Gnirf

Small ships like Tromp have some armour and are better used in cruiser low tier, an excellent T4 IMO. Sweden was very impressed and thought that a slighly heavier variant was suitable, and had serious plans to build 5-6 of them to accompay their smaller destroyers.

Well I suppose he may appeal to gamers, the steampunk camos from Halloween I use (for the XP) but as a naval freak I naturally vomit. But if someone wants to spend real money for expensive camos that only provide Economic benefits and fund future ships game development I do not mind. I have not seen many Kiis with it. As long as you can have a normal camo.

Yes for T6. At T5 she would have been tolerable maybe. When D-T is T4 material ....... prenerfed she was a monster, Huang He is stacked in the wrong tier that is why she is the worst premium , the prize would have been lower also. Got her in Santas crates, do not have played her yet.

It is difficult to not agree with the verdict that Giulio Cesare is the best Premium - OP as hell and very cheap. Enjoy it very much, are now in the process of producing my 4th 10 p Ita captain. Some might say that T8 premiums yield more but in a new tech tree that you grow a number of captains from scratch and you don´t want to waste Elite XP until necessary, GC is well suited perhaps the most well suited ship to grow low end captains. High end captains (at least 10 p can be grown on T8 ships or so but up to that point I prefer not higher than T6. GC also works uptiered. Worst : GZ I have no opinion of but have naturally followed it, Ashitaka/Mutsu perhaps deserved, have not Ashitaka, bought Mutsu cheap at 30% off with Doubloons 50% off so I am not sleepless, but have only played a few games and do not feel the urge to play her.. DoY just underwhelming - only for the collector/name. If you have KGV with premium camo like I do it is most likely that I after the campaign only play DoY in heavy RN captain grinding. With Warspite, DoY, Nelson, Hood, belfast I have at least no shortage of RN trainers.

Great wins Aragathor

A dynamic division , as far as I know you are not able to start in a division -2 otherwise

OP you have some point in that High tier gameplay are defensive often, the reasons have already been explained. But one thing is also that the game has matured, many have high end captains, do not know how you play your ships , if you move captains, playing stock etc. The META changes on higher tiers, that is why I like you or many others have more fun on mid tiers, when mistakes are less punished. I can tell you that I belong to the cruiser players on high tiers, I have found that I play them better (less poor) than my battleships. But it is a tough game vs your battleship. But Biz and the German BBs are the favourite targets for cruisers, the US BBs I consider more difficult targets. Many play German Battleships because they are perhaps more wellknown for the EU players in general. But as a cruiser I am easily punished by a battleship, naturally I do everything to make it as difficult for you as possible, while using my HE spam to irritate you or AP if you present broadside. It takes long time for me to sink you even if you play poor, as my damage builds up over time, however if I f.e. act as a force multiplier when you are engaged by another battleship you are naturally in trouble. The cruisers are very squishy, you have certainly killed off a cruiser or next to it with a single salvo causing maybe 25-30 K in a single salvo, if I am still alive I am almost crippled to nothing while it takes a while to get 55000-60000 against you, and fire damage can be 100% healed. Usage of flags wisely, captains skills like Fire prevention, naturally premium consumables can mitigate a lot. But if you are overwhelmed in numbers you should die, if you were invulnerable to a cruiser no matter what who would play them. I can not slug it out with you , I must use other means, it is up to you in a Battleship to find out how. Considering how many games in higher tiers you are basically shut down in a cruiser by 5 battleships and really have to play extremely careful , and still get deleted sometimes with ease by well played battleships (you can not avoid all angles if you wish to do something) you play as a battleship player a ship where you every game should be able to produce something, because you have better means of survivability than all other ships. Learn to shoot in smoke, I can not say that I can do it myself but sometimes even I can hit with help of scouting aircraft. There are ways. Hydro is a very strong tool in avoiding torps. That you have on the German battleships, learn to have last seen on minimap so that you have best knowledge of Destroyers position, but sometimes it is very difficult at the end of the game when they are getting stronger. It is very difficult to hit with torps on well played higher tier battleships because of all scouting a/c , hydro etc, only if you caught a player busy, tunnelvisioned or in unfavourable situation. Sure you might catch him with one, at most two torps if you have laid out your torps well but never more. So you will manage even these attacks. Shimas 20 km torps are almost never used by players in random, as their detection range is too far. And on 20 km their spread is large. I advice you to play other ships also both DDs and Cruisers on T8+ , then come back. You have few games many of us here have 5000 and well above that figure, that means we have more experience , we have also better knowledge of each ships strengths and weaknesses. You will learn and improve if you want to, by playing, visiting forums, watch some Youtubers like Flamu f.e..

OK game in Kutuzov

There are several perspectives here that I think are valid: First rewards by playing the game - naturally I am happy with content that sometimes are given to the hard grinders (I include myself in those) events that will give you "free" rewards by playing, however most hard core players does also play on premium , buy crates, premium camos, ships etc, I did a estimate what I have invested in the game over 1500 EUR, but I have not recieved anything apart from a 2-year 10% discount coupon and a few offers in game especially when the doubloon count is high. I am not angry on that thew reward some players that they like to come back in some way, but I would have appreciated some sort of reward for purchasing that much, f.e. Buy 3 things in shop , get the cheapest for free, 10-20% off your next buy with some long term validity. Nevertheless I assume that they think that players like me will play and buy anyway. Well they are correct, I like the game too much and I have invested too much effort. There is only one game that I have played more Master of Orion first release, as I played this game for 20 years, I would doubt that anyone in the world could match me in terms of hours played. I have a tendency to stick to one thing when I like it. I therefor find it sad that there is nothing on EU with the collectors club, that would have been a reward given benefits.

