Uncle_Lou

TBH I use the term "boat" in this case somewhat tongue in cheek, as I am well aware of the distinction between a boat and a ship and the agony caused by misusing the two terms. I am most definitely not intending to cause offense, nor tears... Much respect for vets!

So having struggled up the lines and reached tier 9 in both Russian DD lines, I am starting to think the Russian run and gun style just doesn't click for me. I'm not sure if its just a playstyle adjustment I haven't been able to make or if the Russian boats just need high skill captains to be successful or what. Intellectually I get the whole stay at speed, wiggle a bunch, and annoy the crap out of everyone play; but in practice I find that I eat a shipload of damage early on which renders me largely ineffective for the remainder of the game. Both of my captains are relatively low skill for t9, I think they are both at 13 points because I was stupid at lower tiers. I've been working to rectify that, but with the abysmal damage and WR I'm seeing on these ships its pretty slow going, and I find myself disinclined to play them because of the bad results. My Udaloi for example has a 40% WR and only 37k average damage. Sample sizes are small too, which may be a contributing factor. I don't have any replays to share, but what am I missing with the RU boats? The terrible concealment just kills me; I find it extremely difficult to disengage when I need to; and not just on the tier 9's, I've struggled all the way up the line to both do damage and dodge damage.

73 games in with Kron now; sitting on a 61.6% WR, average damage is about 68k and continues to improve. If I had to describe Kron in one word it would be 'opportunist'. The ship and turrets both turn pretty well, concealment is decent enough that you can keep your eyes open for ships offering broadsides and punish them for it. WASD hax will keep you from eating huge alpha strikes, though pen damage will always be an issue. Bait shots into your belt, swing your butt out and punch back and re-angle. The HE is decent enough to be useful against targets near max range or that are well angled, and you will start some fires too. Otherwise I find Kron works best right at the edge of her concealment, making the most of opportunities and fading if she gets too much heat. The radar is tempting but it has been my experience that if you try to push up with your DDs to use the radar you will just get hurt early and be taken out of the game either completely or effectively. It seems to be more of a late game tool for Kron, but YMMV.

Dallas isn't that bad, but Helena makes it all worth it. That said, if you are not enjoying Dallas, you are unlikely to enjoy the rest of the USN CL line as they all play fairly similarly and have generally the same strengths and weaknesses.

Definitely not the best ship out there, but I don't think its nearly as bad as many would have you believe. It does, however require some adjustments to play well; it doesn't play like most other BBs in that you can't expect to just delete Cruisers at will or rack up huge alpha strikes on enemy BBs. You definitely cannot try to hang back and snipe with it and expect even mediocre results. You have to get in closer to negate the dispersion and AP pen issues, angle like crazy, and aim for upper belt or superstructure on enemy BBs. Secondaries are ok for some chip damage, maybe make a lower tier DD nervous but can't be counted on for much more than that IMO. It is a trollish ship, much like Roma. Patience is required. I enjoy PEF despite the issues; after 32 games I am still figuring it out; my MBH rate is still rather low but I expect that to improve. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing a slight improvement; I think a reduction in air drag of the AP shells would go a long way towards making her gunnery more comfortable and the results more consistent. But I'm not going to hold my breath; the stats relative to the other t6 BBs indicate that PEF is fine.

Woof. Damage farmers wet dream.

The news on the torpedo arcs was surprising to me, as based on the way they are mounted I assumed very narrow firing arcs. Welcome news indeed. Overall I kind of feel like Exeter is designed to abuse cruisers, while other cruisers are also potentially her biggest weakness. I suspect her armor is thin enough that most BBs will overpen for days, but CA/CL AP is going to shred her. I will follow her continued development with interest. As always, thanks for all your hard work LWM!

I would say B also

Sorry for necro... Was working tonight on the final PEF directive. Got IJN done in 4 games (135k avg dmg across the 4 games) with Musashi but lost 3 of the 4. This was the most frustrating.

WRT to the OP, I know that BB AP performance of late has felt different. Whether its been weeks of craptastic RNG or something was unintentionally changed I can't say. But based on the number of threads about it in the past week or so it seems that a lot of people are also feeling it. Again, I can't say whether that's some sort of communal confirmation bias or if there is actually something working differently. I have been hesitant to push too hard because it may just be bad RNG and confirmation bias on my part. But it seems that enough people have noticed something that it might be worth the time for someone at WG to investigate and publish something official, even if it is all in our heads. (I'm also not convinced the dispersion bug was totally fixed either, but that's a separate thread)

I don't really care about the whole Co-op vs other game modes nonsense, but I am curious to know if you've ever had a teammate in a random just sail their ship to the nearest border and stay there all game; and if so what was your reaction?

Here for the lulz - die within the first 2 minutes having done no damage and no spotting. Anchored - travel less than 2km for an entire match Beep beep beep - travel 3km or more in reverse in one match Wallflower - Spend 10 minutes or more of one match within 1km of the map border WASD Ninja - Dodge 30 (40? 50?) or more torpedoes in one match. Torpedoes must pass close enough to be considered potential damage. Phoenix - Finish a match above half health after being below 10% health (obviously ships with heals only) Eye Spy - Detect 7 or more ships with a single use of the Surveillance Radar consumable I dunno... Just finished a 13 hour shift so brain is kinda fubar, but just a few random thoughts. Obviously several of these ideas are undesirable achievements, just dumb fun.

Funny, I threw a couple bucks out of my bonus at a few Big Santa Boxes the other night and netted both Gremy and Kami. Was rather shocked. Have not had a chance to drive either yet.

I will echo what others have said - glad it isn't only me. I have noticed a significant decrease in average damage when playing BBs which seems to be due primarily to overpens or zero damage pens. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me, or I was experiencing some bizarre kind of lag affecting aim or something. Oddly enough my damage in DDs or cruisers is relatively unchanged. Fingers crossed that WG will at least look into this.

I think what I'd really like to see is a decrease in shell drag to improve penetration at range. The shells are slow and lose so much velocity that their penetration at range is rather meh. A small buff here and maybe 1-2 seconds off the reload and I think its a whole new ballgame. Just my $.02.