Uglesett

Erm. Priority target is better than preventive maintenance on 95% of the ships in the game, but it's a trash skill? Does not compute.

Admittedly, I've only had two(?) games in her so far, so I can't say I have much of an impression to build on. That said, I think a large part of the problem with her is that she's one of those ships that benefits just a little bit too much from captain skills. I don't have a shedload of high skill RU captains, nor do I have enough elite captain exp to throw around, so in my case I play her with a ten point DD captain without AFT. And she's good, but her limitations are still felt. If you have enough resources to get a 19 point dedicated captain for her, she's a whole different kettle of fish. So yeah. I suspect your mileage may vary a lot depending on which skills you can slap on her skipper.

I'd like some examples, because I can't remember a single online multiplayer game with some kind of persistent progression I've played that hasn't given any progression to the members of the losing team.

There are limits to how much you can control that, though. Often when I take little damage, it's not really because I'm not exposed, it's mostly because I have teammates who are going out of their way to be more exposed. Few things draws fire away from a BB as a cruiser insisting on firing in the open while showing broadside to half the enemy team. The simple fact of it is that often, in order for the BBs to actually tank the other classes have to hold back and give up some of their damage. (And then you have games like the one I had last night in the Musashi: seven of the enemy team basically spent the first ten minutes of the match shooting at me and an Alabama, I had more than 5 million potential damage, and still the other 10 players on my team couldn't capitalize on it and kill some of the guys who were wasting their time on the two of us )

BBs hang back because, fundamentally, that's how they are designed. They have long range weapons, but are slow, sluggish, tend to (with some notable exceptions) have shitty concealment and have a hard time extracting from a sticky situation. It's only natural to hold back a bit because to push forward too early invites an early destruction. A BB shouldn't push too far forward too early, because if it turns out that they're outgunned then they can die really quickly without getting anything useful done, whereas a DD can better use concealment to retreat. It's better to hang back a bit, close enough to provide effective fire support but long enough back that you can turn out and kite if you're outgunned. The problem is really that some players tend to hang too far back for too long. And I'm not sure if there's any good design change that can fix that. Learning how to identify an advantage and make use of it is part of getting better in the game, and it's one of those skills that can't really be taught in tutorials.

Not sure how this is in any way a counter argument. I mean, the same criticisms can be leveled at this event, only more so because they've slapped a random element on top to fuel those addiction traits that Skinner box mechanics are intended to exploit. At least with selectable rewards you have a decent chance at getting something you want. And I don't think they create quite the same level of burnout as randomized grinds.

Earn event currency. Spend event currency on specific, non-random rewards.

Well, if you hit the "don't have fun anymore" point before you even start because the "reward" system kills your interest, then the effort is sort of wasted on the devs' part. It's a grind because Skinner box mechanics work, not because there's any inherent in-game economic reason for it. Skinner boxes get people playing, at least until they get burned out on Skinner box mechanics, and then you risk players getting to the point where I am, where any hint of it just makes me go "meh" and skip the entire thing. Of course, I may be overestimating the percentage of players who are burned out on Skinner box mechanics.

That's the thing, though. Making it a grind is a good way of taking the fun out of something. It's been quite often lately that I see the reward system they've set up for a new event and it basically just kills my enthusiasm immediately. And if you think people do not play games for the reward mechanisms they offer... well, that's a bit naive.

They do seem to design their events to be as unattractive as possible. You can argue all day that "if you don't like it, don't play" but... well, if the events aren't really attractive compared to just playing the regular game modes, then it seems like a bit of a wasted effort to design them in the first place.

Yeah, I figured as much (also one of the reasons why I could never be arsed to get the Julio), but i figure shoving elite captain exp into getting a ten pointer at least isn't going to bankrupt me.

Just to clarify, I'm not necessarily after the most OP premiums available. I'm mostly just wondering if she's worth while having around as T7 DDs go. I don't have any problems playing the occasional mehbote, as long as she's got enough strengths to not feel utterly useless.

Probably nice bote, but between tech tree ships, Murmansk, Kronshtadt and Smolensk I think I have enough Russian boats to get through most faction-specific missions WG would consider throwing my way.

*snerk*

Haida's a fun little lolibote, I already have her. She's not particularly European, though

Well, that's what they are doing... Specifically, the Russian one

There really should be a "Neutered" achievement for losing all of your main battery turrets and torpedo tubes.

Fixed for dark background readability.

Considering the mechanics of warp travel in WH40K, that can be pretty fast. My Rogue Trader Navigator character had a talent for getting our ship to arrive before it had left. Causing occasional hilarity and frustration in equal measure

Yup. Probably got lucky. I don't think the damage from a single shell is enough to knock out a main battery turret, but I don't know the health of Scharn turrets specifically. Also note that turrets aren't necessarily temporarily disabled whenever they take damage, there's a random element to it. So the turret could have taken damage previously but you got lucky with the dice rolls and it was never temporarily disabled before it got permanently knocked out.

First game I ever had in the JB I lost one turret after about four minutes

Well.... yes? Damage to turrets is separate from your hull hit points, so how much damage you've taken otherwise doesn't really matter. Theoretically it's possible to lose all of your weapons while still having 100% of your hull hit points. Usually it takes a fair bit of damage to knock out a turret permanently, so it's rare that it happens in one go. But if you are unlucky and take multiple large calibre AP shells to the same turret simultaneously, it'll get destroyed immediately.

Had to type it in manually, but worked for me.

Better grip. Also, lower heat capacity means that the chances of freezing stuck to a wooden deck is far lower than for a metal deck. Probably harder to get rid of ice, though. And I guess it also helps you avoid blisters on your feet in tropical conditions. Metal decks can probably get stupidly hot in a Hawaiian summer.

Eh. The only way to not some times die early in DDs is to play so carefully as to be mostly useless anyway. Occasionally overextending is a fact of life if you are going to do well in general in DDs. They are fragile and small slip-ups will get you killed even if you otherwise play well. It's just one of those facts of the game.