Ministry of Balance: New Horizons, Greater Heights

It has been several months since we made this many balance changes in a single update—here's our epic comeback, featuring a wave of buffs and tweaks for Fighter, Defensive AA Fire, and various ships! 

Fighter and Defensive AA Fire

With this update, we're improving the performance of the Fighter and Defensive AA Fire consumables to make them more effective in battle. At the same time, we've reduced the active duration of both consumables to prevent them from becoming too powerful against aircraft. 

Fighters 

• Their number of attacks is now unlimited. They will return to patrolling after attacking or continue chasing and attacking until all Fighters are destroyed or the consumable duration expires.
• The patrol radius has been increased by 2 km. 
• The duration of automatic or classic Fighters chasing a target has been reduced from 40 to 25 seconds. This change allows them to engage multiple times and prevents them from getting stuck on a single group of planes. 
• The speed of all Fighters has been increased by approximately 55%, but not exceeding 270 knots. The lower a Fighter's initial speed was, the greater the speed boost it received—some of the slowest saw increases of up to 100%! 
• The consumable duration for most variants has been reduced. For classic non-carrier Fighters, it was decreased by 30–35 seconds. For aircraft carrier automatic Fighters, the duration was reduced from 10 to 2.5 minutes.
• A special icon will now appear when you are controlling your planes in a zone with enemy Fighters. An orange icon indicates that patrolling Fighters are present in your area, while a red icon means they are about to attack you.
• Fighters can now attack even before entering the patrol radius.

Defensive AA Fire 

• The Defensive AA Fire consumable now has at least one additional charge across all ships. Some ships received even greater buffs: ZF-6 and Yūbari now have 3 charges instead of 1, while Kansas and Minnesota now have 4 charges instead of 1. 
• Cooldown time has been reduced—up to 140 seconds for ships with 3 charges, and up to 120 seconds for those with 4 charges (a reduction of approximately 40–60 seconds in each case). 
• The consumable duration has been reduced to 25 seconds for all ships, except Nicholas and Charles Hughes, which have a duration of 20 seconds. 

Ships 

AL Formidable

AL Formidable has been experiencing trouble with the AP penetration and striking power of her bombers, so we're improving them in several areas.

• AP dive bomber damage increased from 4,000 to 4,200.
• AP bomb penetration multiplier increased by 30%.
• AP dive bomber dispersion improved.
• Skip bomber damage increased from 8,500 to 9,000.
• Skip bomber fire chance increased from 30 to 32%.

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Carnot 

This French cruiser is armed with multiple secondary guns, and we decided to buff them, making Carnot a stronger and more desirable choice in battle. 

• Secondary battery maximum range increased from 6 to 7 km. 
• Secondary battery HE shell penetration increased from 17 to 25 mm for 100 mm guns and from 23 to 35 mm for 139 mm guns. 
• Secondary battery dispersion improved by 32.5%. 
• Added the Enhanced Secondary Targeting consumable to the fourth slot, now giving you a choice between it, Engine Boost, Catapult Fighter, and Observation Seaplane.
• The Powerful AA Defenses ship trait has been replaced with Secondary Reach. This doesn't affect the ship's performance. 

Tiger '59 

Tiger has a great ability to control Key Areas, but she can barely resist any ship that pushes her. We're giving her better chances by improving the accuracy of her main guns to match that of German alternative destroyers like Z-31 and Elbing. 

• Main battery dispersion improved by 49.5%. 

Marco Polo 

This Italian battleship will definitely benefit from improved SAP shells, making her more enjoyable in battle. 

• SAP shell alpha damage increased from 14,100 to 14,500. 
• SAP gun reload time reduced from 33 to 31 s. 
• Detectability range by sea while firing in smoke reduced from 15.13 to 11.35 km. 
• The Big Guns ship trait has been replaced with Sure Shot. This doesn't affect the ship's performance. 

Centurion 

As this ship is similar to Marco Polo, she is receiving the same changes: 

• SAP shell alpha damage increased from 14,100 to 14,500. 
• SAP gun reload time reduced from 33 to 31 s. 
• Detectability range by sea while firing in smoke reduced from 15.13 to 11.35 km.
• The Big Guns ship trait has been replaced with Sure Shot. This doesn't affect the ship's performance.

König Albert 

This ship falls behind her peers in several areas, so to improve her gameplay and add a unique quality, we're significantly buffing her secondary battery guns and improving her main artillery. Beware—she's going to have one of the strongest secondary batteries at her tier! 

• Secondary battery maximum range increased from 3.5 to 5.5 km. 
• Secondary battery dispersion improved by 22.5%. 
• Main battery maximum range increased from 12.99 to 13.64 km. 
• Main battery reload time reduced from 30 to 28 s. 
• Added the Secondary Reach ship trait and replaced the Tough ship trait with "Superior HE Pen." This doesn't affect the ship's performance. 

Ignis Purgatio 

Ignis Purgatio was slightly underperforming as an HE spammer, so we decided to buff her main guns' DPM. 

• Main battery reload time reduced from 28 to 26 seconds 

Napoli B 

In case you missed it, during the middle of the last update, Napoli B received the same buff to her secondary battery range as her original version.

• Secondary battery range increased from 5 to 6 km. 

Gascogne 

• The length of the barbette rings was increased to reach the citadel. The ship's barbette armor is now more realistic, narrowing near the gun. The bulge armor was buffed from 18 to 32 mm. This change may slightly improve the ship's performance. 

Bourgogne 

• The length of the barbette rings was extended to reach the citadel, and the armor of the bottom ring has been increased from 80 to 85 mm. New superstructure elements were added. This change has minimal impact on the ship's performance. 

Jean Bart 

• Extended the barbette armor plates to the casemate, making these areas more resistant to accidental hits.
• Extended the barbette of the second gun to the citadel, further fortifying this section and reducing the chances of citadel hits and penetrations in this area.

These changes won't have a meaningful impact on the ship's performance in general.

La Foudre 

• Extended the barbette armor plates to the casemate, making these areas more resistant to accidental hits.
• Extended the barbette of the second gun to the citadel, further fortifying this section and reducing the chances of citadel hits and penetrations in this area.

These changes won't have a meaningful impact on the ship's performance in general.

Richelieu 

• The barbette rings of the first gun were extended to reach the citadel, and new superstructure elements were added. This change has minimal impact on the ship's performance. 

Alsace 

• Unnecessary barbette rings were removed. This change has minimal impact on the ship's performance.

Kaiser

• Removed small gaps between main guns and their barbettes. This doesn't affect the ship's performance.

König

• Removed small gaps between main guns and their barbettes. This doesn't affect the ship's performance.

K. Albert

• Removed small gaps between main guns and their barbettes. This doesn't affect the ship's performance.

Belfast 

• The "Superior HE Pen." ship trait has been replaced with Reloader. This doesn't affect the ship's performance. 

Courbet 1944 

• The Superior AP Damage ship trait has been replaced with Long Reach. This doesn't affect the ship's performance. 

Ark Royal 

• The Feeble Aircraft ship trait has been replaced with Tough Aircraft. This doesn't affect the ship's performance. 

Cross of Dorn 

• The ship traits Long Reach and Reloader have been replaced with Agile and Area Denial. This change does not affect the ship's performance.

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