Any ship in World of Warships can gain additional abilities
or have some of their characteristics temporarily improved.
In today’s episode of "How It Works,"
we're going to talk about how consumables achieve that.
In World of Warships,
all consumables operate for a limited amount of time
and need to cool down before their next use.
You can accelerate the cooldown time of consumables
with the Jack of all Trades Commander skill
and November Foxtrot signal.
Additionally, almost all consumables have a limited number of uses,
but this number can be increased with the Superintendent skill.
The only consumable with an unlimited number of charges
is Damage Control Party.
Let’s start with that one.
Damage Control Party instantly repairs damaged modules,
extinguishes fire, removes instances of flooding, and most importantly—
prevents new instances of fire and flooding from appearing on your ship
while the consumable is active.
Its duration differs according to the nation and type of the ship.
After each use of the Damage Control Party consumable,
some time is required for it to recharge.
For this reason, you need to assess the exact situation before activating it.
If your ship is coming under heavy bombardment from HE shells,
it’s important not to waste the consumable
on a single instance of fire or flooding,
unless the amount of your ship’s remaining HP is critical, of course.
When bombers are carrying HE bombs in your direction
and enemy torpedoes are approaching your side,
you had better wait a bit before using Damage Control Party
to fix the damage from all of these problems at once.
You can reduce the cooldown time with the High Alert Commander skill,
and increase the effect time of the consumable
with the special Damage Control Party Modification 1 upgrade.
Finally, to help you preserve
Damage Control Party for really extreme situations,
any Commanders that you employ on destroyers
should possess the Last Stand skill.
This will keep your damaged engines and rudders operational.
The majority of Soviet battleships are equipped with Fast Damage Control Team.
It works in the same way as Damage Control Party,
but requires less time to recharge and has a limited number of uses.
If Damage Control Party is in cooldown
and your ships are suffering from several instances of fire and flooding,
you can use Repair Party to restore part of your ship's lost HP.
You can learn more about that particular consumable
in "How It Works: Repair Party."
If you want to use Repair Party to its full effect,
don't activate it after taking just a little damage.
However, do activate the consumable right away
if two or three enemy ships start firing at you simultaneously,
as during the time the consumable is active,
you'll almost certainly lose enough HP for it to be 100% effective.
If your ship has plenty of Repair Party charges,
don't be too cautious about using them,
else you might not have a chance to use them at all.
It’s worth adding that the India Delta signal
significantly increases this consumable’s efficiency.
If some parts of your ship,
such as the forward end or hull, have been destroyed,
then after using Repair Party, these parts will again have some HP,
and any hits to these parts will again deal not 10%,
but 1/6 of the shell’s damage.
Keep in mind that repairs reduce
the efficiency of the Adrenaline Rush skill.
For this reason, it's better to wait before using Repair Party
so you can fire more often,
provided the combat situation allows for it.
The Specialized Repair Teams consumable
is different from Repair Party by its faster cooldown
and the increased amount of HP it restores.
It can be used by some British battleships and cruisers;
destroyer Neustrashimy; and cruisers Boise, Salem, and Nueve de Julio.
Smoke Generator can save you in the most extreme situations
by creating a smoke screen around your ship,
thus hiding you from your enemies.
However it doesn't mean that you're completely safe
while under the cover of smoke.
Detailed information on that can be found in
"How it Works: Spotting System."
If your ship moves while Smoke Generator is active,
the smoke screen will expand when your ship leaves the set smoke screen
by half of the hull’s length.
But if your ship is moving too fast,
it can temporarily lose its concealed status.
To avoid this, travel at ¼ speed.
However, the area of a smoke screen laid at this speed
will be less than that of one you would otherwise create
while traveling at full speed.
Before heading into battle,
analyze the composition of the enemy team.
If there are many cruisers with Radar,
or destroyers with Hydroacoustic Search,
you should be very careful when capturing Key Areas.
Don't activate Smoke Generator at the beginning of the battle
as soon as you arrive at a Key Area,
because it's highly probable
that an enemy destroyer will immediately launch torpedoes
towards the smoke in response.
