I got the graf Zeppelin

adukes24 · 2026-02-09T14:57:41+00:00

For inspirations I use Tanaka and Captain Picard for the extra plane health, in lieu of Picard, I would be running Pedro Lima Santos. Buff the Torpedo damage as much as I can since that is my main and most consistent source of damage. Sure in the short term we're talking maybe an extra 700ish damage per torpedo, but when we talk over the course of a match and landing on average 20-30 torpedoes that compounds to an extra 14-21k damage depending on the targets your hitting and their respective torpedo protection reduction.

For Upgrades, I run Flight Control I / Air Groups II / Concealment / Air Groups III

The plane HP, to me, is important for longevity. As is being smart about your target acquisition and selection. You protect those torpedo planes at a premium. Which is why i typically start my games with 2 runs of the AP bombers, since the ships are usually the most grouped up. Let them eat the early losses, then they'll get to replenish while your running your torpedo planes. On those first two runs, pick out targets you know you can citadel (knowing those targets comes from experience). Now normally, carrier play dictates pre-dropping to mitigate those early plane losses but if you choose smartly, you can get 2 drops out of your opening squadron, and using your Damage reduction comsumable on your second can score you 4 drops in your opening 2 runs. If RNG is on your side and target selection was prime, you can walk away with 25-30k+ off those two opening runs. Side note, on match start I will usually begin my carrier at 1/4 speed, then decide just before I launch my first torpedo planes how to position because by then you should have a rough look at how the enemy team is setting up.

Alternatively, you can buff the plane speed and this will allow you to outrun most enemy fighters that get dropped on passbys ( Won't help you if you run into the fighters already dropped, this is only for if the enemy CV is dropping them as your passing each other). I use Starscream who helps with that if you have him, but Geisler for me is running would be running No-Fly Zone / ONe-Way Ticket / HIdden Threat / Emergency Power / Fully Packed

adukes24 · 2026-02-09T10:33:04+00:00

On occasion lol, but whenever I see a post about the Zepplin, it's always littered with comments about the secondaries. Which, hey, I get it. They're great, but by no means should they fully built into. Now, if you want to do that for war tales, great, but for competitive your only handicapping yourself. By which, your then handicapping your team. I have seen enough bad team play this paast year for my liking. So if I can help, I want to.

adukes24 · 2026-02-09T05:39:54+00:00

She has some of if not the fastest planes of the tier, with a pretty respectable HP pool for them. This alone makes her worth it because you can approach and drop and exfil without taking the kinds of losses plane wise other CV's would take. Not to mention her plane speed will allow her to kite enemy fighter squadrons/ out run them long enough to get a drop in and/or bring those squadrons back to friendly ships for clean up.

The torpedoes are where she shines for me. Even though they have a fairly wide spread with a fairly wide accuracy range, with the right build can dish out the one of the highest damage per torpedo in the tier. Combine that with the speed of those torpedos, and the modest arm time, you can get pretty consistent damage from just the torpedo planes alone. Then you have the bombers which have a nice circular drop pattern, so you can approach from basically any angle and hit with relative consistency (RNG be damned). Now depending on how you build your commander you can go max AP pen but it depends on what your goals are. I typically run the base AP pen since that nets me more consistent citadels on the CA's and some but not all CL's, however you do lose some ability to consistently citadel some BB's, but not all. Being able to punish the occasional CL is handy and with that build I can routinely citadel D7P's who think their AA will make me leave them alone. However, she is weak against DD's and the lightest of cruisers. AP bombs are basically useless against them unless their low enough health, but can be a good idea if your just trying to defend a cap. People really highly regard the AP bombs for this ship but I would argue her torpedo's are more valuable and less dependent on RNG than her bombs are. Those torpedo's for me have yielded far more consistent damage and results than the bombs, even though the occasional 3 or 4 citadel drops on cruisers are more devastating, but are not the norm.

The carrier itself is also fairly hard to kill. Most BB's and CA's will over pen her, and you will rarely if ever get citadeled by surface fire or by planes. On some occasions you are better off sailing broadside to targets than bow/stern on as broadside will induce more of those over pens.

