As with many things in this game there are exceptions to a lot of rules, however gunners
(for the most part) should be classed on time. If not you will lose out on Acc/Rld
growth. The gunners will still cap just later.

Most times when people talk about delaying the class of gunners is talking about DP
gunners (for IJN AA) or in some cases I've heard people keeping AA gunners as arms sailors
and classing later to get a buff in Rep/Res ability.

@megablaster - Good point about the lines converging. I didn't consider that. Then again,
I haven't had amazing gunners either. I kept messing up and upgrading the guns right away.
In chat someone mentioned waiting until your gunners were 5 levels above the guns and WOW,
what a difference. Now that I have appropriate shot groups, I can imagine the difference
it makes getting the guns actually aimed at the exact same spot. Using the DD to practice
is a great idea. Probably next time I do a GB as ASW and I'm circling for 5 minutes
waiting I'll blow holes in the clouds.

@Blazer - You brought up some great points. I didn't realize that manuel mode would allow
me to fire only forward or rear. I've screwed up and had some friendly fire incidents with
rear turrets going off! Also, the lack of AA has driven me nuts. The side note you made
was probably the most helpful thing you said. I work hard to plan out my progress but I
didn't know that gunners and engineers with huge level differences do more harm than good.
Yesterday I found the rule about sailors over L60 not in BB can't enter the Blitz. I'm
about 18 levels off, but the DD crew is moving up way faster. Thanks for taking the time
to answer.

There is no "on/off" switch for Auto/Manual FCS - you have to change the hardware in
your shipyard.

yeah....
dump the auto fcs.

When I first played this game i started using manual fcs in CL levels too. And at that
time I wished i had learned it earlier. (although they did not buff the auto fcs accuracy
yet).

its essential to master this control as you make your way to a BB1. Or else you will be
caught in some i-dont-know-what-to-do moments fighting against DDs.

like the others said, fine-adjusting angles on auto fcs is almost impossible to do. not
to mention AAing with it.

I wouldnt recommend high angle shooting yet if you cannot control manual fcs well. I'd
say practice it in a DDX with single 6"s or 7"s (low angle guns).
as your ships get larger, the space between front and rear guns are farther apart. So
shooting with auto will not give you a very accurate result since the guidelines can only
point parallel to each other and only part of your front and rear guns will hit.

manual will let u merge those two guidelines to a single point where the guidelines cross
- giving you a high possibility of landing all your shells. This will be important in GB
play since one really good hit from a BB can cripple your ship already.

For example, using your brooklyn with Triple 6" guns. Lets say each shell does 200 dmg.
You have 5 guns....and 3 shells per gun.... you do the math.
you wont get this with auto fcs.

In terms of AA, Auto FCS is the biggest handicap. For AA it is crucial to be able to
control the specific angles, and adjusting AA with Auto is... well not very functional.
If I recall from a fleet mate with wrist problems, in order to AA with Auto FCS you have
to keep clicking close to your ship to get the angles higher/lower, and is (iirc)
virtually impossible to maintain a specific angle.

Manual is something that will be very important to learn, and I'd venture to say probably
priority one over everything else. It gives multiple benefits over Auto in the long run.
1) AA
2) Can cross guidelines - This means with good gunners gives you the ability to group your
shots together better rather than firing spread turrets
3) Can sling shot - This isn't really important until you get into BBs, but the ability to
be able to fire front or rear turrets makes a big difference later. IIRC auto will not
allow you to fire z or c turrets alone.
4) Better Exp - penalty for Auto FCS

As a side note on the USN. I've brought up 2 lines on every crew I have done, and I have
to say, USN was one of the more enjoyable to do. There are so many lines to go through
that at any given point you have a chance to play a different ship (believe there are 4
unique BB lines, though some only vary by 1-2 ships).

When raising three sets of supports/crew the best advice I can give you is to keep them as
close to each other as possible. Because of the way Engineers contribute to speed, having
3-4 high levels + 1-2 Low levels is actually worse for your speed than just the high
levels (abilities are averaged out). Reps would on independent ability, and gunners are
well gunners. As for pilots, keep them all even. First time I tried I didn't, and it was
a nightmare (can only carry 1 tier of plane at a time, if all sailors are not high enough
to operate your highest tier you will be stuck using lower ones). For BBs, the higher
your supports the eaiser the grind will be in lower tiers. At level low tier BBs can be
very frustrating, however with better crew you become exponentially more effective. And
in some cases, particularly UK, you even begin to have the ability to make little mistakes
and still remain in the fight.

It helps to play the manual training mission a few times. Use a dd1 and play through a few
times to get the hang of things.the only way you will learn is practice and you will be
better off doing it no rather then later.

@ Blazer - Thanks for the advice. I'm not using AA gunners as the guides said that they
were bad due to the reload problem. I plan on having three crews: The "A" team is on the
Oakland CL right now. The "B" team is training up in a Fletcher. The "C" team is just
hanging out and waiting. As the "A" team grows, I'll be stealing key players from "B" to
fill out my expanding BB. "B" team is going to eventually become the core for a CV, so
when the "C" team starts training, they'll pretty much be "B" teams fillers. When the CV
is all done, "C" team's BO and some replacements will become a DD ASW ship. Along the way,
I'm keeping all the ships at key points (like atlanta) so I can train new BOs for use on
escort ships. Of, and the most important question was yes, I've been using the auto FSC.
I'd like to learn to play without, but there is a ton to learn all at once. I thought that
may be a problem. I tried hitting the "off" switch, but that didn't work too hot either.

You said 50% of the time your AA shells are hitting the water, are you using Auto FCS?

As for asking questions most people on here will not give a hard time as long as the
questions are not the type of thing that can be explicited read somewhere (ship levels,
crew slots, stuff like that). As far as game play and general knowledge that is what the
forums are for.

If you are really considering staying around the Atlanta to get a better feel for things
(which trust me I can respect, and you'll understand the longer you play the game), I
would suggest a couple of things. Since you are already planning to spend some time here,
go ahead and take the time to roll all sailors needed for your end line ship (CV6, BB6).
This will serve three purposes 1) gain experience playing the ship and get a better feel
for the game and play style, 2) will help keep crew balanced as you bring the up for your
BB6/CV6, 3) If you become an AA addict, you will expert your crew a bit along the way (AA
also provides insane xp.)

AA is not a particularly difficult ship setup, however can be frustrating for any number
of reasons. Lack of CVs can mean lack of planes to shoot down. There are quite a few
people AAing and fighting for planes (too many crossing lines to chase but that is a
seperate isssue), or for nations that are not dual purpose those pesky ships that reach
you and you can't fight back (now US can load HE and AA on same guns, a godsend). Keep in
mind when classing USN AA gunners to class them like normal gunners (Rld, Rld, Rld). The
range on the AA variants is shorter and does not make up for the faster reload on the A
variants (Classing as AA gunners also creates a rld penalty which is the key stat for AA).
The 3"/70 Ns, of the 5" are respectable AA guns.

Thanks for the help. I'm actually right on the edge of Brooklyn, however I'm considering
setting up camp here for a little bit and learning the game better. Day one with tutorials
I made L6, Day 2 I grinded L12 to L30 and got the Atlanta. Day 3 I pushed up to L36, got
Oakland and meanwhile pushed my CV crew in the Fletcher to L18. I've read a bit about high
angle fire, but its the AA piece that I'm interested in learning. The problem is that I'm
leveling so fast, I'm not on pace to earn enough credits to buy my new ship.