Changes

FCF is useful for retreating damaged ships, but this may off route your fleet if utilized early enough, especially on harder difficulties, where up to '''10''' Kurita Fleet ships are required for the shortest route to the boss. Generally, it is safe to use (that is, without potentially off-routing your fleet) after Node R (the pre-boss node), as the next node will be the boss node. There is also no LoS check between the pre-boss and boss nodes.

FCF is useful for retreating damaged ships, but this may off route your fleet if utilized early enough, especially on harder difficulties, where up to '''10''' Kurita Fleet ships are required for the shortest route to the boss. Generally, it is safe to use (that is, without potentially off-routing your fleet) after Node R (the pre-boss node), as the next node will be the boss node. There is also no LoS check between the pre-boss and boss nodes.

'''About Friend Fleets'''<br>

'''The Friend Fleet'''

Beginning with this map, players will be introduced to a new mechanic known as the '''Friend Fleet'''. This mechanic causes a random fleet of NPC allies to aid you in battle at the boss node, once the night battle sequence commences. The NPC friend fleets vary in actual utility in combat due to composition and equipment.

In this battle, there are 5 different possible Friend Fleets that can arrive to help:

It is possible to influence what friend fleets will arrive:

* '''Nishimura Fleet''' - [[Fusou]], [[Yamashiro]], [[Mogami]], [[Michishio]], [[Yamagumo]], [[Asagumo]], [[Shigure]]

* Friend fleets will not appear if a member of your fleet match a member of the friend fleet. Wit hthe exception of DesDiv 19.

* '''Destroyer Division 19''' - [[Ayanami]], [[Shikinami]], [[Isonami]], [[Uranami]]

** The best friend fleet that can arrive is the Nishimura fleet with its 7 members

* '''Cruiser Division 4''' - [[Takao]]. [[Atago]], [[Choukai]], [[Maya]]

* Maya and Yukikaze would be excellent choices for E4 even in the absence of this mechanic, and as such automatically exclude the possibility of CruDiv4 and the Guadacanal fleet

* '''European Grand Fleet''' - [[Warspite]], [[Ark Royal]], [[Richelieu]], [[Jervis]]

* '''Guadacanal Fleet''' - [[Kirishima]], [[Hiei]], [[Yuudachi]], [[Harusame]], [[Yukikaze]], [[Amatsukaze]]

At this point, the three fleets which could appear are DesDiv19 (default), the European fleet (weakish), and Nishimura (ideal)

* It is possible to influence who decides to appear by including certain members in your fleet, which will prevent certain friend fleets from appearing in battle. (e.g. using Maya will prevent Cruiser Division 4 from appearing.)

**'''Obviously, you should also take into account of your overall fleet strength before making any decision to do so, as this will likely adversely affect your fleet's combat capabilities.'''

* However, '''Destroyer Division 19 will always have a chance to appear''' regardless of whether or not you put any of their members in the main fleet.

* Out of the available NPC Friend Fleets, the '''Nishimura Fleet''' is the most useful fleet, since it can attack a total of 7 times. However, they arrive in varying states of damage, apparently from the Battle of the Surigao Strait.

'''Rigging The Friend Fleet'''

To exclude the European fleet would require one of Warspite, Ark Royal, Richelieu, or Jervis to be run. The only non-impractical way to exclude this fleet would be to use Richelieu in place of a Kongou (or Warspite in place of a Nagato/Yamato). Using Richelieu, of course, comes with its tradeoffs in terms of fleet composition, and may be more practical for medium or easy difficulties.

It's quite possible to rig the friend fleet so that you can get some of the better units to appear more frequently. In order to do this you need to place in certain ships in your fleet that make up part of the fleet from the Friend Fleet roster.

'''Battling the [[Escort Water Princess]]'''

 

 

The best members to consider doing this are [[Maya]] (Cruiser Div 4), [[Yukikaze]] (Guadacanala), and [[Richelieu]] (European Union).

These members will reduce the amount of friend Fleets to possibly occur down to 2 (Destroyer Division 19 and Nishimura Fleet).

The [[Escort Water Princess]] will be in a combined fleet, notably, her main fleet includes transport ships which themselves pose little threat to your fleet other than drawing fire.

