Starting down the British cruiser line, but. . .

[TheDreadnought]

I generally don't play cruisers!   Scharnhorst was the cruiser I was always waiting for.   So. . . .

 

What do I need to know about playing British cruisers?  Should I just go the German line instead?  Help a fella out.

[Lert]

RN light cruisers really struggle until tier 5, tier 6 is where they start to get good.

[TheDreadnought]

RN light cruisers really struggle until tier 5, tier 6 is where they start to get good.

 

 

Yeah my plan was to Free XP past any of them that seemed painful.  I guess the question is, do they ever get good/enjoyable?

[The_first_harbinger]

Yeah my plan was to Free XP past any of them that seemed painful.  I guess the question is, do they ever get good/enjoyable?

 

Extremely unforgiving and quite dangerous. Tons of teamplay potential too.

High risk high reward gameplay in a nutshell.

[TTK_Aegis]

They are a nightmare at T2 and T3 IMO. T4 shows improvement. T5 becomes generally playable. 

 

I'd actually recommend playing Black Swan at T1 just to see what AP can do in a land of HE only. 

[Deno]

 

 

Yeah my plan was to Free XP past any of them that seemed painful.  I guess the question is, do they ever get good/enjoyable?

 

I was tempted to do the same, but I played through them normally.  While it can be a struggle to grind through the lower tiers, you'll learn how to play them better if you stick with it.  They're very unforgiving ships, and trying to play them like the other cruiser lines will just get you sunk more often than not.

[SeaborneSumo]

Brit cruisers suck until Fiji.  I mean really suck.  No armor, can't damage anything else.  DDs can pound you into oblivion.

 

If still interested in pursuing this line, understand that for Fiji and beyond its a whole new style of gameplay you must learn.

- no armor

- no HE

- Cit magnet

 

Hide, smoke, shoot and scoot.  Only way to survive.   Even then there will be matches where there is no cover and you're toasted early on.   Been killed many times in my Leander, Fiji and Edinburgh with one shot kills from CAs and BBs.

 

Good luck! 

[TheDreadnought]

They are a nightmare at T2 and T3 IMO. T4 shows improvement. T5 becomes generally playable.

 

I'd actually recommend playing Black Swan at T1 just to see what AP can do in a land of HE only.

 

I loved playing the Black Swan!  I think I scored a personal record for citadel hits.  Too bad they didn't do much damage.  LOL

 

Long que time though.

[TheDreadnought]

Brit cruisers suck until Fiji.  I mean really suck.  No armor, can't damage anything else.  DDs can pound you into oblivion.

 

If still interested in pursuing this line, understand that for Fiji and beyond its a whole new style of gameplay you must learn.

- no armor

- no HE

- Cit magnet

 

Hide, smoke, shoot and scoot.  Only way to survive.   Even then there will be matches where there is no cover and you're toasted early on.   Been killed many times in my Leander, Fiji and Edinburgh with one shot kills from CAs and BBs.

 

Good luck!

 

Hmmm. . . that doesn't sound like much fun.   I was mainly interested in DD hunting.

[alexf24]

RN cruisers get decent at T5 and very good at T7. They do not have HE and they rely heavily on shooting AP from smoke. Very powerful if you do it right. They are very good DD hunters. Concealment is decent and torpedoes are good. They are very squishy (stress on very). Fiji is very good, Edinburgh is good, Neptune and Minotaur are excellent and scary for the opposition. All are squishy (did I say very?).

 

KM cruisers are fun and generally good with some exceptions. Dresden is a fun pew-pew machine. T3-T4 are forgettable. T5 is excellent and the first keeper in the line for me. T6 is an improved Königsberg but to me it does not justify the upgrade considering the tougher tier. Yorck is powerful but quirky. Hipper is good and has excellent AA. Roon is superb (a keeper for me) and I love Hindenburgh's AP (another keeper for me)

 

You can't go wrong with either line, but Brits are tougher to master.

[DoomStomper]

Still waiting until the German DDs are released before starting up this line, as the low tiers shouldn't be so painful when there's plenty of their intended prey floating around.

[kbarry]

 

 

Yeah my plan was to Free XP past any of them that seemed painful.  I guess the question is, do they ever get good/enjoyable?

 

I enjoy my Fiji (and Belfast). Fiji had a 109k damage game last night. I've had enough higher damage games in her, but last nights was a particularly satisfying game.

