World of Warships

[grumbler]

I am on the Bismarck (T8) and it is clearly the class of the tier.

I actually like the North Carolina more... but the Biz is definitely the better ship at Tier 8.
10.8km secondaries? Yes please!
31+knots speed? Yes please!
Excellent armor that lets it take on T9 battleships? Yeppers!

The only downside to it is that it is inevitably going to get nerfed...

Yeah, Bismarck is always homeboyed to the max.  Her armor was not, in fact, all that great (the layout was particularly obsolete), and her AA was pretty pathetic.  Good main guns, though, at least at short and medium ranges.

I am interested in the frequent claim that "exposing the broadside" is bad, when in reality that was the opposite of the truth.  Range errors were far greater than bearing errors, so you wanted to present the broadside to reduce the hit rate (chances of broadside hits were maybe 15% of those for end-on shots).

[MadBurgerMaker]

I signed up and started an intro mission, but.....there's no gunfire or engine sound, or really anything except music, "radio" transmissions, and reloading sounds. 

Ah. Unchecked wide dynamic range, or whatever that is, and it's all good now.

[Berkut]

I am on the Bismarck (T8) and it is clearly the class of the tier.

I actually like the North Carolina more... but the Biz is definitely the better ship at Tier 8.
10.8km secondaries? Yes please!
31+knots speed? Yes please!
Excellent armor that lets it take on T9 battleships? Yeppers!

The only downside to it is that it is inevitably going to get nerfed...

Yeah, Bismarck is always homeboyed to the max.  Her armor was not, in fact, all that great (the layout was particularly obsolete), and her AA was pretty pathetic.  Good main guns, though, at least at short and medium ranges.

I actually suspect her being OP in the game is more a function of that being the latest line than anything else. Each time they release a new line, they have to make it a little different, and I think for the German line they just overshot a bit.

Her armor is very good compared to other T8 BBs, but part of that is likely an error in the US NC class.

Her guns are very good at short range, and compared to the US and IJN BBs, the Biz excels at brawling, fighting at short ranges. The US is better at mid to long,a nd the IJN the better long range.

While they do try to get the basic historically accurate, WoWS is first and foremost a game, so they don't worry too much about making the ships relatively historic per se.

I am interested in the frequent claim that "exposing the broadside" is bad, when in reality that was the opposite of the truth.  Range errors were far greater than bearing errors, so you wanted to present the broadside to reduce the hit rate (chances of broadside hits were maybe 15% of those for end-on shots).

That is really interesting - in the game, it is the opposite from the standpoint of missing. You tend to miss laterally much more than in depth. I have always thought that the tactics of the game bear little resemblance to actual gunnery tactics around relative positioning.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Er.  I'm think I'm doing something wrong.  Or do the British cruisers suck?

The Black Swan was pretty cool, but man Im getting my ass kicked by just bots with the Weymouth.  I also have the first US cruiser (Chester), and I seem to do much better in that.

[katmai]

My best success so far has been with The Chester.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Ermahgerd the St Louis is really fun.  Guns everywhere.

E:  I got the upgrade to the "B" version, and the little diagram makes it look like the hull is made out of guns.  Much better than armor or whatever other ships use for that. 

[Neil]

I am interested in the frequent claim that "exposing the broadside" is bad, when in reality that was the opposite of the truth.  Range errors were far greater than bearing errors, so you wanted to present the broadside to reduce the hit rate (chances of broadside hits were maybe 15% of those for end-on shots).

Ultimately, it's an arcade game and not a simulation.  Game mechanics and balance will always trump historical and technical accuracy.  So you have destroyers firing 80 torpedoes a game, battleships sailing end-on to each other and having secondary guns that are useless against destroyers, and cruisers ravaging everything with fires like it was 1905 or something.  You'll also get some interesting effects on the ships based on fanboyism, so Bismarck and the Russian ships are awesome, but Royal Navy cruisers are mostly floating sacks of garbage.

[Neil]

Er.  I'm think I'm doing something wrong.  Or do the British cruisers suck?

The Black Swan was pretty cool, but man Im getting my ass kicked by just bots with the Weymouth.  I also have the first US cruiser (Chester), and I seem to do much better in that.

Yes, the British cruisers are terrible.  The game has been balanced so that the most effective strategy for cruisers is to spam high explosive shells and start fires on enemy ships.  When they were bringing in the British cruisers, their idea for making them unique was to give them a fancy, high-performance AP shell, but remove HE.  So you can kill destroyers fairly well, but anything else will ruin you.  You also have citadels that come way out of the water, so you're very vulnerable.  The line is pretty bad.

[HVC]

Er.  I'm think I'm doing something wrong.  Or do the British cruisers suck?

The Black Swan was pretty cool, but man Im getting my ass kicked by just bots with the Weymouth.  I also have the first US cruiser (Chester), and I seem to do much better in that.

I'm pretty good on the nassue, and suck on the Kaiser. it happens lol

[The Brain]

In fairness Russian ships, even WW1 vintage, had superior armor to any Western design of the world wars.

[Alcibiades]

My problem with the Bismark is the damage. 

I routinely see this all the time, from this morning:



Drives me absolutely insane when I'm bouncing most shells or even when I penetrate it does no or little damage.   

[MadBurgerMaker]

Okay I ground out enough XP on the Weymouth to upgrade to the Caledon.  Torpedoes make a big difference.  Icing BBs with them is pretty great.

[Berkut]

The Brits cruisers all completely suck until you get to the Leander at T6. That is acceptable at least.

The real differentiator for the Brit cruisers isn't that they only fire AP, it is that they get smoke and are quite capable of sitting at their range and hammering away in smoke so they cannot be seen.

Their guns, while lower caliber, spam like crazy.

They are, without a doubt, that most difficult line to play. But really good Brit cruiser players are infuriating. It is all about managing smoke and shooting from cover with them.

[HVC]

I'm getting progressively worse at this game

[CountDeMoney]

   More rocks?