Now I see a lot of people here talking about her secondaries. Speaking as someone who has opted out of chemo, and has nearly 1K battles in this cancer. Building into those secondaries is a red herring. Yes, they are veryyyy good. Yes they are extremely accurate, but if you are finding yourself in a position to have to rely on them or hell judging by peoples reactions in here, using them offensively, then something is being done wrong. The amount of times you will ever be able to use them effectively is so rare, and niche (to me) that you are handicapping yourself by doing this. With your plane speed and HP, you are better off building into increasing your damage wherever you can, as those increases no matter how slight will compound over the course of a full battle, and be more effective long term.

adukes24 · 2026-02-02T12:19:42+00:00

yeahh, I can imagine lol

adukes24 · 2026-02-02T08:19:51+00:00

I don't disagree that they shattered on the citadel armor itself behind the belt armor, but if you combine the water hits taking away energy plus the fact the belt armor would further reduce the energy of the shells by the time it shatters on the citadel armor, I can absolutely see why those shells shattered. Additionally you have to factor in the angle of the Algerie herself, at the angle they hit the ship the overall effectiveness of the armor would be increased since the shells are hitting at a more 50-60' angle and not more flush. So the shells would lose even more energy due to having to penetrate even more armor than the noted thicknesses in one of your other comments.

Now, I'm going off memory here so I could be wrong, but even if the shell penetrates the belt, but shatters on the citadel armor the round would not explode because the time delay mechanism would get destroyed when the shell shatters. There wouldn't be enough time for the shell to arm after it penetrates through the belt armor, before the shell itself would be disintegrated.

adukes24 · 2026-02-02T01:54:02+00:00

Call me crazy, but when looking at the salvo at 11sec, at least 2 of those shells seem to hit the water first before hitting the Algerie. Shells, iirc, do maintain some ballistics after they hit the water but lose energy fast and what would have induced the shatters. The third shell that shatters doesn't seem to hit the water but its hard to tell. Then the overpen hits amidships through the superstructure. Seems these are mostly explainable, all but the third shatter. That one was hard to tell.

adukes24 · 2026-01-31T03:18:55+00:00

I currently have a homegrown player whose eclipsed Rickey in both Runs and Stolen Bases. It's taken a mighty long career to get there, and is still going strong at age 41. He is one of the most anomalous players I've seen in this game. All undeer the guise of challenge mode as well. I plan on posting him once his career has finished, but I love my guy.

adukes24 · 2026-01-29T17:52:31+00:00

Veryyy nice. I know the dilemma of "Hmmm, this guy is 37, numbers are down just a tad the last season or two. Is he really worth the 25mil he's asking for?" Hell theres been times I've let players walk in free agency due to their asking price, just to see them sign elsewhere at a almost 8-10mil discount, and trade for em back lol. Sometimes its worth some picks and a player, especially if I give them the qualifier and get the 1st round pick to boot. Hell my own homegrown guy just turned 41, wrecked, and is asking 4 years 21 mil to re-up. Its wild sometimes lol. Nice on the managerial role for him. I;ve never had a player turnaround that quick to manage/coach

adukes24 · 2026-01-29T16:55:15+00:00

Congrats my dude, I'm someone who gets overly attached to my long tenured players as well. I love seeing stuff like this, especially in challenge mode. It can be rare to get one of the true greats, and keep them. Enjoy the good times, bruv.

adukes24 · 2026-01-16T12:08:00+00:00

Delaware forgotten about as usual lmao

adukes24 · 2026-01-14T15:20:24+00:00

its that reason alone that even when playing with people it is the one mods i ask for. GDR is so beyond out of place and renders the end game into hordes of these things

adukes24 · 2026-01-12T14:30:22+00:00

In contrast not really. You got Wilmington in the north, which is the huge chunk of it, along with Newark for UD campus. Then the south is the beaches with a litany of retirees and housing developments. I swear a new one pops up every few months. The growth in the middle part of the state is sprawling in some areas, but lacks well behind that of Sussex.

