Guide: British Cruisers

[Hades_warrior]

@Daki nice tips. Ill consider them in battles.

Only cruisers that i played so far was the german line and ARP, without hydro and smoke generator so sometimes I forgot I have those stuff while playing Emerald...

[daki]

 

Does this apply to Emerald?  She seems to take enormous damage from all angles and only gets the regular 0.5% HP/second heal and since you're usually talking about losing 16,000+ health with double citadel hits you've got a maximum recovery of about 5,000, and the only thing that's a more tempting target than an Emerald is a low HP Emerald.

 

Maybe it's the maps, or maybe it's me, but the moment you get anywhere near the front line in that ship you get deleted.

 

 

 

The problem I see with that tactic is it makes you vulnerable to torpedoes, if it's your own smoke cloud then because it's so small it's an incredibly obvious target for torpedoes so to counter that you need to get up to speed quickly, if you're sailing backwards at 7 kn when the warning goes off what do you do?

 

 

 

A couple of days ago I did manage to find a Wyoming and NY sailing parallel courses 5 km apart on New Dawn that completely ignored me as I sailed between them and dropped 4 sets of torpedoes into them at point blank range but that's just relying on them being bad players, anyone half decent would've seen me, turned and blasted me out of the water.

 

The thing is rushing BB is the kind of thing that works towards the end of the game when numbers have been thinned out and going bow on against BB doesn't mean giving broadside to something else, hence my frustration with the ship, it feels like you have to spend the first 15 minutes concentrating on staying alive then try to make a crucial contribution at the end.

 

 

Does this apply to Emerald?

In principle yes, though the execution might slightly vary depending on the MM 

I consider Emerald as the start of a line of very strong ships.

I tried to list some tips that useful imho from tier 5 onward.

 

I sailed between them and dropped 4 sets of torpedoes into them at point blank range but that's just relying on them being bad players, anyone half decent would've seen me, turned and blasted me out of the water.

You are fully correct than anyone decent would have blasted you.

And how may of those "half decent" do you see per match (on both teams)? 

I just say that observing enemies (using zoom ofc) for some time before engaging, can be very useful in determining the type of player and from where to expect trouble or not - and whom you can rush

 

The thing is rushing BB is the kind of thing that works towards the end of the game when numbers have been thinned out and going bow on against BB doesn't mean giving broadside to something else, hence my frustration with the ship, it feels like you have to spend the first 15 minutes concentrating on staying alive then try to make a crucial contribution at the end.

 

Exactly, it is not wise to rush full HP BBs showing broadside to his teammates nearby.

So as I suggested, you spend the early game focusing on caps, enemy destroyers and cruisers showing broadside - which happens frequently during fights near caps.

Check out who are enemy BBs targeting before you start engaging.

For example DD in smoke on cap:

If you are quick enough in disposing of the enemy DD, you can use its smoke to get invisible and counter-cap while spamming to wreck the ships&morale of the enemy 

Don't be afraid to spam torps all around, and use the single torp firing specialty - its always a good idea to spam the area where there are tons of enemy destroyers and cruisers in close range.

 

And yes, you will die very often, even early in the match.

But your contribution through points gained for your team / denied from enemy will be very often crucial for the win

 

And last but not least, the best and most fun fights tend to be in and around caps

[Capra76]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Emerald isn't actually a bad ship for a T5, the smoke generator is exactly what a T5 cruiser needs to survive in a T7 game (or even a T5 one).

 

So considered opinion, after 41 games (53.66 WR, 29,991 dmg): it's terrible and I've free XP'd the last 5,000 to Leander.

 

Getting detected at any point before the end game is instant death, it's slow, handles like a brick, the guns are terrible, the AP is more special needs than special, the T5 MM is especially brutal for cruisers and it's not even that stealthy, but for the smokescreen it'd have a hard time in a T2 game.

 

You cannot play aggressively in it, you can grab the occasional cap if it's uncontested or if you have support, you can torpedo tunnel-visioning solo BB (although if it's KM then expect heavy damage from secondaries - 12,000+ from the last one) but mostly it''s hide at the back and hope for a close game where you can have an impact towards the end.

 

First impressions of Leander is it's a lot better, you can actually take the odd salvo from other ships without automatically seeing 80% of your health disappear for a start.

