Verblonde

While I'm snowflaking, I don't seem to have the time to make a serious effort with Ranked, so bronze it is for the moment. Once I've finished hoovering up the steel/coal, I might try and give silver a poke, if only because I have DDs with better less bad AA available for that league. Does anyone know if there is a way to get demoted to a lower league again, if one changes one's mind after getting promoted?

It comes with practice; it's not that they *know* where you are, but rather that they can make good educated guesses, based on things like which ship you have and what you were doing before you vanished (speed/course etc.). Also, as mentioned earlier, when you fire, the distance you can be 'hard' spotted from increases (dramatically, in some cases; basically, the bigger your guns, the greater the increase), plus it's possible to guess a ship's approximate location when it fires from its tracers. The other thing, of course, is radar/hydro, although you get the very obvious 'detected' icons on your screen in those cases.

Best purchases (probably, I may have forgotten something, and in no particular order): Smaland (free xp). Orkan (money). Neustrashimy (tentative - it's still early; fell out of a Satan box). Cossack B (money; basically an S&M Cossack - what's not to like?!). BTW I define 'best' as being most fun, rather than things that I'm necessarily any good in...

This is a complete Richard move by WG, and is at the root of why I'm a) angry at the captain rework and b) not recommending the game to new players - it's essentially impossible for them to catch up with we old lags. Whilst we all have issues with bits of the rework (my main one is that going from 19 to 21 points on many of my DDs results in a slightly nerfed captain in return for all that xp), I suspect there would be a lot less uproar if this graph was a smooth curve including the 20th and 21st points.

As I understand it, any cruiser that smells even vaguely like a BB is going to get a kicking from the captain rework; I suspect that may well reduce Siegfried's desirability rather...

I'm afraid you have to expect a certain amount of "don't rush up the tiers" advice round here; most of us take the game (too?) seriously, and have all seen many people with no business at high tiers yet, with the additional problem that they generally aren't enjoying themselves either. So, don't take offence at this kind of advice; it mainly tends to be offered in the spirit of helping people have a good time. That said, almost all of us did something similar at some point (mine was the IS-6, back when it was good, in WOT), and you can always play things in Coop whilst your skills catch up, if necessary (that's why most of my BB games are in Coop FWIW)...

My theory is it's because she's almost perfect for a certain type of DD driver i.e. the 'tool around at long range and spam torps' crowd i.e. people who run 20 km torps on Shima. I've played mine a few times since it fell out of a box, and I don't think she's *that* bad overall; she's just a bit dull, and - because of the poor concealment - much harder to exert a direct influence in. As others have said, Yugumo is better; it's just a shame she doesn't get Z-44's economy.

Ah, I see that you have a clear understanding of my usual approach to ship purchases...!

It's also Saipan under all that; not exactly the most newbie-friendly option...

Daily Bounce on Flandre (T8 French BB): https://thedailybounce.net/world-of-warships/supertest-french-tier-viii-premium-battleship-flandre/ and Max Immelmann (T10 German CV): https://thedailybounce.net/world-of-warships/supertest-german-tier-x-freemium-aircraft-carrier-max-immelmann/

PA Saipan clone (for CNY): https://thedailybounce.net/world-of-warships/supertest-pan-asian-tier-viii-premium-aircraft-carrier-sanzang/

Again being pragmatic, one thing in favour of Georgia is her speed boost: besides the 'proper' advantages of having a BB that can go that fast, it makes her more useful in Coop too (along with JB), which can be very helpful for efficient mission completion. GA is one of the relatively few BBs that can get to the bots in Coop before the DDs sink them all with their torps...

Basically, you need to play consistently well, and not be struck by bad luck. Also, pick whichever ship (at the relevant tier) you do consistently well with; if your skill level is borderline, there is perhaps a case to be made for avoiding ships that are expected to punch above their weight (CVs, for example). I've been busy snowflaking, so haven't played much Ranked so far (three games, won two), but my personal approach is as follows: Try and establish if there is anything weird about the meta (for example, DDs normally work fine, but were a poor choice in the 'Pommern' season of Sprint); if there is, pick accordingly, otherwise do the following. Which ships am I least bad in (I only have a 48% WR overall, so I need all the help I can get)? This gives a short list. Which ships have the best possible captain available for them? You have a lot of advantages with a 19 point captain, compared to - say - a 6 pointer. CVs are a blight on 'small map' game modes especially; however, we're stuck with them. Think about the ships/captains on your short list: which ones are you confident that you can function in a CV environment with? That thought process (or something like it) should help you identify which ships to play; after that, it's a matter of doing everything you can to maximise your chances of putting in four excellent games in a row (the aim being to - ideally - win, or save a star). Are you tired/pi$$ed off? If you are, do something else - frustration and irritation increase the likelihood of messing up. Play the same ship consistently, or at least ships that are as similar as possible; several games in a row in the same ship can increase your chances, as you get more fluent with repeated use of the same ship. Ultimately though, if you're of a similar standard to me (i.e. sub-average), there comes a time where we have to accept we have a ceiling (at least if we want to stay sane and/or have a life); it may simply be that we're not good enough to get to silver this time (ask me again in a few days, when I get to the qualification stage). If that's so, then we need to go away and practice more for next time - Ranked isn't going anywhere any time soon. BTW there is actually quite a good argument in favour of deliberately not qualifying for too high a league: the lower leagues tend to offer a better effort-reward ratio; for example, even if I were actually any good, I don't think I'd want to go above silver as the amount of effort you need to put in to get the rewards in gold - IMO - is far too high.

