Things I've learned playing WOWS

[Psycodiver 101]

I know I need more lessons because I lost nearly every game I played today, its pretty frustrating to say the least

[Flametz 453]

There's a lot more that I need to learn. hmmmmmmmmmm

btw how about CVs? Anyone?

its extraordinarily frustrating at times (tier difference = rip), and requires a significant amount of micro-managing skill (think Starcraft) 

rewarding, but with the current shitty state of carrier gameplay I wouldn't recommend it for a newbie.

[Nisa 355]

I know I need more lessons because I lost nearly every game I played today, its pretty frustrating to say the least

How many battles have you played?

Some things you just kinda have to get a feel for, shooting,steering,torpedoing and dodging to name a few.

[Psycodiver 101]

I'm about 50-60 battles in at this point, I understand, but I also had a lot blow outs where half my team was dead in the first few minutes leading me to think "water water everywhere, yet no place to drown myself" lol Had one battle I carried in my South Carolina (3 kills, 2 after everyone else died) and it came down to me and another South Carolina that had more health than me, and I penned his citadel with AP and brought him down, but I was on fire and before I could take out the last cruiser that was also on a sliver of health I burned to death

 

Edit: I love the South Carolina btw, I am wrecking ships with it, for some reason every BB I face is firing HE at me while I fire AP at them and I plain wreck them and I'm just racking up the citadels. Another lesson when its BB v BB, shoot AP not HE and when you shoot AP fire at the hull not the super structure

Edited July 5, 2015 by Psycodiver

[Deusmortis 4,618]

Well your movie quote hit a nerve. It was not appropriate to the situation because you intended that to hurt me rather than explain why I should be the #1 yolo. Also calling me a pubbie outright and assuming things about me like "needing a leader" There are ways to discuss things without outright assuming and directly insulting me like you did with your first reply.

Taking good positions is important, but then I end up being only one because my pubbies didn't follow me, and suddenly I'm a 140 who got that hill and now my teammates have let a batchat up to clip me out. Ships wise, in a DD I'm usually the first one in, I can go that fast, I also have smokes to protect me and plenty of mobility to avoid some damage. But I also get no support because the other DD that was just behind me has circled around and put their full salvo of short range torps out targeting nothing, so I have to retreat or get omnomed by the cruiser that's probably there already.

There's being a leader, and then there's being a leader with no followers. If I was grouped up and we were planning on pushing a corridor, unless I'm in a platoon I'm not going to be the first one in. You cannot deny the fact that the first person in the push gets shot first, and you definitely cannot deny that once the "leader" dies, everyone runs away. That's what I want to avoid so I can better focus on shooting things.

I don't need someone to lead me. I can lead just fine from the center of a pack, that ensures a few things. The group will move up with me. The person in front of me has its best interests in shooting rather than retreating (they'd run into me and and everyone else behind, getting blocked). We all stick together as a unit rather than being spread out. If they get shot and die, I can take better advantage of our progress and keep pushing to our destination without losing so much health. If I was in front, I get shot, die, and everyone behind me scatters.

So thinking that sailing in an absolute straight line in a BB and expecting smaller ships to move out of my way or cross my path behind me pubbie thinking? Absolutely not. If a DD gets themselves nearly capsized it's their fault. They turn on a dime, even if I changed course I'd still probably run into them the very same. It's not like I set full speed and alt tab. I said I will divert slightly if it's going to be a close call, but I do not expect to have to turn 90 degrees to avoid a DD that doesn't seem to be turning.

I don't need someone to lead me. When I'm not a BB I rather have meatshields. I trust my own accuracy better than pubbie teammates, so it's in my best interest to not be shot at as much. "Farming damage" sure, but at least I'm doing that instead of going in facefirst and dying instantly while everyone behind is showing the water and islands who's boss. It's not like I'm at 15km with a battleship. I'm the most comfortable between 5 and 10km. In upper tiers longer ranges are easier, but it's not like I'm chai sniping from the blue line in a South Carolina.

You insist on having a civil discussion about something you disagree with on a forum, and you can do that without insults and assumptions.

 

 

Maybe not my best idea, but I feel the need to chime in here.

