v1.0 (Sep 07) - Maiden trip =)
v1.1 (Sep 07) - Added sec. V; "Dancing with the flow".
- Relocated section V to VI.
- Edited sec. III "Crew"
- Added version log.
v1.2 (Oct 07) - Added sec. VI; "Also read".
v1.21 (Dec 07) - Edited sec. VI; "Also read".
v1.22 (Feb 08) - Edited sec. V; "Dancing with the flow"
v1.3 (Feb 09) - Added sec. IV.e; "Subs: The silent menace"
- Edited various sections, minor changes.
v1.31 (Dec 09) - Updated sec. III "Crew".

Greetings captain. I hope you will find this guide useful, as it has been for me. Im
currently sailing a CV5 KriegsMarine Europa, and I have been playing Navyfield
for four years now. I will appreciate any constructive comments, but please avoid
flamingand/or posting stuff like "u sux" just to get your points up. Also, my apologies in
advance for any grammar mistakes since Im not a native english speaker. This guide assumes
you are past the point of choosing lines, and are at least already thinking on getting a
Carrier Vessel. Let's get started.


I) THE ROLE OF A CV

This topic has been discussed over and over, and there's no reason to think this will
stop any soon. For the purposes of this guide, CVs are not just the back "parking slots"
for planes, nor the "spitting fighters" vessels many people think they are. CVs are
designed as the most versatile ships you can ever find in-game, and as often happens with
every other jack-of-all-trades, they suffer a bit in performance in certain areas: i.e.,
you can bomb other ships, but you will never be as good as a BB doing it.

Said that, it would be sort of foolish to focus on a single area. The real strength of
a well-directed CV is the capability to engage any situation it dugs in, so I strongly
recommend you to load a wide array of planes, according to your playing style. If we're
always waiting for the ideal situation, everytime it gets a bit out of control we'd be
destined to lose. I'll get into specific battle situations later.


II) PLANE LOAD OUT

KriegsMarine carriers often suffers from lack of plane space, while plenty-space IJN
carriers suffer from plane quality. Regardless the case, it's important for you to
identify the situation and act consequently, a good carrier captain cannot have a
pre-determined set of launching planes, it would be foolish and very boring. My personal
choice is to load around half of the space for fighters, and the another half with Dive
Bombers AND Torp Bombers. I can not stress enough about the torp
bombers: it is true that KM torps are not the best in the game, but there are situations
where those pesky torpedeers are quite handy. Remember about being versatile? So, writing
that again in pct: 50/40/10 for F/DB/TB. However, I remind you that this is a personal
choice. It's up to you to choose whatever load fits you well, just don't neglect any kind
of plane. (There are a few captains who add scout planes to the load out, but that's not
precisely a wonderful choice since any of your other planes can do the scouting task,
specially torp bombers with that wide sight area.)


III) CREW

Pilots, pilots, pilots. It seems most of the carrier captains around agree on this.
When I first got my Seydlitz, I remember strongly considering adding an engineer to
the support slots, along with a medic. DON'T. Support space should and must be used for
pilots, remember you're a carrier. D'oh. Once again, try to build a crew that suits your
playing style: my choice is to add (most of the carriers have 6-7 support slots) 3-4
fighters with 2 DBs and 1 TB. The reason for this is that fighters will be demanded to
fill many roles, doing a lot more stuff than your bombers. It is important to be aware of
the goal: high-end carriers regardless of their nation, can only use 8 pilots at any time.
Whatever load-out you choose, don't use more than 8 pilots. (And most likely not less).

Some carriers have space for guns, and some captains recommend to carry a set of
gunners "just in case a wandering DD, a sub or even a puny FF gets too close". In my
experience, that's not needed. Not at all. I really think that people doing that just
can't stand a small ship sinking their "almighty" carriers, ergo the gunners onboard just
exist to defend the captain's ego. Pretty, but uneffective. I have only been attacked by a
destroyer a couple of times in all my CV career, and they were sunk by a fellow CL who was
visiting the neighborhood. 99% of the times you'll get sunk will be because of BB' fire or
a Bomber attack. Your guns -which might have AA shells- will be uneffective against such
threats. So, what to do?

