Pukovnik7

To be fair, I have gotten used to ship collisions when I am either a perpetator or a victim, though it most often happens during a battle due to tunnel vision / target focus... it is especially a problem for me when playing a cruiser (and especially when hunting enemy DDs) because high rate of fire combined with my propensity for continuous fire (unless ambushing or firing at long range) means that there are times when I stay in aim-zoom and don't really see where I'm going. I have gotten a lot better about situational awareness lately, but I can easily see how it can be an issue. That being said, collisions at the start of the game are rather depressingly common. I don't know why - maybe has to do with how the ships spawn. They can help. Yes, capping alone does not win a game, but if you hold the caps you can force the enemy to feed themselves straight into your barrels. And if caps are in the middle... camping at the mouth of a strait that leads to the cap can be damn effective, if you can get there before the enemy does. I'm playing at Tier 1 still, for now, but I have several times managed to back up a teammate and we'd tie up basically half the enemy team that way, allowing the rest to win the battles at their caps (though it is by no means a given that they will). Overall, however, I can only recall two or three games that were won on points - and that was because the enemy only had one ship left, which managed to hide and survive until the end of the match. How often does that happen? From what I have seen so far, usual approach is that all ships in the cap stay in the cap... which is just good sense, as if the enemy comes to contest the cap, a team of ships can lay down some serious hurt - potentially winning the game then and there if they get enough kills. Of course, this doesn't help if the rest of the team goes off and gets themselves killed on the other two caps...

This game really encourages long-range sniping, even in a Tier I cruiser. Guess I know why it is a World of Thunderers at higher levels... I basically didn't come closer than half my maximum gun range to any of enemy ships. Results:

Got a compliment for this game:

I don't think it is. Servicing should, logically, also include cost of ammunition, fuel, machinery maintenance, and a new paint job.

Thanks. And yeah, I think now it might be my best bet. One question however is whether I should keep up with my current approach of playing all nations tier by tier, and if or when to switch to playing only US ships? I'm worried that as playstyles diversify between nations at higher tiers, playing different ships of the same tier might make it more difficult to adjust. Thanks. So basically US or German might be the best choice - my ideal combat distance is one where I can ram enemy ships to death if I want to, but problem is how to survive long enough to get there, and in any case I'm still not back up to speed on the game (if I ever was - I played it some years back, but mostly in a casual way). Problem with US battleships is that they have rather problematic time exploiting potential cross-fire opportunities due to low speed, though I have learned one needs to be careful with doing that so slow speed might actually be an advantage, as @Captain_Newman points out.

Replaying from the Tier I to get myself back up to speed... but it seems Eritrea was nice to me today.

My avatar is the battleship HMS Vanguard sailing, photo of frontal turrets. EDIT: As for why, well, I just liked the lady.

Right now, I am not grinding any line. Rather, I am grinding tiers - basically, I will play all the ships in the first tier, then all the ships in the second tier, and so on. As for Vanguard, I use it when I feel like playing a battleship. I hate low-tier battleships because they are too slow, but well - that is not a problem I will have to worry about for a while. Originally, I ground British battleships, but as I said - I concluded it is a mistake. That being said, part of the reason why I am struggling to stay alive in British battleships is because I never play them British style. As I have explained, I actually prefer cruiser playstyle, and I treat even battleships as giant cruisers. Which is not exactly optimal, especially in British ships. But that cruiser focus is why I bought Vanguard, but as I said... I'll be using it in coop for now. Tier 8 is way too high for me, at least for now.

You did not, but it doesn't matter. An ally who just got torpedoed in the flank will not care about the reasons. He got torpedoed. Since you are the one launching the torpedoes, it is your duty to avoid harming allies. It is the same rule as in medicine: do no harm. That is the first thing you have to ensure, before you do anything else. Accidents happen, but it is your responsibility to try and reduce them to a minimum. So try applying advice I gave in my post - it worked for me, it should work for you. Also, I never said that you are playing a torpedo cruiser. Again: I was talking about my own experience. Light cruiser was the first ship with torpedoes I received, and I assume it is the first ship with torpedoes in any tech tree. In other words, you can be excused for accidentally torpedoing an ally a few times while you are still getting used to using torpedoes (though even then, a penalty for conduct is appropriate to encourage learning). But if you already have thousands of battles under your belt, and you still torpedo allies by accident... then it means you should probably stop using torpedo-equipped ships and switch to gunslinging.

