tocqueville8

I was expecting that She has very slow shells, so yes, I'd say she doesn't do reliable damage at range the way Soviet and French DDs do. That's what I meant by "gunboat", though maybe "open-waterer" would've been clearer. My point is that she's closer to Friesland/Harugumo, albeit with very short smokes, than to Grozovoi or Kléber: she has poor ballistics and no speed boost.

1) Gunboats Open Waterers have the job of spotting and screening, harassing big targets and making them waste salvoes on them, preserving the health of the team. 2) Torpedoboats have the job of spotting and screening, crippling big targets and herding them towards a smaller area of the map, where they can be surrounded and crossfired. 3) Smoke or island farmers have the job of damaging big targets. They rely more on their teammates for spotting, but they might screen passively using hydroacoustic search. 4) Cap contesters / DD hunters have the job of spotting and screening, sinking other DDs and capturing areas In practice, most DDs are a combination of the above. For example, in my opinion: Marceau is a good gunboat, a poor torpedoboat and a good DD hunter, with no smoke Shimakaze is a poor gunboat and farmer, a great torpedoboat and a decent cap contester Daring is a poor gunboat, a decent torpedoboat, a great smoke farmer and a great cap contester Friesland is a poor gunboat, a great smoke farmer and a decent cap contester. No torps though. Smaland is a good gunboat, a decent torpedoboat, a great cap contester, with no smoke Some can be built in different ways: Gearing can go for cap contesting with the gun reload module and possibly the Unique Upgrade, but also as a torpedoboat with different captain skills and modules. Naturally, all destroyers should keep an eye out for submarines, which is part of their screening job. Finally, a handful of DDs are very good at rushing stationary/slow targets with torpedoes: Paolo Emilio, Mogador, etc

No and absolutely don't even think about it. Kremlin has: deck armor that will shatter most cruiser-caliber HE shells standard 32 mm bow/stern plating, which only Yamato, Incomparable, etc. can overmatch an icebreaker that no one can overmatch (and will also shatter a lot of HE) Slava has: a weak 32 mm deck (same as British and French), that melts under cruiser-caliber HE (light cruisers and IJN gunboats need IFHE) a pathetic 25 mm bow/stern plating, which almost every BB she'll face will overmatch; the only exceptions are Odin and Brandenburg, it seems no icebreaker, only a little bit of extended belt. And that's not to mention the hp difference. Kremlin is a heavy tank, Slava is a tank destroyer, or something along those lines...

I just got her the other day, and maybe I'm still in a sort of "honeymoon" period, but I find the guns to be amazing Ohio and Thunderer are also accurate, in fact they have slightly better sigma, and the turret traverse is a lot better, but the shells take way longer to reach the target and they have worse penetration (for several reasons). In practical terms, it's very tricky to snipe in the Ohio (I don't have the Thunderer, but I noticed she too has floaty shells), whereas Slava will reliably give you hits at range, just because the reaction time for her targets is cut down to a minimum. I'm not talking Dev Strikes at 25 km, I'm talking 10-25k damage every time you get some broadside. I've citadelled a straightlining Ohio twice in the same game, at 20 km. I'm sure I would've lead too little had it been the other way around, and I don't think a citadel hit would've even been possible. Slava looks to me like the strongest BB for the early game...and every game has an early game. The Ohio is surely better for brawling and carrying later on, but the Slava gives you a big early lead if you know what you're doing. She reminds me of the Shikishima when we had Dead Eye: not a good ship for pushing, but one that would slap people around in the opening, doing maybe 70-90k in the first 6 minutes, and intimidating cruisers and BBs away from caps, so their DDs would get less support. In the Ohio, if you try to open up early, you often get outtraded by other BBs because of your slow shells, so you'd rather stay silent until you reach a forward position where you can set up a midrange fight. In the Slava, you're a lot more confident from the opening, which is...refreshing. Beware though: the Slava needs an open field of fire, and maps with tall islands in the middle can give her trouble. I've done well on Islands of Ice, Warrior's Path, Okinawa, Bees to Honey...but I don't believe I've played her on Shatter yet, and I'm not looking forward to it. Again, take this with a grain of salt: the ship is still new for me. However, I think she seems both competitive (in Randoms) and unique in playstyle, so I'd say "go for it". Cheers (I'd still take Colbert before her, though)

RPF always finds some uses, at least strategically by telling you where the stealthiest enemies are going in the late game. But without radar, you might know where the DD is without being in a position to actively hunt him. And on the other hand, you do have hydro for self-defense, if you really have to push him. I'd also consider Survivability Expert: it's a bit less useful on the Henri, but on the Martel and Saint-Louis it gives about 10% more hp from the start (and improved heals on the Saint-Louis). That's not much, but it might be enough to survive a Dev Strike. Also, kiting is often about endurance: if you're at 14-15 km from the BB chasing you, TGG won't activate, but SE will might save you.

