Verblonde

Newcomer protection was added so long ago (and is largely irrelevant to most on here), that no-one is likely to remember exactly when it was introduced. If you really care, Google is probably your friend.

Seriously?

I don't think so; if you haven't found it yet, the wiki is often a good place to look for this sort of thing: Carnot: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Carnot Agir: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Ägir You probably want a proper cruiser expert to opine on this, but I would draw your attention to the various differences between the two (as you'll have seen, the gun calibres are the same, but there are plenty of differences), including things like the different damage levels of the two, depending on which ammo type you're firing, the number of barrels, and so on. It's more than just the guns though; Carnot is faster for instance (and with a coal mod, the engine boost runs for just shy of four minutes!), and has slightly more hp, while Agir has better hydro (6 km versus 5 km)...etc. As always, it's really a case of which one works better with your play style (and the game modes you tend to play).

Another vote for Agir, on the grounds that she's more versatile - torps can be very useful at times. To provide context, I almost entirely play Agir in PvE though. Carnot only has guns, which - for my purposes - isn't as useful, even though they're quite good guns.

Outstanding! (This is a fantastic cammo...)

Ah, but - in some cases - *what* cosmetics: Tell me this doesn't just inform the opposition that they're very naughty boys/girls and are going to get the damn good thrashing they so richly deserve...?

Looks like it does: Seems to appear on the battles results too:

Sorry, I'm out of date: with the changes, WG boosted the silver earnings instead, per @NewHorizons_1... FWIW these are the bonuses on a typical T10 Bonus Package:

Don't forget that the old permaflage has been split into two components: The aesthetic bit - the camouflage itself - which has zero functional impact. Nothing. Not a sausage. The economic booster (=Bonus Package), which does the silver/xp/reduced costs thing. For superships, this bit is essentially worthless from a silver perspective:

I think he is. The latest patch saw some changes to the notifications, such that they don't look the same as they did previously. If you were getting bonus resources from more than one source previously, you'd get more than one 'bonus' notification; now they're all lumped together. I thought I was short earlier, until I poked around a bit in the revised interface. So far, it looks right when I get into the detail...

Unless you're spectacularly short on time, and have more money than gods, it's rarely (never?) a good idea to buy silver directly with doubloons. If you really must, the least bad option is probably a doubloon/silver bundle from the premium shop; I should say that I've never done the maths to see precisely how good/bad the deals are (WG's basis for the 'x% off' labels is usually pretty dubious). If you're set on giving WG money (no judgement from me on that subject), it might be better to get some sort of premium ship(s) that you'll do well with, and jack your earnings up that way. If you can avoid getting scragged by superships, T9s are usually the most profitable, but they cost an arm and a leg... To reiterate what others have alluded to, if you're short of silver, it's usually much better to take approaches other than buying silver directly. Edit: I haven't mentioned premium time (the most sensible thing to spend money on), as you said you have it already.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that mine was a total fluke (I was vaguely trying for one of the buggers, but didn't think for a second the other was anywhere near him)...

I *really* would enjoy trying to deal with - say - a Chapy with maxed captain, while playing a Fubuki capped at 14 points...

Not sure I've ever got a pair of 'flesh wounds' before: (A couple of DDs hiding in the same smoke cloud...)

*That's* what I'm talking about! Googling 'Rainbow double entendres' should give plenty of source material for the voice-over too...

This. Besides which, everything from T5 upwards faces 'proper' MM; the suggestion to - say - make T6s face T8s with a gimped captain (when the latter probably won't have one) makes an already uphill struggle even more unfair, no?

While it's hard to get too excited about a fictitious line (blueprints aside), I'll reserve judgement until I see what they're really like when fully implemented. I'm not expecting splendour (they're BBs after all, and it's not like there's a shortage of those), but they might add some element of interest. I was pleasantly surprised by the recent PA cruisers though, and I wasn't expecting much there either...

Sorely tempting, but - alas - I fear it would still be a Richard move...

Wonder if it was something to do with how I got mine - I think both my original and the duplicate were (shamefully) from whaling...?

I haven't been playing that long (if memory serves), but in the earlier days of the game, competence was still valued and aspired to. This change allows you - if you're so inclined - to charge the enemy, do a little damage (earning some xp), die horribly, and repeat ad nauseum. That isn't a recipe for developing skill or team-play. It's not surprising that the idea met opposition back then. In the current climate, where WG are chasing raw numbers over any kind of quality (and those that care about trying to get better at the game are a small minority, I'm guessing) it's not surprising the view has changed.

I've selected 'dunno yet': for most people, it's probably a good thing; if you're grinding a new line, it's certainly a QoL improvement - especially if you're grinding in Ops, where getting sunk can tie up a ship for ages. Conversely, as mentioned in the other thread, for a few (hopefully) Richard Edwards it provides an opportunity for prodigious griefing. I'm waiting to see how many of the latter we get before forming a solid opinion...

Last time (PA cruisers) I think it was doubloons if you managed to duplicate a bonus package (I think I managed one); knowing WG, they may well have changed it to silver by now - can't have Nice Things for the players, now... (If it doesn't say, assume the worst - good general policy with WG.)

Oddly, submarines mean mine have been getting a bit more use lately: having given up on Randoms, I don't really care about being uptiered in Coop (and it doesn't really apply in most other modes that might be of interest)... Needless to say, I'd be a lot less sanguine if I still played Randoms (and I tend to favour a class that often uptiers a lot less badly i.e. DDs).

Voted for Zieten: the only way to make the ship look worse than it does already would require some major fracturing of reality and the time/space continuum, which - if we're lucky - might take submarines with it...!