Why I Love My Fuso: Single salvo kill of Tier VII Pensacola @ 100% health

[coldsteelfury]

I really love my Fuso!
 

I was playing a match on the Ocean map. The game started up. I was at the bottom of the map, towards the left hand side, so I cranked up my speed and started heading for the middle of the map.
 

To the left of me a friendly Ognevoi T6 Russian DD was scouting up on my left flank. A T7 Pepsicola soon became visible and the Ognevoi started to slowly dance to one side so it didn't breach its concealment range and be detected by the Pepsicola. The Pepsicola was the first enemy ship to fall within visible range. The rest of my team was still moving forward and trying to find targets.
 

I turned a bit of the right so I could aim all my guns on the Pepsicola. The Pepsicola captain wasn't doing anything wrong. The game had just started and he was about 18km out from me and coincidentally had a very good defensive angle to my line of fire. I didn't think I had much chance of hitting him, but I figured I may as well fire off a shot and find a more promising target. I expected to completely miss but I figured if I was lucky I might scratch his paint a little and get a few measly points.
 

So despite the long range and funny angle, I aimed, fired and then immediately turned away hard to the right and headed at full steam towards the upper right hand corner of the map. I knew I missed so I had mentally moved on and was looking for something easier to shoot at.
 

Six seconds later... boom! I got awards for first blood and devastating strike. I'm like "huh?!". Somehow I managed to hit that poor Pepsicola for a triple citadel hit! People on my team were like "w.t.f.?!". So was I.
 

It was a pure b.s. shot. I was lucky I even hit him. The Pepsicola was at long range and had a great defensive angle, yet I somehow managed to triple citadel him and blew him up at 100% health. I've never triple citadeled anyone before.
 

I've blown up Kuma's before but they usually had 75% health, were pretty close and had exposed their broadsides to me. This poor guy had done nothing wrong.
 

I can't wait for the Nagato. As lovely and as fun as the Fuso is, her 14inch guns really do struggle to citadel T7 ships and above. I've hit those T7+ ships with broadsides which successfully struck their smokestack area with 7-8 shells without any citadel hits. I certainly hurt them and occasionally incapacitated them, but those citadel hits are much harder to come by. I'm looking forward to those 16 inch guns.

 

[Harkonen_siegetank]

Not to rain on yout parade but against a pensacola? That thing do not have armor. Even the slightest hit would result a citadel, heck even DD guns can citadel it.

 

 

[coldsteelfury]

Not to rain on yout parade but against a pensacola? That thing do not have armor. Even the slightest hit would result a citadel, heck even DD guns can citadel it.

 

 

 

Not sure if that really makes a difference. My experience with cruisers is that none of them can withstand AP fire from a battleship, regardless of their armour values.

 

 

 

Depends which DD you're referring to (e.g. Russian DD with big guns?) and at what range you're firing. I know when I played as an IJN DD captain, it's impossible to citadel even a wet turd. Also it does take special luck to get three citadels in a single salvo, even if a ship is notorious for getting citadelled. When I citadel cruisers, I normally just get one. If I'm very lucky, I might get two on the rare occasion.

 

I'm sure I'm not the first person to blow up a cruiser at 100% health. It was a first time for me and it was note worthy for me because the range was long and the firing angle was lousy.

[alexf24]

It happens.

Once within the first minute, still moving out to get past our backyard,  a Fuso 1-shot my Nürnberg, from 100% HP to zero in one salvo. Not a detonation. Just citadels.

He did it with the spotter plane and luck.

[OffShorePanda97]

I was in the pencicola, happened in the next battle too

 

[coldsteelfury]

I was in the pencicola, happened in the next battle too

 

Are you saying you're the dude I blew up on that specific occasion I mentioned? (If so, I'm sorry. It was a very lucky shot)

[hlh3rd]

 

Great to hear from a fellow Fuso fan. If you play her right, you can have some monster games in this beast, I just played a game where I got five citadels, sent two enemies to the bottom, a Budyonni and a Fuso, and got nineteen penetrations on at least six other ships. I'm not what you would call the greatest battleship player in the world, and consider myself average at best. The Fuso is pretty forgiving, with it's multiple turrets, massive range, and fairly quick reload time for a battleship.

 

Only downside, is this ship has one of the biggest citadels compared to most BBs, and will punish you dearly if you go full noob by showing your broadside, and drive in a straight predictable line. Right now I'm grinding the Nagato on my path to the mother of all battleships, the mighty Yamato, and even though the Nagato isn't a bad ship, it definitely requires a lot more skill to have a good game than the Fuso. At least the Nagato isn't as bad as the Colorado. 

[TenguBlade]

Doesn't really speak too much about the Fuso; if you couldn't see him when you nuked him he could have turned his broadside without seeing the incoming shells.  Even a Kongo can do that to a Pensacola without too much difficulty.

[coldsteelfury]

Doesn't really speak too much about the Fuso; if you couldn't see him when you nuked him he could have turned his broadside without seeing the incoming shells.  Even a Kongo can do that to a Pensacola without too much difficulty.

 

It was fluky enough with the Fuso and her twelve guns, good luck achieving a triple cidatel strike with a Kongo (only eight guns and, unlike the Fuso, her fire power isn't spread evenly across her hull but concentrated at two separate points [i.e. bow and stern] which are a long way away from each other).

[coldsteelfury]

 

Great to hear from a fellow Fuso fan. If you play her right, you can have some monster games in this beast, I just played a game where I got five citadels, sent two enemies to the bottom, a Budyonni and a Fuso, and got nineteen penetrations on at least six other ships. I'm not what you would call the greatest battleship player in the world, and consider myself average at best. The Fuso is pretty forgiving, with it's multiple turrets, massive range, and fairly quick reload time for a battleship.