 

The heart of the matter seems to be the idea of going first.  "Never" is a word I strongly object to in gaming.  It does apply, at times, but not nearly so often as people assume.  There absolutely are times when going first is the right choice.  "Never go first" is the reason why one slow reload tank can hold a corner against 3.  It definitely fits within the "pubbie" mindset.  It's a step above the "red shitter who charges with no idea what may be ahead" line of thinking, but it's still something that I'd expect to hear from the yellow/green/teal crowd.  Basically, it's bottom 90% thinking.  

In the same way, going to a useful spot, only to find out that you're alone is teal-blue thinking, maybe green.  You're smart enough to know a spot is valuable, but lack the awareness to know that the spot's value disappears if unsupported.  Greenies and blues drive to the spot that they "know" is important, without ever realizing what circumstances make it important.  You can blame your pubbies for not supporting your (normally smart) position, or you can work with the hand (team) you're dealt and try to make their positions work.  

Same goes for ships.  Sometimes, you absolutely need to be first.  Being first doesn't mean "Dive straight into an unfavorable situation."  Nor does it mean "I am first, I can never alter this course."  By all means, judge the situation and then decide if it's best to press on or gain the advantage some other way.  

[Evelyn 2,414]

Maybe not my best idea, but I feel the need to chime in here.

 

The heart of the matter seems to be the idea of going first.  "Never" is a word I strongly object to in gaming.  It does apply, at times, but not nearly so often as people assume.  There absolutely are times when going first is the right choice.  "Never go first" is the reason why one slow reload tank can hold a corner against 3.  It definitely fits within the "pubbie" mindset.  It's a step above the "red shitter who charges with no idea what may be ahead" line of thinking, but it's still something that I'd expect to hear from the yellow/green/teal crowd.  Basically, it's bottom 90% thinking.  

In the same way, going to a useful spot, only to find out that you're alone is teal-blue thinking, maybe green.  You're smart enough to know a spot is valuable, but lack the awareness to know that the spot's value disappears if unsupported.  Greenies and blues drive to the spot that they "know" is important, without ever realizing what circumstances make it important.  You can blame your pubbies for not supporting your (normally smart) position, or you can work with the hand (team) your dealt and try to make their positions work.  

Same goes for ships.  Sometimes, you absolutely need to be first.  Being first doesn't mean "Dive straight into an unfavorable situation."  Nor does it mean "I am first, I can never alter this course."  By all means, judge the situation and then decide if it's best to press on gain the advantage some other way.  

You, at least, have stated it nicely, and probably helped me figure out why I'm forever 2.2k.

[megaflex4000 148]

Newbie question: What's the difference between the battleship trees as you go up them? I've tried both T3s and prefer the IJN because the South Carolina is painfully slow. Looking a bit higher the Kongo seems great because of the speed and range, but past T5 I have a hard time telling the differences just looking at stats.

[bathoz 107]

The USN battleships all play the same from tier 4 to 7 (as they're all part of the Standard Dreadnought programme, that's not a surprise.) Close up, relatively agile, super tough brawlers. From tier 8-10, you get different flavours of quick, long (so not super agile), fast, longer-range, AA fortresses. The Iowa (tier 9) is arguably the best carry ship in the game – fast, hard hitting and tough.

The IJN is more all over the board. I mean, the lines goes: Dreadnought, fast battleship, battlecruiser, dreadnought, fast dreadnought, battlecruiser, wtf is this, Yamato. They're uniformly quicker until the end of the USN standards. They tend to have more guns and bigger guns – or at least faster firing guns. They have more range, and better secondary guns. But they're not nearly as tough. Not only are they easier to hurt – but their repair skills heal less. Their AA is not bad, but isn't up to the absurd standards of the USN ships.

[Sidus_Preclarum 381]

So, just started this game, as if my social life needed another critical hit.


How the fuck do I DD, lol.

 

Generally, where do I look for basic info and tips ?

[Jarkorsis 92]

Jingles has a youtube video called how to not suck at wows. There is also a second part to it with some advanced techniques. It is a good place to start as far as playing anything. He spends a lot of time on DD's. Basic stuff dont shoot torps into a group of friendly ships or a single friendly ship. Drive your ship in third person view and if you see a friendly heading in the general direction of where you are shooting your torps, DO NOT SHOOT THE TORPS!!!!