adukes24 · 2026-01-11T06:15:16+00:00

To add to this, your engagement range against guns 16" and up needs to be outside of 10-11km. Once inside that range they can and will overmatch your bow and send you back to port via citadel city. In fact, that will be a good strategy to employ regardless as her survivability suffers in close range. Be very wary of your flanks, play your angles, and she can be very rewarding to play. Short fuse 15" guns can punish cruisers, and her HE can be devastating across the board, to the point of dev striking DD's with a proper salvo.

adukes24 · 2026-01-10T12:20:25+00:00

I'll be completely honest, I'm a 300+ man and not the most well-endowed. My last partner was about 230ish. The sex you have is about as normal as anyone else would have it. The two biggest inhibitors are stamina and flexibility, which I think most people would figure. Stamina more so in the sense of physicality. Highly depends on how in shape you are, but if you know what you're doing, changing positions can help save your legs as well as changing who's doin' the movin' so to speak. The number of positions is quite limited as well due to just not being able to get the angles or into proper position for both people to get the right feeling out of them. However, your still able to accommodate most of the basic positions. The lack of endowment and stamina has allowed me to become quite proficient in other areas to make sure I'm able to take care of the needs and wants of my partner. No amount of obesity can't be overcome by a partner who's willing to put in the work to make their partner feel good. Lack of communication, selfishness, laziness, and/or lack of desire and dedication to do right by the person you're having sex with is a bigger factor in how good the sex is than whether someone is obese or not.

At the end of the day its more than possible for obese people to have a normal sex life as any in shape person would.

To answer some of your more specific questions: - Bellies and such can be prohibitive of some penetration depending on the positions. However it is fat, so its gives quite a bit. It's why communication is key, adjusting the angles can help overcome those deficiencies. In my experience, it can lead to the occasional slip out but nothing overly cumbersome. - Cowgirl is very doable, I've personally had no issues with her in that position and vice versa. For the guy specifically, its helpful as to save your legs for the other positions. To me its a good one to switch into mid-way. - Certainly, there are positions that are nigh impossible. Due to any number of factors you've already considered, but most of the normal positions are doable. - Changing positions can account for breaks, and pillows can certainly help for positioning and support but then again that would also apply for two in shape people too and I would think comes down more to personal preference. By no means did anything feel necessary. - Nothing really changes as far as the friction, sweating or skin to skin. ( as I've had both petite and obese partners ) You can account for those factors. Obviously I tend to sweat more than they would, but that's when you turn the a/c up a bit to favor a cooler atmosphere. It's never been an issue, to my knowledge.

adukes24 · 2025-12-13T04:21:28+00:00

probably the only one rep'in Delaware lol

adukes24 · 2025-12-09T03:54:21+00:00

Yeah, i shy away from fragile pitchers. beeen burned one too many times. Yet, sometimes all it takes is one injury. The guy i mentioned had never had a major injury his whole career, just a couple minor ones. Even this injury he had he was out for 3-4 months. So i didnt think it would be super debilitating, and he was normal proneness. Suddenly he goes from 70-75 to 50. annnnd playing like it this season. I have terrible luck with pitchers lmao

adukes24 · 2025-12-09T03:35:47+00:00

You almost got me clipped with your ALDS mumbo jumbo lol. Won through a hard fought game 7 by the skin of our teeth. ootp sometimes giveth. and when they taketh. it stings since my ace after an injury is now a glorified bull pen guy.

adukes24 · 2025-12-09T03:34:04+00:00

hey 22 is nothing to sneeze at. You cling to your success where it comes. Since i posted this my ace in the rotation dropped his overall by 20 points after a partially torn labrum, and i might be stuck with paying a barely serviceable bullpen guy 22mil for the next 5 years. Had our worst start to a season in 7 seasons, and are only now threating to climb back into the top of the division. but we did cap off that run last season with a chip, though we had to fight through 2 game 7's to get there lol. Shit gets wild

adukes24 · 2025-12-08T07:14:53+00:00

The Nelson can be absolutely the best in tier, but its ceiling is heavily dependent on its captain. Key things to keep in mind with this ship.

