creamgravy

Lovely new plane models. Fighter bomber hype?

More people played Conqueror in the last 2 weeks than Khabarovsk and Grozovoi combined. A niche destroyer line targeting the Asian market won't be popular enough to impact EU random battle meta.

You guys are suffering from high tier map syndrome. Imagine if maps like "The Atlantic" or "Tears of the Desert" moved into the tier 6-8 bracket. You'd be begging for tier 10 MM.

Love me some go fast boats. Ariadne has a monstrous AA suite in 1946 (136 DPS from 3.5km) although I'd take an end of war Manxman with three RP51 mounts (firing normal shells) Tax free of course...

Yep, finally corrected the mistake! Sims vs Nagato. 13mm deck = AP shell arms between 0-12km. 16mm deck = AP shell arms between 0-14km. A 13mm deck gives Sims an extra 2km protection from those painful regular AP pens.

Exactly, using recent CA balancing Hipper should have a 1.2km to 1.5km range advantage over Chapayev (18.5km - 18.8km)

These are deck values. It should reduce normal penetrations from plunging BB AP at mid/long range.

They should drop Colorado to tier 6 and replace it with 14" NC rather than give it all these unrealistic buffs. Tier 7 is completely messed up these days.

I'm not saying it's a good ship, the problems have been around from launch. The fixes have always been the same too. Longer range like Algerie (so it has 1km+ over the HE spamming competition, something like 19km) Fantasy 10s reload (why does everyone else get crazy CL reload times?)

German, Russian and French cruisers have been balanced to operate at long range. Hipper isn't competing with New Orleans Cleveland, Baltimore, Edinburgh or Mogami, you need to compare it with Chapayev and Martel.

RIP best naval flag ever.

No we don't. RM CLs have been designed as the counterpart to IJN cruisers, aka 'tactical roaming cruisers'. They replace the slow reloading heavy weapons of the Japanese with lighter, faster reloading ones. Aoba is identical to Aosta in every way once you remove the weapons. The key difference is they can't 'blink' like Japanese cruisers. E.g. Pop up at 10-11km, hit your target with an accurate HE salvo and disappear. So, what do they need to keep moving on the front lines? I think Abbruzi and Aosta should get the option of equipping a heal in the (useless) defensive AA sot. It's a perfect fit for the play style.

Yep. For example reducing Sims deck to 13mm gives it an extra 2km of immunity* from long range Nagato fire. 13mm deck = AP arms under 12km. 16mm deck = AP arms under 14km. *Immunity is the wrong word as Nagato stills gets overpen damage, one overpen is still 9% of Sims HP, totally balanced

The 15" Mk II rail guns are very good, they just don't feel like RN BB guns. Honestly the 25s reload might be a bit too much, it pushes them well above other EU treaty BBs. I wouldn't be surprised if WG nerfed it down to 30s after a few months. AP Kg per broadside AP Kg per min HE DPM Fires per minute SoDak/NC 11,025 22,050 12,825 2.0 Amagi 10,200 20,400 16,250 1.8 KGV 15" 7,911 18,986 17,010 2.3 KGV 14" 7,210 17,304 18,300 3.0 Roma 7,956 15,912 11,475 1.4 Bismarck 6,400 14,769 10,154 1.9 Yanks are best brainless AP spammers. 14" KGV is the best brainless HE spammer (assuming we get one at tier 8) Amagi is the best all rounder. 15" KGV is a good all rounder too but it's a hard ship to like. AA power is balanced for tier/game play, it's always going to be iffy. Any tech tree 14" KGV at tier 8 would get identical AA to copy/pasta Monarch. I 100% agree about scrapping 15" KGV for 15C. We desperately need a 14" KGV at tier 8 too, that HE spam is wasted at tier 7. God knows why they moved away from the QE > Nelson > KGV > Lion.

All of them? Didn't they drop the shallow draft mechanic for a simple 'can't hit destroyers' torpedo.

Budy has has fantastic armour against all 152mm guns, esp KM ones with high alpha but low pen. ...But Gaede and Z-23 150 are the only German ships with 'normal' HE. You just need a 19 point captain with IFHE to make em shine.

