Verblonde

I should probably mention that my PoV is that of a mediocre WR player; unicums will probably think differently, at least in some respects.

Slightly off at a tangent, have we had any hint of when the T6 premium is likely to be released? I was rather thinking I'd pick that up when it arrives, assuming I have zero luck with the early release silver ones. (I'm assuming Z-35 will probably be tomorrow, as it's a required ship for one of the current directive missions.)

Nah - that's just WG telling you that the skill (according to them) doesn't work well with that particular ship...

This appears to demonstrate that I really haven't looked at my mid-tier silver US DDs since the last snowflake event...

Voila:

For some accurate information, that doesn't require my no-more-aluminium-saucepans-for-that-man memory:

Dunno - perhaps it was making newer players' brains hurt? Either that or they weren't sufficiently rubbish at AA - can't have the capitalist running dogs having better AA than the Rodina, y'know...

Are you unwell?! Being sensible, my highly biased opinion is that there are no utter turkeys anywhere in the line really, and they play similarly to each other, with logical progression as you go up the tiers. Some brief views by tier: Clemson is really good/fun (although I'm rubbish in her); it's only really unsporting to play her if you're an actively good player. Tier 5&6 are similar: decent gunboats with semi-YOLO torps; they're worth playing as they give you a useful grounding in how the US dakka behaves. Both have DefAA (as does everything after), which is helpful for fending off the inevitable CV plague; you can take engine boost instead if you feel the urge, but it seems a shame (with the T5 anyway) not to make life slightly more difficult for any T4 CVs that come your way. Tier 7 is where you get the ability to stealth torp (not stock though), although the torps are sloooow (55 kts) and remain so until you get the upgraded ones on Feltcher. Tier 8 is a good all-rounder; decent at most things, but not awesome at anything. Feltcher at T9 is an excellent ship; she's noticeably better than Benson (and most other things at T9 tier come to that) and has no real glaring weakspots. If you've played the PA version, they're similar, only Feltcher has normal torps and gets DefAA. Tier 10 is where you get what YY might have been if she hadn't been mercilessly beaten with the nerf bat (with extra nails through it); I would strongly urge you to get Gearing if you have the time - for me, she's even better than Feltcher, and that takes some doing. You can either build her for torps (16.5 km reach), or dakka, or you can take one of - IMO - the few worthwhile LUs, which makes her about as sneaky as Shima, in exchange for the loss of some DPM. So, my feeling is they're all pretty decent until T8, and after that get really good - it is worth getting the T10. BTW if you want a bit of US DDage and lack the patience to grind, there are several premiums that do the job: Kidd at T8 is more or less a Feltcher a tier lower, but minus a torp launcher and with a heal (good AA too), and Sims at T7 is worth a look; also, at some point Black will be returning for coal - she's essentially a premium Feltcher, only with radar and glacially slow torps.

That's what it was before though? She was either a gunboat or a torp boat, but not both. BTW @Jethro_Grey seems to have the same view as me: "My Monaghan is the same as before as i can slot the 9.2KM torps (and lose 2 guns)." Edit: just re-read your post; when you change the hull, you should automatically switch the torps you have mounted (I checked mine a few minutes ago).

My memory may be going, but it looks like it's the same to me; didn't it used to be: Better dakka + poor torps or Much worse dakka (two turrets?), but you got the 9.2 km torps. ?

It won't be easy mode, but it's still significantly less hideous than any of the other main classes - so much of DD play is about stealth, and most of the mid tier ones have sufficient in this regard for an average driver to be useful. The techniques for dealing with the typical DDs' bane are essentially the same, regardless of what tier your DD is; you can actually make a case that many mid-tier DDs are in a better position in a radar-heavy environment, from the perspective of the team. If we accept that radar knackers your concealment (which is true, but not for that long) pretty much regardless, a mid-tier DD with no concealment module loses less when lit up by radar, than something like, say, a Kagero. If the opposing team makes as much effort to sink you as they would against a more powerful ship, then your team benefits as said opposition isn't chasing a more valuable target. BTW 10 km torp range is actually pretty good, especially at mid tier!

There's at least a fighting chance that it'll be available again this autumn, assuming the Halloween thing runs again...

<breathes huge sigh of relief - given what this forum can be like - upon discovering that a thread entitled 'skin' is merely about ship aesthetics>

Leaving aside the fact(ish) that DDs generally uptier better than most classes, the only way to face T9 opposition in a T6 is if you're fail-platooning i.e. if you're in a division, the highest tier ship's tier will be used when working out who you can/can't be matched against.

