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I like the idea of differentiation rather than a straight up buff. Monaghan and Harekaze were fun templates for premiums with a choice of playstyles, and I'd like to see Błyskawica treated the same since she has a historical basis for such a thing, per what I read on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORP_Błyskawica#Modifications). Back when I played WOT regularly, I always enjoyed being able to mount different guns on certain tanks to alter the playstyle (howitzer Sherman vs 76mm Sherman and StuG III vs StuH III for example). This was missing in WoWs for the most part, save the Mogami, Conq, and GK until those two premiums came along (also the torpedo options for some DDs), but one configuration always seemed to be superior without question, and the other option non-competitive. Monaghan and Harekaze actually had builds that you might want to play rather than simply a step on the tech tree, so maybe we can do it for Poland's only ship. I don't do much with stats, and this is just an idea, so maybe someone more inclined can flesh this out if they are bored or interested. We currently have her in the 1937, as-built, configuration. She had two modifications in her lifetime, and I would give each a role to play: A-Hull - 1939 configuration, the Gunfighter/Cap Bully: differs from her existing config by removal of the aft torp tube and installation of a QF 3-inch 20 cwt AA gun (which I would make a DP secondary, just for funsies, maybe a 4km base range, 4 sec reload with 1/4 pen), and deletion of the searchlight towers above the bridge and forward of the rear gun mounts. This lowers height and I would argue should provide a slight concealment adjustment (500m?), and maybe even an improvement on the forward firing arc for the X gun mount. I don't know if this compensates for having only 3 torp tubes. Maybe a Torpedo Reload Booster (no idea on time to reload, with only 3 tubes 5 seconds might be appropriate) should be added as an additional consumable slot with a choice between it and Def AA (see next). 1/4 pen on the main battery? B-Hull - 1941 configuration, the AA Screen or Torpedo Boat (consumable based): Main battery swapped for the 4 x 2 102mm DP guns (the secondary gun on Cossack and several other Brit warships). Rear torpedo tube re-installed, the 3-inch goes away. Single 20mm AA mounts replace the twin 13.2mm. The new main battery is less effective because the rounds don't have 1/4 pen, so being a cap bully is less attractive, especially when up-tiered. IFHE would be mandatory for the build, but the weapons would be next to useless against cruisers or battleships. Def AA makes her a nightmare for CVs, or the reload booster lets her shoot 12 torpedoes with a British narrow spread or single fire launch option. With the concealment boost from the lower height mentioned above, she now has a 1.7km stealth launch window. Perhaps 1/4 pen will have to be gifted to the guns on this hull, but that can be worked out in testing. Maybe she shouldn't have the Torpedo Reload Booster/Def AA slot on the A-hull at all, or maybe it's a swap of existing consumables on that hull (smoke/reload booster and speed boost/def AA) like on some other ships, but I think her history gives us room to work with. If WG wants to, they can even release Grom later on as the original 1937 configuration for anyone who really loves Błyskawica the way she is now.