Aosta = Balanced as a 'roaming' tactical cruiser, very similar to Aoba in game style. (Harder to play with a low point captain) De Grasse = Balanced as a long range HE spammer, very similar to Budyonny or Le Gasoline. (Easier to play with a low point captain)

Hands off QE, she's perfectly balanced in every way. I'd take her over Barnspite everyday of the week (no RN captain with manual secondaries ) Premium 1944 HMS Valiant hype! Premium 1941 HMS Barham hype!

Yep. I think DoY is a boss for the operation, maybe with Salem.

Looks great to me, love these super stealthy cruisers. (Radio location is awesome on Aosta when you have a high level captain btw) Belfast is broken, Fiji is OP, Myoko is very strong and Shchors is a fragile sniper. Abruzzi can stealth torp BBs whilst moving around to flank. ..but the AP does need buffing, all they need to do is shift the curve up with a higher Krupp value.

Don't confuse spike damage with a low HP pool. DDs are the least susceptible class to spike damage with no citadel, thin hulls and take reduced torpedo damage. That means they can heal everything back by a minimum of 50% and all those nasty overpens from BBs can be healed by 100%. Low detection and high manoeuvrability also means a destroyer can break off easily, giving you the ability to use all the heals you can get.

Yep, especially one with the heal consumable. Here's the max damage Kidd can take over time. Lo Yang with SE (control) = 17,400 No captain skills or flags = 26,052 Superintendent + flag = 30,728 (adds one 2,806 HP heal) Survivability Expert + flag = 32,604 (adds 2,800 HP up front and 470 HP per heal) Survivability Expert + Superintendent + flag = 35,880. (can tank more damage than a NO) Essential skills. Preventive Maintenance (guns, torpedoes, engine, steering) Last Stand (engine and steering) Survivability Expert (adds 4,682 HP upfront and over time) Concealment Expert (the key game mechanic) The rest is all about playstyle. Here's my recommendations. Random battle General > http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/0100000000000011010001000000001119 (Go around brawling with everyone. SI, SE and AR gives you the best 'trade HP' combo) Random battle AA > http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/0100000001000001000011000000010119 (Your the one usually spotting planes at 5-6km, AFT looses power without a guaranteed CV spotting planes at 7-8km for you)

https://twitter.com/WoWS_Asia/status/852718552167481345 Looks good.

