Verblonde

Taking inspiration from the spiritual guidance on this thread, I just gave Vampire a lash - seventy-something main gun hits (including quite a few on a Hosho), and zilch torp hits. Doh! (We won, and somehow I came third - must take her out more often....!)

I've a horrible feeling I have all of them...! As to which are the most magnificent: Smith is hilarious (torps that reload in about a third the time of a BB shell). Tachibana is good value, of course. The most splendid though has to be Vampire (especially with a 19 point Haida captain on her - because I'm a bad person)....

Thinking about it a bit more, if WG were feeling zoologically inclined, each level of badge could feature different steps on the path to true 'whaleness'; for the basic one, feature - say - Pakicetus, and work up from there via things like Ambulocetus, Basilosaurus and suchlike, before eventually reaching things like humpbacks and blues. Thus could the players' elevation to full whale be marked with more meaningful stages...?

Precisely. It be beneficial to read up on how indirect fire (artillery etc.) actually work in reality; whilst using RL is often deeply flaky via-a-vis how the game works (thank you, ladies and gentlemen, I gratefully accept the award for 'understatement of the year'), in this case it's actually fairly reasonable. On flat terrain, a six-foot person can see roughly 3 miles, I gather, before the earth's curvature means things vanish below the horizon. Ships are generally taller than six feet (!), but even so the same principle applies i.e. things start vanishing below the horizon, with the distance varying depending on the highest observation point on the ship. Short version: we already more or less inevitably have indirect spotting happening in the game even on Ocean map; we don't need to be adding smoke for this to be already a logical necessity. I also note that the only complaint is apropos smoke; the exact same logic also applies to islands (e.g. two opposing BBs hiding on opposite sides of an island; only one of those BBs has an allied DD with LoS to the other - the BB with associated DD will see the other BB, but the other BB can't do the reverse) and I don't see any complaints about that...

Apart from the colour palette, the 'gimp suit' ships kind of have a suitable vibe, for those inclined in that sort of direction....

Not that I'm any good in any of them (that I have), but: Alaska! Azuma: Yoshino is better, and Azuma doesn't get Alaska's radar. Agir: is too new to have a firm view on (and I don't have her yet), but that means that Alaska is much more likely to get removed first. Friesland: hilarious dakka, but the lack of torps severely limit her utility as a 'classic' DD. FWIW in my capacity as a target, the one that induces most trepidation is certainly Alaska...

CV research cost changes: https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/37 Short version: it'll be easier/quicker to get from T4 to T6. I smell a (vain?) attempt to address the T4 CV plague...?

This was pretty much my reaction too...

Wouldn't that be a bit, y'know, French? (Naturally, the starred word is - of course - referring to the male chicken?)

I really don't like epicentre one bit, but most of that is probably because I'm only just starting to get the hang of the mode. So, voted 'no' to an opt-out - I just need to learn/practice more. (Besides which, my usual PoV is that more variety is good, so it would be a bit hypocritical to vote for something that reduces variety.)

I suspect that there may well be yet another one coming along eventually: the silver and blue ones both have a pair of ships, one half finished, the other complete. The one on the new badge is half finished, so presumably, there'll be a complete version for the next level - something for the completists to chase (when 400 ships is within reach)...

It's a shame that we can't get the captains alone: I don't have much interest in the ships, but I'm always keen on 'novelty' captains, even when I blatantly don't need them...

That would explain why I got torped from the second line by some blithering idiot AI a day or two ago...

Daily Bounce: https://thedailybounce.net/world-of-warships/world-of-warships-update-0-9-6-changes-and-additions-supertest-datamining-german-carriers-event/ The bit that especially interested me (if it's accurate):

Presumably, WG's aim is to encourage people to play as wide a range of ships as possible; raw newbies will be boned this time, but one hopes they'll learn from the experience and make the effort to diversify their fleets for next time (which should make them better players in the process). WG only very rarely give anything truly for free; you always pay for 'it' (whatever that may be) with either time, money, or behaviours that are modified in the way that WG want. As players, we need to be entirely aware of this, and then make a decision as to whether whatever thing we're looking at is worth the time etc. that we'll need to put in. The world does not end if we decide not to do a mission or several.

FWIW I rather like the potential damage missions - they're a hoot in Coop. Normally, you have to play BBs sensibly, to avoid overextending/getting burned to the ground; with Coop, you can take Bismarck say (or any of the other secondary monsters, although if you can do a secondaries hits mission at the same time, that's a bonus - I think I did mine with Tirpitz, MA, and GA) and basically charge the enemy and have a glorious close combat melee which makes a nice change from the usual rather static stuff. This is a good thing surely? One tends to be a much better player (or, in my case, marginally less dreadful) if you play at least some games in other classes, even if it's just in Coop to get the hang of the basics.

BTW all my previous assumes the BB you are after isn't MO - that one requires a bit more circumspection, as it's equipped with radar...

Smoke is (visually) entirely opaque. If you really want to get excitable about the 'logic' behind a game mechanic, I would suggest viewing 'spotted' as not merely meaning some chap on your ship has seen something with binoculars etc. but rather than your ship - as a collective - has a solid fix on something good enough to shoot with. This could mean via the above chap with his binos, or from a radio/lamp signal sent from an allied ship that *does* have LoS to the target. Have you ever been on a museum ship, say? If you have, you'll have seen that - often - all the gunnery solutions are derived somewhere with no windows, and many gun turrets are similarly bereft of sea views. When one thinks in these sorts of terms, the spotting mechanics make a surprising amount of sense, at least at a superficial level (<cough>island-penetrating radar/hydro<cough>).

