My new Lucky "A" (Alabama)

[Butterdoll]

first of all

 

queue the music.

 

 

I got it today, brand new, 0 miles from the dealership 

I forgot a little detail...the captain. (only 3 points) and i don't have any more  10 points US captains 

My first impressions

I'm testing it, so far, all good, I'm playing a bit conservative, sometimes squid style, because no turtleback, no German armour, but , so far, i feel it has more to give than what i demand from it and I'm under the impression that it's tougher than  i think it is,  it can shatter or bounce  up to 406 shells.

Handling wise i think it's just like a Bayern, a slightly fatter Bayern but with much bigger guns Which is great because maybe i could do a Bayern out of it ( my Bayern has a 11 sec. rudder) .

The Guns are awesome, it's like the Hulk fists or the Mjolnir (Thor's hammer), the citadel hits are still a bit random but they are there in almost all the games if not all.

so far...I'm lovin' it,  was a great purchase.

At the moment it's very vulnerable to HE (no skills yet) and no cv either.

 

 

 

 

[Mastodon2]

It's a premium ship, you can use any captain you want in her with no penalty.

[Butterdoll]

4 minutes ago, Mastodon2 said:

It's a premium ship, you can use any captain you want in her with no penalty.

I'm not a BB main, my other USBB captain has only 6 points not a big difference there and the others are in cruisers or dds

[piet11111]

She also sure can dance (rudder shift if i remember right is fantastic)

 

[Execute0rder66]

1 hour ago, Butterdoll said:

first of all

 

queue the music.

 

 

I got it today, brand new, 0 miles from the dealership 

I forgot a little detail...the captain. (only 3 points) and i don't have any more  10 points US captains 

My first impressions

I'm testing it, so far, all good, I'm playing a bit conservative, sometimes squid style, because no turtleback, no German armour, but , so far, i feel it has more to give than what i demand from it and I'm under the impression that it's tougher than  i think it is,  it can shatter or bounce  up to 406 shells.

Handling wise i think it's just like a Bayern, a slightly fatter Bayern but with much bigger guns Which is great because maybe i could do a Bayern out of it ( my Bayern has a 11 sec. rudder) .

The Guns are awesome, it's like the Hulk fists or the Mjolnir (Thor's hammer), the citadel hits are still a bit random but they are there in almost all the games if not all.

so far...I'm lovin' it,  was a great purchase.

At the moment it's very vulnerable to HE (no skills yet) and no cv either.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice choice there captain! That thing has 50% torp. protection iirc. Good rudder, tight turning circle. Use it with minimum 10 point captain and you will like it even more 

[Butterdoll]

2 hours ago, Execute0rder66 said:

 

Nice choice there captain! That thing has 50% torp. protection iirc. Good rudder, tight turning circle. Use it with minimum 10 point captain and you will like it even more 

You know?

 

I made +800 battles with Budyonny when i decide to try a different thing, Nurnberg was next and was (and is amazing), long story short it provide the same things but in a different way, in a different flavour 

I love German BBs, JB, they are awesome but eventually i need to vary. And i always was curious about USBBs finally i meet one that goes towards my expectation  (I'm still running the gauntlet in the silver line as i did with the German line).

In the last rental i tried Alabama, Lenin and others.

With Lenin i did the most damage, that ship it's like a zombie, eats damage, after damage and just keeps going like it was nothing, but during that rental i found myself going back to Alabama more and more, until i played nothing more except Alabama.

Ever since it was the single ship of that rental  that remained in my mind but with no German qualities i hesitated , then the new USBB appear in the horizon...

And i find it very similar to Bayern, seems familiar.

I almost bought it last week, after a session with Gneisenau, 4 shells, all of them went wonky and hit  a different spot missing  the target kind of story. I don't like to precipitate 

In contrast ,my first game with my Alabama.

 

Nice change of pace, new flavour of [edited]yeah, 'Múrica, and i will still have my KMBBs

 

2 hours ago, piet11111 said:

She also sure can dance (rudder shift if i remember right is fantastic)

 

For now i'm taking slow i'm just waiting for Alabama's captain

[Panocek]

11 hours ago, Butterdoll said:

I'm not a BB main, my other USBB captain has only 6 points not a big difference there and the others are in cruisers or dds

As long as he has CE and SI he's good to go.

 

On a normal BB you can put potato stamp as a skipper and it will do to be honest.

[Cambera_1]

I'm glad you like her.

 

She was the first USN BB that I liked. I'd given them up as a bad job at New York and sold them to provide room in my port. The Texas (received FOC) confirmed my feeling.

Yet I watched higher tier USN BB gameplay and wondered. 

Last summer the Big A was the first ship discounted in the summer sale. The price was acceptable and after reading multiple reviews I bought her.

 

She is a 'sweet' ship, does what you would expect from a BB, and I am glad that I did not let my prejudice against USN Standard BBs get in the was.

