soviet battleships Russian Battleships on Live: Initial Impressions, Tips!

[Hayashio]

Russian Battleships on Live: Initial Impressions, Tips!

 

Good Day Everyone!

Thursday began the test cycle of the Russian Battleships (or Bly*ttleships as I like to call them) on the live server. Those of you that were fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to seen them in battle will surely have noticed this already. Here I want to give a quick run-down of my initial impressions of the ships, and what you need to look out for when fighting these vessels - as I know this causes a lot of frustration, not knowing what the stats of a certain ship are. In addition, I want to give my quick 2 cents on the changes made to the Azuma [dev blog here].

 

Gameplay mechanics of Russian Battleships:

Russian Battleships have strong belt armour, reinforced deck (32 at mid-tier, up to 50mm at top tier). The biggest difference between existing lines is, however, the fact that their dispersion changes drastically at the 15km mark. Russian Battleships have increased accuracy below 15km, and have an accuracy debuff above 15km. This change makes them more effective while pushing, and discourages camping and sniping (finally!). In practice, the dispersion differences are really noticeable, especially at long ranges, and very close proximity. Another thing to note about RUBBs is the lack of torpedo protection. This is combined with the fact that they start of decently large, and become even larger and higher tiers. While most of them can be quite nimble up to tier 8, they will suffer from big turn circles and significant speed loss while manoeuvring. Finally, Russian Battleships get a limited consumable DCP. The cooldown time is reduced over the standard unlimited use DCP, but you have the risk of running out.

 

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Captain Build:

I run a survivability build, with concealment and superintendent. the latter being very important for the repair party, as well as the DCP, since you actually have the threat of running out. Expert Marksman helps buff the gun's turn rate even more, this becomes useful at close ranges, where these ship's guns excel. Finally, I have expert loader, though this can be switched out for priority target if needs be.

 

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Tier 5: Pyotr Velikiy

The Pyotr Velikiy is a very well armoured ship at tier 5. The deck is mostly 38mm except for a part in the mid section, she boats a 75mm fore-end armour belt, which becomes 125mm towards the waterline, the aft also receives a 125mm armour belt with the very rear of the ship having a slither of 19mm plating. Pyotr's main belt is 250mm thick and she has a turtleback. Her citadel sits quite high in the waterline. She's armed with 356mm guns in 4x2 turrets. She's fast for her tier, 29.5kn top speed. Due to the RUBB mechanics, her accuracy is better than her equal tier competitors. Bow in, she can deal very well with enemy vessels. Broadside she'll be susceptible for full penetrations from battleships, cruisers should aim for the upper part of the ship (25mm) or the front upper armour belt (75mm). If you get her rear you can easily citadel her through the 19mm of plating at the aft. 

 

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Tier 6: Izmail

Izmail, for all intents and purposes, is a worse armoured Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya. She has 25mm standard armour, no armoured deck, she does however boast and improved armoured belt - 300mm in the mid-section. Her citadel is protected with a turtleback. Her guns are, unlike the Oktyabr's, 356mm, but do have a longer reload and turn time. Her maximum speed is a vast improvement to the Gangut-class, with a top speed of 28.5kn.

 Izmail is very prone to HE damage, as with her predecessor, she has the weak-spot at the aft of the ship, wherein a BB with a calibre of 358mm or higher will be able to overmatch and go right through to the citadel. Izmail is the weakest of all the Russian Battleships, only compensating for her shortcomings in sheer firepower.

 

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Tier 7: Sinop

Sinop offers a few advantages over her competitors of other nations. She offers her captain 406mm main batteries in 3 sets of 3. She does this, however, without compromising speed and armour. Her maximum speed clocks in at 29kn. She has a strong belt, 300mm thick gradually decreasing to 125mm towards the aft and bow, with some upper sections of the ship being also 100-125mm. But just like all the other Battleships at her tier, she's suffering from the 25mm-standard syndrome, with only some sections of the deck - underneath battery A and C - having 35mm of armour. While she does seem to suggest a turtleback, the steep angle of the plates makes it negligible. Sinop's drawbacks are her massive size, and extremely flat broadside, the lack of deck clutter makes her susceptible to plunging HE fire.

