krazypenguin

Looks pretty bad then, but what's the chance to cause a fire? 24 hits and 5 fires caused - is that good? (i'm new so not sure if that's at least one positive this ship might have) Edit - Oh, just watched right to the end, not even as much chance to cause a fire as a Watake. Oh well, why am I not really surprised to see the first RN vessel is at best underwhelming...

Hi guys, Questions re specials & discounts - do WG run regular weekend specials in WoWS, or offer low tier ships on sale at all? Reason for asking is that I've decided to play only Japanese ships and I've elited all of the tier 3s so find myself needing to buy three tier 4s. Just wondering if it's worth waiting a week or so in case the tier 4s get discounted (because a saving is a saving...) or shall I just go ahead and buy them now? Same question for port slots and the premium ships Ishizuchi and Atago. Do they get put on discount, and if so, by how much and (very roughly) how often? Thanks, krazypenguin

Fortunately, I am a veteran of WoT, so I know exactly how the whole stock tanks (or in this case, ships) thing works. I've now "elited" (do WoWS players still call it eliting?) the Kongo and Furutaka and will not be buying the tier 6 ships until I have enough free XP to upgrade them as soon as I buy them - by which time I should hopefully also have some idea what I am doing! I suspect, because new players buy lots of ships which means they need lots of ports at 300 doubloons each, so that means WG gets lots of lovely REAL money. ;-)

I wouldn't get your hopes up for a decent selection of premiums. After 5 years WoT still doesn't have a proper* selection of premium tanks for all classes and all nations. I don't see any reason why WoWS will be different. * by proper I mean that you cannot go to the prem shop or tech tree and easily purchase a decent premium tank of any class or any nationality when you want\need it. For example, US tank destroyers are limited to a reward tank and a premium which is very rarely on sale.

I agree it's not realistic, but it's how the game is balanced - it's not a simulator, after all. The only thing that I think they could maybe implement (which I don't think they have, but I could be wrong, it's just I've never noticed it) is that there could be a visible animation for torpedoes being fired and splashing into the water. So if you are watching a vessel closely enough at the time it launches torps you will know it has done so, rather than having to wait until you see the wakes. Or perhaps they could add that as a captain skill, e.g. if a ship in visible range launches torpedoes you get an audible alert that torpedoes have been launched. Just a thought.

So...try and fix it? I mean, seriously, what is your point? Your game has started crashing so, rather than try and uninstall it and reinstall it you just create a forum thread saying "my game crashed a couple of times today so I quit". Really? If your car got a flat tyre would you just leave it by the side of the road and go and get a new one...? Wow... Edit - on the plus side, kudos for trying to get some team play going in chat and giving your team mates advice

Sadly, the only thing that threads like this will achieve is exactly the same thing that they achieved in WoT, namely WG will remove the ability to see how many battles a player has been in, then the WR, then anything else of any use or actual interest. Why deal with the bot problem when you can just (try to) hide it?

So I made it to the Kongo. Yay for me but oh dear for my team mates. ;-) I've got the B hull, the GFC system upgrade and also the engine but what I really need now is some guidance please. I have read the battle mechanics of the wiki, looked around the forums and on youtube but I feel like I am struggling to help my team. I understand that it has good range but relatively weak belt armour, so I should try and keep my distance, but I just cannot get the thing to do enough damage. Whatever ammo type I select I seem to do about 1k damage per hit...and that's it. I try and aim for the middle of the target at the waterline (which I think is what I should be doing) but my guns rarely seem to do the sort of damage that I would expect. Frankly, it's getting to the point where I'm borderline terrified of letting an enemy CA or DD get even remotely close to me since I expect to be HE spammed (with the obligatory fire thrown in) to death, before I can sink them with my main battery - and that just doesn't feel right to me, so I am sure I'm doing something very wrong... As such, I've uploaded the replays of the first 3 battles I played last night in the Kongo (there are 4 files because activating a spotter plane seems to end that replay file and start a new one). I appreciate that there are no replay controls (at least, none that I could find) so expecting random strangers on the forum to watch three ~20 minute replays of me being useless is a big ask but I'm hoping that someone will be willing to help me. I'm not proud, I know I'm not good and I do know that I make a lot of mistakes (broadside on to an enemy BB at the end of the 2nd battle...duh) so I am happy to hear whatever feedback or criticism is needed to help me improve. Oh yeah, and I'm not planning on advancing past tier 5 for a long time, so don't worry about meeting me on your team in a high tier game! ;-) Battle 1: http://wowreplays.com/Replay/3781 Battle 2: http://wowreplays.com/Replay/3782 & http://wowreplays.com/Replay/3783 Battle 3: http://wowreplays.com/Replay/3784 Thanks, krazypenguin

