AnotherDuck

Yeah, the first two maps (Islands and Polar) are tiny. The following (Solomon Islands and Big Race) are a little larger, but still fairly brawly. After that they open up. Straight, New Dawn, and Fault Line are okay, and most other maps are larger than those. Most of the time, I find that the maps are large enough. Larger, and it just adds travel time. And I mostly play DDs, which are fast, so it's worse for larger ships. Overall, I grow tired of the horizontal island cluster maps. They're all the same. Islands of Ice is just a vertical version. Some are diagonal. I don't want more of those. I miss Ocean.

I like the colour of Land of Fire. It makes it distinct, and I have no problems spotting things on that. I have much more problems with maps that often give sun glares in the water, such as Neighbours. Before the change in shell colours, that was by far the worst map for me in BBs, and also the map I got 80% of the time in Fuso.

The best way to avoid torpedoes is to not be there in the first place, which is easiest accomplished by not being alone and have someone in front of you, preferably a destroyer. Second, WASD. Turn and chance your speed irregularly. If they're long range torpedoes, even small changes in course make a big difference. If you are a destroyer, you'll sometimes just be heading directly towards a torpedo with no real chance of avoiding it (fast torpedo + fast ship = little time to react), but most of the time you can anticipate where they will come from, and take appropriate action. You're also agile enough to dodge them most of the time even if you're caught unawares.

Experience varies depending on premium, tier, ship type, current ship, individual compatibility with the current ship, individual playstyle, and other factors. I don't think it's a good base for judging player skill. Aside from that, going by the current player base, I don't think it would add much enjoyment to the game. On the other hand, it would probably add more complaining.

Generally, I find it's about 60%-80% of your max range is efficient, unless you go in for a brawl, as then it basically within secondary range. But I find it easier to judge by your allied ships, especially if you're pushing or retreating. Either have destroyers about 5-10 km in front of you, or cruisers at about half that distance. Just some ships who can screen for torpedoes. The best is to have destroyers in front, and cruisers behind you (so you can tank for them better), but if there aren't any destroyers where you are, cruisers should take up that role. Naturally, higher tiers usually work with greater distances than lower tiers.

Nothing to lose, and a few buckets of paint to win.

It's a good guide for newcomers and those struggling with a particular ship type. A decent amount of solid guidelines. The caveat is what it is for all sets of guidelines: If you know them, and you know them well, you should know when to break them. If you break them, you need to know why, how, where, and when you should do it. For me, in particular with IJN DDs (but also USN DDs), I often go off on my own to get that one cap the rest of the team ignores. That's something you should only do if you know when to pull back if things go south, and only if there are enough DDs to cover the focused caps without you. Sometimes you'll get a free cap that way, if the enemy focuses on the same caps your team does, sometimes you manage to delay them a bit (and maybe cause some damage), and sometimes you just don't accomplish anything. The important part is to know that if you meet enemies, you're going to be outnumbered, and if you engage, you're going to sink. If there are carriers, it's much more risky, so just run away if you see any plane approaching.

Can't comment on the changes (are there good overview pics of the new maps?) as I've not had much time to play WoWs recently, but the original maps are fine. Land of Fire in particular is a nice change from most maps with unique gameplay (which is more than you can say for a lot of the horizontal island cluster maps). Shatter is indeed hard to play, but it also rewards good teamwork and I've rarely had a boring game on that map.

Did I forget the "*wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* if you know what I mean" to make it obvious? Take a real man to do the same in a smaller ship.

Real women play with DDs.

I got called a cheater (I think; didn't recognise the language) while sailing in my new and shiny König. I ended that game at 116k damage and High Caliber, so a great introduction for what I think is a great ship.

What do you mean "or"? But yeah, getting Dreadnought feels better than Confederate or High Caliber.

Can't say much, since I've only had one game in König, and I think I was top tier. Still, 116k damage, High Caliber, and spending most of the match tanking for the less brave allies on the flank I advanced on. Good first impression.

That would be carriers. There's a reason why there's a cap on the number of carriers in a game.

