Wrath_Of_Deadguy

It'd be great if subs were spun off into their own mode containing only subs, DDs, DEs/frigates, corvettes, and transports. I would love to see some of the ASW classes of WWII represented- in particular, the Flower-class corvettes and the John C. Butler class DEs- but they just wouldn't be viable against larger surface warships (the exploits of the honorary battleship USS Samuel B. Roberts aside). In an asymmetrical convoy attack/defense scenario, all those ships would be right in their element. ...but instead, we're gonna get subs in regular game modes. *sigh*

Some people probably will be more careless with their torp drops now, and some people probably will go out of their way to block shots. Like always, it'll be the occasional All-About-Me personality that spoils things. Downvote 'em and move on; wait an extra 30s in port if you have to so you don't end up playing with the same twerp again. I don't think removing team damage was necessary, and having it there encouraged better play, but... it is what it is. At least green bots won't be able to lop off half my health bar anymore. What bothers me most about the change is the removal of the incoming torp warning for friendly fish. IMO, that's going to lead to accidental shot blocking that wouldn't otherwise happen, and result in misplays for the ship taking the hit. Even if those green fish behind me aren't going to hurt, I want to know they're there. Without the warning klaxon, my first notification is going to be the sound of torps detonating, and if I'm distracted by something else, I'm likely to react to that before I realize that they didn't actually do anything to me. That could result in wasting DC or a heal charge, or missing a good shot while I try to assess the non-existent damage. Bottom line, I want the warning, or at least to have the option of re-enabling the warning, because it's useful information that can help me make better plays. I like things that increase my situational awareness, and I dislike things that take it away.

Data on Ise won't necessarily be all that helpful in balancing Tone- at least, not the surface component of the package. They're wildly different animals. Ise would be absolute trash without her aircraft, but Tone has the bones of a competent if somewhat underwhelming T8 CA- her only glaring flaw is that she can't train any guns dead aft; her firing arcs look pretty good otherwise. Otherwise, her salvo weight is comparable to other CAs in her spread (with a bunch of 8-gun ships at T7 and T8), she has a full complement of torps, very good concealment for a CA, and a top speed on the high side of average. Long main battery reload, but no longer than Atago or 203mm Mogami (both of which admittedly have two more guns, but you won't be bringing them to bear on every salvo, so the DPM in practice is going to be a lot closer than one might expect). No humongous hangar-butt like Ise has, so no unusual shell-trap geometry compared to other CAs. There's not really a "gotcha!" weakness here to exploit, so the aircraft have the potential to be a far more significant force multiplier.

I didn't think an Oregon City was going to happen, either, but here she is... plus, now they've added Ise and Agincourt, and Repulse is on the way, so new mid-tier ships are still on WG's agenda- hopefully they do the sensible thing and drop a Northampton into that big, empty premium cruiser spot at T6. Fingers crossed for USS Houston. ...and after that, a Fargo and a Juneau. ...and maybe Olympia?

*cough* USS Olympia... but WG is even more allergic to low-tier ships than to real steel ships in general, it seems.

Seems like they're trying to make her an interesting side-grade rather than just straight power creep- Rochester gets Baltimore's shells, but a longer reload; slightly higher top speed than Baltimore, but a little slower than Wichita; she gets Wichita's 9km radar and fewer consumable charges, but DFAA in its own slot and better overall AA than Baltimore. Looks pretty well balanced already; can't imagine she will need to spend all that much time in testing. Too bad they didn't kit her out as a T9, though, since an Oregon City would have been a natural choice to replace the now-yoinked Alaska in that empty T9 premium spot. Only one CA missing, now; here's hoping there's a Northampton-class in the works somewhere.

*Counts secondaries...* That thing can also fire as many 5"/38s per broadside as Atlanta. Fun bit of trivia. Does anything about Kearsarge not reach memeworthy levels of excess?

About as good of a compromise as could have been expected, really. You either get to keep your ship and captain that you invested all that time (and/or money) into right where they are, or you can exchange the ship for an identical one in a new tree, but you might have to train a new captain (though your old captain wouldn't get deleted; he'd just be stranded in Sweden). Bear in mind that WG never promised that Friesland's captain would transfer over when it was Friesland you'd be getting in the new tree. For anyone who wanted the ship moved, what you get now is no different from what was promised before, apart from the nameplate and the pennant number on the ship. You will find plenty of feedback to that effect in any thread about Friesland made after the NL cruiser line announcement. Moving the ship, at the very least, costs anyone who bought the ship because it was a T9 EU destroyer premium the ability to train EU DD captains (or Viribus Unitis captains- heh) in their very expensive T9 premium DD, by moving it from the tech tree they bought it for, to a tech tree they may or may not be interested in. Some of those players will want the ship moved- but a lot of them won't, and all of them paid the purchase price. Not moving the ship, on the other hand, costs nobody anything. There is literally a zero loss option now, which wasn't a guarantee before. Just don't exchange the ship, and you lose nothing.

Kearsarge is just silly. Just... silly. An answer to a question nobody was asking. There are a few high-tier USN BBs that everyone and their ship's dog were asking for, but this ain't one of them. C'mon, if it had to be a hybrid, why not a hybrid Iowa-class? Y'know, because the design studies for those were actually made, to the point of building models? It would still have been ho-hum compared to a proper release of New Jersey or Wisconsin (or Washington or South Dakota or Indiana), but at least it would have some kind of passing relationship with reality. Rochester is great; happy to see the Oregon City class put in an appearance, but... why at T8? We already have Wichita and Anchorage at T8, with Congress on the way. Why not give Rochester pre-split T9 Baltimore stats and slot her in to replace Alaska at T9?

So... it's a Montana with a flight deck- at Tier 9, because of course strapping a CV to a Montana makes it less powerful. Also with rocket planes, because why not rocket planes? Wait, I think I see the plan here: 1. Add Ise to establish a historical precedent for hybrid ships. 2. Pitch an utterly ludicrous USN hybrid. Base it on a Tier 10 ship, but place at Tier 9 to get everyone screaming about odd-tier carriers. Also give it the most contentious CV armament. 3. ...? 4. Introduce Soviet CV line, which now looks entirely reasonable by comparison. - *Edit: Nailed it.

You can subscribe to the collection in-game, too. That's the only way to acquire pieces without paying RealBucks(tm) for them, but the whole collection will eventually complete that way from drops in your daily containers without spending anything. There is a toggle attached to the collection on its display pages to enable or disable subscription.

It's bad enough to have to square off with T6 and T7 ships in Viribus when she gets uptiered... I can't imagine trying to survive T8. She is just not strong enough to swim in that pool; her raw stats leave her inferior in range and HP to most of the cruisers at that level, let alone opposing BBs- and forget being able to pen anything meatier than a destroyer with that AP. It'd be like sailing around with a giant "kick me!" sign taped to your back.

When you get so close...

Mikoyan needs something to make up for literally being 2/3 of a Kirov at the same tier.

Sounds like you're meant to use the torps to create your own crossfire and force enemies to show broadside to your guns.