The "Ask an Expert" Thread

Kurbain · October 9, 2016

Hello everyone!

I've decided to create this thread to provide forum users with a single place where all their game-related questions can be answered by highly experienced players without having to create a new thread or search endlessly through the forum.

I will check this thread regularly and answer any questions you might have, whether they concern basic gameplay mechanics or advanced tactics.

Don't be afraid to ask!

Feel free to join the discussion and contribute with your own expertise as long as you stay friendly and civil.

Please do not insult anyone because of their statistics, preference to play co-op or other such nonsense in this thread.
If you can't stick to these guidelines, this is not the place for you no matter how experienced you are at this game.

QUESTION INDEX

Questions about vision and concealment mechanics

1. Why do I get spotted when I am behind islands where no enemy ship has visual on me or no radar/hydro has been used?

2. Why am I unable to see ships that are shooting at me?

Each ship in the game has sea and air concealment values which determine the distances at which they will be spotted. If they start shooting, this concealment value is changed by a specific amount based on the caliber of their guns.
In some cases ships are sneaky enough that even after their concealment is changed because they are using their main gun, they are still not within spotting range.
Example: A fully-upgraded Zao has a sea concealment of 9,7 KM. Should the Zao fire its main guns, 6 KM are added to its concealment value. Since 9,7 + 6 = 15,7 KM, it means that the Zao will stay undetected if no ship is within 15,7 KM of it while it is firing its guns.

You may also take a look at these posts by MFour and Aoteoras which answered the question:
http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/63878-the-ask-an-expert-thread/page__pid__1352083#entry1352083
http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/63878-the-ask-an-expert-thread/page__pid__1352096#entry1352096

3. Why am I sometimes spotted by planes that I can't see?

Planes have a vision radius of 12 KM, but a concealment of either 8 KM (Fighter/Torpedo/Divebomber) or 4 KM (Spotter). That means any ship that has an air visibility of above 4 or 8 KM may be spotted by a plane without being able to see the plane that spots them.
Since planes will continue flying around even after the ship that launched them has been destroyed, you may sometimes be spotted by planes from battleships and cruisers even though the ships themselves are nowhere to be found.

If you would like to read more about the spotting mechanics, please check out this excellent thread by LilJumpa:
http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/49421-new-spotting-mechanics-guide-rework-patch-055/

1. Why do I have to pay for repairs even if I do not get damaged?

Questions about strategy and map tactics

1. Are there any resources that give tips about optimal strategy and how to play particular maps or any other expert level tactical resources?

Questions about aiming and crosshairs

1. On the dynamic crosshairs, what do the numbers 5, 10, etc. along the crosshair's horizontal line represent? How does this differ from the static crosshairs?

2. Assuming a stationary target ship, where should I place the crosshairs if I am facing his a) bow, b) broadsides and c) rear?

This depends on what part of the ship you want to hit, which in turn depends on a lot of factors. I assume you want to know where you should aim to inflict maximum damage, in which case the place you should aim at mainly depends on the relation between your gun caliber and the target's armor.

When shooting small caliber guns (destroyer and light cruiser guns) at armored targets use the following rules of thumb:

If shooting from the back or front of a BB or CA aim at the superstructure and use HE.
Shooting CA from the side select AP and aim at the waterline and look for damage numbers, if they are good, keep doing it, if not (mostly going bounces or zero damage hits), aim at the superstructure (can also switch to HE then).
Shooting BB from the side, select AP and aim at the upper half of the hull (where the hull ends and the superstructure begins roughly), you will hit the thin armor above the main belt and do good damage.

Medium caliber guns such as cruiser 203mm guns are largely the same as above, except if you see a full broadside BB at close range (below 10 km) you can try using AP and aim at the waterline. 203mm shells can pen the main armor belt at close range and hit for citadel damage.

Using battleship guns:

At long ranges aim at the upper part of the hull or superstructure/deck if the target is facing you their front or rear. The idea is to have shells go through the deck and hit the citadel or at least do regular pen damage.
Angled targets at short ranges are trickier and require you to learn the armor models of the target ships, many of them have weak spots that you can hit. If in doubt, aiming at the top of the hull/lower superstructure usually works.
From the side aim at the waterline of most ships. Against german battleships aim at the middle of the hull instead. Same thing when shooting Yamato or Montana from long ranges (>16km or so), since you can't pen their main belt.

