Verblonde

This is certainly cheering up a dull afternoon - definitely made me chuckle... Bravo, everyone! <applause>

This a rather vintage example of the genre: both a promising entry from a (relative) newcomer on the theme of "I haven't learned the game properly yet and *demand* it be fixed", with extra points for artistic interpretation (due to wanton cruelty to the English language)... Thread locked in 5-4-3-2...

There really isn't enough popcorn in the world...

Hmmm, I have a few candidates; my most used captains of late are the two Ovenchickens, but they're not eligible. This first chap was one of my earlier 19 pointers on the Groz line of DDs; his place on Groz has been taken by the Russian Ovenchicken, so he's been moved on to other things: Another one is this one: He was used an awful lot on my US DDs, until I got my US Ovenchicken to 19 points; since a fairly recent respec, he now earns his keep on MA (both of them) and GA...

I'm another vote for DDs (well, I would be): either well-balanced all-rounders, like the RN ones (especially the sneaky T8s), or something with plenty of reach - I'm liking the T8+ Ikea ones partly for this. It helps if you're not a sitting duck for CVs either, so for the RN it's the very handy smoke, and for the Ikeas, rather good AA (comparatively speaking).

Because I'm an idiot, I've got T5-9 (I did say I was an idiot!) and have played all of them enough to get the permaflage. Recalling that this is the view of a below-average player: T5 and T6 are nothing special, apart from having - for DDs at their tiers - tolerable AA. You are pretty wiggly though, and without smoke you need to be! The heal is awesome though. For me, the line got actively fun at T7, as that's where your torps start getting fast (T5-6 torps are at the faster end for their tier, but are not so fast that targets will struggle to dodge if they know what they're doing, and you need plenty of hits to make up for the anaemic alpha), and longer ranged. T8 seems to be the peak for sneakiness (5.8 km, from memory), so you need to play around getting out-spotted quite a bit (usually, IJN torp boats). Your AA gets rather fierce with the higher tiers - I got my first AA Defence Meister (or whatever it's called) award a day or two ago in the T9; admittedly, I was being attacked by a Kaga, so easier to kill planes and plenty of them, but still... Wiggliness helps with planes too, of course - easier to keep the buggers within your reinforced sector when it's active. You are a bit slow, at all tiers, so when you do get spotted you're going to need the heal, at the very least (but you are quite hard to hit though; I'm running the rudder shift mod, as I never stop moving and any extra wiggliness helps). On my T6+ I have BFT captains; even with that, your guns are not ferocious (and the traverse is a bit painful), but they are 'good enough' for a hybrid. Trying to stare into my crystal balls a bit, and estimate to what extent I'll play these things longer-term: T5&6 will probably mostly gather dust: for a start, I have Kami/Fujin, Gremy, Okhotnik - for laughs, and T-61, off the top of my head which I'm more likely to reach for. T7 is decent, but is eclipsed by Z-39 and Haida (but there isn't much that isn't). Worth an occasional play, I suspect. T8 is where I'm likely to start getting more use from the things, as that's where the guns/torps/heal/AA really start to gel, and I really like the T9. My guess is that CVs/radars, and their prevalence will be what ultimately has the greatest influence on how much longer-term use my Ikea DDs will get; I would rate them as about the best DDs to be trying to use in an environment heavy with both threats - the AA can make typical CVs really regret going near you (I've had multiple games now where I've either done a lot of damage to attacking planes, or just been left alone after mauling their first attack), and the long reach on your torps means you can at least be vaguely useful until the opposing radar gets whittled down a bit (combined with a healthy wiggle, for when you do get spotted, if you're like me and try and cap/spot anyway). Final note (full disclosure): just because I'm finding these things fun, doesn't mean I'm any good in them! My WRs are currently (by tier, T5-9) 75, 46.7, 52.9, 60.9, and 43.3...

If you'll forgive my being frightfully vulgar, JB is still in the shop (for money), if you get desperate...

If it were me, I'd get one of the two that are being removed (unless you plan to buy a lot of Xmas crates), and I'd probably get Smol; all the Christmas gamble boxes so far - is it three years, now? - have only gone up to T9, so when it's gone that's yer lot. Unless WG start including T10s in the gamble boxes. JB also is similar to some of the existing French ships (albeit not identical), so you can get similar gameplay elsewhere.