So that's what I said, right? 1st ram: his own hp + 50% of it, thanks to the flag. He barely survives, thanks to the flag again. 2nd ram ("instants later"): you both go down. It wasn't from 100% to 0 in one go, there were two rams, but you had to call me a "smart guy" before bothering to watch the replay... Did you even know about the flag? You don't mention it...

I doubt it was a "one-shot". As I understand, with the ramming flag and at "normal" speed, the sub should survive a first ram at 20% hp, while doing 50% more damage than its own hp, so over 20k, but less than 30k. Then with the second ram, instants later, he'll do the same damage again (unless the two of you got stuck or something), and sink himself. If it was a one-shot, without even a small interval in between, then I guess the videos I saw explaining the ram mechanics were wrong, or subs make an exception

Roma, I would say (see the other thread). I bought the Atago at around the same time (all those dubs from Ranked ), but I'm often replaying her tech tree relatives, so I don't play her much. I also got Alabama and Abruzzi more recently, but again, I don't have too many games in those...

Absolutely, if you don't get Dev Struck like a fool, that is... She can reposition quickly and has fairly floaty shells to lob over islands, so if you're still alive in the late game you might keep her productive as a light cruiser. Kiting cruisers, at least if they're not played with a lighthouse build, have some of the most discretion over their own hp, compared to other ship types.

Top Grade Gunner for 8% better DPM only within concealment range? On a ship that's good at kiting? Very situational, if you ask me. I'd go for Superintendent (3 points), as that'll give an extra heal on the Saint-Louis. Incoming Fire Alert is a skill I'm never too proud not to take on cruisers, unless they have a smokescreen. Gun Feeder is a good pick to hit citadels should an enemy cruiser make a bad turn in front of you. Grease the Gears is also reasonable for quality of life, and it's more or less mandatory on the Henri IV, which gets worse traverse than her predecessors.

The Roma is very good imho. Among Tier 8 BBs, when played solo, she's got: my highest WR my 2nd-highest average damage (behind the Odin) my 2nd-highest record damage (behind the Odin) my record number of kills (7) Granted, I got ships like Bismarck, Amagi, Richi and NoCal much earlier, when I was less experienced, and played them with worse captains, too. But the Roma has just been outstanding, so far. None of that was with Dead Eye: I only got her this January. In fact, she's seen a lot of Soviet CVs and subs, the poor thing I play her somewhat between the Vladivostok (very tanky when nose in) and the Slava (very consistent at sniping people, especially as they beeline to the flanks in the early game). Position-wise, I try to place her as forward as CVs, subs and DDs allow me, sort of between the caps, in order to crossfire people. The accuracy is fine: standard Italian dispersion formula, which I understand to be about the same as French, USN, German and British, and good (not great, but good) sigma at 1.80. She's not laser-accurate, but with fast turrets and fast shells she can snapshot people very reliably: you'll rarely miss altogether (unlike with the North Carolina, which might as well have trebuchets...) you'll typically get a citadel when you "expect" one you'll sometimes get unexpected citadels on BBs. In that regard, she's a bit like a shorter-range Slava, with worse accuracy (duh...) but much better traverse. The concealment keeps the Roma safe at Tier 10, the ballistics keep her productive and relevant. She's a carry ship. These are 3 replays of mine, if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJrFJLgEqXs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTnZ_9I6es8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5eC0CISNiE Cheers

If you hoard some dragon flags, you can do most of the reset grind at Tier 6-8, then FXP to the Tier 10 and reset. That way you hardly need to play high tiers. That's what I just did on USN DDs: a few games with 20-50k between XP and FXP on Farragut, Mahan and Benson, and I didn't even need to play the Fletcher

Quickly regrinded USN DDs with a bunch of dragon flags. Skipped Fletcher with FXP and most of the Benson, as well. This is the highlight of the Mahan games. Got the blyatmobile First couple of games were 'meh', then things started rolling. The Yamato sisters still stole the spotlight though And another one. I thought she'd fill the hole left by the Shikishima in the Dead Eye days, and so far I'm one happy customer

That's my gripe with it, as well. This ship, and possibly this line, doesn't even let her targets shoot down some planes for decent xp. It also takes away any finesse to squadron management, as there's no predropping involved.

