Don't Start With Cruisers!

[Drakausa]

My personal advice to new players is simple. Do NOT start with that lovely cruiser line. Those babies get good speed, maneuverability and guns along with great ROF (Rate Of Fire). I realize that we have to start with that first free ship and have to work them up to Tier 3 for a BB, and the DD is certainly a fun ship but does require a steeper learning curve. But as soon as you start with that little cruiser, ignore the DDs and get a BB from the first possible moment. Get accustomed to the slow speed, glacial maneuverability and mind numbing ROF. It is a better learning curve (flatter) and by the time the pull of that fleet lovely cruiser is too much to bear when you do get to them, T4 and higher, you will have a blast. Everything is so much fun, win or lose because you get to fight more often. Much better than occasionally slinging big shots downrange under the rule of RNG and dispersion mechanics as well as dodging torps and bombers and torpedo planes like a turning iceberg. If you are an experienced console player (X-Box) then you might want the DD but that type of ship is shuckin and jivin' and hiding for a few wonderful moments taking out a Battleship. Personal taste on that.

 

As for CV, shrug, get at your own risk but suggest you learn about other ship types first because the CV has to maneuver strategically meanwhile managing an RTS style group of aircraft which fight under an AI. Juggling balls in the air is easier.

 

So get used to a BB line at first (not necessarily the whole line, maybe a few from each line) then go to those fun fast fighting cruisers. I know, some Love the DDs and the CVs and it is a good thing they do or we would have a more boring game. But for the most fun that occurs after playing a while in those big BBs the Cruiser lines are a blast. You can always go back if you feel I am full of it!

[Destroyer_Zeka]

My personal advice to new players is simple. Do NOT start with that lovely cruiser line. Those babies get good speed, maneuverability and guns along with great ROF (Rate Of Fire). I realize that we have to start with that first free ship and have to work them up to Tier 3 for a BB, and the DD is certainly a fun ship but does require a steeper learning curve. But as soon as you start with that little cruiser, ignore the DDs and get a BB from the first possible moment. Get accustomed to the slow speed, glacial maneuverability and mind numbing ROF. It is a better learning curve (flatter) and by the time the pull of that fleet lovely cruiser is too much to bear when you do get to them, T4 and higher, you will have a blast. Everything is so much fun, win or lose because you get to fight more often. Much better than occasionally slinging big shots downrange under the rule of RNG and dispersion mechanics as well as dodging torps and bombers and torpedo planes like a turning iceberg. If you are an experienced console player (X-Box) then you might want the DD but that type of ship is shuckin and jivin' and hiding for a few wonderful moments taking out a Battleship. Personal taste on that.

 

As for CV, shrug, get at your own risk but suggest you learn about other ship types first because the CV has to maneuver strategically meanwhile managing an RTS style group of aircraft which fight under an AI. Juggling balls in the air is easier.

 

 

So get used to a BB line at first (not necessarily the whole line, maybe a few from each line) then go to those fun fast fighting cruisers. I know, some Love the DDs and the CVs and it is a good thing they do or we would have a more boring game. But for the most fun that occurs after playing a while in those big BBs the Cruiser lines are a blast. You can always go back if you feel I am full of it!

 

IMO the tier I-III CLs are very noob friendly, save for the RN. As far the most noob friendly line is concerned, I'd say the Russians

[RivertheRoyal]

I went all the way to tier 8 in the IJN cruiser line before even starting another. It taught me quite a bit about good positioning and survivability. 

[Admiral_Thrawn_1]

My personal advice to new players is simple. Do NOT start with that lovely cruiser line. Those babies get good speed, maneuverability and guns along with great ROF (Rate Of Fire). I realize that we have to start with that first free ship and have to work them up to Tier 3 for a BB, and the DD is certainly a fun ship but does require a steeper learning curve. But as soon as you start with that little cruiser, ignore the DDs and get a BB from the first possible moment. Get accustomed to the slow speed, glacial maneuverability and mind numbing ROF. It is a better learning curve (flatter) and by the time the pull of that fleet lovely cruiser is too much to bear when you do get to them, T4 and higher, you will have a blast. Everything is so much fun, win or lose because you get to fight more often. Much better than occasionally slinging big shots downrange under the rule of RNG and dispersion mechanics as well as dodging torps and bombers and torpedo planes like a turning iceberg. If you are an experienced console player (X-Box) then you might want the DD but that type of ship is shuckin and jivin' and hiding for a few wonderful moments taking out a Battleship. Personal taste on that.

