Public Test Server 15.11 - Balance Changes

WG are making several AA defense-related adjustments, including the introduction of variations of the Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination consumable.

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Work In Progress

In Update 15.7, WG have made several changes to anti-aircraft mechanics, which included the new Concentrated AA Fire mechanic and a new consumable—Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination. The latter is intended to serve as a more versatile tool than the previously existing Defensive AA Fire, as it can be helpful in a wider range of situations. However, many of you pointed out that the change didn’t land evenly: some ships were affected noticeably harder than others. WG took a closer look at this problem and found ways to improve the consumable so it works more consistently across the fleet, without disrupting overall balance. Here’s what’s changing:

What's new with Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination?

WG's first goal is to restore the AA potential of ships whose role it was to be strong anti-aircraft platforms, and that may have partly lost this ability in the change. At the same time, WG want to support the unique identity of certain ships and make Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination more competitive when it shares a slot with other consumables. To achieve this, WG are creating four different versions of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination, each complementing a different ship role. In Update 15.11, two such versions will be added to the game: one complementing AA defenses, and another—the secondary battery. Two additional versions of the consumable are currently still in development, and WG will reveal them later.

• In Update 15.11, WG will add the AA-focused and secondary-focused versions of the consumable.
  • Ships called upon to serve as anti-aircraft defenders of their team will receive a version of the consumable that boosts their AA capabilities more significantly. When there is even a slight presence of enemy aircraft in your vicinity, you can use the consumable and, while it's active, it will let you fully charge Concentrated AA Fire, so you will be prepared to unleash an intense AA fire on enemy planes whenever you need it most.
  • For most versions of the consumable, WG have decided to replace the bonus to damage with a boost to accuracy. Why? Extra damage only goes so far if your secondaries can’t land their hits. However, a small number of ships already have secondaries with quite high accuracy, and WG don’t want to increase it beyond a certain level. Such ships will receive a secondary-focused version that boosts damage instead.
• The existing default version will still exist in the game, with certain adjustments. It will be available for ships that do not have a strong specialization in the areas improved by the consumable, or for ships where further complementing their specialization negatively affects balance.
• Two other versions of the consumable will be added to the game later, and some of the ships that will retain access to the default version with the launch of Update 15.11 will have it replaced with a new one when it is released in a later Update.
• Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination, like Defensive AA Fire before it, was originally designed as a consumable mainly for cruisers, and only in some particular cases were ships of other types given access to it. Thus, WG think cruisers should have a certain advantage when using it, additionally complementing the general cruiser feature of being the consumable-oriented ship type. However, WG do not want to reduce its parameters for other ship types, so, instead, they will have access to fewer charges of the consumable, making it more critical to use it at the right moment.
  • WG have heard your feedback that VII Flint, VII Atlanta, and VII Atlanta B lost their uniqueness due to the removal of their powerful Defensive AA Fire. Therefore, on top of strengthening the consumable, WG also want to address the number of charges it has for these ships. However, it remains limited, since WG aim to avoid introducing consumables with infinite uses.

What else is changing?

• The introduction of different variations of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination gave us an opportunity to look from a fresh angle at one of the requests players have made over time. Specifically, WG can now give IX Ägir a role that players have been asking for, and strengthen her secondary battery potential without compromising her overall concept. The ship will gain access to the Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination consumable, so you can equip it if you want to make IX Ägir more secondary-focused.
• WG are changing Concentrated AA Fire of VII Flint, VII Atlanta, and VII Atlanta B allowing them to keep an accumulated progress as long as other ships.
• Also, as X Laffey used to have improved Defensive AA Fire, WG are increasing her AA defense potential.

Now, let's take a closer look at all those changes:

Changes to Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination consumable:

• For the default version of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination
  • Added effect: −10% to secondary battery dispersion
  • Removed the bonus to secondary battery damage
• Added the AA-focused version of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination
  • Bonus provided to concentrated AA Fire progress per second: +3% instead of +1.2% (or instead of 1.67% for ships with an old improved version)
    • This amounts to 90% progress over the consumable’s action time and will guarantee a charge of Concentrated AA Fire even after a minor aircraft attack on the ship
  • All other parameters are the same as in the default version.
• Added the secondary-focused version of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination with the improved dispersion
  • Bonus to secondary battery dispersion: -20% instead of -10%
  • All other parameters are the same as in the default version.
• Added the secondary-focused version of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination with the improved damage
  • Secondary battery damage +22.5% instead of a bonus to secondary battery dispersion
  • All other parameters are the same as in the default version.
• VII Flint, VII Atlanta, and VII Atlanta B
  • Number of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination charges increased: 3 to 6
• For all destroyers and battleships equipped with the consumable:
  • Number of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination charges reduced: 3 to 2
• IX Ägir, IX AL Ägir, and IX Mengchong
  • Added Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination consumable with the improved dispersion
    • It will share a slot with the Hydroacoustic Search consumable

Below, you can find the lists of ships that will get new versions of the Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination consumable. All other ships with access to the consumable will keep the default version. Note that tech tree Pan-American cruisers will keep the longer reload time of their Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination consumable.

List of ships with access to new versions of the consumable - Click Here

Ships with the AA-focused version

• Tech tree Soviet destroyers of Grozovoi line starting from Tier VIII Ognevoi
• Tech tree European destroyers of the Dalarna line, starting from Tier VIII Öland
• Tech tree Pan-Asian cruisers, starting from Tier VI Rahmat
• Tech tree American cruisers of both lines, starting from Tier VI Dallas and Pensacola
• Tech tree American destroyers of the J. Humphreys line, starting from Tier V Nicholas
• Tech tree American battleships of the Vermont line, starting from Tier VIII Kansas
• Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico B, Salem, Hawaii, Hawaii G, Austin, Komissar, Marceau, Incheon, Incheon B, Wisconsin, Wisconsin G, F. Sherman, Laffey, Hull, Vallejo, Alaska, Alaska B, Tulsa, Cambridge, Fort Worth, Fort Worth G, Velos, Friesland, Groningen, Neustrashimy, Neustrashimy B, Indiana, Benham, Halford, Black, Black B, Johnston, GQ Johnny, Almte. Grau, AL Harbin, Ochakov, Tiger '59, Érne, AL Montpelier, Wichita, Congress, Rochester, San Diego, Bridgeport, Houston, Loyang, Loyang B, Tennessee, Kidd, Zhu Que, Nueve de Julio, Indianapolis, Boise, Honolulu, Atlanta, Atlanta B, Flint, Florida, Sims, Sims B, Elli, Dido, Monaghan, Texas, Yūbari

Ships with the secondary-focused version with the improved dispersion

• Tech tree French cruisers of the Marseille line, starting from Tier VIII Cherbourg
• Zhuge Liang, Latouche-Tréville, Le Havre, Utnapishtim’s Ship, Siegfried, Ägir, AL Ägir, Mengchong, Schill, Schill B, Renown '44, W. Virginia '44, Toulon, Graf Spee, HSF Graf Spee

Ships with the secondary-focused version with the improved damage

• Tech tree German cruisers of the Prinz Adalbert line, starting from Tier VI Deutschland
• Almte. Irízar

Changes to Concentrated AA Fire:

• VII Flint, VII Atlanta, VII Atlanta B
  • Time before you start losing progress increased: 70 to 130s.
• X Laffey
  • Bonus to continuous AA damage increased: 50 to 75%
  • Bonus to damage from AA shell explosions increased: 100 to 300%.

Warning: All changes to these ships are currently "Work in Progress" and are subject to change at any time.