TheCinC

OMG. I come into this thread, expecting to people to be as excited as I am, and I am barely keeping from running around screaming, waving my hands in the air.. But no, we get new ships, but somehow already people are complaining. We get new stuff people! I play all classes, but mostly DD and BB, so I am excited. Some of these ships appear very interesting and all have actually played a role in WW2, no paper ships. What I don't understand is how this, again, comes out of nowhere, almost at the same moment as they are introducing the RN light cruiser line, while still testing improvements such as the armour viewer. As always, I would have like to have known earlier. Having said that, this is actually really nice! If they maintain a release schedule like this, with huge batches on new lines, new premiums, while also continuously including mods and improving the game in other ways, that would be really good. I hope they have the people to do that. To the people complaining that playing BBs will be pointless I say: work with your team! This is after all a team game! Support your cruisers, so they can support DDs, so they can hunt enemy DDs. DDs should never be able to get close to you, if they do manage to do that, either you are too far away from DD support, or your DDs died due to little support. Let's hope they continue to work to improve team play in this game, because it is essential.

Good grief, I noticed this topic being suggested underneath an other topic, and am happy that I did! First of all, as a (military) historian, I'd like to say: thank you! Thank you for making this available and helping to preserve a piece of history and taking the trouble to make it accessible to everyone! Even more so for making the original available as well, as historians prefer to have access to the original, so this makes it a very useful resource! I will read the transcription, but use the original to check certain things, to make sure I got things right. So my compliments on all this work, well done! I have to stop myself from reading it immediately, as I think I should make dinner first, but I glanced at it and think that the first word of the partially missing description should probably be compiled. Although I have to say I am not an expert on these things, (despite being most familiar with WW2, especially at sea, this is a vast topic after all) at first glance, it doesn't read like a war diary, but more like the kind of book that a midshipman was obliged to keep updated as part of his education. A war diary, as I understand it, would have been kept up to date every minute of every day, updated with every move the ship made. For comparison, the Germans had war diaries for for the Supreme Command of the Navy and for the Supreme Command of all Armed Forces (Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung and Kriegstagebuch der Obercommandos der Wehrmacht). I have one book of the first, and a complete set of an old edition of the latter, that I came across in a second hand book store, and those are very extensive, multi volume works, describing almost every movement of own and enemy forces for each day, hour by hour. So that is the kind of thing that I would expect. But maybe I am mistaken and in the RN a war diary is kept on top of the ship's log. In any case, it reads more like an excerpt, based on the full version. It is also much more informal than I would expect from such a document. I get the impression that it was made by the former crew, as a present to the new, Australian crew, in order to make them familiar with the history of their new ship. This would also fit with the word "compiled" being used, meaning that they based it on other documents. Perhaps they were waiting for the official transfer, had no other duties, decided to spend their time doing this, feeling proud of their former ship and wanting its history to be taken to heart by the new crew, then made a carbon copy for themselves, or for a ship mate. You also refer to four battle stars, but if I am not mistaken, that is a term they use in the US Navy, not in the Royal Navy, where they call them Battle Honours, which they are also called on the website. They are mentioned in the Wikipedia article as well, including one for Japan 1945.. Irony of ironies, that article also mentions she was broken up in Japan.. Well, she did not get that battle honour for nothing: she was present at the surrender of Japan, as you can see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Allied_ships_at_the_Japanese_surrender#Destroyers Interestingly, this is not mentioned in this War diary.. That is not to say anything bad about this document, quite the contrary! This document appears to be written by 'ordinary' crewmembers, the leading signalman noted as the author is listed as a rating, which, again, if I am not mistaken, is the equivalent of a non-commissioned officer as they are called in the US, instead of officers or midshipmen, who are officers in training. It gives a sense of how they felt during the war, which is sadly pretty rare. People often feel that history is mostly the story of great men, while others complain that it overlooks ordinary people. Well, that used to be the case, many decades ago, but modern historians are very interested in documents like this. While it mentions some familiar ships, like HMS King George V and USS Missouri, and a V.A. Vian, which refers to then Vice-Admiral Vian, then commander of the British Pacific Fleet, but earlier of Altmark fame and present at the sinking of Bismarck, it gives an idea of how the average crew member felt during the war! This is probably a unique, one of a kind, kind of document. The original may still be extant somewhere, but even if it made it into an archive, they may not know they have it! People who are not familiar with archives may think you can just walk into an archive and ask for such and such a document, and that the people there will just get it for you, but that is not how it works at all! Often archives just have boxes of papers, that belonged to so and so and which relate to this or that subject (if they even know that much) and it is up to the historian to work through those boxes until he or she finds what they are looking for, if that thing is even available! You might want to inquire if there is an archive or museum that wants the original, even if it is 'only' a carbon copy. As I said, it may be unique, unless they made a copy for each crew member or something as a parting gift. But often documents are only archived if there is an official requirement to do so, or if someone bequeaths his or her collection to an archive. A document like this brings HMS Quality to life for me, it is one reason I like studying history and why I love ships! The crews of those ships were real people, from the ordinary sailor to the captain and the admirals! They lived and worked and slept on board of those ships for years, sometimes for the duration of the war, sometimes they died on board, or went under with their ship.. That alone is enough reason to try and remember each and everyone of those ships, which were an important part of the lives of all those aboard.. So again, thank you, and I will enjoy reading this!

