Fast becoming my favorite TB/RB map, “Shatter” is a temperate map with a smattering of small islands scattered around a central group of very large islands. Three cap points make this a very complex situation that always seems to be a different scenario every game.
Shatter, in al its frenzy
The three caps demand that your team take and hold two of them, unless you are lucky enough to have a significant ship or point lead. Early game, I’d have to say that you must angle to take two.
The gaps among the big islands form a very tempting set of avenues for approach to the B cap, while both A and C have quite a few small islands creating pockets of cover. Surrounding the islands are wide open stretches of ocean without additional obstacle.
Spawns on this map contribute to its confused play – both sides groups of seven will be split unevenly in a pattern that positions two clumps of ships to the North and South of A and C caps. This forces a quick reckoning for the fleets to decide whether they will press in as spawned, or regroup and enter in force.
With that in mind, let’s address the three approaches that both sides have to consider:
One side cap and center – B and C or B and A. This generally concentrates your forces on the side containing your chosen side cap. The forces that spawned on the other side end up pushing B while the others focus on their side of choice. I don’t really like this attack plan very much, mainly because B cap is simply a deathtrap early in the game. By sending a bunch of your ships to B, you’re granting a favorable angle for enemies opposite you to fire at, and you’re abdicating a cap that is closer to you than B. If the enemy figures out what you’re doing early enough (and there’s a good chance that they will), they may be able to nose-in towards B cap with their heavies, hiding their forces from your side group using terrain while focusing on eliminating your B cap group. Since the cap itself is so constrained, it’s very hard to maneuver and basically invites the enemy to spam torps and heavy gunfire at it to mow your cappers down.
That said, if they don’t see it coming (won’t happen often, but it does happen), you can set up to hold your side cap and given the angles of approach being so visible, it will be very difficult for the enemy to take B away from you. More likely it’ll turn into a shooting gallery, with the enemy coming one at a time into view of your fleet for vaporization.
So short version, if you’re going to try for B cap plus a side, be prepared to give up on B to save your fleet if you get figured out early.
Side cap and deny center – A or C. This method goes against my usual recommendation of grabbing and holding two caps, by focusing your fleet on taking and holding one side cap, and playing a denial game against the center cap. Strategically this is a risky gamble, since they might begin capping slightly in advance of you (establishing a point lead) and even if you somehow manage a perfectly even capping time, you are basically telling the enemy “I’m willing to accept a draw.” If the enemy isn’t willing to try for B, you might be forced to do so to get a win, and that puts you in exactly the bad position you wanted the enemy to be in. Since long range shooting between A and C is basically hoping that the RNG comes out in your favor, that’s not a reliable strategy.
Side caps – A and C, ignore B. This is my favored strategy for this map – but it demands that your team knows what to do. You send a destroyer forward to A and C, and have the respective group of heavies focus their guns ahead onto the cap before them with the specific purpose of killing enemy destoryers that get revealed by the friendlies. As they approach the caps, the DDs will light up the enemy fleet heavies too, but ours have to resist the temptation of the long-range sniper game. Dodge the big guns while keeping focused on helping your destroyers here. If you have only one Destroyer – or worse, none (something is a bit askew with your fleet choices here if you are short on DDs), send it to one side cap while using a cruiser on the second.
Since you’ll be split among the two caps, one side will have an immediate numeric advantage, and this should net you the cap. The other side, being at a disadvantage, should play a more conservative game. Follow the same path of getting a DD on cap fast in order to secure it while the others keep their guns on the cap to kill enemy DDs.
The first ship to secure a cap should then take stock of things – if there aren’t any enemies nearby, start aiming toward B cap with the intent of either capturing it as well, or of surprising/revealing an enemy trying to cap it.
If successful, you will establish team numeric superiority by avoiding long range fire and helping your DDs dominate the enemy destroyers, at which point you can begin winnowing away the cruisers and eventually the battleships. The intimidation factor of seeing their DDs killed or driven off will make them hesitant to try to recover the caps and may set them into a long-range sniper fight, trying to reduce your numbers before assaulting the caps themselves. This is fine, as you can use terrain to avoid their fire and force them to attack on unfavorable terms.
North Spawn
Coming at this map from the North, a few features make themselves quickly evident:
- The gap at C4 that enters the channel into B cap – this looks like a fast way to get to and cap B, and in a direct manner, yes it is. However, it’s also extremely risky, so I recommend you leave it alone during the early game. Hitting this gap early, you have about 4 chances in 10 that you’ll run into at least an enemy destroyer when you reach B. That wouldn’t be so bad, as if you’re a decent driver you have a good chance to win that fight, but here in B you’re also under the guns of pretty much the entire enemy fleet once you come out of the channel (and you must come out of the channel, or you’re going to eat a full spread of torpedoes from the enemy DD. Mid- or end-game it becomes a lot more useful as a means of reaching snipers in the North area, or as a fast method of moving North to South, but as an approach to the cap or a “sneaky” approach it just isn’t all that good. It’s too tight and invites torpedoes, and the islands to either side are too narrow to prevent proximity detection.
- The islands around C cap – these present a very effective screen to approach the cap under, although it works both ways, and you need to be on your toes while making an approach here. There’s plenty of spaces for both North and South to hide a DD or even a Cruiser on-cap, as well as slightly off-cap, so when you touch that cap you might be triggering an aggressive response.
South Spawn
From the South, features of a similar nature come into focus:
- Gaps at E4 and E6 – these are good positions to take down a ship that may be trying to cap B, and at mid-game you can turn up these to add B to your captured points. My recommendations here are similar to the C4 gap under the North Spawn, above – but of course as these are wider, they offer more opportunities to escape from enemy fire.
- Island on South side of A cap – this island is big enough for most ships to hide behind, and its proximity to the cap means it is a great hiding place for DDs and CAs that play a little more conservatively.
- Islands around C cap – see the entry for this on North Spawn, as the concepts are the same between the two.
Variations:
- More of a recommendation than a variation, but don’t get caught up chasing enemy heavies who are wandering around the outside of the map. They will simply draw you away from the important part of the map (the caps) and open up the chances that you might end up losing one or more caps while you chase after kills.