Again, you are responsible for your torpedoes. If your teammate is an idiot and blocks your torpedo shot? You are responsible for not firing torpedoes. If there are teammates who might potentially run into your line of fire? You are responsible for assessing the risk. In short, if in doubt, do not shoot. Never shoot a torpedo unless you are 100% certain there are no teammates around who might run into torpedoes. And no, I don't mean "only shoot if you are certain you will not hit teammates if things remain as they are", I mean "only shoot if you are 100% certain you will not hit your teammates no matter what happens". If that friendly cruiser looks like it will be well clear of torpedoes' path, but might get hit if it turns the wrong way? You don't shoot. If a friendly battleship is behind your target and you might hit it if you miss whatever you are targeting? You don't shoot. If a friendly destroyer is just behind the island but might get hit by your torpedoes if he makes a rightwards turn? You do not shoot. And if you really want to shove a bunch of torpedoes down some fat battleship's throat? I already explained it: get close, get point-blank if you want, and shoot once you are certain that there is no physical way a friendly ship might insert itself between yourself and your target. I learned this the hard way, too: I killed two friendly cruisers, I think, before I concluded that long-distance torpedo shooting is not a good idea, especially since I do have a bit of a tunnel vision issue. Besides, torpedoes are best used as ambush weapons: in narrow canals or attacking ships already engaged. In both scenarios, it is quite easy to ensure no accident happens. EDIT: Anyway, I looked at the replays. In the Replay 1, you actually shift aims quite well. So you don't even have my excuse of the aim-induced tunnel vision (I used to spend all the time zoomed in before I learned better). Your problem appears to be tendency towards long-distance shooting combined with the general tunnel vision. Long-range torpedoes are a) much easier to evade (extremely easy if you are in something like a cruiser or a Vanguard), and b) much more likely to hit allies. So it is a habit you might want to drop. It is also quite clear that you did not consider positions of... well, anything on the map other than the target you were attacking. Plus, you are constantly running into islands - again, tunnel vision. As for Replay 2, I get a critical error every time I try to open it. In response to another post, I have to note that I have only gotten torpedoed by a friendly player maybe once. I also torpedoed friendly players maybe once or twice back when I first started playing. It is something excusable if you are only getting used to torpedo cruisers, but you have over 7k battles so I really don't understand what is the problem.

I don't know your exact situation, but early on I had similar problem: I would get too focused on a target, shoot torpedoes, and blow up a friendly. I got banned once or twice to coop only because of that. Solution? Look at the minimap, do not spend all the time focused on the target, and if there are many friendly ships nearby - get up into enemy's face. Most of my torpedo kills are done from literally less than my own ship's length. And yes, that includes battleships.

If by some wonder war got delayed long enough for both classes to be fully-ready for service, how well would they do against each other, both strategically (preventing raids / raiding) and tactically (in a direct combat)? And how well would each class deal with other set of opponents (Italians for Richelieu and British for Bismarck)?

Agreed, though that would also mean Germany would have 16'' Bismarck variant. Not necessarily an advantage, seeing how I see KGV as roughly equal to Bismarck despite latter's cca 5 000 ton displacement advantage, but it might make older British battleships less relevant.

That fits, yeah. I actually listed characteristics in order of priorities, so out of the three problematic characteristics, only the rudder may be the one I'd see as a problem.

If you mean this: I was given a list of battleships which play as battlecruisers. But these ships span several (if not all) countries, so it doesn't really help in deciding which line to focus on: I would rather prefer to play a nation which has fast battleship approach throughout the line, so that I can develop playstyle organically rather than be thrown from a lumbering behemoth to a zipper. This I think eliminates US (due to their Standard-type battleships) and Russia. My understanding is that French battleships in general tend to be among the fastest, is that correct?

Many of those I have often seen classed as battlecruisers. But that is why I wrote "battlecruiser-style battleship", which is to say, a fast battleship that plays as a battlecruiser. Vanguard for example plays like a battlecruiser as it is fast, but with comparatively weak artillery for the tier.

Figure out the playstyle you like most and select based on that. I spent my time grinding towards the British fast BB line (KIng George V), so now that I came back to game seriously, I bought Vanguard. However, I still play lower-tier battleships and cruisers, cruisers because I like playing them, and battleships for a change of pace (when I want to be bored during the game, which is rare but happens). The reason I bought Vanguard was because grinding was taking fun out of the game. Now that I have a ship I like, everything else comes easy: learning, practice; I don't even feel frustration when I screw up. However, based on both my own experiences and the advice I have received (I am a "restart noob", came back to the game after a few years of pause), I wouldn't use that ship in PvP until I reach its tier by accumulating experience. Use it in coop, when you need to relax, and meanwhile advance slowly through the main line.

