Northern_Nightowl

Of course, I saw what he asked for: "preferences being high FP and caliber, strong armor and good accuracy." The "High FP" likely means "high firepower". On T8, you have a main gun calibre span from 305mm (Odin, Brandenburg) and 350mm (Anhalt) to 410mm (Amagi, Kii), with most ships at 380mm or 406mm. So, 380mm is not "one of the lowest calibre you can get" but pretty middle of the pack. And there's no point in having 9 or more guns at 406 or 410mm calibre, if out of 9 shells fired, only 2 penetrate for full damage. Monarch's guns make you earn more often than not 4 to 6 full pens out of 9 shells, and that could mean a nice 30k DMG out of a Bismarck (broadside at 12-14km). So, their firepower is indeed high, despite not having the largest possible calibre. Furthermore, on NorCal, Amagi etc. you have a loading time of 30s, on Monarch, only 25 seconds, even better than Bismarck's 26. Monarch's accuracy seems go having been buffed over recent patches. Our Wiki says: I do not know how Monarch played and performed before the 10th of February, that's the date when I got the ship. But today, I see her as a decent choice for Ranked. The gun range (with the availability of a spotter plane) and the gun and shell performances are more than serviceable, even when in stock configuration. As far as the accuracy goes, my screenshot above shows that I hit roundabout 36% of the main battery shells fired. This is IMHO quite high, I checked with some other ships that I either enjoy or that are known as accurate: Georgia: 37% Iowa: 33% Montana: 26% Prinz Rupprecht: 34% North Carolina: 28% Hawke: 29% Strasbourg: 33% Amagi: 25% And yes, you cannot rely upon the material strength of Monarch's armour, you should use your best-in-class concealment that will mitigate some issues about durability. Ah, and there are far better contenders for "worst BB at T8": (especially) Kansas (slow, bad gunnery), Vittorio Veneto (bad gunnery), Hawke (low durability) - my personal ship to vote for as "worst" would be the Kansas. Well, I just checked OP's profile on wows-numbers... His Mutsu performace seems to be notable: 143 battles, 58% WR. But bad accuracy (19%) and quite low damage... And he's not good at all with shooting in BB in general, over all, less than a quarter or even less than a fifth of his shells hit. Well... OP, maybe you should take your Texas (or Kongo) and practice a lot more shooting and leading targets? Otherwise, you won't perform at all even in precise or large calibre ships. Regards, Nightowl

Did you see under what limitations I made said recommendation? -> Smaller teams in Ranked and no uptiering. Then, Monarch can do this (in my hands): Regards, Nightowl

Amagi (tech tree) ticks in for high calibre and workable accuracy. You will have to mind the turret placement as more barrels are placed behind your superstructure, so these are less useful when you're staying bow to the foe. You map also find ships that are more durable out there. But you've have the speed to kite away, disengage and reposition. Lately, I found a ship to recommend in view of your question that may be surprising: Monarch, from the classical UK BB tech tree. She currently definitively ticks the requirements for precision, her gunnery feels really comfortable. She doesn't have a really strong armour made of steel, but she is strongly protected in her own regards as the most discrete BB that I know of. The Monarch is stealthier by a good margin than even some cruisers around her tier, you can push her concealment down to 11,6 km. Be aware: while I did and do play the Monarch a lot in the current Ranked season to good success, I did not use her in Randoms, so I cannot tell about experiences in this ship when pitted against more than 6 or higher tier opponents. If you fancy a premium ship, you may want to give the Alabama a try. I do also have her and setup her with modules for maximised survivability and main battery accuracy. While I will not sing praises about it, it's workable, even she's definitively not a good shot as Iowa or Georgia are (likely helped by the "arty plotter room 2" module). You're bound to be disappointed sometimes when you're only washing a ship in watery spray that should've been hit by your shells. Sadly, I cannot compare the Alabama to the North Carolina, as I didn't play the latter for some time and the commander skill points on them are too disparate. I do actually recall that, while the Wiki and Forums praised the NorCal as a good shot, I did not feel like it back when I grinded her. The dispersion pattern is really wide, similar to Bismarck, Richelieu or Vittorio Veneto in practice, and easily bettered by Hawke or Monarch. On both Alabama and NorCal, you'll often see a pattern of 2 to 4 shells staying nicely grouped and the remainder straying away on their own accord. If you're getting the hits with the tight group, then a good chunk of enemy's HP is gone, but if that's not the case, then you'll need more tries. So, to sum up: for Randoms, I'll recommend the Amagi, for Ranked, the Monarch as both offer good gunnery and ways to cope with deficiencies in armour. Other decent picks that were already named are Bismarck (survivability, hydro) and Richelieu (long gun range, speed boostable). Regards, Nightowl