[VulkanNo1]

Um my genral Cosensu is at teir 4 is that no mater how much i twerk my [edited]i get killed. But then again i am tring to avoid 3 battleships all firing at me. All it take is one hit, as i'v found out more then enough times. But i am british and people will fear me in these machines. Please they need a major monverability upgrade so that they can suvive. It's the rudder shift time for me, fast but that does not make up for the lack of amour and suvivability. Even if you added more Health. Please this will be a long haul to get to the minotar.

 

Then again i'm just waiting for the British Battleships to Get added to the Game. ( Come on like ) Currently We got one. The warspite. whos range is whole unreasonable.

 

 

Give us our Battleships.

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

 

Have a nice Chrismas.

 

Regards

 

Vulkan

[Admiral_noodle]

Finally finished Leander. My opinion remains the same. Decent ship but in tier 8 battles, especially standard mode, she's pretty weak. Without range or fire chance in that mode damage is hard to get unless someone blunders into torpedo range and is completely oblivious.

 

17k damage on my x3 win

 

Followed by a 92k win obviously.

 

Fiji now and the dpm is immediately noticeably better. Although my first win was a tier 9 game with similar problems and only 38k.

[mtm78]

Dmg wise the whole line fluctuates wildly, because you're far more dependent on enemy getting it wrong then on you getting it right. Retraining captain now for Edinburgh, Fiji done ( not sold yet.. but I dread playing it with a fresh captain ). 

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

Hmm, for me the damage output was pretty constant from tier VI+. Fiji was a bit higher then Edinbourgh (well, which was expected, since Fiji is Edinbourgh, but rarely placed on tier IX games), then Neptune and Minotaur both much above expectations. The RN CL's have problem when it comes to doing damage while pursuing/chasing targets. They're exceptional defenders, but a bit gimped when it comes to attack.

[mtm78]

Hmm, for me the damage output was pretty constant from tier VI+. Fiji was a bit higher then Edinbourgh (well, which was expected, since Fiji is Edinbourgh, but rarely placed on tier IX games), then Neptune and Minotaur both much above expectations. The RN CL's have problem when it comes to doing damage while pursuing/chasing targets. They're exceptional defenders, but a bit gimped when it comes to attack.

 

 

Obviously the 28k one is where I fecked up myself, but all those others feel... well it's that most of the time there are stupid enemies but often they actually angle and it's like ... meh.... until the next guy comes along who gives a flat broadside. 

 

Which in the end I guess is ok since there are so many baddies but it also doesn't feel that balanced in engagements with people who ange. And I'm not 100% sure you should balance a ship/ammo around how stupid the enemy is

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

Well, for me damage output, even against angled targets, is pretty similar to regular cruisers. Now, I played few battles on lower tiers, on EU and on RU server, and yeah, shooting at Konig in Danae is just pointless. It's hard. But once you get to Leander, and even better, Fiji, damage dealt on angled targets is usually around 1k per salvo. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But I compare it to shooting HE at angled targets, and it's not THAT huge difference. After one or two salvoes damage dealt due to saturation begins to fall off dramatically, and in fact only fires are your damage source. Of course, it's a bit more universal, but overall, I think that when you ambush your target (which you usually do in RN CL's), the few salvoes you land on broadside and then on angled target is usually the same or a bit more devastating then other cruisers. 

 

Did you compare your average damage vs your other cruisers?

[mtm78]

That's partly the answer yeah, even more awareness on positioning so you either get a nice juicy broadside or well the rest of your team does. It still feels salt inducing though since most of them decide to keep angled against me instead of my team and I am in no way rewarded by being the 'bait'

 

Did you compare your average damage vs your other cruisers?

 

 

 

Well if I did that I would have to admit I'm actually doing better in them damage and w/r wise. Which, well I am. But I feel I work for it a lot harder to, so in the end I guess it's balanced pretty well

 

edit: Btw Fiji never proved that nice to me for some reason, maybe because I felt so pressured to perform well in her since it's such a highly rated ship. 

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

Haha, yeah, I guess so. I'm always damn sweating when I play brits and girlish screams echo through my room when I see BB shells coming my way Funny that Fiji indead is below what would be expected, and then, Edinbourgh is just fine. Don't get it How can you not perform in Fiji but perform in Edin?

[daki]

Well if I did that I would have to admit I'm actually doing better in them damage and w/r wise. Which, well I am. But I feel I work for it a lot harder to, so in the end I guess it's balanced pretty well

 

 

Haha, yeah, I guess so. I'm always damn sweating when I play brits and girlish screams echo through my room when I see BB shells coming my way

 

I think the best thing with higher tier RN cruisers is that the hard work you mention is more often rewarded with great games & fun situations compared to other cruiser lines imho.