I got a random 25% coupon a few weeks ago, and bought the Abruzzi Other than that, only the usual birthday, game anniversary and New Year's stuff.

1) If you're pushing a DD and your hydro and radar are off, RL allows you to keep your bow to the torps. Otherwise the DD might make a weird turn and have the torps come in at an unexpected, and deadly angle. 2) RPF tells you when there's a torpedoboat on the flank in the first place. It's usually pretty bad captains that attempt that maneuver, which more often than not takes them out of the game, but they're still dangerous if left unscreened. If you can push them against the map border, with nowhere to run, they're easy kills. Otherwise even a 45% player in a Shima or an Asashio can mess up your BBs. 3) If you're playing close to an island, RPF might tell you when a DD is about to rush you. Even a DM can go down to that, despite her rate of fire. In that case, you want to start reversing, pop hydro and have your turrets ready (the traverse is slow). 4) RPF will also tell you when a sub just popped up nearby, and you might direct your DDs against him. 5) In the late game, RPF will tell you whether the last surviving enemy in your area is going to try to sink your remaining teammates, who might be low on hp, or is trying to cap, or just running away to win on points. It might also tell you that the enemy CV is closer than you thought... 6) In Ranked, RPF might tell you two important things: A) at least one enemy is going middle instead of either cap, B) all enemies are doing a lemming train to the other flank, so you're free to push, maybe take "their" cap, and set up a crossfire. Otherwise, in a Des Moines, you'd probably play it safe in order to avoid their Schlieffen/Napoli, but now you know you don't have to: in fact you must hurry to help your teammates!

I got Druid first and don't regret it. Vampire is a bit stronger, but she's a sidegrade from the Daring and in many circumstances she won't play too differently from a Z-52, a Gearing, a smoke Yueyang or even a full-concealment Grozovoi. The Druid, on the other hand, is an AP minigun that rewards good positioning, nukes Minos she sneaks up to in smoke, and adds one more set of guns the enemy team needs to angle against. It's a bit like playing a miniature Petro/Jean Bart...

Monday is cruiser day! 2.5k xp in the Ibuki to profit from the dragon flags... ...raised the Aussie bloke to 21 points... ...got +4 karma for willing my Wooster to a win They had a unicum Smolensk harassing me on the open flank, and at some point we were down all 3 caps. But the wheels were in motion... ...and the daily Colbert game

It's a regular thing, otherwise people would just use the smoke to cancel the gun bloom, letting off a salvo "for free".

8.4 km * 97% * 90% * 90% = 6.6 km, which is awful for cap contesting at Tier 10

The game remembers that you reset the line and it remembers the bonus.

It's a Catch-22 situation: if lots of people play subs (1-2 per team per game), then they're considered a success, no matter how many people hate them if hardly anyone plays subs, the rest of the playerbase are going to complain less and WG is going to think they need a buff, to make them more popular Basically, we're stuck with them

We lost this by 40 points. Our Donskoi let the Z-31 take C back, didn't sink him (RPF, people!!!) Our Kaga was 15-20 km behind the action Their Brindisi survived on 2k hp Oh, and when I pinged our lemming train on the other flank because, while pushing succesfully, they were also avoiding C like it was lava, I got sarcastic pinging in return

I think it's worth remembering that there's a mismatch: Jinan would like to have hydro to farm safely inside her smoke (at the very least, fellow Pan Asian cruisers are a torpedo threat...) Austin has hydro, but no smoke, so unless she plays in a division she's going to be either maneuvering in the open, where torps aren't a big threat, or behind an island that shields them anyway.

Imho subs *can* be more impactful, because they're a bigger distraction. In most people's hands, CVs have a tough time against AA clusters, so if you're part of one you kind of just use your sector reinforcement, maybe your rudder if she goes after you, and wait for it to pass. Subs, meanwhile, require one to pay attention to pings, double pings and torps, attempt to move behind cover, attempt to blind-fire with ASW planes (assuming the sub isn't spotted), etc. Basically, you'll grin and bear the CV, because you're mostly just dealing with the planes, which is more automated. Meanwhile with subs, because they're so hard to spot and RPF doesn't work on them if they're submerged, half the team can run around for 5 minutes without finding them. But they have to try finding them, because left unaddressed they can chunk you for half your hp, mostly unrecoverable damage...