 

As for CV, shrug, get at your own risk but suggest you learn about other ship types first because the CV has to maneuver strategically meanwhile managing an RTS style group of aircraft which fight under an AI. Juggling balls in the air is easier.

 

 

So get used to a BB line at first (not necessarily the whole line, maybe a few from each line) then go to those fun fast fighting cruisers. I know, some Love the DDs and the CVs and it is a good thing they do or we would have a more boring game. But for the most fun that occurs after playing a while in those big BBs the Cruiser lines are a blast. You can always go back if you feel I am full of it!

 

Looks at designation of tier 1 ships...

lol granted those as more what you would call patrol boats, but I get what you are saying I am great with Destroyers, Battleships, and probably am going to do well in Carriers as well, but Cruisers tier IV and up are not going so well for me because they can't quite take place of Battleship, nor can they do the job of a Destroyer so will have to read up on Cruiser and figure out ways to use them, but will just have to consider high tier Cruisers I want since mid tier Cruisers will have no jobs to that my others ships won't be able to handle including AA patrol since I plan on getting a Texas...

I am definitely a different sort of person though since I have taken to Destroyers like a duck takes to water in my first week in the game, granted there were some accidents involving my team mates and  Torpedoes, but my aim has since become very precise and now team mates have been harmed since and devastation to enemy ships started good and has been becoming great fir me, but once again I get what you are saying DDs are highly dependent on a player being about to handle their unforgiving nature and I have had such experience from other games so am no stranger to how they handle.

[TenguBlade]

So get used to a BB line at first (not necessarily the whole line, maybe a few from each line) then go to those fun fast fighting cruisers. I know, some Love the DDs and the CVs and it is a good thing they do or we would have a more boring game. But for the most fun that occurs after playing a while in those big BBs the Cruiser lines are a blast. You can always go back if you feel I am full of it!

This is exactly why there are so many stupid battleship players.

[HMCS_Devilfish]

All I play is Cruisers, find BBs boring and suck at DDs because after thousands of games playing Cruisers my Cruiser instinct for DD play is a challange

Cruisers are hard to play because of BBs in particular but once you develop situational awarness its great

[Admiral_Thrawn_1]

All I play is Cruisers, find BBs boring and suck at DDs because after thousands of games playing Cruisers my Cruiser instinct for DD play is a challange

Cruisers are hard to play because of BBs in particular but once you develop situational awarness its great

 

You good with all the cruiser lines or just certain ones?

[pyantoryng]

Well, you kinda have to start out carriers with battleships...

 

Cruisers starts to become fun when tier 6 rolls around...Cleveland, Buddy, Aoba, and Leander all have their fun in one aspect or another.

 

BTW, I started with carriers...because I had been playing carriers for a long time and going battleships and cruisers simultaneously...I didn't touch destroyers until much later, and the free Farragut left me sold.

[Xwing_Red1]

This is exactly why there are so many stupid battleship players.

 

Forsooth!

 

 

[atPrick__]

I couldn't disagree with the OP more. Cruisers are imo the best suited to new players learning this game.

[centarina]

For myself, I play all  the  lines, but enjoy DD and Cruisers the most.      I can do pretty well with all the lines but took a long time to get here.  it just takes practice, but my first success was with IJN DD.  I did lot of jumping.   what I recommend is actually to stay at below T5 in several lines until you start to get some competence.  then decide on a line that you are good with to move up.    meta change at T5 is pretty big for most ships.    There is another meta change at T8.   Don't be in a hurry to get to high tiers.   enjoy the grind and the journey.

