RUSSIANBlAS

NOT FINAL, so no one go blaming me when WG don't deliver...

Ashitaka 50% off!! Dare I get it before the AP Buffs actually make it out of ST?

Awesome list, makes me feel guilty for not playing my Big E... Interesting to know who to AP cheese and know to leave

Well the RNG in this game is why I think it'll never be more than a semi casual game. Or atleast not a high level pro gaming platform. I'm not saying the game isn't skillful but it's more of a game of risk managment and risk vs reward decisions. Your situation might have worked out in your favour another day and that arguably isn't entirely dependant on the enemy BBs skill or your own awareness due to the dice rolls. That doesn't make a game feel all that fair sometimes.

I play DDs fine at higher tiers... Just observe a few things: DO NOT enter a cap first, let the enemy do it and spot. Going into a cap gives away your location. Look at enemy line up and observe what has radar and where they deploy on the map. Assume their radar range is your concealment distance. Remember a game is 20 mins long, so if something isn't viable then back off and try again. YOLO=Fail. If your team won't support you then stay alive.

Well IMO Monty is a prime example of how the meta shifts towards a heavy BB bias at the higher tiers. When you've got potentially100k HP of heavy armour with 12 balanced high calibre AP guns that are actually accurate then other ships often pale in comparison. Higher tier BBs can often laugh off DD attacks as taking 20k of torp damage in 1 salvo is meh as you've got so much HP and you know for a fact that DD will have something like a 2 min reload before they can try again. IJN Cruisers feel especially vulnerable because of the torps on their deck although OP's soft shelled USN CLs are also prime targets

GC is the lulz. I've only played 24 game in her but my WR is almost 88% with an average damage of 90k. Granted I know my way around BBs but that's still epic. It was awesome on release but somehow WG decided to buff its Torp Belt which I really cannot figure out for the life of me why... The best way I'd describe it is that it's a Tier 5 Amagi with very similar accuracy and equivalent firepower vs the targets you face. Nothing else at T4, T5 or T6 can live with you and T7 BBs can be fire spammed. Still though, the potential upcoming Ashitaka buffs might make it a very interesting ship. (WG realise it hasn't sold nearly enough so they will give it full fat Amagi AP at Tier 7, GG other BBs at that tier and lower)

I should make a Gif of it or something. Since Ranked has low CVs I went full ret@rd mode with Artillery Plotting room and Spotter so such cheese RNG snipes were possible. Had plenty of decent strikes but only one epic long range sniper shot last season. I imagine WG staff reviewed the replay of it as I doubt I could repeat the shot now. Still a bit of a thread hijack

I'll be surprised if WG can actually sell any more Tirps. I still remember when MMs used to be something like 25% Tirpz in every T8 possible game I've assumed the EU server has been fully saturated with them for awhile now

Cruiser life... Unfortuantely I've found that dodging late in a Cruiser can almost make things worse as you make your armour thicker and allows BB shells more time to arm inside the ship. I can recall quite a few onw shot deaths in Crusiers where I've tried to dodge and the shells have gone into me at an angle resulting in much lols. Mind you, I wonder how that Zao feels about me 1 shotting him in a Monty from 24km last Ranked Season.

IJN Carriers are "Expert" mode, harder to handle groups as they're smaller and squisher but the damage potential is far higher than USN stuff unless you count stupid AP troll bombs. The DoT stack you can inflict on single targets is quite epic...

Reload for both in Random Battles. DPM is king, 19km or so without range upgrades is already more than enough for a cruiser imo... I'll be lucky to grind out the Legendary Moskva upgrade however!

Just finished mine today without buying any containers... Just be patient, play the Indianapolis Missions and claim from daily containers. Pro tip if it hasn't been said: DO NOT CONVERT DUPLICATES UNTIL YOU CAN FINISH THE ENTIRE COLLECTION, IT WILL GO A LOT FASTER FOR YOU.

Actually you mean let us get tired of the ships then offer us modules that are mostly silly or bad side steps? I own about 11 T10s but I only want the Grozo, Yam and Gearing Legendary mods. Rest have me scratching my head. Hey at least the rewards are the crazy grind aren't too bad?

