Buff HMS Hood

[AdmiralMcintosh]

For some time now i've been thinking that the HMS Hood is in need of buffs, i think most people that play this ship could agree that the penetration of the main guns is bad. Because of the low penetration Hood struggles with getting reliable damage on other battleships, and it frustrates me to see the Renown and repulse continually get their reload time buffed but nothing for Hood that is one tier above with the same guns. My proposal is to increase the penetration of Hoods guns so that their more in line with the other 15" gunned tier seven battleships, and buff the reload time to 27 seconds. I feel with these changes that Hood could be a good ship again. Note i showed Vanguards penetration values below, this is what i want the Hood to have.

Thank you.

[AdmiralMcintosh]

If anyone has other ideas about buffing the Hood please let me know.

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

Do the Hood guns give better performance against cruisers?

Maybe the lower penetration value is a situational advantage?

Anyone who understands Hood care to enlighten us?

[AdmiralMcintosh]

Lower penetration is not a advantage with anything. Hood is a good cruiser killer because of the improved auto bounce angles it has.

Edited December 24, 2023 by AdmiralMcintosh

[Lord_Slayer]

I think the Hood is fine as-is.

The AP damage for Hood has always been anemic. This isn't a new thing. Its been that way since its release.

I believe Mouse even brought it up in her Review way back then.

I believe its the arming time on the shells, they are more effective against BBs then CAs. She also has better penetration and bounce angles. That's per the wiki:

 

Quote

Pros:

• Largest health pool in tier/class
• Citadel sits at the waterline and has additional turtleback protection
• Very tanky when angled
• Good main battery traverse speed and accuracy
• Uses normal fuse timers unlike tech tree British battleships, AP shells are effective against heavily armored ships
• Improved penetration/auto bounce angles on AP shells.
• Good outer (flak burst) AA defenses
• Access to the Defensive AA Fire  consumable
• Excellent top speed of 32 knots
• Very good rudder shift time for a battleship

 

Cons:

• Fairly weak armor, as befitting a battlecruiser, when not angled.
• Massive superstructure can be easily damaged and set on fire
• Only eight guns with a standard reload speed of 30 seconds, low DPM
• Standard HE shells that lack improved fire chance and penetration
• Weak middle and inner AA auras
• Large turn radius, bleeds a lot of speed during hard turns

 

 

 

[AdmiralMcintosh]

Yeah i know Hoods penetration has never been good, but when compared with other tier seven battleships Hood does not offer much besides the improved auto bounce angles and large health pool.

Edited December 24, 2023 by AdmiralMcintosh

[Admiral_Karasu]

3 minutes ago, AdmiralMcintosh said:

Yeah i know Hoods penetration has never been good, but when compared with other tier seven battleships Hood does not offer much besides the improved auto bounce angles and large health pool.

So... Hood should avoid encountering BB's then? Focus on cruisers.

[AdmiralMcintosh]

24 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

So... Hood should avoid encountering BB's then? Focus on cruisers.

Well when this ship was released it was basically advertised as a cruiser killer because of the improved auto bounce angles and short fuse ap. A couple years ago WG changed the fuse time to regular ap fuse time of 0.033sec instead of the 0.015sec it had. This change made over-penetrations more common on cruisers, and sure it can help you rack up more damage on other battleships but Hood is still held back from the low penetration, and it was no longer as good of a cruiser killer as it once were.

Edited December 24, 2023 by AdmiralMcintosh

[tfcas119]

All I'd probably do is put the fuse timer back to 15ms and buff the reload to around 28sec. Maybe to be radical I'd make her fixed mount torpedo tubes functional with torpedoes similiar to Rooke with the turning mechanics on British BCs and Anhalt.

[MnemonScarlet]

13 minutes ago, tfcas119 said:

All I'd probably do is put the fuse timer back to 15ms and buff the reload to around 28sec. Maybe to be radical I'd make her fixed mount torpedo tubes functional with torpedoes similiar to Rooke with the turning mechanics on British BCs and Anhalt.

They should let you choose which fuse timer you use, since now it's had both. I personally prefer the long-fuses, the only shorter fuse I like on things that might shoot BBs are the mid-fuses Stalingrad has.

But that way, people who prefer the short fuses can have those, and so on.

[AdmiralMcintosh]

2 hours ago, MnemonScarlet said:

They should let you choose which fuse timer you use

I think that would be a good idea too.

[Nevermore135]

While I certainly wouldn’t mind Hood getting a reload buff, I’m not sure she really needs it to be honest.

Somewhat amusingly considering she’s famous for blowing up in spectacular fashion, Hood is actually quite tanky for a tier VII BB. Her citadel placement is forgiving, he has thick deck armor to shatter HE, and her extended armor belts make her quite resilient when properly angled. Combine this with her speed and improved dispersion (she uses the same horizontal dispersion model as QE, Warpsite, Vanguard, and Ohio) and she’s an effective, if not great battleship.

[AdmiralMcintosh]

4 minutes ago, Nevermore135 said:

I’m not sure she really needs it to be honest

Well after several hundred battles in her i really feel it would help.

[Wolfswetpaws]

In the past I've enjoyed watching youtube videos made by @SoshiSone sailing the Hood and kicking the aft of unsuspecting players.

In some ways, the Hood is like a "sleeper" car. 
People look at it and think it's nothing to worry about or perhaps is still a normal car instead of a car that's been overhauled and provided with many performance enhancing upgrade parts.
Then the "sleeper" car proceeds to win street-level drag races against contenders that didn't expect surprises coming from a nondescript vehicle.  🙂 

Bottom line?
The Hood is a premium ship with in-game heritage that goes back far enough in time for WG/WOWs to be reluctant to make any changes, in my opinion.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Wolfswetpaws

[AdmiralMcintosh]

51 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

The Hood is a premium ship with in-game heritage that goes back far enough in time for WG/WOWs to be reluctant to make any changes, in my opinion.

