Verblonde

Coop can be worth playing for a number of reasons: It can be fun - you can just charge the enemy without much regard for due care and attention, which can also be quite relaxing. If you want to save your free xp, it can be an easy environment to research crucial modules for stock ships (playing stock against real people can be very painful). It's a good place to make use of ships that - for whatever reason - are unwise choices for PvP, but you still want to make use of (for example, most of my BBs live in Coop, as I'm not very good with most of them against real people). It can be the most efficient place to do a lot of missions as you don't have to play as carefully e.g. a lot of real people are adept at dealing with smoke spammers, whilst the bots are rather less so - easy 'main battery hits' and/or 'cause fires' missions. The main down-sides of Coop, IMO: Too easy - it can get dull after a while. Lousy rewards, compared to PvP. Much of the technique you'll develop in Coop is of limited use against real people; to get the most from the game, and be at least okay at it really does require playing against real people. That said, there are quite a few exclusively Coop players, and if PvE is enough for you, all power to you - enjoy!

First, be aware that playing BBs from extreme range is mostly a bad idea: you won't get enough hits, and you generally aren't tanking damage for your team-mates. Better BB players will be able to advise more thoroughly, but I gather that 'surfing' your approximate surface detection distance is a good starter for ten. Best lines for learning DDs are probably IJN and US; that'll teach you about correct torp use and concealment (IJN), and how to make use of guns and smoke (US). After those two, maybe have a look at the KM and RN. I would also strongly suggest joining a clan (ideally one with folk happy to teach): besides receiving pointers on what you're doing right/wrong, it'll provide a source of people to division with, as well as some economic bonuses (if their clan base is developed).

First of all, don't worry about getting Nelson immediately - she's good, but does require some technique (mainly due to the exposed citadel). Take your time. Anshan, with her free xp cammo, probably won't generate free xp significantly faster than a ship you know how to play well (have a look at the wiki page regarding the economy: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Economy#Experience) - the key driver of earnings is damage, and you won't do as much as you'd like in any ship you aren't able to play well. If you're looking to maximise your free xp earning, you'll need to play in Randoms - the rewards are much greater there - but you'll need to learn how to play random battles at lower tiers before jumping into anything in the +2 MM bracket, if you want to avoid getting slaughtered most of the time.

I have to say (as a DD main) that the new Belfast doesn't have me quaking in my boots: the radar is only 9 km, she's a squishy light cruiser (without a heal), and the smoke is short duration (limiting scope for smoke camping). If every radar ship was the new Belfast, I wouldn't be too upset; much easier to deal with than things like Chapy...

This is mine right now: Do you perhaps have one of the filters that removes non-historical stuff enabled at the moment?

I can only really comment on DDs: depending on what you want to do, my nominations would be Daring and Halland at the moment. If you include free xp ships, I prefer Smaland to both currently.

What did it used to look like? Mine looks the same as it did since I got it (last Xmas, I think), unless I'm missing something...?

FWIW I run the improved turret traverse module on Anshan (whatever that's called); it makes the traverse rather less infuriating...

I'd completely forgotten about this (you get the same bonus with the LNY cammo too)...

FWIW with full concealment build: Anshan has 6.3 km surface detection distance. Aigle has 6.8 km surface detection distance. (For context, T-61 has 6.1 km).

In which case, I would perhaps avoid premium DDs until you've got the hang of the class with silver ships, and have suitable captains for them. If you're playing the KM and IJN BBs, perhaps have a look at Scharnhorst (similar to Gneis, with more, but smaller, main guns; *very* useful for the Narai Op, which isn't a bad way to earn silver and xp), or maybe Mutsu (good for T6 Ops) or Ashitaka (Narai). That assumes you focus on PvE in the short-term. PEF (KM) isn't bad for T6 Ops as well, but can be harder to make work against real people. BTW off at a slight tangent: don't rush up the tiers (you're at T7 already), and try and play all the classes - at least a bit - you'll do better in whatever your most favoured class is, if you have a thorough understanding of what potential threats and targets are all trying to do...

