Panocek

And unless you're talking about 45km+ shots, vertical angle of impact is effectively irrelevant

Which involved hitting flat part of the bow. When I've tested "plunging fire", NC + spotter, at 27km was still incapable of "not ricocheting" off CV armored deck, while USN dual purpose mortars found on most US destroyers needed around 14km to start scoring non pens instead ricochets. Angle needed to arm 305mm AP shell against 25mm plating is in guaranteed ricochet territory. Only reason Alaska can score regular pen is due to her improved angles. High velocity doesn't really matter unless you're talking about "very close and very personal" distances

"High velocity" and "plunging fire" are mutually exclusive. Heck, even "low velocity" and "plunging fire" are mutually exclusive given ricochet angles exist in this game. Closest to "good AP" exists on Alaska due to improved ricochet angles, even if her AP penetration is the worst among CBs. Ships you're talking about are displacing as much as interwar battleships and lengthwise they are comparable to ww2 designs. They are NOT going to be nimble and quick to respond Most large cruisers will be outgunned by same tier cruisers on "HE dpm" grounds unless you manage to land (multiple) citadel hits. And given properties of CB guns in this game - no overmatch on most cruisers, notorious overpens due to 50-51mm arming threshold and insufficient AP pen to reliably threaten battleships with citadels, AP on large cruisers is extraordinarily situational. For mid to long range, Azuma might be best pick if looking at guns alone - velocity and overall best accuracy among CBs. Issues with her: -she is absolute glass cannon -Yoshino exists Basically the best "large cruiser", or rather "battlecruiser" at tier 9 you can get is Georgia. -same dispersion as Alaska and Agir, which is remarkably accurate by BB standards, coupled with faster than average reload more than makes up for only 6 guns -457mm guns means she uptiers very well, as she can overmatch 30mm plating used on most T10 cruisers. Even overpens deals significant amount of hurt -fastest of the bunch thanks to improved Engine Boost, clocking up to 40kts -reasonable anti air -fast reloading heal allows you to soak ridiculous amounts of punishment at times -improved secondaries for memes Only drawbacks of hers are relatively vulnerable citadel and slow turret traverse.

Open water stealth firing... actually useful anti air... Yamato as only BB with guns above 420mm...

Still retain secondary accuracy advantage. And WG putting game on its head to nerf premium ship via "global changes"? You must be new here...

The way I understand dovbleg post... Ger BB secondary dispersion is improved by 15% compared to most battleships, while US secondary premiums had around 40% tighter dispersion? And secondary dispersion skill still applies to all BBs that decides to equip it... so? While worse accuracy on captain skill for secondaries is net nerf for Massa/Georgia/Ohio, their base dispersion+secondary upgrade in slot 3 is almost enough to make secondaries usable without any commander skills. Said trio of ships currently get TOO accurate secondaries against enemies below 6km. Handy against yoloing destroyer, not so much against anything with armored belt, because thats the place where most shells land.

Because your average player want to shoot ships, not get shot by ships. And battleships almost universally have the most range... so why bother getting close and risking getting shot, when you can make boomy noises from safety of A1 corner?

So, upcoming German DDs would be second "supposedly AP oriented" destroyer line... after French ones, third if we count Jutland+Daring. And just like French ones, with crap damage output and without smokes, thus automatically invalidated against carriers. But unlike French, also without speed and without MBRB. But hey, they get option to increase their null AA dps by 50%

Very modus operandi of WG is to nerf fun first, before adressing "OP" parts of the vehicle. Be it tank, ship, plane or potato. After all, if X is not fun to play, then amount of players goes down, while carrot "when stars align, X is still overperforming so I'll free exp it" is still present.

Crap of all trades and good at none. Big, clumsy and thus, easy to hit DD with gun output barely better than Shimakaze, with weak, long reloading torps, anti air reduced to "drop rockets here" sign. Only positive is high shell velocity, allowing you to hit things at longer distances, which may or may not bait you into speccing AFT to act as Khabarovsk wannabe, which in turn deprives you from BFT and TAE, as SI is a given due to smaller amount of smokes and presence of a heal. 6% faster reload compared to normal reload mod is not worth the effort/expense needed to get via RB and then you're extending already long torpedo reload.

Haven't bothered rebuilding mods after changes so no working version, at least from me.