I tend to run out front and try to cap in DD's, but if you are outnumbered at cap or there is a BB or cruiser with gun range lay smoke and get our of there. Try to lay ambushed for bigger ships. Be sneaky. After you get sunk, try to follow another DD captain around who isn't dead and see what he does. I learned something from an guy last night. He was capping near game end and layed smoke around where he was, but instead od stopping in the smoke be backed up. That way if someone blind shot, they would shoot where he was. As people got close to him (under 4 kilometers) he sent out a crisscross of torps, that would be almost impossible to dodge.

 

[Sidus_Preclarum 381]

Basic stuff dont shoot torps into a group of friendly ships or a single friendly ship. Drive your ship in third person view and if you see a friendly heading in the general direction of where you are shooting your torps, DO NOT SHOOT THE TORPS!!!!

 

 

Well, if that wasn't already pretty much obvious by itself, I'd have guessed that after my first contact with torps in this game.

"Torps to starboard !".

"fuckfuckfuck I see nothing, those things are really sne wait a minute, that's port. *turns view just in time to see the torps coming from the friendly DD*"

Edited July 6, 2015 by Sidus_Preclarum

[Vitellius9 11]

Some questions I had after reading the new sticky. 

I see HE is more effective versus DDs since they don't have citadel hit boxes, do you ever use HE in a BB then?  I do all the time.......but only because I forgot to switch it over at the beginning of the match.  Otherwise I feel likes it's always a bad idea in a BB. 

When angling away from your enemy, is it better to go full sharp angle and have minimal turrets facing them assuming they are not ignoring you or is it better to attempt that 45^o angle where you have most of your guns on target and try to cut a little angle off between firing?

Last, I am probably most successful with DDs and understand torpedoing mostly, even though I do have games where I miss 20-30 torp hits.  Is there any trick to increase accuracy with torps and the aiming wedge?  Meaning, is the wedge pretty accurate assuming no adjustments in course?   I always at least use it to see where a ship is traveling to, but I'll be damned if I can hit anything that's not broadside.  Even when its a baddy ignoring me and not changing course.  Is there a torpedo bounce mechanic other than when they are not yet armed under 500m or whatnot?  I had one cause a zero damage hit the other day in my Umikaze at between 1.5-2km.  It hit, registered as a hit on my hit log and registered as a flood on my hit log, yet caused 0-50 damage.  Is that possibly a torpedo hitting the sharpest angle of the bow and the enemy immediately repairing? 

[Psycodiver 101]

Another thing I learned is kill any and all St. Louis class ships as quickly as possible because they will perma-fire your ship. I've also learned to not bother putting fires out until I can get some distance on enemy ships 

[ncc81701 152]

I see HE is more effective versus DDs since they don't have citadel hit boxes, do you ever use HE in a BB then?  I do all the time.......but only because I forgot to switch it over at the beginning of the match.  Otherwise I feel likes it's always a bad idea in a BB. 

DDs do have citadel hit boxes but it's a tiny target on a small ship and BB AP tend to over penetrate (at least I think). You can actually get citadel hits on DD using HE from a BB gun, this typically leads to a devastating strike and the elimination of said DD from the game. HE/AP choice on a BB comes down to judgement on when you think you can get penetrating hits and whether it will over penetrate. I typically fire AP from a BB at CL and other BBs unless they are at a bad angle and pretty much exclusively HE at DD and CV unless AP is already loaded. I generally load AP when the game starts and switch to HE as necessary.

When angling away from your enemy, is it better to go full sharp angle and have minimal turrets facing them assuming they are not ignoring you or is it better to attempt that 45^o angle where you have most of your guns on target and try to cut a little angle off between firing?

Keep the angle shallow but non-zero until you are almost ready to fire. Try to time the apex of your turn such that your guns just finished loading and that you've turned just enough to fire as many of your guns possible. Angling too much slows you down and takes more time to reverse the turn, and give them a bigger target for them to hit. 

