Operation Hermes

Players must reach the exit and defend the Battleship Ruan.

Summary

Operation Hermes is a PvE Scenario in which the friendly task force escorts French ships (led by flagship Ruan, whose holds are full of gold), past attacking German ships and out of the action area. Storms are brewing, however, and weather conditions frequently appear on the battlefield. The allied force consists of 7 player ships, 2 or 3 bot cruisers or battleships, and Ruan.

Tasks

Task Priority	Details	Requirement	Pins Earned
Primary	“Escort battleship Ruan to the designated sector”	Escort the flagship to its destination.	N/A
Secondary	“Make sure battleship Ruan retains more than 50% of her HP”	Keep the flagship's HP above 50%.
Secondary	“Destroy five enemy battleships” or "Destroy 20 enemy ships"	Destroy five enemy battleships or Destroy 20 enemy ships.
Secondary	“Destroy enemy aircraft”	Destroy enemy aircraft — 50 or 100 depending on if you eliminated the scout planes.
Secondary	"Destroy aircraft carrier Adler”	Destroy the enemy aircraft carrier.
Secondary	“Save at least 3 allied battleships”	Finish the Operation with at least three allied battleships afloat.

Walkthrough

Friendly Forces

As usual, this operation is for 7 human players. In addition, the AI will control the friendly flagship Ruan, which is a Alsace for teams consisting of Tiers VI to VIII, or a Bourgogne for teams consisting of Tier IX or higher. Additionally, at least two additional friendly ships, which may either be battleships or cruisers depending on how many human-controlled battleships there are:

Tier VI-VIII Player battleships	AI-controlled ships
0	Ruan, Jean Bart, Richelieu, Strasbourg
1	Ruan, Jean Bart, Richelieu
2	Ruan, Jean Bart, cruiser
3	Ruan, cruiser, cruiser

Tier IX and higher Player battleships	AI-controlled ships
0	Ruan, Republique, Jean Bart, Richelieu
1	Ruan, Republique, Jean Bart,
2	Ruan, Republique, cruiser
3	Ruan, cruiser, cruiser

Scout Planes

The first enemies to appear are several squadrons of scout planes, which enter from the south border of the map. Although they are not armed, it is important to destroy them, as even a single plane escaping will lead to more and heavier enemy air strikes for the remainder of the battle. Experienced players may instead choose to let the planes go in order to have more planes to shoot down for extra XP and combat missions.

First Half

Tier VI-VIII An enemy division of two destroyers and a Nürnberg will appear out of the Thunderstorm Front. A couple minutes later, an enemy division of two destroyers and a Yorck will appear behind the islands opposite of the storm front. Four enemy Battleships — a Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Tirpitz and Bayern — will appear from behind the islands near where the second division spawned.

Tier IX and higher

An enemy division of an Elbing, a Felix Schultz and a Brindisi will appear out of the Thunderstorm Front. A couple minutes later, an enemy division of a Felix Schultz, a Z-52 and a Roon will appear behind the islands opposite of the storm front. Four enemy Battleships — a Preussen, Friedrich der Grosse, Hannover and Schlieffen — will appear from behind the islands near where the second division spawned.

Halftime: Repairs

Tier VI-VIII Ruan will slow down for 100 seconds, during which time it will repair all ships in a circle around itself. At this time a Bayern escorted by Leberecht Maass, Z-23 and Z-31 will spawn in either A10 or J1, whichever is closer to the halftime break location.

Tier IX and higher Ruan will slow down for 100 seconds, during which time it will repair all ships in a circle around itself. At this time a Friedrich der Grosse escorted by Felix Schultz, Z-52 and Elbing will spawn in either A10 or J1, whichever is closer to the halftime break location.

Second Half

Tier VI-VIII Adler, an August von Parseval-class aircraft carrier, will enter from the north-western corner of the map, accompanied by a cruiser division of Admiral Hipper, Prinz Eugen, and Nürnberg. These cruisers do not have set paths and will head towards the nearest player regardless of that player's detection status. Additional destroyer reinforcements of a Z-31, a Leberecht Maass and an Ernst Gaede will rush the exit. They need to be destroyed for Ruan to exit safely Further reinforcements of one more destroyer, Z-23, and three cruisers, a Yorck, a München and a Weimar will come in from A1 and head towards the players and Ruan.

Tier IX and higher Adler, a Manfred von Richthofen-class aircraft carrier, will enter from the north-western corner of the map, accompanied by a cruiser division of up to one Roon, one or two Clausewitz, and one Piemonte. These cruisers do not have set paths and head towards the nearest player regardless of that player's detection status. Additional destroyer reinforcements of a Z-52, a Felix Schultz and an Elbing will rush the exit. They need to be destroyed for Ruan to exit safely Further reinforcements of one more destroyer, Elbing, and three cruisers, one Hindenburg and two Venezias, will come in from A1 and head near the map border towards the exit for Ruan

Tips

• The scout planes at the beginning of the operation are very easy to shoot down, even a ship with poor AA can manage to shoot some down.
• It is highly recommended to heal during the Halftime repair break, as the group will face a large number of enemy ships and planes in the Second Half.
• Battleships and cruisers should be especially alert upon the appearance of the dive bombers, as they are armed with AP bombs, whereas the torpedoes do relatively low damage, around 3-4,000 damage per torpedo.
• Ships within the storm area get a buff to dispersion of incoming enemy shells and go back to standard concealment values 7 seconds after firing rather than the normal 20 seconds, so it is best to use the storm to your advantage as much as possible.
• The second, third and fourth groups of enemy ships will all spawn on the same side of the map, so once the first group of ships are sunk, players can keep their guns on the same side until facing the final group in the north-western corner.

Known Bugs

• The secondary objective for saving 3 battleships will fail when 2 battleships are destroyed even if there are 3 friendly battleships, including friendly bots, still afloat.
• The planes from the enemy carrier do not attack players and fly in a straight line, only turning when forced to by the map borders.

Gallery & Video

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