157 [PVE] _WhiteRabbit Members 372 posts Report post #1 Posted March 31, 2016 I was playing a random battle the other night with my New Orleans. I thought I would try a different approach and decided I would hang back and support the carrier. At the beginning of the match this defensive strategy paid off quite well. Our carrier was a target of a heavy air attack almost right out of the gates. The combined AA defense did manage to thwart the attack quite well, and I am not sure the carrier would have survived on it's own as it did lose about a 1/3 of it's HP despite our effort. We did end up winning the battle, with the carrier posting the highest score, and between us knocking down over 50 planes. With that being said, is this kind of support something carrier captains see a lot of? And if not, is it something you would like to see more of from your cruiser counterparts that have half decent AA capabilities? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
14 [USN_1] MATip09 Members 64 posts 17,580 battles Report post #2 Posted March 31, 2016 It is a rarity to get any support from the team. That being said about 5% of players do support their CV's. A support ship also thwarts any DD attack as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
546 [-K--] BelgaraththeSorcerer Members 2,680 posts 7,993 battles Report post #3 Posted March 31, 2016 I have reached the point where I make all my carriers AA spec'd because I can't guarantee that I will have support or be able to dodge a incoming strike. My Lexington is just a massive wall of 40mm bofors atm and it seems to work very well, I do play in division quite a bit and its always nice when one of my friends drop back to provide AA support once we determine the enemy CV is trying to snipe and having a cruiser to do that is always really nice, but in the end in random battles I would never expect people to actually support another person except by accident. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
7,039 Skpstr Members 34,409 posts 10,768 battles Report post #4 Posted March 31, 2016 More would do it if shooting down planes paid off as well as shooting ships. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1,148 [NDA] kerensky914 Supertester 3,926 posts 2,863 battles Report post #5 Posted March 31, 2016 I don't play CVs a ton, but I can't recall ever having anyone stay with me for support. Generally speaking if a CV wants support he needs to try and keep up with the 'main body'. Of course, when things go to heck, that means you'll get yelled at for "not staying in the back where it is 'safe'" but that's life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
655 PelicanHazard Members 2,632 posts 10,276 battles Report post #6 Posted March 31, 2016 I sometimes ask for a cruiser to hang back if I feel I need it, but mostly I just hang by the fleet and get the support naturally. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1,340 [NDA] Jinxed_Katajainen Alpha Tester 6,193 posts 4,955 battles Report post #7 Posted March 31, 2016 It's great to have help to fend off the first wave of 'carrier snipers' One complaint I have in general though, is when people sail like 0.5km away from my carrier and give no room to maneuver for both of us. AA specced CAs at high tier also should have around a 7km AA range. Why halve it by sailing so close. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
378 OscarMike_ Members 1,703 posts 9,002 battles Report post #8 Posted March 31, 2016 I was playing a random battle the other night with my New Orleans. I thought I would try a different approach and decided I would hang back and support the carrier. At the beginning of the match this defensive strategy paid off quite well. Our carrier was a target of a heavy air attack almost right out of the gates. The combined AA defense did manage to thwart the attack quite well, and I am not sure the carrier would have survived on it's own as it did lose about a 1/3 of it's HP despite our effort. We did end up winning the battle, with the carrier posting the highest score, and between us knocking down over 50 planes. With that being said, is this kind of support something carrier captains see a lot of? And if not, is it something you would like to see more of from your cruiser counterparts that have half decent AA capabilities? CV sniping is out of control at high tiers. Anytime the cruisers want to support us CV captains is greatly appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
642 [-K--] iHaveNoIntelligence Members 1,817 posts 9,035 battles Report post #9 Posted March 31, 2016 It's pretty rare, but we most captains always appreciate help except for some crazy ones who threaten escorting ships for "resting". Expecially in higher tier CV meta, there are many cases that enemy try to kill opponent CV first to have easy for rest of game. In that case, CAs air support is always welcome Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2,770 [-K-] Lord_Zath Supertest Coordinator, Alpha Tester, WoWS Community Contributors, Wiki Editor 6,632 posts 29,096 battles Report post #10 Posted March 31, 2016 I was playing a random battle the other night with my New Orleans. I thought I would try a different approach and decided I would hang back and support the carrier. At the beginning of the match this defensive strategy paid off quite well. Our carrier was a target of a heavy air attack almost right out of the gates. The combined AA defense did manage to thwart the attack quite well, and I am not sure the carrier would have survived on it's own as it did lose about a 1/3 of it's HP despite our effort. We did end up winning the battle, with the carrier posting the highest score, and between us knocking down over 50 planes. With that being said, is this kind of support something carrier captains see a lot of? And if not, is it something you would like to see more of from your cruiser counterparts that have half decent AA capabilities? Definitely not. The hardest part is pulling a cruiser off the front lines for what MIGHT happen. AA escorts are great, but to me I try to stay with the battleships at the start so if an air attack does come, I'm not pulling assets too far away from the battle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1,128 [VNGRD] Shadowrigger1 Members 4,536 posts 19,324 battles Report post #11 Posted March 31, 2016 I gave up on most of my Carrier support duties, Most of the CVs I try to protect are so incompetently bad it's just not worth taking the guns off the front line for. There are the rare occasions I get a Good CV captain I don't mind protecting because I know he will do a fair amount of support for the team. These are the ones that usually have fighters in their line up so they CAN support the team and not just their stats. I Know CVs are screwed, the Game is all about damage to progress, if they go AS they get little xp, if they go Full strike, they are helpless without support, then requires one or 2 other players to pull back and get no points for them to advance. Most CVs go to the edge of the map making supporting them a loss for your progression where you cant do anything but shoot down a few planes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
