Bearn Interceptors Discussion

[SoshiSone]

I've run Interceptors for most of time as Bearn captain, but have always had angst over the fact they don't spot.  Now that subs are an integral part of the game, that angst has grown even more, to the point I wonder if the intereptor juice is worth the proverbial squeeze.  It was bad enought giving up DD spotting, but now I give up subs.  Not to even mention the occassional CV snipe spot and the loss of three points on the skill tree.

So, what say ye Bearn captains.  Are interceptors still a viable options?  Or do you just give up too much?

[Guest]

Bearn interceptors..what a historical joke as the real Bearn never operated any fighters, but in WOWS it has super fighters that shoot down everything they encounter. Does WG even say what they are supposed to be besides "high powered patrol fighters"? Name a French built "high powered patrol fighter" in WW2.

Edited January 16 by Kalishnikat

[Wolfswetpaws]

Tagging @ArIskandir, the Bearn expert that first comes to my mind.

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

To me, I either have interceptors and the bigger patrol radius...or better secondaries...or flak resistance.

I'm torn between interceptors and better secondaries...two memes fighting for supremacy.

[tocqueville8]

Don't Bearn fighters spot much less anyway? It's not much of a loss then...

Edited January 17 by tocqueville8

[ArIskandir]

14 hours ago, SoshiSone said:

So, what say ye Bearn captains.  Are interceptors still a viable options?  Or do you just give up too much?

Playing Interceptor build is more of a mission statement, you don't play it because being more "effective" in broader terms (it isn't imo), but because you want to play a particular playstyle. I play Bearn with the aim of controlling the skies and negating the enemy CV influence, to that end using Interceptors is the way to go. 

I'm not a CV player so a I didn't miss not having "spotters", for the most part I fared well, if I needed something spotted I just went there. Also as @tocqueville8 says, Bearn's fighters have reduced spotting range (somewhat offset by having enlarged HP pools) so there's "less" to lose anyway. 

Another important consideration for me was Interceptor build being far less intrusive and obnoxious for surface ships (except DDs...lol) and lets you provide real, uncheatable coverage for your team mates... if I drop my fighters to protect a team mate, I mean that... I don't want them cheesed away by an enemy fighter drop. 

[ArIskandir]

12 hours ago, Daniel_Allan_Clark said:

I'm torn between interceptors and better secondaries...two memes fighting for supremacy.

There are many better options for a Secondary meme CV build... There's none better for a meme interceptor build. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

Thanks @ArIskandir.  🙂 

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

26 minutes ago, ArIskandir said:

There are many better options for a Secondary meme CV build... There's none better for a meme interceptor build. 

I play ALL my CVs that have secondaries with the secondary module in slot 3 and once I get the key captain skills the four point secondary captain skill.

It's my personal meme. It used to be just for laughing at enemy DDs that thought they could YOLO me (it's hilarious watching the panic!)...it's actually been most useful to deal with subs.

Bearn though really needs those captain skills for other things...and her secondary reload rate is abysmal at 9 seconds...

Edited January 17 by Daniel_Allan_Clark

[Wolfswetpaws]

2 hours ago, Daniel_Allan_Clark said:

I play ALL my CVs that have secondaries with the secondary module in slot 3 and once I get the key captain skills the four point secondary captain skill.

It's my personal meme. It used to be just for laughing at enemy DDs that thought they could YOLO me (it's hilarious watching the panic!)...it's actually been most useful to deal with subs.

Bearn though really needs those captain skills for other things...and her secondary reload rate is abysmal at 9 seconds...

[Took]

I think the Interceptor build is more of just a way to have fun and troll red cv's for a laugh some afternoon,, i dont think its really a valid competitive build,, like say for ranked or something...   

But that being said,,the interceptor build is super fun..... especially if you get a dumb red cv rolling thru it..

[invicta2012]

21 hours ago, Kalishnikat said:

Does WG even say what they are supposed to be besides "high powered patrol fighters"? Name a French built "high powered patrol fighter" in WW2.

