VC381

Anyone tried this? I'm thinking of spending my Elements event credits on it because I'm never going to collect for the top reward and most other things seem fairly junk. By my calculation it will extend smoke duration from 7s to 9s. Is this enough for a guaranteed extra puff? How much faster can you be going when activating smoke screen and still stop covered with the extended duration?

I run smoke screen expert as well and can confirm Ediburgh stops well within smoke from 25 knots.

It looks like you played only one cruiser line and got to T7 very fast. The high damage to cruisers from random citadels can be annoying but it's not a problem unique to Fiji, happens to all cruisers. Actually Fiji is one of the strongest cruisers at that tier and has smoke, heal and high agility to help reduce damage but is also quite hard to play well. If you are struggling with the ships I would recommend going back a few tiers and practicing where the situation is less punishing, or getting some experience in other cruiser lines.

Yes it does, but that doesn't actually bother me. I often find the battle shifts quickly and it's not necessary or even desirable to sit in the smoke for the full duration. But the added flexibility of deploying it in a hurry and getting a longer smoked space is pretty handy.

The Konig refit is fairly tame by comparison to Kaiser and Bayern. What I'm kind of expecting is an early war part-upgraded QE (e.g. HMS Barham 1941), and similar for Iron Duke (closed bridge, few extra platforms, possibly trunked funnels). This is mostly to visually differentiate the silver tree ships from Warspite but also because existing T6 ships that actually served to the end of WWII don't have full 1945 AA fits and e.g. New Mexico doesn't have the USS Idaho refit with DP guns. So the AA of the full rebuild QEs might be overkill.

The skin idea is pretty cool but am I the only one thinking that showing the ship in that wrecked state is a little bit in bad taste?

OK thanks all not going to spend the points at all for now and just play the ship, see where I get and if I feel it needs it or something else.

I've got this urge to try something new and I occasionally look at Atlanta and think "that looks completely unique and really fun" but then I realise I don't really need it, not as a captain trainer or credit earner anyway. Still, I'm a confident cruiser player and I love getting up close and personal, dodging like mad and blasting away, and this ship looks like it ticks all the boxes in a way no silver ship does (plus it looks gorgeous). However, I'm hesitant to get it in case I've got the wrong idea of its playstyle. Could someone who has this ship fill me in?

Yeah, I keep looking at the rudder shift on Atlanta and wondering what they were thinking. Duca is very tempting, and half the price. I haven't jumped on it mostly because Molotov already fills my need for "rocket with railguns T6 club-machine" (I love that thing) and I thought it would be too similar but I see it's much more agile.

And... They gave it a camouflage it didn't wear IRL despite the fact the planes are early war so there is no need to make her a late war "what-if". It was nice and accurate grey with wood deck to start with, why mess with it?

The reload is the same (10 seconds) but Mogami has more smaller guns, so it's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. I was talking among the 203mm armed cruisers.

Fletcher with TA still has longer torpedo range than the Yugumo/Shima with F3s (which everyone seems to use and agree are better than the slower longer ranged choice), so how is that unacceptably short?

Oh yeah, the Martel actually shoots faster (didn't notice this before) but everything else I said is still true.

I don't think people are saying it's useless but that it's only worth it on some ships that can afford to lose the range and can afford to spend those points. I've been toying with the idea of getting it on high tier US DDs.

Stealthiest, most agile and most versatile ship, and fastest firing heavy cruiser at T8 now. The 16km range (upgraded) is plenty for the kind of things you do. Really happy with all these buffs and happy that other people are appreciating the ship now

OK so I changed my mind and tried it anyway you still only get 2 puffs (!) but because the second one comes much later you can stretch it out. You reliably stop inside your own smoke from 25 knots slowing down instead of 19 so that's a decent gain, and the bubbles still join up (I also run smoke screen expert but they should without). The gain in the speed you can pop it at is huge in my opinion, you don't have to worry so much about drifting out if you need to pop it fast but you do need to be careful as you're spotted for longer before the second bubble.

Interesting, sounds like it might be worth it then. This is what happens all the time which crappy 55 knot torps...

God damn it I know the saying doesn't make sense but stop deconstructing it

Average literally means in the middle of everything else. For it to be a turd, it would need to be the worst in a majority of things but average means it does everything in the middle or it does half things badly and half very good. Plus, it's a premium, you are already getting the privilege of using any captain, better credit rewards and more XP. I'm tired of all the people who want to have their cake and eat, to have a particular ship and for it to be as strong as they would want, or play exactly how they want. News flash, the world doesn't revolve around what you want. You care about gameplay only and this ship isn't good enough for you? Fine, don't buy it, but don't whine that they need to make it how you want. Personally I want this ship for what the ship is and represents and would buy and play it even if it was truly bad (not just average as it is).

You mean a BB that actually has both the ability and incentive to move around and use the whole map? A versatile cruiser hunter or flanking threat to prop up the line where needed? Something like a battleship-cruiser perhaps? Should we call her a battle-cruiser? That has a good ring to it!

I am and I can see why you would think that smoke play goes against the spirit of aggression I assume you're referring to. But considering that these ships work best in close quarters and they have multiple tools aside from smoke that facilitate that (and even when smoking up require aggressive positioning to be really useful) I would still say they fit the bill. I definitely play mine to the spirit of "engage the enemy more closely" and I find it both thrilling and effective. Of course we can agree to disagree

This ship is for the looks and historical sentiment, she could be the worst ship at her tier and still be must-buy. The fact she is average is good enough, we don't need every premium to be OP. Why is everyone treating average as bad anyway? Average means average, looks awesome and perfectly playable to me. Also, I'm guessing a lot of people are playing her over-aggressive to really see what she can do. I saw one take a full broadside from a Colorado and 3 torps from an Akatsuki more or less at the same time and survive.

I find the thematic style of the cruisers very fitting. The RN may have had a global numerical advantage but they prioritised quantity of smaller ships especially in cruiser construction and were the underdog on a ship for ship basis in a few engagements, relying on superior tactics and training to win rather than raw ship power. That they are quirky and high skill cap but very effective in game ties in to this perfectly in my mind. That mentality doesn't quite work with BBs, where the RN often took pride in being ahead of the curve in the newest and best designs (although arguably not the case by WWII). I would hope that at least something from the two premiums (accuracy and/or the better repair) makes it into the national flavour.

Thing is, I'm finding Benson torps next to useless anyway, apart from area denial, due to low speed. I know Fletcher top torps are faster anyway but I don't see myself using them at max range. I actually have SE as my 3-point skill, so my other option would be to save for SI and get AR or TA at 15 points.

No, I would rather see a G3 battlecruiser as a T8 premium.