Which cruiser line should I pick for my playstyle?

[SFgev]

I've been on and off again with WOWs, and there have been some huge updates since I last played. One thing still remains a constant question for me, which cruiser line should I pick? I don't want to put hard work into grinding one countries cruisers only to find out that it isn't compatible with my play style. I usually pick the USSR because I was under the impression they were glass canons, with weak armor but powerful guns. But with all the recent updates and threads I've been reading, I'm no longer sure.

The most important aspect of my personal play style - are powerful and efficient guns. I will take better guns as a trade for poor armor or speed all day long. I like to play tactically from range anyways, I don't really charge in at full speed, so armor is less important to me than guns that will absolutely shred an enemy. I typically prefer HE shells, but often find myself switching shells depending on the engagement scenario. Keeping this in mind, out of all the countries, which do you guys think fits my play style best?

[Warped_1]

So, you want to kite with powerful guns,  and like HE.  Sounds like IJN to me.

[Hatework]

Get a fully upgraded Furutaka.  It plays the same way as every IJN CA thereafter.  Great guns (HE and AP), great concealment, and good armor backed up by torps.

What's not to love?

 

If you don't like the( fully upgraded) Furutaka, you won't like the rest of the line.

[warpath_33]

Japanese laser guided flamethrowers. You get some good speed too as a bonus.

[Exciton8964]

I also like to suggest IJN cruisers for relatively inexperienced cruiser players. IJN cruisers have good concealment, maneuverability and powerful HE alpha. 

The downsides are their relatively low RoF and turret traverse. However, since you rely on strong alpha anyway, these weaknesses are not that prominent. 

Russian cruisers do fit your description, glass cannons. But their T6-8 ships are light cruisers which rely on high RoF to do damage. So you need to keep firing all the time to reach their damage potential, which is not an easy thing to do.

French cruisers kinda sit in between IJN and Russian cruiser style. But more similar to Russian ones.

[Ie_Shima]

19 minutes ago, SFgev said:

I've been on and off again with WOWs, and there have been some huge updates since I last played. One thing still remains a constant question for me, which cruiser line should I pick? I don't want to put hard work into grinding one countries cruisers only to find out that it isn't compatible with my play style. I usually pick the USSR because I was under the impression they were glass canons, with weak armor but powerful guns. But with all the recent updates and threads I've been reading, I'm no longer sure.

The most important aspect of my personal play style - are powerful and efficient guns. I will take better guns as a trade for poor armor or speed all day long. I like to play tactically from range anyways, I don't really charge in at full speed, so armor is less important to me than guns that will absolutely shred an enemy. I typically prefer HE shells, but often find myself switching shells depending on the engagement scenario. Keeping this in mind, out of all the countries, which do you guys think fits my play style best?

What would be your definitions of powerful and efficient?

By powerful, do you mean individual shell damage, or DPM? 

By efficient, do you mean fast firing, or accurate, or both?

 

Beyond that, a list of national flavors:

 

American Cruisers tend to be primarily focused towards anti-air builds, but are respectable in all categories.  They emulate the "Jack-of-all-trades, master of none..." style of play.  They do not get torpedoes beyond tier 5, but do get radar at tier 8.  

Japanese Cruisers have glorious HE shells, and are known as "flamethrowers" for good reason.  However, they have very slow reloads and turret rotation, making poorly suited for knife-fighting.  Their torpedoes are deadly, but have confined arcs.  AA is mediocre to laughable.  

German cruisers have rapid reloads, fair turret rotation, and high AP shell damage, but very low HP, weak armor, and horrible HE damage.  They are fast, and most ships have torpedoes, but you should not count on them.  They too, get radar at high tiers.  AA is again mediocre to laughable.

Russian Cruisers have the best guns out of any line, but trade that for being terrible, if not the worst, at any other aspect.  Horrible AA, ship handling, concealment, weak armor.  I am not certain if they get torpedoes or radar.

