Verblonde

There's probably some truth in this, although WG do offer rentals now and again (at least in WOT). The basic problem is that many typical players probably want to win by throwing money at the screen, which - as we all most know - doesn't exist in the game, thankfully. Not even the most notorious ships in the game are 'I win' buttons. The basic problem - I guess - with rentals is that most players probably won't play them enough to get the hang of them, and will write them off before actually buying the things, which harms WG's bottom line...

<draws up a nice comfy chair> <plumps cushions>

Another piece of potentially useful advice: join a clan, preferably one that has people willing to teach (ideally via voice comms). You'll probably learn a lot faster that way, and it'll probably be more fun. Assuming their base is developed, it'll give you some useful economic bonuses as well.

If there is an easy way to disable these damn things, I'd like to know - they're getting on my t*ts royally too...

You're basically talking about BBs, at least in the early stages of learning WOWS; BBs are the most heavily armoured things in the game, and generally have the longest-ranged guns. I would suggest the American and IJN lines to start with; they're the original two lines (the Monty line for the US), and are still pretty much gimmick-free. If you want to learn to BB, you can do far worse than start with them. It's worth noting that, when doing damage from "afar", you don't to be *too* far away: a key job of BBs is to tank damage for their team, to take the heat off more fragile allies, and people are less likely to shoot at you if you're at extreme range. Besides that, BB guns tend to be pretty inaccurate (to balance out the massive damage they can do when they do hit), so you'll tend not to do much damage firing from the far distance. A lot of competent BB players suggest surfing your surface detection distance: that's close enough to hit things, yet far enough away that you can go dark when return fire becomes too intense and/or you need to heal. BTW BBs are not invulnerable; it's worth taking some time to familiarise yourself with your BBs' armour layouts: if you get broadsided, you can still be killed by a single enemy salvo. Also, don't forget to avoid going at a consistent speed in straight lines; torpedo DDs love it when people do that - they can easily Dev Strike a BB that does so.

That makes sense. In which case, that's an argument in favour of one of the US/Russian options; perhaps have a look at the other available options for each, and decide on the basis of whichever one has the - overall - portfolio that matches most closely with your playing preferences. I'm assuming freebie premiums are good? If you like DDs, go Russian, because of Neustrashimy; other than that, the US has more options (for steel/coal), although some are rather low tier.

She's quite fun to play, although I think you're right that - once superships are fully implemented - she's going to be more or less permanently uptiered. If I didn't have her already, I'd be quite keen to get hold of Black, although I'd have no expectations of her being an all-conquering monster...

I can only really comment on Druid, and I haven't even played her enough for it to be an informed opinion. That said, I might not pick Druid if you want something you can play semi-incessantly - she's (IMO) interesting, and a challenge, but not very good at doing *all* the standard DD things (she can do *some* very well indeed). As such, she's rather something to play now and again, but not for extended periods of time. I feel she's also a bit at the mercy of MM; if you don't happen to get some suitable targets to melt, you might waste flags/cammo which are often a part of grinding a particular resource (captain xp in this case). Would I guess correctly that you don't have any 21 point captains yet? FWIW if/when you get one, try and make it for a ship you like playing extensively, and then you can use that to generate elite xp to level up others (Daring does that job for me on the NA server, for example)...

The basic 'ship only' is the same price as the other T9 premiums; apart from *all* T9 premiums being ludicrously over-priced in general, I don't see an issue here. I'd file Dalian very much under 'non-essential', so I imagine I'll pick her up from an Xmas box at the end of the year (assuming WG haven't done something sufficiently egregious to drive me away in the meantime)...

A pleasure to see you!

That's all right then... </s> Now I'm *really* worried, given WG's track record with this sort of thing...

This is what I fear; being able to mount any cammo for any bonus is a very positive step, *provided the bonuses don't get worse than they are now*. My great concern is that WG will - by whatever means - reduce the bonus levels. If they get near to those in WOT, it will make the game substantially less attractive to me; quite apart from anything else, if they go 'full WOT', it'll make things painfully grindy. Something to bear in mind: unless you're a very good player, T9-10 in WOT are almost entirely 'financially' (in silver terms) non-viable without premium account. This doesn't stop tomatoes playing at high tiers, it just means they pay a lot of silver to do it. I fear that WG want to take WOWS in this direction, and this exercise provides them with the perfect vehicle for doing so. Presumably, there will be people that feel that making high tiers harder to afford for weaker players is a good thing - that it will somehow improve the quality of play in the high tiers. Based on WOT, it won't.