And the Minotaur in the end truly is a mythic beast 

 

For me by far the most fun line of ships since launch.

Being so squishy is definitely just a balancing factor.

As long as you do not get too upset getting nuked quite often, its pure fun

[Admiral_H_Nelson]

 

At the start of this topic I proclaimed that "RN cruisers are absolute rubbish!" (or words to that effect)

People pointed out to me that they have to be played a lot differently to other cruisers. They suggested new ways to play them. So I went away and tried their suggestions.

Then I came back to the forum and I publicly stated that I had been wrong. I had not been playing them correctly. The RN cruisers are very good in fact - possibly (probably?) the most effective cruisers in the game.

 

The one problem that remains for me is that I still don't find them the least bit fun.

 

C'mon guys. You helped me once to appreciate the effectiveness of RN cruisers. It's Christmas. Help me again. What is it that YOU personally find "fun" about them?

Is it simply the fact that you can be very successful, and the fun is in the success?

Is it the hectic play style?

Is it the powerful feeling of firing from smoke, with ammo more powerful than a destroyer?

Is it the nimble handling?

What is it?

 

P.S. I just had my first go in "Warspite" and loved it - so I am not inherently against RN ships.

 

[mtm78]

At the start of this topic I proclaimed that "RN cruisers are absolute rubbish!" (or words to that effect)

People pointed out to me that they have to be played a lot differently to other cruisers. They suggested new ways to play them. So I went away and tried their suggestions.
Then I came back to the forum and I publicly stated that I had been wrong. I had not been playing them correctly. The RN cruisers are very good in fact - possibly (probably?) the most effective cruisers in the game.

 

The one problem that remains for me is that I still don't find them the least bit fun.

 

C'mon guys. You helped me once to appreciate the effectiveness of RN cruisers. It's Christmas. Help me again. What is it that YOU personally find "fun" about them?
Is it simply the fact that you can be very successful, and the fun is in the success?
Is it the hectic play style?
Is it the powerful feeling of firing from smoke, with ammo more powerful than a destroyer?
Is it the nimble handling?
What is it?

 

P.S. I just had my first go in "Warspite" and loved it - so I am not inherently against RN ships.

 

It's indeed the palm sweat inducing gameplay where you're constantly playing on edge. I can't play an entire evening with just RNCL's, it's to much for my nerves. But with a big challenge comes a big feeling of accomplishment, and as you say they are very rewarding if played right ( and perhaps a bit of luck with RNGesus ). 

[Admiral_noodle]

Fun things about Fiji - and assume this is true higher up the tiers...

 

- catching an enemy dd and watching them literally **** their pants. Panic smoke turning away dodging.

- watching said dds evaporate in short order to your guns

- the adrenaline of slowing down to smoke when spotted. Pleas don't look at meeee!

- hitting BBs broadside and watching chunks of damage come off. You can almost hear the BB captain going huh?

- weaving and dodging as you try to flee from a BB that's finally had enough of you

- catching anything broadside

- torping single spreads through gaps between islands. Best used on land of fire or estuary. Nuked a chapy this way without ever being spotted

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

 C'mon guys. You helped me once to appreciate the effectiveness of RN cruisers. It's Christmas. Help me again. What is it that YOU personally find "fun" about them?
Is it simply the fact that you can be very successful, and the fun is in the success?
Is it the hectic play style?
Is it the powerful feeling of firing from smoke, with ammo more powerful than a destroyer?
Is it the nimble handling?
What is it?

Oh maaan, where to start?!

Cruisers now suffer huge from RNG factor, as well as being the only class that is hard countered so badly, while other classes have either durability or escape mechanic of some sort. That's the biggest 2 problems. In practice it means, that you can achieve decent results while playing really passive, but might be randomly punished while playing aggressively and performing your intended role. This puts long range HE spammers as preffered choice when it comes to influence the game. Mogami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Pensacola, Hipper - every cruiser that has either slow reload, lowish range, or relies on certain sittuation to happen is kinda handicapped.

 

And here comes RN cruisers. 

First of all, this is a line of cruisers when your skill is the biggest advantage. Not particularly some amazing shenanigans, but positioning, carefull aiming, knowledge of what are you facing, right decisions - all this provides me with very special kind of reward - I feel like I won a duel/game cause I was just a better player, not because I wasn't randomly citadelled. This is very important to me.

