Graf Spee Fan Club

[TenguBlade]

I've had her for about 5 days, but only today was I able to play her.  Goodness gracious, while she's labeled as a cruiser, I think it's because of her DD-like handling and BB-caliber weaponry canceling out to CA-grade ship.  The accuracy, especially at 10-12km, is what I dreamed of with Scharnhorst (though she has 3 more guns to make up for it, those devastating multi-cit hits don't seem to happen for me past 7km), the guns hit harder than Scharnhorst's (thanks for nerfing it WG), the torpedo arcs are amazing (though I've yet to land one), and a tankiness among same-tier CAs not seen until Moskva.

 

I wasn't planning on playing her very seriously or much at all after unlocking the Christmas Convoys mission.  That changed on my first sortie out.  Using all standard consumables, hydro instead of DF (the match had a CV), with no upgrades/flags installed (besides Military Month Contributor), and the stock 1-point captain, I pulled this off.

 

I'd like to take this moment to apologize to Ajatcho for that out-of-the-blue triple citadel.  I snap-shot fired my front turret as I was keeping an eye on the enemy Dunkerque, and I somehow persuaded RNGesus to give me a godlike shell grouping on a salvo that I actually aimed.  Don't hurt me

Well, right after that, I doled out the doubloons for a 3-point captain (I wanted the Christmas Convoy 10-point guy on my German DDs because I figured I'd need all the crutches I could get as a bad DD driver) - thank you dseehafer for the gift - and stacked on the premium consumables and flags.  Didn't do so well in the next match, since our BB drivers insisted on camping at the edges of the map in Shards, but I still pulled over 60k despite it being a mostly-BB match, the only other CAs on both teams being Graf Spees.

 

I couldn't have been more wrong to doubt the Spee's abilities.  Her turning circle is obscenely tight, superior to all but a select few vessels at any tier she can see, she responds to the throttle as handily as an American cruiser, and her guns are murder.  Having played the Scharnhorst, I thought I had a decent idea of how to use these weapons, and in some respects, I did: for instance, the Kongo captain was confident I would use HE on him and broadsided, only to be greeted by a 5k salvo to the face from just my front turret.

 

Those little things about Spee's guns the 1-tier lower enemies added up to a world of difference.  Whereas a bow-on BB, even if I could get superstructure pens on with the Scharnhorst, would be dealt with using HE, the Graf Spee has the accuracy for me to have faith in landing a multi-pen salvo for upper-4-digit damage values, hence I might not even use HE period.  The extra alpha is also felt when dealing with CAs, although in this realm Scharnhorst's heavier weight of fire offset Spee's somewhat-greater accuracy and higher AP  alpha.  The realm where this is felt, and perhaps most severely, is versus DDs.  1 overpen is almost 10% of a T6 DD's HP, whereas 1 overpen from Scharnhorst is about 5% of a T7's.  And a single normal pen from either ship could devastate a T5 or T6 DD, but Spee has the accuracy to land them out from farther away and sometimes even land multiple hits of any type: a single normal pen and overpen from Spee can deal almost 25% of a DD's max HP, as the Farragut in the match results found to his chagrin.

 

As for her tankiness, it genuinely surprised (and highly amused) me how many Spees bounce my shots, and how many shots I bounced in mine - for whatever reason, that 100mm armor belt seems to draw all shells towards it just to have them autobounce.  The ship can be citadeled if you broadside, but while angled, she's astoundingly tough for a CA; the normal-pen damage can be dealt with by the Repair Party, and the citadel can't be harmed if you're at the right angles.  I suspect this may be partially people not knowing how to aim against her, but I never knew one could milk so much out of just 100mm max of armor.  It's still not as good as Moskva where it gives you the ability to toe-to-toe with BBs without instantly dying, but it's pretty damn close.  The only problem comes if someone gets smart and aims for the 19mm bow, because it's thick enough to cause normal pens on its own.

 

The only real complaints I have about the ship are her secondary range and the torpedo reload time.  I suspect the torpedo reload time is just me coming off the Scharnhorst's lightning-quick 66 seconds, but I really don't understand the secondary range.  Why is it 4.2 km when all other T6 CAs have 4.5 or higher, hell, Leander, who should hardly be getting use of that at all, has 5km range for no reason.  The speed is a bit of a letdown when you're being chased, but the Germans were sound in their thinking: you literally can gun down anything that outruns you, and those that can gun you down are either slower or only just as fast.  And I've also found it to be a restraint on my highly-aggressive playstyle in CAs, which is to run into caps behind DDs, wipe everything in sight out, take the cap, then retreat under smoke.  To be honest, I think Spee would prefer I drive her that way too.

 

Welp, standard Fan Club drill from here.  Good luck and fair seas, everyone, and I hope you're enjoying Graf Spee as much as I am!

[CanuckTheCanadianGoose]

Play is like a heavy cruiser and youre ok. I honestly love it. 

[Captain_Dorja]

Finally putting in my reply.

