Why play

[Bogo6161]

Regardless how I play, my shots are being ineffective. Yet I can find myself getting creamed even by destroyers, whose rounds do more damage than my battleship shots. So why continue playing a game that for all intensive purposes seems to give my rubber tipped ammo?

[RivertheRoyal]

The answer depends. Are you willing to put in some time to learn about your ammo, how to aim, and when to shoot? 

Being able to make the most of your rounds is something which only comes with time and practice—and to be completely honest, playing a battleship isn't the way to go about learning it. 

Pick a good cruiser line (I'd recommend the Japanese one, it's solid all the way through), and see it to the end. Cruiser guns reload faster than a battleship's do, so missed salvos don't hurt as much, and you're easily able to gauge the correct lead to a target. In addition, you can see what's happening to your shells by enabling something in your menu which will show if they're shattering, penetrating, or overpenning (Someone help me here, I can't remember the name of this option.) 

 

I also recommend watching some videos on youtube about World of Warships—I find that by making note of what better players do, I can better understand my own gameplay and it's faults. iChase is generally good at explaining the mechanics of the game, and what's happening. 

If you need any other help, feel free to ask.

 

[AtlanticRim]

I think the show detailed shell hits is called "Detailed Ribbons" or something like that.

[MrDeaf]

Most games, believe it or not, are puzzles for you to figure out. This includes WoWs.

If you like the feeling of satisfaction from solving a puzzle, over and over again, getting faster and more efficient at it, then you should like WoWs.

If you do not like this puzzle, then there is no point to continue.

[Bogo6161]

Apparently there is no manual and I suck at research and reading. So, I don't know how to use a lot of features, or where to read up on them.

 

I have better luck with battleships than cruisers. My cruiser rounds do little to no damage, regardless to the number of hits.

[RipNuN2]

This will help.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Xn8bx8u8A

[RivertheRoyal]

3 minutes ago, Bogo6161 said:

Apparently there is no manual and I suck at research and reading. So, I don't know how to use a lot of features, or where to read up on them.

 

I have better luck with battleships than cruisers. My cruiser rounds do little to no damage, regardless to the number of hits.

 

Er, when firing at battleships in a cruiser, it might be better to use High Explosive rounds. Cruiser AP only really works inside of 10 km for the most part, and against flat broadside ships. 

In a battleship though, AP normally works best.

 

[Bogo6161]

11 minutes ago, RivertheRoyal said:

 

Er, when firing at battleships in a cruiser, it might be better to use High Explosive rounds. Cruiser AP only really works inside of 10 km for the most part, and against flat broadside ships. 

In a battleship though, AP normally works best.

 

That was inside of 6 km, with a Soviet Kutuzov

[RivertheRoyal]

1 minute ago, Bogo6161 said:

That was inside of 6 km, with a Soviet Kutuzov

 

Why were you 6 km away from a Tirpitz, 6 minutes into the battle? Cruiser don't live long like that.   

[Doomlock]

Learning the right ammo choice for the right target will turn those low damage numbers to higher ones. 

For example: 

18 minutes ago, Bogo6161 said:

I have better luck with battleships than cruisers. My cruiser rounds do little to no damage, regardless to the number of hits.

Despite having a higher damage, AP needs more finesse to use effectively. In this example, I don't know what ship you were in, but I'm assuming a cruiser, AP did only 13k damage. Now, against the sort of target a Tirpitz is, a heavily armored battleship, HE would be a better option.

 

Not only would it do more consistent damage, but it would do more, and light fires which do damage over time. 

 

Keep asking questions, I'll be glad to answer and assist.

[Doomlock]

12 minutes ago, Bogo6161 said:

That was inside of 6 km, with a Soviet Kutuzov

Ah, Kutuzov. 

 

Alright, Kutuzov's main strengths are its long range, high velocity guns, and smokescreen. A good tactic is to find a position where you can fire effectively at enemy ships, and smoke yourself up. Then proceed to fire salvo after salvo of HE at ships lighting them on fire and burning them. 

