Got this in a container drop today, is it any good?

[Snargfargle]

[MidnightPhoenix07]

Well, free is always nice I guess?

Personally the ship isn’t that good. You’re a Fletcher that trades a gun and torp rack for a (marginally useful) controllable plane. In pretty much every situation, Fletcher’s going to be a better ship.

In addition to losing the gun and torp launcher and having lower DPM, the hybrid play style doesn’t work as well in a destroyer as it does in a cruiser or especially battleship. If you ignore the plane and play like a normal DD, you’re just a gimped Fletcher. If you use the plane gimmick, you either play close to objectives like normal DDs and risk getting rushed and killed while flying, or you stay back to avoid that but take a DD “away” from your team. It works for battleships and even some cruisers, but not really for squishy destroyers.

The planes do give you some extra spotting advantages that Fletcher wouldn’t have, and a long range option to damage cruisers and battleships outside your gun/torp range. But you aren’t going to have that many opportunities to really use them without risking getting rushed and killed, or leaving your team without a destroyer for spotting or cap control on your flank. 

[tocqueville8]

Not really.

You lose firepower and concealment for some planes that are actually hard to use the way you'd want, i.e. against other DDs to gain the upper hand in a future 1v1. Why hard to use? It's easy to overshoot the enemy DD if no one else is spotting him, plus they're Tiny Tim rockets, so you get very few per plane, which is inconsistent. They're really more for doing chip damage to BBs and cruisers, but then I'd much rather have Tromp's planes, even though they don't spot. Incidentally, the spotting isn't all that useful when games already have plenty of DDs, subs and usually a CV.

Edited February 3 by tocqueville8

[iDuckman]

Midnight with a good precis.

So gib to me.

 

[Lord_Slayer]

5 hours ago, Snargfargle said:

It's a Fletcher short a gun and a set of torps.

Its a bit of a situation/fun LOLz boat.

Think of it as a Benson in T9, but with an airplane. Its workable, but like most hybrids, using the aircraft puts your ship at a disadvantage, so you need to pick and choose when to use it.

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

5 hours ago, Snargfargle said:

Dont have it and dont want it.

Its pretty much a nerfed Fletcher which isn't really that strong to begin with. Sure, you get the gimmicky Airstrikes (like most new ships these days), but unlike hybrid BBs which can use the planes for great strategic advantages, spot for yourself, get strikes in between salvos, spot a surfaced Sub, spot and strike a DD and quick switch to guns and shoot same DD while you're airstrike keeps him spotted etc etc etc, you dont really get that in a DD.

Leaving a DD in a fight un-untended to fly around in the air is a sure suicide. If ANYTHING spots you're DD while you fly, you pretty much dead. So then you have to play youre DD like many newbs play hybrid BBs, which is sitting behind an island all game and play like an extremely nerfed CV.

[Verblonde]

Pretty much everything I'd want to say has been covered admirably by others i.e. free's free, so yay, but she's probably the worst of the Feltchers in the game*...

 

*Edit: although Velos might ask us to hold her beer...

Edited February 4 by Verblonde

[PrairiePlayer]

Interesting thread as I just picked up the Halford today in a container drop and was wondering what to do with it.  It does not sound like something especially useful. 

[Verblonde]

10 minutes ago, PrairiePlayer said:

It does not sound like something especially useful.

FWIW I tend to file her under 'something for a bit of variety in Coop, but distinctly sub-optimal for PvP' (the latter meaning Ranked for me these days). She's nice for something occasionally different, but probably a less good choice if you're playing seriously...

[Pugilistic]

I got one this Christmas as well. Its good because it means that henceforth we wont drop a Halford. 

Edited February 4 by Pugilistic

[KJ82]

I dont even use it for coop. But at least you never need to spend coal on it, or getting it instead of something better from a drop.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

9 hours ago, PrairiePlayer said:

and was wondering what to do with it.

From the feel of this thread, all of which I read before posting this reply, the answer seems to be coming down to "park it and farm it at Anniversary/Christmas". 

Sooner or later, I think WG is going to do the obvious thing and give us a DD - perhaps a post-war one from the helicopter era - whose aviation gimmick is ASW airstrike. Tromp gets away with it because her Dutch airstrikes are click-and-forget, but Halford goes in an inadvisable direction (IMHO) because a destroyer hull is the last one you should be leaving behind to drive airplanes for any significant length of time.

Kidd gets away with losing half her torpedoes because she brings a Fletcher hull to Tier 8 and picks up a heal in compensation. Lo Yang got away with losing a gun (compared with Benson) because she picked up hydroacoustic search (for which she also has to sacrifice speed boost). Halford loses BOTH but remains at Tier 9 and loses the mobility which is critical for keeping a DD alive when it's doing its job properly. Unicums will probably drive her well because they can compensate for the down-tuned weapon systems, but unicum DD players tend not to be fond of airplanes in the first place...

Playing her well will require an open mind and a skilled hand. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

22 hours ago, Snargfargle said:

Congratulations.  🙂 

Personally, I like the Halford.

There are times in DD play wherein targets are far away and this DD can still attack distant targets by utilizing the planes.
Also, providing "spotting" for the team (or one's self) can be performed while keeping the hull outside of radar range.

I think that people who are proficient with CV's can transition to using hybrid-ships without too much difficulty.
The Halford is a primarily a Destroyer, with planes available for situations of opportunity.