Verblonde

None are 'sell a kidney' essential, but there are quite a few that are 'nice to have' at least. I assume you already know about the key practical advantages of premiums (captain training, better rewards etc.), so the following is based mainly on fun and assumes each will tick a 'practicality' box for you as well (also, bear in mind I'm a DD main, so expect bias!): BBs (smell and their mothers dress them funny): MA is about as much fun as a BB can be, and Tirpitz is still a hoot (don't have Odin yet, but if you do enough of the current event, she may be a good value alternative), with an honourable mention for Scharn. In all cases, you want a secondary build/captain for maximum fun, but the usual 'survival' build/captain is usually felt to be optimal. Cruisers (not really my thing, but I like a few of them): Atago is my favourite, with a nice balance of guns and torps, plus she gets a heal which most T8s don't; MRE (Bagration) is growing on me - she's kind of like a Russian Atago in a lot of respects, but with worse torps and better (?) guns. Boise might be worth a look if you can manage without torps (excellent healing potion, and she's good in Narai). CVs (whilst acknowledging that there is the Special Hell for people who play CVs): Ark Royal is very worthwhile for Ops (I've never played mine against real people, as far as I remember), and GZ is glorious for manly fun in Coop (a brawling CV - what's not to like?!) although I gather that actual proper CV players don't think she's very good (and if you're going to go to the Special Hell, you might as well do so for playing something effective) for proper battles. DDs (the Correct choice, despite WG's best efforts to the contrary): T-61 gets smoke/hydro (use a coal mod) and is perhaps the best DD in the game tier-for-tier; Z-39 is similar a tier higher, but with bigger guns; Loyang is still very worthwhile, due to her being essentially Benson with smoke/hydro (cruiser hydro at that); Cossack is excellent, with RN smoke and defensive hydro, excellent concealment and splendid dakka (only one torp launcher though, and you are entirely reliant on smoke for defence against planes as your AA is risible). I would also give a 'maybe' to Orkan, although it's a bit too soon: she was great for me in Sprint, but I haven't been uptiered in her enough yet in randoms to be certain - she's essentially a smokeless Lightning with only one torp launcher, but she does get a heal and radar (not a good choice if you haven't played a lot of DDs already). Honourable mention to Okhotnik, just because she's hilarious. All of those are fairly standard picks, and come from nations where you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a decent captain via their equivalent silver lines; they're also (I think) pretty much always available, at time of writing anyway. There are a few other things to mention though, that are either weird, not always available, or otherwise a trifle 'difficult': The notorious 'no longer availables' i.e. Kami sisters, MO, GC, Belfast, and so on. There is basically no realistic chance (unless you whale most mightily with Xmas boxes) of getting these, but they're worth vaguely having on your radar just in case that changes and/or so you know what you're dealing with if you face one in battle. If you like DDs, the Kamikazes are *really* worth the fuss, for example. Gratuitous weebery and similar: WOWS seems to attract weebs for some reason (no idea why, but they do make the place more interesting), and there are a number of really good premiums aimed at this market which are worth keeping an eye out for if they ever return. Many are copy-paste versions of regular ships; this can be helpful if they're copies of silver ships that you like e.g. the various Myokos, or Montpelier (basically a premium Cleveland). Some are to be avoided (the general view of Yukikaze seems to be negative, although I don't have her). IMO the best of the lot is Harekaze; she's more or less a premium Kagero with stock torps and three gun options - you want the 100 mm ones. If you like DDs, absolutely get Harekaze if you can. No silver tree: this means anything where the nation in question only has premiums, and no equivalent silver ships. The main impact of this is that you need to either buy an expensive bundle with a 10 point captain, or have a good source of elite/free xp available to get the captain to a respectable level, to avoid the hideous experience of playing with a hopeless captain. It's worth not discounting this category of ship though, because there are a couple of fine choices: Perth is more or less a Leander, without the heal, but gaining creeping smoke and a spotter plane; she's hard to do well with (I suck in mine), but you can get excellent results if sufficient skill is applied. The highlight for me is Haida (although I'm biased, as previously mentioned): put a decent captain in her and she's a monster; she also can be effectively played in several different ways depending on mood/alertness/competence which means she doesn't get dull quickly (bonus points for sinking opponents with the laughable secondary guns; applies to Orkan too). Creeping smoke and defensive hydro (apply coal mods) further add to her versatility/effectiveness. Of course, all of that lot are paid for premiums; it's a good idea to get as many coal/steel/free xp ones as you can too...

