The Basics of How Carriers Work?

[Lpaladin]

Ok, I've been googling guides and looking up videos and I cannot figure out certain BASIC functions of managing carrier squadrons, so I'm requesting an idiot's guide.

When I launch a squadron, it puts me in the view of that squadron, but than I seem to be stuck controlling just that single squadron. I've seen other people with carriers have multiple squadrons in the air at once, so I know you can, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to launch a second and direct both. There don't seem to be any options on the tactical map, and I can't figure out how to put a second squadron up without hitting "F" to land the first. Again, basic stuff, what buttons do you push and in what screen to manage multiple squadrons in the air?

Thanks!

[Ace42]

You're thinking of the old RTS style carriers - they were reworked to what you see today. You only control one squadron at a time.

T6+ carriers can drop patrol fighters consumable that can provide vision or intercept enemy planes at present.

[Lpaladin]

Huh...ok then!

[TentacleMayor]

You may have been looking at very old videos from the old way carriers worked. Did they have the camera following the planes, or was it the map view? There's no way whatsoever to control more than one squadron at a time, unless you count returning squadrons and patrol fighters.

[Lpaladin]

And is it always just two plans in the squadron attack at a time?

[Ace42]

Originally posted by Lpaladin:

And is it always just two plans in the squadron attack at a time?

The make-up of Squadrons and their attacking flights varies a fair bit between carriers and squadrons (and indeed the plane upgrades for tech tree ships) - but it's always a fixed number of planes from the squadron attacking per flight.

So Aquila has 2 flights of 5 planes per rocket squadron; Hakuryu's torpedo bombers is 6 flights of 2 planes per squadron.

[christof]

Originally posted by Lpaladin:

And is it always just two plans in the squadron attack at a time?

Depends on the ship in question. The Soviet CVs for example always attack with the full squadron at once. The same is true for the tactical squadron you will find on some ships. Most will be either two or three planes though, yes.

[jflands]

Carriers exist to dismantle the spotting system and override counter-play. They are a net negative on the game play experience but a net positive on WG revenue.

[Ace42]

Originally posted by jflands:

Carriers exist to dismantle the spotting system and override counter-play.

You let yourself get spotted *before* smoking up in your DD, and then decided to blame being bottom tier for getting spotted and struck, despite several supership DDs having tangibly worse aerial detection radii than the one you were in.

You've never once acknowledged your error; and despite being told categorically that you will continue to have problems until you fix your defective play - you're *still* here insisting that it's the game's fault that you won't fix mistakes that people have spelled out to you.

[Jaynoble55]

my very meager two cents as some one who has also started playing Carriers. Go with the Russians first. It will be a double edge however. The good is that all planes attacking at once simplifies strikes BUT you also will not be learning the positioning and juking you will need to perform subsequent runs in other nationalities carriers. Once you get decent with the basics of the russian line then you can branch off. Everyone has a preference and mine is that I very much dislike playing German carriers because the attacking flights are so small and requires 3 runs + a dummy drop to get the full damage. IMHO the entire German line needs a rework. But thats just me. Others will disagree to varying degrees. Good luck on learning CVs!

[Ace42]

Originally posted by Jaynoble55:

Everyone has a preference and mine is that I very much dislike playing German carriers because the attacking flights are so small and requires 3 runs + a dummy drop to get the full damage. IMHO the entire German line needs a rework.

The two main issues with the German line are:
They're not great at dealing with DDs because of the AP, but dealing with DDs is one of the most important things a CV can do;
and they're relatively highly skill indexed - in terms of target selection to make best use of the AP, in terms of squadron survivability (heal on AP divebombers helps a bit, but also represents some additional skill indexing), in terms of actually landing the AP effectively because of impact angles and armour thresholds.
Also just in terms of them wanting to delete cruisers, but cruisers typically having some of the best AA in the game and being targets that *anyone* can potentially murder.

Oh, and the weird way land messes up their aim, which can be exploited to snipe stuff with them, but half the time will mess you up if you've not practiced and accounted for using terrain to snipe with them.

Russians are definitely a decent first-nation to pick, because their ability to snipe from the extremities of AA range can mitigate a lot of damage, the high alpha means they're less forgiving of inefficient strikes, and because being just one single flight per squadron means they always benefit from improved damage reduction during the "green" aiming phase.

USA Midway line are probably the ones I'd recommend though: Their HE Divebombers are some of the most consistent anti-DD tools in the game; all their squadrons are flexible and effective so can rotate them without putting too much thought into planning ahead; and they're a good balance between speed and health so they're a tiny bit more forgiving of misplays.

[Jaynoble55]

Midway line is one I have not tried yet. You have sold me. Its next up!

[Ace42]

Originally posted by Jaynoble55:

Midway line is one I have not tried yet. You have sold me. Its next up!

Just remember that the Tiny Tims are a bit of a noob-trap because they're less consistent (especially vs DDs). Which isn't a problem if you've got your HE Divebombing down and you want the extra rocket pen so you can direct damage more targets, but if you're still a bit marginal with them - then you really want the HVARs as a standby to help guarantee reliable (and good, if they pen) damage against smaller ships.

The line just gets more and more consistent as you get more bombs per release:
https://youtu.be/fJYTfZvJ_G8

Sight Stab skill's really useful on this line, I'd even go as far as to say it's indispensable for players who aren't especially confident in reading their opponents and thus preparing their attack runs perfectly and anticipating jukes, etc.

Really, once you've got your divebombing technique down, as per the video above, you've got the tools to print wins for your team just by ruining their DDs days.
RN might be slightly better at that niche, but I think perversely their skill floor's a bit higher to achieve broadly the same thing (carpet bombers are really RNG dependent, and their drop characteristics are easier to juke; even though rocket nerf hit them least, it's still a tangible barrier to performing) and give up way too much in exchange for that.
As the carpet bombers are kinda a unique element of the line, I'd like to see something done to them to make them a bit more interesting - even if it's just "tighter spread for less alpha" to up the consistency, or faster drop-speed so the juke time is more inline with all the other bombers in the game.

[Jaynoble55]

Thanks for the link Ace, gonna study that and see what I can do.