[SgtBeltfed]

Best to try a bit of everything, at least far enough to get a feel for what they can do. If nothing else, It'll make it easier to kill them.

[Sethanas]

Id actually recommend the opposite, get yourself a good trial by fire....

 

Battleships need good gunnery skills (Player skill, AKA Aiming) to be anywhere near effective, cruisers allow for a faster acquisition of aiming skill. Also the faster people figure out that broadsides are squishy the better, I find myself farming huge amounts of citadels on BBs even at mid to high tiers because somehow even by the time people hit the Iowa they still haven't figured out that citadels hurt :\

 

USN u to tier 6 is reasonably forgiving, Russian Crusiers are pretty beastly aswell.

[ReddNekk]

I started off with the US Cruiser line, up to the New Orleans and did pretty good. Personally, I aint impressed with BBs below Tier 7 except the Kongo and Arizona.

 

 

As far the most noob friendly line is concerned, I'd say the Russians

 BLEH! They're floating citadels. The Molotov and Kirov, (the only Roo-Shin ships that I've played or ever intend to play) are the only ships I've driven that get cited from ANY angle. They have great guns but they cant fire underwater and that's where they quickly end up.

 

I'd recommend either US, German, or Japanese cruiser lines.

   

[Stonehammers]

Do NOT start with that lovely cruiser line.

 

[centarina]

I started off with the US Cruiser line, up to the New Orleans and did pretty good. Personally, I aint impressed with BBs below Tier 7 except the Kongo and Arizona.

 

 

 BLEH! They're floating citadels. The Molotov and Kirov, (the only Roo-Shin ships that I've played or ever intend to play) are the only ships I've driven that get cited from ANY angle. They have great guns but they cant fire underwater and that's where they quickly end up.

 

 

I'd recommend either US, German, or Japanese cruiser lines.

   

 

Russian can be very strong  but require deft hands and good situation awareness.   mostly support Cruisers at that.

[Giantsgiants]

Personally, I think you should start with cruisers. Their jack of all trades of nature makes them good for learning the basics of the game. You will need those even more should you branch out into the other classes.

[Ju87s]

I couldn't disagree with the OP more. Cruisers are imo the best suited to new players learning this game.

 

^ this

starting off with BBs, new players are going to be firing about twice a minute, getting much less practice with their shots and learning to aim.  They're also going to pick up all the BB habits of staying back "sniping" and carry those bad habits to cruisers.

[Canadatron]

This is exactly why there are so many stupid battleship players.

Very much so. All I could think is "How to train Bads, 101" +1 Tengu.

[TenguBlade]

^ this

starting off with BBs, new players are going to be firing about twice a minute, getting much less practice with their shots and learning to aim.  They're also going to pick up all the BB habits of staying back "sniping" and carry those bad habits to cruisers.

I'd actually argue that the "sniping" mentality works much better for cruisers than battleships.  There's literally an entire line devoted to staying and range and blasting people with railguns: the Russians.  Even German and Japanese CAs function best at range, and unlike BBs are capable of delivering accurate fire as far as their rangefinders will allow them.

 

The only CA line with definitive close-quarters roots is the UK: their guns aren't that strong and the arcs are pretty poor at long range, and that aside they were literally engineered to be DD killers and cap-contesters.  USN CAs are in a weird spot where they can do mid-ranged gunnery duels okay but are much better up close, although they lack the tools to survive at those ranges outside of a 1v1 situation, i.e. smoke and/or heal to avoid being wasted by opportunistic snipers.

[Canadatron]

I'd actually argue that the "sniping" mentality works much better for cruisers than battleships.  There's literally an entire line devoted to staying and range and blasting people with railguns: the Russians.  Even German and Japanese CAs function best at range, and unlike BBs are capable of delivering accurate fire as far as their rangefinders will allow them.

 

The only CA line with definitive close-quarters roots is the UK: their guns aren't that strong and the arcs are pretty poor at long range, and that aside they were literally engineered to be DD killers and cap-contesters.  USN CAs are in a weird spot where they can do mid-ranged gunnery duels okay but are much better up close, although they lack the tools to survive at those ranges outside of a 1v1 situation, i.e. smoke and/or heal to avoid being wasted by opportunistic snipers.

