Verblonde

That's an interesting idea - many thanks! Might give it a try and see how it goes...

As a matter of interest, does anyone use EM on their IJN torp captains? I was idly wondering about this when re-grinding the line recently, but decided against it...

BTW - probably a statement of the bleedin' obvious - you need to remember to switch off the AA on Harekaze, whereas you don't on Asashio. Very minor point.

It makes life easier if you do - I run my IJN 'dakka' DD captain (currently on the T9) with IFHE and it works admirably. Someone who actually remembers armour thicknesses and thresholds can probably easily tell you which extra things get penned with IFHE (I seem to recall that it's less of a slam-dunk skill than it used to be though)...

If you're only going to buy one, make it the Harekaze: she's far more versatile, and works well against a much wider range of targets. Harekaze is essentially a Kagero, with better guns (at the expense of having the stock torps), and less embarrassing AA; you also have the option of the different bonuses on the 'cat' cammo. This is from someone who has both; also, Asashio is my most played ship, and I like her enough to also have the Black Friday version as well...

Not an original thought, but for DDs anyway, the issue is the concealment module, or its lack - I've been re-grinding the IJN torp boats lately, and (IMO) the T7 is perhaps the hardest to do well with - compared to the others - as it has about the worst concealment for the line, compared to common opponents. Are there equivalents for the other classes too?

In my view, it depends a bit on the specific DD; that said, a serious CV driver will kill you deader than dead regardless - luckily, they're pretty rare. That said, you have a few options/tactics available: First of all, if your AA range is longer than the distance planes spot you from, leave it off unless spotted or wanting to engage the planes at longer range (p key is the toggle). Make use of sector reinforcement (map it to something more useful than 'o', although the secondary default is the tilde key). Dodge - a lot - for example, if a rocket plane spots you, turn hard into it - this'll often make their attack over-shoot. The other key aim is to break LOS with the opposing fleet - enemy surface combatants are generally more likely to kill you than planes are (in a DD anyway). DDs are actually very hard to hit seriously for a *normal* CV driver, with some practice. Bravely run away: try not to get too far ahead of your bigger mates, so if planes threaten, you can retreat into a friendly AA bubble. Engage in mortal combat: some DDs have semi-respectable AA, especially if they have DefAA. A good CV driver will shrug this stuff off, but most of them can take serious losses with judicious play. The key thing is to (if at all possible) try and fight only one battle at once i.e. planes *or* ships. If you want to fight planes, try and keep island between you and the opposing surface ships whilst doing so (see previous point about LOS). Don't forget you (sometimes) have smoke - besides the usual applications, hiding from/breaking visual contact with planes can be very effective. With practice, most CVs are not an unreasonable threat to your DD, and the biggest problem tends to be their spotting; unless you're in an AA build monster (Groz springs to mind), the aim is mainly to make the CV give up and chase someone easier or waste all their time hunting you - in the latter case, they may effectively make you combat ineffective, but they can't be threatening every other member of your team.

I'll wait and see what the real numbers are before definitively deciding. That said, I'll almost certainly buy the T7 Italian, but only if I have a realistic chance of doing the whole thing as a result; for me, it'll come down to whether I have suitable T10s for the last stage (at the moment, I'm short at least one), which'll also decide whether I spend anything on the acceleration thing...

This matters; it's probably even worse for newbies as well - most of us on here are reasonably au fait (at least) with anti-CV tactics, whereas I imagine a lot of newbies have yet to learn about things like switching off AA and driving round plane spotting zones...

Wash your moth out, sir - I make sure to sacrifice half a dozen chickens prior to each session - works wonders for the WR...!

Substitute 'thing of value' for the phone, and it's basically the same mechanic; fair point though.

This. I probably should have mentioned the 'decent players' bit..!

If you want to avoid being too profligate: I've been free-xping to around T5-6, and then playing properly from there; almost done the second one now...

Right there is why you'll probably end up a better player than 90-odd percent of players - the ability to make sensible informed decisions. You'll definitely be sinking my sorry posterior in no time! BTW if you want a useful way to practice against predictable opposition (and earn useful resources), your Dunk and Warspite are both pretty worthwhile in the current Op. If you're wondering how I know you have them: https://wows-numbers.com/player/565075530,FarQ2/ Also, do you have access to Discord? Playing in division with others, using voice comms, can help accelerate the pace of learning, not to mention being fun as well. I've been using the current Op over the last couple of days to do the basic training of my Jingles captain (just for fun) in Warspite... A final (?) thing: it's worth noting that over the period running from 'very soon' (no TM) to the new year, there are often some pretty decent offers on things like premium ships - if you do see something that is irresistible, albeit unsuitable now, maybe just go for it - you'll be good enough to use it properly fairly soon, and you'll still make decent silver running it in Coop/Ops in the meantime.

