Actually having fun with British Cruisers?

[cracktrackflak]

In my view, the RN Cruiser "characteristics" are contributing to an ongoing debasement of the overall game concept. By this, I mean the required gameplay is all to do with hiding/ smoking/ camping/ stopping/ reversing/ etc - which is so far removed from what a ship (especially a cruiser) does in real life. Its such a shame that these famous ocean-roving flexible ships are now just peekaboo spammers..

 

The game is already highly artificial - eg battle fleet actions at point blank range in and around tight archipelagos of islands - and crudely imposing bizarre tactics on ship classes tends to further exaggerate this. By the time you add in ARP ships and the more exotic cammos, the whole thing is starting to look more like a sci-fi FPS than an (albeit arcade) representation of naval warfare. Even now, if you make the sea solid and change the ship models into tanks, you'd already have a slightly different World of Tanks - ironically one that was a bit more realistic!

 

 

[Hedgehog1963]

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. 

 

I'm not a high skill player myself but I can make these work...  But even if it were the case that these ships were only any good in the hands of a competent player... would that actually be a bad thing?   I don't think so.

[Gojuadorai]

Leander

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

What can i say, she's a beast

 

leander stupidly OP

 

141k dmg kraken, confederate, high cal  T7 game

91k dmg high cal, confederate 4 kills T8 game

 

and list goes on.....

[mike_864]

 

leander stupidly OP

 

141k dmg kraken, confederate, high cal  T7 game

91k dmg high cal, confederate 4 kills T8 game

 

and list goes on.....

 

Yes... weird thing is, i generally do better in the T8 games, team mates who know the value of smoke and good positioning e.t.c.

[creamgravy]

Shooting a Fuso with sAP = 

 

Shooting a Bismarck with sAP = 

 

(Leander will get nerfed sooner or later, she has over 40,000 HP with the heal, that's ott with smoke and a small citadel)

[Mr_Gibbins]

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. 

 

I dunno about that tbh, having played World of Tanks for 5 Years and ships since open beta... plus a bunch of other similar games over the years there is one thing I have learned.

 

People will grind their way to "the top", no matter how bad they are.

 

 

If your argument is that they will do that, then simply not play the ship, then I agree that might happen to some extent.... but then the same could be said for any ship, like those Yamato captains we see broadsiding along in a straight line and getting torped, or rushing forward and going down under fire from 10 ships cos they are "a tank", or the endless people that rush into a cap with DD then sit in their smoke and get torped etc etc etc.

 

On the topic of the ships themselves the first few including Emerald I didn't enjoy at all... then Leander, oh what fun.  Will see how it pans out with the Fiji now but it's looking good.

 

Edit:  Just add this in, not to show off, but to show the potential.  This is a stock Fiji with a 10 point Captain, tier 7 battle.

 

[sharpie65]

I am, actually.

 

 

...and I have no clue how to show images outside of a link. My apologies.

[BOldMan]

no

[Psychodogstick]

 

Its not for everybody, but i am seriously falling in love with the mino.  The last game i just did i really enjoyed apart from being called a noob.  Kinda expected really.

 

Just so much fun.  As mentioned before its a bit of a solo ship, it hunts more than supports.  However it does contribute very effectively in games  I know if i was a DD and i saw one of these on the oppo side i'd be a little more cautious in diving in.

 

[ThinderChief]

So if you enjoy sitting in a smoke cloud spamming AP like a DD then they are ok, but not really fulfilling a support role that CL's should do.

 

That's what they do. Compensating for the lack of gunnery skills? I guess so because apart for carpet bombing an area with HE, they generally are not so hot with guns.

 

Note that I had a LOT of fun with the Black Swan due mainly to the excellent guns it have and enjoy the Caledon almost as much, I have nothing against British ships, only the way some guys are playing them, spamming HE like mad, a game spoiler if you want my humble opinion, and yes I agree if W.G changed their mind about it then it's a commercial coup, does little good for the game itself.

[Bismarck_chan]

I'm currently hating the Caledon with a burning passion, but you guys give me hope. 

I could just spend some of my free-xp but I'm hoping for Missouri not to require ludicrous amounts to get. Only silly would be fine.

 

I don't really mind a different playstyle. As someone who also plays fighting games and used to play MMOs I always liked trying something different and I think it improved my overall game quite a bit.

[Mr_Tayto]

Sorry but I don't understand what you mean? RN ships don't have HE, so you have to aim better and get closer to do any damage. it can still set fires with secondaries.

 

I'm extremely bored of HEing ships from long range and actually get a bit nervous now if I'm not doing proper damage from AP

[invicta2012]

I am enjoying playing them, they've actually taught me a lot about playing more circumspectly, and that's improved both my CL and DD play (previously I was doing the adventurous DD thing, first to cap.... and first to get sunk, now I'm having 70K games in my Ognevoi and annoying the heck out of enemy BB's players (but still getting whined at for bad play by BB captains on my own side, because DDs are about torps, mmkay.)

 

I see plenty of Leander, Belfast and Fiji players in game and they seem to be having a ball - ditto Emerald, where I've had some of my best games, even though the ship is hopelessly squishy in any open map. 

 

I hope in time they fill in the "Heavy Cruiser" gaps in the line with the Hawkins class at V / County Class at VI - give them a more straightforward, Nurnberg type set up with HE and the whingeing about the RN would stop over night. First, though I'd love an Atlanta-style Dido Class Light Cruiser.. .32 knots, good AA and those 10x 5.25" QF guns at Tier VI... would be great fun.