British Cruisers are all light cruisers.  Fast firing guns, but they never get bigger than 6".  They get access to smokescreens, like DDs, and you should use them.  They also get to have damage control.  They are considered the best handling cruisers in game.  Can single fire torpedoes, but AA is below average.  This is in return for having poor armor and the inability to use HE.  

French Cruisers are fast, and can use the engine boost that DDs get.  They also have the longest firing range of any cruiser lines.  However, they have very little armor, and AA is bad.  Guns are average at HE and AP.  

 

I would say go down the Japanese line if you like burning people that much.  Otherwise, Russia or Germany would work just as well.

[SFgev]

It sounds like I do still prefer Russian cruisers, because everyone does say their guns are superior and I like the thought of raining down constant shells with their good RoF. But just based on statistics I see in the game, a lot of these lower end USSR cruisers (T1 - T5) looks like artillery ranks much lower than its direct nation competitors.. Are the guns weaker but with a higher RoF?

[senseNOTmade]

Are you sure you want a glass cannon cruiser? Glass cannons are pretty hard to play and tend to find carrying a bad team hard. Even if you're a good player, you'll end up deleted at least a couple times, which, if it happens to occur multiple times in the same evening, can really ruin your mood.

If it's devastating strike medals you want, then cruisers are exactly the class you should avoid. Just about all cruisers do their damage via attrition, the main variation is in how the avoid taking damage.

 

That all said, as other people have mentioned, if you want long range HE kiting then either IJN or French cruisers are your jam. They tend to have fewer guns but with relatively high accuracy and fire chance.

The USN cruisers arguably have the best guns at most tiers, and while they're fairly decently armoured, to me they always felt the most like glass cannons because their play style involves getting pretty close to enemy BBs while pushing into the smoke and torps of DDs. I rarely survive for long in my USN CAs, but I always do good damage (except in the tier 7-9 bracket), so if it's a take no prisoners, die young, die gloriously playstyle you want, I'd go USN.

Of course, by far the most glass-iest of cruisers are the RN cruisers. Especially at tiers 8+, every single salvo you take will hit your citadel. No matter who's shooting, no matter where they hit. But in return, you get to fire swarm after swarm of angry, stingy AP shells and torps at the enemy. Again, the guns are not the best stat-wise, but the play style of hiding in smokes on the flanks of the enemy push regularly leads to 8k+ damage on enemies of any class. That, or a very early grave.

As I said before, every class cannon grind will involve a few days of [edited] RNG where you just get deleted over and over again. Be sure that's what you want before committing to these ship lines.

[Ie_Shima]

18 minutes ago, SFgev said:

It sounds like I do still prefer Russian cruisers, because everyone does say their guns are superior and I like the thought of raining down constant shells with their good RoF. But just based on statistics I see in the game, a lot of these lower end USSR cruisers (T1 - T5) looks like artillery ranks much lower than its direct nation competitors.. Are the guns weaker but with a higher RoF?

Russians have light cruisers to until tier 8, as others have said, meaning low alpha, rapid fire guns.  

[Stauffenberg44]

Russian flat trajectory guns. Get the premium Molotov.

[Mizzerys_Fate]

IJN TIER 7 up kite throw flaming oil at enemy. Punish broadsides with AP,  but don' get focused.

RU tier 6 up same as IJN with faster shells, but can' turn out of trouble without eating heavy damage.

FRENCH cruisers... stay at long range, shoot HE , AP at broadsides...

Speed boost and dance while racking up damage. Tier 4 up very powerful. 

Tier 6 up has magical spaced armour. THESE sound like your perfect match, did I mention 9 km torps?

[Incendiary_Tanker]

Go Nippon, Kaigun! We have the best ships! Japanese best nation in the game. 

 

*This is Bias talking*  

[poeticmotion]

I would echo the Russian/Japanese suggestion. IJN cruisers are a bit more forgiving and versatile. They shift to heavy cruisers starting at tier 5 (Furutaka), meaning you have a lower ROF but high alpha, and their guns are fairly accurate, although not the railguns Russian cruisers have. They have decent armor for cruisers, decent range, and good torpedoes. The high-tier ones can also be pretty stealthy, allowing you to go dark when you need to if you're getting focused. Russian cruisers can be very good, but you need to be very good at positioning and have good instincts for the flow of the game to carry, as they are not stealthy, are very fragile, and their only outstanding characteristics are their artillery.

