Procrastes

Unlike PT, IFA does not provide any warning of someone switching between targeting you with guns and targeting you with torpedoes. Also, doesn't your opponent have to be pretty far away for IFA to give any meaningful warning? Having said this, full respect for your opinion! My reply is really due to me wanting to learn more about the skill system and how to put the available skills to best use!

Another game in the Smolensk and I seem to be getting better at driving her to something approaching her true potential. I started out by backing up our Shima in contesting the nearest cap, doing some hit and runs and lobbing volleys at the incoming enemy ships as they popped in and out of view. There was an enemy Thunderer in particular, who had pushed all the way to the far side of the map, almost inside the cap area, and he got a lot of attention. He won't live long, I thought. For some reason, our Graf Zeppelin started going full speed straight at the enemy lines, despite being asked to hold back. I didn't follow much of what happened to him after that, but seeing as he ended up at the bottom of the post-battle screen, I'd assume that he didn't fancy being in a tier X game and opted for a quick trip back to port. The back-up from the rest of our team was great, however, with cruisers and battleships teaming up and pushing in like there was no tomorrow, but the enemy were no slouchs either and made us fight for every inch. I started pummeling a broadside Atago, but then I had to dodge away as a Worcester came in from the flank and took a real shine to me (as well he should, since a Worcester is well equipped to deal with a Smolensk). We got the enemy on the run, and the Worcester went down to a concentrated barrage just in time to save my bacon - but the fire kept coming in, because that was when the Thunderer joined in again (still alive and kicking) and started lobbing shells my way despite me sitting in a hastily deployed smoke screen. He was commendably accurate as well, and he had loaded HE, so there were a few tense moments before he pulled away out of range. With the enemy line broken, we began encircling what was left of the opposing fleet. The Thunderer kept firing while retreating, but this time his number was definitely up because he was coming under continuous fire not only from me but from at least two other ships. Until he sank me with two well-placed salvoes, that is. I might have survived if I had smoked up instead of relying on my dodging skills, but then again I might not, because he had proved himself well able to hit me through a smoke screen and as he was still shooting HE it would have taken only a few hits to put me under. Great play by that Thunderer, and why couldn't he just die already? With 948 points to the enemy's 452 and almost twice the number of ships, our victory seemed well in hand. Until the enemy Gearing started collecting caps and their Shokaku sank our Hindenburg, and that Thunderer is somehow still alive somewhere and could someone just find him and kill him a lot, please? Luckily that was when our Yamato came to the rescue, and proved herself more than a match for the Shokaku to deal with in the limited time span that remained. Then the Yamato and the Shima joined up and finally kicked the Thunderer to death, bagging a win on points and leaving only the Gearing alive of the enemy team to tell the tale of how they almost turned the tide of battle at the last moment. A great battle and a real nail biter!

The 'Black Ship' series is frankly quite stunningly beautiful - such stark and simple elegance. I got the 'Black Mass' as my first ship of this series, and I recently bought the Black Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Alaska as well, even though I already had the 'ordinary' ships - and they are some of the best-looking ships in the game even to begin with. The 'Sunken Bismarck' camo is wonderful, beating every one of those Halloween camos and transforming her into a true ghost ship. She carries it well, I think - it gives her a sad, otherworldly dignity. And yes, I admit it - I do have the 'Soda Can' Roma camo. It was just too hilarious to resist. Although I never could figure out if the Soda Can itself is a hitbox, in the meaning that it can be hit and damaged by enemy fire. It's hard not to be tempted to shoot at it. I would also like to strike a blow for the Candy Cane Camo on the Cleveland, which must be one of the most punishing designs ever to appear in a computer game. I got it when the world was young and the Cleveland was still residing at tier 6, and it followed her up to tier 8. It is so ugly, it actually hurts your brain if you look at it. Which is presumably why it works as a camouflage pattern to begin with, even though it doesn't blend in with anything that belongs in a sane world - the enemy gun crews are unwilling or unable to look right at it.

That would be my guess as well, concerning the perma camo for doubloons-theory. And on that note, I was pleasantly surprised the other day to see those two permanent camos for the Graf Spee and the Warspite available for doubloons in the port camo panel. I missed them when they were on sale for money a year or so ago, and that has bugged me a bit ever since. They are truly gorgeous; the one for Graf Spee especially. I hope the artists and designers on Wargaming have got their full accolades for that; they deserve it! If they go on to release a special UK captain that can be acquired for those British Navy tokens I have been so frivolously spending on bundles, however, I might become a bit miffed. I'd rather have a special captain, than ships I could grind out for xp at a later date anyway But I assume that it will be a new reward, for a new brand of token, just as they have been doing it in the past?

This is how I see it as well. Going through a random bundle drop and expecting to hit paydirt, is just setting oneself up for disappointment.

I agree, that white-and-gold camouflage is very fetching. Although I think the German premiums do that combo even better; just look at such beauties as the Scharnhorst or the König Albert! Which reminds me of a question I have: Do we get access to the white-and-gold camo even on those ships we grind the usual way, after the event? Or does that camo only come with the ships we get in the event bundles?