I may not have found the inevitable annoyances yet, but I don't mind it so far - everything all in one place is helpful, and the 'boxes' round stuff you can change isn't a bad idea. I'd prefer to see the next ship in the tree's name, rather than just the tier number, but if you hover, you get a decent pop-up. I don't think it warrants an all-expenses trip for whoever designed it to Madam Olga's House of Negotiable Affection and Vodka, but it's okay...

Oh, the new emblems arrived today? I'd forgotten. Better log in and change mine to something else - the new ones are poor.

I like Loyang a lot; the smoke/cruiser hydro is very nice, mainly as a torp screen (its utility for dealing with smoked up enemies is perhaps somewhat reduced with all the radar around presently, but still comes in handy). In most respects besides that, she's essentially a C-hull Benson (for fairly obvious reasons) with a YOLO torp option. My feeling is that Cossack is probably better with things as they are, although Loyang can put up more of a fight against planes, and the significantly longer range hydro can be pretty powerful in the right circumstances.

In case anyone hasn't noticed in the latest patch notes: "The bonus to the action time of the Engine Boost consumable reduced from +50% to +40%." Hardly an epic change, but might change the yes/no decision in a few 'edge' cases... (Source: https://worldofwarships.eu/en/news/game-updates/update-096-german-carriers/)

Suggest joining one of the 'just in it for the resources' clans; the bonuses may not be epic, but everything helps.

I assume you can close the thing after WOWS (or WOT) has spun up though?

I noticed it, but it doesn't have much of an impact on me yet - the clan I'm in still has a couple of expansions still to build (steel bonus, I think), and by the time we've done that, there will probably have been tweaks etc. As far as I can see, it isn't a classic WG disastrous-PR-gold-plated-muck-up, so that'll be why comment has perhaps been muted?

It's generally better to play every ship in the lines you're grinding, at least a bit, although there are (deliberately) several pain points where you'll feel a powerful urge to use free xp. My approach is usually to free xp essential modules (and sometimes all modules) and then play properly from there; that avoids having to play anything stock, which is often frustrating, but does allow you to get the hang of whichever ship before progressing. T6-7 for the IJN DDs is slightly curious: for the torp line, the T6 is really rather good, but the T7 is less so (worth it for Kagero afterwards though); for the dakka line, it's the reverse - T6 is meh, but the T7 is glorious (BTW don't sell it when you get to T8 - keep it for occasional TRB hilarity, although you're painfully vulnerable to CVs when doing so).