Basically, IJN cruisers give up a bit of range and shell arc for more survivability and stealth, plus usable torps (Russian cruisers have only 4km torps except for the Donk, and no torps at all on the Moskva although Moskva doesn't need torps.) While torps aren't the focus on a cruiser, it's nice to have the option when you need them.

[Xlap]

- Russian crusiers have small calliber gns but with good RoF, shell arcs and damage. Glass canons as you said yourself. And they have Moskva at T10, with 220mm guns anf OP shells arcs and AP shells.

 

- IJN cruisers have some of the best guns with high HE damage, high fire chance and flat shell arcs. Their AP is also pretty good.

 

- High tier german cruisers (T8 +) have good guns, their AP is insane. HE is ok. 

 

- French cruisers have some lazy shells, but decent anyway. With good damage and fire chance, and at T10 you get Henri IV with 240mm guns (biggest T10 cruiser guns) that you can even overmatch RN crusiers. 

 

- RN cruisers only fire AP shells. 

 

- USN cruisers have ok HE but their Ap is amazing, and the high tiers the shells float a lot.

 

 

Its seems you would like more IJN or russian cruiser a lot, but you could look fernch crusiers also. 

[Sotaudi]

14 hours ago, Ie_Shima said:

German cruisers have rapid reloads, fair turret rotation, and high AP shell damage, but very low HP, weak armor, and horrible HE damage.  They are fast, and most ships have torpedoes, but you should not count on them.  They too, get radar at high tiers.  AA is again mediocre to laughable.

Actually, they do not.  No Axis power ships get radar at the moment.  The general rule of thumb is that US, Russian, and British cruisers and Pan Asian Destroyers get it at Tier VIII and above.  The exceptions to the general rule are that the Atlanta (US Cruiser), Indianapolis (US Cruiser), and Belfast (RN Cruiser) get it at Tier VII.  Missouri (US BB) and Black (US DD) also get it at Tier 9.  No Japanese, German, or Italian ships at any tier get radar.

You may be thinking of Hydro Acoustic Search which some German Battleships get at higher tiers.

 

14 hours ago, Ie_Shima said:

Russian Cruisers have the best guns out of any line, but trade that for being terrible, if not the worst, at any other aspect.  Horrible AA, ship handling, concealment, weak armor.  I am not certain if they get torpedoes or radar.

All Russian Cruisers from Tier 5 to Tier 9 all have torpedoes.

[Rusty_Python]

German cruisers get hydro from t4-t10 as well

[NoCoGaming3645]

18 hours ago, Ie_Shima said:

American Cruisers tend to be primarily focused towards anti-air builds, but are respectable in all categories.  They emulate the "Jack-of-all-trades, master of none..." style of play.  They do not get torpedoes beyond tier 5, but do get radar at tier 8.  

Not anymore.  US cruisers are now the AP monsters of the game, due to very high ROF for their caliber, and excellent penetration angles. The T8 and up are particularly so. They have pretty good armor, and good handling characteristics. Their main "problem" is the high shell arcs, which can make aiming a problem for some. Relatively short ranged guns, too.  They get increasingly stealthy as they increase in tier.

Quote

Japanese Cruisers have glorious HE shells, and are known as "flamethrowers" for good reason.  However, they have very slow reloads and turret rotation, making poorly suited for knife-fighting.  Their torpedoes are deadly, but have confined arcs.  AA is mediocre to laughable.  

Japanese AA is actually fairly good, just short-ranged. They have crappy AA for protecting other ships, but many have average to quite good AA for protecting themselves (Ibuki is a good example here).  Bad turning radius, unfortunately.  They have good ranges on their guns (but it varies more than any other nation). They are the best stealth cruisers.  Generally speaking, in terms of raw DPM, IJN CAs are better than anyone else. That's a result of excellent HE and a large number of guns.  Other lines can wreck an enemy faster than IJN CAs, but over the course of a battle, the IJN CAs excel at just constantly chunking away at their opponents.

