Verblonde

If you click the 'battle on' button in the results screen, even if your last battle was coop, you seem to get dropped into randoms - it's happened to me a couple of times...

To be fair, *nothing* prints silver like MO does (in competent hands i.e. not mine); allegedly, that was at least partly why it was removed from 'sale'. The closest you can get these days are the various Kobayashi (sp?) cammo ships...

Personally, I'm aiming to get Salem eventually - not because she's any good, but because she's the cosplay Graf Spee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_River_Plate_(film))! Not worried about the economy, because she comes with perma-cammo, making her at least as profitable as any other T10 (plus, see @wilkatis_LV above). @ssiimmoonn2211 - you could perhaps make a good case for JB though: if you already dig the French BB play, and have other premiums, you can cycle your best captain through several ships each day (maximising use of 'first win' bonuses) - once he's at 19 points, if he isn't already, that's an effective way to generate elite xp which can be used to give other captains a leg up. This sort of thing is much less of a chore if you actively want to play the ships in question (as a DD main, I do the same thing with Gearing, Sims, Black, and Kidd)...

If we had had this discussion prior to the rework, I would have suggested the IJN DDs - they're a good way to learn to use torps (if only because their guns are very flaky, until you get to the 'dakka' line, so you don't actually have much choice). The problem that IJN torp DDs face at the moment is CVs: they are highly dependent on stealth, and have lousy AA; even with the recent changes to aerial spotting distances, a vaguely competent CV driver can easily perma-spot you, making it child's play for his team-mates to sink you, and you lack the AA to shake the planes off. The other issue with IJN torp boats is that someone at WG *really* hates them, so they've received a bunch of nerfs over the years, the most critical being to the distance at which their torps get seen by enemies (although slightly mitigated by the recent removal of torp spotting from fighters/spotter planes), which is - relatively - enormous. Finally, even though it's perhaps the most played T10 DD, the end of the torp line - Shima - is pretty one-dimensional; there are far more entertaining things to work towards (I might make a case for stopping at Kagero, as the T9 isn't hugely inspiring either)... That's not to say that the IJN DDs should be avoid entirely; just be aware that they are currently not 'easy mode'. It's worth going up the the dakka line too - although they're a bit tubbier higher up the tiers, they can hold their own against planes, plus (eccentrically) they have arguably the best torp boat at T7 - if you can manage without smoke, the TRB build is hilarious...

Mixture of both, and depends a bit on your aims. If you want to just muck about, blowing sh*t up, coop is your friend. It's also a great mode for missions (if it's allowed) that call for things like 'do x damage', 'start x fires', 'sink x ships' and so on. It'll help you learn to aim, and identify which ammo choices are optimal when, and so on. However, your enemy are very predictable, and don't exhibit a lot of the behaviours that real people do e.g. they don't camp etc. If you want to hone your skills against an unpredictable enemy, then you definitely want randoms (or other PvP mode); although real people often do idiotic things, camp, over-extend etc. you won't generally play the same battle twice. You'll have to work for your results more often - Coop is a lot easier, unless you're the only human on your team (which happens quite often if you play at odd hours). The crucial reason to play Randoms (IMO) is that the rewards and progression are generally much better, quite apart from you generally learning stuff faster. Personally, I play both modes, and which I pick varies with what I'm trying to do: grind silver/xp - play randoms; more casual gameplay, not taking things seriously, or just doing a suitable mission - play coop.

Is this the fires/flooding mission? If it is, you need to get ten of each, rather than ten of the two combined...

She's good, but the short-range torps are very much an ambush weapon; the character of US DDs changes a lot with the acquisition of stealth torping at T7...

@C0ba1t_K1ller - a small post-script: my previous suggestions are based on what you said, plus what would work well with existing captains (training is a key part of premium ships' utility, after all). If the question is interpreted as just 'good premiums that are less than twenty-five quid': T-61 (KM) is one of the best premiums in the game tier-for-tier, provided you can make the most of the smoke/hydro combination, with Z-39 an excellent alternative. Loyang (okay, she's 25.77) is worth a look, with a similar consumable combination, although T8 may be a bit high at this point? Avoid Sharkbait (Oo Ha Ha!) - Indianapolis - she's too hard to play, unless one is a US heavy cruiser meister. Leningrad is fun - until Terrible showed up, she was the fastest DD in the game, and has more usable range on her torps than the regular Russian DDs. Haida is one of my favourite ships in the game, although she isn't the easiest to play - difficult ballistic arcs, and you need to be proficient with single fire torps (also, worthless captain trainer at the moment). Perth is quite interesting, if you want 'different' - she's sort of like a Leander with creeping smoke, and no heal. Spotter plane enables you to see out of your smoke cloud if others aren't spotting. Not that easy to play, but definitely interesting (Huanghe is a similar alternative, but gets hydro instead of spotter plane, but seems to have dropped off sale at the moment). Again, no use for captain training. BTW if you have coal kicking around, there is a lot to be said for giving some premiums the 'magic' upgrades that you can buy for coal in the Arsenal e.g. everything in the above list that I have that uses hydro (and can be equipped with it) gets the coal hydro mod (in the case of Haida, it makes you functionally immune to torps, assuming you can manoeuvre, for a ridiculously long time).