I will not accept carriers as having been balanced, let alone nerfed, for as long as bloody torpedo bombers can drop their torpedoes literally dozen meters from my ship. How do you avoid that? I know that dive-torpedo bombers were a thing, but they did not use torpedoes to dive-bomb. I pity all those destroyer and cruiser captains who have to work hard to get a couple of good torpedoes into enemy battleship's side, only to see a carrier captain get a half-a-dozen to a dozen hits in a single attack run.

I came back to World of Warships at long last, and since I couldn't wait to get past the lumbering behemots of World War I battleships (same thing which caused me to quit playing, now that I think about it), I bought the Vanguard. First two playthroughs, I died like a kitten. I thought maybe it was a mistake to buy it, but then I realized: I bought it for the same reason why it is my favourite real-life battleship (well, aside from being damn beautiful ship). It is basically a battleship-grade battlecruiser. No Iron Duke-esque "die of old age before reaching battlefield and then die of old age again while waiting to slug it out" style slugging matches for this one. I was a cruiser player for a long time, but I quit playing cruisers because I got bored of the torpedoes. But I still remember that playstyle with fondness. So the Vanguard is perfect for me, though I am still figuring it out. Cruise between the islands, pop up, deliver the burnination Mk.1, slip away. Never, ever reveal the full broadside to the enemy - you either have to be approaching or retreating from the enemy at the sharp angle - even up to 90 degrees. This will make it impossible to use all the turrets at the same time thanks to limited firing arcs. Fire frontal turrets, swing [edited], fire aft turrets, conceal them again. When retreating, same procedure, but with order reversed. As a result, Ship is fast, as fast as an older cruiser, which fits the playstyle perfectly. One problem I have is that it appears to turn like it is running on fine Russian vodka, but this is not so much of an issue as you will be running from cover to cover anyway - no staying in the open. "Hit and run" playstyle is further helped by its highly accurate main battery - if you miss, that will be because you did not aim well. This is especially true at shorter ranges, making it a bane of cruisers and destroyers alike (but also providing a potential for reverse - 'ware the torpedoes!). But if you are caught in the open, may God help you. Cruisers are Vanguard's favourite prey, except it catches fire as enthusiastically as it causes the same. Long and tall citadel meanwhile do it no favours against enemy AP rounds, while ship's length and anemic turn speed mean that it is vulnerable to enemy torpedoes. In short: if you see enemy cruiser within torpedo range, delete it, even if ten enemy battleships are shooting at you (and if there are ten enemy battleships shooting at you, your only choice is to run away - which is kinda difficult if you are leaking like a sieve). Vanguard's speed enables it to close range quickly, but low range on main armaments means that enemy battleship(s) will start shooting at it long before Vanguard can start returning the favour. This again speaks to its role as a cruiser killer, where lack of range is much less of an issue. Its 381 mm main guns simply do not have the penetration of other similar-tier battleships, which means that HE is main damage dealer here - though AP rounds are nothing to sniff at, I have found much more success when spamming HE. If somebody had different experience, please comment - I'm really interested. Verdict: If you want a firethrowing cruiser with 15 in guns and battleship armour, she's all yours. If you want a "proper battleship", stay the h*ll away. One thing is certain: if you don't know how to pick your battles, you will die quickly. https://i.imgur.com/CaBdcXj.png

