Shooting Order and Targeting

The player cannot directly control any combat aspect. The only sources of control come from:

• Fleet & Gear selection,
• Enemy fleets compositions,
• The few in-Sortie interactions, being notably the Formation selection, the battle's end selections (Night Battle, Evacuation, Repairs, Advance/Retreat), and other on-route interactions (see here).

Those elements can therefore be used to control the Shooting Order and Targeting of the fleets, described below.

Shooting Order

The firing order of the girls will depends on the combat phase:

Phase	Firing Order	Notes
Aerial Combat	All at once
Support Expeditions		Damages are applied in fleet order
Opening Torpedo Salvo
Closing Torpedo Salvo		Some behaviors can make the allied fleet to do damage 1st (see here)
OASW	Random and grouped by range	Affected by Range
1st Shelling Phase
2nd Shelling Phase	Fleet order	Skips over ships unable to attack (damaged/deplaned carriers, sunk/evacuated ships)
Friendly Fleets
Night Battle		Do not skips any ship in the order (ships unable to attack will perform an actionless turn)

Range

Range is a stat that determines the ship attack order during the First Shelling Phase and OASW.

• In those phases, both fleets will take turns shelling the opposing fleet, with the turn order defined by each ship's range stat. It is possible to increase a ship's range with proper equipment.
  • Player fleet and enemy fleet always alternate taking turns shelling, even if one fleet has more ships of higher range than the other fleet.
    • For example: If every ship in player fleet is Long range and every ship in enemy fleet is Short range, they will still take turns "Player -> Enemy -> Player -> Enemy...".
  • Player fleet always goes first, even if enemy fleet has a higher range ship.
  • The order is determined at the beginning of shelling phase. If a ship is sunk or disabled before their turn comes up, it is skipped, and the other side may shell again.
• The shelling order is Longest > Very Long > Long > Medium > Short > None.
  • If two or more ships tie for range within a fleet, the order between them is random.

Range Tie Randomness

When several ships share the same range, the chance of any of them attacking first is random, but not uniformly random.

• Some orders are weighted more commonly than others for reasons not fully understood yet.

Notes

• This can notably affect mechanics, like in Special Attacks, where it is preferable to have the flagship attack first to trigger the attack, before having any chance of being disabled.
• So far, no tests can include all possible range combinations (there are 335916 combinations in total). So far the tests:
  • Focuses on fleets with a common range across the fleet, or with the two first ships with a same high range, as those situations are the most common and useful gameplaywise.
  • Omit fleets with fewer ships (2, 3, & 5), as they are not common, focusing on 4, 6, & 7 ships fleets.
  • Omit "Longest Range" as it is rarely used.

Practical case - Flagship priority

For fleets with 6 ships (single & combined), if the flagship shares its range with a second one (e.g. in a Special Attack), the flagship has about up to 50% and down to 20% chance of attacking first.

• This is explained by some range combination nerfing the 1st attack rate of the flagship.

Where are ranges A > B > C > D, combos confirmed to nerf rate of flagship shelling 1st, worst to least-bad, where "A/A/C/B/B/B" can mean ships with ranges in order of "VL/VL/S/M/M/M", or "VL/VL/M/L/L/L", or "VL/VL/S/L/L/L" etc...

• Those are preliminary tests and will be updated once enough data has been collected.

