Lexmechanic

Again, I'm cool with this mission being difficult. I don't mind when the spawns come from inconvenient directions etc. What I don't want to deal with is AI shooting over our heads at the forts which now have too small a margin for error.

Thanks, this I do know about. But my potato photoshop skills don't allow me to put this in a printable format in a PDF. And I still have trouble remembering it for all ships.

I've been wondering: did anyone make a chart with useful info like location of citadels/thinner armor on ships? I'm trying to learn but there's quite a bit to remember. It would be a great subject of a visual chart/infographic.

Please review Operation Ultimate Frontier and roll back the change to the number of forts required to survive for 5 stars.

I play a lot of Operations these days and I really think the increase in the number of forts which must survive is Bull***. Why? Because I keep seeing how AI enemies ignore warships which are closer and instead single-mindedly pound the forts with long range, accurate fire. This is extreme RNG plus rigging the op for the player to often fail. There's mostly luck involved in that condition and I hate it.

Yeah, no. I tried it briefly at a friends' and it feels like a broken down Cleveland. I'm freeXP'ing past this crap.

Oh, sounds like more ops are getting ruined. And just like with UF, I don't mind overall difficulty that much but when weak enemy ships (DDs, CLs) are laser-sniping the forts or targets from afar while ignoring incoming fire and player ships which are closer, then this is just a deck of marked cards. Dislike.

I like operations and I don't mind when they're hard to 5-star but this feels way too difficult to even complete with randos compared to all the other ops. I'll take Naval Station over the UF any day. One of the problems can be seen in a couple of posts in the thread: the bots' targeting priorities are basically geared towards them being assholes, hell-bent on runining the operation, not making rational target selection based on distance and threat. Ignoring incoming fire from warships close by, just to get one more shot on a fort, is not cool. UF used to be difficult, now it's a huge gamble whether it can even be won with randoms. If you want to make MMO-style "raids" which can only be completed with supreme coordination on voice comms and people making no mistakes at all, just enable hard mode and let the unicums have fun in their own sauce.

Huh. The Moskva really clicked for me from the beginning but thus far I can actually only play her in as that active, roaming ship. Between good speed, workable agility and the long range of her guns, I can reliably troll enemies of all sizes. When I try to park her further back, by a comfortable island or rock, it becomes so easy to focus that spot for the whole enemy team, any such location becomes untenable very quickly. That being said, I noticed that other players tend to favor the latter style but seemingly with much more success.

I love the way the Moskva looks: powerful, ugly, too big.. exactly how the Soviet Union liked to compensate for its lack of sophistication. After playing a couple of games in it, I think I will like it long term. For now however, I seem to have my usual problem of finding the exact right range to be at. Overall I find it tactically beneficial to be further behind but DDs cry every time I don't rush right behind them to radar and clear their cap. Other than unexpected buttsecks from a sniping BB, my real nemesis is the DM. The way it can sling heavy AP at me while completely hidden behind cover is an issue. Still, very early days for me.

You were right again, the Donskoi does work as a roaming cruiser and it's fun again. It doesn't get focused nearly as often as its guns would warrant and the maneuverability further discourages people from trying to nail it long range. Now I'm really looking forward towards the (mobile) Moskva.

That sounds like a repeat of the recipe for a fun Chapa. Well, I'm going to try it but then it'll really spoil me for the Moskva which, if youtube is to be believed, is usually a total camper :D.

I have now moved to the Dmitri Donskoi and I could use a fresh perspective on it. Its guns are great, firing angles are good for running and kiting but.. it's such a massive, sluggish ship (even with upgrades). Thank gods for the AA because dodging metal fishes is no fun in the DM. While fighting bow-on, the it needs to give a bit of broadside to get more guns to bear but it's like a BB trying to play Des Moines.

I tried different approaches and then just gave up, freeXP'd to the Minotaur and never looked back. Neptune was my least favorite ship in the RN CL line.

I can tell you that I'm enjoying the ship a lot more with the rudder shift mod. Sure, I miss the extra concealment when I'm playing solo but in any sort of semi-organized game where dodging is really important but someone is doing the scouting, it's finally a fun ship to play!

Huh.. you know, that may be interesting. I'll try that!

I'm just going through the Chapayev now, she's a weird ship. The arcs make it clear she needs to see the target and not hide but the armor can't stand up to any sort of punishment. Open water dodging, you say? We might try that but the rudder is glued to the ship or so it appears.. When she clicks, she clicks. The guns are fun to use, it's surviving to use them that's a challenge.

Yeah, I looked at its specs, convinced that I'm missing something. Then I read all the reviews. I don't understand what this ship is supposed to do. It's pretty, yeah, but not very good at anything. Looks like a flavor ship to make the Italian line look larger.

Sooo.. what's the Discord address? :)

I'm not that experienced in PVP (playing Random) but I managed to get up to Fiji without problems and I quite enjoyed that ship. I was hardly the terror of the seas but I often could contribute to games. As I upgraded into Edinburgh, it feels as if I hit a brick wall. Sure, the ship is powerful but so is the enemy. But that's not my issue. The problem is that people are suddenly very hostile to one another without taking into account what each ship can or can't do. So Molotovs are berated for not hunting DDs at caps and so on. For me it's usually one of the two: I'm not "forward enough" between the battleship van and enemies OR I'm "too far forward and die too quickly" and it seems like suddenly the difference between those extremes is minuscule. Is there anything you can suggest to get into the right mindset of how far forward/back I should gravitate? I'm using smoke, hydro and weapons as appropriate and reacting to the situation but it seems like everyone is complaining about everyone all of a sudden while high tier enemy ships make any mistakes fatal.

I'm far from proficient in the Minnie and she's by no means an instant win ship but she definitely has that flexibility of "I see an opportunity and I can take it" which made the Fiji so much fun. Torps, guns, maneuverability.. they all have something to offer. In the Neptune I felt like every deviation from the optimal positioning or tactic would immediately get me deleted while the Minotaur can adapt and is fun to play with. So yeah, screw the Neptune (other than for AA) but once you make it to tier 10, you'll feel alive again :).

It took me much longer than expected but I finally got my Minotaur. HOLY MACKEREL! Neptune was such a slog, a ship which always felt a little underpowered for any situation and role. In my first game in the Minotaur, I devastated the opposition, getting citadels left and right, racking up tons of damage and so on. This ship's handling, guns.. everything just felt natural. So in the end it was all worth it :)

Neptune is awesome at ambushing too but it's concealment while firing in smoke sucks big time. Still, so much more fun than I had in the Edinburgh.

Sounds like I do have something to look forward to! Good!

Dying in smoke has never been a problem for me, perhaps once or twice, from truly unexpected torps. In the end if found my footing in the Edinburgh and the comparison to a destroyer is not a bad one as usually people didn't expect the more aggressive play and it paid off. Still, I decided to move to the Neptune as soon as I had enough XP for the ship and necessary upgrades. So the Neptune is FUN, it handles well, its guns are a joy to aim and fire, there's just one 'but'. All of a sudden I get matched with many T9s and T10s and everyone is just so.. tough. The peashooters on my ship hit a lot, even citadel quite a bit but the damage is just low. If it's not a DD or a CL, I don't even need to bother, or so it seems for now. The utility is great: I provide AA cover, screen against torps, delete DDs where I can but that's pretty much it. I'm cool with that role but I'm a bit underwhelmed that the Minotaur's damage will likely be comparably limited.