Source: http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/63878-the-ask-an-expert-thread/page__st__20__pid__1352304#entry1352304

Questions about damage mechanics and angling

1. How much angling is considered effective and how much is considered pointless?

2. How is ramming damage calculated?

The ramming damage calculation in this game includes the weight difference and speed of both ships. What is the damage you do when ramming?! Just follow this formular:

Ramming Damage = Max HP of your ship * Multiplier_class * Multiplier_speed

1) Max HP should be clear. Regardless of the actual amount of HP the maximum HP is considered.

2) There is also a multiplier regarding the classes of ships ramming. The multiplier is equal one (1) when both ships are of the same class (this is why most player never recognize it). Testing shows the multiplier is also equal one (1) when a cruiser rams a battleship or vice versa. But when a destroyer is involved the multiplier should be around 0.33 for this ship. This mean a DD will inflict only about 1/3 of his max HP to a heavier ship.

3) The last multiplier is hard to figure out, because it is almost equal one (1) for most of the time. But when both ships are barely moving (~1-3 kn) you do not inflict any damage at all, when you ~~ram~~ touch an enemy ship.

Disclaimer: This does not mean that that is the total truth about ramming. There are maybe additional factors, but testing shows this.

Source: http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/63867-ramming-damage-is-just-absolutely-stupid/page__st__20__pid__1351977#entry1351977

3. My fire chance says 15%, but in game I am getting fewer fires than the percentage indicates. Why?

There are several reasons why this is the case.
The first one is the natural fire resistance inherent to each ship in the game. This resistance is dependent on the tier and hull of the ship.
Any ship that is using the A-Hull has slightly lower fire resistance, but to stop this from becoming too complicated, I will assume that all ships are using the B-Hull.
The fire resistances are as follows:

Tier	Fire Resistance
1	0%
2	0%
3	3,3%
4	10%
5	16,66%
6	23,31%
7	29,97%
8	36,63%
9	43,29%
10	49,95%

Furthermore captain skills and modules may reduce your fire chance.
Damage Control Module 1 will decrease your fire chance by 5%.
Fire Prevention will decrease your fire chance by 7%.

On top of these factors a HE shell that does not penetrate the target seems to be about 50% less likely to cause a fire.

Now let's take the fabled Zao for example. The Zao has a fire chance of 19%. Should the Zao hit a Yamato using all anti-fire modules with a single HE shell at the main belt and does not penetrate the armor, the chance of this shell to cause a fire would be calculated roughly like this:
19% * 0.95 * 0.93 * 0.505 * 0.5 = 4,24%

The 0.95 represents the Damage Control Module 1.
The 0.93 represents Fire Prevention.
The 0.505 represents natural fire resistance at T10.
The 0.5 represents the fire chance reduction because of a non-penetration.

4. Why is my penetration dealing no damage?

Should your shell penetrate a ship module such as a main battery or anti-air gun, the shell will deal damage to the HP pool of the module and possibly incapacitate or destroy it.
Damage dealt to ship modules is not displayed on-screen and won't be added to the amount of damage you have done.

5. Why did I hit an enemy ship with three torpedoes but he didn't sink?

Ship in the game are split into several sections. Destroyers into 3 and all other ships into 4. These are the front, rear, middle and citadel.
Each of these sections has its own amount of lifepoints, which is lower than the total amount of lifepoints that a ship has. (Except for the citadel)
Should the lifepoints of a section be completely depleted, it is considered to be damage saturated and will no longer take damage from any form of attack except overpenetrations.

Since torpedoes deal a lot of damage, they may deplete the lifepoints of a ship section in a single hit, which is very common for destroyers.
Once this has happened, you won't deal any further damage with torpedoes to that part of the ship.
If you are trying to sink a ship with torpedoes, try to hit several different parts of it.

General Questions

1. Can a player still turn pink without killing an ally?

Yes, it is still possible.

Should you kill a teammate, you are guaranteed to become pink even if you only dealt 1 damage to them.

However, you can also become pink if your ratio between the damage you dealt to enemies and your allies is insufficient.
In the past only this ratio determined whether you became pink or not. A kill would not turn you pink automatically like it does today.

