Need Citadel Advice

[Frenotx]

I enjoy battleships, but am not terribly great with them. I just recently acquired the Nagato and am loving both the increased accuracy and beastly secondaries, but am having a bear of a time getting citadels with it. I've landed a number of shots in the broadside of BBs near the waterline either amidships or beneath the turrets, but can't seem to get those elusive gold ribbons. I've included a video of what I thought for sure was a kill shot, but was instead only to normal pens. Any advice would be much appreciated.

http://plays.tv/video/5700d5e6bbc5d26940/apparently-dont-understand-where-citadels-are-

[goldeagle1123]

Nagato is tricky because she get's the 16" guns at tier VII, which means you're basically gonna overpen everything that isn't a BB tier VI or higher, you have to learn when and when not to use HE. In games where i'm top tier, I basically use HE for most the game. I've landed AP shells perfectly on NCs and Iowas and still overpenned. So sometimes, you just gotta be that BB that spams HE.

[Grevester]

That wasn't even broadside. It was angled, and a new mexico to boot which sports armor only bested by yamato, montana and iowa. Your first shot and second shot splashed before hitting as well so you took reduced penetration value. That is due to dispersion however, and you didn't do much wrong. Most of your citadels will be on cruisers, but do not expect them for battleships. You will still do far better with AP.

[Noshiro_]

Are you stock? Because A hull Nagato has pretty bad shells.

[MeKanism]

Nagato is tricky because she get's the 16" guns at tier VII, which means you're basically gonna overpen everything that isn't a BB tier VI or higher, you have to learn when and when not to use HE. In games where i'm top tier, I basically use HE for most the game. I've landed AP shells perfectly on NCs and Iowas and still overpenned. So sometimes, you just gotta be that BB that spams HE.

 

NC is expected, but over penned on an Iowa???

[Frenotx]

Are you stock? Because A hull Nagato has pretty bad shells.

 

 No, B hull. I'm just not understanding how I should be aiming. I realize that bb is perfectly broadside in that example, but I've been citadel'd plenty of times from far more extreme angles.

[goldeagle1123]

 

NC is expected, but over penned on an Iowa???

 

Yep, had his full broadside, hit him with 4 shells, did just over 4k damage and got the overpen sound effect. Was even chatting with the guy about how stupid overpens are as it happened, lol.

[reaper_swpz]

NC is expected, but over penned on an Iowa???

It happens more than you'd think.

 

@OP

 

Personally would aim a bit further back to hit him mid ship, by striking under the turret you have to go through both belt armor and barbette armor (I think at least), a bit back and you'd only be hitting the main belt.  It's really hit and miss, those 16" have punched through a NC before as well as a Tirpitz, but half the time they will damage but not land a citadel.

 

Check this out:

 

http://menzgaming.com/worldofwarships/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/07/NewMexico_ArmorGuide-1024x576.jpg

[dahdah325]

 

 No, B hull. I'm just not understanding how I should be aiming. I realize that bb is perfectly broadside in that example, but I've been citadel'd plenty of times from far more extreme angles.

 

Like someone else noted, it the case of your gameplay clip, you were shooting at a ship that was not broadside but approaching you at about a 20-30 degree angle. In the case of that clip. you aiming at what you thought was the waterline of the enemy, but in reality when account for the approach angle your aim spot was short of the target. In addition, for extremely close shots with high velocity, low trajectory guns (like the Nag) you actually want to aim slightly high (usually just above the waterline). This reduces the chances of getting shells that land short, and any shells travelling long will still hit the superstructure. 

 

The mistakes you are making are common with less experienced players. This is not a slam on you or your skills, just an observation. You need to practice thinking in terms of the path your shells follow when you shoot, and how you can lead them to intersect the targets you are shooting at. Visualize the direction your target point is traveling , not the ship as a whole, and then visualize where that point will be in relation to the shell travel time. It sounds compicated, but with practice it becomes second nature. You are making the first steps of consciously thinking about where you want the shells to land (waterline, center citadels, etc.) it just takes practice to get better at hitting the more difficult approach/departure angled shots regularly. 

[Frenotx]

 

Like someone else noted, it the case of your gameplay clip, you were shooting at a ship that was not broadside but approaching you at about a 20-30 degree angle. In the case of that clip. you aiming at what you thought was the waterline of the enemy, but in reality when account for the approach angle your aim spot was short of the target. In addition, for extremely close shots with high velocity, low trajectory guns (like the Nag) you actually want to aim slightly high (usually just above the waterline). This reduces the chances of getting shells that land short, and any shells travelling long will still hit the superstructure. 

 

The mistakes you are making are common with less experienced players. This is not a slam on you or your skills, just an observation. You need to practice thinking in terms of the path your shells follow when you shoot, and how you can lead them to intersect the targets you are shooting at. Visualize the direction your target point is traveling , not the ship as a whole, and then visualize where that point will be in relation to the shell travel time. It sounds compicated, but with practice it becomes second nature. You are making the first steps of consciously thinking about where you want the shells to land (waterline, center citadels, etc.) it just takes practice to get better at hitting the more difficult approach/departure angled shots regularly. 

 

 Thanks for the advice. Considering the position and movement of your target point is an interesting idea. CVs are my main, so I'm quite used to taking the movement of the entire ship, but not so used to considering the tracking of a given point on it.

[KamiSamurai]

The art of aiming on this game is hard to explain. People can tell you where to aim and what to aim for but that doesn't mean it will happen. The game is fluid and always changing so you have to develop your own feel for where to aim and when to correct for enemies turning. I have been asked a lot about how I aim and I can't really describe it. I don't use the hashes on the reticle or any custom reticles. I have just developed a feel for aiming from the beginning of CBT til now.