thehelmsman

I've only gotten up to tier 7 in the tech tree on each line, but I have kept very few of the low and mid-tier ships. The only IJN destroyers I still have, other than the premiums and the Akatsuki and Shiratsuyu I'm currently working on (and expect to keep at least one or possibly both) are Umikaze, Wakatake, and Hatsuharu. The others are a shadow of what they used to be. --Helms

It's not just you. Hatsu's a better boat. But power through Fubuki in the tier 6 ops, because it's worth getting past it. Honestly, Akatsuki is better, tier for tier, than Fubuki is, despite the unwieldy concealment, because it's fast and thus can position to advantage in a lot of situations where Fubuki struggles to do likewise. I honestly never understood why Hatsuharu and Shiratsuyu are in the Akizuki line when they're better torpedo boats than their counterparts, while Fubuki and Akatsuki would ostensibly make better hybrids and yet they're in the torpedo boat line. --Helms

Hatsuharu for me, for the simple reason that it's faster and stealthier. I have had way more luck actually landing torpedoes with Hatsuharu despite the fact it's down three tubes. Positioning matters, and Hatsuharu is superior at getting into (and staying in) good positions, as well as getting out of trouble when it does inevitably find you. If I'm running IJN destroyers, it's because I want to be playing the stealth bastard torpedo boat and scout role, and Hatsuharu is better at both of those things than Fubuki is. --Helms

Always fun when that happens. Had one today blow a 2-cap, 3-ship lead. The battleships decided, for some incomprehensible reason, to rush in one at a time and feed themselves to what remained of the enemy team and I could do nothing to hold back the tide once they were dead and the reds pushed back to flip the caps. Felt pretty bad. --Helms

This is my big problem with it. Not just hitting, but reliably being able to actually do meaningful damage when I do hit, is for me the most important attribute of a ship, and what I tend to find makes them playable/enjoyable. I don't mind a long reload if I am able to make my shots count. I don't mind erratic dispersion if it deals out the pain when the shells do connect (and I can aid in this enterprise by getting into good firing positions, like I find I usually can with the likes of Bayern and Gneisenau). Getting a flat broadside on a cruiser, aiming at the waterline, and getting nothing but two or three overpens most of the time is really, really, REALLY obnoxious, especially when in the likes of Arizona or Fuso I'd probably be counting on getting at least a citadel plus pens, if not a straight up DevStrike. PEF's sigma may be better than the German average, but its base accuracy isn't, and it doesn't have the volume of fire or the reload to really offset RNG trolling you. PEF doesn't feel like it rewards good shot placement or good positioning. Every time I get a good salvo in, I simply feel like it would have been a -better- salvo if I'd been playing Warspite or Arizona or even Bayern instead. "Garbage" is probably harsh, but PEF has definitely soured from my initial impression of it, and it'll be resigned to the role of a port queen once I'm finished with the event. --Helms

Late-war Nevada would be an instabuy for me. And it's an easy fit for tier 6, being down a bit on main battery firepower compared to AZ and NM in exchange for AA and possibly Mass-like secondaries. --Helms

Meh. I believe my first couple outings in this ship were a holiday romance. It is infuriatingly inconsistent, and that's a trait I find hard to deal with in a ship. Bad shell velocity, bad AP pen, bad accuracy, bad HE, anemic reload, and STILL manages to overpen every flat broadside cruiser it sees more often than not. The main battery is terrible and gimps what might otherwise have been a quite fun ship, but with all of the drawbacks above, and without Bayern's overmatch or the volume of fire of other 14" battleships at tier 6 to compensate, I have to revise my initial assessment of Eitel Friedrich. I'd rather play Bayern, which is only a few knots slower and has more reliable penetration and damage when the wonky dispersion does decide to cooperate with you. I'd also rather play Graf Spee, which is a smaller and more maneuverable target, has a more consistent main battery, and also has good torpedoes to boot. Eitel Friedrich is hot garbage. At least it's pretty, I guess.... --Helms

Bleh. My first couple games in this ship were pretty fun and quite good... and I liked it. But I think it might have been a holiday romance. Bad dispersion, bad shell velocity, bad AP pen, bad HE, and it STILL manages to overpen every single flat broadside cruiser it sees more often than not. The main battery consistency is infurating, and it doesn't have Bayern's overmatch or the volume of fire of the 14" battleships of the same tier to make up for it. I'd rather play Bayern, which at least reliably pens and hits harder when it does. I'd also rather play Graf Spee, which is a smaller target with a more consistent main battery and has good torpedoes to boot. Eitel Friedrich is hot garbage. At least it's pretty, I guess.... --Helms

This is the big problem. It is nearly impossible to carry the, shall we say, "casual" players. Everybody has to pull their weight, and every ship that dies, especially early in the match, drastically reduces the likelihood of even successfully completing the op, to say nothing of getting 4-5 stars. In my experience, it's either a fail or a 4-5 star match in this one, with absolutely no in-between. Either your team either comes together and gets it done (possibly losing the star for the forts or the carrier) or it's a waste of 20 minutes. --Helms

Honestly, randoms are usually less frustrating than this one. --Helms

I don't even care for 5 stars with a random team. I'd just like to WIN more than once every 5 or 6 rounds. --Helms

Actually, with how OP Adrenaline Rush is, a ship on 5% health usually hits considerably harder. --Helms

Does anyone else absolutely dread this Op coming around in the rotation? Because I do. Ever since they overhauled it, it's STUPIDLY overtuned and unforgiving, especially if you don't get an ideal team comp for it. --Helms

25 is too much. 23, maybe 24 tops, to put it on par with Nelson. You pretty much have to play the middle of the map so you can actually keep your guns firing. If you go to a flank and the fight runs away from you, you're boned, because you're too slow to flex, especially on the tier 8 and 9 maps you're forced to deal with far too often. --Helms

It's okay. It's fast and handles fairly well, and is relatively stealthy as tier 6 battleships go. The guns are comfortable to shoot but they lack punch unless you get really lucky and land a good solid penetrating volley. Basically the Fried Rice is best at punishing cruisers at mid-range and maybe taking the odd shot at a BB showing broadside, but it can't win a straight-up slugging match with a better-armed superdreadnought. In other words, exactly what you'd expect from a proper battlecruiser. As such, it feels about right. Thanks to its secondaries and speed, it's also quite good at bullrushing DD smokes, as a Benson learned my first game out with it. --Helms