World of Warships

[Kerplunk]

Haven't really gotten into ranked stuff all that much...might give it a try if the game stops ticking me off so much. I swear they did something to the calculations that disable components. I think I've have more incapacitate and detonations in the last 20 battles as I did in the first 700. The game is #### when the first hit from a destroyer blows out my rudder and a gun.

[dammage79]

Been getting insanely frustrated lately. Just cannot get out of Rank 7. Between getting worked in ranked and some terrible regular matches and not making any money, It just feels like I've hit a big fat wall.

Had some fun today doing the rank ups in my BB's today though. Kongo is amazing fully upgraded. The IJN BB line is actually all around quite fun. I don't really think you get to have a lot of fun in the American BB's until you hit the North Carolina.

Even the IJN DD run on my BB account is insanely frustrating, doesn't matter what I do I just cannot get any hit and my smoke screen while going half speed fails me.

[dammage79]

BUMP! It's update day. In the update they've decided to sell back the upgrade modules back to you when you sell you ship @50% of their original cost. and modules you purchased before the update for ships you have sold, you will get the money back for those. Thats huge, you dont feel like you're losing money on them now.

3 new maps, new home port screen selections.

A new ship, not sure if its a premium but the Mikael Kutuzov Russian Cruiser has arrived (T8)

The ranked season is over, I finished with a high of rank 7. Slightly disappointing but it was a fun change from the old Pvp grind.

Got the New Orleans in port. So much better than Pensa. Also have Yorck unlocked but not purchased yet. Now I need to grind out Myoko to get Mogami.

[Kerplunk]

A lot of changes....but I still suck at the game. Still grinding through the Pepsi and its BB equivalent, the Colorado. Not sure I want to go higher than those two ships. I've had games where I'm the top of the board and lose still lose credits, so there really isn't a reason for me to bother.

I kinda like the Konigsberg though....the torps seem to surprise everyone.

Still not sure what this anime theme thingy is for the new year....Arpeggio of whatever? Guess I'll find out.

[Kerplunk]

I take that back. the Konigsberg is made of paper mache....

[dammage79]

Koenig is super sweet. Key to her is keeping at max range. Doesnt get better for the rest of the German line. Guns are awesome, speeds are awesome, Armor is a joke. Nurn everything good and bad of the Koenig but with added range and firing rate. You can get her up to 13 rounds per minute with captain upgrades and ship upgrades. New flags may even get that higher.

Just got into New Mex.As with all american BB's, just a turd out of the box. But the upgrades are cheap and minimal compared to the Japanese line.

Uhm, I know COL is a nightmare, there's not one thing anywhere saying otherwise, but you're soooooo Close to North Carolina and the real meat of the entire BB lines of any country. I think all the dreadful grinding through the american BB line really pays off once you get into NC and Iowa. Don;t stop at Pensacola. New Orleans is amazing. I love it. And thats out of the box.

Havent seen any of the Anime ships yet. I know you have to have the special port set as your home one to see them in battle. I have set it out of curiosity.

[Kerplunk]

If only "stay at range" actually produced results for me...I think RNGesus is just f'n with me right now. Sadistic thing. Max range, angled correctly against a few CLs, I lose engines, repair, then lose, rudder, start flooding, engines, forward guns, and torps, all in the space of three or four salvos....in a game after I go head on with a BB and torp it to death. I hope the game likes my misery, cause I ain't paying it anything else!

I think the anime stuff is for the new year...maybe a part of the special event missions that show up in the mission page as empty all the time.

[dammage79]

Bump!

Russian Cruisers arrived today. Beginning the grind hopefully up to tier 6 today. already in the T3 Bogatyr which is a St.Louis for all intents and purposes. Looking forward to the T5 Kirov and upwards. I've watched a couple of replays on Kirov and its essentially a T5 Cleveland with torps and Killer shot arcing. None of the Clevelands abysmal hang time.

I'm going to drop a quick review of my fleet as well.

For BB's I am sitting at Colorado and Nagato. Really digging the both of them, even if Colorados armor sucks, she packs a wallop. I do miss Fuso though. That thing was a beast.

Cruisers I am sitting a Mogami with stock guns and hull level #2. Pretty good but that gun rotation though... hate it. Loving the crap out of the New Orleans. Cruiser/DD hunter with her sped and maneuverability, still weak in the armor department but at least you can take a hit unlike Pensacola. I'm also running a Cleveland and Konigsberg as money makers.

