minutes ago, Whitebuster said:

Why not?

Carriers are already insanely unpopular with the majority of players who don't play them.  Destroyers have a hard time contributing anything if a carrier player chooses to focus on them.  The game doesn't need carriers having even more power, while stealing it away from destroyers (torpedo reliant destroyers struggle to do damage).

[Merc_R_Us]

If you run into a unicum CV player in a MvR, know that the fighter won't do anything. Slow planes, maybe they catch some? But until the cap skill rework, the fighter doesn't do much

[Whitebuster]

The strange thing is that CV self-defense fighters are incredibly effective, while the consumable fighters don't attack until too late.

[AlcatrazNC]

8 minutes ago, Whitebuster said:

The strange thing is that CV self-defense fighters are incredibly effective, while the consumable fighters don't attack until too late.

 

Well that is the thing. When they lock on to the planes, they do wipe (or partially wipe) squadron but for them to lock on you have to hope the CV will keep its squadron next to your fighter for at least 5 sec.

 

Not only they're completely useless 90% of the time, it is also completely useless when there's no CV in your game. By elimination spotter plane is the better option

[Whitebuster]

1 minute ago, AlcatrazNC said:

 

Well that is the thing. When they lock on to the planes, they do wipe (or partially wipe) squadron but for them to lock on you have to hope the CV will keep its squadron next to your fighter for at least 5 sec.

 

Not only they're completely useless 90% of the time, it is also completely useless when there's no CV in your game. By elimination spotter plane is the better option

This sounds like a lock-on algorithm code issue for the consumable fighters. Is this the intended way or some unfixed bug?

[AlcatrazNC]

2 minutes ago, Whitebuster said:

This sounds like a lock-on algorithm code issue for the consumable fighters. Is this the intended way or some unfixed bug?

 

I don't think this is a bug but even if it is, after seeing WG completely butchering all AA related thing that actually worked, the chances of them actually buffing fighter planes / fixing potential bug is close to 0.

 

Maybe I'm wrong (and I hope I'm wrong) but for now just think of fighter as a useless consummable

[AJTP89]

5 minutes ago, Whitebuster said:

This sounds like a lock-on algorithm code issue for the consumable fighters. Is this the intended way or some unfixed bug?

It's intended, kind of. The fighter the only picks up the planes at a certain range, then there is a delay until it goes after them, at which point it has to catch up. This is great in theory, but doesn't work in practice. Your fighter orbits the ship, so there's a decent chance he's on the opposite side from the incoming planes. Even then by the time it picks up the strike it's almost too late, the CV is starting the attack run. Then there's the delay while the plane actually moves over and around the squad, and only then does it attack. Of course by that time the CV has hit you. Also CV planes are faster than floatplanes, so it takes a long time for the fighter to catch up. So unless the CV takes forever to strike, the best the fighter will do is knock a few down on the way out. Adding to this the fighter only is active for a minute, and good chunk of which is the planes climbing and taking position. Launch the fighter in plenty of time for them to be established to attack the squad and they'll RTB before actually doing anything. Launch too late and the CV is in and out before the fighters even get to altitude. There's a very narrow window to launch that actually allows the fighters to be useful. 

In short, catapult fighters are a joke, just like most other AA. We can't have a functional counterplay to CVs, that would be unfair to the CV players....

[Crokodone]

57 minutes ago, desmo_2 said:

No, they shouldn't.

you mean just like most dd's shouldn't be able to reload torpedoes? In certain theaters like the Mediterranean and Pacific, aircraft spotting torpedoes was very real. Why not here?

[black_hull4]

1 hour ago, Whitebuster said:

Why not?

Torps show up onscreen so easily for cosmetic purposes, IRL it is really hard to see torps that high up.

Also Montana is USN, it doesn't need fighters with that much AA!

[Whitebuster]

17 minutes ago, black_hull4 said:

Torps show up onscreen so easily for cosmetic purposes, IRL it is really hard to see torps that high up.

Also Montana is USN, it doesn't need fighters with that much AA!

