Saipan
Revision as of 15:37, 26 September 2017 Added Upgrades and Consumables sections. Re-organized Performance section to further highlight Saipan's unique strafe mechanics. | Revision as of 22:47, 16 November 2017 | |||
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Revision as of 22:47, 16 November 2017
40 mm/56 Bofors on a Mk.1 mount10 х 2 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second113 |
. . . Firing Range3.51 km. |
40 mm/56 Bofors on a Mk.2 mount5 х 4 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second79.5 |
. . . Firing Range3.51 km. |
20 mm Oerlikon on a Mk.24 mount15 х 2 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second91.5 |
. . . Firing Range2.01 km. |
Maximum Speed33 knot |
Turning Circle Radius920 m. |
Rudder Shift Time15.9 sec. |
Surface Detectability Range11.87 km. |
Air Detectability Range10.18 km. |
Saipan — American special premium Tier VIII aircraft сarrier.
A high-speed light aircraft carrier based on the Baltimore-class cruiser. Despite relatively small dimensions, the ship carried a rather powerful air group and was armed with numerous AA artillery. She boasted very good armor comparable with the protection of far larger attack aircraft carriers.
Saipan was first released for sale on 12 April 2016 for the NA server and 13 April 2016 for the EU server.
Modules
Hit Points (HP) | Armor (mm) | Armor (mm) | Main Turrets (pcs.) | Secondary Gun Turrets (pcs.) | AA Mounts (pcs.) | Torpedo Tubes (pcs.) | Hangar Capacity (pcs.) |
Research price (exp) |
Purchase price () | ||
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Saipan | 47,900 | 6 | 152 | 15/10/5 | 0 | 0 |
Speed (knot) | IDS_SHIP_PARAM_SQUADRON_MED_DAMAGE (HP/min) | IDS_SHIP_PARAM_SQUADRON_AMMO_AMOUNT | Hit Points (HP) |
Research price (exp) |
Purchase price () | ||
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F8F Bearcat | 176 | 1,660 | 0 | 0 |
Maximum Torpedo Damage (HP) | Speed (knot) | Hit Points (HP) |
Research price (exp) |
Purchase price () | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BTD Destroyer | 6,467 | 131 | 2,040 | 0 | 0 |
Compatible Upgrades
Slot 1 |
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Slot 2 |
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Slot 3 |
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Slot 4 |
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Slot 5 |
Player Opinion
Performance
Befitting her premium status, Tier VII's Saipan is a bit of an anomaly among American aircraft carriers. She defies the all-or-nothing loadout concept of other American carriers to have both anti-air and anti-surface capabilities.
Saipan’s most powerful ability is her unique distinction of being the only carrier in the game that can strafe out of a fighter lock without sacrificing a plane. This allows Saipan to spam multiple consecutive strafes (as long as the fighters' ammunition holds out) and strafe locks in a way that no other carrier can, giving her the capability to completely demolish enemy fighters without giving the enemy a chance to fight back.
In addition, she has uncharacteristically small squadron sizes of 3 for her fighters and torpedo bombers (but 8 planes for her dive bombers) in order to balance the fact that, at Tier VII, she carries the stock (Tier IX) aircraft of the Tier X American carrier, Midway. As such, her strike squadrons can outrun most fighter squadrons they encounter, and her fighters can quickly pounce on any aircraft they see. Moreover, the high speeds of her strike aircraft minimize the time spent on the approach and pull back, lowering their chances of getting shot down by enemy ships' AA (their high durability helps too). While her hangar capacity of 48 might seem rather lackluster, it's not a major issue except for the dive bombers due to their large squadron size.
Saipan’s 2/2/0 flight control module is more popular than her 3/0/1 dive bomber loadout. While having 1000-pound bombs one tier earlier than Lexington in the regular tech tree in a large squadron of 8 is amazing (when all hit), dive bombing is still very random; torpedo bombing will generate more reliable damage results. Furthermore, Saipan is the only American carrier to have the converging torpedo pattern for its manual drop; combined with fast aircraft, it's fairly easy to hit all 6 torpedoes on battleships and even snipe destroyers. Losing one squadron of planes is not a major problem with the torpedo bomber loadout; their small squadron sizes means that she can quickly regenerate wholly destroyed squadrons without worrying too much about running out of planes like Independence. Having one more squadron of fighters in the air with the dive bomber loadout does not make up for the loss in strike capability, however; the two fighter squadrons in the torpedo bomber loadout is enough to sufficiently harass enemy planes.
LittleWhiteMouse's Premium Ship Review: Saipan from the NA forums.
Pros:
- Only carrier in the game that has the ability to strafe out of engagements with no losses.