Based on what you've said: Scharnhorst might be worth a crack - she doesn't play like a 'classic' BB, and is great fun (especially if you like brawling); she's generally felt to be one of the most entertaining premiums in the game. Her armament tends to lend itself to brawling, which is a rather hazardous endeavour if one doesn't have the requisite skill (I don't, so my attempts in randoms tend to go horribly pear-shaped much of the time). She's an excellent choice for T7 Ops as well, which can make her a good earner, whilst you wait to refine your skills for randoms. If you're digging cruisers, especially 'dakka' ones, it's worth having a look at Atlanta, or perhaps Boise. The former is hilarious (all kinds of dakka, plus the ludicrous YOLO torps), albeit spectacularly vulnerable, whilst the latter is a bit more 'typical' of US CLs - the heal is very nice to have, and she's another good choice for Ops. As to DDs, Sims was recently buffed, works well with all the planes around at the moment (Def AA), and works well with pretty much any sensible US DD captain build. 10.5 km torps (even if they're very slow) are nice to have, plus the guns are excellent for their tier (provided you've got the hang of rainbow arcs). Alternatively, Monaghan isn't a bad shout, and has two very different builds available, one of which gets 9.2 km torps at T6 (at the expense of half her gun power); that said, I would suggest Sims as a better choice, as she's more consistent with the rest of the silver line, plus only slightly more expensive than Monaghan. Something I might also suggest is to wait for some sort of sale (if you have the patience), as several of the above are more expensive than your stated budget (only the DDs aren't, I think)...

They do provide a nice balance between the two armament types (but, what @Panocek said about torp ranges and arcs), plus they provide - at higher tiers - genuinely competitive ships. Essentially, the US line is an excellent primer on gun and torp use, and when to select each one; also, if you can learn to hit stuff reliably with US guns, you can generally do it with everything else... Another aspect that is worth keeping on the radar: the US DD line has several premiums, if you want to spend money on the game (when you've got enough experience to decide if that's a good idea), which all work well with a similar captain build. This has a number of up-sides, but the key one is that you can potentially cycle your best captain through several ships each day, so maximising captain xp gains (by taking advantage of daily 'first win' bonuses). I have a 19-point captain in Gearing, but the same build works very well in both Sims and Kidd (not to mention Monaghan, although that's a bit 'good enough' in terms of skill picks), plus Black; this cycling generates a great deal of captain xp reasonably quickly, which can then be used to boost other captains (or get a sub-19 point captain to 19 points faster). BTW if Op Dynamo ever comes back (and doesn't get messed with beyond all recognition), the US DDs - with their access to Def AA - are fantastic earners for that.

Just curious: why not just cash in the duplicates?

I like them; they're interestingly varied, due to many designs being from different nations e.g. T7 is a British DD, whilst T8 is a sort-of Benson (actually, a Gleaves, I think; whereas the premium *is* Benson herself), T6 is Russian, and so on. Their key 'thing' is (of course) the DWT: as you probably know, these can't hit DDs, but are harder to spot, and usually have a good flooding chance. The higher tier ones (T8+) have the option of mounting radar, but at the expense of smoke. T8+ have quite good AA too, so aren't completely knackered by the new CVs. Although I don't have it (and may not bother), the general consensus seems to be that the recent nerfs to the T10 were over-kill, making it now not worth playing for many; if you're after (eventually) a T10 for Clans etc. there are better lines to pick. My feeling is that the PA line is worth doing (to T9 anyway), but it's not a good choice for a first DD line; I would suggest giving the PA line a lash after getting the hang of DD play through some of the other lines - the classic 'first' lines used to be IJN and US; until CVs die down a bit and/or the balancing gets sorted out, I would perhaps avoid IJN, and play US (and perhaps KM) as one's first DD line...

Don't get me wrong - I like it a lot. Mine was just clearly built on an old burial ground of someone who wasn't keen to have DDs built there. Perhaps I need to sacrifice more virgins to the volcano gods...?