"Experience" in this case is very vague, since it applies so absolutely everything you know about the game except what you've only read about and never tried. But if you're really talking about extremes, someone who can barely hit anything is probably more comparable to someone who can aim but can't find the minimap and probably won't get into any position to fire at enemies in the first place, but will run into islands (and remain stuck), and won't angle the ship to use all guns if she's heading straight towards an enemy. If you assume she's not too dumb for that, you've also got to assume the one with the tactical and situational awareness can at least aim in the general direction of the enemies and hit a few shells. But I'd say the one who knows tactics will have a greater impact anyway. That person will stay alive longer and draw fire from enemies without getting hit as much, which means the rest of the team will survive longer. And if it's a destroyer player, there's a lot you can accomplish without using any weapons at all.

Yeah, team damage within divisions doesn't count.

Those 3 vs 3 battles are actually rather fun. I've only had one of those, and we won because we cooperated, but still.

I wait for answer if I'm not entirely certain (or willing to risk it), yes. If they give an indication they're heading in a different direction, I take that into account. Often I just wait until the allied ship sinks, so I can fire my torpdoes in peace. Overall, I don't really see it that often that people torp allies, or close to (although that's naturally harder to see, since you need to be in the right spot of the map). It happens more often that I get physically cut off from where I'm heading, and far more often that players avoid helping at all. There are just so many stupid things players do, and I'm not sure this is one of the leading causes. I get more trouble from CVs who think it's a good idea to lead enemy planes over to where I'm trying to stealthily cap, so they can take advantage of my AA while enemies spot me and start shooting at me. Or CAs who think the best place to cover me while I'm capping is behind an island where they at most can send a spotting plane somewhat over the mountains. Or BBs who think I can handle a CA or two on my own, when I'm in a DD. Or CAs who think I should be the one to head half across the map to deal with a DD when I'm in a BB. Or a couple of BBs who think I should go contest a cap with a couple of enemy BBs in when I'm in a cruiser. Or when half the team agrees to one plan in the chat and no one follows it. Someone sending torps at an enemy, and those torps could potentially hit me if I'm not paying attention and turn the other way? That's at least someone trying to do something other than sit in a corner until the enemies come there.

Okay, you're only talking about doing it stupidly, and not doing it after careful consideration of the situation.

They're aware and they're working on it, so we can expect a solution SoonTM.

I think it's probably what's mentioned above. Obviously if you don't have a clue about how to hit your target, you're not going to accomplish anything (unless maybe if you're in a DD), but I think most people who don't see it as the most important skill assumes you can at least aim well enough to hit your target if it's not too far or moving erratically. I think the first is included in situational and tactical awareness, and the second in general knowledge and basic tactics.

So I'm not playing randoms with random people? Sometimes I'm in a DD who's approaching from a different front, and happen to not have gotten to the front lines yet, and sometimes I'm in a cruiser, currently mostly Ashigara, when I spot a torpedo opportunity from second line. And a lot of the time it's really more about being careful about the ships on the other side of the enemy ship, rather than the allies being between you and the enemy, or being on the first line at an angle to other ships. It's not just torping from behind someone else and impeding their movement, and even that can be done safely.

While I sometimes want to see if an allied ship is fast enough to catch up with the torps I send, I don't think this would be all that useful, and it could end up being more confusing than not. Just like enemy ships, allied ships can turn and change their speed, so it wouldn't be something you could rely on anyway.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but a team can do more damage if they use all of their weapons more frequently. I'm usually in the front line, but even if I'm in the second line, I often use torps. I just make sure there aren't any ships in my firing line, or that they're aware of me using my torps before I use them. All you're saying is that if people don't follow your holy bible of playstyles, they're scum who ruin the game, and that we should design the game after the worst players you can dig up.

Right, but I still think it's a potentially good idea to bring more functionality into the game and to the quick-message buttons. A bunch of them are useless as it is, and having a way to warn others is very useful. If you compare it to incoming planes, that'a easy to do by just pinking the map, since it's obvious on the map what it's about. With torpedoes, it isn't, since they're not visible on the map, and it's often not exact enough. The problem with doing the same with plain text in chat is that it just takes too long. Yes, people will use it as an excuse to torp recklessly, but people will use any excuse to torp recklessly anyway. Still, I can't say if the benefit outweighs the potential abuse, but it's still an idea worth considering.