GC is excellent and likely OP, I laugh at how WG buffed it's torp belt for seemingly no reason. Might as well give it DefAA next patch GC accuracy is too good for T5 IMO. It's like an Amagi or at least feels so for me. Tirpitz was a unique ship on first release. Granted now it's somewhat redundant as she's suffered serious power creep, derp 8x15" guns simply are not good enough at T8 anymore. I'm in two minds however, as some people do like a good crew trainer that isn't hugely unique but just solid to play. Arguably that's what Prems should be otherwise the P2W argument raises it's head but Victor needs to be paid so

It's awful for noobs, remember the Tirpitz hordes? I've deliberately put the brakes on what I buy for Prem ships now. I have the Alabama and Kidd that I've essentially hardly played, considering that's £50 or so of pixel ships I'm having to force myself to play them now I think all of us should look up our own played stats on Prem ships and work out if they've been value for money and if not close the wallet and get playing them!!!

That's just it, by the higher tiers even the DD gunboats are competitive torp boats which leaves the IJN specialised torp DDs feeling sad. Let alone some of the Cruisers which do a decent passing impression of one.

I still play plenty of DD even in the modern radar age. I'm just spoilt by higher tier gunboats. IJN stuff is dead meat and free kills unless you get over confident and torped whilst chasing one! I've literally got everything at T9 other than IJN (T9), and a good selection of DD Prems, Harekaze, Kidd, Lo Yang, Black () Blys, Lenin and prob a few others. Only ones I don't have are Haida and Asashio. Thing is it's a lot of money for a lel boat and if it's added to the shop on a permanent basis then I may hold out for a 30% voucher... WG being WG and all

Don't forget Gas Can and Z39 got quietly added too... I sort of want the Asashio but I don't want to be caught short and hunted down by gunboat DDs. Even though the temptation of hard farming BBs is somewhat delicious

The whole BB citadel thing really does annoy me, leaving citadels raised wouldn't even affect most of the player base but would force some to improve their play. This is most telling in the Yam which has retained it's raised citadel and the 18"/460cm guns are meant to be compensation but I don't feel they are as they still don't lol pen heavily angled stuff anyway... And yet again, Yam's weaknesses makes Musashi a very bad place to spend your FXP/Coal as it's citadel is even higher. Drop Yam's cit and it would still be fair IMO but more fearsome towards other BB targets.

Roma at least is extremely well armoured when angled. So much so that it borders on crazy as you can give T10 BBs the middle finger. Did Massa retain the old USN BB raised citadel?! I thought WG made a serious error of judgment by sinking everyone's BB citadels. Broadsides need to be punished hard, like instant delete levels of hard then people might learn to play with their brains or at least try out Cruisers or something

I second this. Harekaze is simply awesome but takes no prisoners due to low HP and relatively low speed. Really needs a 19pt captain or at least 15+ as IFHE and CE are essential picks.

Well they're very different ships... Lo Yang is basically a Benson with weaker torps but hydro, otherwise it's a classical multi purpose DD. Can cap, can torp and can gunboat all fairly well. Smoke/island cover with hydro is very strong in the right hands but only to those unaware as lots of players will simply know to avoid you. It's HP is slightly on the low side but nothing a brain and SE can't fix. Kidd however is a purpose built DD hunter. It pretty much serves as a counter to DDs and doesn't do much else well. It's possible to put IFHE on it and spam bigger ships maybe but if you want that then you might as well play the new USN CL line.. Both are nice to play but it depends what you're after a Prem DD for. Maybe Yang for you since you are grinding the PA line anyway. Khaba vs rest often depends on how well other DDs use their superior concealment and pick their moments. A straight 1v1 on full HP without torp hits would likely be a Khaba win the vast majority of the times.

Other than that guy who got extremely lucky with torp floods, this mission looks nigh on impossible in USN DDs of which you only have the Fletcher, Gearing and Black to choose from. Take this game for instance, it's probably fairly hard to carry harder than I've done yet I've only got 8 fires and floods from 4 torp hits and 372 shell hits. 123k and a Kraken so I really did get stuck into the enemy...

Well the enemy on our side melted as the yolo Iowa drew them out of position which the rest of us exploited. Rest was history... Pretty enjoyable stomp but it shows how hard the 2nd mission is on Halsey campaign is as you need 12 fires or floods, I only got 7 and I didn't exactly hold back.