Range Order	Rate of flagship 1st attacking
A/A/B/B/B/B	46.7%~47.7%
A/A/C/C/B/C	43.6%~46.5%
A/A/C/B/C/C	41.9%~44.6%
A/A/C/C/C/B	41.2%~44.3%
A/A/D/B/D/C	36.7%~45.3%
A/A/D/D/B/C	32.1%~46.2%
A/A/D/C/B/D	32.7%~44.5%
A/A/C/C/B/B	37.2%~40.0%
A/A/C/B/B/C	37.2%~39.4%
A/A/D/B/C/D	36.2%~40.0%
A/A/C/B/C/B	35.0%~38.5%
A/A/D/C/B/C	21.2%~32.7%
A/A/D/B/C/C	23.3%~29.7%
A/A/C/B/B/B	25.0%~27.3%
A/A/D/C/C/B	16.0%~34.0%
A/A/D/B/B/C	13.5%~27.5%
A/A/D/C/B/B	0.1%~23.1%

Sources: [2] [3] [4] [5]

Combined Combat Flow

In addition to the standard shooting order, Combined Fleets have some extra combat ordering, directly resulting from the presence of two fleets.

• See here for more details.

Targeting

When a ship is carrying an attack, the target will be a "random valid opponent".

In a theoretical situation, the rate is therefore:

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Target}_\text{Chance %} = \frac{100}{N_\text{V}} }[/math]

With

• [math]\displaystyle{ N_\text{V} }[/math] the number of "valid opponents": enemies that are not sunk or evacuated, and that can be targeted by the upcoming attack.
  • Especially, if Submarines are present in the opposing fleet and the ship can attack them, N is the number of submarines, else, N is the number of valid targets, which now excludes submarines (see below),
  • Installations may also affect the validity of the target in some situations, especially for SS(V), CV(B/L), and LST.
• For a vs 6 combat, an attack will target opponents with a 1/6 = 16.67 % chance.

Do note that this bare targeting rate will be more or less affected by the following factors:

1. Flagship Protection, lowering the chance of the flagship to be targeted, at the cost of an increased chance for the ships that will protect it.
   • Only "valid protectors" can protect the flagship, and so if none are present, this flagship protection cannot be activated.
   • The intensity of this effect will depend on the formation.
2. Searchlights will play a similar role as flagship protection, with an inversed logic.
3. Vanguard Formation have additional modifiers for both its "Upper Half" and "Bottom Half"
4. PT Imps have unique modifiers applied when Amagiri Kai Ni/D
   is present.
5. Combined Fleets use different rules depending on the combat phase.
6. Friendly Fleets have different rules, avoiding targeting the enemy flagship.

Notes

• Special Attacks and the Night Zuiun Cut-In carry out several shoots that each target an enemy at random following the above mention elements.
• Other Night Cut-Ins and Artillery Spotting that carry out 2 shoots will target only a unique enemy at random following the above mention elements, hitting it twice.

Submarines

Only certain ships meeting certain conditions can attack SS(V).

• Most often, if a ship can attack a submarine, focusing it will take over any other target.

Here, refers to any /.

Ship	Conditions		Day Battle	Night Battle
	Stats	Equipment
Taiyou-class Kai Ni Kaga Kai Ni Go	Not more than moderately damaged (中破)	with 1+	Prioritize SS	Night Air Attack will prioritize surface target Night Shelling prioritizes SS
Gambier Bay Mk.II				Cannot attack SS unless if: setuped for a Night Air Attack, then prioritize SS with a night shelling attack
All other CVL				Do not attack SS
Mogami-class Kou Kai Ni			Prioritize surface target
BBV, CAV, AV, LHA	None	Equipped with Bomber, , , , or with 1+	Prioritize SS
Fusou-class Kai Ni No.101 Transport Ship		Equipped with	Prioritize SS
Any CV, CVL, BBV, CAV, AV, LHA		Not equipped with the above-mentioned equipment	Do not attack SS
Hayasui Kai Yamashio Maru Kai		Equipped with	Prioritize SS	Do not attack SS
		Not equipped with	Prioritize SS
All other ships	At least 1 base ASW	None
	No base ASW		Do not attack SS

Notes

• As Abyssals also follow those conditions, SS/V can be used as "Submarine Tanks" (Sub-tanking) on some maps to deviate attacks from the fleet to the submarine.

Air strike

Planes typically cannot target submarines during air strike.

