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LordKelvin
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Before I start, the very first thing I will do is to refer you to Obst's player guides:
http://trainworld.us/nf-guides/
If you are new, then this is the very first place you should go, no matter what. That page
contains, bar none, the most useful beginners' information you can find for this game,
even over the official manual. You should read at least the first two guides before you
look to ask questions.
With that out of the way, let's get on to the meat of the guide.
1. I can't buy my Fletcher! Why?
This is the very first thing addressed in the "Common Knowledge" part of Obst's guides,
so you should read that to find the solution to your problem. Simply put, your Bridge
Operator needs to select the Fletcher as his next ship before you'll be allowed to
purchase it.
To do this, after you class your Bridge Operator (at this point in the game, you should
have only one), take him off of whatever ship he's on, and click on the "SHP" button next
to him (it should be in the bottom right corner). Once you do this, a new window with the
ship tree should pop up. Click on the box labeled "Fletcher" here, and then click on "OK"
and it should prompt you to confirm that you want to command the Fletcher as your next
ship. Once you confirm, simply exit the ship tree window, and you should be able to
purchase your Fletcher now.
2. Why can't I fire my guns or torpedo launchers?
There are several possible reasons for this:
a) Your gunners aren't the right level
If this happens, then your gun mounts will be flashing with a specific message, in this
case "Unqualified Level" in which case you should place sailors of the proper level in the
sailor slots that control those mounts.
b) You don't have the sailors in the ship slots
You should get a "No Force" message over your gun mounts. This means that you should
actually place a sailor in the sailor slot that controls the mounts.
c) You have the incorrect sailor type in the ship slots
The message "Unmatched Ability" will appear over your mounts. This simply means that
your sailors have to be of the proper class in order to use the equipment; if you right-click
on a sailor it will show you what abilities he has ("Naval Gun" for gunnery sailors,
"Torpedo" for torpedomen). Make sure that this matches the requirement of the weapon
that he is crewing in order for the weapon to work properly. In general, if you want to
launch torpedoes, you will have to use Armament Sailors or Torpedomen class sailors,
and for guns you will have to use Armament Sailors or classed gunners. Torpedomen
cannot fire guns, and gunners cannot launch torpedoes.
d) You moved your sailors around and they glitched
There is a bug where sometimes a sailor will appear to be in the mount, but will not
actually be there due to a glitch; you will know this if the sailor does not gain experience
after battle, but appears to be in his slot. To remedy this, simply exit the game completely
and then log back in, the sailor should appear as off the ship and you can put him back
on.
3. I ran out of points! Help!
The very first thing you should do is, stop using any sailors that are ready to be classed
up to the next level. Allowing a sailor to level up without being classed will severely
hamper his abilities, so you should avoid using a sailor ready to be classed until it has
been classed.
That being said, if you ever need points to class sailors, you should simply ask veteran
players for points, they will always oblige for free since they have millions of points and
nothing to do with them; if someone attempts to demand credits for points, ignore them.
However, you need to meet the minimum requirements for trading in order to initiate a
trade for points in the first place; if you are under level 30, you will need at least 150,000
points and credits each, but if you are over level 30 then the requirement drops down to
50,000 of each.
4. How can I earn more credits?
There is no quick and easy method for earning credits, especially at low levels. The fact
that you do not need to pay credits in order to repair your ship after battle in a FF, DD, or
CL means that you will already gain credits very quickly, as you will only have to pay for
ammo reloads. To avoid losing money, do not use the hedgehog anti-submarine weapons
(the 5x 7.2" projectors at the bottom of the weapons list), as the ammunition for those
weapons are very costly.
If you want to earn credits, you have two general options, selling neutral sailors (which
requires a lot of points and patience) and AA-ing planes. The first method is slightly
complex so it's not recommended right off the bat, so the second method will be your
best bet. Simply read my AA guide sticky for information pertaining to that.
At higher levels, your best option is to get a CV and shoot down planes with your
fighters, but if you're at high levels you know this already.