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German cruisers have rapid reloads, fair turret rotation, and high AP shell damage, but very low HP, weak armor, and horrible HE damage.  They are fast, and most ships have torpedoes, but you should not count on them.  They too, get radar at high tiers.  AA is again mediocre to laughable.

German AA is equal to, if not better than, US AA on many ships. They have particularly long-range AA, too.  The Hipper, Roon, and Hindy are certainly the AA equals of their US tier compatriots, and the Yorck is nothing to sneer at.  While the German AP is fearsome, it doesn't have the nice angle penetration the US does, and thus suffers a bit in comparison.  ALL have torpedoes at 6km (except the 8km ones on the Premium T6 Graf Spee), and they work great for brawling. German KMs are by far the best brawlers of any line, though, like all cruisers, you have to be really, really careful about brawling with a BB.  They also work very well as "stand-off" cruisers, firing at the 12-17km range. Excellent ranges on their guns, which tend to have pretty nice flat arcs. NEVER any radar, but they all have superior-range hydro.

Unfortunately, they have horrid concealment.

 

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Russian Cruisers have the best guns out of any line, but trade that for being terrible, if not the worst, at any other aspect.  Horrible AA, ship handling, concealment, weak armor.  I am not certain if they get torpedoes or radar.

The Russians go for flat-trajectory shells, in a pretty high ROF configuration, with very long ranges. They aren't particularly good in terms of damage/shot, though.  T8+ Russian Cruisers get Radar, and it's quite long range, if low duration. They all have 4km short-range, high speed torpedoes that rarely get used.  AA is anywhere from mediocre to... slightly less mediocre. The rest is pretty spot-on.

They vie with the germans for the worse concealment of all cruisers.

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British Cruisers are all light cruisers.  Fast firing guns, but they never get bigger than 6".  They get access to smokescreens, like DDs, and you should use them.  They also get to have damage control.  They are considered the best handling cruisers in game.  Can single fire torpedoes, but AA is below average.  This is in return for having poor armor and the inability to use HE.  

AA is NOT below average. AA is very good for the T8+ RN CAs, and a bit above average for the T6 & 7.  Not quite up to German or US standards, but definitely good. Their main problem is a lack of Defensive AA consumable. But the raw AA of a Edinburgh is quite dangerous, and the Neptune and Minotaur's dual-purpose main guns absolutely shred planes. Those two have THE BEST raw AA numbers in the game. They have the shortest range cruiser guns around.

Handling for them varies. The T5-8 ones indeed have probably the best handling of any cruiser in the game. The T9 and T10, unfortunately, get really big, and consequently lose most of that nimbleness. 

The lack of HE is a double-edged sword in these. They have virtually no way to start fires, so that whole strategy is out. But their existing "short fuse" AP is actually BETTER than normal HE when firing at lightly-armored targets, and has quite good penetration from angles. It's also very good at shredding BB superstructure.  RN CL AP is by far the most consistent damage-causing shell of the game - that is, you can pretty much count on roughly the same average damage/hit out of an RN CL, while everyone else varies wildly. And they have ludicrously high ROF at all tiers.

RN CLs are only slightly less stealthy than IJN ones.

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French Cruisers are fast, and can use the engine boost that DDs get.  They also have the longest firing range of any cruiser lines.  However, they have very little armor, and AA is bad.  Guns are average at HE and AP.  

They have average-to-above-average armor, actually. At T6 and below, cruisers in general have horrible armor, and the French are just like all their compatriots (except the T6 Russian Budyonny and T6 US Cleveland, both of which have massive Troll armor).  The T7 and up actually have good armor, in the same "turtleback" configuration of the Germans. Their main armor weakness is below-average deck armor. 

Mediocre concealment.  In general, the French cruisers are "average" in everything. IMHO, that makes them very "meh", since they have no real advantage doing anything. 