305 [RMSC] beachbronco Members 661 posts Report post #12 Posted March 31, 2016 If it is a 2 vs 2 I politely inquire about cruiser support. If it is 1 v 1 I don't usually ask because I am running 2/1/2. Certain skippers I know won't snipe so I let my team know that I won't need cover. It just depends on the game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
37 [NBB] Luphelia Members 163 posts 17,368 battles Report post #13 Posted March 31, 2016 Until I can tell what the opposite CV is running as loadout or where its planes are, I ask that a Cruiser stay in the vicinity. Maybe for the first 5 mins or so. There's usually atleast 1 cruiser that loves cutting down planes too. Division buddies are great for this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
461 [TAZ] Nutaz Members 1,124 posts Report post #14 Posted March 31, 2016 Rarely do you get the support, mostly you get "why haven't you sent your birds out to scout". But when you do get it, GREATLY appreciated. The problem is you can send out your birds but with no target visible on the map it's kind of useless. You can proposition your squadrons which helps defend a particular CAP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
7 WhoTookIt Members 50 posts 2,726 battles Report post #15 Posted March 31, 2016 It's certainly helpful to win rate, but just isn't something that I see as a fun way to play the game. Hanging back and just lending your AA defenses seems like something a bot could do just as well as a person. It's part of the weirdness of carrier gameplay, in that they end up being the sole purpose of a team, to an extent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2,228 [-AFK-] 10T0nHammer Members 7,321 posts 3,866 battles Report post #16 Posted March 31, 2016 It's great to have help to fend off the first wave of 'carrier snipers' One complaint I have in general though, is when people sail like 0.5km away from my carrier and give no room to maneuver for both of us. AA specced CAs at high tier also should have around a 7km AA range. Why halve it by sailing so close. I actually like helping our CV stay alive but my biggest complaint is how far they stay away from the front lines. I typically set myself up 3km between myself and the CV. He can maneuver and the enemy planes have a larger AA field to trek before striking. (BTW NO only gets 6.2km range) All this is moot if the CV immediately goes A1. I still have bills to pay and I want to have fun. Sitting at A1 with him does not help me and does not help my team in the long run. I love it when the CV follows the fleet around because I can easily shift from CV Defense to offense. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
130 MeKanism Members 832 posts 1,264 battles Report post #17 Posted March 31, 2016 What's rarer is a friendly DD smoking the friendly CV Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
458 AspiringCodger Beta Testers 2,029 posts Report post #18 Posted March 31, 2016 I've had people hang back a few times to protect me, but it was always someone that definitely didn't need to be there and provided no help whatsoever. All they did was take themselves out of the fight. One of them got in my way repeatedly while I tried to escape (nothing was spotted nearby, but the one side was cleared out, so I wanted to move). Eventually, I accidentally put five torps into his side. Another sat there until I actually needed him at which point he decided to venture off into a completely useless area where he was out of AA range. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1 [LTM] Daimajin56 [LTM] Members 4 posts 16,505 battles Report post #19 Posted March 31, 2016 When ever I play a cv I ask for a CA to hang back and offer DD AA defense. Sometimes it happens but most often not. When I get it I am very thankful...it can make a big difference in the out come Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1,340 [NDA] Jinxed_Katajainen Alpha Tester 6,193 posts 4,955 battles Report post #20 Posted March 31, 2016 I actually like helping our CV stay alive but my biggest complaint is how far they stay away from the front lines. I typically set myself up 3km between myself and the CV. He can maneuver and the enemy planes have a larger AA field to trek before striking. (BTW NO only gets 6.2km range) All this is moot if the CV immediately goes A1. I still have bills to pay and I want to have fun. Sitting at A1 with him does not help me and does not help my team in the long run. I love it when the CV follows the fleet around because I can easily shift from CV Defense to offense. lol.. if the CV I'm escorting camps behind an island or moves to a corner, I'll bugger off and go shoot stuff too. Honestly, I don't know why a CV would stay in a corner and not follow the fleet... The closer you are to the frontline action, the faster your planes can repeat their attacks too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2,367 [HINON] Captain_Dorja [HINON] Beta Testers 5,913 posts 5,645 battles Report post #21 Posted March 31, 2016 I offer to do it a lot in my Baltimore and Atlanta if I think the CV will need the cover. Personally, my carriers are only tier 7, and at t7 I don't need to help defending myself from snipes usually. I find it more valuable to the team for all our cruisers to be engaging the enemy instead of sitting there with me lol. I think when I get to t8 or t9 though, I'm going to start asking for some cover. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
165 [OTG] Ujenele Beta Testers 593 posts 10,811 battles Report post #22 Posted March 31, 2016 My Penzacola does not belong on the front lines at the begining of a battle anyway. Escorting the CV until after a 1S happens or is confirmed that its not going to happen before going off to join the fight puts my pretty Peni at just the right location and just the right time. (CV I AA 4 U till 1S) When I play a CV and execute a succseful 1S I always shame the red team with a "Thats what happens when you dont protect your CV!" Lastly, its a 2 on 2 CV match you are just about garaunteed (sp?) to have a 1S openner, not only do the CVs need AA but they need to AA for each other as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2,367 [HINON] Captain_Dorja [HINON] Beta Testers 5,913 posts 5,645 battles Report post #23 Posted March 31, 2016 I think you need to use less abbreviation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
165 [OTG] Ujenele Beta Testers 593 posts 10,811 battles Report post #24 Posted March 31, 2016 I think you need to use less abbreviation. Have you seen my spelling? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