Italy cruisers get better the higher tier you go - not only because ships improve (mostly in salvo weight) but more and more enemies you see utilize all-or-nothing armor, which is very vulnerable to SAP ammo. Russian light cruiser line is solid, though their size and absolute lack of agility can backfire on you when it comes to shell/torpedo evasion. They are almost universally fast, clocking up to 36kts. IFHE isn't that needed, maybe on tier 6-7 to help against cruisers when uptiered, otherwise you dismantle cruisers and burn down BBs. US heavies are solid, if short ranged and bound to island camping. But then, very few cruisers can actually dare and sail at open waters given how increasingly punishing BB guns get. Light cruisers... Helena used to be a monster, Cleveland is okay, Seattle is straight downgrade over Cleve (and then Cleve in return isn't really an improvement over Helena), while Worcester is invalidated by Des Moines, which can HEspam just as well and have nasty AP to work with, as well much more useful turret layout. German cruisers are very solid pick as well - Yorck after repeated buffing seems actually better than Hipper. Hipper isn't that bad, but she's as exciting to play as last year snow, Roon quirky turret layout can be an issue at times but otherwise she's demo version of Hindenburg, while Hindenburg is one of the best general purpose cruisers at T10 - heavy salvo, fast reload, consistent HE, surprisingly good firestarting and violent AP whenever you get broadside to work on. French cruisers peak at Charles Martel, Saint Louis is hardly an improvement over her, while acceleration and IFHE nerfs left Henri in somewhat bad state. Shame, because Frenchsters were an actually viable pick for open water shenanigans with their great range, engine boost + double rudder build

Zero armor and turning radius 404 not found is shared with Kirov, but yes, she's having Donskoi guns. Or rather, all three are using the same guns, but Kirov has lowered shell velocity, as WG *gasp* not only skipped russian bias, but also historical accuracy and actually went for balance approach. Molotov is shorter ranged than Kirov and Budyonny though, so spotter might come in handy more often than not.

Its not like you can't use overflow of blue books to improve red skill

4x450=1800 exp. You trade that for single 1200 exp book. Blues are even worse, 6x150=900 to get single 450 exp book. It can be convenient when you CBA to login every two-four hours to start new book though.

Which, just like combining blue books into purples, isn't very efficient exp wise.

Given its Georgia and not Ohio that is being pulled from sale, I'd simply wait and see instead spend all the RB now.

Technically yes, in practice you get "better ship per tier" with Georgia and for currency thats less annoying to accumulate.

All T9 ships except Missouri have the same economy modifiers. Pommern small caliber guns don't fare well against cruisers aware of concept of angling, Georgia have 30mm overmatch making her potent against most cruisers regardless of counterplay they might come up with. Pommern 12gun broadside often overcomes accuracy deficiencies, be it innate dispersion or bad user aim. Georgia good accuracy requires your aim to be on point, as any mistakes there will more often than not put entire salvo into the water. Georgia doesn't brawl well with her somewhat vulnerable citadel, Pommern have torps to give second thought anyone willing to get close and personal... which is rather rare occurrence at hightiers. Georgia without secondaries is one blast of a ship thanks to her speed, fast reloading heal and guns, Pommern is basically Tirpitz with one barrel extra per turret and reload penalty.

Speaking of secondaries... why not shift "secondary build" focus from range+accuracy towards accuracy+reload? Basically, increase base secondary range to be comparable to "full build" as we have now, that being +-12km for hightier ships (cruisers and carriers included), with no means of extending that besides possibly signal flag. Instead, skills and upgrades would be oriented towards improving accuracy (as they are now) and reload for secondary guns. To keep secondaries in check, base reload speed could be increased a bit. That way, secondary armament at least will give a feeling of contributing to the battle, even if it would be rather ineffective, while maxed out "secondary build" would remain as effective as it is now, but with lesser skill point investment And issue of "stealth firing secondaries" - it could be solved with increasing ship detection range up to secondary range the moment they open fire, basically the same principle as with main guns.

Changelog of reworked skills for older ships. And I must say, some are interesting - Graf Zeppelin with whatwasit gold Ger fighter and two boosted Helldivers? Prince of Whales being sort of US flagship?

1/5 pen would be sweet spot between playability and "historical accuracy"... but: US 5" guns, even OG Benson wasn't far in terms of damage output to Akizuki, while having all the perks of not being Akizuki class (speed, concealment, agility, ). The same story between Gearing and Harugumo. And then amount of "gun hoses" is only increasing - Daring, Halland, Smaland, Marceau. Thus IJN 100mm armed destroyers needs something to stand out over "gun hose" crowd to compensate for their size and lack of maneuverability.

3rd T8 FR premium battleship says otherwise Besides, US have only one T8 prem DD at the moment, Kidd. Two at tier 9 and one at tier 10 though.

On positive, Tier 6 and below BBs get actually buffed in secondary department. Nice for Operations, or whatever left of them. Even in Narai, ability to go both broadsides blazing might be useful.

Akizuki with PA features and DFAA. WG could easily forgo TRB or put DFAA in the same slot, instead doing their current shenanigans