Verblonde

FWIW this is the captain build I run on Groz at the moment: That's not to say it's 'right', but there are worse starting points. First ten points were the 'standard DD' build, followed (I think) by SI and BFT, AR, and PM. With all the planes around at the moment, Groz is one of those ships where being able to jump straight to 16 points is really nice, as you very much want both of SI (for the extra heal especially, not to mention DefAA) and BFT - I think I took a better captain from a lower tier ship to do this initially... In terms of modules and whatnot, I've gone quite heavily towards AA ones - it does gimp you somewhat against surface targets, but it makes you rather less appetising for an average CV driver (a good CV driver will still take you to the cleaners regardless, of course).

FWIW the T7 is quite worthwhile in Narai; I got all four from boxes, and have only really tried the T6-7 in Ops so far. I prefer to play ships that really existed when they're available, so I tend towards other options, but they've been fun so far - I approve of them being apparently optimised for closer ranges (provided the average player realises that they are, and resists the urge to hide on the borders).

My Div-mate was having the same issue this evening - it looks like it's broken...

And booted again - I suppose I could go and mingle with the spotty oiks playing WOT...!

FWIW I'm back into the port view now...

I can't wait for the old ones to return (assuming they remain as fun as they were before); the repeats of the existing ones are starting to get old, especially as the current one isn't terribly satisfactory. I'd ideally like to eventually see at least two Ops per tier from T6 to T9, cycled weekly, so you'd have two months before a repeat...

I seem to have the dubious pleasure of imminently having several of the Magic Fantastical Russian BBs (honestly, Comrade, we're fully and entirely comfortable with our manliness), so I should probably at least give them a try. Anyway, I tend to enjoy secondary-orientated BBs more (even though they are often not optimal); has anyone worked out if some/any of the Russian BBs are semi-viable with a more secondary build? If any do work with more manly builds, which ones do people think they are? Thanks in advance for your views!

It's probably futile, but what the hell: you and I have similar overall stats, yet I rarely get flamed (and generally deserve it when I do); it is therefore clearly not about stats. As you have had explained to you (multiple times), stats merely provide a context within which to place people's views. If one spends any time online at all, one realises very quickly how comparatively non-toxic this forum is - if people are ridiculing you more than minimally, you might wish to ask yourself why (the answer is not that they are stat-obsessed elitists). If you can manage to follow the sage advice of DC Andy Cartwright, you may find your experience improves...

Well, I've limited myself to seven crates, mainly as a means to speed up getting Lazo. If anyone cares about adding data for crates, it got me the T5, T6, and T8 Russian BB missions (plus the obvious guaranteed stuff, which was why I actually got them)...

I didn't think it matters which team is winning right now, if you're using the 'pick the loser when short of time' approach - the difficulty setting is determined by the previous day's results, isn't it? For example 'Honor' (<shudder> - that spelling!) won day one, so Honor gets the harder difficulty for day two; if 'Honor' wins again on day two, then the difficulty will go up again for day three. However, if 'Honor' loses on day two, it goes back to normal difficulty for day three, and Glory will be the team to pick for day three for those people who can play a lot.

BTW for anyone wondering why this is useful, it makes it easier to pre-aim things with slow-turning turrets (especially BBs), and/or allows you to look around without giving away what you're looking at, although you can achieve a similar end to the latter by just pressing and holding the right mouse button...

Ow! Just got @El2aZeRed! My poor, hapless Gearing...! Nice to see the master at work though!

In case anyone hasn't seen, we have a price on the Kobyashi camo for Yamato: https://eu.wargaming.net/shop/wows/main/13554/ Short version: 42.77 (UKP) for the camo, 14 days of Warships premium, a bunch of flags, and a booster that halves IJN BB research time/resources. At time of writing, no 'camo only' option. I might have been tempted, but for the fact that that the research booster only lasts for the duration of patches 0.8.3, and 0.8.4 - this seems a bit poor, unless you're feeling a powerful urge to grind only IJN BBs for the next couple of months. One can't help but mentally compare with the WOT equivalents, which are generally permanent (albeit for specific vehicles, rather than an entire tree)... Edit (with thanks to @Panocek): or get the camo alone via doubloons in the Armoury...!

If we look at the May missions article (https://worldofwarships.eu/en/news/sales-and-events/may-missions-2019/) we see this: Does anyone know if that means the ship alone will appear in the shop (in a useful time-scale; it'll obviously appear at *some point*)?

Ctrl-X, and Shift-X to activate; X alone (I think) to deactivate - in case you aren't pulling our legs...

You're joking, I assume, with 6.3K battles?

Specifically, "or have already obtained it from the Premium Shop" - does this imply the Lazo is about to be added to the shop, rather than having to go via boxes (if we want it quickly)?

Based on my experience (such as it is), if you want to play DDs, pick the ones with Good AA (US, Russian, KM etc.), and swap some of the old modules out for AA ones. Make sure the captain has BFT. Then, play using a lot of the technique that you probably already have down pat for dealing with radar (thanks to the cruiser plague when the US line split etc.); plus, as @Xevious_Red says further up the page, make use of the positives that having a CV on your side provides. Sadly, for the moment, most of the poor AA DDs are basically a lost cause - sucks to be anyone who, say, only has IJN torp boats...

Why didn't I think of that - I shall rush home from work and alter my Haida/Kiev directly. It shall inevitably be glorious...!

If you'll forgive some mild bluntness, this doesn't make any sense! Unless you basically afk, you'll almost certainly get better rewards from even a losing game in randoms than from a coop game; I mostly play solo, and this is why the mode I play the significant majority of my games in is randoms - you simply make more silver, and generate more xp that way. This also makes it much easier to run premium consumables more, which in turn help your performance, and so on... You aren't risking anything by playing in randoms, unless you care obsessively about win rate (pro tip: don't!). Coop has its place (missions, and stock ship grinding, mainly), but there are good reasons why exclusive coop mains are rare. The vision mechanics are identical in coop and randoms; might I suggest revising the relevant section of the wiki a bit (http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Detection)? Besides learning to shoot straight, understanding how vision works in the game is perhaps the most important thing to master; stuff like proximity spotting, what happens when different types of weapon fire (including correct use of the p key, especially on DDs), smoke, radar/hydro (and the differences between them), and so on.

If you only have the resources to buy one, I can't imagine too many people wouldn't pick Black? I must confess, I was mildly surprised that Neustrashimy wasn't a coal ship - all the high tier coal ships so far have been cruisers or BBs (I think) - no DDs yet. Presumably, that odd US thing (lots of torps, rubbish AA - I've forgotten its name) will be the coal DD...

This surprises me a bit - I assumed it would be a mighty silver earner, like the previous Kobayashi skins - perhaps WG are hoping people won't read the descriptions properly? Mind you, the space camo seems to sell, and that's essentially the same model...

BTW the NA forum has this on the general subject of the event, earning stuff, and which teams to select: https://forum.worldofwarships.com/topic/189465-victory-event-tokens-ru-bbs-lazo-perma-camo-and-no-directives/ (it also touches on AL at the end too)

I was wondering about adding my newly acquired Kiev to my list; my initial set-up is kind of like Terrible, with a heal, and it's been a hoot so far (plus, how did I not know there is another DD with secondaries?!) - I've been using it as a more forgiving Terrible, with the aim of eventually taking the real thing into randoms (I love Terrible so far, but have only played her in Coop)...

Sensible(ish) question: am I correct in thinking that picking the previously losing team is most efficient if you are short of playing time, whilst picking the winner is wiser if you have a few hours to spare? I can play more at the weekend, whilst weekdays are problematic...