Baltiless - Des Moines. Your advice please

[FloRead]

On the verge of giving up. I'm obviously too dumb for this vessel. Doesn't matter what tactic: aggressive, cautious, support dd' or BB's...Hit, boom, gone. I noticed a seemingly reflux of cv's since .6. I'll respec it AA and give it 1 more try. I'm afraid it's the end of my US cruiserline though.

 

US cruiser was the first cruiser line I got to T10, so when I first got to Des Moines, it was like "WOW!"

Then I got Hindenburg and the magic of the Des Moines faded utterly...

 

The pain of of the Baltimore and Des Moines for me is that you only have really good AP* to do good damage but no tricks to actually be able to liberally apply the damage. The Baltimore and Des Moines have such bad arcs and my accuracy with these ships is so poor that my DPM is terrible anyway so my damage isn't exactly great. I always have to go up close and then realize the armor on the Baltimore and Des Moines are not enough to protect you anyway. It's not like the Minotaur who is slightly handcuffed with AP only shells but has smoke and torpedoes in her toolbag.

 

 

 

[Ferry_25]

 

NoZoupForYou agrees on the Baltimore.

 

Wow. Really nice vid. Watched the whole thing. In fact he is exactly bringing my experience with the US cruiserline to words! I also started as a newby noob (being an experience noob now) in that line! T1 and 2 kind of messing around. St Louis was a blast. I mean: who doesn't love that ship. And with Phoenix and Omaha reality started to sink in. It was in those ships I found out what a citadel is, why sailing straightlines and giving broadsides aren't always good ideas, taking cover, switching ammo, learning about torps, which were the "preffered" enemies and who better to engage in a later phase a.s.o. Learning by trial, error and derping a lot I learned to love those ships. Then came Cleveland. That already dropped 1 eyebrow. But: giving time and practise I learned even to give my contribution ingame. After that came the horror for me. Ending up right here, right now. Grinding other non CV lines with passion though. (OK, I've postponed RN cruisers and KM DD's for now).

[Jack_Varus]

You know, everyone says 'point bow at enemy ships and get in close so your AP will wreck them'. New case study, 1v1 Hindenburg. I had him cold, he was absolutely flat on and I was only detected around 10km. Let rip around five volleys of AP, perfect angle for bouncing shots coming back. Each volley only manages about 4k of damage with the closest one fired at 6km away with everything hitting. In return his first volley HE did over seven thousand damage, further volleys around 4k each, at least one fire per (but that's not the main issue here). So his HE shells are somehow on par, shell for shell, with point blank AP into a broadside. Also he has excellent defensive torpedoes for brawling. The guns on the Baltimore are HORRIBLE. They have the best AP performance of any US ship but somehow they fail over and over and over again.

​The Baltimore is one of my few sub 50% winrate ships, probably owing entirely to the guns' horrible arcs and shonky AP damage application. The rest of the ship is actually pretty decent, fairly tanky and with radar you can take British cruisers to the cleaners (although that's the one line you can actually reliably solo in this ship). I'll be really glad when I finally have the DM. It's probably going to be terrible as well but at least then I've finished the line and I never have to touch it...

 

 

[Ferry_25]

OK, I'm probably the biggest hypocrite around. I did try it with the new buff. And for me that is a 100% improvement!! To put that in perspective I elevated my personal score to baltimore in a 1-10 scale from 0,000001 to 0,000002. But still. I think I play 1 "let's get it over with match" per session. 1 day I'll reach Des Moines: if only to satisfy my collector's OCD.

 

[Ferry_25]

Wow! Just had an EPIC battle. Lost 1 *duh.*  But a staggering 55 k dmg! Game after that I politely asked the reds to give me euthanasia. Just laid still full broadside to get it over with on this abomination.

