User blog:Hayashi H/Advanced Equipment Guide/Setups

Aircraft=

Due to the number of combinations of maps, squadron types and carriers used, it is pointless to list the precise setups for any given combination.

However, the following general principles apply:
 * 1) Only use SCAMP when you sortie at least 2 carriers with plane slots of 3 or below. Otherwise, SCAMP belongs in CAVs, particularly.
 * 2) Against targets with AACI, do not load any bombers of any type on any slot smaller than 20.
 * 3) Against targets without AACI, do not load any bombers of any type on any slot smaller than (number of nodes *3).
 * 4) Zuiuns and their variants of seaplane bombers should not be loaded on any slot smaller than (number of nodes *3) if you possess air superiority.
 * 5) Zuiuns and their variants of seaplane bombers should not be loaded on any slot smaller than (number of nodes *4) if you do not possess air superiority.
 * 6) Zuiuns and their variants of seaplane bombers should not be used at all if an AACI user is present.
 * 7) Do not load more than one Saiun in a fleet, and if using one, always load it in the smallest slot (unless using SCAMP, in which case it takes the second smallest slot).
 * 8) For 3-2A grinding specifically,  may load torpedo bombers in the two largest slots and a SCAMP in the third. Using this in most other maps may not guarantee the squadrons are not wiped out.
 * 9) AACIs are flat numbers which lead to equal losses in all slots per AACI regardless of the size of the slot the squadrons are loaded in. In contrast, the number of planes lost to fleet AA and enemy fighters is a fraction of the total size of the squadron. If AACI is involved, increasing bomber slot size will lead to only very slightly more aircraft lost; the % of aircraft lost as a fraction of the total number launched drops as the slot size increases, so sortieing bombers in larger slots insures against a carrier having all bombers wiped and being unable to participate in shelling at all. If it is not involved, increasing bomber numbers will lead to a proportional increase in aircraft lost, so there is an incentive to load them in smaller slots to reduce bauxite costs.
 * 10) The first slot of all carriers has an additional +20% critdmg when a >> bomber squadron is equipped, while all other slots have a +10% critdmg bonus. Thus as far as possible all first slots should contain bombers after the above conditions are met. Additionally, torpedo bombers should be clustered on the same carriers in order to give those 'attack carriers' the highest possible critdmg% multiplier. The remaining 'air superiority carriers' should carry only as many bombers as they need to achieve firepower cap, in the smallest slot size allowable that can guarantee the squadron does not get wiped out.
 * 11) The non-bomb non-torpedo non-AA stat bonuses of squadrons do not scale with slot size, so squadrons used to add these stat bonuses should generally be loaded in the smallest slots that fit the above, while those adding bomb/torpedo/AA stats should be loaded in the larger slots. However, the rule below this may occasionally override this one.
 * 12) If all the above are fulfilled, use http://aircalc.net/ to load the minimum number of fighters that leads to Air Superiority(Green)/Supremacy(Blue). As a general guide, setups based on initial strike for the purpose of minimising damage taken will aim for Air Superiority to bring more bombers, whereas setups used to enable Artillery Spotting on a large number of CLs, CAs or BBs will aim for Air Supremacy, as the latter leads to a greater Artillery Spotting rate than mere Air Superiority. Setups used against AACI users in aerial nodes will always aim for Air Superiority in order to pack as many bombers as possible to sink the AACI user before the second airstrike phase in the aerial nodes.
 * 13) After the fighter slots are decided based on the above, change the bomber type allocation only (swapping Tenzan Tomonaga for Ryuusei Kai for instance) between carriers if there are cases where some ships fail to get daytime FP cap (150) or headon daytime FP cap (188) while others have too much. For instance, 4 carriers with 175 FP is not as efficient as 2 carriers with 150 and 2 carriers with 188 even though the latter has a lower total FP, as in the first case a head-on engagement form will produce 2 FP capped carriers capable of clearing a boss, while in the second it may be the case that all 4 are incapable of sinking the target.
 * 14) When yasen nodes are involved, aim for the minimum number of carriers possible to increase the chance of clearing the node with minimal damage taken. Where possible use 'air superiority carrier' type setups on carriers with the highest possible evasion stat to ensure they can reach the final nodes without being chuuhaed or worse in a yasen node.