1) I understand that the enemy needs to be broadside to me ideally (I have been using angling to prevent enemy penetrations). Problem I think might be that I sometimes (often?) target too high, and so shells skim off the armoured deck. A few times when I targeted a battleship AP shells were simply defeated by armour (due to Vanguard's 15 in guns?), while against cruisers overpen is far more likely. I try to avoid shooting into water, but maybe that would be better to shooting too high? I also noticed that both skims and overpens happen at long range as well, and latter may happen even with HE shells. EDIT: Well, I just broadsided enemy Iowa-class battleship. AP shells to waterline, from basically point-blank range. It went up in flames. So it appears the problem was that I was shooting too high. EDIT2: Confirmed. AP shells to the waterline from close range do wonders on enemy battleships and heavy cruisers. For light cruisers I switch to HE, assuming they didn't get murderized by an ally or my own secondaries. That switch time reduction upgrade really does wonders for this ship. 2) I don't park next to an island. What I do is that I cruise from an island to island and engage targets of opportunity, using islands as a cover while guns are reloading. A few times I ambushed a cruiser at close range that way, though I generally target ships that are out in the open and preferably engaging other ships (so essentially catch them into crossfire - ideally when enemy is end-side to me and belt-side to whomever he is engaging). I do have to say that Vanguard's lack of aircraft is a bit of a pain when doing this, though it is not too bad - there is a minimap which also shows what my allies are seeing, and I have just recently discovered that minimap also has main battery target indicator, so you can shoot even targets you don't see (so long as shells can clear the island summit). I don't get a lot of kills that way, but if it helps, it is worth doing. Especially as after first few run-ins, I now avoid engaging enemy battleships in any situation where they might actually return fire (last time I did so I actually managed to hold my own against an enemy battleship by utilizing that zig-zag approach that was mentioned, but it turned out that he had buddies with him and seeing how I only engaged to try and save an ally who was on his last sliver of health... yeah, it did not go well).

Yeah, might be the case. Well, I've figured that I would use lower tiers in PvP for now and only use Vanguard against bots in coop, as it is by far the most fun ship to play out of the ships I have (Caledon, Bellerophon, Wakeful, Orion, Acasta, Iron Duke, Vanguard - only Caledon is almost as fun to play as Vanguard is, though with a focus on close-range torpedo attacks, and its lack of HE shells annoys me to no end). And Vanguard is proving a good ship (at least against the bots): it can avoid enemy gunfire, and I often get enemy shells deflected almost by accident thanks to the zig-zag maneuvers I always do whenever I'm being shot at. So while it is best used against cruisers, it can hold its own against most battleships. I have noticed one issue: Vanguard's gun accuracy lends itself to long-range gunnery, but when I tried using AP rounds at any range, I always get either overpens (it seems to happen most at long range) or deflections (mostly when I try to use them at close range). I have never managed to destroy an enemy ship with AP rounds, not even a cruiser. That being said, I am moving away from long-range gunnery with Vanguard. While my playstyle with her is best described as "island peek-a-boo", using islands for cover and landing a barrage on a cruiser / destroyer / battleship (in order of priority) whenever one shows itself in a "window", I am getting more comfortable with getting in close - so long as there is a convenient island nearby to hide behind if necessary. Some of the maps are quite open however, so it is hard to avoid.

It is fun, that is why I'm playing it... but I've been playing British battleships for quite a while, so Vanguard is taking a fair bit to adjust to. And yeah, Vanguard is it seems played best as a large cruiser / cruiser killer. But as I said, I'm still figuring it out. If I don't, I'll wait for KGV, but overall I've actually had much more fun when playing cruisers than battleships. So I'd rather make effort in adjusting to Vanguard.

Maybe I shouldn't have jumped in with the Vanguard after that multi-year break I took from the game, but then part of the reason I took the break was because I got bored of the cruisers and battleships both and couldn't afford a battlecruiser / fast battleship back then (other part was some RL stuff going on). Well, thanks to Vanguard being fun to play, at least now I have enough accumulated XP to get Myogi and then work towards Kongo. So I'll try your suggestion. Thanks. Yeah, I get the impression I am relearning everything from scratch now. I will need to work on positioning, but it often seems that enemies (at least in PvP) often focus on the Vanguard. So when I try to act as a "meat shield" (which I did a few times), I die quickly. When I fire from further away, I still get shot at more than almost any ship in vicinity. Might have to do with my tendency to avoid central straits for fear of torpedoes, I don't know.

For what is worth, I nailed a battleship and a destroyer this round with Vanguard. And do pray tell, how do you get an idea of playing a class without actually playing it? Lower class ships helped me absolutely nothing in playing Vanguard: cruiser playstyle is completely different, playstyle with older battleships is completely different. It took me all but five minutes to realize that. Difficult part is actually developing the style for the ship. With British battleship line, I have never had to use anything but HE at all. Though until Vanguard I have only played older British battleships and cruisers. Rudder response is fast. Turn diameter however... Thanks. Though I'm not sure whether that will make a difference: I have noticed that with Vanguard it is best to stand off to quite a distance and snipe enemy ships, which basically means HE spam.

My thoughts exactly. As much as I like her and as much of a cruiser player I am, I'm still far from playing her consistently: one game I will obliterate everything in my path, another I will die without achieving anything of note.