Dewoitine D.520s - very similar to a Seafire or navalised ME Bf109 - or perhaps one of the several twin engined naval aircraft the French were looking into for the Joffre class - SNCAO CAO600, Potez 630, Breguet 693, Dewoitine D750. Any of those could have been converted into gunship heavy fighters.  Twin engined planes would make an excellent gimmick for the French CV line; France came to the naval aviation game a bit late but if you extrapolated their development programmes out into 1942 their Tier VIII ship would have some advanced planes to work with. 

[_KlRlTO_]

22 hours ago, SoshiSone said:

I've run Interceptors for most of time as Bearn captain, but have always had angst over the fact they don't spot.  Now that subs are an integral part of the game, that angst has grown even more, to the point I wonder if the intereptor juice is worth the proverbial squeeze.  It was bad enought giving up DD spotting, but now I give up subs.  Not to even mention the occassional CV snipe spot and the loss of three points on the skill tree.

So, what say ye Bearn captains.  Are interceptors still a viable options?  Or do you just give up too much?

I do not run interceptors on anything other than Super carriers at tier 11. This is despite the fact that Bearn, Essex, and Yorktown have reduced air spotting already. The reason for this is enemy CVs and what they do to help their team: spotting. If an enemy CV drops fighters to spot, and you have interceptors, you can't do anything about it. I have heard arguments for friendlies using ASW planes to knock down the spotter, but that doesn't work for three reasons: 1) random players don't actually think to do this very often, 2) battleship air detection range often outranges their ASW, and 3) DDs don't have ASW planes. It's even more important with these CVs to knock down spotters, because spotting is the biggest advantage other CVs will have on you.

[asalonen]

I have about 170 games in the Béarn. At some point I switched in interceptors and tried them a few dozen games. I did not like it and went back to normal fighters, and will not go back to interceptors.

I know there are poeple who says that interceptors are the only correct way to play the Béarn because you can counter and grief the enemy CV. But I'm convinced that in terms of winning the games it is not the best choice.

Béarn has a unique ability to absolutely devastate the enemy destroyers. You can hit them ridiculously hard with the skip bombers, and when you drop the fighter squadron on them, it will take them AGES to shoot that massive squadron down. Yes, Béarn's fighters only provide intermittent spotting due to the 1.5 km spotting range, but it is still a whole lot more valuable than no spotting at all. And finally, not having the interceptor builds frees up several captain skill point for improving your strike ability.

I would ask this: How often you face an enemy CV that is so good that it NEEDS to be hard-countered in order to win the game. 20 % of the battles maybe? However, in every battle you face on average about three destroyers.

I'm roughly in the top-20 in EU in the Béarn -- this is not to brag, but to point out that you really can get the results without the interceptors. And sometimes when I face other Béarn players whose stats are even a little better, I notice that many of them don't use interceptors either.

Edited January 18 by asalonen

[ArIskandir]

7 hours ago, asalonen said:

Béarn has a unique ability to absolutely devastate the enemy destroyers. You can hit them ridiculously hard with the skip bombers, and when you drop the fighter squadron on them, it will take them AGES to shoot that massive squadron down. Yes, Béarn's fighters only provide intermittent spotting due to the 1.5 km spotting range, but it is still a whole lot more valuable than no spotting at all.

I agree a bit of spotting is better than no spotting at all, and maybe agree if you aim to project more influence, then fighters is the best option because they provide more options and flexibility. 

Having said that, Bearn is perfectly able to murder DDs without fighter spotting, your turn circle is good enough to reengage without losing sight of the DD and even if you do it for some moments, the prep and aiming time of the skippers is generous enough to make corrections. So I don't think fighter spotting is all that relevant to the DD hunting process other than as a parting gift if the DD is still alive. 

As I said before, for me the "Bearn" way to play is interceptors. Any other CV can do the fighter/spotter thing, Bearn can do interceptors and still remain very effective, that's a unique trait you'll be wasting... You'll be missing being the "guardian angel" of your team, it's a nice feeling. 

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

16 minutes ago, ArIskandir said:

You'll be missing being the "guardian angel" of your team, it's a nice feeling. 

The majority of players at tier 6 random don't understand that Bearn is unique and get pissed because you aren't spotting.

