Verblonde

I'm kind of seeing what you might get if you explosively decompressed R2D2 (with Kenny Baker still inside); mind you I am a bit short of sleep...

I find this one goes off a lot with typical RN DD play, and the coloured tracers are splendid. That said, Yoshino can be useful for farming HE/Fire missions, although you've presumably got no shortage of options for that already? 'Wait' is probably the sensible answer, if Yoshino isn't really doing it for you (and you've got all the other fun coal options)...

My (sub-average player) answer is along the following lines, and applies to most IJN torp boats: First, you can sometimes be very useful and not actually get any kills; that said, damage is nice and you should aim to get as much as possible, without compromising your ship. Don't discount your guns; most of your damage will probably come from torps, but you have decent alpha (and note the layout - the bulk of your firepower at higher tiers points backwards). Pick your spots though; besides in extremis use, only open fire when blowing your stealth won't get you sunk, and generally think in terms of finishing off maimed/distracted opponents. Get close. This is why you need to master situational awareness and the game's vision mechanics; your torps are easily spotted, so you'll get more hits firing from closer range. Of course, this is risky, due to all the hard counters to sneaky ships e.g. planes, radar, and hydro. That's not to say you should never launch from longer range, but that you'll generally do better from shorter range (provided you can survive the experience). How do teams play together, or how *should* they play together? In Randoms, there is a good chance that you'll need to play as an 'army of one'; keep an eye on what your team are up to, and play according to that, rather than according to what you want to do (where there is a contradiction). Is there a CV present? If there is, you can worry a bit less about spotting, and worry a lot more about avoiding getting spotted. You aren't much good against most specialist DD-hunters (unless they're like me and prone to sailing into your torps), so try and spot them and hope your team opens fire; always have an escape plan if your team decides it wants to farm BBs rather than win (which happens a lot). Learn the spotting distances of all likely opponents - this will inform how close you want to get when trying to spot them for your allies. Try and spot radars, and - again - hope that your team shoot at them (they often won't; those BBs aren't going to farm themselves, y'know). Use the F3 key (I think) to encourage your team to shoot at things that matter (usually DDs and radars in particularly). As a sneaky DD driver, you're always slightly conflicted: on the one hand, spotting and capping are key parts of your job; on the other, the rewards for that are peanuts. On the up-side, damaging opposing DDs is good for your team too, and is rewarded well; just try not to die in the process!

Whilst I agree with others that say you're clearly better than the vast majority of players in the game (you're certainly better than I am, but that isn't a terribly high bar to get over), it might be worth joining a casual clan, just for the bonuses - there seem to be quite a few 'no expectations' clans about.

There are quite a few already; as I understand it, the frame of reference that is being used is - essentially - all gun ships, and no smart weapons (guided missiles and homing torpedoes), at least for surface ships. Personally, I have no objections to the newer designs, provided they're balanced.

I'd rather know the exact numbers; combined with at least a rough idea of what's out there, I sometimes make less stupid decisions when detected (which has won me battles over the years). There's a big difference for me between 'everyone' being a couple of BBs, and 'everyone' being half a dozen ships including cruisers. I should also mention that I tend to try and make maximum use of sneaky DDs' concealment; given that IJN torps tend to be detected from orbit, the closer you can get before launch the better - in that sort of circumstance, you will get detected sometimes, and when you do, the more information the better.

Absolutely (with the - these days - usual caveat about imminent subs). She's, more or less, Kagero with torps that do entirely horrifying things to BBs, and the current meta is *very* BB-heavy (and killing BBs is undoubtedly doing the gods' work). If your vision mechanics kung fu is strong, you can be an absolute bugger to find, and very often dictate engagements. Obviously, there are some down-sides: Specialist gunboat DDs will take you to the cleaners (beware especially things like Lightning/Cossack/Harekaze that are all about as sneaky as you are, and Orkan with her radar, not to mention higher tier hydro). Radar/hydro are serious threats to anything that's all about being sneaky. CVs, of course, are a bloody menace, and your AA is particularly laughable. Cruisers are especially dangerous (assuming they know your torps can't hit them). Of course, the first three are also problems for any Kagero; it's only the last one that's unique to Asashio. So, unless WG do something to cut back the numbers of BBs (like that's going to happen - see the recent shift in sub emphasis to engaging DDs and cruisers, for instance), Asashio is probably always going to have plenty of things to attack. BTW don't forget about her guns - they're a lot more useful than most people you'll be facing think (if you pick your moments)...

Absolutely (although not universally, since it went to two points); unless you skulk at the map borders spamming torps from extreme range and/or your opponents are idiots, you are going to get detected at some point. I find the skill is very valuable in informing your decision-making when that 'detected' icon goes off. For starters you probably have a rough idea where most of the opposition are; if you missed someone, the number of main guns aiming at you tells you a bit about what's out there (at least how many of them there are) and process of elimination can often tell you who you haven't seen yet. As an extension, you may simply have no idea yet who's where and the cat-shaver in the CV detected you; PT gives you an instant idea of roughly how many guns are in range of you - that data is valuable. The usual argument against taking PT these days is that it's a waste of points as - when spotted - you assume everyone is shooting at you (as a DD) and act accordingly. In my experience, this isn't always the case, and that PT number tells you whether you need to evade *right now* or if you have maybe a second or two to launch torps, say, before making yourself scarce. I do suspect that PT is more valuable for weaker players (me) though; the unicums usually have weapons-grade situational awareness, and the better you are, the less need there is for the information that PT gives you. (Don't forget the 'torp launch warning' aspect of PT as well, although that's probably more useful for fatties.)

