Verblonde

BTW if anyone is interested, these are links to LWM's reviews: Dido: https://forum.worldofwarships.com/topic/251899-premium-ship-review-dido/ Canarias: https://forum.worldofwarships.com/topic/252313-premium-ship-review-canarias/

If you've got the doubloons kicking around, you might as well - as you identify, at the very least, it stops them from dropping from the next round of Satan Boxes etc. (being optimistic and assuming we won't all be piles of radioactive dust before Xmas). I've nabbed both by a mixture of playing and doubloons; I'm rubbish with cruisers, so I can't comment intelligently on how good/bad/appalling they are when played properly, but they provide a little variety for PvE, where quality of ship is perhaps less pertinent. In that context, my impression is that Canarias is probably a bit better than Dido, but I'll probably get more use from the latter due to nation-specific missions, and having better captains available for her.

There was an early-access T4 RM DD available several days ago; not sure if that's still there?

I don't think such a thing exists (unless someone has done it on a third-party site somewhere?); I'm just going on memory, I'm afraid. As @Karasu_Hidesuke points out, the entries in the Armory[sic]/shop do include the note when something is nerfable. It's worth noting that whether something is nerfable or not isn't entirely simple chronology: All the T10s have always been nerfable, from the very beginning. Clones (so, Black Friday, Friesland, etc.) of existing ships have the same 'nerfability' as whatever they are clones of. For example, Lo Yang B is quite recent (last Black Friday), but isn't nerfable. The other things to bear in mind are: The EULA have always included words the the effect of 'WG can do whatever they like to in-game stuff, regardless'; they just choose not to. You're still vulnerable to 'global changes' (<sad Atlanta noises>). Occasionally, WG just nerf stuff and claim they haven't, all evidence to the contrary (Okhotnik and her ASW being a recent example).

Indubitably! Mind you I just like the idea of driving a ship that's basically a DDOS attack all on its own...

For Randoms? There have to be some better options than just those, excluding Exeter (which you already have)? <pauses to remind himself what's in the Armory [sic]> Obviously, the Gin Palace is glorious, but I'm not sure how much use she is in Randoms; mine lives in Coop, and I'm pretty sure I've torn some fairly major holes in several of them without too much trouble...? The key problem that T5 has is that you're often up-tiered, due to the protective MM for low tiers; in that context, some of the premiums can be a bit painful to play (although it may just be due to my being rubbish). A DD might not be an entirely awful idea, as they tend to up-tier less badly than many; in that case, Okhotnik is a hoot (but beware submarines; WG in their infinite wisdom didn't give her any ASW, which - apparently - is under no circumstances a nerf), and Hill is not a bad tool for learning about DDs Wot Dakka (plus, she can be got for coal). She used to be a bit of a laughing stock (at least until <shudder> Cheshire came along), but Krispy Kreme is rather more fun than you might expect - I've seen her described as a T5 Atlanta. She is a very graphic lesson in not offering people broadside though...

IMO it largely depends on the specific ships you play, and how good you are in them. I tend to avoid T7 in Randoms at the moment though, as MM seems to up-tier you a lot currently (presumably due to lots of T9s in queue); as far as I can tell, T7 BBs and cruisers don't largely cope well with T9 opposition. There are a few sneakier T7 DDs that cope reasonably well, but I seem to make more silver playing T8+. T9 does have a lot going for it at the moment (fewer CVs according to most people, for starters), but if I'm hoping to grind silver, I generally focus on premiums, or a regular T9 with permaflage.

That's a CE captain, of course.

I imagine I'll play less, certainly in modes afflicted with the damn things; that said, it'll depend on how many of them are actually in the game in practice - the lower the submarine population, the more I'm likely to play. Since the latest Dev Blog talks about submarines getting more buffs, I'm not optimistic that we won't get an unpleasant surge in numbers with the next patch; if that happens, I'm gone from submarine modes for the duration...

Dev Blog ( submarines mostly get buffed, plus tweaks to superships): https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/289

FWIW I've got +ve karma several times playing CVs in Coop, by the simple expedient of asking people if they care about spotting ribbons before I launch my planes (and potentially mess it up for them)...

I can't tell yet, but she does seem promising; personally, I'd really like her to be a bit sneakier, but I guess one can't have everything. Lately, I've been mostly a) doing missions to get Dido/Canarias, and b) playing Borderlands 3 as it doesn't remind of all this <gestures around the world, especially the bits we're not allowed to mention> so I haven't had a chance to try Sherman out against real people yet... Edit: The crucial thing (so far) seems to be not to try too hard to use the torps; (good players excepted, I suspect) it's quite easy to spend too much time trying to get a decent torp launch off, when you should be pounding the hapless foe with the ludicrous DDOS dakka the ship can chuck out...

Medice, cura te ipsum... That said, good point, well made...

