[2022] :Bot: Rocket Planes

I'll try to make a video that talks about how the Rockets work and what you can do to avoid them.

I recorded four videos. I set them to release one a day since I don't expect people to watch 4 videos of Rocket plane stuff.

First one is Shokaku:

If a player wants to see the path incoming shells are taking, they need to watch the ship which is threatening them to see the shells which are shot. General movement will probably hinder enemy player aim, but the best source of information is seeing it so you can react properly. This is of course hard with multiple enemies attacking you at once, so it's up to you to prioritize which threats are the biggest.

A very common compliant in Co-Op for the past several months has been that DDs and other fast ships with Torpedoes simply yolo and sink the bots. While I don't think a single Bot CV can/will single-handedly change that situation, I'm not certain that additional pressure on a DD is necessarily a bad thing given that oft-voiced player concern.

Bot Torpedoes, ASW Planes, and CVs are all quite accurate. I feel we can agree that those are fairly dialed in.

The bigger question is surface ship gun accuracy for Bots. The bots don't look like they shoot at the center of a player ship but rather right next to the ship, as if there was a ring around the ship's center and the shells were aimed at the ring. This does two things:

Shells are more likely to connect if a player goes broadside.

Shells fired left of center would hit the length of the ship.


Shells fired right of center would hit the length of the ship.


Shells fired "behind" the center would strike superstructure.


Shells fired "short" may disperse up into the citadel.

Shells do seem to firm in accuracy at closer ranges.

We don't currently offer a "Hard Mode" for Co-Op, but even with the accuracy settings as they are currently there is a LOT of engagement in Co-Op. While stronger players and veterans might find the fights trivial, having a lower threat does allow other players to have a more relaxed environment where they can have an expectation of fighting, brawling, and kills. A "Hard Mode" might not have enough engagement, and while some players want a 1v9 Co-Op that isn't a goal for us due to the amount of server resources it ties up on grand scale.

We do have Operations which offer a much more significant challenge (Defense of Naval Station Newport, for instance). We have announced that Operations will have a more open Tier Compatibility as well as more options with the return of several previously removed choices. So, Co-Op may not provide the challenge requested, but other options are coming.

I did three others. It was quite interesting to test it out.

Lexington has to commit to firing at such a long range that the rockets are very, very jukable:

Implacable was extremely hard to deal with, but I seemed to find a flaw in the firing logic:

Parseval was similarly hard, but like the Lexington needed a lot of room to start and execute the attack:

Bots seem not allowed to start their attack cycle unless the player is seen. This can and did lead to bots starting attacks late and overshooting my DD during my tests above.

The attack distance (where you lock in your attack spot) is the same as on a player CV. Shokaku was 1.8km and Lexington was 2.2km.

They do, but in the case of the Perseval I took the caps by overflys. The bot cannot attack what it can't "see", and there is a "Preparation Time" after the attack is started before the Attack can be locked in. The Prep Time is too much for unspotted DDs on the Parseval and Lexington. Possibly the Shokaku as well.

Just watch the Parseval video above. It's plainly evident. The attack cannot be started without "seeing" the enemy, so when I don't use AA or shoot my guns (and flare my air detect range) that bot cannot start an attack run early enough to place the reticle on me.