The old version of VMF DD line thread I hope you folks still remember this pic from the past dev's diary more than 2 years ago Based on the recent update, Project 41 Neustrashimy is now officially an Armory-exclusive premium DD available in store, but purchasable with Steel currency either earned from Ranked & Clan Battles or exchanged from Coal stockpiles. And as was expected by technological standpoint, Neustrashimy appear as a Tier IX DD with a decent torpedo armament with a decent range of 10.0 km, as well as in the size of Ognevoy (though marginally larger) in terms of concealment profile. Previously, the devs have yet to see the viability of introducing those three postwar DDs that were kept in the shelf for a long time. Now that they decided to bring in the one-of-the-kind Neustrashimy as a premium Tier IX DD to test the high-tier waters & possibly thorough tests went well, that would mean they can see for the remaining two DDs - Project 30-bis Smeliy or Skoryy by NATO designation & Project 56 - Spokoinyy or Kotlin by NATO designation. So far in my gameplay on Ognevoy, it was really struggling at first. But once fully upgraded, she/he actually performing well in his/her full potential on holding capture points, destroy ships with torps from a good distance & even more so with Defensive AA that added more useful roles for the supposedly underarmed DD. I usually end up in the top 5 of the team with him/her. Nevertheless, Ognevoy is still viably good on high-tier gameplay at best (while atrociously mediocre at worst if performed poorly), although being more supportive & less aggressive unlike the VMF DLs such as Minsk, Kiev, Tashkent & Khabarovsk in the flotilla leader line. This shall be my one last attempt to push for the introduction of the remaining two VMF DDs to become a reality. How will they be introduced & how would their roles be? It will form a small sub-branch line for those two postwar DDs which will branch out from Tier VIII Project 30-K of Ognevoy. Given that Project 30bis Smeliy was a direct evolution from Ognevoy, it is fittingly make sense from the technological standpoint. However, those duo will have a more restricted offensive role by primarily relying on torpedoes much more often & will be a lot more proactive on supporting roles on providing air defense cover, spot ships hidden from line-in-sight with small radar & maybe picking up incoming torpedoes & ships hidden from plain sight if sonar is equipped. Giving them a full access to utility consumables is the only feasible way to make them useful for fleet communications & surviving on top-tier gameplay matches. Tier IX: Project 30bis – Skoryy (Smeliy – Courageous, Bold, Brave) The first post-war destroyer class commissioned into the VMF service after WWII. Despite this fact, Skoryy was derived from the pre-war Ognevoy-class – as Project 30bis. More precisely, she was developed directly from Pr. 30K – a redesigned variant of the Ognevoy-class. Unlike the revised Ognevoy design (Project 30K), Skoryy was accommodating a few post-war technologies, including post-war torpedoes on the later batches. Therefore, it in turn given better parameters than her predecessors. But other than that, many were partly unchanged from the preceding variant, as she retained the original Ognevoy’s propulsion system. 70 ships were laid down and constructed as the VMF’s first step to rebuild their large ocean-going navy from scratch, with a few were transferred to Poland, Egypt and Indonesia in later years. The Naval Ministry regarded her as an obsolete class by the Cold War standards due to her retaining the pre-war heritage, however. Nevertheless, the Skoryy-class has served both the VMF and its respective transferred navies up to the peak of Cold War as in 1984. Throughout the service period, Skoryy-class was supplemented with the more advanced Kotlin-class along the way. The hull upgrade shall be based on Project 31, which was technically a modified Skoryy variant with stronger AA armaments, better machinery and sensor equipment – radar and sonar. As a post-war destroyer, she shall be the first destroyer in the line to equip with a small radar consumable with smaller detection range than her cruiser colleagues when upgraded, as a mean to make up her weak main gun firepower for more utility role. Combine with her Ognevoy-sized profile and long-ranged torpedoes, she would function like a Japanese destroyer that excels in torpedoes armament. Specs & parameters (TTX): Unfortunately, Smeliy had to resort to be armed with B-2-U twin DP gun turrets straight on stock ship. Just as how Udaloy ended up armed with B-2-U by default after the DD line reorganize update. As stated above, Smeliy would also beginning to consider equip with either a hydroacoustic sonar or a small surveillance radar with small radar scan radius, to further enhance his/her utility usefulness along with Spokoinyy in a more supportive niche roles beside equip with Defensive AA, Smoke Generator, Engine Boost & Repair Party combined. Other than that, Smeliy also had to be armed with a more superior torpedoes with much longer range, which is better if recommend a 53-XX series long range torpedoes with the maximum range of 10.0 - 13.0 km range. Tier X: Project 56 – Kotlin (Spokoinyy – Calm, Tranquil, Quiet) Project 56 – Kotlin-class was considered as the VMF’s first true post-war destroyer with full post-war armaments, machinery and technologies brought into serial production since 1953. The Kotlin-class was in fact developed from Project 41 – Neustrashimy, which was considered too expensive for economical series production possibly due to the predecessor’s destroyer leader root – Project 47, despite with their advanced shipbuilding methodology & capacity. About 32 of them were laid down and built in between 1953 and 1957. 