so about this patch...

[ArchdukeX]

The fact that the scout plane on battleships/cruisers can now make my Dive bombers miss is [edited]....  Just give me torp bombers and a festive blimp plz.

[hiroshi_tea]

Let's play a game - can it panic?

catapult fighters?  Yes.  

Scout planes?  No.  

Defensive AA on DDs, CAs, and CV?  Yes

 

Are you sure it was a scout plane that made them miss, or you confused it for some panicking ability or was it that the bombers acted like RNG poop that they are?

 

 

[ArchdukeX]

Sorry, it was a catapult fighter, not a scout plane.  I misspoke.  Its the fact that dive bombers not have a huge area they can miss in when they are panicked an the fact that the catapult fighter can trigger it.

[Xeilin]

Umu.  you can always try pulling away your bombers till you have the catapult fighter fly by so you can drop your bombs~  No need to rush in immediately!  To do so means your planes shall be nommed upon

[hiroshi_tea]

catapult fighters could always panic - it's not just a feature of this patch.  

 

Easy counters for catapult fighters are to:

1. let them latch onto your bombers and let your tail gunners kill it (much more effective if you have the tail gunner captain skill) before you do the drop
2. attack with your bombers when the fighter is opposite of the direction you want to attack (as the catapult fighter circles slowly, and has a very poor aggro and latch on range)
3. Find another target to hit
4. or use your own fighters to lock the catapult fighter down (and probably kill it) so your bombers can get on by

 

You have quite a few options.

[ArchdukeX]

The reason it is different now is paniced dive bombers are significantly less likely to hit than they used to be

[hiroshi_tea]

As it should be in my opinion.  One shouldn't expect hits on a panicked drop; hits under those conditions should be a pleasant surprise rather than an expectation, no?  Avoid doing a panicked drop if you can help it and i listed 4 ways to do so.  It's much better than just crossing your fingers and hoping for hits.

[ArchdukeX]

catapult fighters could always panic - it's not just a feature of this patch.  

 

Easy counters for catapult fighters are to:

1. let them latch onto your bombers and let your tail gunners kill it (much more effective if you have the tail gunner captain skill) before you do the drop
2. attack with your bombers when the fighter is opposite of the direction you want to attack (as the catapult fighter circles slowly, and has a very poor aggro and latch on range)
3. Find another target to hit
4. or use your own fighters to lock the catapult fighter down (and probably kill it) so your bombers can get on by

 

You have quite a few options.

 

US carriers often don't have a fighter squadron to strip the fighter.  As for finding another target, any decent players will be at least somewhat grouped up and will have a couple of catapult fighters in the air so unless I am only using my carrier to go and delete new players who wander off alone, I can't actually hit high value targets at all, with DBs anyway.

[hiroshi_tea]

I play Strike USN CV predominately and have decent success with them.  If your play style revolves around relying on bomb hits while under panic then  fear you aren't playing it well.  This patch doesn't change anything as you would never should rely on bomb drops under panic.

 

Do what you can to hit ships safely even if that means you can't get a huge strike off in the first 5-8 minutes of the match.  Go look for lone dds (and there are always lone DDs) to drop on.  If you don't have the skill to kill DDs with your planes that then might as well develop it now because it can be game changing if you master it for the higher tiers.  Later in the match, ships will start spreading out, giving you windows of opportunity where you can get a good strike off.  USN Strike CVs are vultures and will should always rely on picking off whatever is weak and separated - even if it means having to wait for it.  

 

It's OK to admit when you get countered by something.  if the enemy is in a nice protective AA ball with catapult fighters and AA defensive fire, then good on them!  They're playing to their strengths.  Now go tell your team to avoid that ball and cap around the map where they aren't and support those pushes with your planes.  Or maybe ask for your team to pick off some of the CAs so you can hit them safely.  A Strike CV relies on their team do get things done effectively: between getting aa cover for your strike squadrons or softening targets for an actual strike.  You can try and brute force things but don't expect it to go well because that is playing into the enemy's strength.

[MidnightShamalan]

how much more frustrating do you think it is for a cruiser or battleship to have panicked a group of dive bombers only to have them hit 3 bombs, start 2 fires, take out the rudder and do 10k damage?

 

the change is good. stop whining.

[HBZK100]

It's fine the way it is.  It's better because it makes user skill a priority.

 

Plus, those "pesky" scout fighters on CAs and BBs are very underpowered in my opinion.  On tiers 7-10 I think we should give BBs and CAs the ability to use two scout fighters at the cost of no Defensive fire.

[Reymu]

I usually let the scout fighter panic one of my TB since that panic-spread can also work for me. Meanwhile the DB go in unmolested.