tocqueville8

Can we get a free respec on DDs as well? I might've taken Fearless Brawler on the Marceau, if it weren't for the concealment penalty. Ditto on the Germans, Smaland and possibly more. Not sure about "Heavy AP shells" or whatever it's called, but in general, if several skills are changed, shouldn't there be a free respec?

I don't *love* it, but it's okay. The focus is different, but it doesn't make your ship obsolete or anything. On the other hand, Cyclone is almost unplayable for several minutes if you're not in a German/Soviet BB, or a radar cruiser, or a torpedoboat (or a CV). What good is a Worcester if she has to be within 8 km of her target?

I just noticed: - the HE penetration of your shells (primaries and secondaries) is listed in port, as is the fire chance, muzzle velocity, damage, etc. - the AP overmatch is not I'm not a beginner and I do know about the 14.3 formula, but I imagine lots of players are and don't: they're not familiar with the overmatch mechanic, which is simply not mentioned in the visible ship stats, and haven't memorized the thresholds. Just a small suggestion: could this info be added in port, for the benefit of new-ish players? Not everyone reads the wiki... Thank you for your consideration.

True, but the conversion is crappy: 1M credits for 10k free cpt XP, basically. For the 70M credits I have right now I could only get 1 captain from 20 to 21 points, and I'm in no hurry to do so, since I already have 3 maxed out, with several ships to rotate them on. Meanwhile, with coal I could get a lot closer to a T9-10 ship, or special modules, or flags/camos to grind free xp (ultimately for RB ships and LU modules).

I'm talking about your typical reward in the Halsey/Yamamoto campaign vs your typical reward in the Swirski/ages-of-sail campaigns.

Maybe 50-100M credits. On a normal day I'll get about 2k coal, and if I only play T9-10 premiums, even with standard account, I can make maybe 1M credits over a few games. And if I start using special flags and/or I get some premium time, it can easily be a lot more. So we're looking at a 500:1 or 1000:1 conversion rate. Let's not forget that credits can also be (laboriously) turned into free cpt xp. I have plenty of high tier ships, tech tree or freemiums, so purchasing another one from the Armory would only add so much variety, while leveling up another captain might ultimately be a better investment. Otherwise what would I get? Pommern? Immelmann? Z-44? I'm not as inspired as I was by JB and Georgia...

Incidentally, one wonders why the campaing rewards went from very nice in the Yamamoto/Halsey campaigns (15 Stars 'n' Stripes camos, 50 AA flags, 30 free xp flags...) to mediocre in the recent ones (7 fire flags? come on...)

I'll pass, I think. I love my Fuso and have a permacamo for her, and this thing, as I understand, is to the Fuso what the Strasbourg is to the Dunkerque.

Every time I see a Tone, I'll be like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHKEXsaBFBQ

Sure, but come on that's not the main thing dmgcon does. And separating fire immunity from the other immunities would only add more confusion, as would the idea of making exceptions for "dedicated snipers", whatever those may be. IMHO super heals, fast-reloading heals and Soviet consumables are complicated enough, at least for new players. No, I didn't forget it, but it's something the game does for you, not a module/skill/flag you equip. I was talking about the player's options.

Why people complain so much about fires is beyond me. You can: - reduce the fire chance by over 10%, with appropriate modules - reduce fire duration by 15%, with a module - ditto, with a captain skill - reduce it further by 20%, with a flag that's fairly easy to farm or can be bought for coal or silver - increase your healing ability by 20% with a flag that's even easier to get - increase your healing ability by 37-47% (depending on the number of consumables) with another captain skill - extend your fire immunity by 40%, with a module you can get for coal IMHO that's plenty. If there's a problem with BBs, it's T8s lolpenning most T7 through the nose, but certainly not fires.

Wouldn't that mean that the dmgcon lasts for 40 seconds?

I'm a bit confused...will the 0.10.4 update introduce new missions for the German DD tokens? I'd like to have about 500 more, to get the Z-31 permacamo and speed up the grind...

I think most battles become more dynamic as they progress. In the early stages, if you want to have a good impact, with most ships you need to get close enough for your DPM to be effective. Some lines have the ballistics to be effective around max range, but most do not. However, in order not to get focused on as you hopefully out-trade the enemy, you need to use cover, there's no way around this. Once a few ships per team have been sunk, and there are fewer threats (guns or torps) to angle against, you can take 1v1s depending on relative hp and overmatch ability (and your own confidence). This is when the game is dynamic and at its most fun, but no sooner than this. Imho Ranked allows to often cut the first part and often go straight to 1v1, 1v2, 2v1 engagements. But if you want to play with 12 people per team, you need to be careful for the first 8 minutes or so. Having said that, I'd welcome more games on Ocean: it'd certainly be better than to cycle North and Northern Lights and North again, same cap over and over.

