this question pretty long :p

ok , 1st off, so as you mentioned , you planed to make a balanced type of planes in CV.
but i'd say it's better to stick with one kind of planes to fimiliar how they work
but its still ok with lving a FT+bomber CV.
i'd suggest you to try on a single type of bomber 1st .
becoz DBs and TBs need a total different skill to handle, and only 2 pilots of each type of bombers , it will greatly lower down your ability to attack ppl (due to long loading time of planes with only 2pilots especially when high lv)
but if you are really interested to try both type of bomber, you can try to start your crew with 4ft/4db/4t maybe
and ofcoz, although the maximum number of useable pilots are only 8 , you can always lv more pilots to make your CV play style more flaxable!! (and you can sell some pilots to make some money too)
so if you decided to lv more pilots for a more flexable play , 6fts+4dbs/4tbs would be a nice choise

for the side note, for lving that much pilots, you will always need to take turn on your ships to lv them so you can make their lv similar. but in this case , your BO will be much higher lv than your pilots which i think that is not really good for your future game play (becoz using high lv CV with low lv pilots is a hard way to play within CV)
so , i'd suggest you to make a 2nd BO to really make it as your CV BO,it is always better that the lv of the pilots are higher than the BO


as for the R/T slots , only Oyodo/Mogami half-CV have T slots. and the regular CVs have only R slots
and especially for IJN/KM CVs , it is very difficult to choose whether go for regular gunners or AAgunners becoz they have specific useage and can't share guns
AA gunners can use only AA guns, which IJNAA is one of the greatest feature of its nation
regular gunners can use normal guns and HHs, if you are afraid of the SS threat or other ships' attack , regular gunner is always the 1st choise, although some of the normal guns can carry AA shells, but they are way less effecient than the AAguns



in the other hand, you may somehow need some support crew , if you have much time to lv them, it would be nice
Seaman -> increase the overall abilities of your crew(but only slightly)
need better potential ability base (+14 or +15) and other base especially aircraft/fighter/bomber need to be as high as possible (if you are patient enough to keep rolling sailors ;P)

and if you decided not to use gunners , you can lv 2 more supports to subsitude them
maximum 1eng (best to be +12 and if you don't mind using a credit card you can buy a elite one)
why maximum only 1 eng? becoz same as the pilots, they only work on the support slots, so they are meaningless to put on R slots. however, rep can be used on R slots. so if you decided to not using the eng you can lv 2 rep


that's almost all the ideas (or maybe someone can help me to provide more information in case i forgot some of them)
feel free to ask more.
i know you'd say "OM*GWT* that's a long hard grind!!!" and yes it is.
i know this is tough but if you want to be good you must go through this :(
good luck and workhard in NF :)

*sry for bad english coz this is not my mother language >__> *

As mentioned, it is recommended that you play one type of bomber pilot first, it'll only just get harder when you reach CV4 and above where you'll usually be the CV that burdens the most responsibility for your team. It's always nice to play different arsenals of CV playstyles but note that you'll seriously reduce your efficiency when given situations are terribly unforgiving. Because of this, you'll eventually get familiar with what I mean when you reach to your mid-tier CVs, you can then decide what's best for you whether you play TB/DB.


A balance of fighters is critical as well, it all boils down to what kind of role you're eager to playout for the team. There are two roles in CV play; Defensive and Offensive.

If you play defensive, you'll mostly be intercepting bombers and covering for your team. Sometimes when situations are extremely tight or when there's no obstruction going on, you should always consider scouting for your team even if it isn't always the CV's job (fighters do make poor scouts TBH) so to prevent the enemy from scouting your team. You can purely FW as well in that regard (using only fighters) but you'll lose essential opportunities because there will always be situations where there are game winning targets that are completely vulnerable/crippled. Whichever floats your boat, playing a FW or fighter heavy setup offers a much less hectic gameplay IMO.

