On cruisers with stronk AAA, Vigilance + acquisition mod might make sense.

[MrDeaf]

Okay, so hear me out here.

 

Short explanation: Your AAA is so stronk, you only need 2~3 charges to wipe out the entire hangar, thus making Superintendent less useful. This means you can put those points into another skill that may give you better utility at surviving the two most annoying attacks. Torpedoes and bombers.

 

Long explanation:

Due to the recent torpedo stealth buff, eating torpedoes has become more common. Now, I know most people will not trade AA-barrage for hydro-acoustic, even if there are less CVs around, because you will really want it when you do get a match with a CV.

 

Hydro-acoustic is also not super useful, unless the DD you are hunting down is solo, because you can't push against a DD, when it has a bunch of friends around that will pummel you with AP. If you take evasive maneuvers, you lose far too much speed to pursuit a DD in the first place, which means it's very difficult to use. It is very effective, IF you get the opportunity to do so, but those are quite rare, rarer than bombers trying to strike you.

 

Here's the catch. You don't necessarily have to hunt DDs, if you get a big enough margin to dodge their torpedoes. T8 and above allows you to get the Acquisition mod that increases detection range, while on your captain, you can get a further boost to torpedo detection range. Now, I hear many people saying, "but you should get superintendent for that extra heal potion, AA-barrage and catapult fighter charge!" and yes, those are valid concerns. While you get less charges for each, you do gain the ability to dodge alpha strike hits from torpedoes, which can be a major hassle in higher tiers, thanks to the speeds and numbers of torps that are likely to be thrown at you. If you don't take damage from torps, you won't have to use your heal potion. More over, T8 cruisers, except Atago, don't even get the heal potion, which makes it all the more important to dodge to stay alive.

 

Finally, getting to the catapult fighter and, all too important, AA-barrage. It's quite hard to consume all of your Catapult fighters in the first place. You may only get to use 2 in the entire game, and it's mostly there for spotting torps in the water early. As for AA-barrage, CV players tend to know which ships have strong AA and try and pick on them last, so it's quite rare to have a CV player throw all of his bombers at you in the first place. Even if the CV player is kind of dumb, and does throw all of his bombers at you, if your cruiser has stronk AA, you will be able to decimate the bombers in as little as 2 charges. If your cruiser doesn't have stronk AA, then you may want to keep superintendent, but it's quite rare to be able to use up 3 charges in a single game.

 

You should be using the premium, 22,500 credit, AA-barrage II, if you decide to spec your captain and ship like this. Not only do you get an extra charge, but it also cools down faster, allowing you better flexibility on its usage.

You can always come back and get Superintendent for your 19th point skill, or opt to not get a T5 skill. AFT, however, is a must.

 

 

I have tried this out on Mikhail Kutuzov and it works great.

T7 and under, this works too, but to a lesser degree, because you don't get Acquisition mod. However, you usually don't have to dodge a wall of fast torps, so it's not entirely wasted.

[Lert]

Gudpost. Worth considering.

[Jmthebigman]

It is a nice idea, however for the MK I think id still go for SI and CE.

1) bigger area to stealth fire.

2) extra smoke + extra AA

 

Can use premium smoke to get to 3 smokes

 

This way I could hang back and stealth fire and cover our cv / aid team mates to escape if needed more often.

 

Id say your option for the MK is more for the solo ones aka non escort.

For other strong to modest aa cruisers its possibly a better option to what they might be running right now.

[MrDeaf]

Yeah, it's entirely optional and comes down to player preference.

 

Actually, my build worked out great when escorting an Iowa. I would put myself between the stealth DD and Iowa, so I could spot the torps, which were easy for me to dodge, and also made it easy for the Iowa to dodge a majority of them.

[Jmthebigman]

Yeah, it's entirely optional and comes down to player preference.

 

Actually, my build worked out great when escorting an Iowa. I would put myself between the stealth DD and Iowa, so I could spot the torps, which were easy for me to dodge, and also made it easy for the Iowa to dodge a majority of them.

 

Not sure if giving up the concealment for the acquisition mod on the MK will be beneficial for its survivability.

 

Then again Im also interested in trying it out and ditching the concealment all together and going for DE as 2nd 4th skill. *choices*choices*choices*

[MrDeaf]

Ultimately, since the MK is a premium, you can easily swap between captains. The only cost is that 2mil module, but MK has the ability to print credits quite easily.

[Jmthebigman]

Ultimately, since the MK is a premium, you can easily swap between captains. The only cost is that 2mil module, but MK has the ability to print credits quite easily.

 

Well not only the 2mil, but also the grinding of 2 captains; 1 having 19 points the other 18. Which also gonna take a while.

[MrDeaf]

You only need an 11pt captain, really. The next 5pts for concealment expert or 3pts for Superintendent+Vigilance aren't 100% necessary to do good in MK.

[Jmthebigman]

True, also the more I think about it.

Concealment wont do much when escorting/assisting.

So indeed the scouting of torps + higher fire chance might be better in the long run.

[W4lt3r]

I sure as heck would like to see my Des Moines's stronk AA @ 95 rating.. Only to be ignored by T10 aircraft.

The few occasions I see CVs, my AA with the DF gets maybe 7 planes down.

 

This seems to be applicable for tier 8 cruisers and below. Tier 9 and 10 planes are just ridiculously tanky.

[Serge_SC]

Great read MrDeaj!

 

What choice would you then suggest for a Baltimore, I´m still rather stock with A hull, and only minor upgrades (I´m undecided on the big ones, granted, range is a must in this thing, and I´m guessing the rudder as well, but concealment or acquisition? Right now I have 3 spare points and grinding the 4th for demo expert, that superintendent is, though, getting my attention to help me survive with all the damage this [edited] [edited] of a [edited] ship is taking...

[MrDeaf]

Well, with Baltimore, going for an AA-build, you should be getting the +20% AA range module, along with AFT.

With AA-build, you are more likely to be sitting near another ship that is a higher priority target anyways, and even if you do get spotted, hopefully the enemy will be firing at that ship, instead of you. If there are CVs in the match, your AA is going to be active almost constantly, so this also kills any concealment you have to start with.

 

As for superintendent or vigilance, that ultimately comes down to what you think you have most issues with.

Is it getting shot by shells too much? take superintendant

Is it running into torp walls? take vigilance