5. How can I earn EXP faster?
If you're in a small ship or a CV, there's absolutely nothing you can really do since you will
likely be playing in a shared XP room (Blitzkrieg or a Great Battle). About the only thing
you can do here is to purchase a Premium subscription, but at low levels this is
unnecessary as you will level up fast regardless. Higher up, you can attempt to shoot
down enemy planes as that gives a small bonus, but really the one thing you can do is to
contribute to your team's victory however you can, by sinking enemy submarines before
they can damage your team's battleships, by shooting down enemy planes at every
opportunity, and so on.
If you're in a battleship, the best way to get XP is by shooting at and sinking enemy
battleships. Since battleships have to earn their own XP, this is the most surefire way to
do so. The bigger the ship you attack and do damage to, the more XP you will get, so if
you're in a small ship, you're encouraged to attack ships bigger than yourself and to learn
the skills needed to do so.
6. Should I use Auto or Aiming FCS?
Barring physical disability, you should always learn to use Manual Aiming FCS as soon as
possible; Obst has a very useful guide for manual aiming that all new players should
read. Not only is it an absolute requirement at higher levels, you don't get an XP penalty
for doing so. Although it is hard to grasp at first, after a while it will become second
nature.
7. Why do my guns have terrible spread and reload very slowly?
This is likely a case of your sailors not performing properly. In general, your gunners
should have a bare minimum number of veterans and experts, and should be at a
minimum level in order to perform properly (assuming that you've classed them on time
every time, of course). The fasest way to achieve this is by spending money on veteran
and expert items at the NF store, but you can also do this manually through AA-whoring,
though it takes much more time to do so.
At-level, there is not much you can do simply because that is the very definition of at-
level. Until you get past the 60's, you will simply have to endure it.
8. Why can't I load more torpedoes onto my ship?
While torpedo launchers can only be mounted on the T mounts of your ship, they also
require armament space in order to carry reloads beyond what is already carried in the
tubes of the weapons themselves. So while you can always carry one shot on any
torpedo-based weapon, you will require armament space in order to reload them. Most
USN ships above the DD stage will have 0 armament space, which means that you should
not use torpedoes on them, though some ships like the Atlanta and Omaha will have
enough to give you one or two reloads.
Note that hedgehogs (the 5x 7.2" projectors) count as R weapons, and thus do not
require armament space in order to reload. However, all torpedo launchers, as well as
depth charge launchers, require armament space in order to reload.
9. What sailors should I raise?
This really depends on what type of ship you're aiming for at the end. What's required on
a battleship is not the same thing required on a carrier, and very different from a
submarine's requirements.
If you're planning to play a battleship, then the following is the minimum that is
absolutely required, besides the bridge operator:
2 main gunners
2 secondary gunners, for AA guns
3-4 Repairers
4-5 Engineers
1 Rookie Pilot
For Engineers and Repairers, you only need a total of 8 of a combination of both. The
best combination is 4 of each since Engineers offer diminishing returns after a certain
number, but some people swear by 5 Engineers. You will need two pairs of gunners, one
for your main guns (the ones that shoot at ships) and a second for your AA guns (for
shooting down planes). And of course, you will need a Rookie Pilot to pilot your scout, no
exceptions.
For a carrier:
2 main gunners
1-3 Repairers
1-2 Restorers
1 Engineer
4-8 Fighter Pilots
3-4 Bomber Pilots
Gunners are not absolutely required on a carrier, so you can neglect those if you want,
but some people like to be able to attack submarines and/or small ships that manage to
close in on them. For support, if you eschew gunners, you can carry any combination of 3
support sailors; Repairers will let you recover from hits more easily, Restorers will allow
you to hit the 900 SD cap and take a lot of punishment before going down, and an
Engineer can give you a speed edge whenever you need to dodge bombs and
torpedoes; you will only need 2 or 3 of them total.