There might be some merit in adding some shorter ranged/duration radar to a few silver T7 (or maybe even T6?) ships - maybe think in terms of some of the DD type stuff? Quite apart from fixing the whole thing with the only T7 radar being generally only available for money, it could be a useful way to gently introduce people to radar - apart from the premiums (which aren't massively common), many people's first serious introduction to radar is when they walk right into the T8s, which includes a lot of 12 km stealth radar; that's quite a steep learning curve for a newer player.

I preferred the T8 Sprint to the regular Ranked at T7, but that was in spite of the CVs, rather than because of them (T7 is a splendid tier, with lots of great ships, but full Ranked is fundamentally - for me - a lot less fun than Sprints). I suspect you're right about this. An alternative might be to have a permanent campaign in place (a la Shinonome) to earn Sharkbait (probably - I doubt that would lose WG many sales) or Atlanta though. The one to pick being dictated by which solution is less work - rebalancing however many ships get the radar, or putting a campaign together (leaving aside any positive PR from people getting a free premium).

You do, but (as touched on in other posts) it's sensible to pick your moments, and it's also essential for DD drivers to be aware of/know the capabilities of particular threats - most notably planes and radar. A fundamental thing to always bear in mind when playing a DD is that your ability to do stuff, and the impact you can make generally increases the longer you stay alive. I had a quick look at your stats and (besides noting that you've rushed up the tiers too fast) I see that you're focusing on the IJN DD lines; they're both good lines, but have a number of foibles to be aware of: Concealment: the torp line generally has the best concealment in the game, but you need a sensible build to make use of it (if your Kagero doesn't have 5.4 km surface concealment, you're doing it wrong for example); the dakka line has more average concealment, although it isn't disastrous. Firepower: the torp line has powerful torps (gosh, really), but they practically have flashing neon signs saying 'torps here' so you are more likely to get hits from shorter range (make sure you have the 'zoomy torps' mod mounted too); you also have useful guns, but they will ruin your concealment, so use with care. The dakka line is generally (oddly, the T7 is a candidate for the best torp boat in the game, tier for tier) more about the guns, so is harder to play - opening fire blows your concealment (I keep repeating this as it's so important to be mindful of) so it is very important to have sufficient situational awareness such that you don't open fire when half the enemy team has LoS to you (be very cautious with camping in smoke - any torp boat in range will fire torps into your smoke on general principles). Consumables: neither line gets hydro or radar, so you have no way to light up concealed enemies through smoke/terrain; this makes you less capable as cap contestors, so you generally want to wait until either you're unopposed, or have more capable allies with you, before trying to cap. Particular issues: the biggest one (IMO) is the problem planes present to the torp line (stuff like radar impacts other DDs just as much as the IJN ones, but - with practice - can be played around). I assume you know about turning off AA if it is longer ranged than your air spotting distance? The IJN torp line is at least semi-viable for a typical player, despite the CVs, but you will do much better in CV-free games (I've just finished re-grinding the line for about the fourth - ? - time) - you just need to alter how you play if there is a CV in the game; be prepared to run away towards allies with better AA, and try and keep islands between yourself and the opposing surface fleet when planes are in the area (what sinks you is usually enemy ships that make use of the planes' spotting). Do make use of your smoke, but be mindful that it telegraphs roughly where you are, so only switch it on with good reason. BTW a useful thing to know about (in anything where the interactions between visibility and radar etc. are crucial): the range circles on your mini-map can be used for more than just knowing how far you can shoot or be spotted from. Say you're playing the IJN torp line; in Kagero, you have a nice visual representation on your mini-map of how far 10 km is (your torp range circle), and in the T9-10 (assuming the optimum armament for most players) you get 12 km. So what? So, that gives you a way to visually estimate more easily (and quickly) how much of a threat common radar ships are - US and Russians, respectively.

