Why restrict ships in Operations?

[Gebbly]

I played my first operation last night and was surprised to find that when you have finished the operation the ship you used has a counter on it and cannot be used to do the operation again for about 35mins. Is there some balance or fair play reason for that? I wanted to try the operation again straight away and apply some of what I learnt from doing it the first time. Unfortunately I only have 4 ships that are high enough tier, of which 3 are destroyers and from what I have researched destroyers are not ideal for "Defense of Naval Station Newport".

[ColonelPete]

To increase the upkeep cost (for deactivating the counter), which makes farming credits harder.

[Dutchy_2019]

You can pay a credit penalty and then you can use the ships immediately again.

[Gebbly]

So just a Credit sink. darn.

[Camperdown]

9 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

So just a Credit sink. darn.

Or you can use 2 alternating ships and not sink credits.

[Gebbly]

Yeah I'm working through the Emerald at the moment. Once done I can take the Leander into that operation.

[FixCVs_Nautical_Metaphor]

It used to be a lot more annoying back in the day before all those power camos and signals got showered on the  players, because back then it took ages to grind out another Tier 6 ship so you could at least alternate. Never mind a mighty Tier 7!

 

These days, it is quickly accomplished, not the least because the operations have been completely dumbed down and, with the exception of Newport, don't pose any challenge any more whatsoever. Only full potato teams manage to throw them any more. And you don't even have to buy much in the way of port slots since you grind out new ones through the daily mission chains, simply by playing the game.

 

There are much worse annoyances these days.

[Cirno9999]

usually you can play 3 or 4 ships in rotation to get rid of that

[NobleSauvage]

2 hours ago, Gebbly said:

I played my first operation last night and was surprised to find that when you have finished the operation the ship you used has a counter on it and cannot be used to do the operation again for about 35mins. Is there some balance or fair play reason for that?

I doubt it. If there was one originally, it will have vanished with the progressive nerfs and trivialisations heaped upon Ops over the years. Once you get Leander, just do what some of the above folks have been suggesting and alternate her with something else (Warspite if you have her from recruitment or whatever; Aigle is effective and can be had for coal; there's actually an achievement for winning each Op. at least once with every class of ship so it doesn't hurt to try them all)

 

1 hour ago, FixCVs_Nautical_Metaphor said:

These days, it is quickly accomplished, not the least because the operations have been completely dumbed down and, with the exception of Newport, don't pose any challenge any more whatsoever. Only full potato teams manage to throw them any more.

Actually, Newport is now pretty much as achievable as the others. Looks like they just locked all the enemy ships into straight-line courses at very low speeds, but it's now entirely doable if the whole team doesn't potate.

[Karasu_Hidesuke]

5 minutes ago, NobleSauvage said:

 

Actually, Newport is now pretty much as achievable as the others. Looks like they just locked all the enemy ships into straight-line courses at very low speeds, but it's now entirely doable if the whole team doesn't potate.

 

Has to be, because despite all odds even I was finally able to achieve full 5 stars for it!

 

As for the operations, do not pay for the unlock, if you haven't enough ships in rotation use the time to play randoms or whatever to grind up more ships you can use. In 30 minutes you can play about 1 to 2 battles in randoms.... or about 10 if you are like me...

[Gebbly]

I tried it in my Aoba (my only non-destroyer tier VI). It went fairly well until I got a detonation in late game. We managed to complete with 2 stars. It looked tricky to keep all ships out of the station radius.

[Karasu_Hidesuke]

1 minute ago, Gebbly said:

I tried it in my Aoba (my only non-destroyer tier VI). It went fairly well until I got a detonation in late game. We managed to complete with 2 stars. It looked tricky to keep all ships out of the station radius.

 

Keeping them out requires a little team effort, you can't leave any flank unguarded. I got my five stars in a BB (Bayern), I was mostly in the mid map position progressively reaching further out, accompanied by another BB. No time to go back for repairs, though. Before the end I got hit by torps and sunk by the enemy Izumo, but the team was up to the task, thankfully!

[NobleSauvage]

53 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

I tried it in my Aoba (my only non-destroyer tier VI). It went fairly well until I got a detonation in late game. We managed to complete with 2 stars. It looked tricky to keep all ships out of the station radius.

I find Aoba is a tricky one for Ops given the limited main battery firepower, but if you can keep bow-on towards the enemy you can make the most of her narrow profile to avoid most shots while only losing out on your rear turret for return fire. Destroyers are admittedly at something of a disadvantage in Ops, but they can work with certain play styles: in Newport it's really useful if someone is spotting for the team, and as there's a heal zone around the repair ships you don't have to worry so much about damage as long as you can successfully disengage (smoke, speed boost and islands all useful for that).

 

57 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Has to be, because despite all odds even I was finally able to achieve full 5 stars for it!

Congrats!

[Karasu_Hidesuke]

9 minutes ago, NobleSauvage said:

I find Aoba is a tricky one for Ops given the limited main battery firepower, but if you can keep bow-on towards the enemy you can make the most of her narrow profile to avoid most shots while only losing out on your rear turret for return fire. Destroyers are admittedly at something of a disadvantage in Ops, but they can work with certain play styles: in Newport it's really useful if someone is spotting for the team, and as there's a heal zone around the repair ships you don't have to worry so much about damage as long as you can successfully disengage (smoke, speed boost and islands all useful for that).

 

Congrats!

 

Cheers! I think it was your previous post in another thread that encouraged me to give it one more try.

[NobleSauvage]

1 hour ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Cheers! I think it was your previous post in another thread that encouraged me to give it one more try.

Glad to hear it worked out then! I'm trying to spread the word, after all the only chance WG is going to put more efforts into Ops is if people play them more. I find that taking new ships that I've not tried before into Ops every week (even/especially the ones I think are going to be disastrous) is a much more entertaining way of playing than any of the other modes these days...