 

I only have a few matches in my Graf Spee, but so far I enjoy her quite a lot. It is reasonably agile, and the AA is better than I expected for her tier (no, I don't have Defensive Fire). She isn't fast enough, but is also not criminally slow, so I can make it work. Her firepower is extreme, but you have to make it work for you. My numbers aren't great. Only 12 matches, 6 wins. I've averaging about 47,000 damage and 1300 exp (with premium). 34% main battery hit rate is ok I think, but I have fewer than a kill per match. My best result so far is 97,500 damage, 2 kills and 2069 exp.

 

I'm hot or cold in the ship. I either do really well (damage wise, if I deal more than 50,000 with a mid tier cruiser I call that doing well, and more than like 60,000 is really well - it also depends a bit on the targets), or I get caught out in a bad spot and lose all my HP turning to withdraw. Overall, I like the ship, but I wouldn't say it's for everybody.

[SireneRacker]

I like Graf Spee, but only when I don't face three Bismarcks in one match.

[Estimated_Prophet]

Played her in both modes with a 1 point and 15 point captain, and haven't had any complaints so far!

[MexicanPanda]

I like mine. Haven't been able to get much use out of the torps yet, but when I smacked a Bismarck the other day for 11k, I knew I had a winner. =P Would really love to have 1km more of range, but so far I've been able to make due.

[BanditSE1977]

I have a feeling the reason the secondaries don't have more base range is due to giving the torps an extra 2km range.I guess to make up for a lack of primary turrets?

 

I'd take the standard 6km torps to get better base range on the secondaries though.

 

And did you mount he speed flag?You get 30 kts then.

 

 

 

If anyone wants a laugh,or just to shake their head,read this thread I found on the EU forums:

 

Free Graf Spee was a mistake.WG take it back.

 

http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/71301-free-graf-spee-was-mistake-wg-take-it-back/#topmost

 

 

[TenguBlade]

I have a feeling the reason the secondaries don't have more base range is due to giving the torps an extra 2km range.I guess to make up for a lack of primary turrets?

 

I'd take the standard 6km torps to get better base range on the secondaries though.

 

And did you mount he speed flag?You get 30 kts then.

 

If anyone wants a laugh,or just to shake their head,read this thread I found on the EU forums:

 

Free Graf Spee was a mistake.WG take it back.

 

http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/topic/71301-free-graf-spee-was-mistake-wg-take-it-back/#topmost

I did use the speed flag.  I was noting that a lot of other people complained about Graf Spee's speed, but the 3-knot disadvantage over other CAs actually encouraged me to play her more like I should be playing her.  Even with heavy cruisers, I have a nasty habit of running into caps to mug DDs - not exactly a recipe for longevity, although usually there's 1-3 dead ships on the enemy team for it.

 

The 8km torps are good, but honestly I think that the German CA line needs a buff in general. In essence, Graf Spee's torps are right where they should be, while the other CAs should start getting longer-ranged fish like those on their DD counterparts from T6 onwards (therefore her heavier secondary battery compensates for the slow-reloading main guns instead of torpedoes, meaning she should have 4.5km range minimum).  The logic kind of falls flat on its face when Spee is performing so well amongst T6 CAs though.

[Falls_USMC]

My first game with her (out of 5) has definitely been my best. Haven't come close to this since, but it shows the potential this ship has. Lots of fun, and a very interesting and unique playstyle. Look forward to playing her more once I stop using higher tier ships for the Santa Convoy missions. 

 

[TenguBlade]

Played on Valk's account, as a favor to him since he has midterms this week and wanted the Leander permanent camo.  I wanted to try the Dunkerque and Atlanta, so I obliged.  Dunkerque is fun, but I still got bored and drifted over to the Graf Spee for the last battle.

 

By the way, it was the Konig I CQE'd.  Both citadels also came from the Kongo.

Of course, after that my Spee performance on my own account dropped into the toilet for several matches, per my normal luck.  And, of course, I run into forumites while in the midst of my "walk in and fall flat on your face" streak.  I expect behindurback is never going to let me hear the end of that match...

[Beorn_of_the_NorthernSea]

The trajectory of those guns!  MAN!  Like lasers!  I love my Graf Spee!

 

This makes me SO happy!

 

Better than anything I ever got in World of Tanks (sorry WG, but I loves me some Warships!)

 

~B

[TenguBlade]

I said it in the OP and I'll say it again, the 100mm belt bounces so many shots for seemingly no reason at all.  I don't understand how or why, but I bounced 12 14" shells from that New Mexico at 4km before hitting him with torpedoes.

 

 

[vonKaiser]

In the right circumstances she can be an absolute little terror.  Love how different she plays.  i tend to play her to the way I would play a commerce raider in WOWS.  Now granted I'm not going to come up against cargo ships but cruisers?  Yeah they are a tasty snack in the right situation.  Even BB's can be hit for impressive damage, just have to be careful they don't hit you back though.