Radar-less cruisers are fine. The Mino can carry a game like few other ships, the Hindenburg is a DPM monster, the Venezia can smack BBs for 15k or more without too much trouble, and a well-played Ibuki or Henri IV can be a total pain to deal with.

In my recent ones: - Wooster: terrible ship for this map, but my DDs were in a cooperative mood and we hunted DDs around C - Asashio (T10 match): lots of DDs and few BBs per team, so a bad target environment, but I scored top of the team with 2 solo caps and some good moves against the enemy DDs (RPF helped). I also Dev-Struck a friendly GK with my torps, thinking I would help her against a Yamato - Saint-Louis: I ran up the Western flank burning down a Bismarck and an Alabama. It's a good thing I was on that flank, as on the other one the enemy team had 3 of those YEBOI unicums. Their Slava in particular kept trying to snipe me from max range, but being a noob I run IFA on all my cruisers

I'm afraid I disagree. An IJN DD can run around and sink several enemies with his torps alone while barely ever being spotted, but what's a Baltimore supposed to do in T9-10 MM? Just run around shooting HE in the face of a Thunderer? Overmatch, lack of range and lack of a heal all dictate that cruisers should use island cover.

I dunno, my last 3 Ocean games have been a blast...

There is plenty of offensive gameplay these days, but good players know to farm and out-trade enemies from a safe position before moving in during the late game, unless there's a weakness to exploit to gain map control, caps and and crossfiring positions. You don't carry a game with 3k base xp by running around, you do it by abusing (well, using) island cover or smokes to make the trades as favorable as possible. If you push too soon, you'll get dumpstered, if you push too late you'll be useless.

I think it's strongest on DDs with a hydro+smoke combination or radar, as well as on French DDs that in a 1v1 can often murder enemy DDs on demand, if RPF tells them they're isolated on some flank. It's also crucial for the Paolo Emilio, to make sure you can track down your target to within proximity detection once you smoke up for the rush. Meanwhile, Swift in Silence is about as good as the speed flag, and it doesn't even work if you're spotted, which is probably when you need it the most.

More like a stagger-your-torpedo-launches bait, really.

USN CVs are good generalists, and I'd start there. Harassing DDs often wins games, and you can do some serious damage-over-time to BBs with fires, if you focus one at a time. IJN CVs have a higher skill floor, but they can wreck cruisers and some battleships with AP bombs. German CVs have a higher skill floor still, since they should torp DDs, rocket cruiser citadels and also dive bomb citadels, all of which require very good aim. Imho British CVs are the weakest ones: good potential for damage-over-time, but that's the least useful kind.

1) Take RPF. It helps with predictive torpedoes, and it's a psychological deterrent in general. 2) Unless you're playing a French DD and you're going to cheese an early cap, keep your speed boost for defensive maneauvers. 3) Likewise, don't waste a smoke (unless you're playing a British or Pan Asian DD, possibly) if you're the one providing the spotting, unless it's a defensive smoke to get out unscathed. 4) However, if someone else can spot the enemy DD (his smoke is guaranteed to be on cooldown, or he doesn't have one at all), do smoke up and farm him. 5) In DD vs DD fights, vary your speed. If your DD has relatively lots of guns at the back (Yugumo, Z-46, etc.), consider only using those, to present a smaller target. Likewise, you might go nose-in when driving a Lightning, Gadjah Mada, Z-52 and so on. 6) If you outspot a DD by a lot (not everyone has a captain with Concealment Expert, or it might just be a DD with bad concealment), you might consider chasing him without shooting him, allowing your team to do the job. If he shoots back at them, consider going for #4.

As far as I can tell, fail divs are mostly: 1) friends/family who play together but have reached different tiers (say, a father-and-son team with a T4 and a T5): they don't know any better; 2) experienced, high-tier players who play what they would be playing anyway (say, one is grinding a T9 and the other trying his brand new steel T10) 3) very, very few 899 divs and other "exploiters" (Fletcher + Smolensk...) Overall, my impression is that most fail divs are from newbies who wouldn't be doing much even if they were playing the "correct" tier of ships. I'm fine with removing the possibility of fail divs, but imho the biggest problem is not players "cheating the system", rather it is matchmaking being a bit too hard for new players, especially considering how long it takes to train good captains.

Of course, but you have to find someone willing to experience considerably worse matchmaking than you, anyway: as the T8, you're gaming the system, but as a couple you're not, the way I see it. If a buddy of mine said, "could you play T7 so I can try my new T8 and never up against T10?" (in the current +2/-2 system), I'd probably say yes...for a while: I wouldn't want to have sucky matchmaking forever.