 

She is however overshadowed by her sister the Massachusetts.

[Panocek]

5 minutes ago, Cambera_1 said:

She is however overshadowed by her sister the Massachusetts.

Personally I find Massa to be handicapped version of a NC. Fast reloading heal is nice, but sacrificing main guns for secondaries that are firestarter at best... no.

[Butterdoll]

4 hours ago, Panocek said:

As long as he has CE and SI he's good to go.

 

On a normal BB you can put potato stamp as a skipper and it will do to be honest.

Now there isn't  virtually any difference between them anymore i have to wait. to be patient 

 

4 hours ago, Cambera_1 said:

I'm glad you like her.

That's an understatement

Quote

 

She was the first USN BB that I liked. I'd given them up as a bad job at New York and sold them to provide room in my port. The Texas (received FOC) confirmed my feeling.

Yet I watched higher tier USN BB gameplay and wondered. 

Last summer the Big A was the first ship discounted in the summer sale. The price was acceptable and after reading multiple reviews I bought her.

Exactly where i was, up to New York i don't see anything special.

In the first set of reviews (with raised citadel) the overall verdicts was meh at best, which i understand, but in the second set of reviews, the overall verdict was still kind of bland

Quote

 

She is a 'sweet' ship, does what you would expect from a BB, and I am glad that I did not let my prejudice against USN Standard BBs get in the was.

 

She is however overshadowed by her sister the Massachusetts.

Alabama it's great and caught me by surprise, I'm always comparing it with German BBs and so far Alabama it's just as tanky i wasn't expecting that.

 

Kremlins, Massas and so on do nothing or close to nothing with main guns to my Alabama (perhaps i'm trying to check all the boxes before i engage the target, as i don't have turtle back i don't get overconfident or sloppy in my approach  with a "it can take it, that will do" mindset. or the bots fire at different places or both.

Either way, or this ship is that good or things will change in random.

But i feel it's better to take a grain of salt pill and lower my expectations to not be disappointed

 

 

Tank test, co-op mode

 

Highest potential damage

Bismarck -  2.055.200

Alabama - 1.790.070

 

the game was over by that time cause i could do more i had much more HP than in the Bismarck one.

 

I can understand that ( Massa overshadowing Alabama) 

- newer ship

- different flavour

- Must be equally tanky

- special heals

- fast

 

What i don't understand is why i see so few Alabamas out there, because.

- it's tanky

- it's fast

 

@Execute0rder66 said it.

 

Alabama is just underrated, there's nothing wrong with it. IMHO

 

4 hours ago, Panocek said:

Personally I find Massa to be handicapped version of a NC. Fast reloading heal is nice, but sacrificing main guns for secondaries that are firestarter at best... no.

 

That's why i dismissed Massa.

I have four of those already

Bayern

Gneisenau

Bismarck 

FDG

They can be fun, they are awesome and i love them but sometimes.... can make you mad.

 

 

 

[Panocek]

17 minutes ago, Butterdoll said:

I can understand that ( Massa overshadowing Alabama) 

- newer ship

- different flavour

- Must be equally tanky

- special heals

- fast

They are sister ships, with the same handling and armor. Massa trades main guns (sigma and range) for substantially improved secondary range and accuracy, while also having much faster heal reload. otherwise differences between them are token ones, like 300m concealment, 0.5 degrees per second turret traverse or 3k hp

 

24 minutes ago, Butterdoll said:

What i don't understand is why i see so few Alabamas out there, because.

- it's tanky

- it's fast

Massa stands out with meme secondary builds (which can be fun, I'll give her that), while Alabama is basically premium copy of a NC. And why pay for her when you can get NC for free?

[Butterdoll]

2 hours ago, Panocek said:

They are sister ships, with the same handling and armor. Massa trades main guns (sigma and range) for substantially improved secondary range and accuracy, while also having much faster heal reload. otherwise differences between them are token ones, like 300m concealment, 0.5 degrees per second turret traverse or 3k hp

Massa in the USBB line can be a change of pace, a different flavour but not so much when you go to compare it with KMBBs, while maintaining some key differences, at the end of the day, both brawlers make the same trade and you end up basically with 2 different versions of the same ship. They are fun and awesome but you will need something slightly different at some point .

This was my train of thoughts .

I dismissed Massa over Alabama but that doesn't mean i won't pick Massa in the future

Quote

 

Massa stands out with meme secondary builds (which can be fun, I'll give her that), while Alabama is basically premium copy of a NC. And why pay for her when you can get NC for free?

I could argue that,  by the time  i reach NC ,Alabama returned my investment over and over again and without going through the painful gauntlet up to t7 which is true.

 

But do you believe that i completely forgot about that?

 

As i said, I think I clicked with Alabama  instantaneous in that rental and  i cannot explain why, i played Lenin, it was the ship where i did the most damage with, i played Graf Spee i played others, but i kept going back to Alabama over and over again and that ship ended to outshine every other ship that i played, even Lenin that can plow through things like nothing

 

am i bothered to pay for a copy of a silver ship?