 

[Ie_Shima]

2 hours ago, EAnybody said:

Not anymore.  US cruisers are now the AP monsters of the game, due to very high ROF for their caliber, and excellent penetration angles. The T8 and up are particularly so. They have pretty good armor, and good handling characteristics. Their main "problem" is the high shell arcs, which can make aiming a problem for some. Relatively short ranged guns, too.  They get increasingly stealthy as they increase in tier.

Japanese AA is actually fairly good, just short-ranged. They have crappy AA for protecting other ships, but many have average to quite good AA for protecting themselves (Ibuki is a good example here).  Bad turning radius, unfortunately.  They have good ranges on their guns (but it varies more than any other nation). They are the best stealth cruisers.  Generally speaking, in terms of raw DPM, IJN CAs are better than anyone else. That's a result of excellent HE and a large number of guns.  Other lines can wreck an enemy faster than IJN CAs, but over the course of a battle, the IJN CAs excel at just constantly chunking away at their opponents.

German AA is equal to, if not better than, US AA on many ships. They have particularly long-range AA, too.  The Hipper, Roon, and Hindy are certainly the AA equals of their US tier compatriots, and the Yorck is nothing to sneer at.  While the German AP is fearsome, it doesn't have the nice angle penetration the US does, and thus suffers a bit in comparison.  ALL have torpedoes at 6km (except the 8km ones on the Premium T6 Graf Spee), and they work great for brawling. German KMs are by far the best brawlers of any line, though, like all cruisers, you have to be really, really careful about brawling with a BB.  They also work very well as "stand-off" cruisers, firing at the 12-17km range. Excellent ranges on their guns, which tend to have pretty nice flat arcs. NEVER any radar, but they all have superior-range hydro.

Unfortunately, they have horrid concealment.

 

The Russians go for flat-trajectory shells, in a pretty high ROF configuration, with very long ranges. They aren't particularly good in terms of damage/shot, though.  T8+ Russian Cruisers get Radar, and it's quite long range, if low duration. They all have 4km short-range, high speed torpedoes that rarely get used.  AA is anywhere from mediocre to... slightly less mediocre. The rest is pretty spot-on.

They vie with the germans for the worse concealment of all cruisers.

AA is NOT below average. AA is very good for the T8+ RN CAs, and a bit above average for the T6 & 7.  Not quite up to German or US standards, but definitely good. Their main problem is a lack of Defensive AA consumable. But the raw AA of a Edinburgh is quite dangerous, and the Neptune and Minotaur's dual-purpose main guns absolutely shred planes. Those two have THE BEST raw AA numbers in the game. They have the shortest range cruiser guns around.

Handling for them varies. The T5-8 ones indeed have probably the best handling of any cruiser in the game. The T9 and T10, unfortunately, get really big, and consequently lose most of that nimbleness. 

The lack of HE is a double-edged sword in these. They have virtually no way to start fires, so that whole strategy is out. But their existing "short fuse" AP is actually BETTER than normal HE when firing at lightly-armored targets, and has quite good penetration from angles. It's also very good at shredding BB superstructure.  RN CL AP is by far the most consistent damage-causing shell of the game - that is, you can pretty much count on roughly the same average damage/hit out of an RN CL, while everyone else varies wildly. And they have ludicrously high ROF at all tiers.

RN CLs are only slightly less stealthy than IJN ones.

They have average-to-above-average armor, actually. At T6 and below, cruisers in general have horrible armor, and the French are just like all their compatriots (except the T6 Russian Budyonny and T6 US Cleveland, both of which have massive Troll armor).  The T7 and up actually have good armor, in the same "turtleback" configuration of the Germans. Their main armor weakness is below-average deck armor. 

Mediocre concealment.  In general, the French cruisers are "average" in everything. IMHO, that makes them very "meh", since they have no real advantage doing anything. 

 

Alright, I got a lot wrong.  I haven't played in close to a year and only recently got back in.  When I stopped, the RN cruisers weren't even in testing.  Evidently, things have changed.