 

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Tier 8: Vladivostok

As we move up the tiers the ships become increasingly long. A prime example of this oversize mania is the Vladivostok. It does beg the question whether someone, for a laugh, at the soviet design bureau snuck in the photo of a stretch limo. We digress. Vladivostok is armed with 3x3 406mm guns, has a top speed of 29kn. Her guns turn fast, 30 seconds for 180 degrees.

The noteworthy fore-section of the ship - which is almost as long as the rest of the ship behind it - is armoured with 32mm overall, and has a small section of 200mm belt. Luckily for Vladivostok, her citadel, which is protected by 200-370mm of plating and a turtleback, doesn't extend into the fore-section. The aft, similar to the bow, is protected by 32mm overall, and the 200mm belt that extends into it from the mid-section.

The biggest drawback of Vladivostok is that massive snout. It's a perfect target, and will offer very little in term of protection against anything above a destroyer - unless the destroyer in question is using torpedoes - that will be willing to fire at it.

 

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Tier 9: Sovietskiy Soyuz

If Vladivostok is massive, the Soyuz ate Vladivostok. The very first thing that is noticable about Sov. Soyuz is the very pronounced belt. It varies in thickness, 220mm at the ship's cheeks, to 390-420mm around the front guns, finally settling at 375mm for the citadel mid-section. Is quite proud of her belt, as she doesn't have a lowered citadel, or turtleback. Her front and aft are 32mm, both the deck as well as the plating. The deck of the mid-section is 40mm. She boasts 3x3 406mm guns, 2 at the front, 1 at the back these provide good angles and a quick turn rate of slightly above 30 seconds. She goes 28kn and clocks in at 88100 HP As with her tier 8 sister, her drawbacks are the massive size, flat broadside, long snout, in addition to the not lowered citadel.

 

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Tier 10: Kreml

Kreml, just like Sov. Soyuz, doesn't like you being at her side. She, like the tier 9 ship, doesn't have a lowered citadel, or a turtleback. Her 430mm armoured belt stops above her torpedo bulges, underneath that is a juicy 70mm citadel torpedo bulkhead. This drawback in armour is compensated for by having 108300 hitpoints, sizable 457mm guns in 3 sets 3, and a top speed of 29.5kn. As long as your enemies are kept to the front of the ship, Kreml does fine. With a slight angle, Kreml has the ability to get her rear guns on target, as well as allowing you to bait enemies into firing at her belt. She, like many of her predecessors, has quick turning turrets, which allows her to fight in a closer proximity to enemy vessels. This combines well with her accuracy buff at lower ranges. Kreml rewards a player for getting stuck in, but punishes them even more for making mistakes. Her size doesn't allow a lot in terms of room for error, somewhat softened by her hitpoint pool.

 

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What of Azuma?

 

In a recent update, Azuma lost her cruiser accuracy characteristics. Unfortunately I must report that this did the ship no good. She definitely feels a lot less accurate. HOWEVER, I can still confirm that she's a lot more accurate than the other Big Cruisers at her tier. The addition of hydro was good, as the arguments for the removal were somewhat suspect to begin with. After playing a few matches in Azuma, I still have to say that she's lacking. As she stands, with the initial changes to the armour layout, she feels like the weakest link. The buff to the heal was nice, but it doesn't replace good armour. I cannot recommend her over something like Alaska, or Kronshtadt. The latter which you cannot acquire anymore. If she receives her original 30mm of armour, I believe that this could somewhat be alleviated. As with the other Freemiums, Azuma should reward a player when played well, and punish a player when played wrong. I don't see how she could "over-perform", especially with the likes of Musashi, Missouri, or Kronshtadt. So if you want a Japanese Big cruiser, hold on to your Free XP for now, if Azuma continues to head into this direction, I'd say just collect coal and hope that Yoshino turns out to be better.

 

 

If you have any questions about the RUBBs or Azuma I'd be happy to answer them if I can. Have a nice start to the week and I'll see you guys on the seas!