BTW OP, your original post mentions KM DDs: First, one-on-one against a BB, unless you've done something enormously ill-advised with your build, you *will* win with torps alone - you certainly don't need either guns or smoke. Something to be aware of if you use hydro - the BB knows when he's detected by your hydro, so he therefore knows you're in hydro range - so you reduce his uncertainty as to your location dramatically (if he is only visually detected, he only knows you're within his surface spotting distance, which is a much larger circle). This is slightly OT, as if you detect him with hydro from within a smoke screen, he already knows where you are - more or less - from where the smoke is, but I mention it as the same applies if you're trying to bushwhack him from behind an island.

Assuming you are a DD in that situation: Don't fire guns, unless there is a pressing need to do so and/or the target BB is essentialy a one-shot; have torps selected (if the BB has PT, he knows when you switch between guns and torps). Don't use smoke - you outspot the BB substantially (if I'm reading your post correctly, you have about a 1 km torp stealth fire window). In general, the most effective way to kill a BB (if you're most DDs) is with torps; with the exception of maybe a few Russians (and Friesland), one-on-one DD v BB, the DD's guns are ornamental, if you want to be safe. So, who cares if you can't fire guns in that situation - you simply don't need to.

On the off-chance you aren't just trying to wind people up: First port of call is the wiki: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Detection Basically, smoke blocks line of sight to everything that isn't radar or hydro (if you don't know about smoke, you may wish to read up on those too); all of its uses revolve around that fact, until you get close enough for assured detection. As others have mentioned, when you fire, the distance through smoke that you can be spotted from increases, approximately in proportion to the size of gun fired (firing torps has no impact on visibility). Knowing that, and how the game in general works, you should be able to elucidate how to make the most of smoke yourself, and deal with it when it's used against you. Some things to think about/be aware of: Recall that if anyone on your team can see an opposing ship, then so can you (assuming it's in render range; if it isn't, it'll just show on the minimap); this means that if you are in smoke then you will still 'see' opponents beyond/outside the smoke, provided someone on your side has them acquired. The reverse is also true. Hydro and radar see straight through smoke; so, you can see out of a smoke screen with either of them, and others can see in. Hydro and radar both have a finite run time though and finite range, which you need to be mindful of to play around them. At the most fundamental level, you lay smoke to break line of sight (and use hydro/radar to nullify that for a short time). You will often see people sitting still in a smoke screen and firing at the enemy; this is often foolish - many players can infer where you are by looking at your tracers, plus anyone worth their salt with torps in the vicinity will fire them into smoke screens on general principles. You absolutely can shoot through smoke and stay undetected, *but* someone needs to have the target lit (either you, via radar/hydro, or anyone on your team by any means); see the bit above regarding smoke firing though - a BB can be spotted when it fires through smoke from much further away than something like a DD. You absolutely can use smoke to help you run away (it's one reason why the RN DDs are worthwhile - their smoke is great for this), but you still want to jink - an experienced player will fire at where you would be if you didn't change course/speed, or just at the leading edge of a growing smoke cloud - assuming they have a suitable angle. Smoke doesn't have to only be about you as well: use it to block line of sight to allies to make them harder to hit (maybe save an ally who is under heavy fire and/or mortally damaged). You can also use smoke as a decoy: if you pop a smoke cloud and then move away at full speed, you can sometimes bait torps (see earlier point about torping idiots in smoke) and/or radar, or make the opposition think you're somewhere where you aren't. To do this well requires decent situational awareness though e.g. no point baiting radar if it's a) on the other side of the map, or b) you're too far into its range to get away in time (assuming no island to hide behind). Of course, there is plenty more than that, but I'm not entirely convinced you aren't pulling everyone's leg...

Good topic, sir! For me, it's probably Haida; besides being a real ship (with interesting history) that's parked half an hour from where I live, she's one of the most fun ships in the game - IMO. She also has the merit of working well with a range of different playstyles, from 'sneaky spotter' through to 'deranged psychopath' which keeps her interesting. Finally getting - *very* occasional - CQB awards with a DD never gets old... Honourable mentions to The Xmas Box that my Fujin fell out of. T-61. Scharnhorst.

I'm quietly hoping that, at some point, WG get round to allowing us to switch off individual 'non standard' skins - entirely because of the Shokek one (I rather like the 'art deco/steampunk' ones and I lose them too if I switch off the entire Halloween set)...

Presumably, the overall amount of work will be at least on a par with what was required in the 'soggy Mad Max' mode (whatever that was called - Rogue Wave?) to get the T10 permaflage. I don't recall it being easy, but it not being utterly unreasonable though...?

For maximum efficiency, I've been splitting my time between Coop and Randoms (plus an occasional Op): Things like damage and secondary hits are most efficiently done in Coop (drive a GA, say, right into the middle of the bots and unleash heck). Anything like xp earning, and silver, generally call for Randoms. If you're an airhead like I am, a bit of effort to check which missions are doable in which ships also helps, so avoiding spending time trying to do a mission that calls for cruisers in DDs, for example.....!