AnotherDuck

So, I was going to play a relaxed Random battle with Shchors to warm up for the day. And I forgot I had Ranked selected. Well, that was a great start. Turns out, it went well. I managed top of the team, although it was a team effort (credit where credit is due, they did well). Mostly because I hunted down a destroyer and sniped the other. But that's what a cruiser is supposed to do. Delete those pesky enemy destroyers. And Shchors has the guns to do it at any range. Replay and screens.

I'm highly in favour of this suggestion.

You mean it actually does what it's supposed to do? Destroyers take the most skill to play, generally speaking. That's why it's so easy to see the ones who mess up. Cruisers can be difficult, depending on the situation, but you can sometimes get away with a little more mistakes, and it won't be as noticeable, because no one cares as much. Battleships can make a ton of mistakes, get away with it, and that still won't always be noticeable anyway. Also, Belfast is one of the strongest ships in Ranked. Calling it OP isn't that far off. Then again, it's not as bad as Fletcher mark II.

Depends on how you mean. It takes skill to do that and not more or less trade your ship for it with a high chance of dying before you can drop them if you're not in a battleship. In a recent game, while it wasn't that close, it was still just 3 km, but I still managed to trade my stock Yorck for a Baltimore, which also gave us the cap he was camping behind an island in. I still got deleted by her and a few battleships at ~13 km range, but I'd say it was worth it. I've also tanked a salvo from some destroyer from within arming distance, didn't take any damage, then used my Honourable Torpedo and survived, thanks to SE. On the other hand, if it is a battleship, letting one get that close, well, that's entirely your mistake.

I've had this issue on occasion, playing solo, from a few times in a day to once a month. It seems more frequent if I have mods, but it also happens without, and since I play more with mods than without, I'm not sure there's a significant overall difference.

Bismarck fits the randomness of Random battles very well, because of the versatility. You can pretty much go and do your own thing, whatever suits the current situation. In organised play, I think it's better with more specialised ships, and brawler is not generally a good specialisation for battleships from what I've seen, as focused fire is a great way to deal with brawlers.

The only time I'm aiming for "useless survival" is when I'm at very low health in a non-DD with worse concealment than ships I'm up against, and can't out-range them. If you're going to die in one or two hits from a DD, and you're not stealthy enough to avoid detection, you're better off just running away. That way, at least the enemy won't get points for killing you, and you can't really do much for your team anyway, since you will be focused on by any remotely non-incompetent team. Doesn't happen often, but I've had a few cruiser games where I just sat in a corner for a while with less than 500 HP left, and once or twice in a battleship.

I think that's the case for any ship that isn't a reasonably stealthy destroyer (like Benson or Fletcher), but even then you need to be careful. Mostly because chasing DDs is an excellent way to get out of position away from allies and into enemy fire. Of course, in late game it's a far more viable tactic.

Don't worry so much about your stats. You can change them, but it's going to take a while. People who judge you based on stats like that don't know the real picture anyway, so you can ignore them. People will judge you anyway, one way or another. It says more about them than it does about you. The important part is to just have fun playing.

I've always liked Ocean. One of the better maps. It's also the most unique. I want more of it, not less. Of course, I mostly played it with stealthy IJN DDs or their long-ranged battleships (not that I keep away at long range, but it means I can choose more targets), but also cruisers of various kinds, and not just that one game with Kirov where I out-ranged absolutely everyone. It's a map where you really have to play as a team, and think about what you're doing. That's still quite rare compared to all other maps, assuming you're playing in the right tier for the maps.

Just getting a bonus for aiming at closer targets probably isn't good. It can easily encourage people to just shoot at the closest target, no matter if a better target is farther away. When I'm in a battleship, I usually choose the best broadside, rather than whichever ship is closer. Which can sometimes lead me to ignore ship well within secondary range (even in ships other than Bismarck) while shooting at targets relatively far away. Likewise, rewarding hit rate can lead to people just not taking shots that aren't safe, because anything that makes you get a lower bonus because you fire your guns and miss discourages players from taking any risks.

I think one reason people believe the dispersion is closer to the horizontal ellipse is because of the shell angle. As far as I've heard, shell arcs are much flatter than IRL, which means that the same vertical dispersion would mean more hits, as the height of the ship covers relatively more than if the shell arc is higher. Or expressed in another way, with a flatter shell arc, the shadow of the target ship (from the shell) is longer, which means vertical dispersion matters less. Or rather, with a flatter arc, the same variation in vertical aim gives a larger variation in distance (assuming the shell hits water).