For some reason, a lot of players seem to dismiss the Royal Navy cruisers as a credible threat. They do so at their peril.

This. Focus on broadside cruisers, and use your heal to fully repair the fire damage that will inevitably result as bot cruisers shoot HE at you while completely disregarding your battleship buddy that lies between you and them. Torpedo any bot battleship that comes close enough to not be able to dodge despite the AI special power of knowing exactly when and where you drop your torpedoes. Deploy smoke as required to stay alive where lesser cruisers would go to the bottom, and reap your just rewards in the post-battle screen. This, however, is not something I recognize right away. Maybe as a subsection of the general rule that "if you're in a light cruiser and are spotted, everyone will fire on you", but I've never felt that the Leander is considered to be especially sink-worthy in this regard.* I have trained my Leander captain in Priority Target, Adrenaline Rush, Superintendent, Concealment Expert and Expert Marksman. The lack of HE shells means that you don't have to get either the IFHE or the Demolition Expert skill, which in turn will free up points for use on such unorthodox skills as Smoke Screen Expert and Jack of All Trades. Another good thing about the Leander is that she leads directly to the Fiji, which is arguably the best tier VII silver line cruiser at the moment. There are those, me among them, who would say that the Fiji is in many ways an even stronger ship than the Belfast. * Unlike such fire-magnets as her bigger sister Belfast, for example. If a Belfast is spotted, everyone and their uncles will drop whatever else they may be doing at the time, and start lobbing shells at her fat a$$. Even to the point of not shooting at the enemy carrier.

Gee, you are absolutely right. Didn't think of the tier requirement there - thanks!

I hadn't even realized there is port music in this game. Golly gee. I shall have to amend that oversight forthwith!

Congratulations! And my guess is that this new Torpedo Protection System will be mostly used on battleships, and not even on all of those. Concealment is just too big a part of this game to be discarded for a bit of extra torpedo protection, useful though it would be. The subtle art of changing course and speed will likely remain the best anti-torpedo strategy even in the future. That said, this new Torpedo Protection System will be a massive kick in the nuts for the Pan-Asians, if it gets implemented across the board. Too bad for the Gadjah Mada and the Shenyang, who have been regulars for patrol duty!

I am not paying doubloons for bundles or loot boxes. I am exchanging British Navy tokens for bundles as they roll in, but with absolutely zero emotional investment beyond the satisfaction of completing directives (it does give a pleasant illusion of accomplishment). So far, this event has provided me with a bunch of flags, some coal and the Devonshire.

In my less than expert hands, the Smolensk in and by herself doesn't win games - but she almost always brings in the xp. No matter how much I misposition or otherwise mess up, I usually deal enough damage to come off well on the post-battle result screen. If I actually manage to play to her strengths - and I am still feeling my way around in the higher-tier gameplay - the results can be quite impressive. She's an over-strong ship and no mistake. On the whole, I have to agree with Flamu when he poses the question as to what purpose Wargaming have in mind for such ships as the Smolensk, the Colbert and the upcoming Marceau. I have yet to hear anyone say that they actually like the idea of HE-spammers dominating the game, and even though I have fun in the Smolensk, I fully understand why people wouldn't enjoy playing against her. Such ships as for example the Alaska or the Georgia are much more colloquial in this regard, in that they are strong if played well but can be quite easily countered and dealt with by a skilled opposition. A cautiously played Smolensk, on the other hand, can get out of most situations and can thus usually count on being around until the very end of the battle; even one that is obviously lost halfway through.* Are Wargaming perhaps paving the way for a wider acceptance in the gaming community of the possible upcoming changes to the IFHE captain skill, which - if I've understood them correctly - may have the effect of radically lessening the effectiveness of HE-spam? @Floofz makes some excellent points concerning the Smolensk in post #146 above. As stated there, if you face a Smolensk, start by picking the right ammunition. The "overpen armour" of the Smolensk, that is especially vexing to any battleship she faces, can be readily circumvented by just loading HE. Of course, you still have to hit her to do damage, which is no easy task at 19 km range, but it is a good start. Given her low hit point total and wafer-thin armour, even one HE shell hitting home will leave enough of a dent to make a difference. When I play in my own Smolensk, I try to mitigate the aggravation factor by playing aggressively, by kiting and pouncing rather than sitting still in smoke, and by exposing myself to fire (most of which I can rather easily dodge or at least heal back damage from). This makes for a more engaging game experience on my part, and - hopefully - a little less bad will generated on the part of the other players (allies and enemies). * Much like an aircraft carrier, in fact.

I have only rarely encountered deliberate border surfers, but on those occasions I have experienced increased difficulty in landing hits. As far as I could tell, border surfing does seem to meddle with the aim assist. In most situations the obvious and most efficacious response is to just let the border surfer remove himself from the game - but there have been one or two cases where border surfers have crossed over into the next map exploit country. One or two cases over a time span of five years is no big deal. As possible exploits go, I've lost no sleep over this one.

Good and nuanced thoughts! I find it especially interesting that you believe that cruiser players should worry more than destroyer players. Why is that?

