Attention to detail: German aircraft carriers

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Compared to the existing American and Japanese lines of aircraft carriers, the Germans were never finished in steel, so we’ve had to go off projects to implement them in the game. Just like with the other nations you’ll have 3 units to research at tiers III, V and VII. And keep in mind, that you’ll need extra credits and XP to research them, compared to other ship types.

There is a significant difference in German aircraft armament, compared to their opponents from other nations:

• They are equipped with AP bombs that act as AP shells and can penetrate the hulls all the way through to citadel, dealing maximum damage but they have no ability to start a fire. The tradeoff is that bombers fly a little lower than those of other nations and effectively spend more time in the enemy AA zone, making drops riskier.
• The torpedoes of German aircraft have a limited range, but also possess a higher speed than those of other nations, allowing them to pose a greater threat to Be wary, however, that their chance to cause flooding is also lower than average, so bigger targets will not be as affected.
• The aircraft squadrons are faster than those of other nations, and while they can get to the target quicker as a result, maneuvering around flak clouds can be more of an issue.

As mentioned in the patch notes, an important update for all tier 7 squadrons is the new consumable – Evasive Maneuver, which protects the squadron from all damage for 6 seconds. By default, each squadron has two charges, which can be expanded upon with the Fully Packed legendary commander skill, so it’s up to 6 total per battle.

Hans Geisler is the specialized commander for German aircraft carriers and he brings in several new skills to the table, driven by the necessity to synergize with AP bombs, however for his base trait we’ve picked something a bit unexpected: Barrage, which improves the reload speed of your ship’s secondary guns by up to 6% at rank 20. This has very limited use on aircraft carriers but does boost their chances to land a lucky shot on a destroyer, for example, but we do expect Geisler to become a popular inspiration for Bismarck and Massachusetts players.

Other skills for the commander are:

• Dark Silhouette (regular skill): increase the concealment of your aircraft carrier (by 3% to 12%, depending on rank).
• Heavy consequences (regular skill) – increase damage and armor penetration of your aircraft's AP bombs (1% to 5% increase for both stats, depending on rank)
• Corkscrew (legendary skill) – increase the penetration of your AP shells (2% to 6%, depending on rank) and bombs and decrease the incoming damage (static 20% reduction) to your aircraft carrier when she’s in proximity of an allied ship.

You can check out the stats of the new ships in the infographics below, meanwhile start researching them and get a handle on the new fleet before others do!