Good question. Sadly no mention if the bug where top tier German BB secondaries kept shooting unspotted ships has been fixed. Without that, not much point for me to play the PTS, as I only have DDs unlocked there and have limited time anyway.

Best: (using stats from wows-numbers.com, for ships with which I've played over 200 battles and for ships I've played over 20 battles with, judging by winrate) 1) St. Louis / Texas 2) Umikaze / ARP Kongo 3) Wakatake / Arkansas Beta Objectively, these are my best ships. Of those, I actually love my Arkansas Beta, Wakatake and Texas, in that order. They are all great ships, that give me good games, make me feel like I'm pulling my weight, but they are just placeholders until the RN arrives in force.. (see my sig? KGV is the quintessential WW2 BB imho..) St. Louis just feels too much of a sealclubber nowadays, although I am forever thankful for all the great games she gave me, and occasionally take her out, especially to play with friends who play low tier, while Umikaze took an arrow to the torps and was never the same. ARP Kongo, like all Kongos and Fuso, is just a fine ship in the Japanese BB mold, with long range, high speed, what more do you need? But I can't get passionate about her.. Worst: (using stats from wows-numbers.com, for ships with which I've played over 5 battles with, judging by winrate) 1) Arizona, Furutaka and Essex - winrate: 0, my Arizona especially seems to be cursed. Regarding Furry Taco, I have no idea what happened there, but gave up on her for now, Essex is easily explained, it is a carrier, which I suck at playing and don't dare to try to learn to play, due to all the screaming that ensues..) 2) Langley (hmm..) 3) Lexington (yes, I think I am detecting a pattern here..) Honourable mentions: 1) HMS Warspite. On paper, she is useless, but in practice, my winrate is muy bueno. I can't explain it. I have a love-hate relationship with her. I love her because she is a RN BB of WW2 fame, because she exceeds my expectations almost every time, her hitting power especially, and of course because she is beautiful for a lady her age.. I hate her, because she is slow, leaving the enemy the initiative, has short range, turrets BADLY in need of some WD40, and because I often spend half the match trying to catch up with either my allies, or the enemy, or running away from a superior force. In the end, she often just randomly citadels a cruiser and we're fine, we're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you? If she got a range and/or turning rate buff, I'd be much happier to play her, now it feels too much like work. 2) Tirpitz, A.K.A. Torpitz She is just badass. She never got to show her stuff in WW2, thank goodness, spent most of her days pining away in a Fjord, and is a legend as a result. Hitting power, good secondaries, cheeky torps, speed, decent turning rate, she has it all. Even in bad games I often do a ton of damage, or take at least one or two with me. Those torpedoes have made me scream with laughter from one of my very first games, where a hapless enemy ventured too close and I was able to take them down with me.. Best purchase I ever made in this game, bought her as soon as she became available. 3) Błyskawica I am not sure if I like her despite the fact that she is mostly a gun DD, albeit barely (her torps have a tad bit more range than her detection range), or because of it. Dat firepower.. Dat speed! Dayyyymn! Even with just her front guns, she can destroy enemy DDs in a flash, especially if you have support. If you have support, have nothing else to shoot at, and hide in a smokescreen, even an Iowa may back off in fear.. I don't do a lot of damage with her, but that is mostly because I focus on getting enemy DDs, which don't have a lot of HP to begin with, and which is high risk, high reward.. Apparently I take one or two of them out, then either die or spend the rest of the match chasing ghosts.. That must be it. But I have a lot of fun doing so. I think you could say she is what Atlanta would be if she was a bit quicker on her feet. Too bad she is Polish, so her captain is basically stuck doing what he is doing, with no view on being promoted or transferred any time soon. He is getting close to 13 points now..

They either bounce, or over-penetrate, or citadel.. little in between.. But those citadels though..

