Overview
A guide to help those with, what is in my opinion – zero clue as to what to do in Steel Ocean. *Despite the name the basic concepts applied in this guide will definitely help those that captain ships from other nations.*
Introduction
As somebody with extensive experience with this genre of gaming (Naval combat, mainly stemming from the Battlestations series and World of Warships – having been playing the latter since the Closed Alpha.), I feel as if I should make this guide for those that have zero clue of what they’re doing – and it is quite apparent in this game that people are clueless.
This guide aims to, in hopefully the most basic terms – at least push people into the right path without seeming vulgar or malicious.
Battleships, the Great Iron Castles of the Sea
***NOTE: This is for LOWER-TIER (Low to mid, II – V) Battleships***
Battleships are essentially an odd combination of World of Tank’s SPGs and battleships in their most basic sense. However, far too often are battleships squatting at spawn – firing from a frontally-facing position or just waiting for targets to enter their firing zones.
One crucial thing to remember is – the BULK OF YOUR FIRING ARCS ARE ON THE BROADSIDES (the SIDES, left/right) of your warship. Facing forward to fire your guns only enables usually 4 – 6 guns (two – three turrets, depending upon class of BB and era) to fire lowering your firing concentration, and essentially making your chance of hitting something lower without the support of a few extra shells bearing down upon your target.
However, despite the fact that Battleships perform much like SPGs (getting a “hawkeye” view, having longer ranges than most warships, and dealing out significantly higher AP damage than most other warships upon successful hits.) you must remember that you still have armor. Your battleship is more than capable of taking a significant amount of hits from anything smaller than it (Destroyers usually bounce or do 10 – 20 damage upon successful hit, Cruisers usually do 14 – 18). Do not be afraid or discouraged from leaving the spawning zone, you’re more useful in the fray than you are sitting at base with a thumb in your ass.
If you feel as if you must sit farther away from combat instead of supporting your team, you are more than capable of barraging the enemy from a distance – taking advantage of artillery correction. This enables you to fire in the same area numerous times and have your guns corrected after each shot, enabling you to fire more and more accurate barrages. Keep this in mind if you are targeting stationary or bulk targets as correction will be your best friend and your enemy’s worse nightmare.
Avoid being within close proximity to islands or landmasses – I say this because Steel Ocean’s handling is forgiving – but the early collision alert system is not. Slowing your ship to a crawl and significantly hindering your turning ability which will turn you into an easy target for any enemies bearing down upon you. Use mountains and tall landmasses to your advantage, however; they will provide wonderful cover from at least one flank enabling you to focus on targets that may require your attention more at the moment.
Steel Ocean has insanely forgiving ship handling, enabling you to make sharp turns in a short amount of time – or enabling you to stop from full speed very easily. Use this to your advantage to dodge torpedoes as your Battleship is not capable of being hit with a significant amount of torpedoes. (Generally-speaking, avoid Submarines as you are incapable of damaging them if they are submerged.)
Aircraft Carriers, Death from Afar
Aircraft Carriers are NOT close-quarters warships. I have seen quite a few people in Aircraft Carriers rush off to their death, getting sunk by a Battleship minutes into the battle. While it is always wise to stay behind the line of advance to enable your aircraft to land and take off with greater frequency – it is NOT adviseable to sit on the front lines amongst your Battleships, Cruisers, and Destroyers.
Initially, people will note Aircraft Carriers have a limited amount of wings they can put into the air at once – and a limited amount of aircraft per wing; alongside this, you are required to wait for your deck to ready up to launch aircraft. This is essentially your reload time, but it can be manipulated by your ability to stay closer to the frontlines. It is inadviseable to sit at your spawn launching off planes and waiting for them to return.
You must also, as a CV captain compensate for your aircraft’s fuel stores. Aircraft have limited fuel, and are required to land before they run out of fuel. It is adviseable to purchase Drop Tanks if you have the credits for it. It is an upgrade that can be safely disassembled and reused on your new aircraft carriers.
An important note to non-CVs. You are the eyes for your CVs, Aircraft Carriers have short view ranges and are incapable of spotting targets for themselves. They require you (Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, and the occassional Submarine) to spot targets on their behalf to enable them to work with greater ease. A blind carrier is a dead carrier.