Don't torps leave behind a long trail of bubbles? The plane can see this if it doesn't fly too high.

[Whitebuster]

48 minutes ago, AJTP89 said:

It's intended, kind of. The fighter the only picks up the planes at a certain range, then there is a delay until it goes after them, at which point it has to catch up. This is great in theory, but doesn't work in practice. Your fighter orbits the ship, so there's a decent chance he's on the opposite side from the incoming planes. Even then by the time it picks up the strike it's almost too late, the CV is starting the attack run. Then there's the delay while the plane actually moves over and around the squad, and only then does it attack. Of course by that time the CV has hit you. Also CV planes are faster than floatplanes, so it takes a long time for the fighter to catch up. So unless the CV takes forever to strike, the best the fighter will do is knock a few down on the way out. Adding to this the fighter only is active for a minute, and good chunk of which is the planes climbing and taking position. Launch the fighter in plenty of time for them to be established to attack the squad and they'll RTB before actually doing anything. Launch too late and the CV is in and out before the fighters even get to altitude. There's a very narrow window to launch that actually allows the fighters to be useful. 

In short, catapult fighters are a joke, just like most other AA. We can't have a functional counterplay to CVs, that would be unfair to the CV players....

The fighter consumable should be fixed and have the ability to engage CV squadrons before the latter even get within striking range.

[desmo_2]

34 minutes ago, Crokodone said:

you mean just like most dd's shouldn't be able to reload torpedoes? In certain theaters like the Mediterranean and Pacific, aircraft spotting torpedoes was very real. Why not here?

Please don't confuse World of Warships as some kind of real-time simulator.  Battles that took multiple hours in real life are imitated here in less than 20 minutes.  It's about game balance.

In real life, certain classes of ships were usually only significant when working together...sometimes by the dozens (destroyers).  Tell me how destroyers in this game could be viable within a real world context?  They couldn't be.  Alterations have to be made so a single destroyer player can be significant.

[Crokodone]

41 minutes ago, desmo_2 said:

Please don't confuse World of Warships as some kind of real-time simulator.  Battles that took multiple hours in real life are imitated here in less than 20 minutes.  It's about game balance.

This is out of context as to the point being made here. The point of WoWs is a recreation of what could have, not a reproduction of what did happen. Omitting what could have happend out of convenience when we used to have it, and it didn't over tip gameplay; it should be brought back. Not to mention, battles in WoWs are 20minutes, not more not less. Unless your in the training room where battles can be up to an hour.

[IfYouSeeKhaos]

22 minutes ago, Crokodone said:

This is out of context as to the point being made here. The point of WoWs is a recreation of what could have, not a reproduction of what did happen. Omitting what could have happend out of convenience when we used to have it, and it didn't over tip gameplay; it should be brought back. Not to mention, battles in WoWs are 20minutes, not more not less. Unless your in the training room where battles can be up to an hour.

The majority of battles are less than 20 minutes.

[LastRemnant]

4 hours ago, Whitebuster said:

The strange thing is that CV self-defense fighters are incredibly effective, while the consumable fighters don't attack until too late.

Actually, CV cap fighters have one major flaw that CV players know it's actually quite obvious and only apparent when CVs go one on one 

[Telastyn]

I load spotter plane because deleting smoke mino/smol is one of the best things in the world.

[Avenge_December_7]

I have never once watched my fighter actually be useful in randoms.

I'd much rather have the ability to more reliably snipe ships hiding behind islands or in smokescreens.

[Nevermore135]

6 hours ago, Whitebuster said:

The strange thing is that CV self-defense fighters are incredibly effective, while the consumable fighters don't attack until too late.

I wonder how much of this attributable to the timing of the launch. CAP fighters are automatically launched when the CV is spotted, so they are always ready and circling when the planes come in to attack (assuming the consumable is not on cool down, of course).

It is also possible that this is due to the speed of the planes themselves. I would not be surprised if CV CAP fighters are faster than their catapult-launched brethren, which are floatplanes after all.