Verblonde

Although I'm sure it'll get royally messed with/up over the next few weeks/months, that one looked *vaguely* of interest, in a Friesland-a-tier-higher (and with short smoke, and healing potion) sort of way...

Dev Blog (new ships including Constellation, Druid, and Napoli, plus Commonwealth BB Yukon): https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/131

Many thanks! (Works on NA too, at time of writing)

Dev Blog (ship tweaks): https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/129

As @ColonelPete alludes to, the answer will depend drastically on what you are shooting at, and with what; even where you hit a ship can have a significant effect on how much damage you do. All the possible permutations of this subject are myriad, but some pointers: If you can get citadels, do so; citadel hits do a lot of damage, and are generally much harder to heal (if the target even gets a healing potion). If you have a nice perpendicular shot, you usually want AP; the rest of the time HE/SAP may well be your friend. Choose appropriate ammo: HE doesn't usually do as much damage as AP, but it can start fires; AP can be catastrophic in the right places, but it can bounce (and DDs don't have citadels for you to hit). Beware excessively skinny ships (some cruisers in particular): high penetration AP can sometimes go right through and out the other side - such 'overpens' do a lot less damage. You can also get overpens when shooting the superstructure of some ships too. There's a *lot* more to it than that, but without knowing a few more specifics about ship types etc. it's difficult to comment even semi-intelligently. I would suggest reading up on the various damage-related mechanics in the wiki (for example: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Armor_Penetration), plus have a look at various ships' armour schemes - it may help you with where to aim etc.

I lost my first couple of brawls in Odin (both against Tirpitzes), I think, but won the half dozen or so that followed. It took me those early losses to work out how to play the thing (I believe my Odin has only been used in Coop before now), and I haven't met a MA or any kind of CV yet, but it is looking like a decent pick for Brawls - provided one remembers that one's a bit short on hp, compared to much of the competition...

*Correct* gameplay, at least for the duration of the radar (which you need to roughly memorise, and expect coal mods and captain skills). I'm afraid, if you're repeatedly getting sunk by radar, then it's a LTP issue. Also:

Depending on context, most T9s that aren't Seattle. You're a bloody good player; I can't imagine for a second that having to pick any other BB besides Musashi or Georgia would hamper you significantly?

They banned or capped the numbers of five (four, if you count the Alaskas as the same thing) ships, with only two in the former category. Who cares? It's not like there aren't loads of viable alternative picks, and it could easily be an actively good thing if it results in more diversity in CBs...

Depends a bit on what you want to do with them; mine live almost exclusively in Ops (and the occasional Coop), and for that Mutsu is probably better as she's not as slow - if memory serves - and she's a bit more versatile. I'm not really a BB fiend, but I believe the main point about WV is that you get the huge guns a tier lower, but pay for it elsewhere; this doesn't really appeal to me (especially given how slow the ship is). I have both, but Mutsu gets rather more use...

Apparently, he credits WG's bots with rather more complex motivations than the rest of us do...? I wonder if he realises that he really isn't doing anything to disabuse the rest of us of the stereotypes that we may hold about BB players.

I got her for the aforementioned idiocy-related reasons; for a more sensible person (with actual functioning impulse control) she is definitely non-essential. Ask me again when I've played her a bit more, but I think she'll probably be fun for non-serious mucking about (there's always a laugh to be had with sea mines for instance), but if you actually need a win for whatever reason you're far better off with something else (T-61 for starters).

I fear I'm far too rubbish to qualify as a Seal Clubber; maybe one day, if I practice a lot...

On my NA account, I'm mostly ignoring the ship-specific missions, and just repeating those you can do in more or less anything - the individual stage rewards are often not worth putting up with some of the specific 'stinkers'...

I have to admit, I'd semi-forgotten I had Black with the current incarnation of Ranked, at least until the other night. On the basis of just one battle admittedly, I still think she holds up okay as a DD killer in Bronze (I changed the emphasis of my build to more or less pure dakka, along with an existing coal radar mod); although you don't have a heal, the radar/smoke combination is pretty nasty against most DDs she'll meet in that league. All of which said, I do think both Neustra and Benham do better in Bronze...

I was idly wondering if Odin might be of use in the upcoming Brawls, given that Tirpitz was a bit of a monster last time I played 1v1 at T8 (the original 1v1 Ranked ages ago)...? Although Tirpitz is the better ship, it occurred to me that having hydro might not do any harm. On the other hand, I think we get the dubious pleasure of CVs this time around, which may well change things a bit

I *think* you get enough collectibles; I can't check (I completed mine a while ago), but I vaguely recall that the exchange rate is 1:1 and you get enough things to fill all the gaps. Don't take my word as gospel though: old age and brain cells imploding, and all that. Can anyone else confirm my hazy recollection? Edit: I just checked on my NA account (forgot about that - see previous remarks) - you appear to get exactly the right amount of things, and it *is* 1:1.

I suppose being semi-sensible about this, we should approve of WG releasing non-OP premiums; it's just a pity they didn't give Leone the same smoke that YOLO Emilio gets...

If a) you have too many premiums already, and b) you're an idiot, they've (with the existing model) been a very efficient way to get high tier premiums cheaply. Bloody silly thing to buy if you're a newbie though... Also...

This. I've bought Leone because a) I'm an idiot, and b) it means - even if she is dreadful - I can't get her in an Xmas container, or whatever they turn into. (I've only played one game in Coop so far, and she doesn't seem to be *that* bad; very much 'not remotely essential' though...)

Maybe, if it were *just* the superheavies (sucks to be AGS though, although if you're in a T8 match in her, that's probably the least of your worries), but even then I'd be uneasy - it would shift the balance quite dramatically (particularly being able to zap Alaska, and does Stal count too?)... Bear in mind too that - in terms of overall balance - the superheavies just got a major boot to the metaphorical knackers with the recent loss of BB survival skills.

I tend to think 'no' as well, I'm afraid (and, last I checked, Asashio was still my most played ship); if we could hit cruisers with those torps, we'd be flat-out OP. If you will permit me though, I shall allow myself a brief happy daydream of being able to blap 12 km radars with impunity though...

Me too, or I wouldn't spend so much time on it, nor whale so mightily! Yes, it's regularly the case that if WG were an ice-cream flavour, they'd be 'pralines & Richard' (hat-tip to Wayne's World), but the game is still fun despite everything. That said, in my case, @FixCVs_Nautical_Metaphor has a point - I do tend to die a lot, so at least some of the problems are thrown into less sharp relief - at least some of the time - for me...

Thoughts and prayers...

I noticed this the other day (at the top of the page): Modest thumbs-up for WG for this QoL improvement...