If you play offensive, you'll be going for essential targets to win for the team. Its playstyle is extremely subjective and to pull it off successfully, you need lots of skill and anticipation. To make bombing runs more successfully in the long run, enemy CVs should be your priority target in most cases and it'll make your job more and more easier for every CV you down. Because of this, you can also tactically nuke their enemy flag as well which will guarantee you a win after the 5:30 countdown provided if your flag is well defended in that allotted time. From how I see its playstyle, it's absolutely not recommended to use bombers only in a CV4 tier and above. Neglecting the responsibility of a capital CV by not having any fighters onboard will indefinitely guarantee you a loss no matter how skilled you control your bombers. This is because as a capital CV, you'll almost always lose ground from leaving your side of the flank permanently blind from enemy fighters and chances are, you'll be completely fighter camped at their mercy. For that reason, always have at least 2 fighters in CV4 tier and above. Further, besides playing aggressively, you can use the 2 fighters or more to distract and kite the enemy CV fighters as well as give vision/cover for your team just as a FW would even if it isn't much. Overall, you need alot of critical thinking to become a successful offensive style CV.

In the subject of BWing, I have two videos below that demonstrates some neat tricks and tactics with DBs, you can view them here, and as mentioned, they require alot of skill, patience, and experience such as perfecting the mechanics of manual bombing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRfjZMVDnUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE5NH7rfyvA


In the subject of AA gunners, luckily for IJN, they are considered DP gunners which are dual purpose. Some A version guns can carry HE and AA guns, you can surely use them for end game situations while nailing enemy fighters camping around your CV when your fighters are too busy on the other side. I love using DP guns on my CV but that's my preference as some would use support sailors or seamen on their R slots. The expense of DP gunners is that your CV will be much more fragile but it can be backed up if they have a good base for repair/restore. Check for guides when you should class them so to make the most out of them.

There will be no T slots when you reach your first CV and so on so it doesn't matter in whatever case so don't be confused over the IJN hybrids as they're the only CVs that have T slots. Cheers. ^^

So instead of 4 fps, 2 dbs and 2 tbs, if I wanted to emphasize Dbs, should I do 4 fps and 4 dbs? or 2 fps and 6 dbs? And also I am afraid If I make AA gunners that at low levels I will only be able to use AA guns and be useless in blitz.

6 FP, 6 bomber pilots is a better longterm goal for a Cv tbh, 4 pilots of 1 kind just isn't enough to either fw or bw.

As for dp gunners, don't. For usefull Dp gunners you have to make them armament then leave them as such until you reach lvl 90 before classing them to dpgunner. You can use the low level guns ofc against subs and humpers, but for AA they will be pretty useless until classed. You're better of sticking unused pilots or regular support ( repairer/seaman) on the r-slots.

If you're planning to use DP gunners which can use both HE and AA, leave them as armament sailors until they have enough ACC/RLD ability to reach its cap, read Adalbert guides concerning ability caps. Armament sailors can still use the dual 5.5" guns which can still do a pack a punch dmg in blitz and presuming the map is Hobbit Wars which is set to default, almost everyone just bumrushes in the center anyway where range isn't a huge issue. Before blitz, there would be way more to that but that's blitz generation for you. If you want even more ability on your repair/restore for the DP gunners, leave them as national sailors with the same reason as above at the expense of having even less ACC/RLD which will take much more leveling and investment (fully BVE'd). On the bright side if you have the patience, you'll reap greater rewards when they reach lvl 100+ with capped ability while having excellent support stats, two birds in one stone.

You can use normal gunners if you wish for anti-sub purposes along for AAing as well but the best guns you can AA with them are the D version 3.9" guns which aren't very effective compared to the A version counterpart.


I'd recommend 3 FT/5 DB setup for your scenario but nothing ever comes out cut and dry, you can improvise your own methods and strategies that'll affect your pilot setup. If you really want to try every kind of variety of CV gameplay with FT and DB, be ready to prep at least 6 FT and 6 DB. It'll take alot of rotation and as suggested, you may have to level a 2nd CV BO. In that regard, you can also try the Junyo line as well where they have excellent mid-tier CVs compared to the Hosho line.


I think that's about everything, good luck on CVing. ;)

So I think I will make 2 armament sailors and eventually make them AA. But should I make them machine gunners or DP gunners? And how many pilots is the max that you can use at once on a CV? 8?

Oh yeah and what sailors should I make first on my FF? 1 bo, 2 arms sailors, then one fighter and one bomber? I dont know what order I should make my crew in.

The IJN lower-level CVS are extremely overpowered in terms of ship class.

They are CL and CA (Although the CA version is higher level than the first CV)

But the point is, the game thinks its CL or CA so... if you go in blitz you get autobalanced as a CL/CA when you are really a CV, so your team has a slight advantage. This can result in more wins, and thus, faster leveling.