User blog:Kuras/Summer Event 2016 E-3 Easy (Aquila Farm)

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'''Disclaimer: I have not cleared E-3 on Easy difficulty, only farmed for Aquila. If you intend on clearing E-3 on Easy difficulty, everything written in this post should still be applicable for the Final kill.''' Having cleared E-1 and E-2 on Hard difficulty, you might still get surprised at how hard E-3 on Easy difficulty is. Summer BB Hime is back in this map, at node H. They are very annoying to deal with this time and will often heavily damage your shipgirls. Equipping a Fleet Command Facility (FCF) on the flagship of your main fleet is highly recommended. I do not want to brag here, but although I do not have a full waifu fleet, I consider my fleet roster to be "very high tier". Despite that, the enemies at node H (and G) caused my shipgirls to get critically damaged countless attempts. If it was not for the FCF, I would have reached the boss node only a handful of times. This map's boss is Harbour Summer Hime, with a Supply Depot Hime and Artillery Imps as escorts. Once your fleet has reached the boss node, the boss battle is quite manageable and can even be S ranked without night battle, even with 2 ships retreated. Having a Fast fleet and specific shipgirls in your sortieing fleets will allow you to go through a shorter route. Having more remaining fuel and ammo on your shipgirls results in a lower ammo penalty, thus allowing your shipgirls to do more damage. Sortieing at least 7 of the following ships will lead you through the shorter route: Kongou, Haruna, Mogami, Mikuma, Kumano, Suzuya, Choukai, Fubuki, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, Kinu, and Yura. Not having 7 shipgirls out of that list (or they are already locked) will lead you through either node E or D. Having 4-6 of said ships will route your fleet to node E, rather than to node D. Node E is a maelstrom node and is more preferable to go through than the airstrike node D. This map starts with submarines at node B. Though they may be So-Class ones, they never posed any danger to my fleet at all. The first battle which may cause your fleet to retreat back to base is at node G. It is mainly the Flagship II Wo-Class CV who might critically damage your shipgirls. Sortieing an AACI-dedicated DD might allow you to shoot down more enemy bombers, lowering damage taken from the opening airstrike. However, I have not found this to be necessary, as it is most likely your shipgirls will get heavily damaged during the shelling phase, if they do. Do not expect to be able to shoot down all of the enemy bombers with AACI to render the Wo-Class unable to participate in the shelling phase. E-3 contains an LoS check from node G to node H. Though I do not know specifically how much (e)LoS is sufficient to pass this check, it seems getting through is quite easy. The boss of E-2, Summer BB Hime, is back in this map. This time, you will encounter two of them in line ahead or double line formation, which makes them a very high threat. Since there are no enemy aircrafts here, you can easily achieve air supremacy. Despite that, the Summer BB Himes can still easily cause heavy damage to your shipgirls and will do so in the majority of times. Apparently you can weaken them, but I have not found this necessary for myself because of the FCF mechanism. Once you get to boss node J, the boss battle (Pre-final kills) actually seems quite easy. With two ships retreated using the FCF mechanism, my fleet still managed to earn an S rank with relative ease. Since the Harbour Summer Hime is weak against Sanshikis and Wurfgeräts, be sure to equip these on your CAs, CLs, and DDs. The boss node also has a Supply Depot Hime as an escort ship. An minimum air power of 162 (at node G) is necessary to achieve at least air superiority at all battle nodes through route B-C-G-H-J. Support expeditions and sparkling might be necessary. Although I haven't used any support expeditions, I can imagine other players struggling to get to the boss. Normal node support (Expedition 189) is recommended in that case. Sending normal node support will definitely make it easier for your shipgirls to survive the pre-boss nodes. The same can be said for the boss battle and Boss support (Expedition 190).

Back to top Fleet Composition & Equipment Setups

E-3 requires you to sortie a Combined Fleet. I have opted for the Surface Task Force (STF) since I believe it is the most effective one in this map. A STF allows your main fleet to attack before your escort fleet's turn during the shelling phase. This is preferable since the main fleet generally consists of "heavier" ships. A Carrier Task Force can be justified here though, as it typically has higher air power and/or better opening airstrikes. However, I believe a stronger shelling phase is of higher importance in E-3. As mentioned in one of the sections above, sortieing at least 7 of the following ships will lead your fleet from node C to node G: Kongou, Haruna, Mogami, Mikuma, Kumano, Suzuya, Choukai, Fubuki, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, Kinu, and Yura. This allows your fleet to be more effective during the boss battle. Having 4-6 of said ships will route your fleet to node E, rather than to node D. Node E is a maelstrom node and is more preferable to go through than the airstrike node D. Equipping a Fleet Command Facility (FCF) on the flagship of your main fleet is quite essential to reach the boss node relatively consistently, without any of your shipgirls arriving there while being heavily damaged. Kongou and Haruna have an AP shell equipped to deal with the higher armored enemies and Artillery Imps. All other ships should have either Sanshikis or Wurfgeräts equipped as the boss, Harbour Summer Hime, is weak against those. Naturally, if you do not have good enough fighters to achieve an air power of a bit over 162, you can replace some of the bombers with more fighters and equip them in the higher plane count slot. Additionally, you can equip seaplane bombers instead of recon seaplanes on your CAVs to further boost your air power. Note that seaplane bombers, unlike recon seaplanes, can be shot down by enemy AA, thus increasing the bauxite consumption. An air power of 162 (at node G) is required to be able to gain at least air superiority at all nodes.

Having more Wurfgeräts equipped on the same shipgirl will allow her to deal an even higher increased damage to installation type units, however with diminishing returns. Since an escort fleet is required to have one CL, appointing Ooyodo or Yuubari is a very good choice here for their 4 equipment slots, allowing them to have 2 (main) guns and 2 Wurfgeräts equipped. Although Kinu and Yura are not very good shipgirls statwise, it is definitely worth it to assign one of them (if sufficiently leveled) to the escort fleet for the shorter route, if you have no other option. Abukuma Kai Ni is not a bad option either, since she can be equipped with a Kouhyouteki for an opening torpedo. Having a DD with a Landing Craft equipped is not necessary for this map, but might help you to deal with the Supply Depot Hime, but I have not found this to be necessary at all. You can have (one of) your DDs be equipped with an AACI-setup or a Wurfgerät.

Back to top Land-Based Aerial Support Support from the first airfield was concentrated on H, while the second airfield was designated to boss node J. No fighters in airfield 1 are required since node H does not contain any fighters.

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