For pilots, you will always need a minimum of 4 fighters in order to screen for your team,
and whatever remainder of that, from 8, will be bombers. In general, you should always
have more fighters than bombers, or at most a parity of each. Which type of bombers you
use are up to you, if you use 3 bomber pilots, make them all of one type in order to
reduce logistical tie-downs and increase your offensive power with that type; if you have
4 or more, then 2 of each will allow you to be flexible.
Keep in mind, that maximum number of pilots you can use on your carrier is 8, but you
should raise more than just 8 pilots so that you can swap them out whenever you need
to. You can elect to carry only fighter pilots and completely blind the enemy, or carry
bombers only and target the enemy carriers before they can blind your team, whatever
you want.
Finally, for a submarine:
1 gunner
2 Torpedomen
1 Planesman
1 Sonarman
1 Engineer
1 Repairer
1 Restorer
The four on that list that you will absolutely need are the two Torpedomen, the
Planesman, and the Sonarman, the rest you can change up however you want. If you
want to be able to shoot at targets outside of torpedo range while surfaced, a deck
gunners is required, and can be a whole lot of fun. Otherwise, you can replace it with a
Repairer or Restorer for added durability, and the final free slot that you get can be used
to hold one more support sailor. So, you have a choice between a gunner and a support
sailor, or two support sailors at the Barracuda stage; in most cases an Engineer can give
you enough maneuverability to give you a tactical advantage, a Restorer or Repairer can
only prolong the inevitable and you should not rely on them saving you if you have to
fight an enemy submarine.
No matter what anybody tells you, Planesmen and Sonarmen do not stack if you have
more than one of either on the ship, they simply become dead weight. Therefore, if you
want faster air recharge time or better sonar range, focus on increasing the performance
of that one sailor.
10. Should I class my gunners Accuracy or Reload?
This depends largely on what your aim is, and whether these are your main gunners or
secondary gunners, and since gunners will hit both the Accuracy and Reload caps
eventually no matter what, classing them only changes how quickly you will hit those
caps.
For your secondary gunners, you should class them Reload all the way since you will be
relying more on putting flak in the air than on pinpoint-shooting any individual planes, but
after a certain point you will be able to do both. Because AA is rather imprecise, you
won't need a lot of accuracy to use it.
If your aim is to be able to blockshot with your main CA guns before you leave Blitzkrieg,
then classing Accuracy the first two times (as the third classing comes at level 65) will let
you do so if you keep their vet and expert count up; however, you likely won't hit the
reload cap until well past Iowa. And in any case, Blitzkrieg is only temporary, so you
should never class your main gunners full Accuracy anyways.
If you want to hit both caps at the fastest appreciable time, then classing Reload all the
way will result in hitting the Accuracy cap slightly later but will let you hit the Reload cap
at the same time. While it sounds counterintuitive, the way it works is that the Reload
cap is much higher than the Accuracy cap, so in order to hit both at the same time then
Reload must increase faster than Accuracy.
In general though, what most people will want is a blend of both Accuracy and Reload;
the most accepted way of classing main gunners is Accuracy -> Reload -> Accuracy,
though a smarter way to class is by going Reload -> Accuracy -> Reload, or Reload ->
Reload -> Accuracy. In any case, classing Reload twice and Accuracy only once will ensure
that you will hit both caps in a timely manner.
11. What sailors should I use for AA?
The method that most players use is to use normal gunners rather than the AA Gunner
class, as that loses Reload ability as it classes up. In this sense, using normal gunners
will also allow you to use them with normal naval guns instead of being stuck with A
variant guns, which can be a boon later on when they reach high levels, as you can
substitute them for your main gunners if you need to.
Simply class a pair of normal gunners to Reload, and keep going down the Reload path,
they will serve you well in your AA capacity.
12. How do I turn off the red AA guidelines?
While I usually leave them on as a visual aid for shooting down planes, some people find
them annoying and turn them off. To do so, you have to go to the in-game options menu
by pressing F10, and the option should be in there somewhere in the bottom-right
corner.
