AnotherDuck

IJN DDs have good HE, and while it's not as great as it used to be, it's still better than AP in almost all cases. Against other DDs, getting fires and module damage is a good benefit. For cruisers showing broadside at close range, I don't really find the fire rate to be high enough to really gain that much from AP. It's not like the higher tier USN or SN DDs that can sometimes out-damage cruisers at close range (just be wary of having less health than CAs).

The only time you should ever consider picking a tier lower is if you know you can carry the weight of a ship a tier higher, no matter what MM throws your way. I've personally only done that with IJN DDs, as they're less tier sensitive than all other ships. In particular I've never kept a T3 ship, so I've always picked Umikaze for that tier. Which was more fun when you could still meet T5 ships, as I found I got a better performance at those tiers than at equal tier. But that's a special case. Also, some T9 ships perform just as or almost as well as the T10 ships. Sometimes with somewhat different benefits. Destroyers are smaller, for instance. Some cruisers can handle themselves equally well. Not quite so sure about battleships, but at least you're still only going to get one tier higher ships aiming your direction. Any combination of ship works, but you need to consider the strategy for that particular set of ships. If you pick all three of the same type, you're going to have to push hard regardless of what you pick. Which is also the main benefit of that setup, since you have a hopefully coordinated force of at least three ships. That can often push through most enemies, assuming you're not heavily outnumbered. It's also, as mentioned, fun for troll divisions. If you have a battleships and one or two smaller ships, a fast battleship works better, as you can keep up better, and keep the division collected. It doesn't matter if it becomes a standard snipe battle, though. If you have a cruiser or two and a destroyer, you probably want a stealthy destroyer who can spot other destroyers for the cruisers to delete. A carrier and a good AA ship or two is a good combo. The carrier forces a carrier on the enemy team, which also makes the AA ship able to use her strength better. If you have two AA cruisers and a carrier, it's a good idea to split the cruisers up, to cover more area.

I don't agree with your view of torpedoes, so I'll just leave that at that, and nerfing them while buffing guns just make every nation more the same. And honestly, WG buffing the IJN guns to the point where they're not at a disadvantage against other nations' DDs' guns is even less likely than buffing torpedoes.

I often do that, actually, in Shiratsuyu. It's the smallest ship in Ranked by far, so you can get away with sometimes very aggressive scouting, or steal a cap on occasion. One of the best things you can do is spot the enemy destroyers so your ships can sink them. Destroyers can be very powerful in the end game, as there's less to oppose them. Recently had a game with a Nagato who whined about the DDs not smoking him up. Me and the other DD stood for all kills in our team, as well as two caps (although one I capped after everyone else had died), and the Nagato was dead last in the score. The people who whine in the game about people screwing their matches up are usually the ones who're at fault themselves, in my experience.

Once started on Estuary on the north west spawn, with no DD there (forgot if we only had one, or if both were on the east, maybe in a division). Everyone abandoned that side, so I was the only defender there. Luckily, they actually pushed and managed to cap, while I, in Bismarck, held off a bunch of battleships and cruisers for long enough so we could cap. This is fairly common if you have a lopsided DD spawn, especially on such a divided map.

In this case I find it is. It brings up new tactics and mind games. And no, it wouldn't balance out returning to pre-nerf HE shells. At the end of it, Shiratsuyu isn't a gunboat. It's a torpedo boat. Nerfing the main weapon by a lot in favour of buffing the secondary weapon marginally is a nerf. Okay, you're against gimmicky abilities that aren't connected to the core game. That doesn't include the Torpedo Reload Booster. All it really does is lowers the reload for the main weapon of the destroyers using it. Unless you also want to remove radar, sonar, float planes, smoke, speed boost, repair and damage control parties, most of the captain skills...

You're arguing with someone with a very poor grasp of grammar. It's not you.

I wouldn't quite call Shchors a direct upgrade. Buddy isn't quite as easy to citadel. Or at least in my experience. I could go far more aggressive than either Kirov or Shchors in Buddy. Unless you're in my Yorck. I now actually have four non-T9 games (I was quite surprised to get two T8 battles in a row today), but that's out of 14, so ten T9 battles.

I like the idea. As a DD player, I really don't like starting at the far end of the map next to the only other DD on the team. It's just a disadvantage to start with. Happens most often in Hotspot. I wouldn't mind that. It's not like you don't put the engine to full every match before it starts anyway... The only problem is if you're thrown out of the game for one or other reason (game isn't completely stable, even without mods), and you venture far into the map while not being able to do anything. Then again, if you actually lose connection, it should stop the engine as usual.

I don't think it's a good idea to remove even more of what's actually unique. And without that, you're going to have to give some significant buffs.

Last one I saw sank an enemy destroyer, and said in chat, "Hydro. " Take from that what you like.

[edited] means I typed something that hit the forum filter. It was an appropriate word for how you present your achievements. It's related to what's left by cows.

20 km torps work with Torpedo Acceleration. Or at least they do from my experience with the old T9 Kagero. They're not great, but you can certainly do damage with them, and they're good for area denial. Of course, you have to know how to use them, since it's going to take a long while for the torps to reach a distance where the extra range actually pays off. And you're limited if you flank the enemy, since you can often end up with allies within fire range. Finally, there's always that little bit that you don't have to use the max range every time. You should still get as close as you can. But with the range, you can torp from outside radar range, and still hit battleships behind the radar cruisers. But regardless, Shima needs buffs. The entire standard line past T5 needs buffs. The alternate branch does well enough.