Remember that while inside a smoke screen, your ship is blind,
and you won’t be able to spot enemies for your allies.
Don't activate Smoke Generator if you've been detected by Radar
or Hydroacoustic Search,
because a smoke screen won’t hide you from these.
You shouldn't stay stationary within smoke—
it’s better to constantly move.
This will allow you to gain enough speed in time to evade
any enemy torpedoes or salvoes guided by your tracers.
Be sure to keep an eye on the timer of your Smoke Generator—
if it shows just several seconds remaining, it's time to get moving.
It's important to generate smoke screens for your allies,
especially for cruisers.
However, while smoke screens will help
battleships and cruisers with heavy calibers at long and medium ranges,
it won’t help at close ranges—
they'll be spotted after firing a shot anyway.
The operating and cooldown times of Smoke Generator,
as well as the duration of the smoke screen deployed,
depend on the nation, tier, and type of the ship.
For example, Smoke Generators of U.S. destroyers are active for longer
and their smoke screens enjoy greater longevity,
while British Generators get exhausted very quickly.
Consider the specific features of the Smoke Generator on your ship wisely.
The special Smoke Generator Modification 1 upgrade
increases the smoke screen setting time by 30%,
but reduces its longevity by 5%.
The smoke screen setting time can be increased
with the X-Ray Papa Unaone signal,
while the Smoke Screen Expert Commander skill
will enlarge the area of effect.
In addition to the standard Smoke Generator,
the game also has Exhaust Smoke and Crawling Smoke Generators.
Italian cruisers come equipped with the former.
It’s different from the standard generator,
in that it can hide a ship
even when she’s setting a smoke screen at full speed,
but the smoke dissipates rather quickly.
Crawling Smoke Generator can be used by some Commonwealth and Pan-Asian ships.
It works longer than the standard generator,
but the smoke dissipates pretty quickly.
Short-Burst Smoke Generators are also present in our game.
These are used by U.K. destroyers and German Z-35.
This consumable remains active for a short time,
and the smoke dissipates quickly,
but the number of possible uses is significantly higher.
One can detect ships hidden inside smoke screens or behind islands
by using Hydroacoustic Search,
which increases the distance of guaranteed detection of ships and torpedoes.
The radius of its effect depends on the nation, tier,
and type of the ship deploying it.
Hydroacoustic Search provides good means for fighting destroyers
and pushing in a particular direction.
It's useful when your ship is approaching a smoke screen,
when your ship is behind a smoke screen,
when a destroyer has been spotted on your flank,
or for detecting enemies hiding behind islands.
Analyze the Minimap before using Hydroacoustic Search.
If any enemy destroyers have been recently detected on the opposite flank,
save the consumable;
if they have been detected on your flank
or their position is unknown, use it.
The special Hydroacoustic Search Modification 1 upgrade
is extremely helpful because it increases duration of the consumable.
It becomes especially noticeable for those ships
that have this consumable with a long duration by default.
The Sierra Bravo signal may also come in handy.
Additionally, one can increase a ship’s torpedo detection range
by applying the Vigilance Commander skill.
Radar works in exactly the same as Hydroacoustic Search,
but with a couple of key differences.
The effective time of Radar is much shorter,
but the radius of effect is significantly larger.
While Radar doesn't detect torpedoes, it does have another feature—
upon activating Radar,
you can immediately see all enemies within the consumable’s operating range.
The detected ships will appear on the Minimap of your allies straight away,
but your allies will spot those enemies only after 6 seconds,
and only if the enemy ships stay within Radar’s area of effect
for the entire time.
It's highly useful to install
the Surveillance Radar Modification 1 upgrade
on a ship with Radar,
as this will increase its operating time by 20%.
Allies and Division mates should use Hydroacoustic Search and Radar in turns,
not simultaneously.
Try to observe what consumables your allies are actively using around you.
You can also detect enemies hiding behind islands by using Spotting Aircraft,
but the primary function of this consumable
is to temporarily increase the maximum firing range
of a ship’s primary armament by 20%.
In addition to that, Spotting Aircraft allows you to observe a target
at a more convenient angle
that correlates to the flightpath of your shells.