Whilst I would never turn down a buff to my KM DDs, I'm not certain they need it; I do think they're a bit harder to play than some of the other lines, mainly because they're easier to spot than most. The combination of smoke and decent hydro is always quite powerful, but does need a better player to make the most of it (so, not me then). In my personal case, my Tier 9 appears to be cursed, which doesn't help either...

I quite like Yubari; I usually put my 'dakka' IJN DD captain in her: standard DD build, plus things like BFT, AR, IFHE. It seems to work pretty well, although I've no idea if the IFHE is doing anything useful, but for T4, it's 'good enough'...

Until people mentioned it on here, I hadn't noticed the Coop bots' lunatic tendency to extinguish the first fire instantly... After several low-yield games in Coop (plenty of fires, not much damage, due to the above), I gave up and took my KGV out in Randoms, and did the thing in one go...! Feel bad that I added to the RN BB HE spam though...

I do use it, at least some of the time, though I'm pretty much only playing DDs in randoms at the moment. My feeling is that it's of less use if you are spotted and directly under attack, as the planes will cross from one side to the other far faster than you can usefully react. However, if the planes are hunting you, and don't know where you are yet (or are just transiting near your position), or are attacking someone else, such that you can keep the reinforced side facing them, then it's definitely worth doing. I also don't use it if I'm engaged already in surface to surface (or it's likely to be very imminent) - planes are generally much less of a threat than whatever surface target you're in combat with, so I stay focused on attacking and or countering (or escaping from) whatever the surface threat is. I'd use sector reinforcement a lot more though if it was a single key press, or right mouse click - the current methodology is too clumsy.

Not keen either - apologies in advance to everyone in Coop this evening who'll have to put up with me spamming HE for as long as it takes... Shame it can't be done in Ops (as far as I know).

Oh yes. Magnificence beckons... Other tiers: N/A Probably Smith, if only for the torps. Vampire, easily - sort of a T3 Haida/Cossack, kind of... Clemson, I suppose, although the rest of the field is a bit meh. Hard. Kamikaze is a hoot, and did do me proud in Sprints, but is perhaps rather unsporting. Okhotnik is hilarious though, so might pick that. Difficult - there are rather a lot of fun ships at T6; hard to see past T-61 though, as she's so much fun to play. Haida (see above), although Z-39, and Sims run her close. I ought to pick Asashio, as I play her the most (or did, before CV rework); actual answer is probably Cossack (run close by Lightning and Harekaze). One of the Fletchers, probably Black, although Z-46 gets an honourable mention. Gearing, although I'm still very fond of Groz - my first T10.

Haida would be a strong candidate for me, not because the she's the best (although she is pretty decent), but because she's one of the most interesting to play. And you get secondaries, which is entertainingly ridiculous! Feeling quite well-disposed towards Z-39 at the moment too, after coming second (I think) in a T9 battle with her yesterday evening...

It'll be the RN BBs, with their monstrous firestarter abilities, or anything dakka which has a decent HE round (and no IFHE, but that's mainly used on the T9-10 DDs, so not an issue for most) - I might be tempted to give some of the DDs a run-out; Lightning, Jervis, and Cossack especially (in Coop)... Belfast ought to be worthwhile too, if you have her.

I keep reminding myself that I originally expected the whole thing to be an utter mess for 1-3 months, and we're only of the order of half-way to the longer end of that estimate...

"Like" would be too strong, but I do think it has the potential to be fun - it just isn't there yet...

You and me both! I don't think it's going to be utterly awful (in DDs, I seem to get First Blood, and Dev Strike reasonably often), but it'll still take a while. I have to admit, the thought had occurred that it wouldn't be the worst idea to demount my anti-det flags until the mission is done though...

I find the US cruisers harder to play than the IJN, mainly because they are entirely reliant on guns; that said, I struggle with almost all cruisers - more or less the entire category isn't easy mode, mainly due to the combination of being squishy, and there being lots of BBs out there, all of whom will be very keen to interfere with your citadel. On the up-side, the US cruisers pretty much all have powerful AA, if you run into a CV, and their guns are excellent. I personally like having the torp option available though (you get 10 km range on the IJN cruisers from T5), even if it's sometimes spectacularly obvious when you're firing them (the mainly rearward arcs mean you give the game away by turning to unmask them, although that's not really a problem when kiting). At the time of writing, you're only showing 32 battles; I would suggest having a go with as many different cruiser lines as possible, and just seeing which you like - your only limitation is port slots, and most of the low tier options are pretty inexpensive (also try other classes as well - you'll get a better handle on what they're trying to do to you at the very least)...