 * -|ASW=


 * -|AACI=


 * -|Initial Strike=


 * -|Night CI=

As far as possible, ships with the flagship symbol should be in flagship position to take advantage of the +12.5% cutin rate. Fleet position does not affect night double attack, but attacks proceed in fleet order. If yasen is likely to happen, you want carriers in your last slots; if it is not likely to happen, you want your carriers in your first slots so that they can shell earlier in the 2nd day shelling phase to avoid being chuuhaed or worse before they get to attack.

Add 5% to the base cut-in rates below if a Star Shell or Searchlight is mounted on another ship and it activates. Add 20% to the base cut-in rates if the ship is chuuhaed. If the sum is 100% or more, the cut-in will never fail (unlike yasen DAs, which have a small chance of failure). The 'base cut-in rate' numbers below only factor in the effects of Searchlight included in the setup itself and assumes that the luck value of the ships has been modernised to the luck cap for that cut-in type as stated under the ship icon. For example, if is sortied in a non-flagship position and chuuhaed with both Searchlight and Star Shell active from other ships, her cut-in rate will be 64.8%+20%+5%+5% = 94.8%, while if  is sortied in a flagship position in good health with a Star Shell active from other ships in addition to her own Searchlight, her cut-in rate will be 75.1%+5%+5% = 85.1%.

If the flagship symbol is not attached to a ship, it means the activation rate is high enough to exceed 100% if the ship in question is chuuhaed. Consider sortieing a ship that needs the flagship cut-in rate buff more as a flagship. An exceptional case is builds which include Searchlights, which should be in flagship position as the Searchlight draws aggro, and you'll want them to fire before they get chuuhaed/taihaed - and the over-100% chuuha effect is unlikely to occur as flagships are fired at less often in the day.

Finally, Searchlight effects do not stack and it already activates at a 100% rate as long as its carrier has more than 1 HP. For this cause, if you are using more than one of the below setups that include a Searchlight in the same fleet, equip Searchlight on the flagship only and replace all other instances with Skilled Lookouts, Star Shell or auxiliary equipment. Please note that Skilled Lookouts are suspected to have no effect on formula luck-capped ships at the moment - if the ship is already at the luck cap, do NOT equip Skilled Lookouts as it will have no effect. Skilled Lookouts may be useful if a ship's maximum luck is lower than 50 (for gun cut-ins), 60 (for torpedo cut-ins) or 70 (for mixed cut-ins), as it would be impossible for those ships to ever reach the maximum cut-in rates without additional help.

Further upgrading may increase numbers beyond the values stated.

Contrary to common belief, Torpedo cut-in setups are inefficient on , as the Kouhyouteki alone already puts her above an effective torpedo stat of 150 in the day - so any further addition has little to no effect on the torpedo attacks while she is at shouha or above health. At night, her base stats alone will already break the night damage cap if a torpedo cut-in is used. so additional stats from the torpedoes are wasted a second time, while their day firepower remains a lot weaker than it could have been. Even without using any Maruyu or upgrading any equipment piece, a readily available setup already shells for more damage in the day, torpedo-attacks for the same damage in the day and has a cut-in rate equal to dual torpedoes at night with the same damage, except all the aforementioned attacks are more accurate than a dual torpedo build. However, due to the very small gain this mixed cut-in setup has over a double attack setup in spite of a very high luck requirement, the Double Attack setup is recommended for the majority of cases.

The only case when you'll want her to use the Torpedo cut-in setup is when you're assuming that she will be in chuuha state, or that the day battle will take place in head-on formation (though in this event the night battle potential is still wasted). In chuuha, the torpedo cut-in form will deal 254x2 damage (lower than full health double-attack, so if this level of damage was useful one could have gone double attack to begin with), while the day torpedo attack will be at 128 damage (opening torpedo only as chuuha ships don't fire a closing torpedo). This particular problem is ingrained deeply enough to deserve its own paragraph.


 * -|nDA=


 * -|Artillery Spotting=


 * -|Combined Fleet=

Note that the Main Fleet of the Combined Fleet cannot ever breach the firepower cap of 150 as it cannot enter night battle. For this reason given the usual armour values of Installation bosses, a general statement that can be made is that Type 3 Shell should NOT be equipped on the Main Fleet as it will result in a reduced chance of doing scratch damage, and little or no chance of doing significant damage on installations, while sacrificing a slot that would improve the Fleet's ability to deal with non-Installation targets in the sortie.


 * -|Special=