Although getting one's posterior repeatedly handed to one is annoying, try not to get too gloomy - if you're relatively new to DDs, it'll take a while to get the hang of them, and - more pertinently - you presumably have a smaller data set, so you're quite probably better than that 41% might suggest.

I believe it can (I used to run it for a giggle before the reework, although it often didn't end well, you'll be entirely unsurprised to hear); these days, for a farty like me at least, I entirely agree with this bit of advice... BTW for context, I love the Ikeas, but a Kagero without smoke is far more vulnerable than they are (due to lack of heal and worthless AA).

I would suggest not ignoring spotting with Kagero, as she's very good at it (but be mindful of CVs and radar spotting you); with a full concealment build you have class-leading concealment of 5.4 km after all. A possibly useful way to think about spotting though is as a means to helping create conditions that you can profit from: although you don't benefit (much) directly from spotting, you may help your allies sink threats to you, which gives you a freer hand to do things that reward you directly i.e. do some damage. Some Kagero-specific things to have on your radar: Kagero is very stealth dependent (no surprise), so make sure you maximise this aspect - cammo and concealment mod, and ensure your captain has CE (so, 10 points minimum). Because the ship is balanced around stealth, beware of things that erode that, so especially CVs (your AA is dreadful) and radars; dealing with this requires superior situational awareness, and that's something that comes with practice (one reason number of battles is pertinent). Make it a point to be aware of particular threats that you're likely to meet e.g. stealth radar (Chapy is a notable one) and things like Cossack/Lightning which you only out-spot by 100 m and are highly effective DD hunters. Don't forget you have guns; although your primary weapons are your torps, your guns have good enough alpha to be of great use under the right circumstances (ideally when blowing your stealth is less crucial). 'Stay alive' is *really* important for Kagero, in particular when there isn't a CV in the game; if you can outlast the opposition DDs and radar, nothing can spot you (unless you do something daft) and you can raise merry hell. Capping should be on your 'to do' list as well, but pick your spots - there are far better cap contestors than Kagero, so unopposed caps are always nice. None taken!

48% overall WR player here, so perhaps I should be ignored? Anyway, some pointers that you may (or may not) find of some use: 'DD skills' matter a great deal when they're things like positioning, working with the vision mechanics (and, related, CVs and radar) and suchlike, for one key reason: survival. The thing I used to do (and still do more than I should, if I'm honest) is get sunk too early; it may seem like a statement of the bleedin' obvious, but this isn't a good thing. It's worth reiterating though as there is always a temptation to risk too much too early, just to cap, or to shoot/torp something. Concentrate on staying alive - the longer you're in the game, the more opportunities you have to do damage; also, the longer you're in play, the greater your influence tends to be. Be mindful of how the economy works (https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Economy), specifically note that what gets you the best rewards is high proportional damage, not damage in absolute terms i.e. 1,000 hp of damage done to something with a small hp pool to start with will net you superior rewards to doing identical damage to a much bigger target (so, sink DDs first etc.). Join a clan; life is easier for DDs when they have people they can rely on for support (to provide AA cover, blow up radar ships and so on), and a clan often makes it easier to find such people to division with. Besides which, if you pick one that has a reasonably developed base, you'll get useful economic boosts too. For a typical player, if you are entirely f2p, T8 - IMO - is where consistently making silver gets harder; it is abundantly possible, but you do need to bring your A-game (bear in mind that many folk on here are absurdly good at the game, so their perspective on where silver earning gets tough may be different to yours).. Things did get easier recently though, with all premium consumables moving to zero cost. So overall, for a DD, playing for the team and making silver are commonly one and the same, just not necessarily directly. Finally, I note that at time of writing you're showing 822 random battles; there is absolutely nothing to be sniffy about here, but do be aware that this is quite early in most players' development - it does take time and practice to get good enough at the game to make consistently good silver...

