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Good position is the primary component of a victorious battle.
Good position will break the enemy formation and expose their vulnerable parts, allowing your team to deal a lot of damage without taking too much damage in return. Good position also makes capturing and defending key areas easier, making your team win on points faster. All players should learn how to improve their position and avoid positional mistakes.
CAPTURE BASE
What is Capture Base?
In the battle map there are colored circles, with red cones as its border. The circle is called base (a.k.a. capture site/capture area). To capture a base, you must have at least one ally ship inside that circle and hold that position until the capture progress is finished. If the ally ship is getting hit by the enemy while in the process of capturing, the progress will be delayed. If an enemy ship enters that circle, the progress will be paused. If the ally that is capturing the base leaves the circle or got sunk, the progress will be stopped and reverted.
Base that has been captured by allies will become green colored. Base that has been captured by enemies will become red colored. One captured base will generate around 5 points every several seconds. Base that has not been captured or is still in the process of capturing will not generate points.
Types of Capture Bases
Regular
In the regular battle, there are 2 capture bases at the spawn position of each team. Both bases are already in possession of each team and will generate points unless an ally ship enters the base controlled by the enemy team (and vice versa). The objective is to enter the enemy’s base to stop their point income or capture it. If the enemy’s base is captured, the ally team’s point will become 1000 instantly and the game is over.
Domination
In the domination battle, there are 1, 2, 3, or 4 unoccupied bases. The objective is to capture as many bases as possible and prevent the enemy from taking them. Capturing more bases than the enemy will give a lot of points advantage over time.
TEAM FORMATION
Map Control
The battlefield can be divided into 3 areas: left, center, and right. The left and right areas are often referred as flanks. Controlling all areas are important, especially the flanks. Losing control of one flank can result in a collapsed position and the enemy can easily set up a crossfire. Map control is less important in PVP due to less players, but in arena it’s the utmost priority.
In arena, at least 2 ships (battleship or cruiser) should protect a flank all the time. There’s no need to rush forward and kill yourself if the enemy outnumbers you in one flank. Just stay there and slow down the enemy is already a great contribution. The central part of the map is tricky to control because of the risk of getting crossfired from the flanks. Ships that can occupy the central position are usually destroyers and stealthy cruisers. Sniper battleship can also stay in the center, but at the back position not rushing forward. Mindlessly pushing to the center of the map often means instant death.
Analysis of Dominance
When you sail to a flank, always count the number and type of enemy ships on that flank. Compare it to the number and type of allied ships that are also going to the same flank as you. If the enemy has superior firepower, do not push aggressively. You’ll only get yourself killed. Just play it safe at medium to long range. Reassess the situation every few minutes.
If your team has superior firepower in that flank, push that flank with your team in a coordinated push.
Psychology Aspect
When fighting, you must be aware of the situation. There are times when you have to be brave, for example when you need to find enemies, capture bases, or support your teammates. Being a coward may cause your teammates to get killed. There are times when you have to play safe, for example when you’re outnumbered or there’s a CV on the enemy team. Recklessly charging the enemy team will get you killed quickly.
With enough experience, you can read the psychology of your teammates. The sign of reckless players is they rush to capture base right at the start of the battle (using anything other than DDs and stealthy cruisers). If you see a reckless player, it’s better to not follow them. The sign of coward teammates is they will always stay back and retreat the moment an enemy ship appears. They will not support you when pushing. If your teammates are reckless or coward, better to play safe at medium range.
Crossfire
Crossfire is the formation where you put the enemy in between 2 or more ally ships. The formation looks like a triangle, where the enemy is facing an ally and the other ally can hit the enemy from the side. This formation ensures that no matter where the enemy is turning, he will show broadside to someone. This formation is extremely effective. All players should find a way to create crossfire while avoiding to get crossfired. See the example below.
Coordinated Push
Coordinated push is the formation where several ally ships move forward together to gain map control or capture a base. The allied ships take turns in tanking. Nobody is overextending or staying too far behind. The push is performed before the enemy team has time to reorganize themselves. A successful coordinated push will break the enemy’s formation and create crossfire, leading to a quick victory.
When pushing, always assess the balance between the aggressive side (you) and the defensive side (enemy). If the enemies are running away and their position is starting to collapse, keep pushing. But if your team is retreating, dying, or the enemy reinforcement is coming from the other side, stop pushing. Don’t forget to assess the psychology of your teammates.