I often play like that in the beginning of the match, especially while capping. More gunboat later on, when there are fewer potential guns aiming my way. If I find an enemy destroyer and I have an advantage of some kind (IJN DD, support, HP, etc.), however, it's hunting time.

Found the replay, so now I actually remember what match it was. I was just camping behind that island for the entire match, so nothing spectactula, but it got decent results. 70k damage total, mostly from cruisers (Ashigara is an awesome HE spammer, but show a broadside in a cruiser, and that AP isn't messing around), although I don't have the stat screen, but that's rather good, as often a lot of damage comes from farming HE on BBs. Or torps. CA damage gives much better xp, but not as good as DD damage. Looking at the replay, I also saw a some pinging to target you. Most of the time I didn't have a clear shot, since I was behind that island, but when it comes to destroyers and I have a shot, I almost always take it in any cruiser, especially Ashigara, since as you noticed, a salvo hurts a lot. Don't have a complete replay, since I just exited shortly after sinking. Usually I'd rather just jump into another game so I can actually play rather than watch potatoes do what they do. In this case, they really should've taken the match, since we had a ship advantage. But what can you expect from lemming trains? You did well, though, from what I saw. I like playing Epicentre, especially in destroyers. The UK CLs aren't bad either, since that favours their sit-in-smoke-and-fire tactic rather well. Much like I was camping behind an island until I ran out of allies the enemies could shoot at and they went for me.

Yeah, playing like that doesn't give a whole lot of rewards. You really need to hit some torps to get a decent reward. Capping helps a bit, but not as much as it used to. That said, I enjoy playing Shiratsuyu a lot. Since the IJN DD line split, I've not had captains for several of my previously frequently played ships (like Kagero), so I've not gotten to play them a lot, but I still enjoy what I can play.

People always seem to meet me in my bad matches (which according to recent statistics is a third of them). Although today I think all my T7 cruisers (which at this point is quite a few I regularly play, Fiji, Yorck, Shchors, and Ashigara, and I really should buy and begin with the regular Myoko to continue that line) had T9 games, so it wasn't an easy day. Only Shiratsuyu had a T7 game, which is the ship that most easily can deal with T9... I also really need to keep better track of forumite names and actually check the names of my enemies... I tend to only check what ships I meet.

That's assuming a brawl going bow to bow. That also means the Myoko isn't playing to her strengths. I've found that Myoko does rather well sailing away from her opponents, partially because of the torps, but also because it allows you to dodge incoming shots and disengage much easier.

I'm not sure why this is phrased as a drawback in the comparison. Myoko has a lot better torpedoes than Pepsi.

I find that IJN cruisers benefit a lot from CE. It allows you to disengage much easier, which is important with cruisers. It also allows you to get closer to destroyers before you just delete them with your amazing HE.

I must've completely missed that. Didn't have a good game last time in that ship, though. Usually have a lot of fun with the ship, but not that day.

I get roughly equal positions in all types of ships. Standard battles favours battleships a bit, and Domination favours destroyers a little more. But I also find battleships to be somewhat more reliable in their results, while destroyers have both better and worse results in a higher degree. Cruisers are a little in between.

I like Domination and Epicentre. Standard battles are fun sometimes, depending on how it plays out. Bastion is like Domination, but with all the fun sucked out of it.

I find it amusing to be called a seal clubber at T9. I've been called that a few times, although mostly actually at lower tiers. Mostly. Funnest was in Isokaze, though, where someone called me that (a forumite), and then I proceeded to sink a few ships, and responded with, "What do you mean 'sealclubber'? ". Anyway, I'm not sure I really find significantly more potatoes in the premium ships than in the line ships. It's just easier to call them out on it. Also, on Tears of the Desert, no one ever focuses on B at the start of the match. And by "ever" I mean maybe one in ten matches you'll see anyone in a non-DD go there before A and/or C have been fought over.

Solo Warrior relies so much on the luck of getting into the right situation. Having the last ally die just before you cap is probably the easiest way. I once almost fought my way to one, with Umikaze, but the last ship was another Umikaze, at full HP and playing carefully (i.e. running away, so torping wasn't possible), so that was a bust. Also had a 1-3 match recently in Leander where I killed two of them (one BB and one DD), so one more enemy ship, and it'd have been a Solo Warrior. But so far, that achievement eludes me.

I have a lot of fun playing ARP Ashigara. Overall strong ship. Good guns, great HE, great at deleting DDs, good manoeuvrability, good torpedoes (would be great if they weren't backwards only). You have to watch out for battleships, but that's true for any cruiser.