Mission 15: DDs vs. TBs

[JohnVicres]

About this mission... I've been struggling hardcore with balancing the destroyers to succeed in... anything.

-Since the available tech is pretty low and the displacement is very limited, I just can't make the ideal build: it's an all-or-nothing for either survivability (that is overrated, because DDs are pretty much effed in 2 good hits) or offense (which is all good and nice, before you're torn to shreds by the enemy's superior number of guns).

-I've tried a suggestion I saw around here too, with spreading torpedoes all over and keeping the enemy away, but that just doesn't work when you can't throw them faster than the enemy TBs can close the distance to you.

-My oh my, the CAs are like angry badgers with my DDs: they just refuse to aim at the BB, and whatever their main gun caliber, the secondaries are enough to blow up the DDs engines, which is almost guaranteed death.

-Lastly, the BB you get is horrible: pre-dreadnought, few, innacurate or weak secondaries, and outright useless main guns. it's slower than my grandma, and one torpedo pretty much halts it for good. It can do some work on the enemy, but only if you put it at spitting distance, and I think that's not a good idea against TBs.

So, how did y'all deal with this mess, if anyone's managed a solid win? I think the worst part is that there's no way to avoid being grossly outnumbered, and the DDs are generally not that better than the enemy TBs in any way, sometimes even worse.

 

My best try: 

[Colablikje]

its the last mission i need to complete and i just cant lol. i hate dd and tp gameplay and this mission is the worst of the worst in that regard

[balticsailor]

i came close to finshing it 2 or 3 times sofar out of maybe 20 tries or so. Sofar 3 or 4 dds with 5" and gun tech seem to go the furthist for me, but i run out of time or ammo or got hampert by eating torp when not baby sitting a ships. Personaly i find the low hit ratio very fustrating, leading me to play in to high time compression and then getting torped.

 

[CajunNavy]

If I recall correctly, I used 5 DD's with 5-6, 5"guns and one torpedo. Tech option was guns. Speed was around 24kts and I armored all I could.  The best situation was when the DD's started out on the off side of the BB, away from the enemy.  I detached them and started pounding the first TB I could see.  The BB engaged one CA until it was slowed some, them went after the other.  I brought the DD's around the BB to engage the TB's.  I got them all, but the BB had to sink the last two at ridiculously close range.

Keep all ships at cruise speed, HE, aggressive opening fire and aggressive torpedo (do each ship individually for fire and torpedo).  Prepare to always disengage a DD from the division and fight it separately.

I got the ships I wanted and just keep fighting the same battle till I beat the sorry little buggers. LOL

Good luck and good hunting!

CajunNavy

[Pedroig]

Quantity has a quality all its own.  Cruise speed (the square box), not flank speed (full right slider), and only fire HE for your DD's...

[akd]

In all missions, variable conditions can have big effects on outcomes, so you might want to check that by hovering over the thermometer in the upper left.  I believe you can "roll" up to a -40% malus to accuracy.  And currently the malus is only to gun accuracy.  Small torpedo boats will perform the same regardless of sea conditions.

That said, I agree that main gun reloads are too slow, at least for mid- to late- tech development levels.  A big problem here, however, is that accuracy adjustments are made the moment the gun fires, not when the shot arrives.  This is a compounding problem as you increase reload rate and range.  You could be in a situation where accuracy has already improved for 3 salvos fired before the first salvo has actually arrived.  Until that is fixed, substantially increasing reload rates will cause more problems.

Edited October 15, 2019 by akd