My feeling is that they're fairly similar in terms of quality, although Aigle might have a bit of an edge. The crucial thing though is for which do you have a good enough captain available; you'll get your posterior handed to you against real people without at least a ten point captain (due to not having CE mainly).

Short answer: yes (assuming you meant Anshan), but read the longer answer below. Longer answer: Don't rush to buy premium ships with money; they won't magically make you a better player, and very few (most of them no longer available) will be significantly more powerful than typical regular silver ships at the same tier. Also, bear in mind that - as a new player (you only have 1 battle in randoms at time of writing) - you probably don't have a good enough captain for her yet - when you get into T5 and above, you really want at least a 10 pointer. When thinking about premiums to buy, it's generally a good idea to have some/all of the following on your radar: Make sure you have premium time first; in general, the best return on spend is premium time as it works on all your ships, and for every battle. Pick something that you are going to enjoy playing multiple times: premiums, especially your first ones, are only good value if you play many battles in them. Pick something that is of a suitable tier, if you want to play PvP - generally, this means roughly whatever tier you're comfortable in with regular silver ships (play whatever you like in Coop). Pick something that doesn't require a non-standard captain, and can accept a suitable captain from one of your regular ships (a key plus point of premiums is the captain training aspect). Pick freebies when possible i.e. things you get for missions, or for resources like coal.

Possible solutions: Move to a country not run by incompetent crazies. Vote (if possible) to remove said incompetent crazies from power, and replace them with someone semi-sensible (as much as possible). Sadly, until one of those comes to pass, you're out of luck.

This can actually be very helpful if you suspect at least some of the enemy are competent - potentially points their attention in the wrong direction and might even bait some radar...

I haven't watched the replay, but never do this, no matter the provocation. He does sound rather a Richard though; for a start, Haragumo is one of the less bad DDs for AA, if managed intelligently, assuming one knows about sector reinforcement etc. Mind you, if he doesn't have SE it's perhaps suggestive that he's so out of his depth that the fish have lights on their heads... BTW as others have said: don't plonk fighters over DDs early in the game; at this point, all you're doing is telegraphing their approximate position to the opposition. Do save your fighters for later in the battle though - once a DD has been found, and/or had half his AA shot off, then is a great time to provide him with fighter cover. If you're in voice comms with a DD, it can be worthwhile to keep track of that stuff e.g. at the start of a game, something like a Halland can cheerfully make 'w4nker' gestures at a lot of CVs, but after getting hosed down by HE, your AA can be stripped off alarmingly, making cover very welcome.

I voted 'yes', but I really need the qualifier 'in small doses'.

She does rather strike me as somewhat non-essential; I think I'll wait for her to fall out of a crate (presumably next Xmas, assuming I'm not bored with the game by then)...

Post-script: Looks like Belfast '43 is happening (see other thread); no idea if she's any good though...

Almost certainly - someone at WG will probably wake up blisteringly hungover and with a *serious* grudge against his fellow man, and put her back in the shop...! Wasn't she on sale a week or two ago though, for the discerning masochist? I wouldn't lose too much sleep about not having her though - she's made up, so you aren't missing anything historical (and there are several better options at T8, notably Atago and her various clones). If you are especially At One With The Tea, London is a lot better (tier-for-tier), is quite worthwhile for Ops, and has the merit of being real.

Spectacular insufficiency in the priapic department, I imagine. On the positive side, WOWS appears to be a lot less bad than many games in this respect. If you want more sociable folk to play with, I'd suggest joining a clan - if you're in a division, you've reduced the number of idiots in the game almost by definition.

Aesthetically; IMO she's a strong candidate for the most godsawful T8 to play in my collection...!

I rather like her: Mind you, against my better judgement, I quite like the 'art deco' American cruiser cammos too...

Presumably, the Correct way to play Kansas is to not do so - I'm assuming that WG are doing some sort of Zen thing here... (It's a pity, as she's rather pretty; mine is going to gather dust until snowflakes etc. roll around.)

Dev Blog (messing about with attack aircraft): https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/93