RUSSIANBlAS

The real test is in the top league, the playstyle is different up there. I got up to R5 in BBs and playing aggressive but you have to re-adapt. Good players in BB will hit you at 10km+ and punish you for breaking concealment, especially if it's at the start of the game and they have nothing else to shoot. If there's enough ships shooting at a DD then they're going to take some damage no matter what. Others have taken Farra up to R1, I'm not saying I am the authority at Ranked by any means.

Well I only feel qualified to speak about the Gallant in Ranked because I did exactly the same thing I did with it as I did the Sims last season. I'm a bit disappointed as I wanted to get to R1 doing something different but the fleet protection DD method is way too effective... As far as skills go, you get a 19 point RN captain until the end of the season, so I built it just like a USN DD captain, PM, LS, AR, SI, SE, RL/RPF and CE. As per my first post you play to defend the main body of ships from enemy flanking DDs, you spot for your team when you smoke them and you stand between them and the enemy so you spot torps giving them a chance to dodge. With RPF and CE only a Hatsuharu will get the detection jump on you, you'll either outspot or see every other DD the same time as they detect you. Most importantly you bait enemy DD to shoot you so they break concealment whilst you slip back into it. They will be bloomed for 20+ seconds, this is pretty much key to killing enemy DD as a large chunk of the DD population are simply too stupid to realise that getting 2k damage yourself on an enemy DD is not worth taking fire from an entire enemy team. You use your wits and keep your guns silent, spot and let others do the work for you. As others will point out, once your team gets a DD advantage it's often a simple case of continuing to spot and strangling the enemy team slowly. The best wins are ones that feel like your side is in control, systematically squishing the enemy team. I personally think Ranked is about making good calls and staying alive, it is not a place for risky pro gaming style plays as if they back fire then you lose. Why not play to where your team has the most advantages on your side without risking everything? I'll quite often end up bottom of a team on XP and this is fairly consistent, my PR is awful in Ranked with DDs but yet I've ranked up in them. So something must be going right?

No reason why you can't get R1 again, our game last night was pretty awesome... I was R4/R5 on Monday and I hit R1 early this afternoon. Most of my winning games have had me finish way down in the XP list, my PR for Gallant and Sims is appalling but the WR is what matters. As long as you can spot/nail enemy DDs then I find the team will do the rest if you smoke and spot them. Granted there are games that are completely unwinnable as even Unicum don't have more than a 60% or so WR in Ranked...

Good to see others have done it too. And in different ships, just shows there's more than one way to do it. I still find BBs impossible as you are really reliant on the DDs doing a good job although I've spoken to the odd guy who's done it in a Fuso. to all those awaiting a shiny new Flint!!

Saw Shaka_D last night in Ranked. We muscled through to a pretty comprehensive victory. Shame we didn't play more Ranked games together, I've hit the magic #1 now

Isn't it only for the top few? WG failed last season as they got it into their heads that folk were going afk to farm containers so they drew back the drop rate...

I've hit R1 twice and I've always taken a break from the game, not even tried to click the battle button for a top level game...

lol! Now you reminded me, it was the troll prize in the Xmas event boxes But for anyone who doesn't win one, just play the Dresden. It's pretty much the same thing so you're not missing much.

The Emden is basically a bad Dresden with a fake funnel and gold trim. You'll probably play it once and leave it in port or sell it for the extra slot.

BBs are possible of having awesome Ranked games but they don't feel consistent enough to get to the top. There are plenty who have done it in BBs, I'm clearly not to to that level yet

That's pretty much why I gave up playing BBs in Ranked. You can't influence the game anywhere as much as a good DD with nice concealment and if you commit too hard there's no way out for a big fatty. What you perceive as camping could just be the optimal BB range. 10km to around 15km can be fine but it's a lot further out than what DDs see as being involved. Also if all your DDs die then there is nothing more BBs can do a lot of the time except sail away and try to farm damage. Still, there are a lot of genuine BB campers who don't use their HP at all... And I play all classes so at least I know a little about what I'm talking about.

Some say Vanguard would need tweaks at T8 but Bismarck fits fine at that level with 4x2 15". I think we'll still see it as a Prem one day as WG tend to ask for a lot of money for T8 ships.

It's likely an economics thing but I'd have loved to see a tweaked Vanguard as the T8 Silver instead of Mutant KGV, it just feels so lazy. You can say Alabama, NC and Iowa/Missouri are all V similar but they all existed and are acknowledged as having their own differences.

WG likely won't care, they'll say the TK punish system is enough. I've seen people of Rank 2 deliberately go the opposite way to their team and throw games. Ranked is hard enough without kiddies that get Ranked rage and try to troll.

Viktor says "Give me your paper!!!!" So WG made a Mutant Gnesi Silver but released Scharn as Prem. For RN BB they make a historical KGV and a Mutant one with bigger guns but both are silver and they've chosen to charge us money for the oddball in the RN Fleet. It's good for business but leaves a nasty taste for the players.

9 million XP is a lot of Khaba victims... 9 mil XP is 3k games if you earn 3k XP per game!! I've only played about 7.5k games total.

It annoys me how solid the Gallant is and the timing of it's release. It's basically p2w reinforcements for me. I've jumped from R5 to R3+2 with Gallant and the 19 point Campaign captain. Need to be quick tho!!

Turrets and JoaT will certainly help a Warspite a lot. May as well wait until the smoke thing resolves itself, unless you really need another RN Captain to use now.

I don't think FdG is far behind other T9 BB in overall damage or accuracy. It's probably due to only getting 8 dice rolls in an old fashioned 4x2 layout than 3x3 like Zumo and the Merican twins. Granted you don't see 3+ citadels in a single salvo that you might see in the others but you get better armour.

I wouldn't spec any captain for smoke able ships until WG sorts out their proposed smoke duration nerf. Either that or just put Jack in a BB like how WG want you to

Someone high up in WG plays Call of Duty and likes the kill streak reward system in it. I can't wait for air strikes and tactical nukes Maybe a remote control animal or something too. The game's integrity is already questionable due to Prem Ships, adding silly bonuses for players already doing well is comical.

Playing VS Mutsu in Ranked makes me feel she's really squishy. Really no match for a Warspite at medium range. Mutsu armour feels horrible in Ranked but it's fine in most Random Battles.

This campaign makes me think it really is the Year of the BB. We've had high tier USN buffs, RN BBs coming v soon, Germans untouched except for a secondary range buff in exchange for a slight fire chance decrease and now a tailor made IJN BB Captain so everyone who plays BB can feel the love. I also think the captain skill changes at the start of the year benefited BBs the most too. Never been a better time to play Battle Boats. Especially if WG forces the smoke nerf down our throats...

I really must be the only player out there who utterly loves the FdG or Fat Freddy as i call her. The guns are fine to me, I use it as a gigantic mid range stealth BB and I tend to get pretty good results. I even prefer it over Missouri/Iowa and only my stance against WG stops me buying the Perm Camo.