 

Any ships get too close and your torpedoes are there to discourage any ships. Plus, she has good AA to boot, to keep aircraft away.

 

Now, don't discount AP all together, it will still do damage, most preferably against broadside cruisers, and broadside battleships that are burning from your HE. But don't fire it exclusively, switching it up to engage different targets is a hallmark of a good cruiser player.

[Bogo6161]

21 minutes ago, RivertheRoyal said:

 

Why were you 6 km away from a Tirpitz, 6 minutes into the battle? Cruiser don't live long like that.   

I was hiding behind an island formation when she popped around. I was trying to smoke out a destroyer. Got a destroyer sooped up on quadruple steroids.

 

Maybe it's my style of play. I don't sit back and lob shells at targets of opportunity. I like to close with the enemy, and duke it out.

[Doomlock]

21 minutes ago, Bogo6161 said:

Maybe it's my style of play. I don't sit back and lob shells at targets of opportunity. I like to close with the enemy, and duke it out.

Then perhaps try different ships. Some battleship lines are well suited for that style of play, such as the German ones. 

[knice_destroyer]

28 minutes ago, Bogo6161 said:

Maybe it's my style of play. I don't sit back and lob shells at targets of opportunity. I like to close with the enemy, and duke it out.

Edited 23 minutes ago by Bogo6161

It is my man.. Take it from me, I was the same way, I wanted to charge out there and duke it out with the enemy.  However the problem is you will get focused down quickly because you are the first ship the enemy sees if you do that and die quickly without doing much damage.  In the Kutuzov, your smoke and range is your best friend.  Use your friendly dds as your vision, pop smoke when necessary and spam HE at range, use your torps only as a last resort if a ship tries to get too close for comfort.  Run IFHE and Demo expert as well as AFT for captain skills you should have a blast.  Hope some of this helps ya and best of luck out there.

[Bogo6161]

5 minutes ago, knice_destroyer said:

It is my man.. Take it from me, I was the same way, I wanted to charge out there and duke it out with the enemy.  However the problem is you will get focused down quickly because you are the first ship the enemy sees if you do that and die quickly without doing much damage.  In the Kutuzov, your smoke and range is your best friend.  Use your friendly dds as your vision, pop smoke when necessary and spam HE at range, use your torps only as a last resort if a ship tries to get too close for comfort.  Run IFHE and Demo expert as well as AFT for captain skills you should have a blast.  Hope some of this helps ya and best of luck out there.

Going to try that with my Vice-Admiral on the Tirpitz. See if that improves things.

[Umikami]

2 hours ago, Bogo6161 said:

Regardless how I play, my shots are being ineffective. Yet I can find myself getting creamed even by destroyers, whose rounds do more damage than my battleship shots. So why continue playing a game that for all intensive purposes seems to give my rubber tipped ammo?

You should talk with this player; I think he can help you.

Dark_Krickett_1    0

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[Bogo6161]

4 hours ago, Umikami said:

You should talk with this player; I think he can help you.

Dark_Krickett_1    0

• Seaman Recruit
• 
• Members
• 0
• 6 posts
• 71 battles

How is another disgruntled player going to help?

[_Rumple_]

6 hours ago, Bogo6161 said:

I was hiding behind an island formation when she popped around. I was trying to smoke out a destroyer. Got a destroyer sooped up on quadruple steroids.

 

Maybe it's my style of play. I don't sit back and lob shells at targets of opportunity. I like to close with the enemy, and duke it out.

594 battles, in a higher tier cruiser that relies on stealth, good aim as it's more of a squishy sniping cruiser, and map awareness for a good exit strategy if you get focused. Such a bad combination. Yet, I did exactly what you are doing, but in WoT by playing a T8 premium Jagdtiger 88 with minimal normal tier play. My suggestion is to put your premium aside for a while, and focus on going up one line in the tech tree. As someone previously mentioned, japanese cruisers would be a good starting point. 

Realize the mistake you made, much like I had to in WoT, and go back to the basics.