That's why, while using Spotting Aircraft,
if you can clearly see a target behind an island
and there’s no obstacle indicator in the reticle,
it means that your shells can hit it.
This consumable will also come in handy while firing at an enemy
that’s firing at you from behind a smoke screen.
However, it won't help you detect torpedoes.
It's important to understand that,
when using Spotting Aircraft or the Gun Fire Control System Modification 2 upgrade,
you can fire shells over a range that surpasses the base firing range,
which is why the dispersion of your shells increases.
The Aiming Systems Modification 1 upgrade will help reduce that dispersion.
You can't control the Spotting Aircraft,
but you can increase the time of its effect
with the special Spotting Aircraft Modification 1 upgrade.
Soviet Premium cruiser Lazo uses the Rapid Takeoff Spotter consumable.
It cools down much faster,
but its operating time is less than that of the standard consumable.
Another aircraft type you can use is Fighter,
a consumable that improves your anti-aircraft defenses.
Fighters automatically attack
any enemy aircraft that come within a 3 km radius.
The number of aircraft per squadron depends on the particular ship.
The Direction Center for Fighters skill
adds one additional aircraft to a squadron.
Avoid using this consumable too early.
Choose a moment when enemy aircraft are close to the area of effect
of your anti-aircraft defenses,
otherwise the aircraft carrier player will be warned off
and choose another target.
While that’s not a bad result in itself,
they will know when your hawks are in cooldown
and wait to deliver their attack in that moment.
Don't launch your fighters close to enemy ships,
because the aircraft have little HP and you'll just lose them in vain!
The most popular method of enhancing anti-aircraft defenses
is the Defensive AA Fire consumable,
which increases the damage of both direct AA hits and AA shell blast damage.
The most effective moment to use this consumable
is when enemy aircraft are inside the effective range of your AA defenses.
That's why it's useful to turn on the AA range display on the Minimap.
You can increase its time of effect
with the Defensive AA Fire Modification 1 upgrade
and reduce its cooldown time with the Sierra Bravo signal.
Defensive AA Fire often shares the same slot with Hydroacoustic Search.
Consider all the advantages and disadvantages of each
before making your choice between them.
Engine Boost temporarily increases the ship’s maximum speed.
Its characteristics depend on the nation, tier, and type of the ship,
and the duration of its effect can be increased by installing the special
Engine Boost Modification 1 upgrade.
It's much harder to hit a ship with Engine Boost active,
especially while she’s performing maneuvers.
That's why you shouldn't use it at the beginning of battle
just to reach a flank more quickly.
It's better to use this consumable when you need to quickly get out of sight,
or to increase your maneuverability while coming under fire.
But remember that maneuvering reduces the speed of your ship.
Engine Boost becomes more valuable in the second half of battle.
This is when you can use it to effectively and rapidly change flanks.
European destroyer Småland employs the Emergency Engine Power consumable,
which provides a greater increase in speed,
but has a shorter duration.
The name of the Main Battery Reload Booster consumable says it all.
You shouldn't use the 50% booster while firing from the maximum distance,
because you won’t achieve an optimal number of hits.
But if a target presents its side to you at medium or short ranges,
don't hesitate to use the booster to unleash hell on them.
Another effective application of this consumable
is when it’s used after an enemy
extinguishes any instances of fire on board—
simply switch to HE shells,
and you'll be able to inflict several more instances of fire
on their ship in no time.
Another important point is to use the Main Battery Reload Booster
only when you're sure that the target won't move out of the spotting zone
within the next 15 seconds.
The primary way of using Torpedo Reload Booster
is to activate it immediately after launching torpedoes,
thus you’ll be able to launch double the number of torpedoes
in a very short time.
If your torpedo tubes are still reloading,
and there are just a few moments left before you crash into the enemy,
it's time to use the booster and surprise them with your torpedoes.
All the different types of consumables
have been designed to assist players in battle.
We hope that our advice will help you use them more effectively.
If you have you own unique tactics for implementing consumables
in different in-game scenarios,
be sure to share them with us in the comments.
Until next time!