Cruisers aren't really my thing, but - besides the points that @invicta2012 makes - don't the RN CLs get hydro, which the PA ones lack (or at least, I think the ones I've unlocked so far do)?

For a lot of folk, she's easier to get than DM is: Cosplay Graf Spee is available for coal (and I think she was an option in the Xmas boxes - I'm pretty sure I have one on my NA account via that route). So, for some people, especially in lower leagues she might easily be their only option. Besides which, if you can make her work, she's much more profitable than DM is. Salem can be worthwhile (target's perspective again; I'm rubbish in mine): she more or less trades some radar range for a better healing potion. That said, I'd rather face Salem than DM as a DD, as the former's radar is much easier to manage...

Again, target's perspective: she's pretty effective in good hands, but the radar range is only 9 km, which can be limiting, and you - I believe - give up some firepower to get the smoke/radar combination? Bear in mind, she's quite fragile, and there tends to be a lot of radar in Ranked...

Speaking as a target, it does seem to depend largely on how good the driver is, and a lot of the drivers I've faced haven't been very good. Napoli is nasty against DDs if she can bring her firepower into play, but she's quite easy to play around (with a typical player driving her); I personally worry about radar cruisers a lot more...

The unhelpful answer is "the one that you're best in"; for example, a lot of people seem to be keen on DM for Ranked, but I can't play her for toffee, so - for me - she'd be a lousy pick, despite being excellent for others. FWIW I can comment on DDs, and for that class I tend to think in the following terms: Smaland is excellent, but you can't get her any more, so that doesn't help. After that, I find Daring to be a superior pick; she's a good DD-hunter, has defensive hydro, useful RN smoke (especially helpful if you face a CV), a healthy amount of dakka, and the single fire torps come in very handy. Not a silver ship, but Vampire II got via the RB is a fine alternative to Daring. Halland is usually good value (and you're presumably au fait with smokeless DDs after playing Marceau?), especially if you face a CV... If you've found something that you're getting good results with though, I might suggest sticking with it; it's often the case that it's easier to play fluently when you use the same ship consistently over a run of battles.

I'll be surprised if WOWS introduces premium ammo; besides it being a patently stupid idea (based on the WOT experience), it'll generate a huge amount of complaints - in WOT, it may be the most hated thing in the game, with the possible exception of arty and wheelies. I'm assuming that it means that you can pick bonuses and aesthetics independently of each other, *but* that WG will take the opportunity to 'rebalance' the silver economy i.e. cut earnings dramatically, so making it more like WOT (presumably, with the aim of getting more people to buy silver with money).

Dev Blog (*another* Dido nerf, and Italian DDs' gun ranges made *slightly* less manly): https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/269

Thank you, but I can't really take the credit - that graphic is a slightly altered* one I pinched from a Reddit thread a while ago, because it keeps coming in handy. *I removed references to Missouri, as her earnings are standard now (at least new MOs' are).

Although I don't have 1% of the necessary cruiser skills to get away with it, the upcoming PA Juneau(ish) - whatever she's called - might be worthwhile? Sort of a bit like a Flint, with DWT?

That's rather an impressive performance, BTW! What happened to the Hipper - he looks like he had a rather unfortunate (and messy?) accident...?

Not in the least!

I think some refinement of my Weimaring is called for next time Narai rolls around...

Quite nice and warm here today: Albeit a little chillier later in the week: I'm not sure you are necessarily; for me, the main advantage is the speed - it makes it a lot easier to relocate if/when your team goes mental and misses one of the key objectives, whether it's the transports or the CV. I can clock up the damage numbers to a similar degree to other cruisers, but not ludicrous numbers, although I suspect that may be down to my not having memorised every last precise detail of what will appear and when (I can tell you what will appear, roughly where, and in what sequence, but I won't be in the exact position to dump torps into same 100% of the time). Mind you, I think of Weimar as kind of like a T7 Mainz, with added speed boost; I struggle to get the most out of Mainz too - my Cruiser Kung Fu is not strong, alas...