- Good speed allows her to quickly re-position or keep a distance from the enemy.
- Solid anti-aircraft suite.
- Blisteringly fast and powerful aircraft.
- Short aircraft servicing times (due to the small number of planes in each squadron).
- Both loadouts have anti-air and anti-surface capabilities.
- Fearsome dive bomber potential, with 8 aircraft in a squadron armed with 1000-pound bombs.
- Has the Japanese converging pattern for torpedo squadrons' manual drop due to only having 3 planes instead of 6 in a squadron.
Cons:
- Like Independence, she gets detected more easily from the air than from the surface.
- No secondary armament.
- Lousy rudder shift time.
- Anti-aircraft armament is very short-ranged.
- Unable to utilize both torpedo and dive bombers together in either loadouts.
- Small squadron size means that fighters can be overwhelmed.
- Torpedo squadrons only have 3 planes each, hindering their burst damage potential (like Japanese carriers).
- Despite having 8 planes in a squadron, the larger dispersion for the dive bombers still prevents them from doing reliable damage.
Research
Optimal Configuration
Upgrades
The recommended upgrades for Saipan are as follows:
- Slot 1: Air Groups Modification 1
- Slot 2: Air Groups Modification 2
- Slot 4: Damage Control System Modification 1
- Slot 5: Damage Control System Modification 2
Commander Skills
The standard suite of carrier-relevant commander skills are recommended: Aircraft Servicing Expert is the best place to invest points at Level 1, followed by a mix of Torpedo Armament Expertise and Torpedo Acceleration (with the torpedo bomber loadout), or Air Superiority (for the dive bomber loadout) plus Basic Firing Training (for extra AA damage per second) or Basics of Survivability (for the rare occasions when burning and Damage Control Party is on cooldown).
Dogfighting Expert is not recommended as Saipan cannot be tiered against opponents where the damage boost will be applied; however, some captains might find the ammunition bonus useful.
The following information is provided for players who wish to create a permanent captain for the ship. Those players who are retraining captains or using the ship to gain extra experience for a captain should consult the page relevant to the ship to which the captain will be assigned.
Recommended Commander Skills | ||||||||
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Cost (points) |
Endurance | Attack | Support | Versatility | ||||
1 |
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★★★ |
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2 |
★ |
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★★★ |
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3 |
★ |
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★★★ |
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★★ |
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4 |
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★★ |
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★★ |
Key: ★★★ - Extremely Useful ★★ - Frequently Useful ★ - Occasionally Useful No stars - Meh Χ - Not recommended |
Consumables
Saipan can equip the following consumables:
- Slot 1: Damage Control Party
Camouflage
As a premium ship, Saipan comes included with Type 10 camouflage that lowers her detection radius, reduces the accuracy of incoming shells, and increases the amount of experience she earns.
Signals
As a carrier, Saipan can only mount at most four signals at a time and has no risk of detonating. Players should mount Equal Speed Charlie London (🚫) for increased XP gain per battle, Zulu Hotel (🚫) to help increase the speed of commander (re)training, November Echo Setteseven () for increased anti-aircraft DPS, and Juliet Whiskey Unaone () to have a better chance at causing flooding to enemy ships. Players can also choose to equip the Dragon Flag (🚫) for faster commander (re)training for the other carrier that the captain is trained on.
Recommended Signal Flags | |||||
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Combat | |||||
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★ |
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★★★ |
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★★★ |
★ |
★ |
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Note: Use of the Juliet Charlie signal makes detonation impossible.
Historical Info
Historical Gallery
Japan | IV Hōshō • VI Ryūjō • VIII Shōkaku • VIII Kaga • VIII Kaga B • X Hakuryū • ★ Sekiryu |
U.K. | IV Hermes • VI Furious • VI Ark Royal • VIII Implacable • VIII Indomitable • VIII Colossus • X Audacious • X Malta • ★ Eagle |
France | VI Béarn |
U.S.S.R. | IV Komsomolets • VI Serov • VIII Pobeda • VIII Chkalov • VIII Chkalov B • X Admiral Nakhimov |
U.S.A. | IV Langley • VI Independence • VI Ranger • VIII Yorktown • VIII Lexington • VIII Enterprise • VIII Saipan • VIII Hornet • VIII Saipan B • X Essex • X Midway • X Franklin D. Roosevelt • ★ United States |
Germany | IV Rhein • VI Weser • VI Erich Loewenhardt • VIII August von Parseval • VIII Graf Zeppelin • VIII Graf Zeppelin B • X Manfred von Richthofen • X Max Immelmann |
Pan-Asia | VIII Sanzang |
Spain | |
Europe | |
Netherlands | |
Italy | VIII Aquila |
Commonwealth | |
Pan-America |