A pragmatic answer would be to buy Georgia, on the basis that it's being removed soon(ish). I'm not much good in BBs, although I do like a bit of secondary-based manliness now and again, and - of the two - I personally prefer Pommern, but I should emphasise that I'm thinking in terms of fun, rather than effectiveness!

Supposedly, they'll be added at some point, despite Stukas having had their sirens discontinued before the navalised version was developed (if memory serves)...

I agree; Z-44 isn't a disaster, but she's nothing very special. If you want a torp truck, Yugumo is better (IMO) because she's so much more stealthy - you have a bit more scope to take an active part in the battle as you're harder to spot. I've played a few games now in Z-44, and she's a lot harder to be influential in - beyond chucking out frequent torp salvos - due to having to waste quite a lot of time escaping and evading, due to her being easier to find. That said, I feel the Z-44 is generally of considerably more use than Z-35, due to the latter having zero stealth capability (although Z-44 misses having hydro).

View of a DD main: useful to have (premium BBs for Narai are always useful, for a start), but not essential, and there are far better things to spend actual money on at that sort of tier.

Difficult to comment intelligently without being able to see your stats. That said, I can probably offer the most useful input on DDs: T-61; yes, I know you said T7-8, but tier-for-tier it's one of the best DDs in the game. If the whole smoke/hydro thing appeals, Z-39 a tier higher is also good; it does have the 'big' guns though, so may not be as good a match with a typical silver KM DD captain. In both cases, a coal hydro mod is a good investment. Cossack is excellent at T8 (another coal mod candidate): great stealth, decent dakka, and the torps single launch (which makes up a bit for only having the one launcher). Your main weakness is having appalling AA, but you do get the RN smoke which mitigates that a bit. Unlike the regular line, you get engine boost too. Haida is very similar to Cossack, only a tier lower (coal mods helpful, yet again); she's probably the best T7 DD, but has the problem of having no matching silver line, so you should probably avoid her unless you have a means to get a 10 point captain from the off. Loyang is an old ship, but still very good (and wants another coal mod): cruiser hydro with US smoke can be fearsome, her AA is 'good enough', and you have reasonable dakka, plus two torp options (I run the YOLO ones, but you have a very narrow stealth torp window with them). Kidd can be a great choice too: more or less a Fletcher at T8, only with a heal. Good (for a DD) AA, with DefAA, but only one torp launcher; the latter means you tend to be at least partly reliant on your team-mates shooting much of what you spot, although your dakka is good enough to make most DDs regret their life choices one-on-one. Although putting her on the notorious Satan box short list effectively labels her as a stinker, I like Orkan a lot too (radar coal mod is your friend here) - she's more or less a Lightning that loses her smoke and one torp launcher, but gets a heal in return. Crucially, she also gets radar; I'm still amazed how many players (especially in randoms) still seem to not know about this! If you are comfortable with smoke-less DDs, she's very much worth a look, but avoid like the plague if you aren't! Asashio has lots of fans, and last I looked she's my most played ship, but she can be very situational; if the opposing BBs cooperate, she's ferocious, but to do good damage, you do need decent quantities of opponents that you can hit, and are kind enough not to dodge properly. She has class-leading stealth though, and don't discount the guns entirely (plus, she gains from the upcoming rework, as TA apparently doesn't gimp range after the changes). The crucial thing with a premium DD is to be able to put a good captain in her; the higher points total, the better. If it's one that benefits from a coal mod (or more than one, in a few cases), spend the coal too.

Oh, dear gods:

Taking a break from taking the mickey: there are advantages to delaying qualification a bit. I just played my first game in Ranked, and made 1.1 million silver profit (on a win), with standard eco flags and a premium DD (Orkan); if one is short of silver, this looks like it might be a useful source of earnings... So, a win-win-win-loss-win-win-etc. type sequence could be very profitable, perhaps?

Good choice, although horribly over-priced. Be aware, though, that she's hard to play for a mediocre but experienced player like me - she'll be *very* hard if you haven't learned to DD first with the more mainstream lines, *and* got used to smokeless DDs, ideally the Ikea line. I like Smaland a lot, but she isn't easy mode. (As far as we know, there isn't a particular hurry for Neustrashimy - she's *apparently* not going anywhere just yet.)

Incidentally, in the spirit of trying to maintain the usual highbrow levels of discourse we tend to go in for round here: (Quoth he, showing his extreme age.)

Many thanks! Incidentally, it appears to work on NA too, if anyone else has a second account there...

They seem to do this every time; I assume it's to keep server numbers consistent over a longer period of time. If we could do it all at once, the entire Xmas event would be over in a couple of days, at least for those with a lot of spare time...

Likewise, to one and all - may your Christmases all be magnificent!