[crzyhawk]

If you're looking for high-alpha strike cruisers, go IJN.  If you want flat out DPM, Russian.

[Sotaudi]

On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 1:07 PM, _Maho_Nishizumi_212 said:

German cruisers get hydro from t4-t10 as well

That is true, but he had said that German cruisers get radar at higher tiers.  I was proposing he may have been thinking of some German BBs getting hydro at higher tiers.

[Rusty_Python]

ok

[Levits]

For Guns only: Tier 6 - 9

1: Russian: Long-range. Like seriously long range. Battleship-style long range. They rapid fire enough that you will always hit a target for the time your spotter plane is up. If you don't set anything on fire during that time, something is wrong. They may not hit hard, but do not underestimate the ability to set 5+ (spotted!) ships on fire halfway across the map.

2: French: Surprisingly, these guns are not weak. They hit hard with both AP and HE at most any range and fire decently fast for their output. Good fire chances (almost seems better than others to me). Use the HE pen skill and fire chance skill for maximum effect at longer ranges. Best part it, they have wonderful turret traverse that lets you respond quickly to changing targets.

3: German: Better or similar guns to the French really but they have less of them. The only thing the German guns suffer from is that lack of more barrels per turret or to be more specific, more barrels to target without showing off your side. At least until tier 9 and 10. <Have yet to get there. The biggest and most noticeable issue (for tiers 7 and 8) is the fact that other ships are often firing 9 or 12 rounds at you, while you only fire 8 and that the gun positions are reversed for tier 6 and 9. <still in the top 3 for guns either way.

4: British: It's guns are very situational. They are great against DD's almost all the time as you can easily hit them with your flat trajectory and rapid-fire. Against other ships however, it all depends on what angle you hit them at and overall range. Cruisers at any range showing a broadside will feel the pain most of the time; but if they are facing you with frontal armor, you will bounce 90% of the shells. BB's at further range will not feel anything if facing you unless you hit the superstructure, but get them in closer and showing a full broadside and you can take an easy 4k to 6k worth of damage out of them every volley; which adds up quickly. Though trying to get the same result at longer range, is iffy to impossible.

5: Japanese: Heavy hitting guns. Very hard hitting in fact and can light almost anything on fire. But they have the slowest turret traverse. Primarily, you will be using HE all the time and there is little value in switching to AP (except for certain situations). The only reason why I place this ship in 5th is because of their reload time and traverse; which are very noticeable in situations where you have to respond quickly. Against a single target, you are going to win against most other ships in terms of damage potential. But in the middle of a battle, you lack the ability to respond and you are constantly having to bring your sides into the enemies focus to get more than 4 or 6 barrels pointed at the target.

6: US: Their fire chance is decent I suppose, their rate of fire is ok, and their damage output feels slightly limited at times but consistent. They have a hard time taking out DD's alone; their rate of fire is just not that impressive and against other Cruisers they have a 50/50 chance in straight-up gunfights. Their biggest asset (regarding guns only) is also their greatest problem and that is that they have that huge lobbing fire. Get behind a island and you can fire over it where others cannot even see you.

Thing is, with the US cruisers, it's not their guns that are important. It's their tactical value. In fact, it is the only cruiser line that I've gotten to tier 9 right now; others are tier 8 so far. The key to the US line is to sneak around and use the right type of ammo for the job at the time. You've got to stay on your toes with this one as the AP is lethal at almost any range, but only against broadside targets. HE is able to light things on fire, but only if you can get a shot off without becoming the focus of attention (as, by the time you fire, you are within range of everything else).

So, despite not fitting into the category of "best" overall guns, the ships overall performance and abilities are rather nice to play as long as you have support and are supporting. Full concealment gets you down to roughly 9.1 or 9.5 km. At that range, you actually (and more often) have the advantage against other cruisers and of course against DD's who scurry out of smoke like roaches when you turn that radar on. Of course if you are that close to a bb, kiss yer butt goodbye.

