Actually having fun with British Cruisers?

[Ryuuteimaru]

Up to the Fuji to be frank the line is terrible the only decent ships been the Leander.

[Gojuadorai]

T1 to T5 were the horror

 

leander = tons of fun so far 

[Hedgehog1963]

 

I've lost count of the number of people who have said something similar to this about the Royal Navy cruisers. It's good advice! Played to their strengths, the RN ships are strong and effective ships.

 

Sadly, I don't like playing destroyers (while of course fully recognizing that many, many players love to play them) - so I don't find the Royal navy cruisers fun at all.

 

A question occurs to me though. Since RN cruisers already play like Destroyers, if there ever is a line of RN Destroyers how on earth will Wargaming set them up?

 

 

I think I was fortunate in having played Destroyers as my favourite class since the outset.  My only Tier VIII and IX ships (non premium) are Destroyers.  I think it really made playing the RN CL line easier for me.

 

The thing is they are still cruisers and their stealth is all down to their smoke.  Destroyers are sneaker still.  The RN DD line is what I really want.  What they do with that is of some considerable interest.

[Poster_2015]

RN cruisers dont play like DDs at all. If anything smoke firing would be pretty much only US destroyers, but they arent as sneaky, they are way more fragile then destroyers, they have no HE or manouverability. 

[Bladezfist]

RN cruisers dont play like DDs at all. If anything smoke firing would be pretty much only US destroyers, but they arent as sneaky, they are way more fragile then destroyers, they have no HE or manouverability. 

 

You use terrain to get in close like a DD, you use smoke as both a defensive and offensive tool like a DD, at the higher tiers you become more reliant on your torpedos and can stealth fire your torps like a DD. You have concealment at T8 very close to what the Tashkent gets. DDs that come near you are also fragile, it's not rare to delete them in to salvos. Your manoeuvrability while worse than DDs is better than most cruisers. If you are playing them like the other nations cruisers you will have a hard time.

 

British cruisers are the PTFO line imo. You get on cap with your DD like concealment and you delete the enemy DDs and support your own. 

[Blitzkrieguk]

Been really enjoying them. They are really dangerous in pairs since you can lay down perma smoke and really deny entire areas.

[thestaggy]

 

If you gave it a chance to T6 they get so much better, I'm at T8 and they compete, not easy to play but can do really well in the game.

 

Do the guns get better in terms of their ballistics?

 

 

[Hedgehog1963]

RN cruisers dont play like DDs at all. If anything smoke firing would be pretty much only US destroyers, but they arent as sneaky, they are way more fragile then destroyers, they have no HE or manouverability. 

 

 

You use terrain to get in close like a DD, you use smoke as both a defensive and offensive tool like a DD, at the higher tiers you become more reliant on your torpedos and can stealth fire your torps like a DD. You have concealment at T8 very close to what the Tashkent gets. DDs that come near you are also fragile, it's not rare to delete them in to salvos. Your manoeuvrability while worse than DDs is better than most cruisers. If you are playing them like the other nations cruisers you will have a hard time.

 

British cruisers are the PTFO line imo. You get on cap with your DD like concealment and you delete the enemy DDs and support your own. 

 

 And I get a fair bit of damage done with torpedoes. Yeah they really do play like DDs.  They work well just behind your DDs supporting them against enemy cruisers and DDs.

[Ferry_25]

Oh yeah I'm having a ball with the RN cruisers!! Hammering them into the floor over and over! Never got so many dev strikes since their release! I rarely see them in game though: either benath the waves or hiding behind a rock the entire match. Please: come into the battle RN cruisers! It's so fun to ram you to smitherenes!

[Unknown_Lifeform]

I'm really loving the Leander. Like a lot of the others in this thread enjoying the new line I'm primarily a destroyer player - specifically US destroyers. There are differences in play style and capabilities but anyone who has the right mindset for US dds is going to click fairly easily with the RN CLs. I love the high risk - high reward seat of the pants play style, the challenge of having to constantly make good decisions on the fly and the sneaky ambush tactics.

 

Do the guns get better in terms of their ballistics?

 

I can only comment from personal experience on the Leander, not played any further yet. The ballistics take some getting used to, I have to lead considerably further than with other ships and I get the impression the whole line has similar high ballistic arcs. However once you get used to leading correctly it can actually be an advantage as it allows you to lob shells over islands (important for staying alive and effectively acting as a free smoke screen) and hurt angled BB with plunging fire into the superstructure. My advice is learn to love them.