Add a medic! One of the R-slots dedicated to a medic will DRAMATICALLY reduce your
pilot casualties, which is specially stressful when your shining bomber squad is all shot
down by enemy fire. Remember that CVs have the highest crew loss rate in the game. The
extra free R-slot could be used to add a Seaman, a Repairer or a Restorer, whatever you
like. Engineers do not work outside support slots, so they're a no-go in a gun slot.


IV) NAVAL WARFARE

So finally, comes the section for which I have called this guide like I called it. In
battle, everything goes, so instead of writing a specific "How to cook enemy BBs in their
ink when the moon is full" or "How to sing the air superiority song in Re minor" sections,
I will point possible actions to be taken and resources to be dispossed, which have
resulted particulary effective. -For me and many of the interviewed captains, during three
years of different styles of gameplay.-

IV.a) Comms

First and foremost, if you're not in a fleet / squad / gang / horde, I strongly advice
you to do so. To be part of a battle group and to be able to communicate with them with
your own voice is uber helpful. It can really turn the tide of a battle. If not, be sure
to read the chat messages, specially those in brown: some of them are requests for fighter
cover, and you MUST respond to these ASAP. Some others will be requesting for some
firepower help. If possible, let them know you're taking the call. Think on yourself as
your battle group 911. However, it's up to you to decide the importance of the zone, and
the distance to your location. Being a versatile carrier, you can effectively cover a wide
array of zones.

IV.b) The pesky torpedo whore.

These small ships, often Destroyers and sometimes Light Cruisers are fast and poorly
armed. They tend to go in front to deploy their torp courtain, which could be very harmful
not because of the damage, but because of the delay in positioning for your own
battleships. Being a fast ship, more than a couple of BB salvos will be thrown before
hitting him, which could be used to hit more juicy targets, already in range. That's why a
small group of your own TB would be perfect for the mission: I usually send 3 of them to
hunt these ships, due to the fast load rates, allowing you to prepare fighters to the
battle. Usually 2 torps would sunk or badly cripple these ships, while a 3-hit almost
ensures your first sunken ship. These captains go alone, not knowing what's in front of
them. Their stress level is above normal, since they know they're prolly the first dying.
If you target the ship with your bombers since airlift and keep it like that while your
bombers get there, the captain will most likely freak out or at least will definitively
look up to the skies waiting for the bombing, greatly diminishing his ability to deploy
the buggy torp courtain, or making him throw it early. Remember the ship is being
controlled by a human being, play with his mind!

IV.c) Fighters

Before the TW adventure, think on this as a must: Thou shall always have fighters ready
or getting ready. I use squads of 3 fighters, because of the "readying" speed, but once
again: different situations require different strategies. If you deploy a group, get ready
the next one before doing anything else. After that, there are basically four sort of
missions your fighters are entitled to: Protecting, Escorting, Scouting and the most
important: Hunting (A.K.A. Air Superiority).

IV.c.1) Protecting

Remember those desperate and often rude calls for fighter cover? One of the most
important fighter missions is not to allow enemy aircraft to mind their bussiness on your
air space. Anything close to a blue dot in the map is YOUR air space, and thus you have to
defend it. We all would like to have hundreds of fighters to send everywhere they're
needed, but we just don't. Evaluating here is critical: Which one of the ships under
attack is more important, by rank or position? Where is the enemy aircarft coming from? Am
I in position to stand a fight against these, or I will only send my fighters to die,
without any noticeable effect? Will this fighter group be more helpful in another sort of
mission? Would this currently empty zone be more important to defend now than this? After
you considered all those interrogants -you have 3E-5 secs to do that- decide, and act.
Very often, the worst decision is to do nothing.