• Some abyssals can target player submarines on Air Raid nodes
  • They do not prioritize submarines.
  • They cannot target submarines on normal Battle nodes.
• ASW Aircraft prioritize submarines during LBAS Phase.
  • When attacking Combined Fleets, the fleet (main or escort) is selected first, which may result in a submarine not being targeted if the fleet they are in is not selected.

Installations

Installations are immune to certain types of attacks:

Shelling

Carriers can only attack installations if equipped with at least one anti-installation Dive Bombers with non-zero slot, or if equipped with only torpedo bombers (no dive bombers or jets).

• Carriers equipped with no anti-installation Dive Bombers and at least one Normal dive bomber or jet with non-zero slot can not attack installations.

Dive-Bombers that can attack installations
This is a segment from a bigger article. See Combat/Anti-Installation for details on Installation mechanics. Carriers will only attack installations in the shelling phase if equipped with Torpedo Bombers or Anti-Installation Dive Bombers. Additionally, carriers will attack installations if equipped with non-special dive bombers AND one of the special dive bombers below. Any other dive bomber will completely disable shelling against installations even if the carrier has a torpedo bomber equipped. This can be very useful to manipulate the targeting mechanic so the carriers attack important targets.
Ju 87C Kai Prototype Nanzan F4U-1D FM-2 Ju 87C Kai Ni (w/ KMX) Ju 87C Kai Ni (w/ KMX/Skilled) Suisei Model 12 (634 Air Group w/ Type 3 Cluster Bombs) AAR Suisei Model 12 (w/ Type 31 Photoelectric Fuze Bombs) AAR Type 99 Dive Bomber Model 22 Type 99 Dive Bomber Model 22 (Skilled) SB2C-3 SB2C-5 F4U-4 AAR

Submarines can only attack installations during the shelling if equipped with Amphibious Vehicles.

• They will only target installations during the shelling phases.
• They will be able to attack installations at night regardless of equipment.
• Their low firepower makes them poor anti-installation ships.

Carriers are unable to perform CVCI on installations, even if equipped with anti-installation dive bombers.

• Ise-class Kai Ni can still perform the Suisei-CI against installations.

"LST" type ships (No.101 Transport Ship so far) will focus on installations if any are present.

Special Attacks behave like normal against installation.

Torpedo

Both Opening Torpedo Salvos and Closing Torpedo Salvos cannot target installations.

• Opening and closing torpedoes will fail to trigger if only installation targets remain.

Flagship Protection

Flagship Protection is when a non-flagship protects the flagship from being targeted by receiving the attack instead. When activated, a "curved shield" animation plays in front of the flagship's banner.

• Activation rate is determined solely by the selected formation. If activated, a ship with HP above Minor Damage (小破) is randomly selected to be the protector.
  • If no ships are above Minor Damage, flagship protection cannot activate.
  • Having more ships above Minor Damage does not increase the rate.
• It may activate on any type of attack, including shelling, torpedo, ASW, airstrike, and support.
• Submarines do not protect surface ships and surface ships do not protect submarines.
• Installations cannot perform protection, and cannot receive protection if they are flagship.

Single Fleets FP

Single fleets, and Striking Force Fleets by extension, follow the following rates:

Formation		Flagship Protection	Notes
Line Ahead		45%
Diamond		75%
Double Line		60%
Echelon
Line Abreast
Vanguard		Medium	Upper half of the fleet
		High	Bottom half of the fleet

Combined Fleets FP

In Combined Fleets:

• During day battles, only the main fleet flagship receives flagship protection.
  • The escort's flagship does not receive flagship protection and is counted as a "protector".
  • Depending on the phase, either the main fleet or both fleets can protect the flagship, see below.
• During night battles, the escort's flagship does receive flagship protection,
  • Up to 5 ships can protect the flagship in this case.

