Verblonde

I'm puzzled: why would anyone want to pay actual money for the vast majority of the legendary upgrades - they're pants! Unless there are some buffs to them coming that I don't know about...? They're also pretty straightforward to get by just playing too.

I don't actually mind Epi mode as such, although it's a lot more fun at tiers where there isn't any radar. What I do object to (mainly at higher tiers) is whiny camping BBs pi$$ing and moaning because you don't drive your DD straight into the middle zone, to get zapped by radar and deleted in seconds. I had a classic case last night: some colossal cockwomble was moaning at me (and the other DD) for almost the entire game, whilst camping at the back and farming damage, rather than trying to knock out the radars (and tank damage) that would have allowed us to make a difference. Zero moaning directed at the Tirpitz that was cowering behind an island in the top left corner for almost the entire battle, of course! I'm not a great DD player at the best of times, but even I know not to suicide into open water covered by radars! </bad-tempered rant> The problem with this mode is that, as others have said, a lot of people in randoms don't know what they should be doing, and if the team doesn't coordinate sensibly and do their jobs (DDs cap/spot, cruisers radar/kill DDs, BBs tank, and so on) the negative effects are more marked than in other modes - where there is slightly more slack for stupidity (often committed by me)...

Has the world's entire collection of pornographic webpages all broken at the same time, or something...?

It's not like the idea of 'built-in' camo having regular camo bonuses is unprecedented: it's exactly what they do already in WOT...

FWIW I now only go for the 'more resources' ones; I might switch if/when I ever run out of stuff to buy with coal, but that is (literally) years away... The magic modules, and interesting ships should keep me occupied for ages yet.

Most people won't play as much as we forum denizens tend to, so an 'average' player probably won't have maxed out yet. That also assumes that everyone read the detail of how the event works, and realise how to maximise their return...

Bear in mind that the RN cruisers are notorious for not being 'easy mode'; if one fancies giving cruisers a lash, the IJN and/or US ones are a bit more friendly (if you like torps, go with IJN, as the US lines lose them from T6 onwards, I think). I do enjoy the RN cruisers, although I'm rubbish with them...

@hedgehog_s - sorry, but this is a lesson everyone has to learn: your torps, your responsibility. Under all circumstances. The only safe bet is to fire torps only when it is physically impossible for their trajectory to intersect with any ally; this means you need to maximise your situational awareness (so spend a lot of time looking at the mini map). Some basic rules to be safe: Never fire torps from the second line i.e. if there is an ally anywhere between you and the target. Never fire torps if it is possible for an ally to get in front of them - even if they do something idiotic, it's still your fault. Don't forget that with engine boost/flags, some ships are *really* fast, and can cover a lot of distance during your torps' run-time. Look at what is beyond your target i.e. if you have caught an enemy in a pincer movement such that, say, you're on one side with a great torp shot into their side, and an ally is the other side, don't fire if the ally can get into range of your torps - say you unload a spread of five, or two spreads in succession, there is a good chance that they won't all hit a reasonable player; that means that at least some of the torps will go past your target and risk hitting allies the other side. The longer the range of your torps, the more you need to think about this (I can think of two ships off the top of my head with 20 km range torps). We've all blown up allies when learning the game (and it still happens now and again, even after thousands of games, if concentration slips); the key thing is to a) accept that when it happens, it is always your fault, and b) concentrate on learning to avoid such situations whenever possible (even if it means you miss a kill/damage).

Sorry, @Hundigo, but I have to agree with everyone else: your torps, your responsibility. Always. To reiterate: *never* fire torps if it is possible for an ally to manoeuvre into their path; this means keeping an eye on the mini map, as well as on the main screen. Some people will fire if there is an ally who could *theoretically* get in the torps' path, but is moving away fast, but if that ally changes course and gets hit, it is still all on you. The only 'almost' exception to this might be if you are coordinating with an ally via voice comms, and tell them where you are firing torps, and ask them not to head in such-and-such a direction; even then, if they manoeuvre such that they still get hit, it is *still your fault*. This is, incidentally, why the automated system is pretty effective - there is no circumstance in the game where friendly fire is not the firer's fault, so it's fairly easy to code for. BTW plenty of players (me included, if I'm felling bad-tempered) will let fires burn, and flooding flood, if received from friendly fire; this will turn you pink/get you banned if you're a repeat offender even faster, and - this is important - it is *still* your fault because you were careless with your fire in the first place. Another reason to be careful with your torps...

