Best solo carry coal ship?

[genosse]

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

 

I am about to spend some coal, and because I am really annoyed by the teams right now, I want something with good solo carry potential, and good performance in ranked.

 

My considerations are

 

Smolensk (obviously): A strong ship, but I don't like the HE spam meta, and it probably relies a bit too much on others for spotting. I also have a feeling it will get nerfed, and I am pretty hesitant to come to the dark side of balans. ;)

 

Thunderer: Also seems strong and handles like a battlecruiser, which I like. This would be an easy #1 pick, if it wasn't for the reviews that say it's mostly an extremely long range (20+ km) HE shooter. I already have the Yoshino for that, and it can't carry at all. Long range spamming seems to be the definition of "team dependent" — so, is this the case with the Thunderer?

 

Salem: First off, I play premium/reward ships only and will probably not get the Des Moines, so this ship can be judged by its own merits for the purpose of this thread. The combination of consumables feels very complete for solo play, and I like the US CA guns very much. I fear it's outclassed by the Smolensk, though, and I already have a lot of good high tier US ships, so ... I don't know, really. If the stars align, I might even get the PR on top, as another tier X.

 

So, between Thunderer, Smolensk and Salem, which ship would you take, if you just have to solo carry a bad team, eg in ranked (and not just star saving)?

 

Thanks for your opinion guys. :)

[Yedwy]

Salem as radar (even a shorter ranged one) is a more useful tool for carry then firing HE (and torps) from 20km...

[_HomTanks_]

JB > all coal ships.

[genosse]

5 minutes ago, L8viathan said:

JB > all coal ships.

Already own her, she is awesome. :)

 

Edit: need a tier X ship, though.

[DFens_666]

26 minutes ago, genosse said:

if it wasn't for the reviews that say it's mostly an extremely long range (20+ km) HE shooter.

 

Definetely not. The AP is brutal. Sure you might need to play it a bit further behind than other BBs, because of the thin armor (32mm) and the fact that it has a citadel. But the guns can overmatch 30mm of armor which is good against TX CAs, and they are very accurate.

Occasionally you might want/need to switch to HE, but i dont see a reason to play it mostly as an HE shooter.

[Alexhideg94]

What?! Dont get it, if you want to play BB with HE then you get Conqueror, Thunderer is not HE spammer! Yeah its british BB with high chance of setting fires, but AP are rly good! Im always reporting players who play Thunderer with HE....

[Beastofwar]

You can outfit the Smolenks to fit different tactics, but it remains frail and won't take much hits.

 

Although i outfitted my Smolesk to burn down enemy BB at considerable range ( range module + AFT ) from smoke i found out that combined with hydro it can be a frightning effective DD hunter ( even T10 DD ) given opperunity. As in 2-3 ( very high ROF ) salvos = DD killed in mere seconds. Very much like the SAP firing Gorizia does.  But that ship thives on oppertunity.....when oppertunity is scarcely given, it does not do well. May aswell go for most Cruisers in general, but surely light Cruisers with little armour and HP.

 

Most players have learned to spray salvo's into clouds by now ( without radar or Hydro lighting you up ) and the Smolensk can certainly not take that......a glass canon, that is what it is. It either explodes as the 1st victim in the match or it racks up rediculous damage scores.

[genosse]

6 minutes ago, DFens_666 said:

 

Definetely not. The AP is brutal. Sure you might need to play it a bit further behind than other BBs, because of the thin armor (32mm) and the fact that it has a citadel. But the guns can overmatch 30mm of armor which is good against TX CAs, and they are very accurate.

Occasionally you might want/need to switch to HE, but i dont see a reason to play it mostly as an HE shooter.

It may be LittleWhiteMouse's disappointment speaking, but that's pretty much what I read: too squishy to go close, so standard RN BB gameplay with HE slinging from the back line. At least that's what I remember from it.

 

Thund seemed to do well this ranked season, though, so I am more than open to read different opinions. Thanks! :)

[KillStealBoss]

4 minutes ago, CeKyPuTo said:

What?! Dont get it, if you want to play BB with HE then you get Conqueror, Thunderer is not HE spammer! Yeah its british BB with high chance of setting fires, but AP are rly good! Im always reporting players who play Thunderer with HE....

Personally I don't play Thunderer with AP all the time. I change ammo. The HE is still good on it when a Yam is angled well and you don't have better targets. 

[genosse]

If this becomes a "sell me the Thunderer" thread, that's totally cool by the way. She was my favorite pick anyway, before I got second thoughts. ;)

[DFens_666]

1 minute ago, genosse said:

It may be LittleWhiteMouse's disappointment speaking, but that's pretty much what I read: too squishy to go close and standard RN BB gameplay with HE slinging from the back line.

 

Not sure where thats coming from. Thunderer has no resemblance to Conq (even the 457 version of it) since the AP changed drastically. Its far more accurate, and actually uses standard AP shells now, not the short-fuse AP from techtree RN BBs, so it can punish BBs with the AP.