Unfortunately your probably right about them not wanting to make any changes. Well we can only hope a Hood buff is soon, i want this ship up a notch or two.

Edited December 25, 2023 by AdmiralMcintosh

[Sailor_Moon]

12 hours ago, AdmiralMcintosh said:

For some time now i've been thinking that the HMS Hood is in need of buffs, i think most people that play this ship could agree that the penetration of the main guns is bad. Because of the low penetration Hood struggles with getting reliable damage on other battleships, and it frustrates me to see the Renown and repulse continually get their reload time buffed but nothing for Hood that is one tier above with the same guns. My proposal is to increase the penetration of Hoods guns so that their more in line with the other 15" gunned tier seven battleships, and buff the reload time to 27 seconds. I feel with these changes that Hood could be a good ship again. Note i showed Vanguards penetration values below, this is what i want the Hood to have.

Thank you.

(I need to make over this meme, but for Oklahoma. Oklahoma's the one with HORRENDOUS AP penetration...:P)

But yeah, Hood is fairly lower AP penetration for her caliber. Her reload is.....Ok for the tier, not great but not the worst, VERY wrokable. I can see her getting an AP penetration buff maybe OR maybe a small reload buff (like 1s shaved off)....but not both together.

Hood still has 381mm guns and has overmatch capability against Tier VII and down (26mm plating). And she has eight of those guns at Tier VII. She also does get improved AP penetration angles (which California can only DREAM of having).

Honestly, if Wargaming gave Hood a bit more penetration power, that'll probably do it.

[Sailor_Moon]

5 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

In some ways, the Hood is like a "sleeper" car. 
People look at it and think it's nothing to worry about or perhaps is still a normal car instead of a car that's been overhauled and provided with many performance enhancing upgrade parts.
Then the "sleeper" car proceeds to win street-level drag races against contenders that didn't expect surprises coming from a nondescript vehicle.  🙂

I don't know about all that, but Hood has improved AP pen angles AND overmatch capability against same tier and lower. As an avid 356mm gunned battleship user, I respect the importance of overmatch capability and AP pen angles, as well as reasonable reload times. 30s reload time is quite "standard" for the tier, caliber + number of guns.

Like Oklahoma, Hood just needs a bit more AP penetration "oomph" AT BEST, imo.

(Bear in mind that this is just taking her raw stats and features at face value. I would honestly need more time with Hood to really give a proper assessment.)

Edited December 25, 2023 by Sailor_Moon

[Sailor_Moon]

8 hours ago, AdmiralMcintosh said:

Well after several hundred battles in her i really feel it would help.

I do understand your feelings here, as I have taken California into Randoms 589 times(!) and have found her main battery performance sorely lacking for her tier. There is definitely a chance that what we're seeing in the raw stats is not telling us the whole story.

Initial assessments: Hood's forward firing angles could use work, they're quite bad. At least she has very fast turret traverse, which helps a lot. Her gun handling though, is pretty comfortable/good aside from the bad firing angles (she's 100% a kiter, her angles are a LOT better aft). Her armor's alright, and her HP is nice and high. She's pretty darn fast and surprisingly tanky, which is very good. That overmatch against same tier BBs is very nice. 1.9 sigma is fine.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Sailor_Moon

[Foxhound421a]

Along with AP and HE buffs I'd give her a speed boost and give her back her old defAA! Oh also give her her torps along with the other ships that have fixed tubes.

 

Incidentally still surprised we haven't had a refit hood at tier 8 it would sell and require minimal work as everything she'd need is already in game.

[Itwastuesday]

The Hood is quite fine tho? Fast, improved angles with roughly tier-appropriate guns and lots of HP. Considering how everybpdy is either coming at you (lemming side) or running away (everyone not in a lemming blob), improved angles on a bb are cracked.

[Wolfswetpaws]

5 hours ago, Foxhound421a said:

Along with AP and HE buffs I'd give her a speed boost and give her back her old defAA! Oh also give her her torps along with the other ships that have fixed tubes.

Incidentally still surprised we haven't had a refit hood at tier 8 it would sell and require minimal work as everything she'd need is already in game.

The Refit of HMS Hood - But what if she had survived? (Video by Drachinifel)

 

[Justin_Simpleton]

Reading through this thread I see ideas for improving Hood.  There is talk of pen angles, fuse times, speed buffs, etc. To what end?  These suggestions are very minor compared to the spawn position and MM matchup.  Sure, these things matter in the IDEAL battle engagements such as no planes, torpedos, or subs and the tier matchup is good but, does the ship always need to prevail?  Someone has to lose.

I have 51 battles in Hood and a 51% win rate (solo random). I've even assigned Horace Hood as commander and yet I have never spotted the Bismarck. 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Justin_Simpleton
spelling error

[AdmiralMcintosh]

4 hours ago, Justin_Simpleton said:

yet I have never spotted the Bismarck. 

That's too bad to hear, I always come across Bismarck players wishing to brawl me in the Hood. Last time i played randoms this one guy in his Bismarck rushed across the entire map to reenact history with me, funny how it turned out the other way around.

[AdmiralMcintosh]

13 hours ago, Sailor_Moon said:

if Wargaming gave Hood a bit more penetration power, that'll probably do it.

I would be satisfied with that.

[Foxhound421a]

7 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

The Refit of HMS Hood - But what if she had survived? (Video by Drachinifel)

 

Yeah I'd do a KGV style upgrade and a renown style upgrade with noticiable differences. Say 2 Hull types KGV style is stronger but has less capable AA I'd give them different consumables based on hull type. Say off the top of my head speed boost and defAA for renown style, super heal and spotter for kgv.