[ArIskandir]

28 minutes ago, Daniel_Allan_Clark said:

The majority of players at tier 6 random don't understand that Bearn is unique and get pissed because you aren't spotting.

I found players are much more worried about being targeted by the enemy CV. When you drop some interceptors over their head and shot down the squadron that was about to attack them they tend to be thankful... Not once I was told "go spot, I can fend the CV by myself"

[Ensign Cthulhu]

Given the announced plans for changes to CV spotting, an interceptor build probably loses nothing at all.

Personally I think the change should have been to make all aircraft spot as badly as Bearn aircraft, and if the upcoming PTS goes about as badly as I hope it will, I think this will be the fallback solution. 

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

Just now, ArIskandir said:

I found players are much more worried about being targeted by the enemy CV. When you drop some interceptors over their head and shot down the squadron that was about to attack them they tend to be thankful... Not once I was told "go spot, I can fend the CV by myself"

That has not been my experience at all.

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

Just now, Ensign Cthulhu said:

Given the announced plans for changes to CV spotting, an interceptor build probably loses nothing at all.

Personally I think the change should have been to make all aircraft spot as badly as Bearn aircraft, and if the upcoming PTS goes about as badly as I hope it will, I think this will be the fallback solution. 

I've said this since 0.8.2 at least...

Pretty much every CV should operate like Bearn does...but WG is terrified that the air superiority focus will return...which they struggled to have rewards incentives...and drove a HUGE skill gap problem in randoms.

[Wolfswetpaws]

2 minutes ago, Ensign Cthulhu said:

Given the announced plans for changes to CV spotting, an interceptor build probably loses nothing at all.

Personally I think the change should have been to make all aircraft spot as badly as Bearn aircraft, and if the upcoming PTS goes about as badly as I hope it will, I think this will be the fallback solution. 

Interesting food for thought.  Why wasn't this ^^^ something WG/WOWs tested before the more radical changes?  


 

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

2 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Interesting food for thought.  Why wasn't this ^^^ something WG/WOWs tested before the more radical changes?  


 

Bearn may have been the test bed...

[Ensign Cthulhu]

Just now, Daniel_Allan_Clark said:

I've said this since 0.8.2 at least...

Pretty much every CV should operate like Bearn does...but WG is terrified that the air superiority focus will return...which they struggled to have rewards incentives...and drove a HUGE skill gap problem in randoms.

As a CV player, I consider Bearn settings as an acceptable solution between where we currently are and coddling DD superunicums by not having aircraft be able to spot them at all. The only problem I have even at the moment is that certain ships with very long range AA (e.g. the new Japanese light cruiser line) can start opening fire on me almost as soon as I spot them, and this is actually a serious problem in co-op, as all bots that have either DFAA or hydro take DFAA there. 

Just now, Wolfswetpaws said:

Interesting food for thought.  Why wasn't this ^^^ something WG/WOWs tested before the more radical changes?  


 

Flippant answer: because WG has given in and bent the knee to howling, screaming DD players who want to rampage unchecked, and the rest of what I want to say is unprintable. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

5 minutes ago, Daniel_Allan_Clark said:

I've said this since 0.8.2 at least...

Pretty much every CV should operate like Bearn does...but WG is terrified that the air superiority focus will return...which they struggled to have rewards incentives...and drove a HUGE skill gap problem in randoms.

What ought to be properly researched is aerial spotting/detection.
Get a decent plane, and fly over areas with plenty of ships of various sizes and at various times of day and in various weather conditions and at various altitudes.
Then record the results of what a competent pilot can see and communicate about while cruising around and while performing air-show-style maneuvers (to simulate stress of combat).
Instead WG/WOWs chose a different approach?

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

15 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

What ought to be properly researched is aerial spotting/detection.
Get a decent plane, and fly over areas with plenty of ships of various sizes and at various times of day and in various weather conditions and at various altitudes.
Then record the results of what a competent pilot can see and communicate about while cruising around and while performing air-show-style maneuvers (to simulate stress of combat).
Instead WG/WOWs chose a different approach?

Back to the necessary concealment rework then...