 

I will also say that I thought the tier 2-5 sucked and I didn't keep a single one of them (and I usually keep any ship I enjoy). I skipped the tier 4 entirely because I heard such bad things about it. Tier 6 is where the fun starts so don't judge the line until you get a good few games in the Leander (if you can bear the pain that long).

[Mr_Tayto]

I kept my leander and put a 0pt captain in it. had my first game back in it today just to retrain him and did a 1800 Base xp game.

 

I'm pretty average as a player and so far after a year of play have only clicked with IJN DDs and RN CL.

[cherry2blost]

Thing is guys... and you HAVE to understand this... The RN CL line has been set into the game as a 'different' playstyle.... Russian... burn stuff down with HE (boring).... IJN Burn Stuff down (slightly slower mind) and torp from range (boring x 2)... USN Shoot planes down (assuming there is a stupid CV player), oh and burn crapdown with HE (dull as heck)... KM Cruisers burn stuff down with HE (while running away as best guns and angles are from the rear)... (boring)

 

RN CL..... have to get up front, up close and personal... use that smoke as both offensive and to help disengage if you overextend... RN CL are there to have something different away from Long range HE spam which is as boring as ****

 

Some people it will suit, others not so.... those others just carry on playing your HE spamming RU/IJN/USN/KM ships and have fun doing so..... Us who want to be challenged to knife fight in Cruisers time to grab one of the Queens Finest !!!!

[Hedgehog1963]

If people are giving up on the Royal navy CL line before getting to Tier VI it is no bad thing.  Leander is OP.  If the game were flooded with them no other cruisers would get a look in.

 

Leander is third most successful Tier VI and easily the best cruiser.

 

[Hedgehog1963]

Tier VII the Royal Navy is only second and third in overall win rate.  A scandal I tell you!

[Hedgehog1963]

Tier VIII is another disgraceful outcome

 

[Hedgehog1963]

You know what is coming...

 

 

[sharpie65]

OP, the thing with this game is that not every ship will suit your playstyle every time. If you like spamming HE with the US gunslinging CAs, IJN ninjatorpedo boat tactics, and German turtlebacks, that's your prerogative. RN CLs demand a different playstyle to that - hide behind islands and spam your guns until the other team gets whittled down a little, being careful about exposing your broadsides to any enemy ships. If need be, push in to the other team's territory with smoke, although you might need a couple of other ships to support you.

 

For me, the RN CLs are the ones that I've had my best games in - they're more for polishing off enemy ships and scouting with ninjatorp tactics than direct confrontations with anything larger than a DD. That's just my assessment though, and I'm not a decent player by anybody's standards - most games I'll be lucky to get even a couple of hits before getting deleted. They don't exactly suit my playstyle, but that being said none of the other ships are precisely for me either.

[Malfuss]

I've come to love the Leander and love the fact that it's not another HE spammer. If I want to do that I'll go play one of the many other lines that HE spam. I didn't like the line at first but now wouldn't change it at all and am looking forward to the Fiji.

 

Why change the line to the same as every other line? Enjoy the uniqueness. 

[mike_864]

Leander

 

Changed my mind now, learned how to use her properly....

 

What can i say, she's a beast

 

[Seinta]

Leander

 

Changed my mind now, learned how to use her properly....

 

What can i say, she's a beast

 

 

And it gets better and better.

T7 - more guns

T8 - mega heal

 

Sadly WG made the lower tiers very painful and  unfun.

[anonym_MfZ6T7iwWpUC]

Sadly WG made the lower tiers very painful and  unfun.

 

​For you maybe. But I am still having a blast in the Emerald. The Danae was the first I enjoyed, but I am eager to get to the Leander. Shouldn't take me long now.

[Jay135]

Thing is though, Hedgehog all those stats really show is that high skill threshold ships do really well in the hands of high skill players. It says very little of the 1000s of average skilled players who've essentially been excluded from using them unless they're feeling really masochistic. 