27 ships were completed and commissioned into service, with the remaining 4 completed as Project 56E - Kildin and the last vessel cancelled. Kotlin-class, together with Skoryy-class, became the post-war mainstay workhorses for the Soviet VMF, and was initially the last conventional artillery surface warship class alongside the Sverdlov-class cruisers, later as guided-missile warships serving the navy up to the near end of the Cold War circa 1990. Moreover, thanks to her vast potential of versatilities, the Kotlin-class became the first destroyer pattern to exploit and expand into a series/branches of perspective purpose-built destroyer classes with different specialized focuses in mind – Pr. 56PLO (ASW), Pr. 56K (air defence DDG), Pr. 56A (anti-ship + air defence + ASW DDG), Pr. 56EM, 56M & 56U – Kildin-class (anti-ship DDG). In the later years, some of those specialized Kotlin series were in turn further developed into Pr. 57A – Kanin & 57bis – Krupny (both designated as Gnevny-class) that were capable of operating Ka-15 and later Ka-25 helicopters. In other words, Kotlin-class represented as the foundation of the VMF’s purpose-built destroyer series such as these, which would later aided the development of a unified multipurpose destroyer class a few decades later, Project 956 – Sovremennyy. Most of all, Kotlin can be arguably considered as a pioneering warship platform to the foundation of large anti-submarine ship class (BPK), which is a patented terminology made famous in the Soviet Navy and later the Russian Navy. It is a purpose-built ship class specializes in ASW role regardless of destroyers and cruisers nature. Historical engineering background aside, Kotlin will never have guided missiles in-game because the lead ship, Spokoinyy, never underwent guided missiles upgrade. So instead, her upgrade will be an enhanced AA armament such as upgrading all 45mm with 57mm AA autocannons in addition of two 25mm quad AA mounts and better manoeuvrability. Like Skoryy - Smelyy, she equips with a surface-search radar as a compensation of her disadvantaged main gun firepower in exchange for extra operation flexibility, albeit with much better modern torpedoes and much stronger AA firepower in combination of her state-of-the-art 130mm SM-2 twin DP guns. That said, Kotlin/Skopkoinyy can be considered as the more advanced and flexible version of Skoryy. Specs & parameters (TTX): Like Smeliy, Spokoinyy/Kotlin can equip with either a hydroacoustic sonar or a small surveillance radar with small radar scan radius alongside Defensive AA, Smoke Generator, Engine Boost & Repair Party combined. To make Spokoinyy/Kotlin even more dangerous than just his/her trusty cutting-edge SM-2-1 twin DP gun turrets, is armed with both the 53-56 13.0 km torpedoes from the upgraded Smeliy & the 53-57 18.0 km unguided torpedoes of which were known for arming the VMF's postwar submarines in the late 1950s. With the 53-57 torpedoes, Spokoinyy will have the 2nd longest torpedo range of 18.0km after Shimakaze's 20.0 km & topped Gearing's 16.5 km. In addition, with the advent of Neustrashimy, there would lead to a possibility that WG could introduce a similar premium DDs for two specific lesser factions in the future - namely Poland & PRC China of the Pan-Asia faction For Poland, it would likely get a few more premium DDs but on their pre-DDG layout:- Smeliy/Skorry-class - ORP Grom & ORP Wicher Spokoinyy/Kotlin-class - ORP Warszawa As for PRC China, the PLAN would very well get the premium Tier IX PLAN Luda on her pre-DDG layout (similar to the PLAN Anshan). The Type 051 Luda-class is China's first domestic built destroyer which was largely based on the Neustrashimy blueprint they brought from the Soviet Union prior to the Sino-Soviet Split conflict that largely took place at the Northwestern border of Xinjiang province. In the development of Type 051 Luda-class, there was one specific documented pre-DDG design variant that was supposed to be armed with a couple of 57mm heavy AA autocannons along with a couple of 25mm 2-M3 light AA mounts or 37mm V-11 AA mounts. Other than that, two of her anti-ship missile launchers can be simply replaced with two quintuple torpedo tubes like the one on Neustrashimy.

No Italian/Regia Marina Dasha? I'm not mad wargaming, just disappointed and sad. Especially since there's bound to be a line for them eventually, same (possibly) for the Commonwealth. Sure its only premium ships currently but that doesn't mean you couldn't've released one anyway, The Italian Navy is not only my favorite from WW2 from a historical standpoint, but also based on designs/looks. As such it deeply saddens me I wont have a Italian Dasha captain to use on them