 

Just remember they are CLs and fragile, like over sized DDs. They are fast, maneuverable and with smoke. And if in brawling range there are always the torps.

 

 

[Ujenele]

 

I was tempted to do the same, but I played through them normally.  While it can be a struggle to grind through the lower tiers, you'll learn how to play them better if you stick with it.  They're very unforgiving ships, and trying to play them like the other cruiser lines will just get you sunk more often than not.

 

This.

RN CAs are not for the novice they require great skill but produce deadly results.  But on the bright side you wont have 'unlearn' what you learned in other CAs.  My advice play them all grind it out and learn how to capt them well.  Danae is awsome fun great at its tier and has a permanent home in my port.  FIji is my next keeper, had so much fun in her I didnt notice I had enough XP for the next ship, I will be keeping her too.

 

They are excellent DD hunters the whole line.  Remeber RN CAs are DD support craft, play it as such and you will have great results.

 

 

[TTK_Aegis]

 

I loved playing the Black Swan!  I think I scored a personal record for citadel hits.  Too bad they didn't do much damage.  LOL

 

Long que time though.

 

When the line first launched the queue was instant and both sides were nothing but Black Swans xD It was honestly pretty fun. Basically whoever was caught broadside to someone else started to melt. 

[Gaglug]

What do I need to know about playing British cruisers?  Should I just go the German line instead?  Help a fella out.

<snip>

Hmmm. . . that doesn't sound like much fun.   I was mainly interested in DD hunting.

 

If you want to hunt DDs, then I wouldn't recommend the German cruiser line either.  I really like the German cruiser line, but I found it to be best employed against other cruisers.   For the most part, AP performance on the German cruisers is far superior to HE performance on most of the boats.

 

Honestly, if I wanted to play a line that specialized in hunting DDs I would pick the US DD line.

[Estimated_Prophet]

All I can add is very minor; I liked the lower tiered RN cruisers. For verious resons I am currently stopped at Emerald and have no motivation or inspiration to advance any further in them. (As a matter of full disclosure, I have Perth and Belfast, and while one is 'Commonwealth' instead of RN, they are effectively my T6 and T7 RN cruisers.)

 

Two related bits; for some reason I seem to like 'hated'  ships, (Marblehead, Mutsuki, Bogue, Myogi,) and my perception is that I do well in them.

 

I also have an intense dislike for playing what a majority put forth as 'IN'  ships, (miditier and higher RN cruisers, Bismark, Tirpitz, Mik K, Zao, and others,) and for the most part refuse to even consider using them...

 

...but that's just me.

[vp961]

I unlocked and bought Minotaur last night. Didnt get the chance to take it out yet.

 

I'm by no means what would  be considered a good player, and I enjoyed the line. Edinburgh was probably the funnest I've had playing so far. I'll be going back to her now that I have the line done.

 

Took me quite a few games to adjust to Neptune. Had my best game of any ship with her. 200k plus 6 kills. Both highs in dmg and kills for me. Lot of early deletes to go along with the good games tho. Keep in mind I'm an old guy and the learning curve is usually steep for me..

 

I've never divisioned before, but can imagine these ships being fun playing like that.

 

Have fun!

 

 

[Soshi_Sone]

RN cruisers get decent at T5 and very good at T7. They do not have HE and they rely heavily on shooting AP from smoke. Very powerful if you do it right. 

 

^^^This^^^

 

I guess the nice thing about RN CA is they are different.  This is a good thing from a game perspective.  I've mainly play USN CA, followed somewhat by IJN and the German line.  It took me several games playing RN CA before I was able to change my mindset appropriate to the RN play style.  As alex said, you gotta "do it right".  If you do it wrong (believe me, I have and still occasionally do) you get squashed quick.

 

If you have a particular play style, then figure out which CA meets that play style.  If you're into variety, play 'em all and keeps the game fresh.  Not to mention the ancillary bonus of understanding the strength/weaknesses when you are up against those same CAs.  

[IronWolfV]

I generally don't play cruisers!   Scharnhorst was the cruiser I was always waiting for.   So. . . .

 

What do I need to know about playing British cruisers?  Should I just go the German line instead?  Help a fella out.

 

rule #1. DON'T GET HIT! seriously those ships cannot take a hit. If you've played a Pensacola, you literally have to play it like one every tier.