 

Only downside, is this ship has one of the biggest citadels compared to most BBs, and will punish you dearly if you go full noob by showing your broadside, and drive in a straight predictable line. Right now I'm grinding the Nagato on my path to the mother of all battleships, the mighty Yamato, and even though the Nagato isn't a bad ship, it definitely requires a lot more skill to have a good game than the Fuso. At least the Nagato isn't as bad as the Colorado. 

 

I'm playing the Nagato right now. Wow, what a big (re-)learning curve.

 

With the Fuso I was so used to being the 300 pound gorilla that could just walk up to anything and monster it with raw fire power. With the Nagato... sure the guns are bigger and hit harder, but the raw fire power isn't there so I have to play more conservatively (like I did when I played the Kongo). I find that when I play the Nagato more defensively, she can penetrate targets really well with her bigger guns.

 

I've still got the stock Nagato hull and I absolutely hate it. It's made of glass. I was in the beginning of a game and sailing almost head-first towards the enemy fleet. From 18km away I had my steering disabled twice by a damn Fuso! I have to say I've never had that happen before with my Fuso or Kongo, so I was in shock! I've heard the Nagato can shrug off shots from anything less than a 16" inch shell if you angle her right (?! given my recent experience!)..... so I'm hoping when I unlock the B and C hulls she won't have such a glass jaw.

[burningsteppes]

 

I'm playing the Nagato right now. Wow, what a big (re-)learning curve.

 

With the Fuso I was so used to being the 300 pound gorilla that could just walk up to anything and monster it with raw fire power. With the Nagato... sure the guns are bigger and hit harder, but the raw fire power isn't there so I have to play more conservatively (like I did when I played the Kongo). I find that when I play the Nagato more defensively, she can penetrate targets really well with her bigger guns.

 

I've still got the stock Nagato hull and I absolutely hate it. It's made of glass. I was in the beginning of a game and sailing almost head-first towards the enemy fleet. From 18km away I had my steering disabled twice by a damn Fuso! I have to say I've never had that happen before with my Fuso or Kongo, so I was in shock! I've heard the Nagato can shrug off shots from anything less than a 16" inch shell if you angle her right (?! given my recent experience!)..... so I'm hoping when I unlock the B and C hulls she won't have such a glass jaw.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath. The B hull was not much better imo. Only have a couple games in the C hull so I can't really say for sure yet. I can say I will take the Colorado any and everyday of the week and twice on Sunday over this steaming pile of... stuff (currently 72% win rate vs 47 for the Nag) . Loved the Fuso... this thing... not so much. I can't get out of it fast enough to suit.

[EasyEight]

I hope it gets better -- my brand new stock Fuso...POS doesn't even begin to describe how well it performs...

[Westword]

I hope it gets better -- my brand new stock Fuso...POS doesn't even begin to describe how well it performs...

 

I got my Fuso last night.  First map they put me on was Ocean, and you can imagine how I felt about that.  I spent the first half of the match lagging behind my team, with nothing to shoot, nothing to cap, and no where to go.  I missed a cap by 100 yards all because I had to dodge a torpedo.

But then an enemy Cleveland wandered to just within firing range.  I turned broadside, fired, and...my shells didn't overpen.  I was shocked!  Cleveland's are notorious little bastards that are hard to cit while having just enough armor to resist cruiser shells, while over penning most BBs.  I suddenly realized that the "junk' shells of stock ships might actually be useful under certain circumstances.

Sank the Cleveland in two volleis.  Capped B, layed some fire into a New Mexico, and then got into a gunnery duel with a Kongo which I sank to end the match.  Got 3.6k exp and did over 90,000 damage.

Fuso made a good first impression on me.

[coldsteelfury]

I hope it gets better -- my brand new stock Fuso...POS doesn't even begin to describe how well it performs...

 

I promise you that it does get better. Much better. The Fuso is the most fun battleship I've played. Why? It just demolishes everything in 1 - 2 salvo's.

The stock Fuso is a POS. The stock hull has an unplayable range (something like 12km!), so you will get monstered just trying to get the enemy into range of your guns. Once you unlock the B hull, it upgrades your gun range and you're a killing machine. Trust me.

[number333]

 

I promise you that it does get better. Much better. The Fuso is the most fun battleship I've played. Why? It just demolishes everything in 1 - 2 salvo's.

The stock Fuso is a POS. The stock hull has an unplayable range (something like 12km!), so you will get monstered just trying to get the enemy into range of your guns. Once you unlock the B hull, it upgrades your gun range and you're a killing machine. Trust me.

 

Coldsteelfury is correct.  I almost gave up on IJN BBs when I first got my Fuso as the grind to get a fully upgraded Fuso looks paramount.  But it wasn't that bad, in fact I could argue that the stock Fuso helps to teach you how to creep up on maps, using terrain to get targets into range.

 

A fully upgraded Fuso is really fun.  I'm not a killing machine like a lot of the more experienced players, but I definitely feel like I can contribute to the team effort a lot more than I used to.

[Carl]

Heh, did the exact same to an atago in my new mex last night on Northern Lights. 6 hits, 2 citadel's. By by. Poor guy never even fired a shot .

[HazeGrayUnderway]

Stock Fuso is terrible.  Fuso with all her modules is wonderous.  She's fast, decent in turning, has lots of guns, and IJN BB style of shell dispersion (excellent).  Her armor is acceptable provided you use angling to approach or withdraw from a target.

 

New Mexico has excellent protection but her speed is so slow that she has a bad time getting to a big fight in time.  Fuso doesn't have that problem.  IJN BBs tend to be really good in bringing accurate, BB caliber guns to a fight quickly, unlike their USN BB counterparts Tier VII and below.