This is really just a typical case of optics (ghastly phrase): it's the same problem that mobile phone companies, say, have too. To be fair to WG, if you play the game reasonably consistently, you can pick up a bunch of free stuff that new/returning players can only dream of (I would much rather have Smol in my port, say, than Dreadnought, and I should get a free Colbert in a week or two); that said, when the new/returning players get stuff - like yesterday - that established players don't, it will always trigger a degree of ill will, simply because "Fred there is being given a freebie than I'm not!". The dreadnought code thing is the same as 'sign up for our service and get this new exciting phone for free, that is so new and exciting our loyal customers don't even have it'. This is just standard business practice; the only thing that surprises me is that WG seem to be unaware of the PR issues it can cause, so aren't taking action to mitigate it. In the specific case of these codes, one wonders what it would really cost to just let them run for a bit for everyone - how many players *really* see/use all these codes? For the cost of, say, a Dreadnought why not make a few of the established players less grumpy, if only for a minute? Personally, I'm quite sanguine about these codes, mainly because I'm pretty happy with what I've got from the game without them; also, my view might be different if I didn't have the time to play enough to get most of said rewards...

@FarQ2 Something that might be worth emphasising that may not have been said yet: another reason to be cautious about buying high tier premiums is that although they are more powerful than lower tier ships, so is the opposition. Basically, the increase in power as you go up the tiers is (with perhaps the odd point of debate here and there) roughly linear - in my view WG have actually done a reasonably good job in this regard. If you buy a high tier premium, you aren't facing the lower tiers that you might be in silver ships, but rather ships of comparable power to yours (or more power, given the eccentricities of MM and the sheer numbers of T10s out there), and almost certainly with better captains. To give a specific example: with your Tirpitz, I guess you may have a 10 point captain on her (if not, don't play her against real people); what those ten points buy you is a matter of some debate (do you go 'tank' or 'full manly' or what?), but you will have to compromise somewhere. Whilst you will meet some people at a similar level, some of the opposition will have 19-pointers, or close. This means they have an advantage over you before you even think about skill. To illustrate, the following is the captain I use on my Tirpitz; it most certainly isn't the optimal build for the ship (the serious KM BB players on here can help with that), but it still has baked in advantages over a 10 pointer in the same ship: If your first 4 point skill wasn't FP, then this captain will burn less than you do. If your first 4 point skill wasn't AFT, then this captain can open fire with secondaries much sooner. With the 3 point skills, this captain either fires secondaries faster than you, or gets an extra heal. With the 2 point skills, this captain either turns his main guns faster, or reloads everything faster when damaged. Like I said, this isn't the 'right' build, but it does illustrate the point, and bear in mind that there will be plenty of players running the 'right' build too, who'll make your life even harder (for a start, unlike me, they probably know how to play a BB in the first place). I bore you with all this not to scare you, or to give you some patronising cobblers about "you don't belong in high tiers", but rather to let you know what you're letting yourself in for, and to (hopefully) help you avoid disappointment. T8 premiums are horribly expensive, and aren't an 'I win' button; if you know and accept this in advance, you'll be less annoyed when you get your posterior handed to you.

Along with what everyone else has said, the 'best' ship is the one that most suits your play-style e.g. if you like brawlers, something that works better at range will not work very well, regardless of how good it is objectively. Also, +1 to the "don't get high tier premiums too soon" sentiment - you'll get your posterior handed to you, and be hated by your team-mates. The conventional wisdom is that one should avoid premiums that are higher tier than wherever you've got to with the equivalent silver line. That said, most people tend to ignore this advice and do it anyway - it's probably one of those circle of life things. If/when you do, you can always play any such ships in Coop until your skills (and - at least as importantly - as mentioned earlier, your captains) catch up. Also - as I always say on these occasions - join a clan, preferably one with people happy to teach; with a bit of feedback from real people, you'll be in a position to make the most of higher tier ships rather sooner. You'll also get a bunch of economic bonuses too, which are always helpful.

