I admit it, I suck at Battleships but...

[DrMechano]

Got my Yamato, even splashed some cash getting the Premium camo for it to turn it into a credit earner and...well...I'll be brutally honest...I suck at playing her...game after game I saw my average damage drop well below the server average. Sure there were some spikes here or there where I'd get an decent game but over all...I was a detriment to my team if I was playing her. I got kind of disheartened, despite doing all I could to try to improve I felt I was actually getting worse.

 

So I decided that maybe Battleships aren't my thing, maybe if I step back down to the tier 5-6 bracket in an entirely new nation and a new ship type that I might find the joy in the game again. I tried DDs and something just didn't click, a scrub like me sure as hell wasn't going to be doing any Carrier play since I suck at RTS and once again I would be a detriment to my team if I was playing one. Enter the Russian Cruiser line. I had enough free XP to get straight to tier IV with the Svietlana. Sure she may not pack the 152mm of Phoenix, sure she may not be the prettiest ship out there but somehow she just got the job done. So in very quick order I was on to tier V and in the Kirov.

 

...and I'm in love, I don't know what it is about it, maybe the 180mm guns, maybe the fact that she can move between long range high arc HE spam and nasty velocity AP in a knife fight, it even maybe the fact that since I'm in a cruiser I'm don't see myself as having to be 'the guy' like I do in a Battleship. I would say it would be the lower quality of players but she's regularly uptiered into tier 7 and still I don't mind since those 180s can give even tier 7 cruisers a nasty shock if they underestimate her.

 

So you're probably thinking "well this is great but why post this to the forums" because I imagine there are other people in my situation with the Yamato. You're trying to make this one ship work, you keep pushing and pushing but it just doesn't click and you get disheartened and frustrated with the game. Follow my advice, just try something a little new, maybe, just maybe, you'll actually find a ship you like in the most unexpected of places.

[Hedgehog1963]

19 minutes ago, DrMechano said:

Got my Yamato, even splashed some cash getting the Premium camo for it to turn it into a credit earner and...well...I'll be brutally honest...I suck at playing her...game after game I saw my average damage drop well below the server average. Sure there were some spikes here or there where I'd get an decent game but over all...I was a detriment to my team if I was playing her. I got kind of disheartened, despite doing all I could to try to improve I felt I was actually getting worse.

 

So I decided that maybe Battleships aren't my thing, maybe if I step back down to the tier 5-6 bracket in an entirely new nation and a new ship type that I might find the joy in the game again. I tried DDs and something just didn't click, a scrub like me sure as hell wasn't going to be doing any Carrier play since I suck at RTS and once again I would be a detriment to my team if I was playing one. Enter the Russian Cruiser line. I had enough free XP to get straight to tier IV with the Svietlana. Sure she may not pack the 152mm of Phoenix, sure she may not be the prettiest ship out there but somehow she just got the job done. So in very quick order I was on to tier V and in the Kirov. 

 

...and I'm in love, I don't know what it is about it, maybe the 180mm guns, maybe the fact that she can move between long range high arc HE spam and nasty velocity AP in a knife fight, it even maybe the fact that since I'm in a cruiser I'm don't see myself as having to be 'the guy' like I do in a Battleship. I would say it would be the lower quality of players but she's regularly uptiered into tier 7 and still I don't mind since those 180s can give even tier 7 cruisers a nasty shock if they underestimate her.

 

So you're probably thinking "well this is great but why post this to the forums" because I imagine there are other people in my situation with the Yamato. You're trying to make this one ship work, you keep pushing and pushing but it just doesn't click and you get disheartened and frustrated with the game. Follow my advice, just try something a little new, maybe, just maybe, you'll actually find a ship you like in the most unexpected of places.

If you're struggling at Tier X then play a lower tier.  Tier X is so very unforgiving...

 

The other option Id suggest is learn how to use the ship in PVE.

[Linkaex]

I had the same with DD's man. I mean the playstyle got me really addicted and got the Gearing quickly at T10 and shortly after the Khaba. But I suck at them :p 

I still play them from time to time, just because I worked so hard for them. Tried BB's but there is no click either. But I still want to get a few to T10. 

