What to buy with coal?

[Duke_1128]

Hey ! 
So I have been farming coal for a good few months, spending it on the odd consumable but now I'm thinking about buying something bigger. I have a few tier X ships and almost 2k games but enough about me. What do my fellow captains think I should buy for coal? I have not bought any of the coal ships and I already own the Georgia, but I am wary that the armory listings can change but I don't know if anything new is in the works for coal. 

[Aethervoxx]

For anything WG allows you to ......... is this a 'trick' question?  

[Duke_1128]

Just now, Aethervoxx said:

For anything WG allows you to ......... is this a 'trick' question?  

Hehe not a trick question but I see your point! Currently I'm thinking about either getting the russian supercaptain or the Thunderer but what's worth spending all that hard earned coal on ? I found myself missing out on the smolensk and don't want to miss out again 

[DragonBoat_MicTango]

Apart from the ships being the obvious go to for coal, the captain with special perks are pretty nice. 

[Bortasqu]

Special captains first, then ships.

[Duke_1128]

53 minutes ago, Sturmtiger_304 said:

Special captains first, then ships.

Could you motivate this a bit for me ? 

[Verblonde]

2 hours ago, Duke_1128 said:

What do my fellow captains think I should buy for coal?

Personal view, from a sub-par player:

• Buy ships, but high tier ones. If your skills are still developing for the ship in question (e.g. I'm *really* bad in BBs), you can always use it in Coop mode in the short-term.
• Keep an eye on Dev Blogs etc. there are usually new ships continuously in the pipeline; the difficulty is that we don't know how good they are really until they get released.
• Normally, WG give quite a lot of notice when things are going to be removed from coal sale; as far as I know, nothing is imminent, but I could have missed something.
• Use a discount voucher if at all possible, even if this means waiting a few weeks - 25% off a T10 coal ship saves you rather a lot of coal.
• After ships, I might prioritise coal mods for ships where the return on that coal spend will be most useful e.g. I usually put them on premiums, or high tier silver ships I intend to keep/play a lot.
• I would tend to pick up captains after that - the 'magic' ones are ludicrously expensive for what they are.

That's all strictly IMO, of course, and I should mention I don't really have a shortage of 19 point captains these days, so it doesn't take too long to get a new captain to 10 points; if one were in dire need of 10 point captains then the coal captains become a more viable proposition.

[Ocsimano18]

Personally I don't spend coal on captains, except if I finish a collection. Even the 35000 coal captains are overpriced. Think like that: how much fun you can have with a new ship compared to how much fun you can have with a captain?

 

The coal ships I like:

October Revolution

Aigle

Georgia

Thunderer

Have Jean Bart, but no longer available.

Will get the Marceau in a month.

[BrusilovX]

Don't forget that some ships that were only available for steel (e.g. Flint)  will at some point be available for coal.  I'm sitting on 400K+ coal at the moment and nothing in the armoury temps me (e.g. Salem, Marceau) so I'm hanging onto that.

 

[MementoMori_6030]

Gerade eben, BrusilovX sagte:

Don't forget that some ships that were only available for steel (e.g. Flint)  will at some point be available for coal.  I'm sitting on 400K+ coal at the moment and nothing in the armoury temps me (e.g. Salem, Marceau) so I'm hanging onto that.

I have 10% of that, but otherwise I am in the same situation. 

[Miscommunication_dept]

2 minutes ago, BrusilovX said:

Don't forget that some ships that were only available for steel (e.g. Flint)  will at some point be available for coal.  I'm sitting on 400K+ coal at the moment and nothing in the armoury temps me (e.g. Salem, Marceau) so I'm hanging onto that.

 

I’m in the exact same position as you. 450,000 coal and just the uninteresting Salem and Marceau to buy.

I might buy Salem if nothing is released before my coupon expires.

[cracktrackflak]

I wish WG would allow coal to be exchanged for steel, so that steel ships can be accessed by non-rank/clan players.

 

Regarding the "skill wall" argument for rationing steel, it seems to me that, if you've accumulated enough coal to own several of the top-end ships/captains, then you've clearly demonstrated an aptitude for the game.

[Marblehead_1]

First you do not need and you are not forced to buy anything if nothing seems interesting to you - coal is valuable currency and you need some time to farm this currency. As others said Flint, Black and Neustrashimy in period of max half year ( for sure it will be ealier ) will return to Armory for coal.

 

Legendary capitains even if they are very expensive ( thats why they should be aquired when campaign/collection/directives are active ) are very strong especially Kuznetsov ( heal when you hp falls too much and +1 consumamble for First Blood archivement ) so if you play russian ships he could be good investment same as Lujtjens if you like German ships or Cunningham if you like British ships ( last could enter armory soon ) Ships can be nerfed, meta can change ect but capitains are more immune to this changes. 

 

Many says that Thunderer is very good ship ( some people even says that she is OP so she could be announced to retire from Armory sooner or later, also it's one of only two BB's with Defensive AA consumable in game ), so if you like high tier British BB's she can be ok choice. 

[HaachamaShipping]

Thunderer: Best ship currently available, solid performance in pretty much any setting.

Yoshino: harder to play, but can still be good if you know how to not be deleted. Not as strong as Thunderer, but balanced.

Salem: Sidegrade to Des Moines. Pretty ok. Of course good if you like Des Moines. Certainly not as invincible as some Salem captains seem to think, just because of the heal.

Marceau: It's not bad, but why not just get Kleber?

 

Blysca: collector ship or for tryhards. Got powercrept and will be an uphill battle.

Aigle: Solid T6 DD. Different from most else at T6.

Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya: Pyotr is better, but Okt.Rev. is decent.

rest: low tier stuff that I hardly ever play, that costs little and really just is there if you want some cheapo low tier ships.

 

Save for other ships? Only if you currently have no coupon. Coupons will get reset before the steel ships return for coal and of the ships to return, Black's the best, Neustrashimiy is ok, Flint is good when not uptiered. Too bad T7 is uptiered frequently. Black meanwhile needs patience with torps and Neustra needs you to appreciate its Ognevoi gun layout with 360° turrets. Overall, I'm a casual, so Thunderer and Yoshino are more comfortable than some DD or super light cruiser.

[ScruffyNoob]

11 hours ago, Duke_1128 said:

Hey ! 
So I have been farming coal for a good few months, spending it on the odd consumable but now I'm thinking about buying something bigger. I have a few tier X ships and almost 2k games but enough about me. What do my fellow captains think I should buy for coal? I have not bought any of the coal ships and I already own the Georgia, but I am wary that the armory listings can change but I don't know if anything new is in the works for coal. 

You certainly pose an interesting situation.

 

You have already gotten several good answers. I would like to add my 2 kopeks, cents or whatever.

 

The correct answer for you would depend on the strategy you follow for your game account. You have bought the Georgia - so until now you have not been adverse to spending money on WOWS. According to your record you seem to enjoy BBs and cruisers the most. Thus, I assume you enjoy the playstyles offered by those shiptypes.

 

Thus, you should look into getting coal ships which will suit your choices so far - Thunderer, Yoshino, Salem, Nelson (freeXP), Okt. Rev. and all the other FreeXP ships and so on. Also please remember that the next 2 patches will provide you with the opportunity to grind a Graf Spee and grind (and pay for) a BB. 

 

However, you have also played the EuroDDs quite a lot, so maybe you should "invest" a minor amount of coal in DDs - Aigle and Anshan are both relatively inexpensive and even Blyska is not that badly priced. These ships can even double in helping your captains progress without expending FreeXP or Elite Cmdr XP in those various tech tree ship lines.

 

I also remind you that you might have a 25% discount option in the Armory - and that is set to expire on 22 June (I think).

 

One thing is certain - our mileages will (always) vary.

[K82J]

My approach is to buy full premiums only, since those cannot be directly nerfed as far as i know. My only exception is the Smolensk, but she seemed too good for directives for me to pass. However, she was the example that reinforced my approach, since her armor layout got nerfed recently.

 

I would really hate to spend like 5 months of coal on a ship, just to see a nerf announce a week later.

 

So probably my next coal ship gonna be the Georgia, not the Thunderer.

 

About the commanders: i can live without them untill WG introducing some " Captain Coupon ". 175k coal for is a  ridicoulus price for me.

 

My 2 cents.

 

edit: i didnt remember my Salem isnt full premium either, so that makes 2.

[Hades_warrior]

My only coal ship is Salem which was bought about 2 years ago. Now im saving for Ludendorff.

[Miscommunication_dept]

1 hour ago, K82J said:

My approach is to buy full premiums only, since those cannot be directly nerfed as far as i know. My only exception is the Smolensk, but she seemed too good for directives for me to pass. However, she was the example that reinforced my approach, since her armor layout got nerfed recently.

 

I would really hate to spend like 5 months of coal on a ship, just to see a nerf announce a week later.

 

So probably my next coal ship gonna be the Georgia, not the Thunderer.

 

About the commanders: i can live without them untill WG introducing some " Captain Coupon ". 175k coal for is a  ridicoulus price for me.

 

My 2 cents.

The Smolensk was only nerfed with a global change. Kutozov and Belfast were also effected.

 

[Perekotypole]

buy Marceau, so I could have more feedback on it

[RenamedUser_92906789]

No doubt that Thunderer currently is the best coal ship available.

[Bortasqu]

Smolensk wasn't nerfed by anything, if you where running IFHE with it you're doing it wrong.

[ollonborre]

2 hours ago, gopher31 said:

The Smolensk was only nerfed with a global change. Kutozov and Belfast were also effected.

 

The Smolensk was not nerfed, if anything it was hardly changed or buffed depending on your point of view. The armour change made it weaker to DD HE but 10 times more annoying to pen with BB's.

13 minutes ago, Sturmtiger_304 said:

Smolensk wasn't nerfed by anything, if you where running IFHE with it you're doing it wrong.

Not entirely. IFHE before the rework was viable when it came down to causing direct damage to cruisers (atleast bow and stern areas, and tier 8-9). It was more of a tradeoff though, like do you want to damage some cruisers and be a bit more potent in CW? Pick IFHE. Do you want to set the world on fire? Don't pick it. After the rework the armour buffs on the cruisers that you could pen means IFHE is useless and we are pretty much back where we started.

[LiveWire___]

CAMPBELTOWN! Definitely! 

[Miscommunication_dept]

10 hours ago, ollonborre said:

The Smolensk was not nerfed, if anything it was hardly changed or buffed depending on your point of view. The armour change made it weaker to DD HE but 10 times more annoying to pen with BBs

I don’t agree.

plating went from 30mm to 16mm

At 30mm battleship AP will refuse to arm outside of a severe angle just as it would with 16mm. The difference is that 30mm armour will bounce 429mm shells at that kind of angle. 
 

The change made it easier for 429mm battleship shells to arm at  acute angles.

Often they won’t but an overpen beats a ricochet!

[LenaHell35]

Le 29/05/2020 à 09:46, gopher31 a dit :

I’m in the exact same position as you. 450,000 coal and just the uninteresting Salem and Marceau to buy.

I might buy Salem if nothing is released before my coupon expires.

How do you do to have so much coal ??? I only have 60k...