Good choice - stick a coal hydro mod on her if you can. 1. The damage that CVs do (IMO) isn't actually that catastrophic, assuming you can Just DodgeTM. The real threat that they present is the spotting. 2. Dunno; whoever organised the reework doesn't want to look bad, or something? 3. What to do about it is a bit more involved, so a question/comment, followed by some notes... Is this your first account? If it is, you (at time of writing) have 116 random battles under your belt; that's not a bad thing, but it does mean you are very new to the game, and there is quite a range of stuff for you to learn that you probably haven't got to yet. As far as I can tell, your highest tier ship (besides Loyang) is T6; this means that - unless you're a world-class prodigy - your skill-set, and most likely available captains aren't ready for T8 battles yet. If I'm guessing correctly, don't worry (many of us did the same thing - my equivalent was the IS-6 in WOT), you can use Loyang in Coop mode, whilst skills and captains catch up. It's a really bad idea to rush up the tiers too fast; WOWS is built such that if you go up at a more considered pace, you learn about key aspects/mechanics of the game in steps, and avoid having to face everything all at once (as you do at T8, when you can easily face players with many thousands of games and 19 point captains). So, in general terms, what can a DD do about CVs (assuming you've taken a sensible approach to tier progression etc.): Firstly, understand that most CV players are not really that good (you will soon realise that this is an enormous relief to DDs); *however* there are some out there whose skill levels are truly fearsome (there are a few on this forum that you'll see pop up at times) - such players will take you to the cleaners pretty much no matter what you do. Basically, we have to accept that, and just try and distract them for as long as possible before they do us in. Everything that follows assumes you're not dealing with one of these unicums. Understand how the vision mechanics work (see the wiki for more: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Detection). Much of dealing with CVs involves, in one way or another, taking maximum advantage of these mechanics. DDs are usually pretty stealthy, so the first defence against CVs is not being found in the first place, although you can't rely on this entirely. Make sure you always run cammo (at least in PvP modes), concealment mod (when relevant; generally T8+), and a CE captain (when you're into the +2 MM bracket, if not before); if you don't do all this, you'll be at a significant disadvantage compared to most of your opponents. BTW your first ten points on a DD captain should usually look like this (source: http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc): Make sure your mini-map is as big as practical and make use of it: situational awareness is a great defence against planes, and you need to make extensive use of the mini-map to have it (also essential for surface to surface too). Enable the various range circles, especially surface and air detection. Know your ships and their capabilities: how fast/nimble are you? Is your AA any good (most DDs' isn't but there are a few exceptions), and - important - is your AA range longer than your air spotting distance? Do you have smoke, and, if so, what sort? Do you have a heal (mostly, no)? Do you have DefAA, and do you know how it interacts with sector reinforcement. First thing to do when the game starts is switch your AA off (if it out-ranges your air spotting distance; press and hold h in game to get a quick look at the relevant numbers) - you only want to let AA fire at carefully chosen moments as it often won't do much damage and it extends your air spotting distance to the range of your AA (that can be easily more than double). Switch your AA off whenever you don't actively need it. If a plane is bearing down on you (and you aren't in what passes for an AA monster, which means 75-90%ish of DDs), your ideal option is to get out of the way; if the plane doesn't spot you, then hurrah, you can get on with whatever you were doing. If the plane really wants to find you he probably will (for a start, he gets a warning when a ship spots him, even if he hasn't spotted it yet, so he knows you're in the area); you have a choice here - fight or flight (or both). If you have allies with good AA nearby, run for their AA umbrella. If you want to fight, wait until the planes are inside your AA range (exactly where will vary with ship and which auras are better than others) and then reactivate your AA. Read up on sector reinforcement and use it - it makes a huge difference - I have mine mapped to a spare mouse button, as the default isn't very convenient (enabling sector reinforcement will also activate your AA, so you can do everything with one click/button. An important note though: if you have DefAA on your ship, enable it *before* sector reinforcement; I believe that maximises the benefits of both aspects. You also want to manouevre hard, so as to keep the enemy planes in your reinforced sector as much as possible, not to mention making you harder to hit. If you have smoke, use it if you need to break visual contact with planes; I tend to avoid using it prophylactically though, as a huge cloud of smoke tells the enemy roughly where you are on the map. Whatever you're doing (fighting or fleeing), when you are spotted by planes, you need to try and avoid LoS to as many enemy surface ships as possible - most of the time they'll be what sinks you, not the planes. Just DodgeTM - this (and switching off AA) is WG's standard - and wildly unhelpful - advice; there is some utility here though. Most DDs are extremely nimble, so you can often dodge at least some of the incoming fire, or at least position yourself such that the planes don't have an optimal line of attack on your (in general, go nose in to torps, and side on to bombers; rockets are a bugger - try and turn hard and at random, and change course hard at the moment of firing; you won't dodge everything, but every little helps). Your default behaviour should usually be to try and evade planes, but sometimes you don't have any choice but to fight; your key aim (for the good of the team) is to last as long as you possibly can - every moment that a CV is attacking you he isn't stopping someone else on your team from doing something useful. When you do have to fight, you almost certainly won't stop the initial strike getting through (very few ships can), but every plane you kill is useful, plus - from a selfish perspective - will earn you rewards (I've come top three, or better, in battles where I did essentially no damage, but did massacre planes). BTW if you do have something where 'fight' isn't the last resort, keep an eye on the state of your AA - hits from HE will shoot some/all of it off (press and hold h again for this info in game).

My suspicion is that it is eminently possible (look at how many people get banned from WOT for using forbidden mods - I doubt WOWS is that different), but very rare. 95%+ (complete guess) of people who accuse you of cheating simply don't understand the game properly...

If in doubt, I would say wait for the moment: apart from Enterprise, WG don't generally remove things from sale without warning, and I think it's a while before the next resource ship coupon reset (I used mine on Marceau - but I'm showing as the next reset being in December, so you have a while). I have all the ships you mention, but am spectacularly poor in all of them, so mine tend to stay in Coop most of the time. So, I can't comment intelligently on their merits for a proper player; rather, I tend to think about this stuff in terms of tedious practicalities much of the time: Is there a key functional aspect that I need e.g. something to do secondaries missions with might suggest GA. Is something likely to be removed e.g. as others have pointed out, Thunderer must be quite likely for this (but WG may surprise us). Do you need to make a load of silver? If so, the T9 premiums are - all things being equal - better earners than the T10s. Is it likely to be fun? You'll obviously most likely get more use from something that you actively enjoy playing...