Sometimes a coordinated push is necessary when the team is lacking captured bases and will lose if everybody keeps running away. However, this formation is vulnerable to getting crossfired, very hard to maintain with random players, and usually not feasible in a map with few or no islands. In general, the moment to start pushing is when the enemies are staying far back and there’s little risk of getting crossfired.
Lemming Train
Lemming train is the formation where most ships move to one direction but don’t move forward to push the enemy formation. This is a terrible formation because the enemy can easily reorganize, create crossfire, and destroy everyone. Don’t confuse a lemming train with a coordinated push. A well executed push can break the formation of the enemy team. Lemming train is when many players don’t know what to do, just follow where the majority is going, but then too afraid to move forward when the team needs to. Lemming train is only acceptable in a CV battle.
POSITION RELATED TO SHIP TYPE
This diagram is showing each ship type’s relative position to other ships in the span between capture base and map border. Keep in mind that this diagram is just for illustration. Depending on the situation, each ship may need to change position or rotate.
- Destroyer should be at the front and lead the team. Destroyer can spot enemies and capture base, both are vital for the team. After capturing a base, the destroyer is recommended to move to another base.
- Behind destroyer is stealthy cruiser. Stealthy cruiser will follow and support the destroyer in fighting enemy destroyer. The stealthy cruiser must use concealment (such as smokescreen or island) or retreat if it gets too much attention from the enemy ships. Stealthy cruiser player must be extremely careful before shooting.
- Behind stealthy cruiser are tank battleship, medium-range battleship, and offtank cruiser. They absorb damage from the enemy and allow the damage dealers at the back to shoot at the enemies safely. The tanking role must be switched regularly if the lead tank is under heavy attack. The tank must not overextend so it can retreat anytime.
- Behind the tanks are damage dealers. They can deal a lot of damage if undisturbed. That being said, some snipers can also move forward and tank for a short time. Staying too far back or sailing on the map border should be avoided. You will miss most of your shots and you can’t help your team when they need it. If you’re using a CV, stay behind your teammates and do not get detected (run away if you’re being detected).
Differentiating between types of ships may be difficult for beginners. I suggest read Battleship Reviews, Cruisers Reviews, and Ship Type, Role, and Playstyle to find out what type of ship that you’re using and how to play it.
ENVIRONMENT
Island
Small islands only serve as obstacles, but big islands can be used to conceal the ship and prevent it from getting shot from the other side of the island. Clever use of island is crucial for most ships. There’s no need to sail into the middle of the map and getting crossfired by multiple enemies if you can just use an island to block excess enemies and only fight 1 enemy at a time. By limiting the amount of incoming attacks, even fragile ships can last longer (see the image below for example).
Islands can also be used as temporary hiding spots before ambushing the enemy. Destroyers and cruisers with bad armor must be careful when sailing past an island to prevent getting ambushed.
Island that is behind a ship will become an obstacle when the ship needs to retreat. That’s why, sailing in front of an island is usually a bad idea and has to be done carefully.
Ships that has low shell arc and high shell velocity (usually sniper ships) should avoid islands as much as possible so they can shoot the enemies unobstructed and the enemies that shoot them can be seen. However, some sniper ships have bad armor and still need to take cover behind islands when they take too much damage. Recognizing when to sail into open water and when to take cover is important.
Open Water
Open water areas have few or no islands. Ships that rely on islands (for example ships with bad armor and bad long range firepower) usually suffer in open water battles. There’s nothing they can do except playing safe on the flanks. Ships with good concealment can try to capture bases and spot enemies, but must exert extreme caution unlike other maps. If a ship gets spotted in open water, every enemy ship within firing range can shoot at it. Sniper ships usually become much more powerful here.
Map Size
There are plenty of maps in this game, and they have different sizes. Small maps have less than 40×40 km size. Small maps allows battleships to shoot from one flank to the other flank, and this could make pushing in a thinly armored ship difficult. However, small maps usually has a lot of islands that can be used as cover. Battles usually happen in the corridors created by those islands, with occasional battleship sniping from across the map.
Big maps have up to 50×50 km size. Battleships rarely shoot from one flank to the other flank because they don’t have range and accuracy for that. Sniper ships usually need to stay in the middle for maximum coverage. Big maps have islands, but their proportion to open water is small. Battles usually happen on the flanks, in open water. The fall of one flank rarely affects the other flank until late game.
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