Presumably, assuming people bothered to read the details of the thing, there are still lots of people who haven't maxed out their Sharks loyalty points - I'm one short of completion as of this morning, and I only missed a couple of days, I think... If there is going to be a significant shift to Freedom Chickens, it'll be when the *average* player maxes out, rather than now, when it's mainly the very keen who have done so?

@Andybeca: whilst I might have put it slightly more subtly, @Juanx does rather have a point: to get the most out of Loyang it would help to have played (at least) the silver US DD line up to Benson (Loyang *was* Benson IRL after all) - that will give you experience of how the American DDs play, and do so initially against less scary opponents. The lower tiers teach you gunnery, with the characteristic US 'rainbow' gun arcs; torps start getting sensible around T5-6 (T4 torps are glorious but very short-ranged), with the first stealth fire window at T7. Crucially, this approach will introduce you gently to radar (the first turn up on T7 premiums - three of them, from memory), so you aren't diving right into a very hostile radar environment, which is exactly what happens with Loyang (Leningrad too come to that). If you (for whatever reason) are allergic to silver ships; taking the premium route of Monaghan and Sims *might* do the trick (although the silver route is *much* better), at T6 and T7, respectively; they also introduce the basics of US DD gameplay against less lethal opponents (although only slightly, in Sims' case). Beware though: to get the Benson torps on Monaghan, you have to lose two gun turrets (this is what I run, but you are mostly worthless in a gunfight as a result). It's still better to play up the American silver line though...

I believe they're the stock ones, so somewhat anaemic damage (that's why I run the YOLOs, even though you have to get suicidally close to use them)...

Doesn't the +3 get applied at the close of the day's play for a given team, rather that at the moment of joining?

A potato's perspective: Loyang uptiered feels similar to me to most T8 DDs in the same situation; at least she's a pretty decent all-rounder, with good dakka, tolerable torps (I run the YOLO ones), and the smoke-hydro trick is still worthwhile. As alluded to above, the key problem is radar, and that's the same for almost all T8 DDs, so presumably the usual anti-radar advice still applies (says he, who is still struggling to apply it consistently)...?

Well, it's about battlecruisers - regardless of what happened to them in RL, a lot of them were very pretty, and there is no shortage of Brits playing the game... I don't know enough about the ships in question to offer a sensible detailed view, but I feel a powerful need for moar battlecruisers in game. Immediately.

Whilst I'm not exactly hyper-experienced with my Shima, this upgrade strikes me as utterly worthless (at least, in its current form). The moment any opponent gets even remotely closer than 'barely visible', your torps become almost useless. Given that the general consensus on a lot of these upgrades is that they're pretty poor (with a few exceptions), I suspect we may see some tweaks over the next several months. At least I hope so - at the moment, very few of them seem of interest...

You lot are starting to get a bit peculiar on here...!

FWIW the Testers all have my thanks for contributing to what is, after all, a pretty decent game!

It's worth getting to know the behaviours of the various bots in the game, as they inform many of the key differences between randoms and coop. In general, coop is a lot easier than randoms, assuming you aren't playing at a time when no-one else is on the server (it's very possible to lose a coop game if you are the only human player); that said, the following is worth having on the radar: The bots always know where you are; they won't fire until you're spotted, but your location is never a complete mystery. Unlike many real people (<cough> battleships <cough>), the bots are not usually yellow swine i.e. they won't hide on the borders and snipe at range; they will come to get you. Who they target will vary, but if you're the first to be spotted, everything in range will unload at you (in Ops, I believe they try and finish off weakened ships first, but I don't know if they do that in regular coop). Bots can be idiots - you will often see friendly fire from bots!

As a great philosopher once wrote: don't go being a tw*t now!

"What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"

According to wikipedia: "Because members of the far right have used the imperial war flag as a symbol, its use is considered to be a "breach of the public order" in seven states, and flags could be confiscated."

Presumably, it's to do with a mixture of a) who won, and b) who did/didn't launch a war of aggression (although Finland might have some views on the latter point)?

I would much prefer no swastikas (the current KM flag does a pretty good job IMO), but the IGN would be okay - there is precedent for different flags on different tier ships, depending on their age, with the Russian lines. Equally, I wouldn't lose any sleep if there isn't the time to deal with this (although I imagine it's different people, I would list not screwing up the British DDs as a more important project)...

OP: 96% of battles in T8 were against entirely T10? You're either playing at a spectacularly weird time of day (and this is from someone on EST, so I'm often playing at two or three in the morning, UK time), or basically making it up. Even if it were true (doubtful), it could be a lot worse: compared to WOT, WOWS T8s have it easy when up-tiered: no gold ammo to make your armour an irrelevance, for one thing. A T8 against T10s can influence the game here...