On the threshold of tier 9...

[cmdr_raccoon]

Edit: eh title suppose to be threshold of going past t8...

 

So, having progressed faster than i planned for with heavy grinding for ARP Missions, my German ship line is very close to finishing tier 8, both battleship and cruiser and so will be able to unlock the respective tier 9s soon (hipper is 3k away!). Still contemplating to go forward and finally go past tier 8 or still ignore tier 9 or higher. Anyway had a few things ive been wondering..

 

1. One concern is just how much, or how high a performance in match is needed to at least break even in tier 9 ships... without premium. Yes, I know... "higher tier suppose to be funded by lower tier ships" or so the saying goes, unless premium time. I don't really care for premium time, never bought it, and my regular expenditure on WoWs is usually on doubloons and ships (a friend of mine once remarked,why i bother with premium ships when some premium ships are worth as much as a AAA game! ). I'm only asking though just to get an idea of things though. Currently i have no problem making positive earnings in any of my tier 8s.

 

2. Now going past the Hipper... The Roon. I heard people say Ibuki is bad. I heard people not liking D. Donskoi. Notser certainly said so. But the Roon, how does she fare? good? bad? or are all t9 cruisers garbage? I heard talks of the Hipper/Prinz eugen and of course Hindenburg but Roon is noticeably not mentioned often.

 

3. FdG. This one has quite a few comments on her so far I've read. But as always in t9-10 KM BB, it's always get the 420mm! get the 420! So... what about the 406mm guns? Can that be viable? I normally prefer faster firing guns and since...well, almost the entire german BB line, and preference wise, have been willing enough to trade gun caliber for rate of fire. Or is this where we finally go "forget faster firing guns if you dont want to die in flames!!"

 

4. FdG has 300mm belt??? That's 20mm less than Bismarck! How can she brawl???  Ok Ok.. i know, turtleback, but just curious does that 20mm thinner belt have any severe effect on tanking stuff with bismarck style gameplay?

 

I'll probably go for one first and much much much later, maybe, go for the other.

[_ENO_]

BB wise I'd stick at tier 8 with a fully frocked Bismark and enjoy it. Not to say the FDG isn't great in many applications but Bismark is a real comfort zone for that line- properly speced of course. 

[YamatoA150]

1.  Enough damage equivalent to 2 opposing ships of the same tier or better, roughly (easiest being 2 DDs; since rewards are % Damage Dealt per target).  Though more damage dealt at all is better.  So working aiming skills are mandatory (I find it's easier to start off playing BBs, then shift over to cruisers afterwards, rather than vice versa).

 

2.  Skipped Roon.  Didn't like her runaway playstyle (tried her on PT a few times while debating whether or not to buy her in the NA server), though that's more due to me preferring to be a little aggressive with KM cruisers.  Which is funny considering I enjoy Nurnburg.  Granted, for me, it's smoother shifting between Hipper/Eugen/Hindenburg (and Zao even though she's IJN) due to 4 turrets and relatively fast velocities, so no need to shift playstyle much (and I can go bow on or sharply angled and still have two turrets to work with).

 

3.  406mm are fine if you can consistently land them (meaning get closer), and are spec'ing FdG (and GK for that matter) for RoF on the main guns rather than for a pure secondary build.  Granted, it's situational, and both work well.  I just opt for the 16" on FdG since unlike GK, she only has 8 guns vs the 9~12 guns she sees, so being able to output more big shells at all helps (esp. now at closer ranges where KM BBs supposedly gain buffed accuracy), despite a slight loss in damage per shell on a partial pen, pen, or citpen.  On GK, 420mm are generally better due to slightly better pen (? I believe due to the caliber difference in regards to any overmatch vs cruisers and lesser BBs, at any rate), AP damage, in addition to having 12 guns.  Though one might consider also using the RoF reload on the 420mm cannons, as they have a base reload of about 32s vs 30s of all other T10s.

 

4.  By angling a bit more often.  Not that it seems to make much of a difference when you're being pounded on all sides (due to being over-aggressive).