AnotherDuck

My personal preference is 1 CV, 3 BB, 5 CA/CL, 3 DD, give or take one. That aside, having the occasional game with a very skewed distribution can be fun, so I disagree with any limits. As it is, I more often see more BBs than DDs compared to what I'd like to see, so limiting the amount of BBs would be a higher priority for any additional limitation.

Personally I find the important part is if I can do a full turn and aim at one ship at the same time. If I can, the turrets turn fast enough. If I need to stop turning to maintain guns on target, I pick EM.

I'm with mtm78 on that. Only take the third cap with a single destroyer, maybe with a single cruiser for support, preferably a stealthy one (which is a bigger gamble), and only if you have enough ships for the other caps. And then retreat if you encounter resistance. Which also requires a moderately competent player going alone for the third cap. But for the most part, just focus on two caps. Usually works far better. Or focus on one cap, and hold off another. For several of the cut-n-paste maps like Loop or Warrior's Path, it often works to go full-force on one of the side caps, and then take out every enemy ship on that side, before moving centre all at once. You'll usually have the enemy far more spread out than your own fleet, which means more firepower on your side. It depends on maps, naturally, since maps like Two Brothers, North/Northern Lights, and Shatter have a little different optimal tactics.

And you think that's not giving them more credit? This is pretty much it. I always see HP as a resource to be used. As a battleship, I think it should be used reasonably evenly over the course of the entire battle, which also makes it easier to get all heals in. Take too much damage too quickly, and you risk dying before you can use them. Take too little damage, and you end up not being able to use them. Having around half health with no heals left at end-game is usually enough for what you need to do, as it's enough to challenge other battleships or tank whatever's left coming your direction. As a cruiser or destroyer, it's good to save the HP until late game, where you can make more of a difference. At that time, if you've got a lot of health, you can challenge low-health battleships or other ships that are normally above your weight class. Of course, optimally you should always have as much health as possible, but that shouldn't be at the expense of your allies dying instead. The same amount of health is better divided among two ships than in a single ship.

I'll echo that playing her like a Benson if she's not fully upgraded works well enough. Still not a bad ship, but with more commonly higher tier opponents, you need to be a little bit more careful. Once upgraded, remember that Benson is one of the best ships tier for tier. Fletcher is better.

Not all plans are, "everyone go to the A cap and hug each other". Most plans are to focus on two caps. Players who notice they're suddenly alone usually don't know there's a minimap in the lower right corner. I don't get torped by allies that often. It happens, especially when I'm playing aggressively, but it's rarer than complete potato teams. I find that bumping into each other often throws enemy shots off, and sometimes torpedoes. Assuming everyone goes to the same direction and no one at all falls back to defend, that only really happens in standard battles, and it's still relatively rare. Even with complete potatoes.

The only good thing about Bastion is that it's very rare.

What it means is that it's working as intended, but the design of it isn't good. Or you could say it's mechanically working as intended, but in practice there are problems with it.

I certainly see more bad BB player than others. Or at least, they're more noticeable. DD players are also as noticeable when it comes to capping tactics, but I still don't see quite as many potatoes there. CA/CL and CV players aren't usually as noticeable. Several cruisers can actually snipe very well, especially the Russian ones (which is good for them, with their armour made out of citadel), so they won't be as useless at max range as battleships. Likewise, while I often hear no one shoots at destroyers, if I spot a destroyer, or am spotted myself in a destroyer, there will most likely be shots fired. They won't always hit, but that's a different issue. I find that if you're in a battleship and have more than 50% health and heals left at the end of a match you're losing, you've most likely left your smaller ships to tank for you. While you certainly shouldn't take damage needlessly, you should realise you take damage a whole lot better than any other ship. So, if you can divert some attention from your cruisers (who allegedly burn up all battleships with impunity), they're going to live longer, which means your team will have more guns aimed at the enemies for a longer period of time. As an added bonus, you're going to be closer to the enemy, which means your guns will be more accurate, and you'll help your team even more. Why would you complain about your own weapons? Even those players aren't as stupid as to shoot themselves in their collective foot.

I've never once heard a plan that amounted to aiming to not win. If people actually agree on a plan, it tends to be to go cap something. Camping as a plan I've heard a few times in standard battles, where it can actually work. Most plans cease to be followed at contact with the enemy, but up until that point, people at least move in the right direction, for what that's worth. And positioning is one of the most important details in the game. In WoWs, those who sail alone, sink alone. Those who sail together, have more guns to aim at their targets.

I find it very useful on Shiratsuyu. It allows me to be more aggressive with capping and stalking ships for torping with less risk of unwanted encouters, while at the same time allows me to hunt down the occasional DD. Just need another two points to complete the build. In a recent game I managed to hold off a cap all by myself against two DDs and a cruiser, pre-emptively torped around islands, and made sure the guns were turned the right direction for when I needed to use them, until the rest of the fleet mopped up another cap and came to assist me. There's been a bunch of other occasions where it's been very strategically helpful. You're going to be weaker in straight out gun duels, but it's immensely helpful for choosing and preparing for your battles, and that wins more battles than raw stats. I still want the skill gone from the game.

