07-22-2020, 01:46 PM
P.S.
I did figure out carriers. Turns out just the German ones are "early access / special event" locked. Some of the others are available through the normal progression tree, branching out of the Destroyer lineup.
Carrier play consists of launching a group of air-to-sea attack planes which you control directly. While doing this your ship is generally on autopilot -- it will run repairs and launch defensive fighters automatically as needed and you can direct its movement from a map interface. Oddly you can't control your defensive fighters at all (I always wondered why carriers were "greedy" and never helped protect the fleet with fighter cover and the reason is because they can't). Gameplay consists of flying your attack groups around to deliver rocket attacks, bomb attacks or torpedo attacks. You have unlimited planes but destroyed ones are slow to regenerate so you have to be somewhat careful or you can find yourself short on options.
It is pretty fun and probably one of the more strategic ways to play since you're the only one on the field that can quickly shift focus from one area of the map to another. Effectiveness is somewhat questionable especially if enemies stay grouped up, as the concentrated AA fire will keep you at bay. Mostly I look for lone wolves I can hit or otherwise look for weak enemies I can help the team push against. Worst case (if heavy AA and the enemy stays tight) they're still useful as spotters as most ships can shoot a lot further than they can see.
The carrier itself is basically free beer so you have a bit of a quandary in how you play: more aggressive, closer to the enemy, means faster turn-around time and more damage you can deal with your aircraft but if so much as a single destroyer gets on you, you're probably toast. Most carrier drivers seem to hide in the far reaches of the map which is annoying (they are always the last ship your team has to hunt down) and not as effective but I guess the justification is "it's safe".
Couple important notes:
* You have limited ship slots. I think it's 15 or something. When you run out, new ships will cost real-life money to buy a new slot for. But you can sell ships you don't use anymore so sell off the rank 1-4 ships you'll probably never play again and free up some slots.
* You don't need to buy a ship to progress up the ranks. Use XP to unlock the ship, then say "no" to buying it and use your "free xp" to just skip to the next rank (and repeat until you reach the ship you want or run out of XP, THEN buy the ship and earn your way up from there.)
I did figure out carriers. Turns out just the German ones are "early access / special event" locked. Some of the others are available through the normal progression tree, branching out of the Destroyer lineup.
Carrier play consists of launching a group of air-to-sea attack planes which you control directly. While doing this your ship is generally on autopilot -- it will run repairs and launch defensive fighters automatically as needed and you can direct its movement from a map interface. Oddly you can't control your defensive fighters at all (I always wondered why carriers were "greedy" and never helped protect the fleet with fighter cover and the reason is because they can't). Gameplay consists of flying your attack groups around to deliver rocket attacks, bomb attacks or torpedo attacks. You have unlimited planes but destroyed ones are slow to regenerate so you have to be somewhat careful or you can find yourself short on options.
It is pretty fun and probably one of the more strategic ways to play since you're the only one on the field that can quickly shift focus from one area of the map to another. Effectiveness is somewhat questionable especially if enemies stay grouped up, as the concentrated AA fire will keep you at bay. Mostly I look for lone wolves I can hit or otherwise look for weak enemies I can help the team push against. Worst case (if heavy AA and the enemy stays tight) they're still useful as spotters as most ships can shoot a lot further than they can see.
The carrier itself is basically free beer so you have a bit of a quandary in how you play: more aggressive, closer to the enemy, means faster turn-around time and more damage you can deal with your aircraft but if so much as a single destroyer gets on you, you're probably toast. Most carrier drivers seem to hide in the far reaches of the map which is annoying (they are always the last ship your team has to hunt down) and not as effective but I guess the justification is "it's safe".
Couple important notes:
* You have limited ship slots. I think it's 15 or something. When you run out, new ships will cost real-life money to buy a new slot for. But you can sell ships you don't use anymore so sell off the rank 1-4 ships you'll probably never play again and free up some slots.
* You don't need to buy a ship to progress up the ranks. Use XP to unlock the ship, then say "no" to buying it and use your "free xp" to just skip to the next rank (and repeat until you reach the ship you want or run out of XP, THEN buy the ship and earn your way up from there.)