 

Last, I am probably most successful with DDs and understand torpedoing mostly, even though I do have games where I miss 20-30 torp hits.  Is there any trick to increase accuracy with torps and the aiming wedge?  Meaning, is the wedge pretty accurate assuming no adjustments in course?   I always at least use it to see where a ship is traveling to, but I'll be damned if I can hit anything that's not broadside.  Even when its a baddy ignoring me and not changing course.  Is there a torpedo bounce mechanic other than when they are not yet armed under 500m or whatnot?  I had one cause a zero damage hit the other day in my Umikaze at between 1.5-2km.  It hit, registered as a hit on my hit log and registered as a flood on my hit log, yet caused 0-50 damage.  Is that possibly a torpedo hitting the sharpest angle of the bow and the enemy immediately repairing? 

I haven't played DDs except for my sims since CBT and i've only played low tier DD/CA which have shorter range torps, but I typically only launch torps at < 3km, maybe <5km if my target isn't paying attention. Any more and your odds of hitting is too low. Only exception is if you are launching torps for area denial. The lead marker is accurate if no change in course and/or speed. With narrow spread most/all of your torps should land, with a wide spread at least 1 should land depending on ship size and distance. It also helps if you are launching torps at a broadside instead of straight on aft or straight on fwd of the target.

I haven't seen a zero or near zero damage hit before from a torp. Your flooding damage could be minimal or zero if the enemy hit repair as soon as they are hit, but still should have taken damage from the initial impact. There is an arming distance but that's < 1km. But can't say more on what it might be unless there were Screenshots. 

 

Edited July 7, 2015 by ncc81701

[Tedster59 989]

DDs do have citadel hit boxes but it's a tiny target on a small ship and BB AP tend to over penetrate (at least I think). You can actually get citadel hits on DD using HE from a BB gun, this typically leads to a devastating strike and the elimination of said DD from the game. HE/AP choice on a BB comes down to judgement on when you think you can get penetrating hits and whether it will over penetrate. I typically fire AP from a BB at CL and other BBs unless they are at a bad angle and pretty much exclusively HE at DD and CV unless AP is already loaded. I generally load AP when the game starts and switch to HE as necessary.

DD's had their citadel hitboxes removed according to an RU Dev.

[ncc81701 152]

DD's had their citadel hitboxes removed according to an RU Dev.

 Really... could have sworn I had it happen recently. :\ well it's why I read these forums, learn about these important changes that doesn't seem to come up anywhere else. 

[Jarkorsis 92]

1) The toxic WOT chat players have moved to WOWS.

2) if you are near any torp carrying ship, form a line ahead formation or get them between you and the enemy. They will fire torps and not see you.

3) If you hear a torp alarm stop what else you are doing and see what is causing it.

4) Always lead the attack, but if you see to many red team ships turn around and run unless you need to reset cap.

5) CVs on fire can cycle planes as normal. I had a CV with at least 2 fires going cycling torp bombers like he was fine.

 

Edited July 8, 2015 by Jarkorsis
spelling and added something

[engineered 499]

1) The toxic WOT chat players have moved to WOWS.

2) if you are near any torp carrying ship, form a line ahead formation or get them between you and the enemy. They will fire torps and not see you.

3) If you hear a torp alarm stop what else you are doing and see what is causing it.

4) Always lead the attack, but if you see to many red team ships turn around and run unless you need to reset cap.

5) CVs on fire can cycle planes as normal. I had a CV with at least 2 fires going cycling torp bombers like he was fine.

 

1. Oh god yes.  The tomatoes from WOT have swarmed to WOWS.  They brought their same tomato logic, which is terrible when they're on your team and your down 5 ships 2 min into the battle, but great when they're on the enemy team.  So many tears, I wish there was somewhere to upload WOWS replays so I could start posting the chat to a wall of butthurt here.

2. Had several games last light with DD camping spawn and launching torps at my ass.

5. I thought I saw that as well last night.  Did they change that on purpose or is it a bug?

 

[Jarkorsis 92]

No idea on the CV change. It may have been this way a while now. I have just gotten some reinforcement on it. Ap may be a better choice to shoot at CV's now.

[Tedster59 989]

5. I thought I saw that as well last night.  Did they change that on purpose or is it a bug?

if you set a CV on fire while it is landing or launching a squad, said squad will finish its launch/land.  any squads after that will have to wait.  this happened to me some yesterday while I was playing my zuiho, and you definitely can not launch or land planes other than the aforementioned squad.