It's not a bug. It's crap game design. WG, fix your game. When I read "Myth or Reality?" the first thing that popped into mind was that it was about the legendary second puff. I see it so rarely it might as well not exist.

I think it would only encourage players to whine more while still being alive, and stop paying attention to the battle while doing so, because they need to get everything out before they sink. I don't think it's going to help a whole lot. Definitely not enough to justify the loss of the actually constructive chat that goes on. Just block them if they're abusive.

Shiratsuyu is very stealthy, especially with Concealment Expert. That along with being a decent torp/gun hybrid makes her a good all-around destroyer. However, you often have to choose whether to go torp or gun in individual encounters. If you're at range, your torpedoes won't reach, but your guns will work very well. Closer than that, you don't quite have the firepower or survivability for any extended firefights, so then you should rely on your stealth, allies shooting what you spot, and use your torpedo soup consumable if you have it. If you're within detectability range, fire all you have. You have plenty of time to aim your torpedoes between gun salvos. You should almost never stay at that range, though. You either move in for a close-range torpedo kill, or fall back, preferably with smoke, to a more comfortable gun range. Speed flags are recommended. She also works very well with AFT due to good shell arcs and decent range.

I very rarely get the second puff in Leander, no matter what speed I start at. I don't even remember last time I even got two. Which makes it so unreliable it's not even funny. What's the problem of just making it puff twice no matter where you are or what speed you're sailing at? WG, fix your game.

I don't see how it's being a "good little soldier" by following the requests of some idiot. I follow whatever I think is the best thing to do, and I will say so in chat. Sometimes that means going off on my own (and telling others to not follow me, which usually ends up with half the team following me), and sometimes it means following the lemmings. I often go off on my own, especially on Okinawa and Islands of Ice, where the A cap is kind of isolated from the rest, and the best course of action usually is to focus on the other two caps. That requires at least three DDs, though, so you have DDs for the other caps. At most one CA/CL or spare DD can back you up just in case. I find that having a bad plan is often better than having no plan. At least that means most of your ships will be in the same general area, and able to support each other.

Anyone saying cruisers don't shoot at destroyers doesn't play destroyers. If you're a destroyer, and you show yourself, you will get shot at by any available guns. Destroyers don't have a lot of health. Do the math. Name of the game is World of Battleships. There are usually more battleships than destroyers in any given match in my experience.

Remove this skill.

These are the ships I keep and actually play on occasion, not just all ships I have that gather dust. Tier 1: None. Tier 2: Umikaze and Tachibana. Tier 3: None. In divisions, I just use Umikaze. Tier 4: Isokaze. Tier 5: ARP Kongou and Kamikaze R. Thinking about re-buying Kirov. Tier 6: Fuso. Tier 7: Shiratsuyu and ARP Ashigara. Tier 8: Bismarck, Benson, and ARP Takao. Tier 9: Fletcher and Yuugumo. Tier 10: Haven't bought any so far.

Pretty much. Rarity is a crap balancing factor. Doesn't do anything if you actually meet it.

I'm pretty sure you're mistaken about that. It was probably a Großer Kurfürst. Easy to mistake it for an island, but remember: Islands don't shoot enemies. Except in Bastion mode, but no one likes that anyway.

Yes, because Wargaming hates You! Yes, that's You there, behind the screen, You specifically. Everyone else gets premium matchmaking at Your cost. They're the ones in the top-tier ships You meet. (I'm one of them.)

What about torpedo destroyers? Even at a single HP, you can still do a lot of stuff if you remain undetected.

Little late on the response, but I've been sick. Yeah, the main batteries on battleships are great. They're mostly reasonably accurate and do huge damage do anything they hit properly. Any semi-competent destroyer captain who gets that close to a battleship without taking heavy damage is facing a crappy battleship captain, or one who's completely outmanoeuvred by the destroyer. Any semi-competent battleship captain will be able to dodge the majority of those torpedoes. If you face a destroyer at 2 km and you're sitting in a battleship, or cruiser for that matter, that's what in technical terms is referred to as, "you done fucked up". Also, battleships often rank top in the post-battle scoreboard. It has a whole lot more to do with the player than with the ship. Outside divisions, I just as rarely see battleships supporting anything other than their own damage output. Random battles are usually that: random. You'll see ships go in the same general direction and such, or actually listen when others try to communicate, but even there I've not really seen any significant difference between the ships. Again, cooperative play is about the player, not the ship. But all of that isn't really true. I find that people do help each other out more often than people even realise. They think about what good they can do for the team, and then they do it, silently, and don't really care if it's noticed, as long as it helps. I was smoked a few times yesterday, usually in Bismarck, often when I needed it and one time when I didn't. I've seen players take up my main pusher role when I had to fall back and get some heals in, so I could just circle around and follow again, from a little longer distance, until I had my health up. Teamwork is a thing that happens, believe it or not.

The funny part is that you can actually play Kirov like he suggests with pretty much only using AP. If you're competent at playing. I'd like to call myself reasonably competent, and I have decent stats in Kirov (57.5% win rate and 35k average damage), while using mostly AP. Having crap stats with an AP-spamming Kirov isn't due to ammunition choices, but due to not having a clue about how to play the game. She's one of the best cruisers with AP, and failing with that says a lot more about the player than anything else.