Okay, let us go through this. You have the assumption that the captain skill system is build in a way that discourages shuffling commanders around when they have more than 10 to 12 skill points assigned, making a player incur disadvantages if he's doing so. In sciences, providing one counterexample disproves a theory, so, I'll try to provide said counterexample. I do own a Halsey that has 20 skill points at the time of writing, of which 19 are assigned to BB skills. He gets shuffled around between Texas, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and Ohio, these are the skills set up: Lately, I've made extensive use of Texas (last season, when you got to play T5 in Bronze) and Alabama (currently in Silver) in Ranked. Both ships have modules for an emphasis on survivability and main battery precision (my usual and personal way to go with BB). I did and do not feel at all that I'm getting disadvantages out of this skill setup, quite the contrary (wows-numbers.com statistics from Ranked, as indicated): The Alabama is a quite recent addition to my fleet (courtesy of birthday coupon, a month ago) and she feels decently powerful. True, some skills are more suited on one ship than on another. The turret rotation skill for example is IMHO mandatory for Texas (and Arizona). But it's also quite useful on Georgia. Even though the turrets have a decent train rate there, buffing it is still handy when switching targets (examples: in games with CV, getting switfly a salvo on the red one when he happens to get spotted early on, or when a broadsiding cruiser happens in your sights while you were tracking some other vessels, or tracking a DD while manoeuvering for torpedo avoidance). So, I do not see at all the points you claimed. You do not get disadvantages for shuffling a commander around as far as my experience goes, quite the contrary, it's rather handy. As far as I can tell, the current iteration of the commander skills is more of an incentive to use premium ships than an encouragement for fixated assignements or commanders or frequent retrainings. Regards, Nightowl

You do not need either damage nor kills to win. Last Ranked sprint while playing in the Gold qualification (this means T10 with a few T9 mixed in), I experienced several games that were won or lost with only 1 or 2 ship out of 12 sunk (it's currently a 6 vs. 6 setting). These games were decided by capping and map control alone, without much actual damage. Regards, Nightowl

Hmm, I could easily envision yet another solution. Make use of the rental technique, akin to the way CW ships are handed out for those who don't have suitable vessels (the stuff with name in brackets, I mean). Taking Allies vs. Axis as an example, people willing to play for the Axis will get bracket ships - with beefed up hydro to make up for a lack of radar. I could easily imagine a dual mode hydro, similar to the dual firing mode on superships or the switchable torpedoes on Yamagiri: you can select either the standard, shorter ranges but longer duration hydro or a new, longer ranged but shorter duration version. To counter the standard 10km-30s radar, I'd say, make a 8-to-8,5km hydro active for 65-80s. Additionally, Axis Brackets should only duplicate the ships that are already owned by the Axis player, so, if you do not have a e.g. Nürnberg or Roon, you won't get a [Nürnberg] or [Roon]. Huh? Why are you so antagonistic towards this small North German theropod? He's neither a salty nor a really bad player, I cannot imagine him being hated much. Regards, Nightowl

Why a kitchen sink? If a CV like the USS Midway wants to crap on somebody's head, he could drop an actual toilet. Regards, Nightowl

I found that (my) Texas is a decent counter for Giulio Cesare, at least, I'm not afraid of getting pitted against one. This holds even more true in smaller formats like Ranked. Regards, Nightowl

I just managed a first in my WoWS career: And I do not understand the often encountered bickering at the qualities of the current iteration of Monarch that was a subject of grinding here. Yes, the ship is somewhat soft, but it feels not worse than e.g. a IJN BB (Nagato, Amagi). On the other side, she redeems herself by the quality of her gunnery, the precision is more than workable and the reloading time is simply a joy. Having 15 inchers that reload in 25 seconds and who send shells right on mark at 18km downrange is commanding over a great firepower. The turret traverse is a bit lacking, though. Regards, Nightowl

More than 250, possibly even 300 (experienced when I was aiming for the Agincourt. There was a gap waaaaay larger than 250 crates between the König Albert and the Agincourt that I got at last. This is due to that the permacamos are also included in the guaranteed drop list, not only the ships). Well, that's a semi-efficient way of converting coal to credits, the consumable camos also available in the boxes sell for 22500 credits. Regards, Nightowl