[Ferry_25]

OK. Let the hypocrite furnace in hell being fueled by 10 trains of coal more for me. a miracle has happened: out of pride I kept playing Baltiless occasionally. I tried to play it a little more with my Zao tactic with a "touch of BB style" and WTF? It's working! Have had very decent matches. Mix-specced it AA and anti DD now and found a relative well balance in it. Also learned to rely more on the AP ammo: shaved off about 20k to a Freddy today who was giving me full BS. Just take a little extra lead because of the ET shell trajectories and oh! Those superstructures were delicious. 3k, 5 k, 2k salvo's. Really had a "Spock moment" today. 

[lycea]

New Orleans: it's good sides are the strong AP and the option to use radar....... aaaaaaand thats about it. My stats in her are surprisingly good, but didnt enjoy the grind at all. 

 

Just unlocked the baltimore. First battle I found myself alone vs 2x Kiev. Thanks to the garbage reload(stock) I lost like 60% HP (not from torps) before I got them both sunk. 

[Quallo_Musto]

OK. Let the hypocrite furnace in hell being fueled by 10 trains of coal more for me. a miracle has happened: out of pride I kept playing Baltiless occasionally. I tried to play it a little more with my Zao tactic with a "touch of BB style" and WTF? It's working! Have had very decent matches. Mix-specced it AA and anti DD now and found a relative well balance in it. Also learned to rely more on the AP ammo: shaved off about 20k to a Freddy today who was giving me full BS. Just take a little extra lead because of the ET shell trajectories and oh! Those superstructures were delicious. 3k, 5 k, 2k salvo's. Really had a "Spock moment" today. 

 

I am almost at the Baltimore, and really looking forward to it. I understand the shells are slower then NO, but are they Cleveland slow? 

Cant imagine how the Baltimore must have been before the reload buff and luckily I dont need to try it, however even the NO was okay pre buff imo. 

We can maybe division up some time and go DD/CA combo with Fletcher and Baltimore? 

[Ferry_25]

Keeping on struggling. But in fact I am kind of starting to like B... having 50-70k damage matches isn't that bad at all IMO. Achieving world peace is a of course a picking compared to winning in this abomination. (I dare to postulate a statement: the side with the most Batlomores loses). But still. I think I've been too harsh on Baltiless... I'm evolving (in the speed of a bacteria to a human being) to Des Moines! I think I'll be like an ARP ship: try 1 game to see if you like it, then protect the fishes in your port from Iron lack anemia...

[Horin728]

For me the Balti was a real pain too. I had to grind it just about the time the german BBs came in and having 8 tirptitzes per side really wasn't fun.

 

However,

in the few games that I got when there were only 3/4 BBs per side, the Balti suddenly started to work for me. Suddenly your armour meant something and you could bounce shells left right and center, while using the superior US shells to penetrate at rather extereme angles.

But the main motivation for me was the Des Moines. This is the one US cruiser (at high-ish tiers) that can actually deal with BBs effectively, thanks to her superior RoF and shell weight. So if you feel like pew pew pewing your way through anything, suck it up and carry on.

[deadly_if_swallowed]

I finished the Baltimore grind yesterday. Will get Des Moines this weekend. If it's discounted for St. Paddy's, great. If not, I get her nonetheless.

Not sure if I want to sell Baltimore or just leave her to rot in port. I had tons of fun with her and she looks so nice  But having DM probably makes her obsolete.

[Quallo_Musto]

I just got it today. Holy crapthe AP is amazing! (Free xp'ed the gun and hull)

Maybe it was just luck, but around 10-12 km I was getting citadels with relative ease against angled cruisers(Roon and NO) and up to 9k on broadside BB's. A bit more tricky to hit DD's however... Just two games in, but liking it so far!

[loppantorkel]

I enjoy Baltimore more than Des Moines so far. I'm sure it's a bit of a learning process with the new ship, but I wouldn't say it's a huge improvement one should expect. Quite expensive too. Need to equip a few more modules when I get some credits...

