Tips for Essex Drivers

The Essex is one of the most enjoyable CV뭩 to play in the US line. You have a good
complement of plane space and support slots to choose the way that you wish to deploy the
ship. I will not explore all the options here....but will suggest ONE way to use an Essex
in battle.

The main task of CV뭩 in battle is air superiority. This involves not only denying the
enemy scouting over your own BB뭩 but also ensuring that you have vision over the enemy BB
line. If you ask any BB to choose which is the most important of these two...most will
say ....vision over the red line is more important than FC over the blue line. BB뭩 can
kill enemy BB뭩 much more quickly than bombing can...so enable the BB?s to perform their
task.

Mission 1: Light up the enemy BB line
Mission 2: Deny the enemy sight of friendly BB뭩

For this reason, I favor fighter heavy CV뭩. With my Essex......I run 5 fighter pilots
and one Bomber...although I do sometimes run 6 fighters and no bomber. The other slot is
used by a medic to preserve vets. My gun slots are used either by gunners or
reps...depending on how I read the battles and the likelihood of needing guns to
discipline FF, DD or SS....or for that last glorious and hopelessly suicidal rush at the
end of a lost battle. For bomber, I favor TB because it can be used to sub hunt...but I
do sometimes load my DB, which is more effective at attacking BB뭩. That said...if I am
DB뭝ng enemy BB뭩...we are either hopelessly losing or winning..........I don뭪 normally
have time to send out DB뭩 while the battle is in balance........I need every available
plane spot to spam fighters off my decks to win the air war.

I always load my fighter pilots from strongest to weakest.....that way I know which of my
groups is best for fighting enemy fighters. It is also an easy way to make more use of
your strongest pilots, since one tends to load from 1 to 6 not 6 to 1.

Sun Tsu, in the Art of War wrote: 밒t is said that if you know your enemies and know
yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies
but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor
yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.?
So before the battle, take note of the CV뭩 in the room. When the split comes, you should
know which CV뭩 went to the red side and plan accordingly. Typically, the strongest CV뭩
will head to the South......so decide where you should play...either North or South
....but also assess which enemy CV is likely to be opposite you. This will affect how you
load your planes.

Scenario 1: Fighting the FW CV: If you have a strong FW CV opposite you...then load big
wings of fighters and prepare for a major air battle to contest aerial control and vision
over the enemy BB line. The trick is to make sure that those battles take place within
sight of the enemy BB line ?so that win or lose you will be providing vision for your BB
line. Load pilot 1 with 5 (#1x5) and #2 with 4 (#2x4)....and send them to just short of
the enemy AA range...but within sight of the enemy BB line. Flights 1 and 2 will join up
there while I load #3x4 and #4X4 to reinforce. I will avoid conflict with enemy fighters
and drag my fighters past the enemy fighters...hopefully drawing them to my chosen
location. My primary task is to provide vision. If no enemy fighters contest the air
here...then #3 or #4 will go scout hunting closer to home....striving to fulfill mission 2
?denial of enemy vision of our BB line. Be prepared to go into AA evasion mode if enemy
AA ships venture out to snipe at your planes. If they come out far enough...friendly
BB뭩 may hit them which is always a plus. From here the battle depends on how well your
fighters do against the enemy. If your planes are losing to stronger enemy
planes......then it will become difficult......but you will need to micro your planes
through to the enemy BB line while avoiding enemy fighters. If enemy fighters engage
you...then try to get into the circle of death by clicking your planes to circle ? hopefully they will keep some enemy fighters busy or neutralized for a while. If on the
other hand, your planes are stronger....as they often are in an Essex.....then you can
concentrate on destroying enemy planes and free up some flights to perform sight denial
missions over your own lines.

Scenario 2: BW or lesser CV뭩:
If on the other hand you suspect that you are facing a BW CV (I love red BW CV뭩 ?free
exp.!!!) or a CV with inferior planes....you can start earlier to perform both mission 1
(recon of enemy) and mission 2 (sight denial of own BB뭩) at the same time. To do
this......still load #1x5.....I will need this one to engage enemy fighters....and then
load #2x1, #3x1, #4x1, #5x1. These 1x1 flights load fast and are sent out in a skirmish
line across half the battlefield......quickly killing the first wave of scouts and
providing massive early vision for your team. They should be able to stay up long enough
to kill even the second wave of scouts before returning home. Since some BB뭩 only have
4 scouts...that뭩 a huge dent in the enemy inventory of scouts....all done by 4 planes.
As soon as the skirmish line launches....then it뭩 time for pilot #6 - often my
underused TB. So load #6x4. #6 can be used to go and look for targets of opportunity.
...normally subs. By this time in the game the enemy subs are out of their friendly BB
line and still on the surface heading in . A flight of 4 tb뭩 can ruin a subs day and
save your BB뭩 some stress and injury! I use manual bombing...so I get the TB뭩 down on
the deck immediately after takeoff and go hunting. As soon as I see my target ?thanks to
my skirmish line of fighters.....I line him up and without the red target markers to warn
him...can deliver a deadly blow ...early in the game. TB뭩 work on submerged subs
too......so as long as a friendly sonar man has him light up...you can target him. There
is normally not enough time for the sub to crash dive.....but if he does....simply break
off the attack and line up for when he comes back up. TB뭩 have lots of fuel! If there
are no subs.....well there are lots of red ships out there.
After this...it뭩 back to fighter spamming and AA avoidance......and hopefully the reward
of fighter camping the enemy CV.......

On the subject of AA avoidance.......there has been huge growth in the skill level of AA
players over the last little while. Gone are the days when you could fire and forget
fighters at the Golden Angle height and expect them to return without pock marked planes.
Most AA drivers now know the Golden Angles. Many also know the deck level angles and
some even know the mid level angle for their AA guns. There are, however, some
relatively safe places for fighters to loiter while watching the beautiful water spouts
that erupt around the little red ships......if your BB뭩 are awake and using the blood
earned vision you are giving them. If you hold just outside of the AA range of the
enemy ships...you should still have them in sight. If that is not tenable......then you
must resort to constant height changing and circling the enemy ships. It helps to know
the limits of the enemy ships. AA ships with their guns on their R slots can be
frustrated by having your planes continually cross from side to side. It takes them time
to rotate and re-aim guns. AA ships with gun on T slots do not have this problem and can
track your planes more easily. If there is only one AA ship...then camping directly
overhead will be effective for a bit...but keep watching, because the ship will move
...and some AA drivers even know the overhead angles!

CV뭩 drivers will often receive many complaints from BB뭩...some justified, but others
not. I have found that there is little to be gained from responding to these comments.
If your team wins...it was due to the BB뭩 and if you lose .... it was obviously the CV뭩
fault! This seems to go with the territory.......live with it. Sometimes there is merit
to the complaint so learn from it. BB뭩 don뭪 always appreciate how much blood your
fighters are spending to provide the vision that they take for granted. It's soul
destroying to see the little red 몂fficer lost? 몊killed sailor killed?messages when the
BB뭩 are not even shooting at the enemy ships that you뭨e lighting up. Smile...shake it
off and get back into battle. Occasionally.......very rarely....you will have some BB
say...봆reat Job, thanks for the FC?