Furutaka

Tier V Furutaka marks the beginning of the Japanese heavy cruiser line. She mounts a small battery of 203 mm guns but carries a powerful torpedo armament. The switch to larger guns results in lower DPM but allows for crippling salvos.

Furutaka mounts a standard cruiser Damage Control Party , with a 5 second active time and a 60 second cool down period between uses. She also carries a Hydroacoustic Search  which can detect torpedoes at 3 km and enemy ships at 4 km. This comes with 3 charges as standard and is active for 100 seconds with a 120 second cool down between uses. Her third slot has a Catapult Fighter  with 3 uses. This launches a pair of fighters which patrol around the player ship for up to 100 seconds.

Furutaka’s top speed is rather typical of a Tier V cruiser at 34.5 knots. This allows her to keep pace with most of her peers, although she trails some distance behind Émile Bertin and Montecuccoli. She has a fast rudder shift time of just 5.7 seconds which allows her to quickly change direction. Unfortunately, that benefit is somewhat reduced by a large 750 meter turning circle, which can make maneuvering in confined spaces difficult. With the Concealment Expert skill her detection can be reduced to 10.7 km, which allows players to reach advantageous positions.

Armament

Furutaka mounts a small main battery of 203 mm guns rather than the 152 mm or smaller guns carried by most other Tier V cruisers. Her main guns also feature improved accuracy compared to her peers, using destroyer dispersion rather than cruiser dispersion. This means that shells will tend to group closer to the aiming point and helps to compensate for her small main battery. Furutaka also introduces players to another key characteristic of Japanese cruisers, a painfully slow turret traverse time which makes it difficult to rapidly change or track targets at short ranges.

As a heavy cruiser, Furutaka has increased striking power when compared to most other ships at Tier V. Her AP rounds have better penetration and cause more damage than the 152 mm guns found on most other cruisers. They have sufficient penetration at most combat ranges to pose a threat to the citadel armor of enemy cruisers which show broadside. They can also penetrate battleship upper belt armor at short to medium ranges. Unlike light cruisers, her AP can overmatch the bow and stern plating of Tier IV and V cruisers, dealing damage regardless of their angle.

Against most angled targets or destroyers, her HE rounds are a better choice. With high damage and good fire chance per shell, they allow players to reliably damage most targets, although the slow reload and low number of guns mean that Furutaka is a poor fire starter. She is unlikely to seriously tax the Damage Control Party of enemy ships.

Furutaka carries a quad torpedo launcher on each side, with hard hitting and long range torpedoes. With a 10 km range they can be used against targets at a distance. Although they hit hard, the torpedoes travel rather slowly and have a large detection range. Targets will have 9.5 seconds of reaction time to take avoiding action.

Armor & Survivability

Like other Tier V cruisers, Furutaka can feel fragile if players are not careful. Her bow and stern plating is 13 mm thick, which is sufficient to bounce AP rounds from light cruisers as well as Kirov and Mikoyan, but will be overmatched by the 203 mm guns found on other heavy cruisers. Additionally, it is easily penetrated by all calibers of HE round. She has thicker armor along her hull, where 25 mm plating will shatter small-caliber HE rounds and can bounce AP shells from many battleships she will face when angled.

Furutaka has a large citadel which runs for most of the ship between the fore and aft turrets. Additionally, there is a large section between the bridge and the catapult that is raised above the waterline . With only 75 mm of armor protection, the citadel is highly vulnerable if players show too much broadside. At ranges below 5 km, even many Tier V destroyers are capable of penetrating this citadel armor.

Although her armor may be thin, Furutaka has one of the largest health pools at her tier. With effective maneuvering and use of cover to limit damage taken, she can remain in the fight for longer than players might expect.

Anti-Aircraft

Furutaka has fairly weak AA defenses. She has some long-range AA guns which reach out to 5.2 km, but she only puts out a single flak cloud that is unlikely to pose much threat to enemy aircraft. Much of Furutaka’s continuous DPS comes from her short-range weapons, which are limited to 2.5 km range and will not engage enemy aircraft until they are already established on an attack run.

Anti-Submarine

Furutaka has an ASW airstrike which can attack submarines at up to 5 km range, with a minimum range of 500 meters. This drops a single depth charge which causes 3,400 damage on a direct hit. This has a 30 second reload between uses.

Battle Performance

Players will need to use effective positioning and ammunition selection in order to compensate for Furutaka’s low base damage output. A well-aimed salvo can potentially cripple an enemy cruiser or destroyer, if the right ammunition is selected. For this reason, the Gun Feeder captain skill is recommended as it will allow players to more quickly switch ammunition types.

Furutaka is not suited to close range fighting, where her long reload, slow turret traverse and wide turning circle will reduce her effectiveness. At medium ranges she will be able to use her concealment to reach good firing positions, which will combine with her improved dispersion to allow some powerful strikes against enemy ships. Against enemy cruisers, remaining bow-in can be a viable tactic, as she can bounce the AP rounds of most same-tier cruisers. With two-thirds of her firepower forward, she will not lose much potential DPM this way. Enemy cruisers that attempt to unmask more guns or launch torpedoes will need to risk showing broadside. Against destroyers or angled targets, HE rounds should be the usual choice.