[Umikami]

6 hours ago, Bogo6161 said:

How is another disgruntled player going to help?

Because he is not only disgruntled, and as disgruntled as you, but in a completely different way; he thinks BB's are too strong and DD's need buffs. If you get together with him, you will learn to be a better BB player by learning DD tricks, and he will become a better DD player by learning BB tricks. I know it sounds insane, but the very best way to learn how to deal with any type of ship that constantly gives you grief is to play one. You could play some DD's with him; he could play some BB's with you, and you could both learn something about ships which are causing you to pull your hair out by the roots.

Or you could just go ahead and give up. Hey, just my opinion.

[Ghostdog1355]

I'd listen to Umikami. He has some good advice. Lot's of battles and has good posts.

[Umikami]

3 hours ago, Ghostdog1355 said:

I'd listen to Umikami. He has some good advice. Lot's of battles and has good posts.

I'd like to say: Thank You! (and at least ONE of the things he said is true; I have played in a lot of matches. The rest is debatable!)

[RotorRider]

Im going to have to agree with Bogo on this one.  I just had a cruiser hit me once in a BB and took 1/4 of my health, but I hit him with 3 AP shells and did about 2000 damage.  The mechanics in this game are so poor as to be laughable.  Add to that the inaccuracy of the shells, and you wind up with a game that doesn't require or allow any skill whatsoever.  You just click and hope.  Add the bonus mission that winds up being damned near impossible, and you have a game that is beyond frustrating.

 

[Texas_Vet]

On 10/15/2017 at 4:41 PM, Bogo6161 said:

Regardless how I play, my shots are being ineffective. Yet I can find myself getting creamed even by destroyers, whose rounds do more damage than my battleship shots. So why continue playing a game that for all intensive purposes seems to give my rubber tipped ammo?

When I started, Tier 1 and 2 was fun.  As I pushed to advance to higher tiers (5, 6, and 7), I got smashed.  Once in a while, a good game, usually creamed.  So what I did was pick one country and class of ship, and do nothing but watch youtube for that ship, and play against bots.  Watch and listen to the tactics.  Then play that ship.  Do NOT work to get to a higher tier until you can go in and expect:  Do damage, Support the team, Win the match, and start to sink the red team ships.  When you are consistent in doing damage and winning, with a few ship kills, then take those tactics to a normal battle.

Do not show your broadside!  Anything can kill you!  There have been so many matches where I got slammed without even seeing an enemy ship! I am now focusing on US DD's first, cruisers second.  I do not do good with BB's or carriers.  Find what is interesting, stick with it, learn, adapt, think, then you will start to have fun.

I realized it was my tactics, my game play that caused me to get sunk early.

On 10/16/2017 at 0:34 AM, _Rumple_ said:

594 battles, in a higher tier cruiser that relies on stealth, good aim as it's more of a squishy sniping cruiser, and map awareness for a good exit strategy if you get focused. Such a bad combination. Yet, I did exactly what you are doing, but in WoT by playing a T8 premium Jagdtiger 88 with minimal normal tier play. My suggestion is to put your premium aside for a while, and focus on going up one line in the tech tree. As someone previously mentioned, japanese cruisers would be a good starting point. 

Realize the mistake you made, much like I had to in WoT, and go back to the basics.

So very true!  If you are having problems at tier 4, what makes anybody think they will improve with a higher tier ship if you use the same tactics/game play?

[Bogo6161]

While my damage has gotten better, it's offset by lousy teamwork. Seriously. 9 out of 10 times, I get a team that instead of working together, scatter like wildfire in a windstorm. 

[kerensky914]

1 hour ago, Bogo6161 said:

While my damage has gotten better, it's offset by lousy teamwork. Seriously. 9 out of 10 times, I get a team that instead of working together, scatter like wildfire in a windstorm. 

Trust me, we *all* struggle with that.  That's one reason why the better players play almost exclusively in divisions.  That way they have one or two players on their team that they know they can trust.  Or so I hear (since I almost never division, and boy do my stats prove this point...)