I find Shchors far more alike Kirov than Buddy. It's a paper sniper. The difference is that Kirov has better range and better AP for her tier. And if you're used to Kirov, Buddy is downright tanky, which is one reason why Shchors feels so prone to sinking the moment you're spotted. The key is to use the good range to the full extent. Mostly ships that snipe will be more useless than those who actually get within a reasonable distance, but Shchors can even hit destroyers at any range she can shoot at. With a spotting plane if you've got good aim. The HE is good enough to set plenty of fires, but the AP still isn't bad, so if you see a broadside, AP it. Does decent damage to battleships as well. This is also one of the ships that benefit from Priority Target the most. You really want to know if someone's looking your direction so you can take evasive manoeuvres if necessary. Even with the slow turn, at the range you're comfortable at, you can still dodge.

In the right hands you can dominate games with just about any ship. This is the comfort zone for me as well. For instance, I find Yorck absolutely terrible because the guns turn slower than the ship. But it's also what I like about Bismarck's guns. I can turn and aim at the same time, so I don't have to straightline just to be able to fire anything at all. This is also an issue that's far more severe with the new nerfed gun characteristics of the IJN DD guns. With a faster reload speed, you lose far more with a slow turret traverse, since you need to have your guns pointed at the target for a longer period of time. With the old ones, it was much easier to shoot once, dodge a bit, then turn back and shoot, and repeat as long as you have health. Now if you do the same you're sitting for longer with loaded guns but unable to fire them. Or you can sail in a straighter line and take a ton more damage. So it's a nerf in an area where they were already weaker than other destroyers.

I managed to actually do well in Shiratsuyu in Ranked for once (four battles, all wins). Had a terrible win rate and mostly potato teams previously (although I got great results in Nagato, so it wasn't all bad). Still an overall bad win rate, but I think it'll get better. Nagato did okay, with a 60% win rate. Think I'm getting used to how carefully to play.

I wonder how many salvos a Fletcher specced like that can have in the air at once... Seven or so? Still, I don't think AFT is worth it for those DDs. Besides, they're much more fun to brawl with. Some IJN DDs can stealth fire as well, but then again, IJN DD guns aren't really the best. Good shell arcs, though. This can actually be useful, since they also have a decent fire chance for DD guns, even if it was nerfed at the split patch. Some battleships can stealth fire with spotter plane, which is really taking sniping to the logical limit, and not particularly useful. And maybe a few Russian cruisers as well, although those can actually hit at that range.

There's also the occasional situation where you use the TRB in the middle of the reload timer, since sometimes you get a good situation where you want torps now.

For some reason, I do a lot better with Nagato than with Shiratsuyu. And that's when I would consider myself a far better Shira player than Nagato player. Although, my stats in Nagato Randoms are rather old, and I was less good at that time, so they're not entirely representative. Maybe it just means one less BB potato in the team? Or just plain weird luck, much like my Yorck consistently (though still a new ship) get T9 battles (9 out of 11 battles).

I really like Shira in Randoms. In Ranked, even if I play her a bunch, I still have so many crap games. In Randoms, my winrate in Shira is 66%, and Nagato has only 47%, which is my lowest of all with a decent number of games. However, in Ranked it's completely reversed, with 48% and 80% resp. And I still don't think I do particularly well in Nagato. You can sell them.

I usually use the control+hover on the silhouette. And on the torps as well just to confirm that yes, these German cruiser torps really are 6 km. Mostly I find it useful for remembering the invisifire range of some DDs. Or just as a refresher to remember which ship I'm playing.

I like playing a scouting destroyer (using Shiratsuyu in Ranked), but it doesn't really give much in the way of xp rewards. You only get those if you hit those smoke torps or area-denial skill walls. I've often seen players throw games away because they're going for a kill which puts them out of position so they can't cap and gain the points we really need. Suicidal gameplay can work, but in Ranked it's not generally as good of an idea. Yesterday in a Random battle I suicided around the middle island in Trap to get a Baltimore who camped there, but since I was in a (stock) Yorck, it was a trade entirely in our favour, especially since that also gave us the cap. However, in Ranked all ships are the same tier, so trading a ship is most of the time not that beneficial. That goes especially if you're a decent player, which means you're probably more use alive.

For that event, getting 20k xp with most nations, I kinda wonder why people do them one nation at a time. I mean, I've not even bothered with the mission, and I'm practically done (if not already done, considering I just left a Fletcher game I'm probably getting the last few xp). I just play to get the daily win every other day or so, and I've gotten enough experience to go around. I only have one SN ship, Shchors, and I don't have any USN ships I'm grinding, but I do play Benson and Fletcher once in a while, because they're just fun to play. That aside, as mentioned, losing streaks happen. Deal with it. And don't [edited]about your own contributions.

I have a 12-point captain on my Nagato, and I'm doing well enough in Ranked. I decided to skip a T4 skill in favour of T2-T3 skills, and not going for a secondary build. As it is, I have: T1: Direction Centre. An extra fighter can be useful, even with the shorter duration battleships have. T2: Expert Marksman, because faster gun turning is always nice, and Adrenaline Rush, since battleships can often survive quite some time even with low HP. T3: Superintendent. I often use the extra heal, so the skill is almost always useful. Also Vigilance, as that allows me to get a little closer a little safer. That leaves one point over. Not sure if I should save to a T4 skill at this point, but I didn't really favour Advanced Fire Training (not going for secondaries, and the extra plane covers some extra AA) nor Concealment Expert (almost always spotted anyway). I could go for something defensive, like Fire Prevention, Basics of Survivability, or High Alert. I could've traded Vigilance for one of those, but decided not to.

So you got lucky last season, and you expect to get equally lucky this season?