That's the 'standard' DD build; I think I take it on everything, although there are a few folk who run more unusual builds (I've seen arguments in favour of 'lighthouse' builds on some dakka-orientated DDs, for example). As to the full 21 points, my feeling is that it comes down to your view of RL; a lot of players swear by it and taking it more or less dictates what your 21 pointer will look like (as per @nambr9's post above). I don't usually run it (at least not since free respecs for Clans etc. ended), as I dislike people knowing that I know roughly where they are; in that case, my IJN torp build looks like this: I prefer Yugumo to Shima, so that's where my actual 21 pointer is; when I get round to playing my Shima some more, this will be where my build ends up... (Full disclosure: I'm not a very good player, so take this with an big bucket of salt!)

That's my default position too, more or less, although with the caveat that it isn't a certainty: You can fit them with the usual upgrades, so in terms of equipment they can potentially be exactly as good as a regular version (although LUs are exceptionally unlikely). The only real problem is you can't fit them with cammo, so a slight spotting disadvantage is inevitable (unless a regular silver opponent forgets to mount cammo). As far as the captain goes, they act like premiums, so you can put your best captain of the relevant nation in them. It's generally pretty likely that a [rental] will be a liability to their team, but there are several scenarios where it might not be the case...

Probably Lenin then, as she's about to be removed, and the people that don't mind getting BB Cooties rate her highly. (Mine generally lives in Coop, doing missions.)

Many thanks!

I'm afraid it's mods only. It's useful to leave it on though as it (and other range circles) help with situational awareness e.g. if your guns have a range of 10 km, say, then you have a nice circle showing you at what distance on the map a lot of US radar can zap you (12 km range does the same for Russians). In general, and especially with DDs, the more information you can get from your mini-map, the better...

The Rudy model is excellent value for the players; I've actually bought more than one as it's a great way to get extra 'zero skill' BIA crews for both Russia and Poland at the same time (and gold for the duplicate tank). It's effectively two tanks for the price of one too (kinda): the equipment you mount stays with the nation, so you could - say - go with a conventional build on the Russian one, and give the Polish one more of a 'drive it like you stole it' gear configuration... <pauses for thought> Good value? There's the problem for WOWS, right there...

Indubitably. Is she the best? Maybe not; from my (can't even see unicum with a telescope on a clear day) perspective, she's certainly one of the best, but it depends a bit on what you want to do with her. I would suggest she's the best if you want to hunt other DDs, and/or if you have reliable support. The crawling angry smoke cloud trick only works without radar/hydro about, and if you've got people to spot for you. She lacks the raw alpha to deal with fatties (only one torp launcher). Great stealth though - do any T7s beat her in that regard (I can't remember, but most are at least 6 km)? She's probably the most fun T7 DD though... If you're playing competitive and/or in a division, she's a very strong candidate for the best T7 DD; if you're playing as an 'army of one' then Z-39 is probably a better choice at that tier.

Or, contemplate the possible sheer majesty of another example of snaky magnificence; I can imagine a Dutch-flavoured version of this:

If WG were feeling frisky (and short of funds for vodka) they could do a copy-paste-paste again version of the new thing for the Pan US tree (as Groningen ended up being sold to Peru)...?

None yet - as others have said, when a ship is no fun I simply stop playing it...

You mean you're not? I assumed the standard Friday night entertainment in the WG office was getting drunk and messing with people's RNG/MM for laughs; every time someone curses MM in chat etc. you down your vodka (or other spirit of choice, now we know you don't like vodka), and the last one to fall over is the winner...!

There is precedent for this: almost exactly the same has happened several times in WOT, although there it's usually colour morphs. For example, my Skorpion (made-up German TD) is a 'vanilla' one which I swapped my old 'clown' version for when the vanilla one was released. (The closest situation, of course, was Rudy and WG have decided that's too much trouble for WOWS)

I'd hope they'd at least get the number right...?

By the same logic we should 'support' flat-earthers when they discover photographs of the (kind-of spherical) planet taken from orbit and start screaming 'fake'? You only need to spend a few minutes on the forum to see that people with sensible queries and requests for advice meet a great deal of genuine help and support. The paranoid conspiracy nuts, not so much...

This, essentially. Presumably, the only tangible difference will be that the new version will get the 'may be nerfed' label, which Friesland doesn't have. The OCD completist in me will probably want the clone at some point (if submarines don't drive me out of the game in the meantime), but it's all kinds on non-urgent as I already have Friesland, and don't even play her that much...

Of course, the 'Rudy' model from WOT would have been too complicated... <sigh> Oh well, at least the copy-paste version is real too. I'm probably a 'the glass is what it is' player, so my reaction was along the lines of: That's another T9 to bait Satan Crates with. I wonder if there'll be a suitable 'magic' Dutch captain with special skills along soon; available for Very Reasonable Rates from your friends at WG...