Impressions -- Ten Games in T7 German DD Maass: It's Maass o Menos

[Taichunger]

Why don't neutrinos play German DDs?
Because they have no Maass!

 

Just finished my tenth game in Maass, the Peoria of destroyers, completely average at everything, yet somehow good. Alas, our language lacks superlatives for averageness. I will have to cudgel the brain for appropriate metaphors...

 

On WarshipsToday for the NA server, Maass ranks 2nd in overall damage average, behind only the Shytsouttorps, and ahead of Leningrad and Kiev. Clearly the experience of players picking up this ship is showing, since in two week data, Maass is fifth, behind Shytsouttorps, Blys, Kiev, and Leningrad, which probably reflects her truer performance. In either case the worst T7 DDs are the two American ones, which don't need buffs, obviously, because they are American.

 

On the RU server Shytsouttorps and Maass are 1-2 for overall average damage, and 2-3 behind Blys for two weeks data. 

 

After 10 games I had 50% win rate, due entirely to my teams -- three craptacular potato teams, which included a Ranger charging the crack on Teats of Sheba a few minutes in, and several teams full of chatter and teamwork, a joy to play with. I neither carried nor cost my team the battle. My average...

 

Average Score per Battle

Experience    1,562.50
Damage caused    40,467.00
Warships destroyed    0.80
Aircraft destroyed    0.00
Main battery hit ratio    41%
Torpedo hit ratio    6%

 

My top damage score was 78K, and 2 ships killed. 

 

Like stock Gaede, everything about this ship is meh (full confession: I grew to like Gaede and kept it. The 150mm guns do good damage and 8 km torps with 6.6 km detect are good enough. It's work, but it rewards effort with decent damage). The only interesting thing is the hydro, which is situationally useful in hunting down DDs. Compared to Gaede, it is a whole new level of meh.

 

The guns are frustrating -- the HE shatters easily, though the fire chance is a respectable 6.5% base, which is useful in tormenting BBs you've just torped. I can't seem to get the AP to do damage to either superstructures or deck-belt gaps and have no citadels despite firing on cruisers at short ranges several times, including Brit CLs. Dunno what I am doing wrong. Fully upgraded with AFT, she has 13 kms range, which hardly matters since if you open fire, you'll become the subject of intense interest. Guns are best used situationally against other DDs or against ships firing at more important things. No invisifiring in this DD.

 

Smoke: My advice would be to avoid the temptation to sit in smoke and plink at ships. The smoke screen lasts 65 seconds and you will have great difficulty getting out without getting killed. I mostly use smoke to escape from being fired at or to smother my team's BBs. At T7 few ships have radar, though that cancer is slowly spreading, so smoke still permits you to escape.

 

Like Gaede, getting damage out of Maass is mostly a function of experience in DDs, I've decided. She's not like Nikolai or Blys, in which anyone can heap piles of damage (full confession: sometimes I let my dog play my Nik. After all, his average damage is higher than mine. If he had opposable thumbs, he'd be unicum). Nope, to get damage, you have to do a lot of work, constant attention to your map and position, because if Maass gets in trouble she often can't get out. Pretty average DD that way.

 

Once you have a 15 point captain (which should be considered mandatory) to get your detect down to 6.8 kms, and you have the 8.5 km torps, you can do yeoman work as a torp boat. You can put torps on boats as far away as 11 kms if they are approaching, and still get hits. Played as a stealth torper, capper, and area control, my playstyle, she does pretty well -- at her tier all the DDs except Shytsouttorps have detect ranges of 6 to 6.8, so pretty much every DD that sees you, you will see soon enough. I capped in every game, sometimes more than one cap (I think also the inexperience of T7 DD drivers is a factor in my capping success with a 6.8 detect DD, lots of gun-shy me-no-cappers out there).

 

Torp reload is 81 seconds, average, with captains skill. The upgraded torps have 8.5 km range at 65 knots for 14,400 damage. Their detect is a piddling 1.3 kms, a powerful hidden asset in stealth torping, since they won't appear until it is too late. Not meh at all. They are especially nasty for DDs sitting in smoke, capping (seriously, why do people do that?). The low torp detect means that even a well-dodged spread will still yield one hit for you.

 

Conclusion: average though it may be, all that average adds up to a pretty good DD that rewards smart, foresighted play with good damage, but punishes thoughtless position errors severely (which I do a lot, being no more than an average player but with tons of experience). Position awareness is uber important in this DD. I expect I will keep this one as well, since I am starting to like it a bit. Dunno where I will find time to play it with Leningrad, Blys, and Shira all waiting their turns in my port. 