On a principal level, it is good for the game to have a greater variety among the various upgrades. And let's face it - the concealment upgrade has no serious contender in its slot in the current meta. Introducing a balanced alternative is in itself a good thing. The question is if this new Torpedo Protection System is a well balanced alternative. I suspect that it will be used mainly on battleships. Cruisers and above all destroyers are generally all too dependant on their concealment values to take anything other than the Concealment Module in the requisite slot. For a battleship that will in most cases be the first to be detected anyway, I can see how a guaranteed torpedo detection radius of 1,8 km would be very appealing. It might even induce some of the more audacious battleship captains to push their luck and tank in the first line, which would be a welcome thing. For those destroyers most affected by this new Torpedo Protection System, things would be less than ideal. They would suffer a quite substantial blow to their effectiveness as a fighting unit. The Pan-Asians would be pretty much knocked into orbit, and the USS Black would be even worse off since her torpedoes are so slow that they work more like float mines than torpedoes. You can't really ambush effectively with them, you can only do area denial. But they work very well at that, since by the time they are spotted, it is already too late for the target to evade. They work differently than all others, but they work well. They will be almost useless against any ship with this new Torpedo Protection System installed. The Pan-Asian deepwater torpedoess will be almost as badly hit, and that would affect not just a single ship but the whole line. In conclusion, I can't help but to feel that the introduction of a Torpedo Protection System in its current form, would have too much of a negative impact for a big part of the destroyer community. It would affect the overall balance between the ship classes in ways that should be thoroughly evaluated, tested out and compensated for, before such a change is even considered for implementation into the game

I play coop now and then, mainly if I need to knock off a snowflake or complete some mission where the coop mode is clearly the best environment (such as getting 200 secondaries hits, for example). And I play almost all my CV games either in coop or scenarios, since I don't regard myself as a skilled enough CV player to reliably pull my weight in a CV in random battles. Otherwise, I tend to find the bot behaviour a bit too boring and predictable to spend very much time in the coop garden.

I wouldn't dream of belittling the Swiss Navy! They even have their own aircraft carrier, which is something Sweden cannot boast of.

This is what I did, and this is pretty much what happened, yeah. Good advice - thanks, mate!

You shouldn't underestimate the ship's cook. Remember Steven Segal in the movie 'Under Siege'? Ok, now that I think of it, there's every reason not to remember Steven Segal in the movie 'Under Siege'. I am sorry I brought him up. Gimme the Swedish Muppet Cook every time!

Ok, thanks! But the last slot, isn't that where you can choose between better dispersion or 20 % faster reload on the secondaries...? That's the one I'm sort of in in a quandary about!

As you say, interesting. I have taken the secondaries module on my Georgia, mainly because the Little White Mouse endorsed going full secondaries for the fun value, but I'm thinking of making the switch to the better dispersion. I sort of suck at high-tier gunnery, mind you, so that is a decision that might well come back and bite me.

You probably won't hit a moving Smolensk at max range with anything short of the Devil's own luck, no. The Smolensk is clearly overpowered, and the only thing that makes her any less so when I drive her, is that I don't really have the personal skill to make the most of her daunting potential.

Or maybe just load HE and avoid the overpen issue altogether? Battleships do have access to HE, which should do massive amounts of damage to any Smolensk it hits. It might even do citadel damage, considering the eggshell armour of that thing. The issue is hitting the Smolensk to begin with, of course - no easy task at ranges of 18 km or more. But that is the "Gitgud" part, right?

Very much this, in my opinion. Although there is no need to remain solely on the flanks. I am not a skilled enough player to make the most out of the Smolensk, and yet I usually have good games in her. She is that strong. But those damage numbers are deceptive. Lobbing shells at distant targets from the cover of smoke or at maximum range will get you a high damage total, but it will not win games, since most of the damage you do at that range is fire damage that can be fully healed back. It is certainly useful damage, because it forces the enemy to make an early expenditure of resources (i.e. heal consumables), and it also messes with their cool. It is unnerving to be subjected to a never-ending barrage of fire, and the morale effect can be considerable, even to the point of breaking up an enemy advance. But that in itself is not enough to win the battle. A well-played Smolensk should not stay at range indefinitely. Doing so will probably accomplish little other than ensuring that she is the last ship of her team to be hunted down and sunk. Rather, she should be vigilant in the look-out for any pesky destroyers that get within range, and pounce on them at once if the gets the opportunity. She should also be aware of her ability to quickly counter a suddenly advancing enemy cruiser. This kind of border patrol duty typically requires the Smolensk to get within medium range or closer, which obviously has its risks - but she is well equipped to deal with those risks. If spotted and focused down - and she will be focused down! - she is nimble enough to have a good chance of dodging and getting away, and her smoke can be very helpful here. Then she can retreat, heal up and get back into the action. In short, I play the Smolensk as a skirmisher and an opportunist. She is a Soldier of Fortune, playing a game of high risk and high reward, much like a gunboat destroyer captain. She, too, lives by the gunboat destroyer creed: Live fast, die young, and leave behind a scorched, water-sodden corpse! In the immortal words of Captain John Paul Jones: When going out in this lovely, overpowered ship, I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.