The exact numbers can be found in this thread: http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/66730-team-killing-and-punishment-how-does-it-work/

2. Which types of achievements are in the game and what are the differences between them?

There are three types of achievements:
1. Heroic achievements
2. Normal achievements
3. One-Time achievements

Heroic achievements are those with golden leaves around the portait. Some One-Time achievements require you to complete them. All heroic achievements award 10 flags once per day should you manage to gain them.
Normal achievements have a silver chain around them. Not all of these award flags and some of them are quite easy to achieve.
One-Time achievements can only be completed once as the name implies. They will often take a long time to complete and do not have to be achieved within a single battle. One-Time achievements may not even involve any battling at all.

Source: http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/63878-the-ask-an-expert-thread/page__st__60__pid__1360579#entry1360579

3. Can desynchronization cause torpedoes to miss?

Yes, a bad latency between the server and the client can cause torpedoes to miss the target even though it should have hit according to what is displayed on your screen.
Data takes some time to travel between your PC and the WG servers and this delay may cause a discrepancy between what is shown on your monitor and what's actually happening in-game.

Keep in mind that not all misses are caused by desynchronization, though. Torpedoes travel below the waterline and may pass safely under the ship instead of hitting it if the parts of the ship you are trying to hit don't reach deep enough into the water to cause a collision.
Here is an example of this situation: https://streamable.com/zc8j

4. Which is the best ship in the game?

There is no definite answer to this question, but depending on their perfomance and ease of use, there are certain ships that dominate the tier they are located at.

T2:
Umikaze - Unusually high HP, short torpedo reload, high torpedo range

T3:
Bogatyr - The new and improved St. Louis
König Albert - Short reload and great armor
Nassau - Similar to the Albert, but slightly weaker

T4:
Isokaze - Very stealthy, strong quick-reloading torpedoes
Imperator Nikolai - Very small superstructure, great armor, unusually high accuracy, excellent firing angles. Considered by many to be the most overpowered ship in the game
Langley and Hosho - Both T4 CVs are very strong due to the weak AA at T4, the lack of defensive AA on cruisers and preferential matchmaking

T5:
Kongo - Accurate guns and very fast for a mid-tier BB
Gremyashchy - Strong torpedoes, great firepower for a DD, able to easily fire undetected. Another contender for "most overpowered ship in the game"
Kamikaze R/Fujin - Very stealthy and excellent torpedoes
Zuiho and Bogue - Same reasons as the T4 CVs. Just watch out for Clevelands

T6:
Bayern - Excellent armor and 380mm guns that can overmatch all other BBs at the tier including itself
Budyonny - Good firepower coupled with great ballistics and high speed
Cleveland - Unusually high HP, amazing AA and excellent DPS at close-range
Anshan - The T6 Gremyashchy. Slightly nerfed, but still very strong

T7:
Myoko - Unusually high HP, good deck armor, stealthy, good torpedoes and excellent at HE spamming
Flint - Access to US smoke generator, good torpedoes, tons of potential DPS
Kiev - Very fast and great firepower for a DD
Leningrad - The T7-version of the Gremyashchy
Blyskawica - Amazing stealth-firing capabilities, good torpedoes, good firepower
Saipan - T9 planes

T8:
Bismarck - Amazing secondaries and armor, access to hydro
Amagi - Hard-hitting, accurate guns and just as tanky as other BBs as long as you do not expose your broadside
North Carolina - Incredible AA, great armor and maneuverability. Able to fire 6 shells while angled
Shokaku - Well-balanced loadout. IJN planes receive a nice boost to their speed and HP at this tier
Kutuzov - Great fire starter, access to smoke generator, fast shells and high range
Atago - Very stealthy, excellent torpedo angles, only T8 cruiser with the heal ability, strong deck armor
Benson - Very versatile. Lots of close-range DPS, great torpedoes, great concealment, can use defensive AA consumable

T9:
Taiho - Well-balanced loadout
Fletcher - A Benson with really good torpedoes
Udaloi - Excellent firepower and great maneuverability + size for a Russian DD

T10:
Hakuryu - 8 squadrons of T10 planes ready to mess you up
Yamato - 460mm AP shells that penetrate most BBs irrespective of any angling on their part
Großer Kurfürst - Incredibly good armor. Nearly impossible to citadel, highest DPS of any BB
Zao - Best HE spammer in the game, very sneaky and good armor
Khabarovsk - Even after the nerf a force to be reckoned with. Excellent firepower and speed. 50mm plates protecting against HE
Gearing - Excellent all-rounder with very high close-range DPS, best long-range torpedoes in the game.

