Bow Armor Nerf re-think

[fish_Jones]

So I think that how the current bow armor nerf is planned to be implemented is not-so-favorable to certain BBs and their trees. Notably the Iowa, which has roughly the same (and often less) frontal citadel armor than the Dunkerque. It's massive, above the water, and would have a hard time angling its thin belt and frontal armor simultaneously. The NC gets it a little better since its citadel is below the water, and the Montana seems to have enough armor front and side to angle both. There are probably a few ships that also have it rough, but USN is my main line, so this is what I have a good handle on, and my idea on how to change (not completely eliminate) the nerf.

 

German BB's have fantastic citadel armor. I have only ever gotten 2 citadels against any of them. Both with 16 inchers at range. They are incredibly durable, especially close-in, fantastic secondaries, and the ability to mount 420s at T9.

 

Leave the bow nerf for the German BBs T8 and up.

Make the 60mm plating slightly (key word here. They should still be strong bow on, with the only possibility to bounce Yamato shells, but not immune to 406s and up) smaller so that it doesn't effectively cover the entire bow

Don't nerf the bows of any of the other lines.

Maybe give the Montana some love?

 

What this does:

- Actually gives you a chance to citadel German BBs if they don't angle. If they do, they're still practically immune to citadels.

- Other battleships might want to close the distance on German BBs with a clearly defined weakness. Not trying to gain chip damage while running away or relying on your team to help you out

- Since it doesn't look like the Tirpitz will get nerfed anyway, it means that it'll have torps and a stronk bow armor, while the Bismarck gets better AA and better secondaries, 

- Keeps the bow strength of the USN and IJN lines. Since the NC and Iowa have very thin belts, and I know I can hardly ever turn around in my Iowa without being undetected (unless I want to eat citadels for days), they often live and die on their ability to have some sort of auto-bounce protection. It doesn't always work, and focus fire will dry your health up fast, but it's their best chance to live through the match.

- IJN and USN would stand a better chance in a brawl with the German BBs. IJN and USN aiming for the bows, while Germans go for the broadside. Normally this would be a massive advantage to whoever aims at the bow, but this would be brawling distance. There would be a much smaller distance the Germans would have to travel to get at that nice juicy broadside

- A different playstyle between the lines rather than going bow-on for IJN, USN and Kriegsmarine? Is that something resembling National Flavor? Yes. Yes it is. Whether you like it or not, National Flavor seems to be something WG is somewhat concerned about maintaining. If every line goes bow-in, or if every line tries to angle, where's the difference? The distance they angle at?

[Aduial]

This has gotta be way better than the changes the Devs want to make. All the new changes are going to make battleships camp even more, not less. Or alternatively, we could keep the battleships as they are, and bring back carriers so they can't just sit still.

[Stratego89]

'Nerf only the ship(s) with the biggest target on it's back and takes massive damage from consistent regular pens at all angles, not the others that are basically impervious to all damage and have super guns and range and don't need to get close to things'

 

Yeah, sure. K. Sounds totally fine.

[SimiaStoicus]

On the test server, just like on live server, all the top tier German BBs seem to be performing extremely well. Nerf or no Nerf.

They seem even stronger with the changes cuz Yamato lost more of its edge.

Don't think the new changes did much for camping cuz camping still there and they doing it at longer ranges now. But the bow changes makes pushes harder.

I tried Yamato and G.K. and I would take G.K. over the Yammy any day. High tier German BBs should get a slight rebalance.

[Ace_04]

Forgive me if I missed this, but has anyone suggested reducing the firing range of these high tier ships as a combat to camping?  It sounds elementary, but when you think about why the low to mid tiers are so much fun, is because the limited gun range forces you to get in closer to engage the enemy target.  

 

I understand that the maps get much larger the higher you go up the line, but if the issue is people sniping from 22km away, why not just bring the max range down to 15-16km instead?  Or whatever reasonable level becomes effective and justifiable.

[Valoel_Vegas]

What a completely abhorrent and impractical suggestion, l0l

[fish_Jones]

'Nerf only the ship(s) with the biggest target on it's back and takes massive damage from consistent regular pens at all angles, not the others that are basically impervious to all damage and have super guns and range and don't need to get close to things'

 

Yeah, sure. K. Sounds totally fine.

 

Um, yes? I don't know about you, but I rarely get "regular pens at all angles" on German BBs. I've never actually done "good" damage to a bow on German BB. 5k or so is good bow on damage, but it isn't "good" damage overall. Same with any other ship I find bow on. Broadside is a different story though. Most I've ever rolled for against the Germans was 16k or so against a fully broadside Tirpitz I think.

 

Most I've ever rolled against other nations

IJN: 44k against a Yamato

USN: Insta deleted an Iowa from 60k health.

 

So yeah, I'd like the "Impervious to Citadels" line to actually have a weakness against other ships. And considering they have the highest win-rate for BBs at 8-10 on ALL servers, I'd say they're not hurting too much as it stands currently. Clearly those "regular pens from all angles" just aren't happening enough to actually sink them.