Ah yes, that annoying moment when you click battle for your first battle of the day in a ship you are grinding, maybe even with prem camo and flags loaded, only to realise you left the game in co-op mode after practising your first ever carrier. Desperately mashes "exit battle" as the game just laughs and says "no way..." :-(

Personally, I think the best battles are the ones where the classes are more evenly distributed, without too many of a single class. For example, each team has 1-2 CVs, 2-3 BBs, 3-4 CAs and 2-3 DDs. However, I would be happy to see a hard cap of DDs per team, say 3 on each side, but I don't know what effect adding additional restrictions like that onto the MM would have, it simply might not be possible. I also agree with Spellfire40 that CVs need to be limited - in a random battle 2 carriers is already enough. I want to shoot ships with ships, not spend 15 minutes trying to dodge endless Torpedo bombers whilst also being dive bombed...

So, will the ARP missions come back later? If so, what happens to a player's existing progress? Asking as I want to collect as many Japanese ships as I can but I only started playing the game halfway through the mission and, as it stands, I'll almost certainly *just* fail to complete the Stage 2 (ARP Haruna). Also, for future missions can we PLEASE get better descriptions? I was not the only person who was confused by the mission\reward description and thus very disappointed when I didn't get the ship itself for completing stage 1... Thanks, krazypenguin

Does anyone know/ have any guesses what the planned 'air complement' mechanic is likely to be please? As I understand it, whilst according to Wikipedia she could carry a maximum of 8 aircraft in reality she never carried more than 5 (and Tully and Parshall guess she only had 4 by early '42).... Anyway, however many aircraft she could carry, none were particularly suited to attacking, were they? So I am just wondering what she can do other than be a "super spotter". Any ideas please?

Had it once, about a week ago or so -- certainly before the patch. Could see all enemy ships except 2 BBs who were within view and draw range and not hidden by smoke or islands, etc... Those 2 ships just were not drawn for me. Tried to quit the game and reopen it but my wife came into the room to ask me some questions just at that time and in the distraction I accidentally quit to port instead of just closing the client... Definitely not mod related as I don't run any. Also, I watched the replay and both ships were there.

um...didn't WG make something like 580 MILLION last year? And given they are based in Cyprus *cough tax dodge cough* I don't think they are short of a few quid or two... just saying. The situation regarding XP on elited ships is pretty obvious as others have already stated. However, given that many people will not convert that XP it is a shame that they don't give an alternate use for it, such as flags or consumables. Nice idea OP.

Thanks - happy to be corrected!

