Procrastes

From what I've read, Wargaming are planning on tweaking the matchmaking so that battles with two CV:s per team will be less frequent, and there will be no battles with three or more CV:s per team. This is a fairly big step in the right direction, although I'm holding my horses until I see just how infrequent battles with two CV:s per team will be. I'd prefer a hard cap of max one CV per team, period. In order to create a more dynamic gameplay, with opportunities to outmanoeuvre the opponent and just generally sneak around, Wargaming have created battle maps that contain a lot more islands than would typically be around in major fleet engagements in real life. I think we can all agree that this is a good thing. But with this many islands around, radar would lose out on a big part of its utility if it wasn't able to "look through" islands. So I can understand why Wargaming have chosen this way of designing the in-game radar mechanic. That said, and being a destroyer main myself, I think we have quite enough radar ships in the game as it is. I'm not at all happy about the new, incoming Russian cruisers that will all of them be equipped with stealth radar technology. With too many radar ships around, tactical gameplay has a tendency to suffer, with destroyers who try to play for objectives being chased down like quail in hunting season and capital ships who receive no spotting information camping the borders like they were trying to get into the next map. Now imagine if Wargaming would try out giving these new Russian cruisers radars that can't see through islands, wouldn't that be an intriguing idea...?

I must admit, watching the aircraft carriers get taken out first for a change - and with a combination of plane spotting and team artillery support to boot - was deeply and disturbingly satisfying. Unfortunately, it works both ways. The team whose carrier/battleship division can pull this off, will then have a free reign for the rest of the game. Although I guess the surviving carrier could always sink himself, and then we come again to paradise and a care(rier)-free world... Edited: And to the receiving CV:s, I have but this to say: WORKING AS INTENDED - JUST DODGE!!!

I agree with those who think that 2 million free xp is a bit on the steep side for the Småland, or indeed any ship. But considering that the cost of regular silver ships tend to roughly double for each tier, I'm not at all surprised that Wargaming decided to set this price. Whether I will eventually decide to go for it, is still uncertain. I've not had very much luck with the Swedish destroyers so far, and I think that Wargaming seems to have overestimated the survivability bonus of a heal consumable in relation to that of a regular smoke screen.

World of Warships is a game where practise really makes a difference. Just keep playing, don't rush up the tiers, and don't bother overmuch with your statistics. You'll find that both your games and your statistics will improve over time.

I saw what you did, there.

Here's a tip to Wargaming for a useful buff to the Visby: Improve her turret rotation speed enough that she won't out-turn her turrets. Not having smoke means you need to constantly duck and weave to avoid incoming fire, and constantly ducking and weaving means you can almost never get off an aimed shot because your turrets can't track the target. Having a slower-than-the-norm rate of fire is enough of a drag, but not being able to shoot when you've finally reloaded is just adding insult to injury.

I've had my arse handed to me every single game in the Visby, so far. But this is more due to my complete lack of anything resembling actual skill the whims of the fickle Gods of War than anything else, so I won't blame it on the ship. The guns could probably do with a buff, though - Captain @ollonborre sums up their lack of charm pretty neatly in post #127 above. From what I've heard, they had a much shorter reload - 6 seconds, or what? - in their pre-release form, and I think the Visby could get that number right back without any risk of her upsetting the game balance. The gun traverse is also a damn pain and I've put the "faster traverse mod" in place to lessen the anguish somewhat. It helps, but only so much - I will be going for the Expert Marksman skill as soon as Captain Jan Larsson gets the points for it. I suspect that the Swedish destroyers will be what can be called an acquired taste. I might master them in the end, and I will be a better player for it - but it will cost sweat, tears and coffee. Lots of coffee!!!

I've been playing this game for five years, and I've only just now realized that there is an alternative national flag option for the Commonwealth, Pan-Asian, Pan-American and Pan-European ships... boy, do I suck. Thanks for letting me know!

OMG! How and where did you get hold of a Swedish battle ensign?

In view of certain collaborative efforts in the World of Tanks, this is indeed a not altogether impossible future scenario. He'd have to either clean up his act a bit, though, or else apply for a position in the Post-Apocalypse Halloween Navy...

Apparently he's the final reward for completing a new, temporary campaign. So we should expect to have to put in a hefty amount of gaming hours. I would also guess that we can expect him to appear for 175 000 coal some time after the campaign has ended. I must admit, I'm a bit relieved to not having Captain Jerzy Swirski already available for doubloons or something. I just spent 175 000 free xp to promote Jan Larsson, formerly a Löjtnant, to a full Kommendörkapten av första graden. Having a special 10-pointer appear immediately thereafter, would have been annoying.

The Improved Adrenaline Rush-skill, on the other hand, will be very useful. Apart from Priority Target it is, perhaps, the most widely useful skill in the entire skill tree. I honestly didn't expect it to arrive in an improved format at all, given how extremely potent it can be.

...what new Pan-European captain?

There is a permanent Visby camouflage up for grabs?! How do I get it?

The very first thing I did after getting the Visby was to promote her Captain, Jan Larsson, to Kommendörkapten av första graden. There's no way I'm sailing out in any destroyer with anything less than a 10-point captain at the helm. I'm a bit miffed that they haven't yet done any Swedish voice-overs, though. I know for a fact that there are a fair number of Swedes actively playing the game, so it shouldn't pose too much of a problem to find some voice-actor volunteers!

At the risk of skirting the edge of the subject: Is IFHE still mandatory on the Daring? And how should I best use her improved AP? (I've been thinking of getting the Daring as my first tier X destroyer for a while now. If this IFHE rework has made her even better than before, this might be a good time!)