[daki]

Thing is guys... and you HAVE to understand this... The RN CL line has been set into the game as a 'different' playstyle.... Russian... burn stuff down with HE (boring).... IJN Burn Stuff down (slightly slower mind) and torp from range (boring x 2)... USN Shoot planes down (assuming there is a stupid CV player), oh and burn crapdown with HE (dull as heck)... KM Cruisers burn stuff down with HE (while running away as best guns and angles are from the rear)... (boring)

 

RN CL..... have to get up front, up close and personal... use that smoke as both offensive and to help disengage if you overextend... RN CL are there to have something different away from Long range HE spam which is as boring as ****

 

Some people it will suit, others not so.... those others just carry on playing your HE spamming RU/IJN/USN/KM ships and have fun doing so..... Us who want to be challenged to knife fight in Cruisers time to grab one of the Queens Finest !!!!

Well said.

There has been a big disservice done to RN cruisers by lots of clueless players who are very vocal on forums, who tried to argue max range fighting in a smoke cloud is the way to go.

Since that is about the worst thing to do and functions very rarely, the quick "verdict" was that RN CAs suck big time.

Many completely fail to even try fighting aggressively and experience the fun that currently no other cruiser line offers.

High tier RN ships excel in close encounters (less than 10km, preferably less than 8km). At those ranges the AP just shreds enemy ships, battleships included. Not even to mention them fishes who pack a considerable punch as well and a good reload.

While the armor is weak (like any cruiser armor), gargantuan HP pool when the heal is used correctly compensates to a great extent the squishiness.

TBH if I see in the post battle screen results that I had less than 20-30 hits with my secondaries, I start to wonder if I played too passively and far away from action

Thing is though, Hedgehog all those stats really show is that high skill threshold ships do really well in the hands of high skill players. It says very little of the 1000s of average skilled players who've essentially been excluded from using them unless they're feeling really masochistic. 

 

Why do you think stats are so skewed towards high skill players? I have seen enough of average or below average players managing to do decently with higher tier RNs.

Hence the main question is not if you are "good" or not but rather will you try to play them correctly or not.

I suspect that even with time passing, RN cruisers will remain among top ships stats wise.

[cherry2blost]

Thing is though, Hedgehog all those stats really show is that high skill threshold ships do really well in the hands of high skill players. It says very little of the 1000s of average skilled players who've essentially been excluded from using them unless they're feeling really masochistic. 

 

Thing is though, Jay it is remarkably easy to 'git gud' really quickly in the RN CL (T5+ Mind... no comment on 1 to 4) just play them like fat Destroyers.... simple as that.....

 

Or watch some of the MANY videos many people are putting up on YT et al..... I myself have posted quite a few that show you exactly the type of gamestyle that suits these ships VERY well.

 

Edinburgh (T8)

 

Fiji: (T7)

 

Leander: (T6)

 

Just so no one can follow with the old 'yeah only posts good games' here is an evening stream in its' entirety.

 

1:35 Live stream all British. (I heartily recommend watching it at x2 speed, it's hilarious)

 

Now as you can see here -------> http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l201/cherry2blost/stats%2011%20nov%20RN%20CL_zpskwfl19b8.jpg   I am anything BUT a Unicum. If I can adjust to playing them, then so can 'most' of the not 'Special' people in the game!

 

 

[Admiral_H_Nelson]

Thing is though, Jay it is remarkably easy to 'git gud' really quickly in the RN CL (T5+ Mind... no comment on 1 to 4) just play them like fat Destroyers.... simple as that....

TL;DR - Yes the RN Cruisers are good ships, but it IS fair to point out that you don't enjoy their play style.

 

Before the RN Cruisers came out, the existing cruiser lines had national "flavour" but played slightly differently. I tried to play them in roughly the same way, and of course this was wrong because the RN line is VERY different. I've lost count of the number of people advising that they should be played with strong elements of destroyer tactics (Sound advice, BTW).

 

I now look upon them as strong ships (at least as good as other cruisers), but I think that it is a fair point to make that the play style is not fun for everyone. Human beings often fall into the trap of thinking "Well, I like this - why doesn't everybody".

 

I don't like destroyer play, or hectic close combat,  so this is probably why I don't like the RN cruisers. For other players, this is just what they want, and Good Luck to them.

 

For a while I thought that I may have had a closed mind about RN Cruisers, but there are three arguments against this:
1) Having been very critical initially about RN cruisers, I publicly changed my view about the quality of the ships (see RN Cruiser Guide thread)
2) I was against playing Battleships for a long time, but have taken to the German line and have seven of the beauties in my port.
3) I am British, reasonably patriotic, and really wanted to like the RN line.