World of Warships

[Anacronian]

Russian Navy IS more important because World of Warships does have a larger player base in Russia than everywhere else.

Russia has 3 times the player base compared to EU and 10 times the player base compared to NA so yeah deal with it.

[Jub]

Russian Navy IS more important because World of Warships does have a larger player base in Russia than everywhere else.

Russia has 3 times the player base compared to EU and 10 times the player base compared to NA so yeah deal with it.

That might be true in tanks, but it doesn't seem to be the case with WoWS. Russian's don't have the same connection to their navy as Americans and Europeans, probably owing to it being a low priority in from at least WWII onward.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Personally, I've wanted German BBs (well, German BCs more) since I started playing so having them in August or so will be nice.

[Nephtys]

This also surely explains why Radar is apparently being added to the game, and the Russians are going to be best at radar. Because that bloody makes sense.

[Thanas]

Radar should be best on US/Brit cruisers. But RUSSIA STRONG. Like the bullshit with Murmansk and Imperator Nikolai wasn't enough.

[Imperial528]

I do hope US ships get radar-based abilities, especially with radar implementation being one of the US' defining advantages over Japan during the war.

[Thanas]

Would you sacrifice defensive fire for it though?

[Imperial528]

That's a good question. If it improved accuracy then maybe, though on a BB I would sacrifice the spotter for accuracy any day.

[Thanas]

I wouldn't sacrifice the fighter for it though because that thing is very useful in spotting torps.

Anyway, I now got the Des Moines. First impression:
1.great AA, chews up everything except T10 planes.
2. this ship is a cleveland on steroids. Post 14km or so the shell arc makes it somewhat ineffective, but it shreds anything inside 14km. Went up against a Hindenburg and a Hipper at the same time. They didn't spot me until I was 12km away - and then I just let it rip (front guns only). Hindenburg was done in four volleys. Then I got the Hipper down to 10k hp until a random BB from across the map wiped me.
3. Overall, she seems like a very situational ship - great if you like to drive up close and smack people in the face, your firing arcs are great as well, but I can see why people would prefer the Hindenburg or the Zao over her. She probably will shine on Islands maps, but be less useful in open water. Shell arcs really are bad for anything but HE, though at sub 13km the AP shells are awesome.

[Thanas]

So the radar consumables have leaked. Soviet radar is way better than US radar, having a whole 2.7 km more range.

http://i.imgur.com/2lZItRK.png
http://i.imgur.com/WFCwpDL.png

Well, this sucks. Radar will utterly make any gunboat build or offensive smoke impossible, thus limiting all DDs to the stupid long-range torp-spamfest.

[Borgholio]

Would it not have made more sense for radar to be a higher-end upgrade which allows for improved (but still not perfect) detection, as well as improved gunnery accuracy? Both of which are exactly what radar did IRL...

[Batman]

Is there any way to bypass the Phoenix? That ship is worse than useless.

[Thanas]

You need her because the next ship in line is basically the same, but bigger.

[Batman]

No, I need her because the game engine says so and the Phoenix is so utterly useless I'm considering giving up the cruiser path altogether.
I have yet to survive a single battle with this piece of shit. This was never actually built in real life for a reason.

[Dominus Atheos]

The best tactic for the Phoenix is the "circle of death", use q or e to lock your rudder into a turn, no one at tier four (or any other tier) can hit a ship in a turn and since your guns are on the sides instead of turrets, spinning around doubles your volume of fire.

Almost the same ship, the Murmansk, is considered one of the best ships in the game at one tier higher.

[Imperial528]

The Murmansk isn't almost a Phoenix. It IS an Omaha. And it's better than the Omaha in just about every way, too.

In my experience, at tier four there's a lot that you can nail with clever use of AP to just rack up citadel penetrations, especially against enemy Omahas, Phoenixes, and whatever the Japanese tier three and four ships are (I forget their names at the moment)

Just be mindful of your own fragility, don't linger too long and try to isolate targets so you can finish them off quickly. The torpedoes are best forgotten about for offensive firepower, however if you find yourself in a close-up with an enemy cruiser or DD they make for good area denial. Might even score a torp hit if you're lucky, though I find more often that they make excellent distractions against enemies who close in with you.

[Venator]

I actually quite enjoy the Phoenix; it has decent range and enough guns to do the zig-zag (or circle) of death readily. It's torps are actually better than the Japanese Kuma's (in that they're much worse, so scrubs who play at that level forget you have them until they get a facefull).

[Nephtys]

Phoenix gets to 'almost omaha' status when fully upgraded. AP enemy cruisers who broadside you anywhere under their smokestacks for WTF DAMAGE.

[Dominus Atheos]

The Murmansk isn't almost a Phoenix. It IS an Omaha

The Phoenix was literally the prototype of the Omaha.

[Thanas]

No, I need her because the game engine says so and the Phoenix is so utterly useless I'm considering giving up the cruiser path altogether.
I have yet to survive a single battle with this piece of shit.

Then you are playing her wrong. Don't worry, I did too at first, which is why my winrate in her is a measly 50%. The key to her is to never ever show broadside unless you know there is no danger for 30 seconds. Always angle (watch ichase guide on armour angling). If you need somebody to teach you then div with me, I am on the same server so just add me (MBrandis).

This was never actually built in real life for a reason.

...and none of them are actually modelled inthe game.

[Sea Skimmer]

The Phoenix was literally the prototype of the Omaha.

Its one of the games fake designs unless someone turned out a specific blueprint to prove me wrong, though based on some of the smaller 1915 series cruiser sketches none had armament like she does with or without the upgrades. Too bad the ships with with 14in and 16in guns and no armor what so ever didn't make it into the game.

I've gotten back into playing and I find only the 5-6 level ships tend to be any fun to play over and over. The game's glaring and rapidly worsening problem of trying to 'balance' ships by firing range isn't a big deal at those levels and its just generally enjoyable.

[Imperial528]

So how are they justifying Russian ships' radar being superior to US radar? As far as I am aware, Russia lacked ship-based GFCS radar until 1943. In comparison, the US had been making radar-assisted GFCS since the mid-late 30's or so.

[Thanas]

So how are they justifying Russian ships' radar being superior to US radar? As far as I am aware, Russia lacked ship-based GFCS radar until 1943. In comparison, the US had been making radar-assisted GFCS since the mid-late 30's or so.

They are justifying it because they mostly use 50s designs for their high-end cruisers, whereas the US cruisers are the 40s version. Don't ask me if that makes sense or whether they should even use 50s designs.

[Imperial528]

I'm not surprised they're using 50's designs. They basically have to.

But on the other hand, they really should have put off the Russian tree for after the Royal Navy tree. Maybe they'd have a better balance at that point, thus avoiding the Russian bias problem.

That would make too much sense for WG, though. Far too much.

It'd be nice to know their cutoff for vehicles though. I know that for WoT the cutoff is at modern smoothbore tank guns, but I had figured WoWS would stick to the 40's. Apparently not.

[Venator]

Considering the STB-1, and the fact that the Maus appears two tiers higher than the Vietnam-era M56... I don't think WG has cared too much about historical balance for a while.

Also, isn't what we've seen of radar basically a giant "lol rekt" to people who bought the Yo Lang?