[Hoggbert]

Baltimore is less autonomous than the other t9 CAs, but she is very good at supporting her fleet, which is her main issue. She's the best t9 cruiser to get into (or very close to) a cap and radar up DDs and kill them (or at the very least chase them away) and have the agility to dodge their torps and tank/avoid enough incoming fire. 

But for that to actually work you need a team that supports you close, which at t9/10 can be very hard to find at times. Often I find myself getting stuck in to support our dds, then when its way past the point of no return notice our BBs turning away and running off and then get completely steamrolled by their more aggressive team. When that happens the amount of damage you get done is ofc minimal, but when you have a team that wants to play aggressively, baltimore is the perfect tool for the job.

 

She absolutely butchers british cruisers and she's competent against dds at short range. Russian dds kiting at range can be a nightmare (but then you can stop firing and use your very good 9.7km detection range to piss off).

I did use the range module first, but i changed to the reload a few days ago and like it a lot better. The extra range you get is kinda pointless since the flighttime at those ranges are so long that even BBs can dodge incoming fire.

It's better to get off more shots when your radar is up and do decent dpm when you're close enough to hit reliably (imo). 

 

i'm hovering at around 60k avg damage, so it isnt great and it is the worst of my t9 cruisers, but i still find her interesting to play and i feel the Baltimore is more of a credit to team ship in sofar she's good at getting objectives done (with support obviously) rather than being excellent at kiting about and do raw damage and hope your teammates is up to snuff to grab cappoints. 

 

So tldr;

 

A force multiplier rather than a force in her self, play it a bit like an Atlanta, hug islands and rocks, get stuck in radar and hydro, slaughter CAs that are silly enough to get close and kill or chase away DDs. 

Open water is not your friend and ocean is the only map worse than tears of the desert for the baltimore. You have great concealment so hold fire when you can get undetected and relocate if possible.

 

[Quallo_Musto]

Baltimore is less autonomous than the other t9 CAs, but she is very good at supporting her fleet, which is her main issue. She's the best t9 cruiser to get into (or very close to) a cap and radar up DDs and kill them (or at the very least chase them away) and have the agility to dodge their torps and tank/avoid enough incoming fire. 

But for that to actually work you need a team that supports you close, which at t9/10 can be very hard to find at times. Often I find myself getting stuck in to support our dds, then when its way past the point of no return notice our BBs turning away and running off and then get completely steamrolled by their more aggressive team. When that happens the amount of damage you get done is ofc minimal, but when you have a team that wants to play aggressively, baltimore is the perfect tool for the job.

 

She absolutely butchers british cruisers and she's competent against dds at short range. Russian dds kiting at range can be a nightmare (but then you can stop firing and use your very good 9.7km detection range to piss off).

I did use the range module first, but i changed to the reload a few days ago and like it a lot better. The extra range you get is kinda pointless since the flighttime at those ranges are so long that even BBs can dodge incoming fire.

It's better to get off more shots when your radar is up and do decent dpm when you're close enough to hit reliably (imo). 

 

i'm hovering at around 60k avg damage, so it isnt great and it is the worst of my t9 cruisers, but i still find her interesting to play and i feel the Baltimore is more of a credit to team ship in sofar she's good at getting objectives done (with support obviously) rather than being excellent at kiting about and do raw damage and hope your teammates is up to snuff to grab cappoints. 

 

So tldr;

 

A force multiplier rather than a force in her self, play it a bit like an Atlanta, hug islands and rocks, get stuck in radar and hydro, slaughter CAs that are silly enough to get close and kill or chase away DDs. 

Open water is not your friend and ocean is the only map worse than tears of the desert for the baltimore. You have great concealment so hold fire when you can get undetected and relocate if possible.

 

 

Totally agree! I ran range module for 10-15 games but was having a hard time hitting reliably. Since the reload module was installed she is a beast, and I play her very much the same way you mention, pushing into caps and giving close range support to the DD's. 