No. not only Alabama is revealing to be a awesome ship by it's own but  where i stand, NC seems so far way of where i am or from my more immediately  plans.

e.g. a 19 point captain for my Baltimore which ironically Alabama is delaying or even contesting it, i'm not sure yet.

 

  

I just leave this quote from LWM (outdated) review, i don't fully understand because i don't have a comparison but at the same time I'm understanding

 

 

• For Fun Factor:
  Bottom line: Is the ship fun to play? 

Mouse: Very yes. I enjoyed my time very much sailing her… so much so that I’m giving North Carolina a bit of the stink eye.  Alabama has good agility, great gun handling, punchy guns and who doesn’t like making enemy carriers cry?

 

Lert:  Yes. Alabama is a comfortable and enjoyable ship to drive. Until you overestimate your turn and end up losing 2/3 of your health to some well placed battleship AP into your overexposed citadel. If you’re the kind of person who can suck it up when that happens and admit it was your own mistake to show so much side, Alabama is a fun and rewarding ship to play. "

 

font:

 

http://shipcomrade.com/?p=1059

[Execute0rder66]

Bama and NC are not copy ships at all but they have many similarities. Even their play styles are very different. Even their classes are different, one is South Dakota class, the other one North Carolina. Bama is more mobile can play closer due its great torp protection and rudder and it is smaller than NC, alhough it can also bow tank like NC. Bama is way better than NC and more fun. Bama fits for more aggressive play and players instead of bow tanking.

[Panocek]

9 minutes ago, Butterdoll said:

I'm i bothered to pay for a copy of a silver ship?

No. not only Alabama is revealing to be a awesome ship by it's own but  where i stand, NC seems so far way of where i am or from my more immediately  plans.

e.g. a 19 point captain for my Baltimore which ironically Alabama is delaying or even contesting it, i'm not sure yet.

Its all matter of perspective. I had NC years before SoDak sisters appeared and had dedicated captain on her for a LONG time, so getting essentially premium copy was of little use to me. But as you already have Alabama, then should you get your US BB line going, then you have no need to keep NC.

 

Or little reason to go through US BB line in first place, because

-standard battleships up to and including T7

-Iowa being in my book a sidegrade over NC than actual upgrade

-Montana is significantly powercrept by 30mm plating and everyone else getting guns to defeat said plating

 

So, yeah. Having a premium clone of a highlight of the line isn't that bad after all.

 

Captain wise, Baltimore doesn't need 19pointer, 10pointer with usual PT/AR/Demo (or SI)/CE gets the job done just fine

[Butterdoll]

4 minutes ago, Panocek said:

Its all matter of perspective. I had NC years before SoDak sisters appeared and had dedicated captain on her for a LONG time, so getting essentially premium copy was of little use to me. But as you already have Alabama, then should you get your US BB line going, then you have no need to keep NC.

 

Or little reason to go through US BB line in first place, because

-standard battleships up to and including T7

-Iowa being in my book a sidegrade over NC than actual upgrade

-Montana is significantly powercrept by 30mm plating and everyone else getting guns to defeat said plating

 

So, yeah. Having a premium clone of a highlight of the line isn't that bad after all.

 

Captain wise, Baltimore doesn't need 19pointer, 10pointer with usual PT/AR/Demo (or SI)/CE gets the job done just fine

Only saw that in my quote, what a kick in the balls of English grammar .

I'll go change it.

 

I have PT/AR/CE and some AA build (12 pointer)cruiser wise Baltimore will be my next budyonny. One of my go to ships.

 

[Jethro_Grey]

19 hours ago, Butterdoll said:

first of all

 

queue the music.

 

 

I got it today, brand new, 0 miles from the dealership 

I forgot a little detail...the captain. (only 3 points) and i don't have any more  10 points US captains 

My first impressions

I'm testing it, so far, all good, I'm playing a bit conservative, sometimes squid style, because no turtleback, no German armour, but , so far, i feel it has more to give than what i demand from it and I'm under the impression that it's tougher than  i think it is,  it can shatter or bounce  up to 406 shells.

Handling wise i think it's just like a Bayern, a slightly fatter Bayern but with much bigger guns Which is great because maybe i could do a Bayern out of it ( my Bayern has a 11 sec. rudder) .

The Guns are awesome, it's like the Hulk fists or the Mjolnir (Thor's hammer), the citadel hits are still a bit random but they are there in almost all the games if not all.

so far...I'm lovin' it,  was a great purchase.

At the moment it's very vulnerable to HE (no skills yet) and no cv either.

 

 

 

 

Nice.

 

If you have a US Heavy cruiser captain, you can put him in Alabama. A DD captian will work too, however be prepared to take some flak if you're running SE on your DDs.