Combined Fleets follow the following rates:

Formation		Flagship Protection		Notes
Cruising Formation 1		Day	?	Main FS
		Night		Escort FS
Cruising Formation 2		Day	60%	Main FS
		Night		Escort FS
Cruising Formation 3		Day	?	Main FS
		Night		Escort FS
Cruising Formation 4		Day	60%	Main FS
		Night		Escort FS

Source: [6]

Searchlights

The following table describes how Searchlights
actually work on the game side, assuming a night battle fleet with 6 ships.

• When a ship is attacking, it will roll a random "regular target" like usual, and then:
  • If a searchlight is activated, the game will try additional rolls, to check whether the SL carrier(s) will be the new target or not.
    • The game treat whoever is carrying a SL as the SL carrier, thus increasing the chance of hitting the SL carrier as mentioned below (the process will stop as soon as the game "rolled an SL carrier", even if that girl's searchlight did not triggered).
  • If this attempt fails to roll that girl, it will repeat the roll again, up to two or three times, depending on the type of searchlight.
  • This process stops once it rolled the girl carrying the SL or after it failed all the attempts and accepts the regular target rolled in the last attempt as the girl to be aimed at.

In-game Behaviors
	Small Small Searchlight	Large Large Searchlight
Rolls	2 rolls are made at most	3 rolls are made at most
Scenario 1	Attempt 1: The game rolls the SL carrier immediately: 1/6 chance = 16.67%
Scenario 2	Attempt 2: The game fails the first attempt (rolled any other 5 ships instead, so 5/6 = 83.33%), but successfully the SL carrier on the second attempt (1/6 = 16.67%), meaning this scenario has 83.33% x 16.67% = 13.89% chance of happening.
Scenario 3	All attempts fail: The game fails both attempts, meaning 5/6 x 5/6 = 69.44% chance that the SL carrier will NOT get aimed at.	Attempt 3: The game fails the first two attempts (rolled any other 5 ships instead, so 5/6 x 5/6 = 69.44%), but successfully the SL carrier on the third attempt (1/6 = 16.69%), meaning this scenario has 69.44% x 16.67% = 11.57% chance of happening
Scenario 4	N/A	All attempts failed: The game fails both attempts, meaning 5/6 x 5/6 x 5/6 = 57.87% chance that the SL carrier will NOT get aimed at.
Results	The SL carrier has 30.56%16.67% + 13.89% chance to get aimed at (69.44% of not getting aimed at).	The SL carrier has 42.13%16.67% + 13.88% + 11.57% chance to get aimed at (57.87% of not getting aimed at).

Fleet Size	Aimed rate
	Small SL	Large SL
2	75.00%	87.50%
3	55.56%	70.37%
4	43.75%	57.81%
5	36.00%	48.80%
6	30.56%	42.13%
7	26.53%	37.03%

Source: [7]

Side SL Effects

All SL carriers get an 80% evasion penalty, regardless of searchlight activation (see evasion).

Improvements on SL only provide firepower/yasen (up to +3.16 at ).

If the fleet contains 2 girls or more carrying the small SL and large SL, the large SL takes priority.

• If they carry the same type of SL, the priority follows ship order.

SL Flagship Protection

All the cases mentioned above assumed all the ships have an equal chance of getting aimed rate, ignoring Flagship Protection.

• If the SL carrier is the flagship, she will be shielded by the other ships in the fleet, thus reducing the chance of getting aimed at compared to the previously shown rates.

Formation		Flagship Protection	SL Flagship Protection		Notes
			Small SL	Large SL
Line Ahead		45%	13.74%	18.94%
Diamond		75%	22.90%	31.57%
Double Line		60%	18.32%	25.26%
Echelon		60%
Line Abreast		60%
Vanguard		Medium	?	?	Upper half of the fleet
		High	?	?	Bottom half of the fleet
Cruising Formation 1		?	?	?	Escort
Cruising Formation 3
Cruising Formation 2		60%	18.32%	25.26%
Cruising Formation 4

In practical use, it is ill-advised to put a searchlight on the flagship, as flagship protection has an higher chance to trigger and so put at risk other ships

• Do note that the ships shielding the flagship do not suffer the 80% evasion penalty, and so can still effectively aggro and evade the shots.