IV.c.2) Hunting (A.K.A. Air superiority)

More common at the early stages of the battle, you will see plenty of lonely,
foolishly brave aircraft invading your airspace. These Von Richtofen fans are scout
planes, launched from enemy Cruisers and Battleships. Hunting them down it's very
important for a simple reason: enemy ships cannot shot at something they can't see.
Therefore, if they can't shot at anything, they can't sink anything. If they can't sink
us, they can't win the battle. It sounds simple, but is CRITICAL. An enemy scout plane
must be among the preferred meals of your fighters. Among the enemy aircraft, there are
fighter and bomber incursions to your "air" as well. Even if their "task" is different,
they also provide vision to the enemy battle group, so keep this in mind when choosing
prey of your fighters. The ultimate goal of hunting is to actively get rid of enemy
aircraft, but that's utopic. The only means to do that is to sink their carriers, but
that's a job for some other of your boys. Keep baby-sitting those hunters for a bit, it
pays dividends in the long run! This is particularly important in the early stages of a
battle.

IV.c.3) Escorting

Now this might be a bit different from what you've read about CVs until now. I
consider it the best possible mission for a fighter group since they do every other
mission while performing this: they defend the zones where they travel, they hunt down
enemy planes in the way and they also scout, since these escorting incursions are usually
deep inside enemy waters. Basically, in here you're using one fighter group to escort a
group of bombers attacking an enemy ship. Altough it is not necessary, I strongly
recommend you to always use escorts when sending bombers anywhere. Here are just a few
goddies of doing it like that:

- If your attacking squad finds an enemy defending squad, your fighters will engage
them, allowing your bombers to pass thru and reach their destination.
- Usually, AA ships aim their guns to the first wave. Perhaps your fighters will be
shot down, but the bombers still make it to the intended target, if you use the height
controls with skill.
- The escorts will be shoting down all scout planes they find on the way. (Requires you
to re-direct to the target, though)
- After the bombing, if both the escorts and the bombers survived, the bombers will
immediately go back to your carrier. However, the escort group will circle around the zone
of the enemy ships for some more time, providing vision to your own battleships to finish
off the enemies in the area.

IV.c.4) Scouting

Even if the sight area is not really wide, a group -or a lonely- fighter can spot
hiding ships or even better, a scouting incursion in enemy waters by a fighter group will
prove difficult to shot down. Even if they engage and start circling, they will be
providing vision for that particular area for a decent amount of time. Also, any ship
paying attention to them will not pay attention to our own ships. Once again, information
is vital for your team success: remember if we can't see them, we can't win. Do this kind
of missions if your team scouts are not being used or useful. Scouting acquires importance
as the battle goes old, since space is wider between ships.

IV.d) Bombing

So you think we forgot about the fashion pilots? While the fighters are working their
butts out there, these DBs and TBs are scratching themselves in the carrier, showing each
other their love just as the village people taught them. Bombing runs are both fun and
dangerous, equally useful. First off, stop thinking on bombing missions as "the act of
dropping explosives to enemy ships". As told in escorting section(IV.c.3), bombing enemy
ships accomplish more goals than just damaging -commonly scratching- enemy ships. An
often neglected fact about bombing is the chilling effect the red marker has on any
player. Knowing you're targeted makes you to be alert on the skies, forgetting any
activity you were doing before. Either aiming your AA, or trying to maneuver to avoid
either airstrikes or torpedoes, the attacked ship simply stops playing in the sniper game
that BBs and cruisers play. This has proven useful more than once, a distracted ship is
easy prey for your own ships.

In the other hand, outside the mind games, anything lower than a battleship can be
sunk by a bombing run of basic planes. Choose your targets carefully, assign them
importance as you see fit: just remember that contrary to the common thinking, there is no
such as a dedicated target. The importance changes with the situation, so trust yourself
while choosing victims, keep in mind your group needs before yours and always have a
secondary target, just in case the first one gets sunk / gets too heavily guarded.