Short answer: yes. WG want you to spend money on things like premium account, premium ships, and things of that sort. That said, there is some stuff you can do to improve your economic situation: Read and understand how the economy actually works: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Economy Basically, things get more expensive as you go up the tiers; broadly-speaking, an average player will struggle to consistently make silver at T9+ with silver ships, without things like permaflage, and premium account. Think about what drives silver rewards, and pick targets accordingly; luckily, the order you should shoot things for good rewards roughly coincides with the order you should usually shoot things if you want to win. As mentioned earlier, damage is the key reward driver, and not absolute damage, but rather % damage (1,000 hp damage done to a DD will be far more rewarded than exactly the same damage done to a BB, for example). So, concentrate on smashing DDs first, then cruisers, and then worry about the fatties, generally-speaking. Of course, if some daft bugger in a BB gives you broadside, then make him regret it, but understand the rewards will be about the same as doing a lot less absolute damage to something smaller; the ultimate aim is to win, after all! If you're playing something that relies heavily on secondaries, note that damage done via this route is rewarded less than damage done by means that you control directly (for regular ships this means guns and torps). You have premium account, which improves matters dramatically, if you can consistently do decent damage (to the right things); speaking as a sub-standard player, I found putting permaflage on - at least - the T9+ ships I like to play a lot made a massive economic difference (although you may not be keen on giving WG money, if you can't find sufficient freebies). Ultimately though, you can also view playing the highest tiers as a 'cost', and you fund it by playing several lower tier games for each loss-making high tier game; I suspect we'll see more people doing this in future, as WG are clearly intending to make the silver economy a lot more demanding...

On my NA account, I see her available for both coal (232,000), and doubloons (34,950 for the ship alone).

I'm not sure that 'reliable' is the word I'd go for, but until someone competent comes along (and based on Coop and Ranked, mainly): Absolutely not worth 2 million free xp (Smaland wasn't either, but at least she's a bit of a monster; Hayate, not so much, at least not for the tuberous like me). Decent mixture of dakka and torps; better dakka than Shima, but you lose a torp launcher to get it. My main whinge with Hayate is that she isn't really sneaky enough; if she could be got below 6.0 km, she'd be a lot more comfortable. That said, she's a decent 'all rounder'; good enough at most stuff, but doesn't excel at anything. For emphasis: I'm not a great player to start with, and I still haven't played her enough to get to grips with her properly yet (despite getting her at Xmas on my main account); a good player might be able to get more out of her than I have so far.

Dev Blog (test ship tweaks, including Italian DDs' gun/torp ranges becoming more manly): https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/288

What sort of ships are you targeting? Don't forget that rewards are all about relative damage, rather than absolute damage (short version: sink DDs first, then cruisers, and so on...)...

If we're being pedantic, it might also be worth mentioning that the graphic appears to pre-date 'nerfable' premiums as well... All premiums (that aren't clones of older ones) from Flandre onwards - I think - have had the 'may be nerfed' label on them.

I suspect we all know this already, but it's worth mentioning for any newbies that pass through: the position taken by MO is that of the original version, with the ludicrous credit-printing abilities; any newly acquired MOs will have the same earning potential as a standard T9 premium.

So would most of us, I imagine. I can't see us getting it though: objecting publicly to 'matters we are not allowed to mention on here' seems to get you arrested at the moment in certain quarters; meanwhile, not objecting is going to annoy a substantial chunk of the customer base...

WOWS is still fun, played in moderation. Besides that, it gives me a chance to talk to one of my old friends back in the UK.

You have barely more than 200 Randoms under your belt; having a bad game is nothing to do with being chat-banned, but infinitely more likely due to having not fully learned the game yet. It's also quite hard to get a meaningful chat-ban (I've never managed it); rather than blowing a gasket at your team-mates (most of whom are still learning like you are at that tier), concentrate on getting better yourself - that'll increase the chances of team-mates' lunacy not losing the battle for you, far more than getting stroppy in chat...

I think you may be over-simplifying a bit: any CV *can* kill you (in a DD anyway; I don't play other classes enough to comment on them), but the driver has to be good enough to do so. What a lot of people offering advice on this subject (including me) will do is mention this fact - and it is pretty much fact - to manage expectations. Besides that, if you have a reasonable understanding of the power ratio between you and the CV, you can make better informed tactical decisions. For example, if I'm playing something like Smaland, and see one of our 'CV gods' on the other side, I'll be a lot more cautious than when facing some random farty in their CV (the former will take me to the cleaners, regardless, once they've found me, whilst the latter is a fine excuse for plane farming)...

Since you can get her for free, she's worth having. She pre-dates the French DD tree (Terrible was the first 'true' French DD, I think, with that line's typical characteristics), so is more like a typical DD i.e. she has smoke, but lacks the reload booster. Sneakiness isn't great (6.8 km with a CE captain), but you're reasonably fast (the engine boost is a 20% one); the turret traverse rate is rather slow (FWIW I run both the WD40 upgrade, and captain skill - the Honores get a boosted version of the latter), but your torps are fairly powerful, if not the fastest. As to comparisons with other T6 DDs: T-61 is the best, but you can't get her any more. Shinonome is superior (IMO), but you have to complete a fairly time-consuming campaign to get her, and her AA is entirely dreadful. Other than that, it really depends on the sort of playstyle you prefer; personally, I'd rather play Gallant/Jurua against real people than Aigle, because the former are sneakier, whilst Aigle is - IMO - vastly superior in Coop, where spotting doesn't really matter. Anshan is a worthy (free) alternative to Aigle, and intermediate in sneakiness between her and the Gallant 'sisters' (6.3 km with CE). Other than that, Karl von Schönberg isn't worth spending money on (except possibly to avoid getting her from a crate), and Monaghan is either too reliant on (slow) torps, or too much like the tech tree equivalent, depending on which loadout you take. In general, T6 DDs tend to suffer a bit with MM; you tend to get uptiered quite a lot, and that puts you into the teeth of various T8 DD-hunting horrors like Cossack/Lightning, Lo Yang, and Orkan (not to mention the occasional original Harekaze), all of which will outclass you in the vision game. That's not to say T6 DDs are entirely worthless, but that it's generally a good idea to focus on freebies (unless you whale mightily at Christmas)...