Vanguard Formation

Vanguard is only available during Events, and is usable on any map during this time.

• The modifiers on Vanguard Formation refer respectively to the "upper half" and "bottom half" of the fleet.
  • For a fleet with 6 or 7 ships, the top row applies to ships 1 to 3, and the bottom row applies to the remaining ships.
  • For a fleet with 4 or 5 ships, the top row applies to ships 1 and 2 and the bottom row applies to the remaining ships.
• Damage and accuracy of Support Fleets are affected by the top row multipliers, meaning the 50% damage modifier is applied.

Vanguard gives an accuracy penalty to the opposite fleet. See here for more details.

The bottom half ships have an increased chance to be targeted.

• The targeting is determined as follows:
  • 1. Target a ship from the fleet.
  • 2. If the selected ship is an upper half ship, target a ship from the fleet again.
• Target rate based on the above procedure (without other factor):

Target Rate
Fleet position	Number of ships
	4	5	6	7
1	12,50%	8,00%	8,33%	6,13%
2	12,50%	8,00%	8,33%	6,13%
3	37,50%	28,00%	8,33%	6,13%
4	37,50%	28,00%	25,00%	20,40%
5		28,00%	25,00%	20,40%
6			25,00%	20,40%
7				20,40%

PT boat

Amagiri Kai Ni/D
has the ability to prioritize focusing on attacking PT boat with significantly increased accuracy if any are present.

• DD placed in the composition slots above and below her will gain a noticeable accuracy boost and will prioritize attacking PT-Imp if any are present.
• The PT boat targeting rate is 100% for all affected ships [8].

Combined Fleets

Combined Fleets do not follow the regular targeting logic in combined fleet combat, focusing on either the main or the escort fleet depending on the situation.

The targeting logic is here affected by:

1. Fleet selection.
   • In some phases, fleet selection (main or escort) is done before picking the defender.
   • In other phases (where both main and escort fleets can be targeted), the target is uniformly randomly picked from all possible defenders.
2. Defender for Flagship Protection.
   • The list of ships that are eligible as defenders is determined by the phase.
   • Some phases allow all ships (main & escort) to be a defender, whereas in other phases, only the ships in the main fleet can be a defender.
3. Flagship Protection.
   • FS protection will trigger at a rate that is tied to the formation.
   • The rate is inherited by the flagships in the 6 v 6 night battle phase.

Targeting logic
Phase	Fleet Selection		FS Protection Defenders
	Main	Escort
LBAS	45%	55%	Main only
Airstrike	No fleet selection. Uniformly random amongst all surviving ships.		All
Support	40%	60%	Main only (fleet selection before defender selection)
OASW	No fleet selection. Uniformly random amongst all surviving ships.		All
Opening torpedo			Main only
Shelling	61%	39%
Closing torpedo	35%	65%
Friendly fleet	No fleet selection. Uniformly random amongst all surviving ships.		All

Source: [9] [10]

Submarine Touch

When attacking a fleet with the Submarine Touch, the usual Targeting rules apply.

• The torpedoes fired target ships independently,
• When facing a Combined Fleet, if any ship is present in the escort fleet on day battle, then all torpedoes will be fired to the escort fleet.

Friendly Fleets

Friendly Fleets do not follow the regular targeting priorities, avoiding the enemy flagship.

When a FF member chose a target, it:

1. Rolls a target,
2. If the target is the flagship, roll, again unconditionally,
3. If FS protection is possible, roll FS protection (FS will be targeted if this fails).

Notes

• The FS protection rates for Combined Fleets have not been formally confirmed.
• The targeting logic may not apply to all FFs.

Soures: [11] [12]