Two accounts, and a 'no' for both. I don't feel the urge the gamble at all on this: I have all the ships already, and the compensation for a repeat is much lower than it typically would be (and none of the bundles contain coal, as far as I can see).

A minority? Possibly. Alone? Certainly not. I would much rather have real ships in the game, as a general policy; I'm not rabidly anti-paper (as a one second glance at my port with demonstrate), but I much prefer something 'real' where possible. I suspect this focus on paper may well be because WG assume all their markets think alike i.e. like a chap with a distinct lack of priapic excellence, with the associated lack of confidence, and prioritise/produce ships accordingly. So, if they want to grow the US market, they think they need lots of MAGA ships, and so on.

I get this occasionally too - I believe it may be to do with lag over the connection to the game. More techie folk may be able to shed more light, but it's a damn nuisance; luckily - for me anyway - it seems fairly rare. That's correct; with a 'zero imagination' build (below) my QE has a secondary range of 4.2 km: Secondary range varies enormously, and can be boosted with captain skills (AFT) and upgrades (Secondary Battery Mod 1) and signals; some T8+ ships, when built for secondaries, have a range in excess of 10 km. As a general rule, secondaries (especially at lower tier) are generally not worth building for (you get a better return focusing on whatever the main armament is - usually big guns); there are a few exceptions though - have a look at the wiki (https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/World_of_Warships) for more, but generally, the most common ones are T7+ KM BBs, and the MA (US premium). If DDs are giving you trouble, perhaps try some of the following (from the perspective of a DD main): Load HE in your main guns; when you hit a DD with AP, you 'only' do 10% damage - this isn't bad, but you'll wreak havoc with HE (don't forget to switch back to AP afterwards, unless you have more squishy things to engage). Learn (and practice) to think ahead; DDs will be watching where your main guns are pointing and trying to be somewhere else - your aim is to guess where the enemy is going to be and pre-aim your guns in advance (sometimes, this may mean turning the whole ship). The real threat that most DDs pose to you is from torps, rather than guns - never drive in a straight line at a constant speed; it makes it much harder to hit with torps if you're doing that (as a DD driver I live for straight-lining BBs, so don't be one). Don't go off on your own; a good way for a BB to deal with DDs is to sink the things that are threatening your side's better DD-killers, especially cruisers, and especially especially radar cruisers. If you have a screen of friendly cruisers and DDs in front of you, it's much harder for a DD to get at you. The whole DD range versus secondary range thing - I believe - may well be rationalised in terms of the control systems: DD main guns are controlled by systems analogous to those that control the main guns of BBs, so they can shoot (accurately) further than secondaries can, due to the latter generally having less refined control systems. Or something like that; the real reason is probably the usual 'game balance'...

We might be missing something here - perhaps this is the game's first COVID line? Lots of people work from home now, right? With this line, one might be able to play and work at the same time. Step 1, point ship in right direction, and max the throttle. Step 2, attend virtual meeting discussing a P&L or similar. Step 3, make cup of tea. Step 4, drop back into game and fire first salvo at some hapless berk. Step 5, work on a spreadsheet or database for a bit; perhaps write a macro or two - that kind of thing. Step 6, back to game to check progress of reload. Step 7, probably need more tea by now. Step 8, back to game to fire second salvo. ...and so on...

