"Performing effectively" and "Surviving in Kuma" are antonyms

[Xannari]

Since Kuma can only get into regular fights with tiers III through VI, here's a chart showing which ships are anatomically inferior or superior to Kuma, as well as a rundown on the differences of Kuma's play style from theory and practice:

 

 

 

As stated many times above, Kuma is a ship that draws a lot of attention to itself, meaning your only real target is destroyers. However, just taking out destroyers grants limited experience and credit rewards, so you have to do more if you want better returns, and because it's very likely you become the focus of fire immediately, while you may take out 1 or 2 ships along the way, this makes performing effectively and surviving at the same time practically opposites.

 

And now that I actually have time, I made another list showing which ships would win in a 1v1 fight at different ranges. Keep in mind that this factors in torpedoes, as well as assumes equally skilled players.

 

 

I didn't have the dimensions to include this, but = means the two ships will destroy each other, and a * means the chosen ship could still lose [fire, magazine hits, or torpedo strikes], but it's safe to assume it would win.

[desmo_2]

Those comparisons are all academic, however.  The player makes the real difference.  I will not run away from an Omaha, for instance, because this chart says I should.  I also won't charge headlong into a Tenryu because my ship is better than his.  I am heavy on the trigger and heavy on the rudder when driving the Kuma.

 

The Kuma has probably been one of my most successful ships, and I use the heck out of its guns.  I can hit citadels on similar tier cruisers with AP, and I can light stuff on fire and wreck destroyers with HE.  It is fast enough to run around a battleship that is otherwise engaged and torp her from the back, or to make fast torp and flee attacks.

 

Basically, I love this boat.

[StaticDreams]

good guns... good torps.. only thing i have to complain about is turret rotation and lack of guns.. but those are pretty much most early jap cruisers... less turret functionality, more torpenises... but still if you land those artillery rounds.. they hurt a lot

[Yuubari_Melon]

 

"Kuma is lightly armoured"

"Kuma is very similar to a destroyer"

"Never carry out an obvious plan"

 

 

I can think of at least one more tier IV cruiser that people say performs like that... even though they really shouldn't use either like an oversized DD...

 

It sounds to me that if you're the prime target of every engagement, it means you're not playing the support role effectively. As most of you know, I spend a lot of my time playing the squishiest cruiser in-game. The trick to performing well and surviving in a cardboard cruiser is to not make yourself a target in the first place, and that first and foremost means sticking with your BBs, not carelessly rushing ahead to hunt one or two destroyers in the dawning minutes of the match. If you do the latter, I can guarantee you'll be first target of every enemy ship, and accomplish neither goal.

 

Most importantly, taking advantage of the broadside AP strikes can turn the tide of almost any cruiser-cruiser engagement, assuming you know where to hit the citadel. In tier VI, it will be quite difficult to hit Cleveland's anyway, but there's no reason you can't defeat any other cruiser in the tier group. Low-tier cruisers tend to have thin armour and fairly sizable citadels, which are clearly placed underneath the smokestacks.

 

[Im_The_Seeker2]

No, Kuma is in every way superior to the New Mexico :^)

[Xannari]

The trick to performing well and surviving in a cardboard cruiser is to not make yourself a target in the first place, and that first and foremost means sticking with your BBs, ...

 

Battleships will want to engage at long range to be outside of supporting cruisers' range. As such, you need to be much closer to be able to shoot, making you a much more convenient target for those battleships was well as the cruisers. Even if you're both in the middle of fire, you still need a few ships to distribute each shot across each person, and even then cruisers are always the primary target for large scale engagements like this, because they die faster.

 

Most importantly, taking advantage of the broadside AP strikes can turn the tide of almost any cruiser-cruiser engagement, assuming you know where to hit the citadel.

 

It's actually little known, but Kuma has a fairly large barrel spread. It's only hidden by the fact that players tend to not observe each preceding shot, as it is not a sound decision to do so with a machine gun of a cruiser.

[EasternWu]

Kuma is my most successful ship so far. I've scored a total of 508 kills and 271 were with the Kuma. Will we get another CL of the same / similar tier that plays like it?

[centarina]

for IJN,   Aoba is similar in play style.   agile and fast with good torps and decent guns.   bit slower rof though and torps fire backward so have to use em carefully.      tougher MM though.