Did you use HE when firing your main guns at the DD? If not, then your shots over-penetrated, just punched a few holes in the side of the ship, but above the waterline, so no serious damage, unless you happened to wreck a module. When I don't have time to switch, I fire AP anyway, and have gotten quite a few DD kills that way. And secondaries are anything but useless, especially the German and US BBs have excellent secondaries, long range and quick firing. They are relatively inaccurate though, even if you specifically targeted a certain enemy. But the trick is not to let them get that close, if they can torp, they can hit you with multiple torpedoes and sink you in an instant. That is why you should keep friendly DDs between you and the enemy DDs at all times. Support your friendly cruisers so they can protect your friendly destroyers, win.

They are working on it, be patient. Something to do with game mechanics, they can't just change them on the fly, you know.. They made ARP content irreversible, so to change that for one or two specific captains, that means rewriting some of the code, or finding another solution, without accidentally anything else.

They come with their own slots, I'm certain of that. If you have one already, like HIEI, you just get the port slot. ARP captains should be in their own category, so it wasn't a problem. But I get that you can't dismiss them, as you can't hire them either, so once you dismiss them, you can't play the ARP ships any more.

Sauce? I didn't get that from any of the official information.. Nevermind, used Red Tracker and found it myself, see here. Guess I'll be grinding like a madman then.. ARP, Campbeltown, Rule the waves, weekly missions.. Grindgrindgrindgrind.. Sorry in advance if I sink you/am sunk myself when I am on your team. The PTS is not much fun at the moment anyway..

Sounds like a real challenge..

They are working on it, be patient. Something to do with game mechanics, they can't just change them on the fly, you know.. They made ARP content irreversible, so to change that for one or two specific captains, that means rewriting some of the code, or finding another solution, without accidentally anything else.

Wouldn't this fit here just as well? http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/9009-what-were-your-greatest-gaming-achievements-today/

Between the bug that allows high tier German BB secondaries to shoot unspotted enemy ships and the epicenter maps, I think I'll play on the live server for now.. I hope the bug at least gets fixed soon and that the epicenter maps are reworked or discarded entirely.

Has the bug of German BBs being able to shoot unspotted enemy ships been solved yet? Combined with the Epicenter maps, it really discourages me from participating in the PTS at the moment..

I'll just refer to my signature..

if you've already got the ship, you will receive credits instead.. I would much rather have a RN commander with 12 skill points.. Would that be possible? Or doubloons, but that is probably not going to happen.. Just a tad bit disappointed that there seems to be little in it for me, as I already have her..

Another bug: Random stuff gets censored. Like I type Ya-ma-tooooo! and it comes out as: Ya-ma-t*****o! So repeating letters are obscene? Odd.. Seen this before on the PTS, never on live. Is this a configuration thing? If so, I won't mention it again.

Confirmed. Had the same thing happen twice. Now that is going to be fun, having to pay full repair costs of your tier X DD because of a buy like that, in a game mode like Epicenter..

For all the people discussing the pros and cons of splitting up: I did put a disclaimer at the top of my OP, that these are rules of thumb.. BTW, thanks again, everyone, I will re-edit my OP to include some of your suggestions on a regular basis, if they keep coming in. Right now I am helping to test the next release of the game, but I think I'll check about every weekend.. Really hope this helps people to get their footing in the game, see the value of team work and understand what works and what (probably) won't work.

Thanks! And yes, people play differently on the PTS, that is what worries me.. Like someone else already pointed out, on the PTS, their stats are not at stake and STILL they sit back and fight from a distance.. Imagine how it would go on the live server.. Had a terrible fourth match in this game mode, with my Shima, took a long break, I really don't feel like testing any further if I have to suffer through this.. I would much rather play with my Dunkerque on the live server instead..

Not really related to this iteration, but since I only bother with them on the PTS, I thought I should mention.. Permanent camouflage is still way to expensive I spend quite a bit of money on this game, and I like some of the permanent camouflages, but 4000 doubloons for a camo is just outrageous, not good value for money, I can buy a premium ship for that amount.. Since doubloons translate into cold, hard, cash, this is one purchase I am not willing to make, except on the PTS. I understand the reasoning, that it is cheaper than buying a new camo each and every game, but I pay for those with credits that I earn in game, so for me this is a false comparison. I am not the only one who feels this way, judging by several topics on the forum. Please have your marketing people do an analysis of how much sales would rise if the price was dropped by x. I am sure you will find that there is a point, probably around 500-1000 doubloons, where people will be far more willing to buy them, far exceeding current demand, making far more money than currently is the case. Bismarck's permanent camouflage is incorrect See my fully illustrated explanation here: http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/58734-german-battleships/page__pid__1238555#entry1238555 In a similar vein.. Ports I would like an option where you can turn ARP on or off, aside from selecting the ARP ports. I only see the regular ones on the PTS, or maybe after finishing whatever is the current ARP mission. I like the ARP content, if just because it is basically free stuff, but I don't like the look of the ARP port and it clashes with my ships. Ideally, I would like to set a port for every ship, or at least for every tree, and just select "Show ARP ships & missions" in the settings.