Problem is not the day to day grind but to fund 20-25 000 000 for a ship when fitted with upgrades, when you reach T8 in several tech trees it is formidable credit outlay,

Clveland has had a health pool advantage in T6, that would be different in T8, nevertheless she can be compared with Mogami 155, Chappa, Edinburgh f.e. so faster RPM than 7,5 would be wrong , range 16-16,5, Def AA+hydro sep slots, the CE will prob be good. Healt buff to say 38000.

I use TYL in general, otherwise Flags/camos but I am so well stocked now so for me only TYL atm

Like others have said use modification upgrade I do that in some and DDs are a high risk/high reward ship that are fragile and prone to detonations - it is always a choice between modules on DDs it is viable , I think that detonations should be part of a naval game

What previous posts have said+ Recommend you to aim for 12-15, but accept that it takes time, you learn a lot. In p.4 by OP about consumables -Read premium of everything and stack flags like Juliet Charle (fun and engaging you know...) and all other suitable combat flags. Remember it is about winning not necessary to do maximum damage if you are in lead keep it, and let enemy attack you from disadvantage, do not take unnecessary chances when you are ahead. Many of the best try play hard at the beginning . but if they have played before they start higher, I who were R8 started at R15 now, so you dont have to bother with us at the start. The rewards are fine so at least 15 is considering that very good reward for effort as you could not lose stars in the lowest ranks. The first ranks are not so serious so you should do fine, but later seasons there are good to have a few ships with as good captains as possible. Later in the ranks when you lose stars it will be more difficult for you, play as long as it is fun. Remember the further you go the better captains you will face not only skillwise but they are full 19 p captains so they have a advantage over you from start. That is something which you also will reach later. Personally I will play Kutuzov/Chappa maybe NC/Alabama. Other alternatives like Kidd I am not good enough in so these I will stick to, I doubt that I reach last years R8.

Well I have got 3 out of 63 (20+20+20) +3 free small but I have all the premiums except Gremy now, I wonder if that is negative? Frosty Fir may however be seen as a good camo. But now I am on 1400+ prem camos... I would have liked the Yellow Dragon flag en masse....

Well, it is the same with coupons. However in the 1 and 2 year celebrations you have been rewarded according to number of games and T10 ships. I have spend endless amount on new premiums etc, never got any personal offer for that... f.e. after buying 10 premiums you get a 50% coupon on next buy etc ...sure summer sales etc were good but they were for everyone

Yes I will reset on many ships and my reserve captains very useful

In Explorer it did not work, was like you for me too, but changed to chrome try that

Yes the challenge is out there - perhaps others will join

Well after the two free containers 50 ESCL and 10000 FreeXP I went lunatic and bought 20 of each size. Results: First I bought 20 large 2x15 Type 59 11x30 Frosty Fir 1x30 Dragon 3x30 Wyvern 1x30 Ouroboros 1xHuang He+captain 1xIndianapolis+ captain Then 20 small 7x300 Doubloons 2x50 papa papa 3x50 zulu hotel 1x50 ESCL 4x5 Frosty Fir 1x Kidd + captain Wow! Then 20 Medium 8x1000 doubloons 8x15 Frosty Fir 2x15 Hydra 1x15 Wyvern 1x15 Red Drgaon No ships I want Gremy! I guess given Kidd that overall it was tolerable. Therefor I used the doubloons and bought the Kii for 15% off ingame so now only Gremy remains. I guess that the game now will be completely filled with all the Frosty Fir ships, at least they are better than last years New Years camo

Okay 996 to go Regards Gnirf

Hardly surprising - but the youtube in crates as in Ship play are probably showing only the best draws. Think of it - How many would watch 20 crates -amazing results or 20 crates - flags and camos disappointment real time 28 minutes. I will buy some, last year I got at least the moneys worth, but it is a question here how I value the flags and camos , regardless if they worth it or not, last year I still have the upper tiers left in many trees so the 100% camos in 40? or was it 50 in the large boxes then were welcome, now with only PA at T7 and the CVs which I do not play left and with 900+ Premium camos of various kinds (restless excluded) and several flags it is more or less only ships that are interesting. That makes the calculation different. I recieved 4 ships last year, Nikolai, Anshan Lo Yang Tirpitz and the droprate were around 1:5 for the large boxes for me, no ships from the smaller.

You want PvE goodies, I hardly ever play PvE, except when I have to (scenarios and f.e. in the two-year event) but as far as I remember the goodies for those players have been very limited. I take it for your word that GS was doable in PvE, and so the disappointment is understandable but otherwise it is almost never possible to reach finish in PvE. WG has never prioritized PvE, but has differed a little with the scenarios.

Well I miss Gremy, Kidd, Kii and Indianapolis in the list (HuangHe also but that is the poor draw). I might buy some, it is fun to play. The first draw videos is already out on the tube.

Not to defend WG, but what is the problem with the Christmas crates, they are coming, whether they are good or bad more or less depends on the chances to recieve good ships. And for the campaigns...No campaign have been easy if you have little time to play. Campaigns have never been designed for PvE. You can have your wallet as shut as you want but something in this campaign style is expected if we are to look at last year, Graf Spee were also tought to get if you wanted it for free and had normal commitments, Hood was a clear advantage in the Biz campaign etc. WG can not be expected to throw out goodies for no effort, if the effort this time is too much or not that is another question, but the requirements does not seem so extreme. Aft/Vent if you can not see that it is the effort to get 15 out of 20 missions for two SCs - that is a very excellent campaign in my book, most of the m you can do in a few games - but it rewards some play most of the days instead of massive grinding one day - I like that event. Two SCs for little difficulty is nothing to sneeze at. For me the worst campaign was the COTE most of the rest have been alright/easy.