You can actually: you need to whale the Battle of Jutland crates for 1000 coal apiece. Regards, Nightowl

Huh? Obviously not? Downloading the Aslain package (source page and screenshot taken from here) does not at all require some torrent client. You could use one, but you do not need to. The highlighted link leads to the setup exe. Regards, Nightowl

Hmm, rare ships... I think that would be my Friesland - didn't want to exchange it for Groningen after the latter's release. And for those not sold anymore: Nelson, Georgia, HSF Graf Spee and the original Spee. While I also own a HSF Harekaze, I won't count this as rare, it's visible every now and then in Randoms or Ranked. Regards, Nightowl

I'm using my Friesland (alternative: Groningen) or Kitakaze for this purpose. My record is somewhat around 430 hits in 1 coop game. Regards, Nightowl

Yes, but one of the contenders is bound to get transformed into LZ129 Hindenburg, especially if playing on the Lakehurst map. Regards, Nightowl

I would like to share an experience that I had a few weeks ago. I got paired with a unicum player (IIRC from the EMPOR clan) in a Ranked battle while driving a CV because I needed some XP on it, even though I'm average (or rather a bit below average) in this class at the best. While teammates didn't fare very well (we lost in the end) and the high performer also fell victim to too much concentrated red fire, he nevertheless responded very nicely to my comment in chat that I'd gladly take advices. He went on to assist me, giving me the opportunity to memorize hints for a better play in the future. So, I'd like to call for: - people should advertise whether they are in need of or willing to take advices; - good players should try to respond kindly to those requests. Let's not make America great again, that's too toxic of a meme, but let us make great games with civility and helpfulness! Regards, Nightowl

Why "full of spies"? The late Meiji era (and maybe also the Taishō era) Japan was an ally of the United Kingdom and the Japanese marine a customer of British naval yards and armament companies. Weren't the Kongō-class battlecruisers ships designed somewhat along the lines of the HMS Hood and clearly British influenced? Regards, Nightowl

Endorsing cybermobbing against anybody, notwithstanding if the person aimed at did or does himself use violence of any kind, is always bad. Yes, this Youtuber has been convicted of several misdemeanors, IIRC related to violence (German criminal code: §223ff StGB), insults (§185 StGB) and usage of Nazi symbolism (§86a StGB). Yes, he exposed himself to the public with some weird actions. But this is never a justification to try to make SWATting happen, to trespass on and to damage his property and to relentlessly harass him. His own public exposure is in my opinion a justifiable rationale for the refusal of help by this NGO. But, as stated, it is not a valid reason to endorse and join the bullying. Regards, Nightowl

I just made 10 torpedo hits in 04:43 battle time - in Gallant (my tubes got reloaded only once)! True, I ended up really close and personal to 2 BB (less than 2km and less than 4,5km), but sank one and reduced the second to a watery hulk, barely afloat. What a weird and funny ranked game. Regards, Nightowl

Why do you fear Russian torpedoes? As long as you're not named "Wilhelm Gustloff", you do not need to. They will leak hydrogen peroxide and sink the mothership anyway - and any unfortunate survivors will be left to fend for themselves, possibly at the bottom of the Barents sea. Regards, Nightowl

Oh yeah, my record is something like 440 ribbons in one Coop match in Friesland. And I scored several times already more than 400 ribbons in a match. Regards, Nightowl

Kind of veto here. While there are (a few) DD that IMHO don't make their captains care about being uptiered, this can't be said about most, if not all, cruisers. So, this statement should be appealed and reworked to "cruisers are the most oppressed class". Regards, Nightowl

But the chance for a slot is half of the one that a supercontainer drops a ship. I got more ships out of SC than the 2 or 3 slots from "Try your luck" crates. Regards, Nightowl

I just encountered @ARE_YOU_HUMAN in a pitched battle that was decided (in my team's favour) by the time running out. Regards, Nightowl

Sorry for double posting, but I just feel like I can't avoid it. I just experienced a hilarious moment in a Kitakaze battle. Please take a look at the number of "Flesh wound" achievements and my total sinkings here. Indeed, I had launched torpedoes towards the damaged red carrier and got sunk shortly afterwards. But the Vittorio Veneto drove close to his mate, colliding with him by the look of it. Both hugged the map border, my fish spread came in, and... BOOOM. That was funny. Regards, Nightowl