DD's: Sitting on Mutsuki for IJN, fully upgraded and about 45k in exp, getting pretty excited to be hitting Hatsuarhu soon. Mutsuki is fast and agile but I loathe her torps. one more torp on each turret would be amazing, or slightly better reloading time.

Running Gnevney and Nicholas right now as well. Nicholas is almost done as I am getting really close to Farragut which will be a change up as she doesnt have a turret for each side of the ship. Loving their guns on both though, and Gnevnys torps range may blow a bit but they punch hard. I have good games in the Russian DD.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Recently got back into this myself after a bit of time off. Was getting a bit stale. Started going up the Japanese and German lines.

Question for you guys though, what's the deal with Japanese carriers? The aircraft load out they get compared to the American carriers seems a bit unfair? Are the Japanese fighters inferior to the American ones? I hate having to choose between 2 fighter groups and one bomber or no fighters at all in favour of one torp group.

Meanwhile, a fully upgraded Japanese carrier seems to get two of each?

[dammage79]

I have no clue about CV's. I don't play them at all.

German BB's are next in line to be released as well. And I've heard whispers of HMS Hood being released as a premium ship. I may drop the dough for that one.

[dammage79]

Haha, thought I was good enough to grind my way to the T5 Russian Cruiser Kirov on day #1, onto day #3 and still 15k exp short on the durned thing. I suppose that is right, all the top tier players are all out grinding. Seen a bunch of T6 Russian cruisers already so the team quality should be dropping this weekend.

[Kerplunk]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Question for you guys though, what's the deal with Japanese carriers? The aircraft load out they get compared to the American carriers seems a bit unfair? Are the Japanese fighters inferior to the American ones? I hate having to choose between 2 fighter groups and one bomber or no fighters at all in favour of one torp group.

Meanwhile, a fully upgraded Japanese carrier seems to get two of each?

If I remember correctly, the US planes tend to be a tad bit stronger and have the larger air group, so to balance it out the IJN get extra air groups. Unfortunately it also means that an IJN carrier can, in some games, completely lock down a US carrier with the wrong loadout, and still have planes to do a bit of damage. One of the many reasons I don't play carriers.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Recently got back into this myself after a bit of time off. Was getting a bit stale. Started going up the Japanese and German lines.

Question for you guys though, what's the deal with Japanese carriers? The aircraft load out they get compared to the American carriers seems a bit unfair? Are the Japanese fighters inferior to the American ones? I hate having to choose between 2 fighter groups and one bomber or no fighters at all in favour of one torp group.

Meanwhile, a fully upgraded Japanese carrier seems to get two of each?

IIRC in real life, The Japanese traded lighter payloads for longer legs on their planes and greater speed.

Early in the war the Japanese pretty much owned Naval aviation because they didn't really think about pilot safety and aircraft survivability under attack. They wanted pure naked speed.

The Japanese aircraft carriers also had severe design flaws, they were mostly stuck rearming and refuling on the main flight decks, their magazines were badly situated as were their fueling stations. They had trouble with deck spotting, and the biggest trouble were that the Americans were painstakingly trained in damage control operations, the Japanese really struggled with it.

American Carriers often survived multiple hits and continued to be able to operate or at least make it to port, the Japanese Carriers were taken out by single hits or worse yet hits that looked inconsequential.

Look also at what happened with the battle of midway. Indecision combined with poorly thought of reloading and deck spotting ended Japanese dominance of the pacific within a hour.

[nik-]

Just downloading this to try it out ... assuming I'm going to get pummeled.

A little surprised by the high prices in the premium store. They're basically selling ships for the price of a full game.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by nik-

Just downloading this to try it out ... assuming I'm going to get pummeled.

A little surprised by the high prices in the premium store. They're basically selling ships for the price of a full game.

You get some decent adaptation time in co-op play before you get into PVP.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by nik-

Just downloading this to try it out ... assuming I'm going to get pummeled.

A little surprised by the high prices in the premium store. They're basically selling ships for the price of a full game.

The premium ships are indeed pricey. I don't own one and don't think I ever will. I liked having a couple of premium tanks in World of Tanks as they gave more XP and credits. I assume they do in WoS too.