IV.e) Subs, the silent menace.

Ever since subs were added to the game, gameplay has changed substantially. Regardless
the effects subs have on the front line, they have become an increasing risk for the
"support" lines of battle, which is as you might have guessed: us, the CVs.
They are often invisible until they are in front of you, ready to sink a juicy and
plane-loaded target. I must stay honest, the chances of surviving this is not that
spectacular.

However, what you can do is to help the other support ships such as Destroyers and
Light Cruisers, which are mostly meant to safeguard from these kind of incursions: get a
small group of Torp Bombers on the air. They are higly effective against subs, and 3 of
them are more than enough to dispose or badly cripple the little bugger. If you remembered
to send all armor to bulge as a CV is supossed to, there will be enough time to prepare,
fly and attack the sub before he gets to you.


V) DANCING WITH THE FLOW (Thanks to Lordsaxon)

So the first times I entered great battles with my low level cruisers, I saw fat
carriers moving south and north at full speed, like if they were being chased up and down
by some undetectable foe. Also, watching them sitting in their initial spot, like if their
engines were broken. Following the spirit of this guide, I will not say what is the best
thing to do, but I will mention obvious advantages and disadvantages of moving (or not
doing it). First off, it's obvious that the longer your planes have to flight, the less
important you are in the outcome of the battle. True, being far away also means you're
also relatively safe from gun shells and marauding bomber runs. However, this will prolly
happen for a short time, because the front line won't receive adecuate support from you,
and thus their winning chances decrease. (See: Germans in Stalingrad). So, the ideal
location would give you short flying times and would keep you safe from enemy fire.
Unfortunately as it always happen with most things in life, you cannot have both at the
max. The ideal spot would locate you behind the front line, but just behind enough not to
get shot. Lordsaxon suggest that you should pick one of the task forces (a group moving in
the same direction, usually south or north), follow them closely and provide your air
support to the action. However, this require definition: please contact your fellow 911
carriers to improve the zones of influence. Also, don't be afraid of your task group being
sunk: if they do, the battle is lost at least by 75% anyways. Being far away won't save
you in the end, nor will make you a better carrier.

Being stationary feels good. I know the feeling. It's like if you were the fleet' HQ
and the raiding parties were coming in and out from you. Sadly, being stationary makes you
to be less effective and makes you an easier prey. Period.

At my humble sight, moving is a critical part of strategy. Being that, a predeterminate
formula won't work, so try locating your carrier in the best possible spot always, which
contraty to common belief it might not be following the best BB5. Try following the
flow of battle: it's nonsense to run north when you're needed south, and I won't even
mention the rushing CVs. Once again, it depends on the situation. Happy dancing!

VI) ALSO READ...

Not willing to write a friggin' encyclopedia here, the next recommended posts have
been very useful for me, and you can find more detailed information in order to become a
successful CV driver:

1. "KM CV Guide" by Lordsaxon, under Kriegsmarine forums.
2. "Guide to effective fighter cover" by GuidoPenguin, under tips and tactics.
3. "Guide: using a CV" by Dnick454, under tips and tactics.
4. "Planes maneuvering - (Basic) CV playing tips, tactics & techniques" by Ayeaye, under
tips and tactics. (Now sticky!)
5. "The CV1 survival guide" by Rimmyman, under tips and tactics.
6. "Basic carrier tactics" by Starbomber10, under tips and tactics.
7. "How to get the best fighters" by Cracko, under tips and tactics.

VII) TO END

First off, thank you for reading all this. Please remember that you, as a CV captain,
have prepared to confront anything coming from the dark-clouded area, so try to keep in
mind your advantages, the advantages of your enemy, your resources and their resources.
Expect the unexpected and surprise your enemy. Also remember the most important thing of
all: Have LOADS of fun, this is a game. Hell of a good one. =)

PS: Don't forget to add a recommendation if you like this guide ;)