Agreed, and I have some ideas on how to fix this. I freely admit I suck at playing cruisers, but their vulnerability certainly doesn't encourage me to try and get better at playing them. At low tiers, I can do reasonably well, but at higher tiers, at some point, I have to choose: turn, or just shake hands with the enemy Bismarck or Yamato, because I entered his personal space and it would be rude not to. Once I turn, I am dead, one or more citadels, and it is just ridiculous. Cruisers need a modifier that decreases accuracy of long range fire against them. The further the distance, the higher the speed, the more course and speed changes between an enemy firing and the shell landing, the less accurate should they be. If this is possible, then the same thing could be implemented for destroyers. Because it is just weird how RNG works. Sometimes I fire at a ship that got beached, or ran into the map edge, yet somehow miss with all shells, despite it being more or less motionless. You should get a modifier that adds to your accuracy when you fire at a target in such a state, improves the RNG in your favor. Perhaps there should even be a moratorium on citadels on cruisers, or a maximum of one citadel per cruiser per battle, because it is just ridiculous how much damage you can do to a cruiser with ONE SINGLE SALVO. I've deleted cruisers with my very first shots of the game, same thing has happened to me as well, which is just not fun at all if it happens to you. Another option could be to give all cruisers all a very short duration smokescreen, but one that is effective immediately for an area equal to the radius of turn, for free, no expense, just enough to make a turn safely. As a DD player, I am not sure I would really mind a slight decrease in reload time of radar, although their effective range could perhaps be reduced a little.. Eight kilometers sounds about right to me.. Radar was a big part of WW2 and DDs should be encouraged to keep moving. Detection should NOT work, however, through an island, not for proximity detection either, the 'ship last spotted here' should be sufficient.

Pirate voice over sounds like most other voice overs: far too casual, not convincing at all.. It should be over the top, to make it hysterically funny (at least once) or at least with a bit more oomph and a but more arrrrrrrr.. It also doesn't help that they are just the same, standard messages, with a slight drawl, instead of real pirate slang, such as a call to board the enemy ship when you get close enough.. I stand by my recommendation to do a contest, The Voice of World of Warships. Some people have already nominated Dasha.. Furthermore: could use some more information on what has been changed. Hard to comment if you don't know what you're looking/listening for.

I am not impressed by this change. The icon is tiny, not very noticeable, I think it should be bigger and I think it should show each stage of the cyclone. Also, a voice over to this effect would be nice. "Typhoon-san desu." "Hoh." - I don't know, I don't speak Japanese.. "Captain, storm front coming in from the west." "Understood."- RN probably, as their caps are flying off inside of the enclosed bridge. There is no real build up to the cyclone. There is no indication on the map where it currently is (it is nowhere or everywhere) instead of the giant eye of a storm moving across the map. It would be absolutely awesome to have something resembling a real cyclone/typhoon, a weather front moving in from one specific direction, storm clouds coming up, rain starting, wind picking up, gradually becoming worse and worse.. It would be truly awesome of it would affect part of the map, with a calm center. Then it would be useful to show an indication on the minimap. That way you could either move into it, or out of it, to take most advantage of it. That said, I like the cyclone, have never had one situation where I wish it wasn't happening, it really adds to immersion and I strongly encourage further development of these effects. I've read that there are problems with further implementation of weather, but I'd like everything to be done within the limits of the current engine.

Yes, last time we finally had the option to unlock them, and many people did. It was the one point of light amidst the disappointment of not being able to test the German BBs, despite wording the test to suggest that would be possible. I've said this before, and I will say this again: I play my premium ships a lot, currently I absolute love my Dunkerque, I am familiar with them, I'd like to be able to play them on the PTS as well, so I can quickly notice it if they suddenly plays different. This was especially silly when there were changes to said premium ships, like there were to HMS Warspite for instance, but we were still unable to test them. Would also love to be able to experiment with captain's skills on my premiums, without being forced to hand over doubloons, which I paid for with hard earned cash..