13. Brooklyn or Northampton?
I have a stickied thread for the purposes of answering any and all questions regarding
the Brooklyn and Northampton, read that for more information. But the real answer is,
raise two (or more) Bridge Operators and go down both lines.
14. BB, CV, or SS?
Although a very basic question that one should answer by themselves, I'll do a very short
outline of them here. Battleship play is generally seen as an outgrowth of CL and CA
gameplay, so if you like playing as a CL or CA then BB is for you. Carrier is entirely
different in that it focuses more on situational awareness and micromanagement than
reflexive line battles, and while CVs still rely entirely on shared XP, they are a very good
way of earning credits. Finally, submarines focus on situational awareness and planning
your movements ahead of time and the crew requirements are very minimal, but are a
dead-end line that doesn't give a very rewarding ship in the end (for the time being, at
least); their crew requirements are also highly specialized, so any crew that you raise for
a submarine can't be effectively transplaced onto another ship (with the one exception of
the Sonarman on an ASW ship or CV).
15. Should I buy a Texas, Pensacola, Sevastapol, etc.?
This fully depends on how you like to play, as well as how tedious you find the NF grind.
Personally, I believe that there is no reason anybody should ever have to buy any of
these ships, but they do have their occasional uses.
Many people shun the Texas simply because its only real advantage is its small hitbox;
it's slow, it doesn't have a lot of durability, and its firepower is rather weak compared to
that of a true CA, so the only people who really use a Texas do so out of boredom,
because they want to try something different. The Texas is not a ship that is good for
grinding, and it doesn't really teach you anything of value for playing down the line.
The Pensacola is sort of a mixed bag, because compared to an Alaska or Guam, it's beat
in just about every way; it's slower, it's outmatched in firepower, and has an inferior AA
battery; the only advantages it carries, combat-wise, are a smaller hitbox, better
submergence, and versus the Alaska, one extra support slot. Regardless, the Pensacola
does have two uses despite this; first, it can serve as a grindbreaker for people playing
on the Northampton line since it's a 10 level grind from the CA2 to Nevada, and second, it
can be used to bring a BB0.5 into fleet matches, since they count as a CA slot. So while
they can serve as excellent support ships, that's all they really are in the end, as any
competent BB can beat one with no problems.
Finally, the Sevastapol is something that I have something of a personal grudge against
(as do several players who were around when they were first introduced back in 2007),
and so my personal view of them will probably be skewed. As a level 61 ship, it performs
very close to a level 75 ship, and with a high-level crew and competent driver will perform
on par against a level 85 ship. However, some people will end up relying on the ship to
perform for them, and so when they do use something other than the Sevastapol (ie. an
Iowa) they'll end up performing poorly and greatly letting their team down. For this
reason alone, I would highly recommend that players do not purchase a Sevastapol,
because they will end up becoming poorly skilled players in the long run. However, if you
do already have the skill required to command a proper BB, then the Sevastapol can be a
useful grindbreaker (though this is largely unnecessary since there is no such thing as a
USN "grind" anymore).
16. I'm getting ranged by everything! Help!
This is USN, get used to it. Many USN ships have inferior range compared to others of the
same tier, so you'll have to think smart in order to win. However, you have to remember
that if you take on a ship of a higher tier than yourself, they will almost always have more
range than yourself; against enemies of the same tier, the advantage is less clear, but
you also have firepower on your side (as opposed to KM, lulz), so you can be rest
assured that whatever you hit with your shells will definitely feel them.
There's a link in my BB guides sticky that deals specifically with battleship tactics, if you're
having trouble then read that for more information.
17. How do I get a New York?
The New York, unlike everything else on the ship tree, is not a ship that is readily and
immediately available for purchase and use; you have to earn one or buy it from
someone who has one. As an Event BB, you can only get one by winning TNF-sponsored
events, or purchasing the ship from someone who has won said event (or has bought it
from someone who won an event).
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