Dawn_of_the_Poi_Empire · October 9, 2016

I'm an expert in not having fun in this game.

And with that I mean, I play carrier.

If you think about playing carrier, you probably shouldn't. But if you absolutely are dead set on it anyway, ask me anything.

Fakiru · October 9, 2016

What is the best ship in the game?

passwordistooshort · October 9, 2016

I second the index idea and a huge bravo for the OP!

-Why do i get spotted when i am behind islands where no enemy ship has visual on me or no radar/hydro has been used?
-Why i cant see ships shooting at me from the distance?
-Why even when i not die i have to pay credits for repairs?
Some of the most common i hear/see around!

Lightbaron · October 9, 2016

What is the best ship in the game?

Naturally there are ships performing better and worse than others but there is not really something like a "best ship" for everyone.

Imo it rather depends on which kind of gameplay and ship class you prefere and feel comfortable with.

Only if knowing that people can tell you which ships will probably fit you best and you are likely to get good results with.

txtspeak · October 9, 2016

What is the best ship in the game?

for it's tier, that is debatable right now.

I'd say the cleveland and the Isokaze right now are real monsters but so is the gneisenau and the kongou.

As for the very best in the game... my experiences on the public test say that it's the des moines (10K salvos every 5 seconds on battleships why dont you) but most people would disagree

LilJumpa · October 9, 2016

Love the initiative Kurbain.

In the german WoWs section we have a pinned thread called "short question, short answer", which is pretty successfull and it works because almost everyone respects this thread and there are no discussions there.

Another successfull thread is from the german WoT forums called "Ask the Unicum"

This one has the rule, that only players with X games and a certain rating Y are allowed to answer and have to show their stats in the thread. Sounds like elitism at first, but actually works pretty good and a lot of players very much appreciate the possibility to ask good players questions and get them answered.

Just 2 thoughts for any kind of rules or a theme.

Tyrendian89 · October 9, 2016

for it's tier, that is debatable right now.

I'd say the cleveland and the Isokaze right now are real monsters but so is the gneisenau and the kongou.

As for the very best in the game... my experiences on the public test say that it's the des moines (10K salvos every 5 seconds on battleships why dont you) but most people would disagree

haven't played the Cleveland in ages so can't really comment - but the Isokaze is potentially the best of the "Sealclub" ships.

Des Moines might just be the very best ship in the game if each ship can get into its "sweetspot"/ideal situation. There really isnt much that punishes close range broadsides as quickly and reliably as a Des Moines that is just allowed to unload. Then again, in that same situation, a Montana/Kurfürst would simply oneshot the target nine times out of ten... at the end of the day, every ship can be good if it gets into the right situation...

Capra76 · October 9, 2016

Are there any resources that give tips about optimal strategy and how to play particular maps or any other expert level tactical resources?

txtspeak · October 9, 2016

haven't played the Cleveland in ages so can't really comment - but the Isokaze is potentially the best of the "Sealclub" ships.

Des Moines might just be the very best ship in the game if each ship can get into its "sweetspot"/ideal situation. There really isnt much that punishes close range broadsides as quickly and reliably as a Des Moines that is just allowed to unload. Then again, in that same situation, a Montana/Kurfürst would simply oneshot the target nine times out of ten... at the end of the day, every ship can be good if it gets into the right situation...

It's a lot harder to get a montana or a kurfürst in the situation that most benefits a des moines that to get a des moines in that situation

Aotearas · October 9, 2016

I second the index idea and a huge bravo for the OP!

-Why do i get spotted when i am behind islands where no enemy ship has visual on me or no radar/hydro has been used?

Proximity spotting. Regardless of visual line-of-sight or visual impairments (islands, smoke) a ship WILL detect another if the distance between the two is 2km or less. The upgrade module "Target Acquisition Modification" available for tier VIII ships onwards increases the distance of assured detection (proximity) by 50% (3km).

-Why i cant see ships shooting at me from the distance?

First, smoke is sometimes not correctly rendered ingame. Try zooming in and out to see if you or the enemy ship may be inside a smokescreen.

Secondly, a ship that is firing it's guns is suffering a detection debuff penalty that increase the range at which they are detected. Some ships however have a great enough range that even when firing they will not be detected by their target unless another ship is close enough.

