Worth speccing into interceptors on the Essex CV line?

[Zaydin]

Your fighters are already fast acting anyways and have reduced spotting range so it's not like you are giving up too much in exchange for protecting your fighters from enemy fighters and giving them a larger area to protect your allies in.

Side note, I don't get the people writing the guides for the new line basically recommending building it like a normal CV. I've been going hard on support for both upgrades and skills and it has actually earned me compliments for playing a CV due to having six smoke screens to drop plus the extra fighter squads.

[Kynami]

There are trade-offs to be made. And I definitely see the point in going for the interceptors on the T6 and T8 carriers if you keep dedicated captains. The Essex however has monstrous amounts of torpedo damage you can exploit if you take the associated skills. So there is a significant dissonance there because the first two ships in the line are throwing spitballs for torpedoes.

[Zaydin]

24 minutes ago, Kynami said:

There are trade-offs to be made. And I definitely see the point in going for the interceptors on the T6 and T8 carriers if you keep dedicated captains. The Essex however has monstrous amounts of torpedo damage you can exploit if you take the associated skills. So there is a significant dissonance there because the first two ships in the line are throwing spitballs for torpedoes.

I just took a look and yeesh, yeah the Yorktowns torpedoes are just bad. 3600 damage before TDR is factored in. By comparison the Lexingtons upgraded squads do nearly 6500 damage each before TDR is factored in.

I still maintain it's worth speccing into things like Squadon Consumables Mod 1 on the Essex line and Search and Destroy for 1 point for the 10% increase in patrol area at the very least. The extra fighters to place down and smoke screens can help save your teammates.

[Kynami]

You want to know what the funny thing is? The Independence is using pretty much the exact same torpedoes with a half kilometer less range... but 134 more base damage per torpedo back at T6.

Edit: Worth pointing out that the non-upgraded torpedo option for the Yorktown does a hair over 5,000 base damage. But only drops two torpedoes instead of four. But at the same time the upgraded option for the Lexington drops a triple spread of 6,400 base damage torpedoes. Its a bit funny at how the on paper damage claims the Yorktown 4 torpedo spread is worth ~14,000 base damage compared to the ~19,200 base of the Lexington triple drop.

But with how torpedo protection is counted against each torpedo? Might be something to be said for sticking with the non-upgraded torpedo bombers on the Yorktown.

Edited February 5 by Kynami
Additional thoughts.

[Itwastuesday]

If they can function the same way as Bearn interceptors (drop on enemy squad and the interceptors have time to engage) , then perhaps. 

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

I'm not going to take Interceptors...as that means I can't remove enemy fighter spotting setups.

It's not like I'm going to be strapped for fighters with my build.

And yes, those guys building the Essex like a normal CV are missing the point. There are better CVs for hitting hard with damage. Go play those if you are try-harding.

[Kynami]

3 hours ago, Daniel_Allan_Clark said:

I'm not going to take Interceptors...as that means I can't remove enemy fighter spotting setups.

Except you still have two very valid ways of removing them. Recalling your torpedo squadron after it latches but before it kills any of your planes. Or forcibly face-tanking it with tactical squadrons. That tactical fighter squadron with the Tiny Tims is a very solid way of removing it. And it isn't like you'll always be on the hook for this when those self-same fighter squadrons can be drawn off by aerial depth charges.

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

48 minutes ago, Kynami said:

Except you still have two very valid ways of removing them. Recalling your torpedo squadron after it latches but before it kills any of your planes. Or forcibly face-tanking it with tactical squadrons. That tactical fighter squadron with the Tiny Tims is a very solid way of removing it. And it isn't like you'll always be on the hook for this when those self-same fighter squadrons can be drawn off by aerial depth charges.

I don't use support CV fighter squadrons to spot. They only have a 3.5 km spotting range anyway.

Nah, the goal is to force the enemy to recall or suffer losses on their planes...if my fighters are still on the board 20 seconds after I deployed them...that's a failed deployment.

[GandalfTehGray]

I summon @Rei

 

As I don't believe there is a video discussing the different builds. Just some high quality farming/playstyle options available due to the portable smoke. 

[Rei]

On 2/5/2024 at 7:44 PM, GandalfTehGray said:

I summon @Rei

 

As I don't believe there is a video discussing the different builds. Just some high quality farming/playstyle options available due to the portable smoke. 

Sorry for the late response. Yeah I think Interceptors are the way to go with this line. I talked about it in another post here with the fighter strengths. The main trade you're making when taking Interceptors with this line is if the enemy CV spots you with their fighters, you have no way to remove them. Your only options at that point is to sail away or smoke yourself up. IMO tho, the benefits outweigh the losses with interceptors. I talk about builds and playstyle with the line here. One thing to add from this video, at the time, I didn't know Independence had enhanced fighters due to it never being stated, but she does.