Second is the utility of those ships. You can hunt DD's, you can brawl CA's (very carefull though, risky stuff), and you sure as hell can punish BB's - something you can't do in other cruisers apart from very few, and usually tier X. You have torps, heal, hydro, smoke, godly camo, decent AA, amazing firepower - combination of those, even with inherent flaws such as no HE and squishiness, gives you answer to anything you can encounter. Apart from angled Taiho and Haku, can't touch those two

Third - is the close combat that those cruisers require. You can't really stick 17 km from battle and just lob shells. You need to be close, you need to be constantly aware where are your enemies, what is your camo range, how long till smoke ends, where are enemy's DD's, can they torp you - you need to be aware of all those things, you're in the middle of this crap. You need to plan ahead, where you will run if things go south. There are some glorious last chance charges, some epic fails. But most of all, you're there, you are in the thickest fights.

Fourth - if something big hits you, you will propably go down. This is certain. However, even if you suffer catastrophic hit early on, but manage to survive, you can still have huge impact on the game. Now try this when your Myoko just got hitted for 28k in few first minutes. Those things happen, no matter how good player you are. Doing any carry in such situation is hard/impossible. But in RN cruisers? Not only you have repair (those HP are more of a virtual reassurement though), but you can safely deal damage.

 

My only gripe with RN so far is that they're better at defending then at attacking, and that their smoke is not based on the same mechanic as Perth's smoke. That would be the ultimate combo for me

 

[Admiral_noodle]

Just had an epic win with Fiji. Broke 100k but the best bit was at the start. Supported a Kiev on B on Shards. Used his smoke popped hydro and oh look. Two Shiratsuyus in the cap. Cue ridiculous torp dodging and shells flying everywhere. I screwed up my own torps but so did they in the panic. Somehow I managed to gun them down, dodge a hell of a lot of incoming fire and finally slow up and pop my own smoke, cap, and slip away again.

 

The rest of the battle was fairly entertaining too but I'm still shaking

 

A break, then some battleships I think.

 

Isn't that kind of gameplay appealing? To be honest it's a bit too much adrenaline at times.

[HotshotJimmy]

There is just something about them. The fact you can deal large amounts of damage but if a BB even looks at you funny you'll splode. It's very all or nothing. I think coming away from a battle alive and not having large amounts of damage or sinking anything is alot worse than me having an absolute blast, blowing two Tirpitzs out the water sailing  in between them and then dying. Seriously I still have a massive smile on my face when I play these ships. Perfect example was last week I had a match at the Glacier map or whatever it is in the trusty Fiji. I was one of those spawns that sits alone opposite C and I faced off against an Izumo, Bismarck, Hipper and Atago, sank the Atago, got the Izumo after it continued flooding and got sunk by the rest of their team mates when they showed up at C. Meanwhile I bought so much time for the rest of the team they capped B and A without firing a shot and we won on points alone... THE greatest fun I have ever had before being destroyed. Seriously this is the best line of ships in this game without a doubt, They reward you for bravery and smart thinking, and disown you for stupidity and foolishness. There is nothing quite like them. 

[Admiral_H_Nelson]

 

Thanks to everyone for their great replies. It has helped me to understand why people love to play the British cruisers, and why I don't suit them very well. It was driving me nuts trying to figure it out, so I appreciate the explanations.

 

It is interesting that the main themes seems to be that good players like rising to the challenge of getting the best out of them, and that the intense and frantic gameplay is highly stimulating.

- "It's indeed the palm sweat inducing gameplay where you're constantly playing on edge. I can't play an entire evening with just RNCL's, it's to much for my nerves", mtm78

- "the adrenaline of slowing down to smoke when spotted.", Admiral_noodle

- "You need to be close, you need to be constantly aware where are your enemies, what is your camo range, how long till smoke ends, where are enemy's DD's, can they torp you - you need to be aware of all those things, you're in the middle of this crap", Dropsiq

- "Just had an epic win with Fiji ..... I'm still shaking", Admiral_noodle

-"The fact you can deal large amounts of damage but if a BB even looks at you funny you'll splode. It's very all or nothing.", HotshotJimmy

 

To me the fast-and-furious gameplay is too much like being at work. When I come home in the evening that is the LAST thing that I want. But I certainly CAN see why others would love it. (Especially when higher tiers gameplay can be ponderous & tactical)

 

It's frustrating that the one cruiser line that I don't enjoy is the RN, and TBH it has put me right off the game. I still like you guys on the forum though!