The detection values including debuffs can be checked in the ship's port statstics under the "Concealment" tab.

-Why even when i not die i have to pay credits for repairs?

Ship repairs have been replaced with flat service costs. Players will have to pay those service costs regardless of damage taken. These costs are less than what you'd pay in repairs after being sunk compared to the previous economy. It also means the credit penalty for getting destroyed is reduced, so get out there and join the action, captains!

Tyrendian89 · October 9, 2016

Are there any resources that give tips about optimal strategy and how to play particular maps or any other expert level tactical resources?

the best tip for general tactical insights is still to watch some of the really good youtubers/streamers out there just play the game - they'll often talk about their decisionmaking processes, take note of that and learn your own lessons (trying to copy them straight up is usually not the best idea...).

As for specific map tactics - that might actually be a really interesting project to take up!

MFour · October 9, 2016

I second the index idea and a huge bravo for the OP!

-Why do i get spotted when i am behind islands where no enemy ship has visual on me or no radar/hydro has been used?

-Why i cant see ships shooting at me from the distance?

-Why even when i not die i have to pay credits for repairs?

Some of the most common i hear/see around!

1: Most likely the island isn't tall enough (like the island in the middle of Neighbors) or there is some hidden DD spotting you that you can't see. It is also possible that you are getting spotted by a ship o the other side of the island that has Target Acquisition System Mod 1, which allows it to proximity spot you at a longer range than you can proximity spot that ship. Proximity spotting only comes into effect under around 3km though so this is quite unlikely.

2: Each ship has a spotting range penalty that comes into effect when firing. Usually it is related to the gun caliber (3*gun caliber*10000 for most ships) but there are exceptions (Russian DDs have an extra few km in their penalty and Mogami penalty isn't tied to gun caliber but to the hull). Many ships can, when properly equipped with captain skills and upgrades, fire further than their spotting range even when that penalty is in effect. If you want to counter this just allow a friendly DD or plane to spot the ship for you, usually having a friendly ship 2 or so kilometers ahead of you will prevent most stealth firing.

Alternatively it could be a ship in smoke, sometimes the rendering of smoke is a bit wonky so it can be hard to see.

3: After a recent patch repair costs are always the same regardless of how much damage you did, so feel free to spend the HP you have without fear of paying hard earned credits for it!

EsaTuunanen · October 9, 2016

haven't played the Cleveland in ages so can't really comment - but the Isokaze is potentially the best of the "Sealclub" ships.

Isokaze's torps are definitely simply extremely strong per tier, but lot depends on if enemies have found only W key but not those mysterious A and D keys...

If enemies use WASD hacks Isokaze's sluggish speed makes it vulnerable to getting caught by cruisers and gunboat destroyers.

While facing all around stronger ships Minekaze has speed to disappear from anything but Tier 7 gunboats making it more stronger in various situations.

Kurbain · October 9, 2016

I second the index idea and a huge bravo for the OP!

-Why do i get spotted when i am behind islands where no enemy ship has visual on me or no radar/hydro has been used?

-Why i cant see ships shooting at me from the distance?

-Why even when i not die i have to pay credits for repairs?

Some of the most common i hear/see around!

Thanks for the questions. I added their answers to the index.

Are there any resources that give tips about optimal strategy and how to play particular maps or any other expert level tactical resources?

I will add those resources to the index and mention them in a separate post as well once I finished the list.

gr0pah · October 9, 2016

Another successfull thread is from the german WoT forums called "Ask the Unicum"

This one has the rule, that only players with X games and a certain rating Y are allowed to answer and have to show their stats in the thread. Sounds like elitism at first, but actually works pretty good and a lot of players very much appreciate the possibility to ask good players questions and get them answered.

That very thread was indeed kurbains inspiration for this. He went with "expert" instead of "unicum" with the reasoning that unicum might not be (as) known to WoWs players.

And yes, great initiative!

Agantas · October 9, 2016

Are there any resources that give tips about optimal strategy and how to play particular maps or any other expert level tactical resources?

Devs have made a map tactics video series that can be found in the game portal.

FloRead · October 10, 2016

1. Assuming a stationary target ship, where should I place the crosshairs if I am facing his a) bow, b) broadsides and c) rear?