The second code looks like it worked for me, but (similar to others) nothing seems to have appeared in my port...?

Don't forget Haida's strongest point: one of only a very few DDs (three?) that you can get CQE awards with...!

I think that's a little unfair on Jervis, but you do have a point below that! Also, I prefer Haida at T7, but I would say that...

Well, for me, it's a made-up ship that doesn't do anything very much that existing (real) premiums in the game don't; so, I imagine I'll get it via some sort of loot box at some point - don't fancy buying it deliberately though...

In the film the OP posted, the directives after the first one have padlocks on them, in the manner of recent ones - so, probably time-gated.

The RN DDs are splendid; the only reason I (and probably others) are wary of suggesting them as a first line of DDs is that they can be a bit harder to play than some of the other lines; if you're getting your mojo back reasonably quickly, you'll probably do fine with them. Besides getting the hang of single-fire torps (and no speed boost), one needs to have a reasonable understanding of the Tao of Dakka (on a ship with - usually - good concealment) i.e. when the enlightened move is to fire, so blowing your cover, and when it is to stay dark. I'm a massive fan of the defensive sonar though - with the coal hydro mod, the higher tiers get a run time of a bit shy of four minutes (216 secs to be exact)...!

I would suggest having a sniff around the various missions/directives that are live at the moment; my recollection is that T5 is the usual benchmark, but there are others that are sometimes higher (some of the campaigns). The main advantage IMO of T6, over T5, is that you can play Ops in them (apart from Narai, at the moment) and that's a decent way to earn credits/xp for a PvE player. Before making a decision, have a look at the ships you can get for coal via the Armory (sic) - if you like fast and nimble, there are a couple of worthwhile DDs in there: Aigle (T6) and Blysk (T7). Okt Rev, although a long way from being fast, isn't a bad T5 BB as well. If you play reasonably frequently, you'll build up coal quite quickly (assuming you select the 'more resources' daily crates). In terms of price, it scales with class: generally, the bigger a ship is the more it costs (so BB more expensive than DD, and so on). Also, newer things can also sometimes cost more than equivalent older ships. This isn't a bad idea, while you get the hang of things, but I would still suggest getting something that will work against real people - most (not all) players find that PvE gets old eventually, and it would be good to have something that will transfer over. Also, it's wise to pick something that can act as a trainer for your captains from your silver ships. Finally, at time of writing, you're showing only 124 battles; although you know WOT, there is still a lot to learn in WOWS. The main reason I mention this is that there is a good chance that you won't have settled on your 'main' class yet, or worked out which nation suits you best. Both of these factors argue in favour of cheaper premium ships, as if you find later you're into other things, it won't matter as much. So after all that, one or two suggestions (assuming fast and nimble gameplay is desired): Murmansk (T5): like most cruisers, she's horribly fragile if you're caught broadside, but in other respects she's basically a better version of the silver (US line) equivalent. Go with Marblehead if you have the US silver line though, for captain training purposes - they're pretty similar ships. Okhotnik (T5): hilarious in Coop, with the hefty (for a DD) gun alpha, and the ludicrous quantity of torps - if you get close enough. Rather clumsy though, and harder to do well with against real people. Exeter (T5): expensive for a T5 cruiser - she's quite new - but quite fun to play (no smoke though, unlike the silver RN CLs, although you do get a heal). Nice history there, if you care about that stuff. T-61 (T6): a strong candidate for the best premium ship in the game tier-for-tier, if you like DDs. Useful smoke/hydro combination, and she's a great trainer for 'small gun' KM DD captains (and pretty much okay for the rest too). De Grasse (T6): excellent firestarter, and (obviously) useful trainer for the French CLs; predictably, has the usual cruiser fragility, but still fun to play. You mention Huanghe: she's fun but has quite a high skill floor, due to being fragile, and there being a bit of an art to making maximum use of the creeping smoke (you can say similar things about Perth at the same tier) - I might leave alone until you've played a bit more. Also, both Huanghe and Perth are useless/mostly useless as captain trainers - there aren't matching silver lines for either. Like I said earlier though, it's still early days, so there might even be something to be said for putting the money towards premium time and port slots, and then circle back to premium ships a bit later one...?

Besides the Germans, I would suggest the US DD line as being pretty worthwhile; for cruisers, another vote for IJN. BTW I would also suggest joining a clan: assuming they have a developed base, it'll get you a bunch of useful economic bonuses (besides being a source of division mates)...