As a general rule, it's helpful if premiums, especially earlier purchases, tick more than one of the following boxes: Fun (you won't get good value if you don't play the thing multiple times). Relevant captain trainer: a key plus point of premium ships is their ability to boost the training (or elite xp) gains on captains from silver ships, so it helps to get premiums that belong to the same nation as one or other of your silver lines (assuming the captain build overlaps). Of a tier that you're comfortable at (although you can always play a ship in coop if your enthusiasm for it overtakes your current skill level). You appear to be working on the KM and US BB lines, with the KM being more advanced; in light of that, you can do a lot worse than MA and Tirpitz. Tirpitz - IMO - ticks all three boxes and works perfectly with captains from the silver line. MA is most fun with a specialised 'manly' captain, but the consensus from the BB experts seems to be that the optimal build for her is the usual 'tank' which coincides exactly with the silver line. Edit: I don't have Odin yet, but that might be the best value option, if you're doing the dockyard missions and will get to an advanced enough stage...?

Boise is rather good, if you don't have her already - certainly worth 1,500 doubloons IMO.

WG have said that the current concept is essentially 'slow, average armour, long reload, and massive guns' i.e. it's a line where the core concept involves nothing very much happening for long periods of time. Unless that fundamental concept changes, are you surprised that the bulk of opinions expressed haven't been exactly bulging with excitement? I have a suspicion that most people on here like to influence games (or try vainly to, in my case), and that tends to require more 'active' ships; the core concept of these new BBs is pretty much anathema to that. Of course, things may change, and this line may well turn into the most exciting BB release in the game's history, but - at this point - if nothing changes, I see no reason to play these ships when almost any other BB line will be less dull. If nothing changes.

The doubloons compensation seems remarkably low if you have the ship already...?

The answer depends a bit on whose perspective you're looking at it from: There's a widespread belief that it's WG's latest wheeze to extract money from the whales (via free xp conversion); if I'm entirely honest, I don't entirely discount this explanation! On the other hand, there is some quite worthwhile stuff you can get with the points you earn from (multiple) line resets; at the moment, that means ships and possibly the LUs, although we don't know yet where the latter will end up. So far, there appears to be nothing essential in the RB; there isn't an equivalent to Stalingrad in there for example, although there are some worthwhile options. I've done several line resets myself, but I don't believe they are in any way a 'must do'. If you do feel the urge (I wanted Colbert), some pointers: Unless you're *very* keen (or have a lot of free xp to burn), I would suggest only resetting lines when you have one of the occasional x2 bonuses in play - I tend to think the return on a standard reset isn't worth the trouble. Pick a line to reset that is either cheap to research (the cheapest is the dakka IJN DD line, I believe, followed by the IJN torp line), or great fun to play, or ideally both. It helps to do the same line multiple times and keep a captain for each ship you intend playing; for instance, I think I have almost all 19 point captains for the IJN torp DD line now, from T6 to T9 - this will make the regrind rather less painful (plus, you're earning elite xp at the same time, with any 19 pointers, which is nice). Patience is key - the best rewards take quite a bit of time to get.

Okay, I'm a DD main, so am naturally rather allergic to slow ships, but I really don't see any attraction here (sorry to be negative): slow ships, mediocre armour, and horribly long reload (albeit with distinctly scary guns).....? On the up-side, I imagine the 'eating cheetos between salvos' crowd might well approve. (If there was going to be a US BB split, I was quietly hoping for a secondary orientated line. Oh well.)

Thinks: Bundles? What bloody bundles?! <actually switch on game for the first time today and snuffle around in the Armory [sic]> Ah! Those bundles!

Messing with the Naval Base (Dev Blog): https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/43

Genius suggestion. ...in particular. Wash too!

Nope. All kinds of nope. More nope than getting up to go to the lavatory in the middle of the night and finding your kludgie occupied by a dozen enormous hairy bird-eating spiders, an ill-tempered skunk, and something huge and carnivorous... This is going to be next Christmas' "Oh, !" drop from the Xmas boxes, assuming we get them.

You'd need a *lot* more than a day to fix what's broke! That said, my attention would focus on competent marketing/comms...

Dev Blog: https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/42 Includes: German CVs (part 2). Being able to reorder consumables sequence. 3 x 3 Sprint, T9. (Hilarious?) new permaflage for Atlanta.