 

I also found my joy in Cruisers as of late, and I still need to improve in them at higher tiers. But they compliment my style more. 

 

This game for me is really about finding your niche. And even between lines of different nations it can differ. Who knows maybe I will find a DD line that will work for me later. 

 

Happy sailing captain! 

[Exocet6951]

52 minutes ago, Hedgehog1963 said:

If you're struggling at Tier X then play a lower tier.  Tier X is so very unforgiving...

 

The other option Id suggest is learn how to use the ship in PVE.

 

That's exactly what he detailed in his post.

He even posted a TL;DR at the end.

[DanSilverwing]

Nice post 

[FearsomeFlotsam]

Can't help thinking maybe people are progressing too quickly to T10. It sounds like the OP reached tier 10 (Yamato) by the time they had 1000 overall battles. I think at 1000 I was still working around T7, and had plenty to learn to become competent at T10. I still only have two T10 ships 3000 battles in.

[OttoZander]

On top of the ship actually not clicking with the player, there is also the possibility that you did not attain the required experience for tier 10. Those tiers are... punishing. 

 

Yamato is a slow, sluggish fortress. Perhaps you should go the alternate route and see if a different battleship works? I myself despise battleships. Playing them makes me want to gouge my eyes out so I don't have to see how useless and unimportant I am to victory. Or those RnG-based shots. I despise them. Except for one. Republique.

 

In random battles she did wonders for me. Upon evaluation I've decided that the deciding factor was her A.) Immense speed and responsiveness to situations, B.) Great reload, C.) Speed, D.) Great secondaries because why not annoy people if I am survivable with this build, E.) SPEED. 

 

Try and see if less-durable but more pro-active battleships of the French nation work for you. Republique and Yamato are polar opposites of each other in terms of utility and style. The only stinker in that line was the Richelieu for me. If that does not help either, it is most likely the battleships themselves as you've predicted, or the lack of experience in the top tiers. Spend some time around, you'll get there. 

[Captain_KriegWurst]

I agree that it seems like  it's a case of you rushing too fast up the Tiers and hitting the learning curve. 

 

At about 1000 games IIRC I was still learning to play. The things you'll probably find you need to learn are positioning and map awareness. 

 

Play lower Tiers (5,6 and 7) and a wider variety of ships. It'll get easier. 

[Sir_Grzegorz]

I have to add that I had similar experience. My lowest score in Yamato was 2.4k damage (no mistake, two overpens and I died, costed me 300k that game).

After watching Flamu videos I did improved a lot, problem is that I am not patient enough. You find a good spot and stay there shooting. Yet if I am not capping in Yamato I am doing it wrong. I am trying to not overextend but I find it the most complicated thing to do in BB's. I am always to far in front.

[RAHJAILARI]

14 hours ago, DrMechano said:

So I decided that maybe Battleships aren't my thing, maybe if I step back down to the tier 5-6 bracket in an entirely new nation and a new ship type that I might find the joy in the game again.you like in the most unexpected of places.

Totally acceptable and wise thing to do Good Sir.

 

Yupp, I too certainly had the exact same problem for long. Ground the IJN BB line up to Yamatou only to discover I suck as badly as the playstyle or worse even. Then tried my hand in CV's, but nope not my cup of tea - I'm not nearly autistic enough to be able to handle them beyond tier 7, so I stopped at Hiryu. So next I changed to DD's - My results improved almost immediately and I found the games fun again. I mean let's face it, even if I don't mind losing a game every once in a while, getting your a*ss thoroughly kicked every effing time and being one of the main causes for your team's defeat gets old real fast. So I played DD's almost solely for a full year. Then decided to go ahead and try my hand at Cruisers, I have now researched the full IJN Cruiser line (I kept most of them except for Zao, as she is just a paper ship - Some silly requirement I just made up for myself about my ships being "historical ships" only)  and currently trying to improve my skills with Mogami. Excellent ship, but kinda tricky to play due to severe "No armor"-issues. Those can be overcome with a bit of practice though. Also got a somewhat enthused about Cruisers in general and so I now have also researched US, French and German Cruiser lines as well as keeping a few of them. Looking forward to getting Kirov for myself soon.

