Finished E-3 a few minutes ago... so basically E-4 strategy is to put as many sonars and deep charges as you can on your ASW capable kanmusu (including CLTs), let carriers act as Reppuu mules, your CA acts as AACI and your BB will mostly take care of anything else above surface (usually DD and Imps). If so, no wonder Battleship Hime feels either ignored or like not fighting back.
Finished E-3 a few minutes ago... so basically E-4 strategy is to put as many sonars and deep charges as you can on your ASW capable kanmusu (including CLTs), let carriers act as Reppuu mules, your CA acts as AACI and your BB will mostly take care of anything else above surface (usually DD and Imps). If so, no wonder Battleship Hime feels either ignored or like not fighting back.
Well, aside from SS Hime and a pair of submarines, there aren't any PT Imps at the Boss node, just enemy DD and BB Hime. And the occasional Takoyaki Wo-class. I'd rather be fighting BB Hime, thanks.
Thing is, normally in Boss nodes with BB Hime acting as meat sponge, you'll have a very hard time killing the Flagship because BB Hime would just be sucking in all your attacks through the Flagship Protection mechanic. She can't do that with a submarine Flagship, though, meaning SS Hime is taking all the hits while BB Hime can't do a thing about it (unlike what she did for AD Hime back in Summer 2015).
I just did my first test run with such setup... apart from the random taiha from wo class, that felt so one sided. Not even night battle, I'm farming on easy of course.
E-3 can be considerably quite of an annoyance. Not 100% though, unless you go Hard and at the final kill you'll end up facing a BRS Wo and BB Hime.
In my experience, it's quite surprising that after my ships remove any submarine in the boss node. They can still cause quite alot of damage in Yasen Node against her as if they are not in that formation at all.
That IS as long as BBHime and Wo Kai don't manage to hit one of your ASW ships. In that case, your chances for a kill on SSHime goes down the RNG mouth like food in Akagi's stomach. I did it last night and my heart missed a beat when both put Ooyodo out of the fight. Ooyodo carried the lone type 4 sonar, cuz too lazy to do the saury fishing, but the resources saved and invested in Zeppy Hunt were worth it. Meanwhile, Isuzu and Poi couldn't hit SSHime for some fucking reason. It took Bep and Kiso to save the day.
In that case I'm relieved I did the saury quest and E-3 hard. I lost a third of the buckets I collected, but it looks like this could be E-1 hard level for me. Maybe I shouldn't be equipping both sonars to Ooyodo.
Make sure to do the debuff runs when you know you are at last dance, just to stack the odds on your favor. It might have helped Bep and Kiso in my case
SS Hime "Give that damnit Kiyoshimo to this guy ! It's already the 95th time he kill me !!" BB Hime "Kiyoshimo ? ... What is that ? He doesn't want Graf ?" Me "Hell no ! Give me my pocket Battleship already you abyssal Nagamon !"
srsly, i think thats the most cancerous farming map ive ever sailed in. if i use more fighters on my 2 cvl, the preboss would be smooth but in the boss node i'll lose some power to kill the subs which in some cases in bad engagement(not red T just another one than green T) sometimes failed to kill the SS hime because the the sonar team making a hilarious dmg.
