RUSSIANBlAS

When I saw the patch notes about the Alabama being buffed I immediately wondered why it was being done... In case anyone doesn't know, the Alabama previously had a very high citadel but this has now been dropped to the waterline. I believe iChase said the underwater armour has been enhanced too. None of this will change the play style, it'll just make things easier. I was going to consider buying it anyway as it seemed like an interesting challenge. But now it's essentially stronger than an NC in almost every aspect. Much like how the Texas is better than a New York and how the Missouri is better than an Iowa. I pretty much agree with both the YouTubers, you've now got a ship that's essentially a buffed silver tech tree USN BB with a pay wall at the point of entry. Interesting how the recent dismay over stealth firing, CVs, German DDs and other balance issues are being pushed through yet a BB is being buffed prior to entry. It's hard to argue against it being strengthened in order to increase sales as the average player is going to be more comfortable in it. And the worse thing is I know it's somewhat wrong of WG to pre release buff ships for sales but I've got enough disposable income to get it and farm potatoes with her. I might even take it into Ranked next season if it's T8 as it has very little weaknesses on paper. I've already taken two Premium Ships to Rank 1 I'd rather this not descend into a raging salt fest and I can see WG shutting this thread down too but thoughts about the Alabama folks?

The fact that OP was set on fire in four places by a Bismarck spamming HE means he was either playing vs a potato or a troll

Colorado benefits from this as you can now take the AA range extender to buff her vs CVs. Not sure about taking it on New Mex instead of Artillery Room as her range might be a bit too poor still...

RU DDs are fun, they get epic from Kiev onwards imo. Weird, I love my Monty as it's actually viable as a maneuverable TX stealth BB. GK and Yam are big "Shoot me" signs. RN Cruisers look nice, if you've ever seen the hail of fire a Minotaur can lay down! Best thing is to try yourself on PT or watch videos of YouTubers and make an informed decision.

I bought a crap tonne of Xmas boxes but I won Gremy and Nikolai... Both Russians are OP as hell. Gremy is better than the Anshan which is a tier higher and Nikolai is simply the Terminator made into a T4 BB.

It's the sheer speed of the U turn, would a tech tree ship be buffed that quickly? Atago and Kutuzov are pretty insane but they haven't had the same sort of fast track buff. I know Atago got a mid life buff and Kutuzov got IFHE though. Meh. I'm likely buying Alabama anyway...

I got banned for awhile for saying that but others have used it since and been okay. The joys of moderation...

WG aren't going to listen regardless, we're a tiny minority of all the players. Unless a money Prem is concerned

NC is a very competent T8 BB... Excellent front armour, excellent AA and the hardest BB punch in T8. Side armour is slightly suspect and the shells need adapting to but they be worked with. It's a git gud issue.

The smoke puff is small, try shooting it with a full salvo. You might be surprised...

iChase said the differences in the guns are essentially non existent. They look accurate enough from all the videos. Just the same floating lol shell travel time.

Literally days ago Sub_Octavian posted this on the NA server. http://forum.worldofwarships.com/index.php?/topic/118632-alabamas-armor-model-is-already-massively-in-error/page__st__380 No plans to change Alabama citadel yet it's already implemented. The speed of the change and sudden U turn isn't great when other stuff doesn't get changed for months or ever.

All radar did for Ranked was slow it's pace down. If you DD'ed you soon learned that you stayed 9km away from islands and smoke puffs near the enemy until squishy cruisers were all punched out. Radar also made trying to dig a team out of a cap incredibly difficult. With intelligent smoke and island cover any attack would pay for it.

The only RU BB in the game which was only released for a tiny window of opportunity. The ship was obscene when I first got it in an Xmas box. Since then it's had the captain skills change which is a minor buff as you could take FP and AR to make her even tankier and fire faster. Now CVs are greatly weakened so the ship is a low tier Demi-God now. I don't play mine much, just as the odd feel good ship. So few people own it that I can't see WG ever touching it for balance. Still, I prefer the Gremy. It's more of a challenge to dominate others but not that much more of one

Yes, it's either low Ranks or R1 in Random Battles. Anyone who can get to R5 and stay in the Premier League will get R1 with a bit more grinding. Too far not to I guess...

The temporary flags are to make the grind marginally less painful...

Sorry bro... Your team did the usual high tier collapse sadly. In case WG are watching Pirit was very good and stuck to the NDA

OP is an Uber Seal Clubber. The TL DR version of his post

Gremy isn't going to suffer much from SF nerf... It's amazingly manoverable and still beastly for T5. Out performs Anshan at T6.

I did last week's by accident. Got the last hit on a Fiji then pretty much lost the game after. Sims XP modifier delivers again...

You forget the most important one: That they don't play their own game

I agree, that's what makes Scharn an excellent DD Hunter, rapid fire shotgun spread!

Yes. Shells are excellent at about 7km but you need to aim off screen for long range DDs...

Well yes. We all play differently, I'm probably in a Fat Freddy minority who likes it...

Or for your Neptune/Minotaur! I'm still on Fiji and I'm keeping her so will need a new top tier captain.