 

I may return to BB's sometime in the future, so I've kept most of them, but you know, no hurry at all. Why spoil the mood while gettin' is still good right?

[Xevious_Red]

6 hours ago, Captain_KriegWurst said:

I agree that it seems like  it's a case of you rushing too fast up the Tiers and hitting the learning curve. 

 

At about 1000 games IIRC I was still learning to play. The things you'll probably find you need to learn are positioning and map awareness. 

 

Play lower Tiers (5,6 and 7) and a wider variety of ships. It'll get easier. 

This isn't helped by WG who keep giving out XP like candy. For example I'm semi "grinding" the French cruiser line. Since we get tons of free XP there's no reason to not get all the modules. The tier 6 is took 14 battles to complete. The tier 7 took 16.

 

So in about 40 battles  you go from being in the low tier protected MM (tier 4), to being tier 8 and therefore being thrown into tier X MM

Obviously a newbie probably won't earn quite as much XP and will take a little longer but it's still very fast

[Yedwy]

If you want another bb line go french they are fast and quite "cruiser like" for a bb (after t6) or get yourself a sharnhorst and enjoy, nothing wrong in playing mid tiers i for one have most fun in t6 & t7 ships and only this grinding for campaingns and legendary modules has pushed me more to high tiers od late

[DuneDreamer]

I got the Musashi a few months ago with the idea to skip the entire IJN battleship line and I did. Currently, it is my favorite ship in the game and the one I perform the best with. I can only imagine Yamato will feel no different to me. I do a little bit more damage on average with the Conqueror but I like Musashi more.

[maxram68]

17 hours ago, DrMechano said:

You're trying to make this one ship work, you keep pushing and pushing but it just doesn't click and you get disheartened and frustrated with the game.

...wish I realized (AND acknowledged) that fact before pushing and pushing in selected Japanese cruisers, a certain tier IX German BB and some other ships I eventually managed to forget about. 

 

Agree: trying something else in a different class/nation might turn out to be good, despite warnings/advices offered by clanmates/forum/the cat/whatever.

 

Nice post btw.! 

[Cazbol]

I got into this game via a gifted Tirpitz, which resulted in some unhappy team mates, but at least it got me into the game.  Alongside it, I played through the 3 branches of the German tree.

 

At level 7 I came to the conclusion that I sucked.  My win ratio was well below 50% and I didn't feel I was improving, which negatively affected my enjoyment of the game.

 

My solution was to approach the game differently and set myself a challenge.  I would go back to tier 1 and fully research all ships of all nations, but more importantly, I would not progress to the next tier until every ship in the tier had a 50% win ratio or better.  This forced me to get better, made me read up and watch videos.  It taught me the strengths and weaknesses of the ships I played with or against.  Most importantly, it greatly increased my enjoyment of the game.

[GarrusBrutus]

36 minutes ago, maxram68 said:

...wish I realized (AND acknowledged) that fact before pushing and pushing in selected Japanese cruisers, a certain tier IX German BB and some other ships I eventually managed to forget about. 

 

Agree: trying something else in a different class/nation might turn out to be good, despite warnings/advices offered by clanmates/forum/the cat/whatever.

 

Nice post btw.! 

"And here we see the Friedrghrhghghgg......here we see the frieeghghghgnh.......*ahem* here we see the frgggghhhkkkkkkkk.... a piece of sh!t." 

[DrMechano]

The funny thing is I do immensely enjoy my Massa, I think that to me, because she's a secondary focused ship (and captain) with guns that encourage more up close and personal playstyle thanks to the often hilarious dispersion (hilarious as in 'those shots aren't even in the same postcode as where I aimed') at longer ranges means she's a good mid-range brawler and I do enjoy a good mid-range brawl.