 

P.S. Played my one and only PvP game in Fiji yesterday for the Graf Spee challenge. Did 62k damage. A modest amount, but unheard of at Tier 7 for a potato like me. Got killed rushing a BB for a torpedo run following me ambushing him. OK, I must be a weirdo,, but I just do not like this gameplay. Sadly, Fiji is now parked in a corner of my port where it can rust away peacefully. Respected, certainly, but unloved.

 

[Deckeru_Maiku]

A break, then some battleships I think.

 

 

For me, playing Battleships IS the break...

[Procrastes]

I had a telling encounter with a Neptune yesterday.

 

I was sailing along in my Tirpitz, trying my best to shoot up targets while not sailing in straight lines, when this little actually rather big British cruiser sails into view no more than ten kilometres away. I fire off a salvo, with a bit to much lead since I overestimate the speed of the Neptune. I land a hit or two, enough to make the Neptune captain pop smoke.

 

Since I am not stupid (this time at least), I leave that smoke cloud alone for the time being and make a tour around to the East.

Upon my return, the smoke cloud has dissipated and the Neptune is back in my sights. I loose another salvo, again with too much lead, but I still score at least one citadel hit. and this time I press on.

This leads, rather predictably, to me sinking the Neptune and shortly thereafter eating a faceful of torpedoes. When I got sunk under fire from every battleship and cruiser captain in sight a few minutes later, it was mainly due to the efforts of that Neptune captain. I think he got the better out of that engagement, damage-dealing wise - although if I'd have aimed just a bitt better, it would have ended very differently.

 

The moral of the story? The ability to get close enough to make a torpedo run before getting sunk, is not to be underestimated!

 

[CuddlyPanda]

Currently at the Edinburgh, and I must say that I am really enjoying the British CL line. Potent AP, quite handy single launch torpedoes and smoke, good ergonomics, and a heal on top. Nice package all-round, however it is not all sunshine and lollipops. Enemy angles play a big role with your damage output, citadel area is vulnerable, and the smoke fails every now and then due to in-game bugs. Shell velocity hampers precision longer range shooting at faster ships.  Also, plunging fire has a mind of its own.

 

Knowing the locations of radar , destroyers, and the possible hydro equipped ship is key. A well placed smoke can net you a massive amount of damage provided something or someone does not spoil your plan. Anti-air protection is good so far. The lack of "Defensive AA" can be a bit problematic from time to time, but you have to work around that. Use allies to mitigate that disadvantage. I recall a game in which I managed to shoot down 14 Saipan planes in my Leander. Needless to say, he stayed away from me until the end of the game. Was that luck or RNG? Who can say...

 

While I do not have a lot of battles under my belt with these cruisers, I find them really good and fun to play. Nothing beats the thrill of parking yourself 7-10 km away from enemy ships and peppering them with AP and torpedoes, praying to the Almighty RNGesus you will not be blown-up by a single battleship salvo. Or ambushing an enemy destroyer, catching him unprepared for the fight, and bringing those 12 guns to bear.

 

How I currently perform with them. No doubt I will improve as time goes on. Happy hunting all 

 

 

 

[BillydSquid]

Fourth - if something big hits you, you will propably go down. This is certain. However, even if you suffer catastrophic hit early on, but manage to survive, you can still have huge impact on the game. Now try this when your Myoko just got hitted for 28k in few first minutes. Those things happen, no matter how good player you are. Doing any carry in such situation is hard/impossible. But in RN cruisers? Not only you have repair (those HP are more of a virtual reassurement though), but you can safely deal damage.

My only gripe with RN so far is that they're better at defending then at attacking, and that their smoke is not based on the same mechanic as Perth's smoke. That would be the ultimate combo for me

 

 

I'm on the Edinbrugh and so far I'm liking them, they can be difficult to use because they're such a different kettle of fish to what I'm used to in the Atago, Ibuki, Roon/ Hindenburg or Budyonny. The shell trajectory takes some getting used to compared to the flat arcs of the other lines, you can't just spam AP you have to know where to hit a BB to get the penetrations, their maneuverability is far better than CAs even if their speed is goodnot outstanding; while the smoke is completely different from the Kutuzov's in how you use it. 

 

The HP is IMO the a big factor in their staying power, I think the RN CLs vs BBs have to play a hit and run game, as you said hit by anything big and you'll likely go down. 