From what ive seen, using it as an HE slinger is just bad. The AP is more than capable to deliever crushing blows.

The only thing Thunderer needs, is a capable captain imo, as it scales more with the skill of the player. Bad players will fail with it. It lacks in the tanking departement compared to Conqueror, but it makes up for it with the guns.

 

2 people i know, who like Thunderer and play it with AP. Certainly not bad results.

[loppantorkel]

2 minutes ago, DFens_666 said:

2 people i know, who like Thunderer and play it with AP. Certainly not bad results.

What kind of player is needed to carry in it like OP wants?

[DFens_666]

5 minutes ago, loppantorkel said:

What kind of player is needed to carry in it like OP wants?

 

Well as i said, the better the player, the better Thunderer will perform.

For playing ranked, id rate Smolensk worst of those 3 actually. Salem is probably not that great either because of the shortrange radar. Playing Salem in ranked couple of seasons ago in the lower ranks, sure it works, but i think DM/Wooster or Radar mino offer more utility.

While i personaly also wouldnt play BB in the higher ranks, i dont think Thunderer would be a bad choice. If you can aim, you can inflict tons of damage with it, which is never bad.

 

Those 2 players i mentioned above have 59% and 65% WR on account.

[ForlornSailor]

26 minutes ago, genosse said:

oo squishy to go close, so standard RN BB gameplay with HE slinging from the back line.

 

pff. Dont be a wimp. Go in there an do it. Will you take a beating? yea sure but fk me, the other ones will get one even harder!

 

 

(that was actually my first random in tsun tsun )

[genosse]

The more I read, the more I think that Thunderer's long range only gameplay was just an exaggeration.

 

Seems like she works well at standard engagement ranges, which is fine by me – I didn't expect a true brawler.

 

I think she will be the one after I get home from the family. :)

[Reckie]

56 minutes ago, CeKyPuTo said:

What?! Dont get it, if you want to play BB with HE then you get Conqueror, Thunderer is not HE spammer! Yeah its british BB with high chance of setting fires, but AP are rly good! Im always reporting players who play Thunderer with HE....

Yes, its soo annoying seeing a Thunderer one shot a DD with HE, deserves a report for sure. ;)

[Panocek]

Not even Belfast and Missouri are"op" enough to handle randoms.

[Beastofwar]

I do not have the Thunderer (yet) but playing against them they seem to be a sort of "camper weapon" or "map edge licker" and that is why i choose other coal ships 2 x already.

 

Always far from the action, likely because they are reputed not being that well armoured and with long range weapons making staying far from combat acceptable in damage results.

 

In CV they are my favorite torpedo target however. Because they are far from the action and alone, and CV take out isolated targets when nothing more pressing needs killing. They are perfectly for getting up to 3 to 5 strikes out of torpedo  bomber squadrons ( depending on their type ) hitting true every strike.

 

 

[bigdoguk]

Smolensk great ship as bb players will hate you when you melt them down,I was getting chased by 2 bbs and I got both them.

[GraySlayer]

I just got Smol and have not got a clue lol. Being a DD main I'm way too aggressive in it but early days yet as only played 4 or 5 games but yeah not really suited to my play style at all it seems. 

[rilship]

4 hours ago, L8viathan said:

JB > all coal ships.

JB is dead within 2 min of seeing Smolensk

[rilship]

4 hours ago, CeKyPuTo said:

What?! Dont get it, if you want to play BB with HE then you get Conqueror, Thunderer is not HE spammer! Yeah its british BB with high chance of setting fires, but AP are rly good! Im always reporting players who play Thunderer with HE....

Always reporting, easy down there бро :)

[Malim0o]

4 hours ago, genosse said:

The more I read, the more I think that Thunderer's long range only gameplay was just an exaggeration.

 

Seems like she works well at standard engagement ranges, which is fine by me – I didn't expect a true brawler.

 

I think she will be the one after I get home from the family. :)

Like all the RN BB , you can easily play with your concealement at mid-range and mainly with AP .

Thunderer is insanely good and from my point of view (yeah I m a BB player ^^) it's the best coal ship atm (TX).

[El2aZeR]

I don't believe there is a coal ship that carries much harder than others, so I'd say just pick according to personal preference.

[Kanapaych]

I got Thunderer and Salem, both are great to solo carry. I'd put Thunderer first. It's way easy to take down ships with her HE. It's not rare to set 2 fires at once when firing a HE Salvo. Considering the fire damage and the HE that are OPed (Like 12k with a salvo is something common, plus setting fires...), thunderer is clearly able to solo carry.

Having said that, the radar buff that Salem received from the last patch puts her to the top, i would not have say that before the duration increase.

This is still a great ship, capable of punishing broadside CA/CL/BB with AP.