 

If there is one thing the Yamato is not, it is a mid-range brawler...admittedly neither is the Kirov (with her fairly bad turret traverse she seems to be more of an ambush predator against other cruisers) but something about her seems to work. However past tier 8 the Secondary builds tend to not do very well sadly though with the upcoming changes to concealment expert I imagine ManSec, AFT or even ManAA might see some choices.

 

I might take a look at the French BB line at some point but my English nature causes me to eyeball anything French with a suspicious side glance.

 

In the mean time, take a look at this 81k damage replay in the Kirov just to see how much fun I'm having (humblebrag I know but I am loving the ship so far).

20181023_141818_PRSC105-Kirov_08_NE_passage.wowsreplay

[DasTongle]

On 10/22/2018 at 6:57 PM, DrMechano said:

The Mighty Wall of wise Text. 

I congratulate you on your insight and will pity you aldo because Moskva has similarities to Yamato in playstlye. Struggling in Yamato is no shame in my book trying something new and get other perspectives is very admireable therefore i wish you the best on leveling the russian cruisers. Once you mastered the 150mm russians give the germans a try the nurnberg and konigsberg play similar once you saw them in action try the french on for size they will teach you ballistics of heavy shells that lead to the usa and Japanese ones. In short the more you spread your wings the more ideas you get on how targets react how your ships react to certai  situations etc. 

[FukushuNL]

Since T8 and 9 are usually MMed into T10 games and Yamato should having mostly the same gameplay style as the rest of the line, I imagine getting to T10 was a real drag with lots of failing battles. How did you do in Nagato, Amagi and Izumo, I wonder? 

[nambr9]

2 minutes ago, FukushuNL said:

Since T8 and 9 are usually MMed into T10 games and Yamato should having mostly the same gameplay style as the rest of the line, I imagine getting to T10 was a real drag with lots of failing battles. How did you do in Nagato, Amagi and Izumo, I wonder? 

Since his stats are public, you can check that yourself :)

[FukushuNL]

On 10/24/2018 at 8:37 AM, nambr9 said:

Since his stats are public, you can check that yourself :)

AH, I can :) Never use that option nor remembered it existed :P

 

@DrMechano: looking at your stats, you're not doing that bad, are you? You play without premium account? Got enough experience in Japanese BBs too. My personal experience with her came from public test servers, so I couldn't tell you how I'd do in real random. I can imagine being as cumbersome as this broad is on water doesn't help with torps/planes in general but she is a real terror for everything that isn't a DD or a CV. Good bow tanking capacity, lots of health and those guns :O But I see you got 100+ games in already with her, so prolly preaching to the choir. 

 

On side notes, Massa is awesome, isn't she? :D And respect for the Dodogama ;)

[Ysterpyp]

On 10/24/2018 at 8:35 AM, FukushuNL said:

Since T8 and 9 are usually MMed into T10 games and Yamato should having mostly the same gameplay style as the rest of the line, I imagine getting to T10 was a real drag with lots of failing battles. How did you do in Nagato, Amagi and Izumo, I wonder? 

442 games in nagato :P

 

Now i only play mutsu lower tiers .. going well unless i get cv sniped

[Ouzo11]

1) Sincere congratulations for accepting your limitations!
2)Russian cruiser line is epic! Wait till you get the Kirov and Schors!
3)As for the yamato:
-Go to caps that you have spotting.
-Place 1 of your sides in a way that will either protect from flank torps or enemies from another cap.
-Know, or use a mod, the gun range of he spam cruisers. Stay out of that range.
-Optimal is 14-17km for me.
-Keep going forward and backward at 1/4th speed to throw off the aim of those long range he spammers.Their curvy arcs wont help them hitting you especially if you also use A/D at the same time.
-Use front guns most of the time.
-Learn to shoot angled targets consistently at 14 to 17km.
-Do not be afraid of torps. If you take a torp on the bow, great! It just got saturated. If you took them on the belt, who gives a [edited].You have great damage reduction there.
-Manage your dcps. Never use it for 1 fire. Only for more than 2 and only if you are going to be safe/dark soon.
-If there are more bbs playing the forward/backward game sync your moves with them so even if they dont realise it, you tank damage by turns.
-Occasionally make your self a juicy target to take some strain off the shoulders of other bbs/cruisers.
-It is your job to tank. Never forget that.
-Watch (more) yt videos with the Yami and pay attention to where they position.
-Use spotter plane to push back those filthy island and smoke campers.
HE and torps should not be an issue for any bb captain.