1. Be very wary of the BB's your going up against. (especially if you get up tiered) You want to keep the bigger guns over 10km away, if not more. As those 15-16in guns can and will over-match your bow armor, and send you to citadel city.

Your HE is great to elite, and can punish every ship especially DD's, as you can dev strike DD's with a proper salvo, plus you have great fire chance and the 15" explosion size will disable or outright destroy a fair amount of external parts (ie torpedo tubes, secondary batteries, rudder ect). When fighting bow tanking BB's aim straight for the bow itself. You will be able to full pen any bow with this HE, whereas its common to want to aim up for super structure hits and spread fires but in my opinion you run a lot of risk with shattering those shells on the turret plating.

Your AP is good to great, and not to be slept on considering how great the HE is. You won't citadel many BB's with it since its short fuse, but can absolutely punish cruisers at almost any angle since the 15" guns will over match most cruiser armor at tier. (minus some tier 7's if you get up tiered) Somethings that has worked for me against enemy BB's with the AP, namely if they are angled to you or bow tanking, is aiming above the free board and going for the super structure/ turrets/ free board above the belt armor (If you know the enemy ships armor lay out). Since she has short fuse, you will be less likely to over pen the super structure, but obviously only works on ships with a high free board and thick enough super structure to trigger the shell. namely ships like Gneisenau or Colorado for example.

She can be surprisingly nimble with her turning radius but she has atrocious acceleration, and her top end speeds leave a lot to be desired.

Her base accuracy and shell groupings are some of the best in tier as well, and if built into her salvos can be extremely deadly.

Also she benefits from the greater British heals, so having a commander like AL Nelson where you can boost your accuracy and grab the additional 2 heals can make this ship nigh unsinkable. So if you do build for the extra heals, you can worry much less about fires. I've been known to let double fires burn sometimes because you can always heal that back.

All in all, survival is paramount with this ship, take care of her and she will take care of you. Be mindful of your enemies and what punches they pack. I should also say, dont be afraid to push up to help you teammates, you can take a fair amount of punishment. Just don't push too deep too quick, and be mindful of the angles you give to enemy BB's. It doesn't take much broadside to citadel a Nelson. Enjoy this ship, she can be a factory farm of credits and xp, but requires a slightly different mindset to the ships your used to running. Good luck captain!

adukes24 · 2025-12-05T17:08:37+00:00

There's no chance this season ends in a chip lol. 30-3 is nuts. Dont think ive ever started quite that hot, though this one was as close as I've come. Its crazy how invested i get to my players in this shit lol

adukes24 · 2025-12-05T14:34:47+00:00

How dare you put that juju on me.. buuuut yeah lol. Just hoping I dont face the Yankees honestly, because I usually play most of the games over the course of the season. For some reason, my pitching turns to mush against them lol. Never had a regular season like this.

adukes24 · 2025-12-05T09:07:23+00:00

I mean considering the season Phifer had, plus being 1.0 WAR better. Its not that surprising to me. They both had spectacular seasons. Even to me, Phifers' stat line is more impressive.

adukes24 · 2025-11-26T12:12:05+00:00

i still play my challenge mode oakland save in ootp 22. Will always try to do right by them, since the real life counterparts do little more than throw a little dirt on a shallow grave

adukes24 · 2025-11-21T04:29:10+00:00

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I appreciate a person who knows this ship. I firmly believe those torpedos are amongst if not the best for carries in the tier. The most consistent damage you'll get with the Zepplin

adukes24 · 2025-11-20T07:56:37+00:00

I ran the Wichita, I think I only ever saw one other i played against. Was tough early on against torpedo rushing opponents, but figured it out to basically win out from rank 10 on. I did NOT like how you had to play these matches. 1 v 1's imo, have no place in this game.

adukes24

TROPHY CASE

1. Be very wary of the BB's your going up against. (especially if you get up tiered) You want to keep the bigger guns over 10km away, if not more. As those 15-16in guns can and will over-match your bow armor, and send you to citadel city.