 

 

[bloodynicknames]

still dont get the point of the awful hydro ... its close to useless

[NightLord_Talos]

still dont get the point of the awful hydro ... its close to useless

 

I find it to be a big help. If I've popped smoke and I know DD's are about or other ship with torps, I'll pop the hydro as well. Sitting in smoke can't see the torps coming until it's to late but the hydrp gives me advance warning. Same works if you are hunting DD who is sitting in their own smoke.

 

Also use it if I'm escorting some BB's and we are entering area where suspect or know DD's are about. Pop the hydro for advance torp notice.

 

If you work with others on your team, and let them know when you are popping the hydro, you can take it in turns to activate it and then have continued advanced warning of torps.

 

Probably other uses for it but that's how I use it.

[Dropman12]

still dont get the point of the awful hydro ... its close to useless

 

Than you are not agresive DD hunter, which is where UK CAs shine.

Hydro is useless for common firefights, true, but it is also ultimate tool for every DD hunter. Point is DD has two options to save its butt - run away (which is something you cant do anything with) and pop up smoke. In second case, they are dead. If you can get close to it (which is why you have great concealement), you pop up sonar which means: you neutralized their torps. You have plenty of time to dodge, its literary imposible to get hit. Sudennly its about guns, not torps. The second, you see them faster. Its pretty common that DD pop up smoke without having spotter in team (dont forget their smoke block line of sight even for own ships), thus it doesnt see you, you doesnt see him. With sonar you see him first, so he get spoted and hit without being able to even return fire. With you great AP ammo, it is the easiset xp you can earn.

The best possible play you can make is to wait till DD pop up smoke, rush in, kill him and use his smoke to shot enemies. Its risky and hard, but man, you feel like a boss when executed right. Not even it means lot of xp, but its also huge help to team. UK CA looks like born for this job. Im regulary having succes with Moami/Atago, the only problem is getting into smoke, as you are usually under heavy fire. Anyway, for this reason I love sonar.

[tajj7]

I free XP'd to the Fiji and I'm like 1/2 games from unlocking the Edinburgh and so far it's been fun.

 

The Fiji (and the other British cruisers) have smoke and heal, this means you have survivability, you still don't really want to shot at and still can deleted by stray BBs shells but you at least can do some damage fairly risk free and take a hit or two without worrying too much. Several games I've taken like 40-50k in damage, which in other tier 7s just makes you dead, you are less worried about fires for example.

 

I am a little worried about the step up to tier 8 as it will be a lot harsher MM (tier 7 is pretty sweet at the moment) and I'm not sure the Edinburgh is a huge improvement.  Luckily I got some Dragon flags in a super container so hopefully in about 15 games or so I should get my 5th Captain skill so that coupled with concealment equipment should drop the concealment quite a lot for the Edinburgh over the Fiji, I'll be playing most of my Edinburgh grind with less than 9km spotting range, compared to over 11 with the Fiji.

 

But aside from that it's not much of upgrade, same guns, same ROF, similar range, similarly terrible armour, similar speed.

 

I've found the AP only fine, when you get broadsides and you get broadsides you absolutely wreck BBs, getting 4-5k damage numbers every salvo. 

[sharpie65]

I am enjoying playing them, they've actually taught me a lot about playing more circumspectly, and that's improved both my CL and DD play (previously I was doing the adventurous DD thing, first to cap.... and first to get sunk, now I'm having 70K games in my Ognevoi and annoying the heck out of enemy BB's players (but still getting whined at for bad play by BB captains on my own side, because DDs are about torps, mmkay.)

 

I see plenty of Leander, Belfast and Fiji players in game and they seem to be having a ball - ditto Emerald, where I've had some of my best games, even though the ship is hopelessly squishy in any open map. 

 

I hope in time they fill in the "Heavy Cruiser" gaps in the line with the Hawkins class at V / County Class at VI - give them a more straightforward, Nurnberg type set up with HE and the whingeing about the RN would stop over night. First, though I'd love an Atlanta-style Dido Class Light Cruiser.. .32 knots, good AA and those 10x 5.25" QF guns at Tier VI... would be great fun.

 

 

 

The County-class ships could be split across 3 tiers, with the Kent subclass being Tier VI, London at Tier VII, and Norfolk at Tier VIII; on top of that, the planned (but later cancelled) Surrey class would make a good candidate for Tier IX, and York would be installed at Tier X.

[Mr_Tayto]

Edinburgh is great, better at everything than Fiji (which is already amazing).

 

 

I'm on Neptune now and it's a proper step up. despite bigger health pool I've been one shot a few times in lower mm I'd have lived, and it's not quite as nippy as the Edinburgh, even with B hull. 5 more torps per side and 5second reload are some succour 

[triumphgt6]

Sounds promising - just unlocked Neptune myself - first battle tonight. Edinburgh has been my favourite ship of all I have played so far - brilliant fun!

[Blitzkrieguk]

The Neptune is glorious...apart from its citadel 

 

I really can't wait for the Minotaur as it's a straight improvement over the Neptune.

[triumphgt6]

But no secondaries so no chance of fires ? 

[sharpie65]

AFAIK, all RN CLs have secondaries from T5. I'd need to check on that though.

[piritskenyer]

No, what he's alluding to is the fact that the 3"/70 DP on Minotaur only serves as AA in game, meaning you have no secondary firepower. 

 

(TBH, at 90 r/m/g, the 3" would be insanely powerful for secondary artillery - but it'd still be nice to have them with reduced RoF)

[triumphgt6]

No, what he's alluding to is the fact that the 3"/70 DP on Minotaur only serves as AA in game, meaning you have no secondary firepower. 

 

(TBH, at 90 r/m/g, the 3" would be insanely powerful for secondary artillery - but it'd still be nice to have them with reduced RoF)

 

They would be great! Likes Mikasa on steroids!