 

[Riggerby]

I have tremendous reservations about just how balanced the Tier X will be.

 

It's very obvious the way its been designed its forcing you to get up close and personal. And all its accuracy buffs as range decreases and its damage con just make it a monster in a brawl, Which makes me worry alot about the Kurfurst as that's sort of its thing..

 

But then on the flip side. This thing will get absolutely brutalized by Haragumo / Conqueror / Zao / Khaba (Generally anything with exceptional HE spam), I know all BB's struggle with them but.. With the limited damage con.. Surely if this thing has its opposition Kiting away, His guns will be far too bad at range to hit him, And its limited repairs mean's it will get absolutely tortured by HE.

 

I don't like this sort of Balancing... It feels like to hard counter the Tier x all you have to do is kite away and spam HE, and there is nothing he can do but burn to death. Also, CV AP Bombs that hit the deck around the superstructure will critadel her for dayyyyyysss.

 

The unique limited Repair party is a cool little token ability but i feel like it just makes it too strong in some areas and too weak in others. I dont like this forced 'Borderline brokenly powerful to hilariously killable depending on whether or not you have burned through all the dmg con or not :/

 

Cant help but feel like when her damage control parties run out, She will feel alot like a Mino that's run out of smoke. Haha.

[Miragetank90]

Hi Strefs. 

 

I'm wondering if it's worth having concealment in the RU BB build? 

Given that they're debuffed above 15km, and are meant to be aggressive pushers, it could be worth dropping that, maybe taking something like vigilance, right?

 

Seeing as how to really get the most out of them you'd have to be positioning yourself within ranges such that concealment is moot, and dropping off to disengage becomes extremely difficult. 

[triumphgt6]

The turret turning speed seems ridiculous. No large calibre gun on any battleship could rotate this fast - the Iowa managed 4 degrees per second. Giving battleships turrets with huge guns that rotate this quickly is simply idiotic as they rotate quicker than a Myoko. The mechanics of moving this type of gun makes these speeds impossible. Having paper ships with stats like this nullifies any pretence that this game is based on real warships. I know that you have to pander to your Russian audience but even they will regard breaking the laws of physics as a joke.

[Tyrendian89]

1 hour ago, Riggerby said:

t's very obvious the way its been designed its forcing you to get up close and personal. And all its accuracy buffs as range decreases and its damage con just make it a monster in a brawl, Which makes me worry alot about the Kurfurst as that's sort of its thing..

from what I've seen, Kreml doesn't eclipse Kurfürst, it's just a different take on the tanky brawler. The main thing is that Kreml has a very hittable citadel once you manage to catch its side, which Kurfürst kinda doesnt, and its secondaries arent all that hot. Oh, and no Hydro either.

[Gvozdika]

1 hour ago, triumphgt6 said:

The turret turning speed seems ridiculous. No large calibre gun on any battleship could rotate this fast - the Iowa managed 4 degrees per second. Giving battleships turrets with huge guns that rotate this quickly is simply idiotic as they rotate quicker than a Myoko. The mechanics of moving this type of gun makes these speeds impossible. Having paper ships with stats like this nullifies any pretence that this game is based on real warships. I know that you have to pander to your Russian audience but even they will regard breaking the laws of physics as a joke.

 

Given that the one time the Soviet Navy got a semi-decent Battleship (well - Battlecruiser) lent to them they wrecked, neglected and generally buggered it to the point that the turrets wouldn't turn at all....maybe it's some kind of in-joke.

 

Then again, a paper fleet weighs nothing so maybe there is something to it..... 

 

[Hayashio]

2 hours ago, Miragetank90 said:

Hi Strefs. 

 

I'm wondering if it's worth having concealment in the RU BB build? 

 Given that they're debuffed above 15km, and are meant to be aggressive pushers, it could be worth dropping that, maybe taking something like vigilance, right?

 

Seeing as how to really get the most out of them you'd have to be positioning yourself within ranges such that concealment is moot, and dropping off to disengage becomes extremely difficult. 

