Japan Submarine - Resources and Discussion

[HogHammer]

VIII I-56

Highlighted links to ship information

[___V_E_N_O_M___]

Tier 8 Torp spammer, hell under water

[Wolfswetpaws]

On 9/2/2023 at 9:23 AM, HogHammer said:

VIII I-56

Highlighted links to ship information

The Tier-8 Japanese Submarine I-56 has traits which make it suitable for attacking large and/or non-maneuvering targets.

The torpedo warheads pack a solid punch and the "dumb-fire" torpedoes have a good range.  Their reload time is competitive.
The homing torpedoes have a short range and weaker warheads by comparison.

The I-56 doesn't have enough dive-capacity/time, in my opinion. 
In addition, her surface detection radius is 7.12 km, the largest in-game among submarines (as of this writing).
While her top-speed is competitive, her rudder-shift and turning-circle are not competitive.

Players should bear these "features" in mind while approaching opponent's ships and maneuvering into position for an attack (and escape?!?).

The I-56's deck-gun is manually controlled by the player and can finish-off low-health opponents.  Which, when it happens, never gets old in my opinion.  🙂 
The deck-gun's firing-arc faces to the aft and to the port & starboard sides of the hull, but does not fire forward.
Since the torpedoes are arranged to fire foward, there is at least one weapon system able to fire in a given direction (if loaded and if the I-56 is surfaced).
The I-56 is not equipped with AA guns.  She has to "just dodge" by maneuver and/or submerging.

Her consumable suite lacks a Submarine Surveilance capability.  
She does have a hydrophone, though.  Skilled hydrophone using players may be able to detect and ping other submarines so that homing torpedoes may work.


For "anime' fan" reasons, the I-56 pairs well with Commander ARP Iona.  🙂 
But, as a Japanese premium submarine, the I-56 can be utilized to train compatible commanders as a player desires.
  

In the Wolfpack Scenario Operation (dedicated solely for submarines) the I-56 can perform well, if the player does their part.

In short, while I recognize some "trade-offs" in the I-56's balance of virtues, vices and quirks, I like the I-56.
For some of the shenannigans the I-56 is capable of, I refer people to Yuro's youtube video devoted to her.  🙂  

I-56 is a Completely Balanced Submarine

 

[Gillhunter]

Why don't US standard BBs go 40 knots in the game?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_submarine_I-56_(1943)

Edited September 15, 2023 by Gillhunter

[Crucis]

On 9/15/2023 at 3:52 PM, Gillhunter said:

Why don't US standard BBs go 40 knots in the game?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_submarine_I-56_(1943)

Honestly, I think that it's "criminal" that US standard BBs weren't given a "fake" (i.e. proposed but never implemented) engine upgrade, up to, say, the mid 20 kt range or so.  IMHO, the current stock engines should have been treated as just that ... stock, with a researchable upgrade.

[Gillhunter]

2 hours ago, Crucis said:

Honestly, I think that it's "criminal" that US standard BBs weren't given a "fake" (i.e. proposed but never implemented) engine upgrade, up to, say, the mid 20 kt range or so.  IMHO, the current stock engines should have been treated as just that ... stock, with a researchable upgrade.

I think that it's "criminal" to have subs introduced capable of speeds 2 to 3 times what subs of the era were capable of.

[Wolfswetpaws]

6 minutes ago, Gillhunter said:

I think that it's "criminal" to have subs introduced capable of speeds 2 to 3 times what subs of the era were capable of.

I hear ya.
But, to be consistent, you'd have to refrain from using the Repair Party consumable, and the radar that works through islands, among other in-game mechanics that are un-real.  🙂 

[Gillhunter]

5 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

I hear ya.
But, to be consistent, you'd have to refrain from using the Repair Party consumable, and the radar that works through islands, among other in-game mechanics that are un-real.  🙂 

This issue has nothing to do with consistency, and you understand that. It's just a defender of subs talking point. Name another class of ship in the game that that has it's speed doubled or tripled.   

[Wolfswetpaws]

53 minutes ago, Gillhunter said:

1 hour ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

I hear ya.
But, to be consistent, you'd have to refrain from using the Repair Party consumable, and the radar that works through islands, among other in-game mechanics that are un-real.  🙂 

This issue has nothing to do with consistency, and you understand that. It's just a defender of subs talking point. Name another class of ship in the game that that has it's speed doubled or tripled.   

We've pleasantly and politely exchanged our views on this point in the past, and touched on the point again here.
And, I'm aware we're aware of each other's awareness.  🙂  
So, I'll refrain from side-tracking this topic further.  
"Cheers".    

[Crucis]

8 hours ago, Gillhunter said:

I think that it's "criminal" to have subs introduced capable of speeds 2 to 3 times what subs of the era were capable of.

You may not like them, but IMO, subs would be unplayable with historical speeds. Even the HMS Undine, which is still probably ahistorically "fast" is nearly unplayable due to its molasses slow speed.

The reality is that historical sub speeds worked in the actual historical environment because things happened more slowly than in the game.  Naval battles could take place over many hours.  Same for convoy raids.  Add to that the fact that subs may have only had time for one engagement before the enemy moved out of range. Things work differently in this game environment.  Subs are expected to make a number of attacks over the course of a battle, which necessitates them being able to have unrealistically high speeds.  

[Crucis]

8 hours ago, Gillhunter said:

This issue has nothing to do with consistency, and you understand that. It's just a defender of subs talking point. Name another class of ship in the game that that has its speed doubled or tripled.   

Name another type of ship that NEEDED to have its speed doubled or tripled to be competitive with all the other ship types.

 

[Gillhunter]

2 hours ago, Crucis said:

Name another type of ship that NEEDED to have its speed doubled or tripled to be competitive with all the other ship types.

 

Thanks for proving my point. This was WoWs pounding a square peg into a round hole. Yes, I know that subs are here to stay, but we all don't need to like it.

[Crucis]

2 hours ago, Gillhunter said:

Thanks for proving my point. This was WoWs pounding a square peg into a round hole. Yes, I know that subs are here to stay, but we all don't need to like it.

I don't think that it's that big a deal.  

[Gillhunter]

5 hours ago, Crucis said:

I don't think that it's that big a deal.  

Of course you don't.

[Crokodone]

The I-56 has two major handicaps to overcome.

1) +7km surface detection range means she's not surprising many DDs in her tier spread with or without CE.

2) I-56 Carries only [2] charges of the surface ship detection consumable, and has no access to the submarine detector consumable. Meanwhile both USN, RN and possibly KM Submarines have unlimited surface detection consumables and much shorter surface detection range usually in the universal (5.7km German) and the varied ~6km for USN subs. This is important because when not evading or setting up a direct ambush, regardless of nation a sub should be on the surface for speed and to conserve batter life; which is the Shortest in-game on I-56.

I-56 has three advantages to tech tree Submarines.

1) near DD powerful conventional torpedoes.

2) +20k health (mitigated by Depth Charges.)

3) Very competitive Torpedo reload (similar to T5 Minekaze.)

Due to these limitations and benefits, I-56 is the super model of the "Go Broke or Go Home;" or in this case: port/next battle model. I-56 is arguably the most difficult submarine to play at T8, and possibly the game because of that. Nevertheless, either because of the excitement of having playable subs, or the satisfaction of durping ships like WW2 USN Submarines in the Pacific, she's one of the more satisfactory Submarines to date; in my book of course.