With the release of Kidd (and Vampire?) it's time to revisit RN destroyer leaders. Kidd seems powerful and fun without being oppressive, a RN destroyer leader line balanced around a reduced torpedo loadout and the heal consumable seems perfect. TLDR: RN destroyer leaders = A line of Kidd with rubbish AA but faster torpedoes (aka fun, brawling, stealthy scouts) + Close range HE spam. - Only one set of torpedoes. + Single fire torpedoes. - Rubbish AA. + Heal from tier 5. Consumables. Slot 1. Damage control Slot 2. Smoke (Normal) Slot 3. Speed boost (Normal) Slot 4. Heal (Tier 5-8, Normal. Tier 9-10, Super) Tier 2 to 4 Tier Name Class Guns HE DPM Gun stats Torpedoes Consumables Speed 2 Talisman Talisman-class 4 (5) x 4" QF Mk VI 9,000 12 RPM, 722 mps 2x2 Mk I Speed boost, smoke 32 2 Swift Prototype 3 (4) x 4" BL Mk VIII 4,500 8 RPM, 697 mps 2x1 Mk VI Speed boost, smoke 35 2 Faulknor Faulknor-class 3 (6) x 4" QF Mk VI 7,500 13 RPM, 722 mps 2x2 Mk I Speed boost, smoke 31 3 Parker Parker-class 4 x 4" QF Mk VI 10,000 13 RPM, 722 mps 2x2 Mk II Speed boost, smoke 34 3 Lightfoot Marksman-class 4 x 4" QF Mk VI 10,000 13 RPM, 722 mps 2x2 Mk II Speed boost, smoke 35 3 Vampire (I68) Admiralty V-leader 4 x 4" QF Mk V 9,000 12 RPM, 805 mps 1x3 Mk II Speed boost, smoke 34 4 Valkyrie Admiralty V-leader 4 x 4" QF Mk V 11,250 15 RPM, 805 mps 2x2 Mk V Speed boost, smoke 34 As usual tier 2 to 4 ships are fairly standard with no gimmicks, they all have 2x2 launchers and no heal. Talisman might be more suitable than Swift for the tech tree but you can swap them around. Mk VI guns use 'new barrel' 722 mps velocity and 13 rpm compared to torpedo boats gun found on Phra Ruang (664 mps, 12 rpm) At tier 4 Valkyrie gets 15 rpm and keeps her original 2x2 torpedo loatout. This pushes her above tier 3 Vampire but doesn't overlap the tier 4 torpedo DD with 2x3 torpedoes. Tier 5 to 6. Name Class Guns HE DPM Gun stats Torpedoes Consumables Speed 5 Scott Admiralty leader 5 x 4.7" BL Mk I 8,000 7.5 RPM, 814 mps 1x3 Mk VII Heal 37 6 Exmouth A to I Interwar leader 5 x 4.7" Mk IX 12,750 12 RPM, 808 mps 1x4 Mk IX Heal 37 6 Hardy (H87) H Leader 5 x 4.7" Mk IX 12,750 12 RPM, 808 mps 2x4 Mk VII 37 Between late 1940 and 1943 surviving interwar destroyer leaders like Faulknor (H62) replaced the aft torpedo set for a 3" AA gun, just what we're looking for. Scott has already been balanced as Jian Wei, you just replace the aft bank of torpedoes for a 3" AA gun and heal. Easy. Tier 7 to 8. Tier Name Class Guns HE DPM Gun stats Torpedoes Consumables Speed 7 Afridi Tribal 6 x 4.7" Mk XII 15,300 12 RPM, 808 mps 1x4 Mk IX* Heal 36 7 Eskimo (G75) Tribal 6 x 4.7" Mk XII 15,300 12 RPM, 808 mps 1x4 Mk IX Super heal 36 7 Piorun (G65) N-Class 6 x 4.7" Mk XII 15,300 12 RPM, 808 mps 1x5 Mk IX* Heal 36 7 Warramunga (I44) Tribal 6 x 4.7" Mk XII 15,300 12 RPM, 808 mps 1x4 Mk IX* Heal 36 8 Lightning L/M-class 6 x 4.7" Mk XI 15,300 12 RPM, 774 mps 1x4 Mk IX** Heal 36 8 Cossack (L03) Tribal 8 x 4.7" Mk XII 20,400 12 RPM, 808 mps 1x4 Mk IX Heal 36 8 Orkan (G90) L/M-class 6 x 4.7" Mk XI 15,300 12 RPM, 774 mps 1x4 Mk IX** Heal 36 8 Musketeer (G86) L/M-class 6 x 4.7" Mk XI 15,300 12 RPM, 774 mps 2x4 Mk IX** 36 Tier 7 introduces the famous Tribal class. Early in the war 'X' turret was removed for a 4" Mk XIX mount to help agasint dive bombers. Perfect. The L/M class comes next. At tier 8 Mk XI guns get a minor reload buff to 12 rpm. Ballistics and AP performance are a big upgrade over the Mk XII gun, so it doesn't need more DPM. Firing arcs are also significantly improved over the Tribal. Aft torpedo tubes gets replaced with a 4" AA gun representing the 1941-1944 config. There's a metric ton of potential premiums for the RN, Commonwealth and Poland with a wide variety of configurations and consumables. Tier 9 to 10. Tier Name Class Guns HE DPM Gun stats Torpedoes Consumables Speed 9 Saracen Design V (early Tribal) 10 x 4.7" Mk XII 29,000 12 RPM, 808 mps 1x4 Mk IXM Super heal 36 10 Meteor Design L72 (early L-class) 8 x 4.7" Mk XI or 6 x 5.25" Mk II 16k - 23k 1x4 Mk IXM Super heal 37 T9/10 mirrors T7/8 but cranks up the volume (and a turret) Saracen (name taken from the 1908 Tribal 2nd group) is the 5 turret Tribal design study. Mk XII guns are getting a bit dated at this tier but a baby Atlanta would be a huge incentive for neutrals to grind the line. Lot's of dakka. L.72 was a RN super destroyer to rival Mogador ...before they decided on more Didos. It's a smaller L.90 without the heavy AA mounts and would be more suitable in the line. 2,745 tons and 120m it puts Meteor in the same size class as Z-46 for comparison. Like RN BBs and CLs they get a super heal. Because reasons... Do it WG!

So you want a Kidd with faster, single launch torpedoes and don't mind rubbish AA? Hmm..