+1 for an urgent change to the NAB targeting system.
I strongly dislike how the current targeting system redefines the meta.
From the perspective of the coastal fleet (4.3 BR and below), ships like the Aconit, Marne, MPK Pr.122 series, HMCS Brantford, HMS Liscomb, and anything with a detailed model and large-caliber guns (75 mm and above) dominate the gameplay because they heavily benefit from the current system. With Aconit, I can guarantee you can rack up over 15 kills easily, because it requires little to no skill to farm smaller motorboats like snacks, thanks to the pseudo-aimbot. I expect ships like Aconit will get BR increases soon. This is a major flaw that, in my opinion, makes NAB gameplay far more saturated and boring.
Because of this, it’s almost impossible to play motor torpedo boats effectively. You can’t reliably send torpedoes against larger, heavy boats and destroyers unless they’re cornered or not paying attention. They can dead-on aim and vaporize you no matter how much you try to dodge. It usually only takes one shot to cripple or kill you. MTBs are so fragile and die to a few critical hits that it’s not even fun anymore since they’re no longer viable in NAB. Before the pseudo-aimbot system, you could skillfully weave your MTB and punish big ships with torpedoes without instantly dying. That balance is gone.
Another flaw is how the pseudo-aimbot renders the impact of aircraft fruitless in NAB. You’re lucky if you manage to kill more than one boat with a CAS aircraft now. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been shot down by laser-accurate AA fire while trying to bomb or torpedo a single ship. Aircraft aren’t fun or impactful anymore.
I think we know the pseudo-aimbot system was probably introduced to attract more players to naval in the long term, especially because AI boats now give equal SL and RP rewards as player kills, but it’s come at too high a cost. AI-controlled boats behave like Terminators and even cheat by having buffed ballistics. Their shells noticeably have boosted velocity, so they have an easier chance to land critical hits on us as players.
I’m worried this system will stay forever, but we need to be vocal and push for tweaks. I would prefer a reversion similar to NRB, but with a proper lead marker system and aiming assistance that accounts for ships turning while still leaving enough margin for skilled players to dodge shots.
Right now, if a ship turns to starboard or port, you have to massively drag your aim sideways to land hits at the right time. Most of the time, your hits will miss, so I want a system that allows hits against turning ships but still demands skillful aiming in a somewhat convenient way.
The only positive thing about the current NAB is that slow-firing gunboats with large guns are finally playable. Before, it was a nightmare spading them in rough seas, with shots thrown wildly off target. However, even with that small positive, it still feels like cheating with the pseudo-aimbot. I have very mixed feelings about the current system, but mostly negative, and I believe it badly needs to be balanced toward a middle ground so that gunboats stay playable but MTBs and CAS regain their relevance.
It’s just not fun to play NAB when it boils down to a handful of meta boats and nothing else. The diverse gameplay mix of MTBs, CAS, and coastal combat is thrown out of window and is replaced with domination of meta ships.