Another important note is Aircraft Carriers utilize secondary weapons as primary guns – as such you can somewhat defend yourself from Destroyers and surfaced Submarines. It is not adviseable to utilize your guns to attempt to destroy warships, but if you are forced into it – it is certainly a possibility. However, do not expect to fight a battleship.
Destroyers, the Hunter of the Silent Hunters
The most obvious advice to be given is – DO NOT RUSH AHEAD OF YOUR TEAM. While it may be easy to do this considering your higher speed and smaller size, this almost inevitably leads to your death. Being focus-fired on in a Destroyer is the easiest and fastest route back to your Port with virtually no experience gained.
The second most obvious advice to be given is – WATCH YOUR TORPEDOES. Torpedoes are given a marker that shows you the line of travel they will take, and the arming distance of your torpedoes. The arming distance is grey, whereas the armed distance is blue/green. If your torpedoes hit a target within the arming distance, they will do no damage and will have been wasted. One of the biggest things to remember as well is to LEAD YOUR TORPEDOES. Torpedoes are not insanely fast. You must lead your targets before firing – estimating their speed, and potential of turning. Do not just fire torpedoes at the centre of mass on a warship and hope they all land.
The third most obvious advice to be given is – DO NOT SUICIDE-RUSH BATTLESHIPS. This is arguably the same as Point 1, but this cannot be stressed enough. Destroyers do not have the capacity to survive close combat with a Battleship. Battleships, while not being able to fire at shorter ranges with their main guns can still rip your ship to shreds with secondary fire. It is adviseable to stay out of a Battleship’s kill-zone, which differs from battleship to battleship.
Destroyers are extremely swift and agile, enabling them to easily seek out and destroy Submarines and Carriers with great ease if done properly. Submarines that are not submerged at escape level (deepest level) can be struck with torpedoes and depth charges. However, submarines that are at the escape level can only be hit with depth charges which have an incredibly short range. However, on the positive – submarines cannot fire torpedoes while at the escape depth, enabling you to safely pass over them and drop depth charges down onto you.
Submarines, the Silent Hunters
Submarines are exactly as the name implies – submersible. They have three levels of depth they can achive. Surface depth is exactly as the name implies, at this level – the submarine can use its low-caliber deck guns/AA and torpedoes as well as automatically gather oxygen for diving. At this depth, submarines are the most vulnerable and can be sunk by surface fire and naval aviation. The next depth is combat depth, this depth disables your AA/deck guns and you begin consuming oxygen. At this depth, you can still utilize torpedoes; however you are vulnerable to both torpedoes and depth charges at this depth. The final, and lowest depth is the escape depth – at this depth all weapons are disabled, and you are the most stealthy; being able to avoid surface detection and some sonar detection. You begin consuming significantly more oxygen at this depth and your speed is lower than your surfaced speed.
Your submarine can only stay submersed for so long as it begins consuming oxygen. You can sacrifice durability (HP) to continue staying underwater to escape certain situations, however; remember – starving your submarine of oxygen will cause it to be destroyed if starved for too long.
Cruisers (Heavy and Light), the Stopgap Between Battleship and Destroyer
Cruisers are usually your core combatants, having diverse weaponry – ranging from high and low caliber AA, light AA, large-caliber main guns, mid-caliber secondary and dual-purpose guns, torpedoes, and some ships even come equipped with depth charges. Thanks to this, Cruisers are able to take on a large range of enemies from Battleships to Aircraft Carriers with great ease.
With such diverse arsenals, you would assume Cruisers are the go-to ship; however, this is incorrect. Despite the high speed, good handling, decent armor, and diverse selection of weapons; Cruisers cannot survive sustained or focused fire. While they can certainly hold their own in a brawl, they are not capable of surviving combat against multiple enemies (whether they are Destroyers, other Cruisers, or Battleships.)
Light Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers are different from one-another due to the significant difference in survivability and speed. Light Cruisers trade off large-caliber main guns, secondaries, and dual-purpose guns, and armor (both bulge and hull) for extra speed and agility enabling them to chase smaller, faster targets such as Destroyers and other Light Cruisers. Light Cruisers are definitely less effective in direct combat than a Heavy Cruiser – but are capable of lying down quick, harassing fire. Enabling them to stack up large amounts of damage in short stints of time.