Just out of curiosity, I've had a look at some of the awards under discussion and when I last got them: Confederate: 21st Mar 2020 (Skane) Dreadnought: yesterday (Ostergotland) High Calibre: 22nd Jan 2020 (Fujin) Kraken: 15th Mar 2020 (Visby) Solo Warrior: no date, as I've only ever got one (Z-46) Witherer: 15th Mar 2019 (KGV) Liquidator: 17th Nov 2018! (Vampire) I'm a sub-par player, so it's not that surprising that I've only got one Solo Warrior, but the others should be doable - at least now and again - by most people who can vaguely shoot straight. I'm also a DD main, so not having any Liquidators for over a year is suggestive that this award - at least - is problematic, *especially* since I play main the exact class that ought to be getting them. I only mention this as I believe it supports the need for at least some more DD-orientated awards...

I'd also be very keen on being able to set things up so that they automatically collected whichever type of container your prefer when you reach the relevant xp milestones. You could leave the 'open' functionality as it is, if WG are keen on maintaining some sort of antici.........pation* thing. *Reference for old people.

Well, I appear to have discovered the optimal (?) ship for getting AA Defence Expert and Dreadnought awards: Alas, we still lost...

This is true - I got one last week with one of the Ikea DDs (I think my first one ever was a DD too - Kidd)...

What do you reckon: ten thousand for two, and twenty thousand for one...?

I'm quietly hoping never in the 'main' game modes (giving them their own mode is fine IMO), or at least not until CVs have been properly sorted out and given us some faith that WG can add/change a significant element of the game without knackering things for what's already there.

I'd certainly agree with the notion that DDs could use some medals focused in their direction (says the DD main!) - quite apart from anything else, DDs get lousy rewards (or none) for basically doing their job, so something aimed at rewarding the 'not damage' stuff we're meant to be doing might mitigate that somewhat, and encourage more DD players to spot/cap etc...

I think this may be good advice; not so much because she's awful in Ops (I would argue the reverse), but we don't know what WG have in store for Ops - many of us fear they're going to kill them off entirely - and there are lots of rather better ships for randoms at T6. If you're going to buy something specifically for Ops, be mindful that Ops may well not be around for the long term - will you enjoy the ship in other modes? I actually do like Graf Spee but don't play her very often outside Ops, as I have a lot of other premiums that I enjoy more for that mode. All personal opinion, of course.

Sub-average player's perspective - she's very good for Ops (although I don't have enough data to comment on Newport): She's a lot like a stumpy BB that occupies a cruiser slot. Has a heal, which I view as extremely useful in Ops. The guns are worthwhile, although she doesn't have the volume of fire that other cruisers do, but shells can do a lot of damage if/when they hit (they're basically modest BB guns, including the flaky accuracy). Torps are very handy now and again, and the secondaries are a giggle with the right captain build (I don't give her any secondary upgrades - I run a pretty standard upgrade set) - I usually take a semi-manly BB captain from Fat Freddy, although a more conservative one is probably optimal. Can mount hydro, which is very helpful for the 'torp soup' bits of some Ops (or DefAA, which is less useful). Optional 'National' permaflage available for money, but does improve the earnings noticeably (but can't be mounted on the HSF version, should you get that) - see below. Overall, Graf Spee is perhaps my main 'go to' for T6 Ops; make of that what you will - it's fun, but I'm not a very good player.

Apparently not (as per other permaflages):

Every time you buy a new ship (except premiums and other things that include one) the number of free slots you have decreases by one.

As to the 'Is Smol OP' thing, I don't believe it is, although it has some nasty traits to be aware of when facing them. As a DD main, I'd rather see multiple Smols on the other side than almost any other Russian or American cruiser of the same tier; unicums apart, they're usually straightforward(ish) to deal with, and - most importantly - they lack radar.

Smol consumables confirmation: Alternatively, you can take DefAA in place of Hydro...

Not with a high chance of success; the least unlikely route is via one of the Christmas gambling boxes: first you have to get one (usually via some mission or other), and then you have to luck out that it drops a premium (rather than flags/cammo etc.), and then you have to luck out further and have it drop the specific premium you want (T8s and up being much less likely than the lower tier ones, it seems). If you *really* want Atago (and she is very good), you'll probably have to pay real money for her; that said, there are periodic ways to get them (there are three versions, I think) for a reduced price e.g. occasional discount vouchers; the Black Friday variant was about a third off, I think; occasional sales and so on.

As others have said, you want the T7+ KM BBs, MA, GA, or I've found the higher tier French quite worthwhile in that regard. I basically did it with the Tirpitz, two US premiums and Jean Bart... (bonus points for Graf Zep)

I need free beer and cakes until a vaccine is found! (Well, you never know...)