I'm grinding the Kongo at the moment and often get targetted by enemy TBs. This is how I avoid them and I think I am reasonably successful: Watch the map. The key to a successful evasion starts with spotting the attack early and that means, good mini-map awareness. It is imperative to be aware of a potential air attack before it starts to develop. When you see enemy TBs on the map, immediately start planning the best way to avoid them, considering the position of any nearby islands and enemy forces. You need to make sure that you are in a position where evading a TB attack will not expose you to becoming grounded or letting yourself get citadelled. Ask for help. I know you said not to mention team work, but if you don't ask you don't get. So ask. The worst that will happen is nothing, the best is you'll get some assistance and maybe completely stop the attack. Turn towards the attack, if possible - this makes it easier to avoid the largest number of torpedoes (if not all of them) whilst reducing the time the CV players has to make his attack and also stops you getting "locked" into a heading with torpedoes on each side of you. If you cannot turn towards, at least try and turn away. Change your speed. I've read (and I hope it is correct) that most ships turn fastest when at 50% speed. So, go full ahead or full astern as required to keep your speed as close to "half" as possible. Bear in mind that as you turn you bleed speed, so just going to half speed is not enough - you will need to go above that just to maintain 50% speed. Changing speed also throws off the enemies aim. Focus your AA onto the enemy TBs Don't get isolated. Stay near friendlies who may be able to help, even if that's only through offering the CV player 2 choices of target! That's about it. The only thing I would say is that the best CV players will drop 2 spreads at the same time, one from ahead and the other from one side, in an "L" shape, with you in the middle. If they time it correctly it's virtually impossible to avoid taking at least 1 hit and the only thing you can do it those circumstances is open chat and type "nice drop". Good luck.

Since my plan is to get every Japanese ship in my port (at least the ones that I can get - the higher tier ARPs are beyond my reach at the moment), every time I unlock a new ship I move my "main" commander for that line up into the new ship and stick a new captain (purchased with 25 doubloons so he can at least get situational awareness) in the old one. Once I've elited all of the tier 5 ships I'll play whichever lower tier ships I find fun, until I feel ready to tackle tier 6. Heck, I might even try the Kawachi again...

Ok, so to summarise: Stay angled, never go broadside, better to only use the front 2 turrets than turn excessively in order to unmask the rear 2 turrets Don't bother trying to split targets (at least, not at my level) Plan long term - get the turrets pointing where they will need to be aiming in 5 minutes time, not now Don't target focus at the expense of losing situational awarness Prioritise appropriate targets Use AP against BBs & CAs, HE against DDs and CVs (at least until they start burning) but don't switch ammo if the wrong type is already loaded - fire the loaded ammo type then switch to the correct type Adjust your speed, don't be afraid to go slowly, or even reverse, if needed Make frequent small turns to throw off the enemy aim Aim to keep the enemy within the 12-16km range bracket but don't be afraid to close on isolated targets or if the enemy is outnumbered If you need to run away, do it between enemy salvoes (to try and avoid getting citadelled) Turn into torpedo attacks (if possible) or away if not possible - also adjust speed as necessary Focus AA on enemy torpedo bombers I shall attempt to put these into practice and let you know how I get on. Thanks again for everyone's help, it's much appreciated.

Team achievements: Nice ideas but getting a computer (the game) to work out what is and what isn't team play is virtually impossible. Did a friendly BB tank some damage to protect an ally? Or did he just blindly herp-a-derp sail into the line of fire? Etc.. Simulation: I would like this mode too but it won't work and it won't happen. It would require the game to be completely re-done and, frankly, would probably fail just like every alternate game mode that WG have ever come up with has failed. If you want a naval simulator download Action Stations and a dosbox emulator and enjoy. Noooo!!! They will make up play the other game... you know, the flying one... *shudders*

I remember this because I was interested in applying. No number was specified, it was just some general statement that being active on the forums was a requirement. And yes, that led to a load of spam threads\posts that made the Dingers recruitment thread over on the WoT forums look like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking discussing physics. Only without the fish. Since there was precious little else going on here at the time I bailed.