Funny thing is, Flamu listed the absence of a Defensive AA consumable on the Småland as her main drawback, or at least as the deciding reason why he didn't list her as a recommended buy at the given price. He seems to be one of a very few players who still believe that it's actually worthwhile speccing into Defensive AA, even if the option is there to begin with....?

This is... ...another nice and positive post from you, Captain @Verblonde! Always a pleasure to read! I can confirm that the torpedoes of the tier VII, the Skåne, are easy to use. With a speed of 80 knots (with the requisite module) and a range of 12 km, they can make life entertainingly miserable for most incoming enemies, and in a pinch they are quick enough to chase down ships that are moving away from you as well. Sad to say, they don't do all that much real damage, so some flooding flags are recommended. Unless you have back-up, you can't count on sinking very much in the way of tonnage, but the impact on enemy morale is useful enough. Scout, spot, torp and heal - and pray that you don't call down the wrath of a real gunboat destroyer, such as the Haida or the Akizuki. You are not a heavy weight, so don't try to punch like one - just bait them, and run!

No, for some reason Wargaming decided to go the other way there and released one or two ships with over-strong armour schemes and over-accurate main guns. Fortunately these over-strong armour schemes and over-accurate main guns could later be balanced by reducing the hit points of their AA mounts; otherwise there might have been a case made for the existence of Russian bias in the game. Leaving that old horse aside, I am actually a bit underwhelmed with the new Swedish destroyers. I've only played a few games in the HMS Visby and the HMS Skåne, but my impression so far is that Wargaming has overestimated the impact of their heal consumable. Considering that their guns and torpedoes aren't really strong enough to let them match other same-tier gunboat destroyers in a knife fight, the only effect of the heal in most such sitiuations is that it will take them a bit longer to die. All in all, the heal typically adds far less of a survivability bonus than a smoke screen. So I am on the same side with those who also can't see the pressing need for the recent, pre-release nerf of the Swedish destroyers. I suppose when can hope for a buff later on, if and when there is a case to be made for that when the battle statistics have started to even out. A bit more speed might do it. If that could be added, without taking over the entire special flavour of the French DD line, it could provide that little bit of extra versatility which would make all the difference. I do so want to like the new Swedish destroyers, and I really hope that they can cut out a good place for themselves in the World of Warships!

The esteemed @LittleWhiteMouse has provided her usual well-researched data and astute observations, delivered with her customary aplomb. After due consideration, I have concluded that my overall builds - namely to have IFHE on all HE-equipped light cruisers, and avoid it on all other ships - will do for the future as well. As for Little White Mouse, I really cannot laud her efforts on behalf of this community enough. She is truly a scholar in her field.

You make a good point. I consider the radar-equipped Pan-Asian destroyers to be a somewhat special case in this regard, since they - like the newcomer Småland - trade a smoke screen for a radar. They have to expose themselves pretty far out to be able to use their radar effectively in the first place, and they must still reckon with the risk of losing an eventual gun fight with any DD they detect. But yes, they do have stealth radar, and no, I don't think anyone would call them OP. And no, I don't think anyone would regard the Edinburgh, Minotaur, Baltimore and Chapayev as being OP, either. I can't say for certain how big their stealth radar windows (if any) are, but in the case of the Edinburgh and the Minotaur this is probably mostly academic anyway since I figure most players will choose a smoke screen rather than a radar when going into battle in these ships. The Chapayev does have a stealth radar window (although not a very large one), and doesn't the Indianapolis have one too? That the Baltimore might have one as well was news to me. So yes, I am fully aware that there are already a number of stealth radar ships in the game. This is not a valid reason to add more of the same. On the contrary, I applauded the initiative from Wargaming's side a while ago when they reworked a number of US cruisers with the aim of removing said ships' ability to stealth radar. The more ships there are with the ability to stealth radar, the more static the gameplay risks becoming. Destroyers especially will be discouraged from actively scouting or going for caps, since enemy stealth radar will quickly punish any such efforts. A whole new line of Russian stealth radar ships, with Russian rail guns to boot, is not what this game currently needs, in my opinion. As a matter of fact, I don't think the game needs more radar ships of any kind at the moment. Radar shouldn't be too common, or we risk having a game environment where more and more destroyer captains will just quit their frontline duties in disgust and opt for a 20 km torp-spamming Shima life style across the board. I don't think anyone would wish for that to happen.

Well, they did recently publish some projected nerfs of the new Russian cruisers, saying that they are thinking about halving the duration of the stealth radars from 20 to 10 seconds. That is certainly not a buff. On the other hand we shouldn't have any damn stealth radars in the game to begin with, so I'm not gonna throw a party just because they may decide to release something that is slightly less bad for the game than they had originally planned. And as Flamu pointed out in his video the other day, they may be trying to sneak this one in under the fence, thinking that they can just tweak it around later with extended duration later and maybe some extra upgrade possibilities and whatnot. I sincerely try to avoid tinfoil hat thinking, since it's never constructive in any way. I rather try to maintain at least a cautious optimism. So it is a bit annoying when I find myself unable to dismiss these sorts of theories out of hand. Whether I should be annoyed with Wargaming or with myself, is perhaps an open question...?

I agree. Go for it, @Korvettenkapitan_Prien!

My guess is that Wargaming have decided to rather release the new destroyers in a somewhat weaker state, than to risk having them turn out too strong and then call down a proper rage-fest when hitting them with the nerfbat. Better to err on the side of caution, in other words?

Oh, well - a man can dream....! That still leaves the question of whether we can hope to get our hands on a special 10-point Swedish captain to give us a head start. The Premium Shop currently displays an announcement offer with the label "Head Start", and if you click on this, you're informed that "This category is empty". So kudos to Wargaming for raising and dashing my hopes on that one quite expertly. I wonder what comes next...?