 

I believe that this is where a lot of misunderstanding comes into play with this game. All ships in the same class do not do the same "things", yet how often  do we see players complaining that the secondaries on their USN BB need a buff to compete with German BBs? 

All too often people get hung up on RPS styled class balance and fail to bring national flavour into account. You wouldn't drive screws with a hammer would ya?

No one line is -the solution- to all the in game mechanic woes that some seem to often come up against. There are "impossible" situations even within a single class, (nevermind BB vs DD) like say IJN DD that has the misfortune of popping up beside a hungry USN DD at 6km.

People just need to stop trying to brawl in a snipey ship, snipe in a brawler, or whatever and then complaining about it. Use the right tool for the job and your job gets much easier to accomplish. Wanna go fast? Buy a sports car. Want to haul junk in a trailer, get a truck...

[Mahrs]

I couldn't disagree with the OP more. Cruisers are imo the best suited to new players learning this game.

 

Spot on. People think BB are easy. They are NOT. Slow speed, slow rudders, slow guns all add up to huge requirements in terms of player knowledge to punch at your weight class.  There are few things in the game that are worse to have on a team than a BB driver that cannot position the ship to tank, survive and shoot effectively. To be clear, you can survive longer...and then come cry on the forums when you get wrecked. They are very good for that. 

 

I speak from experience. I headed right for USN BB when I started playing. It was and is a horrible idea. With a few dozen games, I had no concept of gunnery. I had no concept of how to use my armor best. I had no concept of position. I had a WTR of 900 and an average damage of something like 25k in New York after two dozen games in her (or so). I realized I didn't know enough about the game to play BB well. I'm not a potato at heart - I wasn't just going to continue failing because the pretty colors flickered pleasingly on my screen and "you" shouldn't either. I sold my New York and didn't come back to it for something like 1000+ games. Most of those games were played in cruisers. They taught me enough to not be useless as a BB. Moreover, I learned while contributing to my teams. Was I awesome? Did I carry? No, but you can check my stats if you need to be convinced I was not the worthless scrub I was when I tried to start with BB.

 

You know what's funny? After over 1000 games in cruisers, I realized I don't know how to play them either. They're waaaaaaaay more forgiving than people give them credit for.

[Snoozing_Mako]

I agree. Play a BB line first. They have the lowest skill floor.

[Ju87s]

I'd actually argue that the "sniping" mentality works much better for cruisers than battleships.  There's literally an entire line devoted to staying and range and blasting people with railguns: the Russians.  Even German and Japanese CAs function best at range, and unlike BBs are capable of delivering accurate fire as far as their rangefinders will allow them.

 

The only CA line with definitive close-quarters roots is the UK: their guns aren't that strong and the arcs are pretty poor at long range, and that aside they were literally engineered to be DD killers and cap-contesters.  USN CAs are in a weird spot where they can do mid-ranged gunnery duels okay but are much better up close, although they lack the tools to survive at those ranges outside of a 1v1 situation, i.e. smoke and/or heal to avoid being wasted by opportunistic snipers.

 

I've never once sailed a soviet ship in the game, so I can't speak on any of those lines, but as a German cruiser main, I can tell you that whether it's T5 or T10, you're doing crap for damage if you're hanging back taking shots at your max range.

[Sethanas]

 

I've never once sailed a soviet ship in the game, so I can't speak on any of those lines, but as a German cruiser main, I can tell you that whether it's T5 or T10, you're doing crap for damage if you're hanging back taking shots at your max range.

 

Some good HE spammers that'll actually handle and perform pretty well near max range, assuming your own aim is up to the task; However, In general I'd say you're right, most cruisers will be at their best performance from 0-60% of max range, much the same with BBs.

 

A Montana out at 24 KMs is barely a threat, but pull her in to 10-15KM and she probably just became the biggest threat in the match, this applies to most ships I'd say. If you're constantly fighting beyond 60% gun range you're most likely doing it wrong, and getting inconsistent results at best.