First of all, see this guide: http://www.navyfield2.com/Forum/View.aspx?num=630&bt=B03&st=1&sw=&rc=20&ot=1
Second, my first language isn't english so it may have some errors in the text, but i think the idea won't be changed.
Third, if you're a CV player and intend to keep on with the class, check out those suggestions and give your ideas, every comment counts: http://www.navyfield2.com/Forum/View.aspx?num=1740&bt=B05&st=1&sw=&rc=20&ot=1
This guide isn't a rule, you don't need to follow all the ideas but it'll help for those who don't know how to start configuring hotkeys and how to engage a fight.
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1- Auto or Manual controll?
2- Hotkeys
3- Auto or Manual Dive bombing?
4- Auto or Manual Torpedo bombing?
5- How and when to engage
6- DB or TB?
7- Planes Capacity
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1- Auto or Manual Controll?
Well, this seems to be an obvious choice but it isn't, fact is, CVs has tons of AA guns, and the best way to use AA is on Manual for greater speed of movement and angle. >>>BUT<<<, you already have to controll 5 squads and will controll 7 later on, your ship and your map, so yeah, it's kinda hard to learn and master the manual but if you do you'll have better times when fighting enemy bombers because of the accuracy and reload bonus.
I use Auto because i have no patience to learn the Manual controll and i like to shoot HE from time to time.
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2- Hotkeys
First thing you must do when you get your first CV is to change your hotkeys, normal hotkeys are for normal ships, CVs are elite and must be treated as one.
*Ok, i'd screen shot my current hotkeys but i don't know how to put the image here and the image would be really big, so i'am going to tell my actual hotkeys.*
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CAMERA
Zoom In: Num 2
Zoom Out: Num 8
AIRCRAFT
Platoons: F1~F7
Ready/Cancel Ready/Launch/Return: Ctrl
Increase Altitude: R
Decrease Altitude: E
Change the aircraft type to the left side(When setting the platoon): \
Change the aircraft type to the right side(When setting the platoon): Z
Add 1 more aircraft: Scroll up mouse wheel
Reduce 1 more aircraft: Scroll down mouse wheel
Change cursor on manual diving command: C
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Those are the hotkeys i use for my CV, note that i use Auto Firing Mode.
HIDDEN HOTKEYS:
Quote from jehsong's CV guide(link on the top): "- hold Lowering altitute key (Q) --> Hold Shift too --> release Lowering altitute Key (Q) --> release shift key : will lower your squad to the minimum altitute. get used to this control. You need it when you use torpedo bombers and luring fighters to ally ships.
- hold rising altitute key (E) --> Hold shift too --> release rising altitute key (E) --> release shift key : will rise your suqad to the maximum altitute. get used to this control too. You need it when your TBs are escaping when they just dropped torps."
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3- Auto or Manual Dive Bombing?
This is the second most asked question from newbie players(the first is about better ship), should i learn manual bombing or keep using Auto?
My answer to that is like from many others, "I don't know".
Fact is, Manual Bombing may be a surprise attack and some say it is more "accurate", but i don't think this way, for larger targets i may agree with this but i still prefer to use auto, even if the planes from time to time don't dive all of them, the reason is very simple. When you use Auto bombing(right click on enemy ship) the plane will follow the enemy Citadel, which is usually located at the center of the ship, and it's really hard to "dodge" from it because of it, you can move the front and the back really quickly but not the center, when you manual bomb you can do that manually but you may miss it or even worse if you click very far away from the initial point the pilots may think the order is to climb again, leaving you with wounded planes who will get shot down if they do a second dive.
So, Manual or Auto? I'd choose Auto, if you don't mess up the timing you can drop the bomb right at the center for the cost of a right click.
NOTE: Manual Dive Bombing is commonly used to draw fighters to allied ships.
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4- Auto or Manual Torpedo Bombing?
To answer this question you just need to try auto torpedo bombing for your first time, the planes will lower altitude really fast, point to that, but it's poorly aimed so you'll have a hard time trying to hit someone with this, even if you try to do it with Radar caps and airfield(don't try it, it's a joke).
So, Manual Torpedo Bombing, how to do it? Lower your TB for the lowest altitude (read quote from Jehsong's CV guide in the Hotkeys section or check his guide), move it and predict where the enemy ship will go, avoid clicking too much because it can lead some pilots to climb a little and mess up with your launch, after releasing the torps(don't do it too close or you'll do 0 damage), rise your TBs to the highest altitude to avoid more damage.
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5- How and when to engage
Fighter Pilots: Engage every enemy plane and avoid enemy higher level planes or high numbered enemy planes(if you try to fight head-on higher level planes you will just dishonor CV class(Credits to Bunnydakillr": https://youtu.be/ppobDZeSJ9Q?t=35s ). When you need to fight a higher tier fighter or even mobed pilots, lower to the lowest altitude an "drag" them into your teammates' ships, they'll all be killed by AAW since this is the strongest anti-air weapon in the game ATM. Avoid fighting over your bases since it'll still fire flak shots and it'll hit you most of the time.
If your fighters are for an escort operation, only get planes on the way and high threat like 3 squads of bombers going for a teammate(or you).
Torpedoes Pilots: Always drop torps on manual mode, this way they'll have a better accuracy and always try to make squads of 2, 3 or 5 planes since this way you'll achieve max area coverage, avoid every fight, TBs doesn't have good guns but they can still do damage if the enemy is chasing them. Don't panic if you see enemy fighters coming after your TB, you don't want to end up with all squad killed and doing no damage at all, first thing you must do is "do i have fighters or allied ships nearby?" if you have fighters, keep following your course and put the fighters on the back, the enemy fighters will engage the TB and be shot by their rear guns meanwhile your fighters will rain hell from behind, forcing them to either leave or kill just a few of your TB.