In turn, this gives the Nishimura Fleet a 50% chance of appearing allowing for a better chance to get 7 additional attacks in during night battle.

The boss will only attack your fleet at night if you have a [[searchlight]] equipped; consider the risk of an attack against the rewards of bringing one to increase your night battling capability.

However, only consider this if you have the ships to spare in this segment, as most Friend Fleets can still be helpful even in lesser numbers.

The boss, especially on hard mode, has extremely high armor (278 on hard), torpedo CIs here are highly recommended. Yukikaze and Myoukou are amongst the best choices for this map to take advantage of the Kurita fleet bonuses, especially in the absence of a luckmodded Maya/Choukai .

'''Battling the [[Escort Water Princess]]'''

With regard to LBAS options, at least 3 bombers should be used, with the final slot being either a bomber or fighter. There is no point in using a fighter if doing so would not change the air state from AI to AD (see aerial combat).

In night battle, The [[Escort Water Princess]] only attacks your fleet at night if you have a [[searchlight]] equipped, consider the risk of an attack against the rewards of bringing one to increase your night battling capability.

With regard to final form (on hard mode), an AO with one [[Maritime Resupply]] may be considered to offset the fuel and ammo penalties.

Players on harder difficulties should consider using Heavier battleships to aid them in battle such as [[Yamato]], [[Musashi]] and [[Nagato]]. However, keep in mind that this map will be a major fuel and ammo sink as you try to complete the map.

Nonetheless, there are two key tradeoffs that need to be made:

 

* Firstly, there is a restriction of '''3 ships with an base speed of "Slow"''', Hayasui being one of them would almost certainly require an extra raid node (or a slow BB to be removed in favor of a Kongou).

Also for the final dance, you can considering bringing an AO with one [[Maritime Resupply]] if needed to offset the ammo penalty so your fleet can fight at it's best capabilities. However, remember that there is a restriction of '''3 ships with an base speed of "Slow"'''. So if you choose to bring 4 or most slow ships you will need to go through one extra air attack node.

* Secondly, Hayasui would fit in the escort fleet alongside CL2DD, necessitating the removal of a CA or CLT from the composition, in itself significant.

 

Also, '''Support Shelling Fleets''' for both the route and the boss are '''highly recommended especially on harder difficulties'''.

'''[[LBAS]] Recommendations'''

'''[[LBAS]] Recommendations'''

* 4 '''Land-Based Bombers''' - For Node R

* 4 '''Land-Based Bombers''' - For Node R

Because Node R is full of [[Battleship Ru-Class]], there are chances you will be likely get hit hard by them. Because of this, using an LBAS here can be helpful in eliminating some of them to improve your chances of passing this node. This node requires a '''Distance of 5''' to reach.

This node requires a combat radius of 5. There being no enemy carriers here allows 4 bombers to be run.

 

* '''3 Bombers +(Fighter or Bomber)''' - For Boss node

* '''1 Interceptor / Land-Based Fighter , 3 Land-Based Bombers''' - For Boss node

This node requires a combat radius of 4.

The boss node is a priority target, as the fleet there consists of many strong and possibly tough ships depending on the difficulty. You can bring a single fighter/interceptor along with 3 Land-Based Bombers to max out your chances of taking out some units before the start of the fight, and to whittle down the enemy fleet's fighter power at the same time. '''Distance of 4''' to reach the boss.

The boss node is a priority target, at least three bombers will be sent here. The fourth group, however, can depend upon the difficulty. Achieving AD (on hard) requires approximately 110+ fighter power, if this threshold '''cannot''' be reached with the addition of a single fighter, it would simply be better to use four bombers.

On Last Dance, you will likely need to commit both LBAS to the boss node to maximize your chances of victory. As above, both support expeditions are recommended, as well as sparkling your entire combined fleet to improve your chances of making it to the boss (especially at the pre-boss node).

On Last Dance, you may wish to consider committing both LBAS to the boss node to maximize your chances of victory. As with other last dance runs, both support expeditions are recommended; sparkling your fleet is also an additional option.

===E-5===

===E-5===