Confirmation bias

[Hardlec]

My fleet had two battleships.  Each ship had 15x14 inch guns, 14x8 inch guns and 6x4 inch guns. Best Fire control.  Best turret speed.  Best reload time.  White powder. I got off 4 salvos.

I scored no hits.

Enemy hits: to numerous to count.

I was not allowed to target the enemy destroyers.  As soon as I did a Ctrl+Rt. Clk on a destroyer, the targeting red dotted line snapped back to a battleship, unseen.  Thus, my plan to sink or disable the enemy destroyers with massive firepower was muut.  Of course even if I could target them, I couldn't hit them.  My ships had 15 inch main belt armor and 6 inch deck armor, the only defence I have against the enemy guns which always hit first.

One spread of torpedoes, 8 minutes into the game, and I lose.  This makes 24 consecutive losses in this scenario.  Most end when a torpedo attack I can't defend against from a destroyer I've barely detected sinks one of my ships before I've been able to identify the enemy.  Or, I have a ship disabled by enemy gunfire on the enemy's first salvo.  Again:  I can't zoom out far enough to get a proper context of the battle.

Explain to me how this is fun.  OR: explain to me how to score 1 hit out of 120 shots from my main guns.  Or tell me why I bother to bring battleships to a battle where they are nothing but target practice for the enemies torpedoes.

 

 

 

[Latur Husky]

1.) Don't push so aggressively towards enemy if you know he has weapons your ships have a hard time defending against i.e torpedoes.

2.) Plan your maneuvers ahead to control engagement distance.

3.) Read carefully information the game is providing you to position yourself against enemy ships in most efficient way both in regards to defence and offence. 

4.) All changes to course will affect your and enemy aim, changes needs some time to settle to take effect.

5.) There is randomness related to many things in the game, low chance doesn't mean it won't happen and high chance doesn't guarantee you things either. 

6.) Keep practicing and experimenting to find solution that works best for your play style. They might not be ideal, but the game is all about making trade offs.

Have fun.
 

[Hardlec]

I am plopped into the battle at different ranges.  Most of the time, the enemy is shooting at me before I can look over my ships.  OR  If I don't aggressively close with the enemy, I lose sight of the enemy and lose the battle.  I'd like to go for a parallel course, but, as I can't get a fleet context, that's impossible.  Ever notice how you don't get a heading or speed on enemy ships?  

I never get to execute a maneuver.  I understand that Battleships turn in a leisurely manner, but mine get torpedoed before I even get a context of the battle. Inside of 24 minutes, I'm dead.  I never know if the enemy is moving in a parallel course, closing in or opening range.  

There is no way for me to pick my formation,  much less try to position myself for an advantage.  I can't zoom out far enough to get a context, I get no information on speed or direction of the enemy ships.  I learned to calculate range and bearing when I was 14, but I can't do it on a video screen.

As the enemy hits me about 100 to 1, or more, the rest of your points, sadly, are moot.  Practicing becomes more and more difficult when I'm nothing but a punching bag.  See "Meet the American Battleships."  

[Jatzi]

I mean there's a reason escorts exist. Unescorted battleships tangling with destroyers at close range is almost always a bad idea. I know the scenario doesn't give you escorts but you also don't have to kill the destroyers. Ignore them and focus on the enemy battleships. If the destroyers try to close you back off. Do S-turns a lot, that'll make it hard to hit you with torpedoes from a distance. And the whole being unable to target them thing sounds like a bug so report it? And you can control every ship individually so you can micro your own formation if you want. On the top of the screen there are silhouettes of the enemy ships. Click on them to open a list of the enemy ships of that class, hover over a specific ship and it tells you their speed. The heading you gotta guess which sucks but it's not the end of the world. 

Also if you're not liking the mission then just don't play it? The academy missions aren't even really the point of the game so you can just ignore them, they're just meant to show off and test the game.