RonJamesDio

Bourgogne is exceptionally powerful if played properly. She will always be a solid choice of ship, even for non-BB players since she plays more like a very large cruiser than a true BB. Probably the most dangerous ship in the game to show broadside to, courtesy of her MBRB. She is fast, insanely fast, topping out at about 41kts with speed boost, a flag and brisk active. Its very easy to lose track of a Bourg only to have her appear on your flank spitting 3 salvos of AP under 45 seconds. Her HP pool is small and she is covered in 32mm but she is exceedingly dangerous to ignore or forget about. Stalingrad is hilarious. She has what are likely some of the best BB guns in the game mounted on an extremely tanky cruiser hull. If you can avoid being flanked, she can be a difficult target to dislodge from a good position. Her guns are outrageously accurate, hitting exactly where you aim, every time you pull the trigger. She is an immediate threat to any ship of any class within about 17km's. Battleships can and often do take multiple citadels in a single salvo from her if they are sloppy with their angling. She sports improved pen angles and more sensetive fuses on her AP couple to some incresible accuracy and sigma. Both are good choices depending what you want. I'd probably recommend Bourgogne though, its a solid ship for anyone.

Illinois is lots of fun. I'm glad I picked her up!

Oh absolutely but hitting a high tier speed boosting French DD at range who is actively paying attention and throttle juking is one of the most difficult things to do in this game, even with high velocity guns. Illinois has a +17 second flight time out to 20km's. You'd be more likely to hit a satellite than you would a French DD at those ranges.

It looks like her shells will have a flight time of over 17 seconds at +20km's. That'll be challenging to hit fast moving targets, but she seems purpose built to farm other BB's and ribbons. You'll need to be running 2 screens to aim at a Klebber or Marceau at a flat out run.

I'll be getting her as soon as I can. She looks to be hilarious. "HE spam isn't a problem" meanwhile a BB hull with enhanced Repair Party and underwater citadel out DPMing cruisers at its tier. 12 Superheavy DM AP shells on a 7-9 second reload for when cruisers get squirrely and try to disengage. If her accuracy or shell velocity were any better she'd be outright broken. I think she is going to be fun and she's certainly unique.

Kronk has similar gunnery to Roma, I've found. Wonky dispersion and almost too much pen and velocity. Sometimes Roma will triple cit a tier 10 BB at 17km's, and other times she'll completely whiff a shot on a broadside stationary Cherbourg at 6 km's. Both ships overpen any cruiser within 12km's, but due to lack of Overmatch, they are both foiled by even the most basic angling. Both ships have lacklustre HE shells and neither has the gunnery reliability to hit a bow in ship's superstructore except at extremely close ranges. Both ship's armour schemes angle extremely well, but both melt instantly if they show too much broadside due to relatively poor citadel protection. Kronstadt reminds me of a cruiser version of Roma. I really like my Roma.

Preussen is a fantastic vessel. Her guns are no joke, dealing heavy damage to anything they hit and they fire fast enough to make up for any shortcomings of dispersion. She is exceptionally dangerous to cruisers, particularly at medium engagement distances. Her armour scheme results in her eating lots of pen damage, but she can be a daunting target to burst down for lone ships, especially late game. The key is to limit the number of people who are shooting at you. Disengage and heal, abuse island cover, preserve your HP as best you can until an opportunity comes to push in. She rewards map awareness and proper positioning very well.

Bourgogne was my 3rd steel ship behind Shikishima and Stalingrad. I wish I'd listened to advice and got her earlier. She is likely the most dangerous ship in the entire game to be caught broadside to in any class, including superships. Bourgogne's capacity for destruction is truly shocking, courtesy of 12 high velocity French guns with a decent reload and a reload booster that allows almost 4 full salvos in the time a Vermont shoots 2. With her speed boost active and flag she is absurdly fast, catching many people off guard. This ship rewards solid map awareness and positioning with absolutely massive damage numbers, and she has the tools to make it happen. This is possibly the best example of a flanking BB in the game. Bourgogne has her flaws, such as poor armour protection, small HP pool and relatively small calibre guns, but she can stack damage shockingly quickly. Any tankier and she would be outright broken. I see now why Bourg is considered one of the best BB's in the game and Super Unicums dominate with her. You will not be disappointed with Bourgogne, she is one of the most comfortable battleships I've ever played.

This appears to be a move to limit the amount of 30mm Overmatch in comp games. Yamato, Shikishima and Incomp are still available. Last season was absolutely swarmed by St. Vincents, so I'm not exactly surprised that they'd limit her. I'm a bit surprised about the Pruessen and Repub restriction though, since I haven't seen either of them frequently at all in CB. Neither are particular standouts and both have glaring weaknesses.