2. On the dynamic crosshairs, what do the numbers 5, 10, etc along the cross hair's horizontal line represent? How does this differ from the static crosshairs?

3. How much angling is considered effective and how much is considered pointless?

XTHD · October 10, 2016

1. Assuming a stationary target ship, where should I place the crosshairs if I am facing his a) bow, b) broadsides and c) rear?

This depends on what part of the ship you want to hit, which in turn depends on a lot of factors. I assume you want to know where you should aim to inflict maximum damage, in which case the place you should aim at mainly depends on the relation between your gun caliber and the target's armor.

When shooting small caliber guns (destroyer and light cruiser guns) at armored targets use the following rules of thumb:

If shooting from the back or front of a BB or CA aim at the superstructure and use HE.
Shooting CA from the side select AP and aim at the waterline and look for damage numbers, if they are good, keep doing it, if not (mostly going bounces or zero damage hits), aim at the superstructure (can also switch to HE then).
Shooting BB from the side, select AP and aim at the upper half of the hull (where the hull ends and the superstructure begins roughly), you will hit the thin armor above the main belt and do good damage.

Medium caliber guns such as cruiser 203mm guns are largely the same as above, except if you see a full broadside BB at close range (below 10 km) you can try using AP and aim at the waterline. 203mm shells can pen the main armor belt at close range and hit for citadel damage.

Using battleship guns:

At long ranges aim at the upper part of the hull or superstructure/deck if the target is facing you their front or rear. The idea is to have shells go through the deck and hit the citadel or at least do regular pen damage.
Angled targets at short ranges are trickier and require you to learn the armor models of the target ships, many of them have weak spots that you can hit. If in doubt, aiming at the top of the hull/lower superstructure usually works.
From the side aim at the waterline of most ships. Against german battleships aim at the middle of the hull instead. Same thing when shooting Yamato or Montana from long ranges (>16km or so), since you can't pen their main belt.

2. On the dynamic crosshairs, what do the numbers 5, 10, etc along the cross hair's horizontal line represent? How does this differ from the static crosshairs?

They show the angular size whatever you are looking at, but the size of the ticks is rather arbitrary. On my screen each tick is about 4 mrad wide. The difference between dynamic and static crosshairs is that on the dynamic one the angular size of the ticks persists through different zoom levels, i.e. if a ship's length on your crosshair is 20 ticks, and you zoom out one notch the crosshair will shrink so that the ship length is still 20 ticks.

3. How much angling is considered effective and how much is considered pointless?

The general rule is that having the enemy about 20 degrees from the direction you are facing is safe. Depending on your armor you can allow up to 30 degrees but rarely more than that. If you are being shot by smaller guns relative to your ship type (e.g. cruiser AP against battleship armor) you can position more liberally of course. For more detail, read about the armor penetration mechanics in http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/18034-basics-damage-mechanics/. There also is more info here in this section: http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/forum/591-general-guides/

Kurbain · October 10, 2016

What is the best ship in the game?

In response to this question I have created a list of the ships which are dominant at T3 - T10:

T2:
Umikaze - Unusually high HP, short torpedo reload, high torpedo range

T3:
St. Louis - Well-armed citadel, very high HP, a lot of firepower
König Albert - High fire rate and great armor
Nassau - High fire rate and great armor

T4:
Isokaze - Very stealthy, strong quick-reloading torpedoes
Imperator Nikolai - Very small superstructure, great armor, unusually high accuracy, excellent firing angles. Considered by many to be the most overpowered ship in the game
Kuma - Fast, agile, good firepower
Langley and Hosho - Both T4 CVs are very strong due to the weak AA at T4, the lack of defensive AA on cruisers and preferential matchmaking

T5:
Kongo - Accurate guns and very fast ship
Gremyashchy - Strong torpedoes, great firepower for a DD, able to easily fire undetected. Another contender for "most overpowered ship in the game"
Minekaze - Very stealthy and excellent torpedoes
Zuiho and Bogue - Same reasons as the T4 CVs. Just watch out for Clevelands

T6:
Bayern - Excellent armor and 380mm guns that can overmatch all other BBs at the tier including itself
Budyonny - Good firepower coupled with great ballistics and high speed
Cleveland - Unusually high HP, amazing AA and excellent DPS at close-range
Anshan - The T6 Gremyashchy. Slightly nerfed, but still very strong

