Board Thread:Fleet's Prepared-ness/@comment-26336728-20150720013158/@comment-25174240-20150720055118


 * Disclaimer: I am very appreciative of Jenesis33 for providing a differing opinion and his/her reasons. I think it's good to have suggestions that don't agree with each other so that an observer/listener can make a more informed decision/plan. It can only benefit the community to have such discussions and I hope more players will be able to have similar views on different opinions when offering their help.***

~Regarding Jenesis33's view that I am scaring OP~

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I acknowledge that my reasons behind my suggestions are not always apparent but I stand by what I said. In the initial paragraph of my first reply, I did point out that I was making suggestions to allow OP to decide if doing hard all the way was feasible.

It may seem like scaring him but I stand by the belief that it is better to be overprepared. Many battles in history were lost because the military overextended itself; when in truth it would have been barely enough to win on in ideal conditions. Throw in bad weather etc. (RNG in our case) and the battle turns for the worse.

Militaries must have intact supply lines, they must have tactical and strategic reserves. They must have something extra that gives that little "oomph!" or "ooooorah!" when things get stuck. I'll give a live example. A few days into the event, there will be more information on this wikia about maps, routing etc. A player will typically use that information and plan an angle of attack on the map(s) while taking into account their fleets capabilities and the enemy disposition. However, sometimes the best (or not so well) laid plans go awry. If something goes wrong run after run, don't just keep doing the same thing - use the tactical/strategic reserves.

E.g. I wish my CV could have done a little bit more bombing damage/I wish my DD did a bit more during her torpedo/I wish my CA hit a bit harder; but I'm reserving  for a later map. But wait! I have  as reserve and she's a bit stronger that the one I deployed! or "Wait! I remembered that I have this equipment, this other DD works better with it due to her higher luck/better firepower/better torp stat/ etc."

500 buckets for last map on hard is not an exaggeration. For AL/MI I used 750 buckets in the final map ALONE due to RNG despite using high level Yamato and Musashi. I have already toned down the figure for OP. I did not pick a random number but gave something I felt was a reasonable estimate including factoring for RNG.I speak from experience on this. What others decide about this is up to them.

I have seen players(personal friends) who went hard mode in the final map and burn all their resources. Even if they reset the difficulty, they couldn't run any sorties for easy due to having no fuel/ammo. worst thing was, due to work commitments - they started the event 3 days before the end. I do not want a repeat where someone wastes time, buckets and resources and miss out on a reward that they could have gotten.

About AACI, I will disagree with Jenesis assertion about AACI. I believe AACI even by a weaker ship like Shigure in the absence Af akizuki(for newer players) or Maya (due to routing not allowing CA) will still help rather than having no AACI. Even if a weaker AACI shoots down even 1 more bomber than not having any AACI, if it reduces damage by just 1 point, it can mean a fiar bit of difference. I will elaborate:

1 point separates light and medium damage. It means whether a CV(L) can continue bombing during shelling phase or not. It means that a ship will be light damage rather than medium during night combat. Both light and medium damage will increase the chances of night combat cut in (see wikia page on combat under night combat section), with medium damage giving a higher chance, BUT medium damage incurs a damage and accuracy penalty whereas light damage does not. Every little bit can make a difference when the game is so RNG heavy.I believe in tilting every little factor in my favour where available. OP's Ushio is far away from kai ni but OP's Shigure isn't.

To be fair, perhaps Jenesis33 has had poorer experiences with AACI. For me, it has made the difference time and time again. I reiterate my disclaimer above. OP and other readers should read Jenesis33's opinion that AACI is not that important. His/her reasons are valid - definitely the AACI will be weaker. I have stated my reasons why they are important. Then I suggest they re-read the combat mechanics page and then make a decision.

Thus, by giving a conservative estimate where a player sees what Jenesis33 has perhaps aptly called scary. A player reading my original post might think,"Hmmm this player is asking a lot!", but they will read my other pointed questions which make them ask themselves,"Yes I want to do hard all the way but if what he mentions does happen and I don't have enough due to ship locking then what? Maybe hard mode can wait until next event."

Or

They might go "Yes I have these reserves to handle the strange occurences that this stranger  suggests might happen." Then they make a decision with better confidence and with the proper reasons to back it up.

My answer was catered to answer "should I do hard mode all the way and why/why not?" because Jenesis33 already answered "what can OP do to prepare for the event given the fleet listed." I can touch that a little but I think it does not benefit OP much if I repeat most of that Jenesis33 mentioned with regards to that. Also, I re-read my reply and I don't get the feeling that I'm asking anyone to overdo anyway, rather I am saying "to do X you must have Y which includes reserves in case the worst happens, if you don't have it, consider not doing hard mode."

That is the conclusion I hope a reader will take away. No, I did not want to scare OP or anyone; but yes I can see how it might be scary. However, not all players are scared by words on a screen.

~Reply to OP's reply~

I will agree with Jenesis33 on his/her training plan for Mutsu and Kaga. I will add that you may want to consider running expedition 2 constantly while on sorties and pvp. Why? It builds ammo and it has a chance to drop a bucket each time. No need to sparkle the expedition fleet, just keep running it. Also will agree on training Yukikaze. CAs can be trained as a weaker BB. You just need 1 BB to give the 2nd day shelling phase. 2 CAs working with a BB can shred a surface fleet easily on normal maps. The trick with CAs is to:

(1) have a list that you wish to rotate (2) keep using them on sorties (3) realise there is no magic map like 3-2 for some ships but if CAs are kept constantly in use to support other ships in training, a little can add up to a lot. If we're talking about Takao class, that's just level 25 and you can use all the sortie drops to modernise them to max their stats since Myoukou class is out of the question.

As for where to sortie and deployment plans, Jenesis33 has already covered that.

Hope this helps you further.