 

I was in a T10 game on Northern lights in a Tirpitz, bumped into Waax25 who was on my team, and had to go up against a Kurfurst, Yamato, Baltimore, Minotaur and Ibuki on one flank. I've moved to head off the Minotaur threatening the DDs, just as he comes round the corner at 9km and before he can smoke up, boom, hit him with my fore guns broadside on and got 2 citadel hits, turned away, brought the rear guns to bear, got screwed by RNG overpens and Tirpitz dispersion, but had to move to engage the Ibuki attacking the Fletchers which were trying to torp the Yamato just ahead of me.

 

The Minotaur had to have taken about 30k damage after only a single salvo from each turret, left about 10k hp maybe. I cripple the Ibuki with a citadel and a load of penetrations, which gets sunk, come back to see the Minotaur is still alive... with about 25k hp... WTF how have you repaired that much? Come in again.. and another 2 citadels on the Minotaur, he's barely holding on, manages to slip behind the terrain and I'm forced into a fight with the Kurfurst and I can't pursue the Minotaur without giving broadside to the Kurfurst and getting wrecked by the 420mm guns. 

 

Anyway, Kurfust is forced to turn away by torpedoes from our Fletchers, I'm not in great shape after that fight, start taking fire... it's the [edited]Minotaur! How have you still got 10/15k hp?! I must have stacked over 50k damage on him by this point! No other CA could have taken 4 citadels and be in a fit state to come back and attack me. Anyway, he killed me. We won the game eventually, good match, Came 2nd just after Waax25 with 100k damage, half of which was from the Minotaur!

 

Those CLs might be squishy in a straight fight, but you've got to knock them out there and then or pursue and finish them off, or they'll repair and come back in a couple of minutes and pelt you with AP with 50% of their HP repaired. I don't think many CAs can take 4 citadels from a BB and still be in a fit state to come and pick a fight with a BB, most of the time if I take a couple of citadels in a CA from a BB, I'll be forced to limp round the edge of the fight as I want to deny the enemy points for killing me and I'm not much help anymore. 

 

I've got to play more in the Edinburgh as I'm getting close to the Neptune.

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

@BillySquid

Yup, that's about right. However, once you get Neptune or Minotaur, you will find out, that in fact, Edinbourgh, Fiji and Leander - they were all quite durable, compared to those two  

 

The key is to survive. That's why Survivability Expert is a must have on those cruisers. If you eat triple torp, triple cit, or triple fire - it's all well and good if you survive till next heal. I managed to get insane games when I was beaten pretty hard in the beginning. That's why they are quite nice brawlers. DPM is insane, torps are great, and while you certainly will receive more damage then you dish out in a brawl, you can heal most of it back, your opponent's can't. 

[BillydSquid]

@BillySquid

Yup, that's about right. However, once you get Neptune or Minotaur, you will find out, that in fact, Edinbourgh, Fiji and Leander - they were all quite durable, compared to those two  

 

The key is to survive. That's why Survivability Expert is a must have on those cruisers. If you eat triple torp, triple cit, or triple fire - it's all well and good if you survive till next heal. I managed to get insane games when I was beaten pretty hard in the beginning. That's why they are quite nice brawlers. DPM is insane, torps are great, and while you certainly will receive more damage then you dish out in a brawl, you can heal most of it back, your opponent's can't. 

 

Oh that's going to be fun  I do really like the high concealment and smoke of the RN CLs, it's my biggest gripe when playing CAs you can play perfectly well and get wrecked by a sniping BB, and there's nothing you can do, it really makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes. With the RN that's mitigated as much as possible, my first couple of games I put 20k damage on a Bismark at 12-13km, by popping smoke and playing cat and mouse behind the islands with him, and shooting at the DDs which were trying to cap on estuary when the opportunity presented itself, it's so nerve wracking playing the RN CLs but it's so much more fun than spamming HE from stealth. 

 

What skills and modules are you using on the Neptune/ Minotaur? I've never used the survivability expert on my CAs before, so with the new captain skill release I'll probably take advantage to respec the RN captain to get 2 T4 skills and the T3.

 

Plus I'm tempted to go for the range mod, on the Neptune when I get there, but the shell trajectory and velocity means the hang time can be quite high if it's like the Edinburgh, so I wonder if I'd be better to go with the rate of fire mod and hosing the enemy with AP shells combined with superintendent concealment and survivability expert to keep me alive.