Also, a mea culpa to WG. I was completely wrong about their approach to the German DDs. WG actually did an outstanding job with the sudden balancing that so many people said was a bad idea, including me (more than once). In fact, the "problem" of these DDs is that they are so perfectly balanced, nothing stands out. No gimmicks, no fuss, just a whole package that is actually a solid DD, competitive enough at its tier. 

 

PS: Thanks, Devs. The ship model is gorgeous!

[centarina]

I can't drag myself to grind past t22.  that is worst piece  of crap in the whole DD ecosphere.      sounds like the joy continues.  

 

[Lensar]

 

 

Smoke: My advice would be to avoid the temptation to sit in smoke and plink at ships. The smoke screen lasts 65 seconds and you will have great difficulty getting out without getting killed. I mostly use smoke to escape from being fired at or to smother my team's BBs. At T7 few ships have radar, though that cancer is slowly spreading, so smoke still permits you to escape.

 

 

 

I had a fair amount of luck using smoke, waiting a few seconds, then hitting hydro to help me see the (inevitably) incoming torps. In fact, the smoke/hydro/torp thing has worked pretty well for me all the way up the line. (only at Z-23 now)

 

Edit: Was curious, so checked my stats with it.

 

 

 

[Eisennagel]

 

 

Good review.

[Taichunger]

I can't drag myself to grind past t22.  that is worst piece  of crap in the whole DD ecosphere.      sounds like the joy continues.  

 

Seriiously, Gaede is ok.... way more playable...

[Whiteout]

I can't drag myself to grind past t22.  that is worst piece  of crap in the whole DD ecosphere.      sounds like the joy continues.  

 

first ga,e or two I hated this ship too but I grew to love it after I started torpedo spamming and only fighting things up close with the guns. It really is more capable than it appears. I like the Gaede too and I am looking forward to Maass.

[TANSTAAFL]

Nice writeup. I'm only on the Gaede, but I'd definitely agree these ships are the epitome of balance. I like them, all of 'em so far, precisely because they are not one-trick ponies. You have to figure out how to use all aspects of the ship's performance envelope to do well. Not that I, um, do that well, but it's nowhere near as annoying (to me) to play the Germans as it is to play my, say, Fubuki or Kagero; for some reason the IJN DDs don't really click with me.

[Mahrs]

How do you compare these overall with the USN line?  My DD experience is largely from when Warships Today considered me a DD main...so, it's been a minute, heh.  I picked the VMF line back up in the last few weeks and just started playing Farragut again this week.  Using some Christmas present stuff and my new convoy camo to grind that Captain to CE...because playing a mid-tier DD with no conceal module is a big enough handicap as it is.

 

Thoughts:

VMF DD - I like the guns a good bit, the lack of generally usable torps is a pain though.  Burning and harassing is nice, sometimes I want to throw a knockout punch though.  

USN DD - the guns are...well...OK at close range, the torps are...blah.  Knife fighting DD is cool and everything, fighting anything else is high adventure indeed...and sometimes frustrating.

IJN DD - I quit this line at the pre-nerf Minekaze.  Didn't have a CE captain, wasn't up for being a more or less pure torp boat...the appeal is starting to come back, though.  

KM DD - only to Tier IV...not sure what to make of it.  I like the usable torp range a lot...not sure on the guns yet...they seem floaty and mediocre-isch like USN guns so far.  

 

I've heard it said that they are a VMF/USN cross...they almost look more like a USN/IJN cross to me, at least at low tier.  That's why I ask...

[Taichunger]

How do you compare these overall with the USN line?  My DD experience is largely from when Warships Today considered me a DD main...so, it's been a minute, heh.  I picked the VMF line back up in the last few weeks and just started playing Farragut again this week.  Using some Christmas present stuff and my new convoy camo to grind that Captain to CE...because playing a mid-tier DD with no conceal module is a big enough handicap as it is.

 

Thoughts:

VMF DD - I like the guns a good bit, the lack of generally usable torps is a pain though.  Burning and harassing is nice, sometimes I want to throw a knockout punch though.  

USN DD - the guns are...well...OK at close range, the torps are...blah.  Knife fighting DD is cool and everything, fighting anything else is high adventure indeed...and sometimes frustrating.

IJN DD - I quit this line at the pre-nerf Minekaze.  Didn't have a CE captain, wasn't up for being a more or less pure torp boat...the appeal is starting to come back, though.  

KM DD - only to Tier IV...not sure what to make of it.  I like the usable torp range a lot...not sure on the guns yet...they seem floaty and mediocre-isch like USN guns so far.  

 

I've heard it said that they are a VMF/USN cross...they almost look more like a USN/IJN cross to me, at least at low tier.  That's why I ask...

 

I haven't played the USN DD line in a long time. I kept only Fletcher and Clemson. So far, I'd say the USN has better guns but KM has better torps....