thehelmsman

I.... actually kinda like this idea. --Helms

The mid-tier German battleships are still pretty fun because the smaller maps and less powerful carriers allow them to do what they do best: close range and put their secondaries to work. Higher tiers.... well, my GK grind has basically stopped because FdG is extremely inconsistent in the current passive, campy high-tier meta. You sometimes get a blaze of glory moment where you can rush, but most of the time you're forced to sit in the backfield with everyone else, and you're at a disadvantage in that sort of fighting. --Helms

Good lord.... Mouse, never ever change. Glad you're on the up! Excellent work, as always. --Helms

I live in Houston and have the benefit of working a job that has me seeing the Texas on a very frequent basis; sometimes, almost every day, depending on if I'm working the Houston harbor or not. It's been a landmark for commercial traffic operating in the Houston ship channel for decades and mariners refer to it frequently when putting out their own position. Unfortunately the location it is in is rather bad for several reasons, and not just because of the salt water corrosion. It's an out of the way spot far from most other local attractions and landmarks, in a not-very-nice part of town. Galveston or Corpus Christi would be a better place for the Texas, assuming they permanently dry-berth her for the purpose of preservation. Her current berth can then be restored as part of the San Jacinto battleground, which is important for entirely different reasons. The ship is 107 years old and has been sitting basically in the same spot (less one previous move for restoration) since the end of World War II, aside from one drydock period in the late 80s, which is the last time she got any major restoration work. She deserves better than her current state. --Helms

Hard pass even with the economy bonus. I don't love Cleveland enough to justify spending ~50 bucks on a clone with no normal camo option. Good work, all the same, LWM! Speedy recovery, as well. --Helms

If it had a non-weeb camo option I might have been interested as a novelty, but I already hardly favor Harekaze over Asashio anyway just because it is more versatile, so having another IJN gimmick torpedo boat premium doesn't hold much appeal to begin with. Great work as always, LWM. Nice to have you back! --Helms

I didn't care for KGV either, but it's not an objectively -bad- ship. Statistically, it's actually rather nice, for a tier 7, aside from the bad firing arcs that require you to give too much broadside to bring the back turret to bear. Co-op is a terrible environment for it, however, because it lacks alpha strike potential against battleships and even has trouble outright deleting cruisers if they're angled (which bot cruisers usually are). It's a pure HE spammer, and requires longer games in order to have an impact by stacking fires and just burning down enemies. Its play-making potential is almost nonexistent. This is probably why I hated it so much; it is very difficult to punish enemies for making mistakes or take advantage of other opportunities to knock somebody out quickly. --Helms

Stroopwafels. --Helms

It can work. It's just gonna take some ridiculous soft stats to make it work. --Helms

Not out of bounds. HMS Courageous and Glorious were built with 15" guns before their conversion to aircraft carriers. Furious was built with 18" guns. This thing is gonna hinge on how accurate the guns are. 2.05 sigma is nice but if the raw dispersion values are crap, it won't help all that much, considering you only have 6 guns to play with. The thing that I always hated about Gneisenau was how inconsistent it was even at mid-ranges and the lack of early-game influence imposed by that weakness. A German ship with good accuracy and penetration would be a breath of fresh air. --Helms

AWWWWWYISSS BATTLECRUISER O. Gimme. Gimme right now. Also, Ark Royal is a must. I want my Bismarck-poker. Friesland looks... interesting. No torpedoes really limits what it can do. It will probably be excellent as a pure-escort DD, but it will have big problems contesting caps or holding back an enemy push without the threat and denial torpedoes provide. Probably too specialized for my tastes, but we'll see what they do with it. --Helms

I've been saying for years that positioning and situational awareness (aided by knowing how to read the minimap and interpret not only what it is showing but also what it isn't) are what separates the good players from the average ones. Aiming and angling are basic concepts and easy to grasp, but the intricacies of interpreting all the available information and using it to make tactical decisions is considerably more difficult and takes longer to master. --Helms

I found that ship frustratingly difficult to carry in even in operations. Well done! --Helms

This. Hitpoints are a resource, a currency to be spent--wisely--in exchange for position, map control, and the survival of teammates. Soaking/mitigating incoming damage is one of the primary responsibilities of any battleship. Your presence on the map, assuming you place yourself where you are useful, dictates the flow of battle to a greater degree than any other class; your most important job is to place yourself where the enemy is forced to deal with you, because you will punish them if they ignore you in favor of shooting at your squishier friends. If you're consistently finishing battles with unused repair party charges and/or most of your HP intact, you probably aren't playing aggressively enough and supporting the team as well as you could and should be. Battleship drivers who trade their HP effectively are usually the ones who exert the most influence on any given match even if they're not actually doing a ton of damage. Knowledge of how to utilize this resource effectively, as well as how to position (the two usually go hand in hand) is what separates the good BB drivers from the mediocre ones. --Helms

Germans got a bit of a resurgence with the nerfing of concealment and the prevalence of aircraft carriers rendering stealth less important. Having said that, though, they still struggle in the sort of passive, campy meta that tends to dominate nowadays. --Helms