 

This is very true, I've tested some other builds too, namely a seconday build. Vigilance could definitely be an alternative. Most of the time, even if you see the torpedoes, you're not necessarily in a position to dodge them. That's also something to keep in mind. I run concealment for comfort (and because of habit), it's useful for early positioning, though that also depends on team composition, how aggressive enemy DDs are, etc.

[Hayashio]

UPDATE:

I completely forgot to mention:

All RUBBs from T8 onward have access to a Radar that only detects carriers and battleships. The range on it is 15km, and the action times start from 40 seconds going up in 10 second increments per tier (50 at t9, 60 at t10). The fact I forgot should be a clear indication of how useful it has been so far.

 

On another note, ships to keep an eye on if you are considering keeping some of the vessels after the grind are definitely Pyotr Velikiy and Sinop, both proved to be suprisingly fun to play thusfar!

[Adlit]

@Strefs if I recall right there was also a T8-Premium RUBB sister to the Vladivostok announced, do you also have access testing that? ^^

 

But thanks so far for all the informations ;) 

[Hayashio]

16 minutes ago, Adlit said:

@Strefs if I recall right there was also a T8-Premium RUBB sister to the Vladivostok announced, do you also have access testing that? ^^

  

But thanks so far for all the informations ;) 

Yes! She's in testing, but I'd like to have her be final before I review her.

[CerVus]

So russian high tier battleships gets radar but Azuma has for that ship totally useless hydro. This makes no sense at all. IJN has ship radar since 1941 (Type 41, 42 and 43) but Russian ships didn´t have it till the end of the war (Gyuis, Mars-1- 1946). At least that hydro could be a bit better.

[Bics93]

9 ore fa, Strefs ha scritto:

I completely forgot to mention:

All RUBBs from T8 onward have access to a Radar that only detects carriers and battleships. The range on it is 15km, and the action times start from 40 seconds going up in 10 second increments per tier (50 at t9, 60 at t10). The fact I forgot should be a clear indication of how useful it has been so far

 

Yeah, considering that the line will often require to stay still nose-in, the fighter to discourage enemy CV doesn’t seems a bad choice either, but the tier 10 loses the catapult if I’m not mistaken, so you are forced with the radar.

[xXx_Blogis_xXx]

tnx for info :) surely will add Kreml  to my collection

[gustywinds]

11 hours ago, Gvozdika said:

 

Given that the one time the Soviet Navy got a semi-decent Battleship (well - Battlecruiser) lent to them they wrecked, neglected and generally buggered it to the point that the turrets wouldn't turn at all....maybe it's some kind of in-joke.

 

Then again, a paper fleet weighs nothing so maybe there is something to it..... 

 

Yes,  I do wonder if we will get a parallel Arkhangelsk/Royal Sov premium later.  Definitely a battleship though, not a BC

[Hayashio]

8 hours ago, CerVus said:

So russian high tier battleships gets radar but Azuma has for that ship totally useless hydro. This makes no sense at all. IJN has ship radar since 1941 (Type 41, 42 and 43) but Russian ships didn´t have it till the end of the war (Gyuis, Mars-1- 1946). At least that hydro could be a bit better.

I feel that this wouldn't be a problem if her combat ability would make up for it. Nerfs to both armour and accuracy are clear indications of the opposite.

 

[Tyrendian89]

5 hours ago, gustywinds said:

Yes,  I do wonder if we will get a parallel Arkhangelsk/Royal Sov premium later.  Definitely a battleship though, not a BC

seeing as Mr. Overchicken is a dual-nation captain, I do wonder whether a dual-nation premium (that could house both nation's captains, and maybe change the name displayed ingame accordingly) is in the cards. Alternatively, they could always go with a Boise/Nuevo kind of solution ofc...

[Smeggo]

I've been testing them too and as a brawler I can say that I enjoyed all of them (except the T9, that felt as fun as an old Izumo)

 

But as good as the tanking works - getting in 14km range in hightier can be a struggle.

You are always on fire, and if a cruiser sees your side, you get citadeleted fast.