You won't get pummeled. There are some things to learn for sure. When starting out you will be against low tier ships and newer players. But like damage said, you can play coop for a while but don't play too much of it as it's quite a bit easier than PvP and you can develop some bad habits.

Best tip for new players is remember to look around yourself frequently. New players tend to spend far to much time in sniper mode and either run aground or don't notice enemy ships/torpedo planes coming in to take you out.

[dammage79]

Couple of things, don't go solo as a cruiser for the first while, stick with the herd until you get good enough to venture out alone hunting DD's or whatnot. Less agrro you take the better. Lots of low tier (scratch that, all) Cruisers are weak and you'll get chewed up fast.

BB's, Early tier BB's are brawlers so don't play them at range, get into the muck. Their guns have por grouping so if you play them at range it's essentially sharpshooting with a scatter gun. Not very effective. Hopefully you'll have some loyal cruiser players to fend off DD attacks.

DD's, Go hunting solo as much as you want. It's the only way to get good at them. Just a tip though. Full speed all the time is not a good thing, and use islands for cover and sneak attacks. And when you pop smoke, slow to 1/4 speed or stop before you do.

As for the premium ship costs, Boats like Kutuzov or Tirpitz or Atago are worth it, they're really unique boats. I cannot justify paying for one right now but if I had disposable income I'd have at least one of them. Like I said though, HMS Hood is apparently around the corner so I may ante up for that one.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by dammage79

And when you pop smoke, slow to 1/4 speed or stop before you do.

Why's that? I thought moving at speed would generate a larger smoke screen?

Man....I have no happy mediums with DD's. I either have an amazing round or get smoked.

Nothing more satisfying than launching a volley of torps right on the edge of an island and watching an unsuspecting cruiser or BB round the corner and eat almost all of them.

Also, if you do wind up trying carriers.....hit BB's with your bombers first, this forces your target to use it's repair consumable, assuming you lit it on fire of course. Then follow up with a torp run and watch it slowly flood to death because it can't use the repair consumable again for a period of time.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Why's that? I thought moving at speed would generate a larger smoke screen?

Man....I have no happy mediums with DD's. I either have an amazing round or get smoked.

Nothing more satisfying than launching a volley of torps right on the edge of an island and watching an unsuspecting cruiser or BB round the corner and eat almost all of them.

Also, if you do wind up trying carriers.....hit BB's with your bombers first, this forces your target to use it's repair consumable, assuming you lit it on fire of course. Then follow up with a torp run and watch it slowly flood to death because it can't use the repair consumable again for a period of time.

I thought the same thing too. But after watching jingles videos on Youtube he pointed a couple of things out. When you pop smoke at speed the stacks billow out the smoke in timed intervals, in order to get a complete smoke screen you have to slow down to not get detected while deploying the smoke. if you watch other DD's in battle when they pop smoke at speed they blink in and out in intervals. The smoke screen you cast at full speed or even at half speed is thinned out and doesn't last as long and doesn't provide the cover you want.

Yeah DD play is tricky for me too. There really doesn't seem to be an in between for me as well as I can go from having 4 kill games to getting abused and being the first kill in a matter of less than 2 minutes from match start. I've adapted a bit though lately. Like I said, using islands as cover or parking behind one and waiting for what seems like forever to surprise attack an oncoming BB who floats within torp range. I rush him head on and bobs your uncle.

Also, I use speed boost immediately upon match start to rush a cap if needed. Or just to get a little closer to the enemies base and park in a less conspicuous place where not many people think you can get to in time to hide. Has a better than 50% chance of succeeding over all.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I thought the same thing too. But after watching jingles videos on Youtube he pointed a couple of things out. When you pop smoke at speed the stacks billow out the smoke in timed intervals, in order to get a complete smoke screen you have to slow down to not get detected while deploying the smoke. if you watch other DD's in battle when they pop smoke at speed they blink in and out in intervals. The smoke screen you cast at full speed or even at half speed is thinned out and doesn't last as long and doesn't provide the cover you want.

Huh....good to know. That's going to take some getting used to, goes against all "keep moving" instincts. I'd feel like such a sitting duck coming to a full stop but proofs in the pudding as I totally get what you mean with DD's popping in and out of view.

One thing I wish they spiced up a bit was secondary guns. DD's should have to pay more of a price getting within 4 or 5 kms IMO. I don't think I've ever sunk a ship with secondary's. The Cleveland is covered in them and rarely scores a hit.