Turret control - yes, something I am aware of and need to work on. I watched flamu's ARP Kongo review and noticed how he plans his course for what he will be doing in the next 5 minutes or so, rather than just on the current target - something I do all the time. I try and lock my turrets using the "lock to sector" and "lock to bearing" keys. The problem is that, for example, I don't know how to keep the rear turrets locked onto a direction whilst I am using the front turrets. Effectively, I guess what I am saying is that I want to split my fire but cannot because the turrets end up all over the place. However, that's probably not what I should be doing and is simply because I end up in a mess, out of position and with ships all around me. I also don't currently have the module to improve turret rotation speed, since the benefit looked so small, but clearly everything helps, so I'll fit that. Game 1 - yes, I focused on the DD behind me. I was concerned that the team wouldn't be able to deal with him and wanted to protect the cap. It's probably also a hang up from 25k of battles in WoT where I tend to go back to defend - because even slower tanks can cover the map quicker than BBs in WoWS can sail around. I need to start thinking longer term and bigger picture. Game 3 - I was miles in front of the other 2 BBs and had no DDs or CAs in front of me and lots of enemy ships coming that way. My experience of having no DDs and CSs screening me, and lots of enemy CAs HE spamming me is that I just die quickly, so I basically thought "fudge this" and decided to sail to the other flank. Then I changed my mind when it was clear that multiple enemy ships were going to cap us and decided I had to try and defend. Truth be told, I got target focused on the cruiser and, knowing the battle was already lost, decided that I just wanted to kill him. Yup, early days and I shall keep persevering Thanks for your comments. The angling thing is something that I'm starting to practice and I got some good results trying it last night but here's the question I have - Assume I am sailing towards an enemy who is coming towards me and the range drops to below 12km. Do I at this point turn away to maintain the distance, even going so far as to sail away from him if needed? Or do I just bore on in and try and get my secondaries to hit him too? Lol, indeed, I would recommend my replays ONLY as "what not to do" lessons - but better to realise I am bad and ask for help than get to tier 10 and cripple every team I get ;-) I don't actually try to keep enemies out of range, but like I say, anytime enemy CAs or DDs get close to me I get HE spammed and burn, so I try and keep them at long range. The speed comment is really useful - I always go full speed at the start of a battle and then completely forget about it. Is it just a case of randomly switching speeds or is there some trick to it? ============================================================ Thanks to everyone who has commented so far, much appreciated!

Ah yes, totally OP tier 10 Russian hovermed in WoT. Meanwhile, In WoWS... Battle starts! 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 T22 drowned Actually, knowing WG, the bloody thing probably CAN hover on water...

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate that this is moving away from the initial question I asked, and to be honest, I now only need to unlock the Hosho before I am finished with the Myogi (so that's only a few victories), but what is the best way to play the Myogi, in your opinion please? Because of the turret placement, I tend to find that I get "locked" into a general heading, or at best can only maneuver away from the target, otherwise I foul my rear turrets and end up with them out of action for a long time as they slooooowly swing around. This turning away simply exposes my broadside to the enemy (which I understand is a big no-no), so that only really leaves turning away from enemies completely and fighting with the 2 rear facing turrets. I appreciate that the Myogi has the range to do this (i.e. fight whilst sailing away from the target and increasing the range) but a lot of team mates don't like it when they think you are running away from a fight - and it certainly feels a bit crappy to me. On the other hand, the slow turret rotation and rate of fire means that I am terrified of letting anything get in close to me - since in more than a few games I've either been HE spammed to death by a cruiser or had a destroyer jink towards me, dodging or even just absorbing and ignoring a main battery hit, only to torpedo mean from 4km, i.e just outside the pitiful range of my secondary, which at 3.5km is surely too short? So yeah, it might be better than the Kawachi, but I'm not enjoying playing it one bit. All I can think of is that this thing is the WoWS equivalent of WoT's DBW2 - a heavy tank at tier 4 which sucks completely and gets beaten up by pretty much everyone. Advice appreciated!

Not that I really care either way, but does it really need it? I started playing WoWS about 1 week ago, have played about 80 battles and already reached rank 11 and tier 5. It's hardly difficult or time consuming to progress... Edit.... unless you want them to buy premium USS Atago's and play TBs?