[IronWolfV]

 

^^^This^^^

 

I guess the nice thing about RN CA is they are different.  This is a good thing from a game perspective.  I've mainly play USN CA, followed somewhat by IJN and the German line.  It took me several games playing RN CA before I was able to change my mindset appropriate to the RN play style.  As alex said, you gotta "do it right".  If you do it wrong (believe me, I have and still occasionally do) you get squashed quick.

 

If you have a particular play style, then figure out which CA meets that play style.  If you're into variety, play 'em all and keeps the game fresh.  Not to mention the ancillary bonus of understanding the strength/weaknesses when you are up against those same CAs.  

 

Honestly it's like playing a Pensacola with smoke every tier minus HE.  Cause you really live and die by your ability to dodge and not be hit or creating situations where you can fire without taking return fire.

[Edgecase]

Lower tier RN CLs are quite unenjoyable, IMO.

 

Here's a basic tier-to-tier summary:

 

T1 (Black Swan):

T2 (Weymouth): Slow and derpy. Not enough guns. Death by Umikaze.

T3 (Caledon): Massively undergunned. Gets single-fire torps but is always dead before 6km. Placebo-strength repair party. St. Louis is better at everything.

T4 (Danae): More guns, but in all the wrong places. Citadeled 24/7.

T5 (Emerald): Gets two-puff smokescreen that randomly doesn't spawn the second puff. Enjoy +2 matchmaking.

T6 (Leander): Suddenly has 50% more guns and superfiring turrets. Armor upgraded from off-brand tissue to Kleenex Brand.

T7 (Fiji): Now has 12 guns. More maneuverable than T6.

T8 (Edinburgh): Heals buffed from placebo to Resto Druid. Can choose radar if it wants to go back to dying instantly.

T9 (Neptune): Guns point upward, shoots down all the planes.

T10 (Minotaur): Guns go full auto.

[Jim_Byrnes]

 

When the line first launched the queue was instant and both sides were nothing but Black Swans xD It was honestly pretty fun. Basically whoever was caught broadside to someone else started to melt. 

 

Those games were a hoot so much pew-pew! Lol! 

[Paulo2011]

I am only up to Tier 5 myself but I'll offer that if you want to be successful you really must change your assumptions on the game. You desperately want to hide, either behind more juicy targets or behind islands and you must never ever show a broadside. Nor should you rely on spamming shots. You have NO flaming HE shells and all you'll do against long range well armored targets is bounce shells. You have a glass jaw and will sink faster than any ship you have ever owned. You absolutely must play smart and cautious.

 

That said, if you get the hang of it you will find you are a destroyers worst nightmare at close range, you can crit hit any Cruiser you want once you are under 8km and the arcs start to flatten, and you are a blessing to any BB that you decide to protect (either from DD's or with your smoke)

 

I'm not going to say I'm a huge fan of the line. Its not my play style, but I can say that it is a challenge worth taking and the guys I see who are good at British Cruisers are not just good they are downright deadly. (all others are just floating crit hits for me to take advantage of)

[P_S_H]

I generally don't play cruisers!   Scharnhorst was the cruiser I was always waiting for.   So. . . .

 

What do I need to know about playing British cruisers?  Should I just go the German line instead?  Help a fella out.

 

I think you are looking at the wrong cruiser line, RN cruisers have practically nothing in common with Shiny. If you want a good introduction to cruisers you should probably go IJN.

[Axiomaticranger]

Lower tier RN CLs are quite unenjoyable, IMO.

 

Here's a basic tier-to-tier summary:

 

T1 (Black Swan):

T2 (Weymouth): Slow and derpy. Not enough guns. Death by Umikaze.

T3 (Caledon): Massively undergunned. Gets single-fire torps but is always dead before 6km. Placebo-strength repair party. St. Louis is better at everything.

T4 (Danae): More guns, but in all the wrong places. Citadeled 24/7.

T5 (Emerald): Gets two-puff smokescreen that randomly doesn't spawn the second puff. Enjoy +2 matchmaking.

T6 (Leander): Suddenly has 50% more guns and superfiring turrets. Armor upgraded from off-brand tissue to Kleenex Brand.

T7 (Fiji): Now has 12 guns. More maneuverable than T6.

T8 (Edinburgh): Heals buffed from placebo to Resto Druid. Can choose radar if it wants to go back to dying instantly.

T9 (Neptune): Guns point upward, shoots down all the planes.

T10 (Minotaur): Guns go full auto.

 

Nice! But, you forgot: T10 (Minotaur): Turret traverse time makes Linda Blair look slow.