T7:
Myoko - Unusually high HP, good deck armor, stealthy, good torpedoes and excellent at HE spamming
Flint - Access to US smoke generator, good torpedoes, tons of potential DPS
Kiev - Very fast and great firepower for a DD
Leningrad - The T7-version of the Gremyashchy
Blyskawica - Amazing stealth-firing capabilities, good torpedoes, good firepower
Saipan - T9 planes

T8:
Bismarck - Amazing secondaries and armor
Amagi - Hard-hitting, accurate guns and just as tanky as other BBs as long as you do not expose your broadside
North Carolina - Incredible AA, great armor and maneuverability. Able to fire 6 shells while angled
Shokaku - Well-balanced loadout. IJN planes receive a nice boost to their speed and HP at this tier
Kutuzov - Great fire starter, access to smoke generator, fast shells and high range
Atago - Very stealthy, excellent torpedo angles, only T8 cruiser with the heal ability, strong deck armor
Benson - Very versatile. Lots of close-range DPS, great torpedoes, great concealment, decent AA

T9:
Taiho - Well-balanced loadout
Fletcher - A Benson with really good torpedoes
Udaloi - Excellent firepower and good maneuverability

T10:
Hakuryu - 8 squadrons of T10 planes ready to mess you up
Yamato - 460mm AP shells that penetrate most BBs irrespective of any angling on their part
Großer Kurfürst - Incredibly good armor. Nearly impossible to citadel, highest DPS of any BB
Zao - Best HE spammer in the game, very sneaky and good armor
Khabarovsk - Even after the nerf a force to be reckoned with. Excellent firepower and speed. 50mm plates protecting against HE
Gearing - Really high DPS, best long-range torpedoes in the game.

You can also find it attached to the opening post.

Admiral_noodle · October 10, 2016

Common ones to add...

1 - My fire chance says 15%, but in game I am getting much lower fires than that percentage, why?

2 - Why is my "penetration" doing no damage?

3 - Why did I hit an enemy ship with three torpedoes but he didn't sink?

Referring to the damage model and fire model...

Spuggy · October 10, 2016

I think a full run down of captains skills and their "effects" should be in order. So many people just don't understand how "Fire Prevention" actually works and what the benfits of certain skills over others are.

Perhaps the upgrade system could also use a full rundown as these "modules" are massively misunderstood.

The detonation mechanic should also be covered. Exactly how and why a detonation happens and an explanation and examples of why it is actually a rare event. Also the effects of flags that increase or decrease the chances and modules that decrease the chance of detonation and their actual effect on your detonation chance. This is a massively misunderstood and complained about game mechanic. Knowledge is power at the end of the day.

Kurbain · October 10, 2016

Are there any resources that give tips about optimal strategy and how to play particular maps or any other expert level tactical resources?

Unfortunately the amount of resources in this regard is quite limited for two reasons:
1. The primary battle mode in WoWs is random battle, for which there is no specific strategy due to the lack of teamwork and random nature.
2. Top-tier clans have created strategies for the maps played in tournaments, but those are kept secret.

I recommend watching the following twitch streams and youtube channels if you would like to learn more about strategy in random and competitive battles:

The Map Tactics series by WG:

Competitive matches in the OMC Cup, commentated by Flamu:

Highly-skilled twitch streamers and Youtubers:
https://www.twitch.tv/crysantos
https://www.twitch.tv/flamuu / https://www.youtube....heesec4t/videos
https://www.twitch.tv/izolate
https://www.twitch.tv/aerroon / https://www.youtube....fxjfPHPQ/videos
https://www.twitch.tv/strangers123

I attached this answer to the first post.

Ferry_25 · October 10, 2016

Ghostplane detection. I have asked this question elsewhere. Very often I get the "plain detected sign." Whithout any plane visible. I've come to accept the fact that planes seem to be able to see me through mountains. But it happens on open water a lot as well. Do those planes have a detection radius as well? I still don't get it.

Admiral_noodle · October 10, 2016

Ghostplane detection. I have asked this question elsewhere. Very often I get the "plain detected sign." Whithout any plane visible. I've come to accept the fact that planes seem to be able to see me through mountains. But it happens on open water a lot as well. Do those planes have a detection radius as well? I still don't get it.

Run out of +1s. "Where is that plane?" Is a good one.

The "Ask an Expert" Thread

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