Before launching your torps, check your surrounding, check every movement the enemy can make, from "hitting an island" to "start capping a base to automactly stop", the best aproach is a 60~90º degree, your planes must be facing the enemy ship direction and throw torps in a range that varies from 1cm to 2cm based on your torps(Spd or DMG), this way the enemy will take all the torps or will have to move a lot to take half of them. After torping, raise your altitude ASAP.
Always try to engage targets that have any escort around or your planes will be torn apart.
Dive Bombers: Not much to say, i'd recommend using manual bombing(if you want to learn and master it) only in easy targets like BB, CV and CA, by the way, always try to target those first since the others you'll miss 50% or more of the bombs. As TB they do have rear guns and they can do a lot of damage to low tier planes chasing them, unlike TB the DB only gets few hits from enemy AAW and after dropping the bomb they climb to the highest altitude again. If fighters are aproaching your DBs, you can use the tips from TB or you can use the manual dive bombing to dive near a teammate and get away with little to no damage. Don't try to engage from the sides since this is the most difficult area to aim, even for auto it can lead to some misses and you can't afford a miss, if possible, only engage after the enemy has overheated their engines.
Dive Bombers can launch bombs without having to dive but this way is really difficult and very innacurate, but if you want to try, the bomb will usually hit the "target" of your plane, this is just an option if your planes are really low and you're close to an enemy.
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6- DB or TB?
So, if you've come thisfar it's because you really liked the guide, the question now is, "which kind of planes should i have in my CV?".
If you look to higher tiers CVs you'll see that you'll have a lot of space, but i'll explain what are the differences between them.
LVL 1 DB x TB
The lvl 1 planes are crap, they have no health, low speed and their damage isn't very good, but they are what they are, if you're using lvl 1 planes it means that you're probably in tier V so you won't be able to carry a lot of planes and won't be able to afford any loss.
So, always keep your planes moving to avoid enemy flak, never pass through enemy ships(even at max. altitude you can get hit) and never think twice when you're going to do something, this way you won't regret too much when you see your pilots yelling "May day, may day".
DB:
Precision is the name of this plane, you'll hit 80% of the bombs on big targets.
Damage? Not at all, lvl 1 planes doesn't do much damage, yet they can destroy SS and if you mob them and do a 12 DB squad you'll surely hit hard.
Durability? It sucks, most of the times if you try to DB an enemy you won't recover your planes, if you DB an enemy near others you won't even drop a bomb.
Speed? N-O-N-E
TB:
Controll is the name of this plane, you'll either hit hard or make your enemies change their course.
Damage? Not at all, the DMG TB does a decent amount of damage but it has no speed at all, so for lvl 1 plane use the Spd. TB, the DMG one has to come really close to do some damage and it'll probably die before launching every torp.
Durability? It sucks, yet you can launch your torps at a safe distance to avoid "may day", the point of the TB isn't sinking enemy ships but messing with their movement(of course, if they don't move they'll end up sinking).
Speed? The Spd. TB has some, the DMG one is just like DB
SO, for lvl 1~59 commander you'll want to use TB more than DB, the reason is, as i said, you won't have many planes to afford the dives and enemies will probably be of a higher tier than you, TBs are the safest choice to get.
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LVL 60 DB x TB
Now you're in the main damage planes, those are strong planes with good durability and increased damage, a squad of 5 TBs or 5 DBs can easily sunk a tier V CV and they'll make your opponents be aware of your movements.
DB:
Precision is still the name of the plane, but now it has a nickname too called damage.
Damage? Best PrecisionXDamage you'll ever get.
Durability? A lot better than the lvl 1 plane, you'll be able to dive easily but you'll have to pay attention on the way back, if you don't destroy the enemy, it'll try to flak your planes so, don't fly in a straight line.
Speed? Better than the lvl 1, but still slow.
TB:
Controll is the name of the plane, but with a lot more of Damage.
Damage? Enormous, from my experience, better than DBs, a squad of 5 DMG TBs can destroy any tier V CV, to do that with DBs you'll have to get at least 8 DBs and hit all the bombs, the problem? The precision.
Durability? A lot better, now you can get closer and now you can use the fearsome DMG torp, you'll be the flying SS of PAIN.
Speed? The Spd. Torp moves really fast but it does low damage, but the DMG torp moves like the lvl 1 spd TB, and this is why you should get lvl 1 TB instead of DB, you'll get used to the speed and when you change to 60 you'll be able to use lvl 60 without a hard time.
SO, for lvl 60 planes you'll have at least tier VI ship, which means you'll have enough space for a lot of planes(no a lot if you're reckless), get a nice mix of each and see what suits you the best, my advice? Always have at least 6 TB and DB to make 2 squads of 3 and do a decent damage or controll an area.
Remember just one thing, IJN and UK TBs does more damage(and IJN has more Torp. Spd.), and this extra damage is really big.
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7- Planes Capacity
Now, it's getting over, this subject varies from player to player to suit their role, what i recommend.
LVL 1~59 Commander
8 Fighters
X TB or DB
LVL 60 Commander
6 + X DB
6 + X TP
8 + X FT
Tier VI CV:
15 FT
12 TB or DB
8 DB or TB
Higher Tiers:
50%~70% Fighters
The rest you split between your main attack unit and the secondary you put multiples of 4(DB) or 3(TB)
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