I play my hybrids mostly in a 70/30% split. ~70% of the time I am controlling my ship and using its guns/torps/consumables. ~30% of the time I control a set of planes. The vast majority of the damage you'll do in these hybrids is through the armaments of the actual ship itself. The planes are more of a utility, providing unconditional spotting when needed and they can be useful sometimes for assassinating a very low HP target that is attempting to flee. If you have your guns aim at the location of the enemy ship you can actually spot for yourself briefly. You start your planes in an attack run towards the red ship then immediately switch back to your mothership before the attack is completed. The enemy ship will be briefly lit up for you to fire your main guns. It can catch people by surprise.

Regardless of what you, personally, would prefer to die to is irrelevant. You will have no chance against either, it just depends if you'd like to die bit by bit over time or one big hit (assuming the AP actually hits) The point is this ship will almost have the HE power and Fire starting ability of one of the best heavy cruisers in the game, without the aforementioned ship's durability issues. Look how powerful Salem is, and that was only given a superheal to allow it to heal back the heavy AP damage it receives if it's not positioned properly. At closer ranges turning to try to disengage will be extremely punishing due to the superheavy AP shells, which I'm sure you would agree do pretty heavy damage, even to BB's. Sure it won't overmatch your bow with the AP, it doesn't have to. A single fire does something like 16% of a BB's maximum HP pool. 2 fires is 32% of your maximum HP. 1/3 of your HP pool. With a 14% fire chance on 12 shells every 10 seconds, it will be easy to stack perma fires. Keep in mind De Moins HE shells pen 34mm of armour. That will pen your bow in a KGV. Most high volume HE spamming ships in this game are relatively fragile. Smolensk, Colbert, DM, Kutuzov, Zao, Nevsky, Yodo, Goliath, Cleveland, basically any DD. This ship won't be nearly that soft, so long as you angle the hull towards high calibre AP shells.

This thing is going to fire 12 Des Moins HE shells every 10 seconds. It will fire basically 3 full salvos to every 1 kgv salvo. 203mm HE pens tier 7 BB plating. So you'll stack pen damage insanely fast, on top of what, a 14% fire chance per shell? That is outrageous. Best of all you can outrun it too, it has no way to disengage from the spam. Who needs to fire AP? The HE spam this ship is going to be capable of is going to wipe the floor with basically anything tier 9 and below. Its not a usual BB where you fire a salvo every 30+ seconds and hope that one of your AP shells actually gets a solid hit. You can sling HE out of this, stacking multi permanent fires on top of near constant pen damage. Sail bow on at them. If they turn to disengage to try to heal or let their DCP recharge, you chunk them with superheavy AP twice or 3 times depending how their rudder shift is. The best part? It'll will have the DPM and gun power level of a DM without armour made of aluminum foil. DM has powerful guns, you can melt ships of any type if you are allowed to, but you have to be careful where you position it or you'll get nuked by a strong AP shell if the shooter gets good dispersion, even if you are bow on. Thats the big weakness of a De Moins and why everyone find islands to shoot over. It can't hold up to most high calibre AP shells. An Iowa hull with the same guns has no such worries. Unless you are totally broadside you'll take very little AP damage.

Ah, perfect, a high volume, high rate of fire HE spammer with the armour, HP and repair party of a BB. That's just what this game desperately needed! Next ship should be Smolensk guns with a Kremlin hull and then Zao guns on a Yamato hull? Henri 4 guns with Republique's hull? I'm sure that would solve the issue of passive play at higher tiers its going to be pretty funny to watch this thing absolutely maul a Colorado, KGV, Lyon, or any other tier 7 or even 8 BB, with basically 0 threat of retaliation due to the armour scheme. Edit: Oh, I almost forgot. Hindenburg guns on a Preussen hull!

Make no mistake, Stalingrad is still one of the most dangerous ships in the entire game to give too much broadside to. Due to her improved pen angles and more sensitive fuses, it doesn't take much over-angling and if her captain has decent aim she will instantly obliterate your ship with absurd ease. She has by far the most powerful cruiser armament in the game, in my opinion. It is deadly accurate, extremely high velocity and outrageously high pen. Hitting targets across any range with Stalingrad is hilariously easy and it will almost always do glaring damage. Its quite common for her to hit a bow on BB superstructure for 10,000+ damage in pens and overpens, every 20 seconds. Any ship, even a BB, caught in a turn within 16km's can take multiple citadels for absolutely catastrophic damage. I'm not saying she's the best ship, or she's the best steel ship. Sure she takes more fire damage, sure she isn't as maneuverable, sure she lacks Hydro and is a huge target for torpedos. She is still one of the most dangerous ships in the entire game. Never make the mistake of underestimating a Stalingrad. You'll punch yourself a ticket right back to port in a hurry if you do. I got my Stalingrad at the end of last CB season and its one of the most fun esperiences I've had with this game. She hits what you aim her at, every single time you fire her guns, no matter what range your target is.

Hello! Mid tier gameplay, 5 to 8, is probably the most fun and hectic this game can be. You see much more chaotic brawly type gameplay. Once you get to tier 9+ people get more conservative. BB's at this tier tend to do a lot of bow tanking and cruisers shoot over whatever island they can get to close to a cap.