 

Even on open maps I feel quite comfortable as long as I stay at 14km due to the excellent agility. 47 games in, and only 10 or so to go before I get the Des Moines which looks like a Baltimore on steroids - cant wait!

[Ferry_25]

Suffering through the Losemore and inching 1 micron at a time to DM. I wonder if that will be worth the struggle. Well I guess I can only be surprised: to even find a worse ship or it'll actually be better. I'm betting my life's savings/ pension and my house to the former though....

[Quallo_Musto]

Suffering through the Losemore and inching 1 micron at a time to DM. I wonder if that will be worth the struggle. Well I guess I can only be surprised: to even find a worse ship or it'll actually be better. I'm betting my life's savings/ pension and my house to the former though....

 

I have the DM now and its much better then the Baltimore, the rate of fire is crazy good and the additional HP makes it a lot more survivable. You just need to persevere and slap on any XP flags and camo you have available to speed up the grind.

I am still grinding the Fletcher, so if you want a partner in crime to help with your BaltiMORE misery let me know  

[Ferry_25]

Ok. This morning the water broke. Finally and she went into labor. It was a very hard struggle for her but we are very proud of the delivery. It was born at 18.45!!!

 

[costi]

What captain skills and modules would you recommend on the Baltimore?

[FloRead]

Ok. This morning the water broke. Finally and she went into labor. It was a very hard struggle for her but we are very proud of the delivery. It was born at 18.45!!!

 

 

 

Not sure you really want water breaking in a ship.

 

Congrats on the Des Moines!

[Quallo_Musto]

What captain skills and modules would you recommend on the Baltimore?

 

I used the following in prioritized line:

1: Priority Target 

2: Adrenaline Rush, Expert Marksman

3: Superintendent, Demolition Expert

4: Concealment Expert, Advanced Firing Training

 

Reload module instead of range.

[Odo_Toothless]

 

I used the following in prioritized line:

1: Priority Target 

2: Adrenaline Rush, Expert Marksman

3: Superintendent, Demolition Expert

4: Concealment Expert, Advanced Firing Training

 

Reload module instead of range.

 

Balti/Des are huge ships. If you want to push then it's better to swap DE to Vigilance. Anyway AP is preffered type of ammo in many situations. Now I had Balti with reload and Des with range. Quess what - I do better in Balti in terms of DMG when forced to close distance ;-) Spamming from far behind is much easier to play, but it's a waste of those ships potential.

 

From last week:

Baltimore				6 games	50.00%	85,541			1.2 ship	2.0 plane
Des Moines				10	70.00%	76,436			0.9	5.5

 

 

[Quallo_Musto]

I see your point, But I prefer DE over vigilance and I dont have issues even when pushing. Funny how your avg dmg is smaller in des moines, mine is quite the opposite. Did 74k on avg in Baltimore in 50 or so games, while the Des Moines is currently at 125k after 20 games

[Odo_Toothless]

I was trapped by "range module comfort" and stayed in safer postions sometimes too long. Anyway Balti is more comfortable, becouse better camo, smaller size and citadel and slightly better handling. However Des is much better vs enemy DD and plays more important role in game.

 

Quallo_Musto  please tell me what is your module build on both ships ? (range/ROF, acceleration/steering, stealth/steering 2)

[Quallo_Musto]

I was trapped by "range module comfort" and stayed in safer postions sometimes too long. Anyway Balti is more comfortable, becouse better camo, smaller size and citadel and slightly better handling. However Des is much better vs enemy DD and plays more important role in game.

 

Quallo_Musto  please tell me what is your module build on both ships ? (range/ROF, acceleration/steering, stealth/steering 2)

 

On the Baltimore I run ROF, Steering and Concealment module. On the Des Moines I run Range, Steering and Concealment. 

 

I agree with you, the Baltimore feels easier to sail, but the huge ROF jump makes up for it in my opinion