Glad you found a line you like and even more that you realised your limitations and did not became that guy with 3k battle in a yami with 30k avg dmg and a pr of 21.

[DrMechano]

I gotta say, definitely had more fun in the Kirov than I did the Budy...not sure whether its the drop from 180mm to 152mm but I will say that it is incredibly nice to have shots with such high velocity AND they actually go where I aim them in tight groupings instead of scattering all over the shop likes BB guns do (I understand WHY they do this, because BBs with cruiser accuracy with massive guns would be a tad overpowered) and I'm still working on my positioning skills, made a few mistakes some games which has led to a near instant deletion at least two times. Technically I could research the next tier up now since (as people have mentioned) WG have been throwing free XP around like candy but I feel like I should get a handle on this ship first before stepping up to the next tier.

 

Also I will say I definitely enjoy tier 6 games more than tier 10 games, I love the Fuso, Arizona and New Mex but I think thats the 'shotgun BB' approach where you fire enough crap at the wall and some of it is bound to stick.

[AnotherDuck]

On 10/23/2018 at 7:32 AM, Sir_Grzegorz said:

Yet if I am not capping in Yamato I am doing it wrong. I am trying to not overextend but I find it the most complicated thing to do in BB's. I am always to far in front.

Sounds like you'd like the upper-mid tiers of the German BBs, if anything. They like being in the front. I really like brawling in Bismarck.

 

Though last game I found that the best I could do in Yamato was go cap and shoot down the enemy CV, because our CV just let him drop any amount of torps he wanted on me. On the whole, I actually like flanking in Yamato. You're not that fast, but if you've got a DD in front of you (and they seem to like to hover in front of a friendly Yamato, especially if you shoot any spotted DDs close to you), you're decently protected against DDs. You've also got great range, so even if you happen to get to a slow flank, you can still shoot and accomplish stuff more than half a map away from your position. I've seen a few cruisers who thought they could hide behind an island far away, but that's where the accuracy and range comes into play: You can devastate them wíth a bit of luck. Now, you shouldn't always aim for those long-range shots, but it's an option if you don't have better ones. But mostly, if you flank in a Yamato, you first of all cut off a flank for the enemy, and secondly you widen the potential angles on enemy ships from your fleet. This gives either you or your allies broader sides to shoot at, as well as less space behind islands to hide at.

 

Brawling does work, if you know how to manage your turret traverse. Always turn them in the direction you're going to shoot next, from the moment you fire. And if you end up with a bow-tanking enemy, just remember you overmatch anything that isn't a Russian BB-like cruiser. So shoot the waterline in front of the enemy (or slightly above if they're opening distance). It's the more reliable way to citadel something like a Montana. Just try to not go for brawling passes, since those you'll mostly lose out on. Close-range bow-tanking works far better.

 

On 10/24/2018 at 8:35 AM, FukushuNL said:

Since T8 and 9 are usually MMed into T10 games and Yamato should having mostly the same gameplay style as the rest of the line, I imagine getting to T10 was a real drag with lots of failing battles. How did you do in Nagato, Amagi and Izumo, I wonder? 

Nagato and Amagi are completely different from Yamato. Izumo is very similar, though. Nagato is also slow, but doesn't have the same accuracy, nor the same forward-facing firepower. Amagi is a great mid-to-close range brawler that combines the strengths of the previous three BBs plus a turtleback that works well at close distances. She's fast, so she's great on flanks and aggressive pushes. Izumo has the same kind of forward-facing firepower as Yamato, although less punch in the guns, while they're almost as accurate. She's also very tanky against AP bow-on, but suffers more than Yamato from HE (in my experience).