 

For Hulls only: Tier 6 - 9

1: German: Their hulls are tough nuts to crack. Almost a mini BB. And they handle well enough for what you are driving around. I'd put this one and the Japanese in the same category if I could but in terms of handling on the map and what it can deal with, this one feels a bit better to me.

2: Japanese: Same as the Germans as they are heavily armored. They do get the added benefit of actually having torpedo's that can be used at range; but it very often results in you risking citadels on your ship. The turning and handling isn't that bad and does help to make up for the slow turret traverse of the ships cannons.

3: French: Slightly less tanky but can take a round or two and keep on trucking. The all-rounder in terms of hulls. Not a tank, but not a light-weight either. It handles well, but will still be hit if too close to a target and even at range at times.

4: Russian: Firing at long range is nice, but you will feel it if a enemy BB gets a AP shell into you. You are not that well armored after all. The thing that does not help is that they have horrible turning and make a rather easy target to hit at range.

5: US: <Again varies. If facing a target, they can bounce most cruiser rounds. But showing a broadside will cause your citadel to eat AP rounds like candy. Good at evading hits though as they are rather responsive to controls (hint: concealment is your best friend for the US cruiser line).

6: British: 1 shot KO. Seriously, you have no idea how easy it is to die in this thing or to watch some goofball run up to a cap and turn sideways, only to disappear in a less than magnificent explosion. Great turning and acceleration but sucks at stopping <feels like the worst in the game when you pop smoke and try to slow down for it to catch up, but still... in terms of survival, hah.

 

Getting the Job Done: This is a game of capping after all... (also, just about follows in line with their AA capabilities and apparently detection range).

1: US: The US cruiser line can do almost everything. They are great at taking on DD's as they have Radar and sonar (but do actually struggle to kill them in the 30 seconds that you are given), they can whittle down a BB with HE and hurt cruisers with AP while hidden behind an island doing so. Their concealment keeps them hidden until at the perfect range to engage targets with either HE or AP and in a one-on-one match against other cruisers, if you are smart enough to avoid getting hit by enemy torpedoes and playing to the concealment strengths of your ship, you have a very good chance of winning.

2: British: Your smoke is your greatest asset. There is nothing like being able to fire at a target without any fear of reprisal. And your guns do amazing damage as long as the enemy ship is showing off its sides to you. Your priority is the DD's of course, but don't forget that you can very quickly dish out damage against a BB or other cruiser when they are showing off their sides. Never, however, try to focus on them if they are showing their frontal armor. The only reason why it isn't number one is because of its frailty.

3: Russian: Close range is just as good as long range for them (same as their AP and HE), their guns are perfectly capable of taking on DD's as well as other targets, but it is also at these ranges that they become far more susceptible to enemy fire. They fire straight lines at a target and therefore, if you decide to close the distance, you will have to do so out in the open and exposed. More often than not, it is best for you to remain at range. Good news is, at later tiers, you do become a bit more tanky.

4: Japanese: The Japanese line is ok and has no problem fighting toe-to-toe with other ships up close including DDs. But you have to remember that you have the slowest turret traverse of any cruiser and you will have to swing your sides around to get your other turrets to target. You will want to remain at range.

5: French: Similar to Japanese and German. Great response times but more often than not too weak to hold onto a cap for long. Without detection equipment and little concealment, you become a sitting duck for anything when attempting to cap.

6: German: You are rather specialized for ranged engagements. When close to a enemy, you will rely heavily on your torpedo's to get the job done as your guns do not fire fast enough to take it out in the seconds that you contest the cap. Against DD's you will often struggle. Not that you cannot kill them, it's just that with only 4 barrels (assuming you are facing the treat; 8 if you risk showing off your broadside), you are not going to be killing them very quickly.

 

In the end, all of them can fire at 15km+. Some fire at 17km even. But they are all offset by certain specializations. If you are looking for the best guns, then you have to ask yourself "What do I want to do with those guns?".

(These are personal tips about what I would think are the most useful for the type of situation)

If you want to take out DDs: Use the British or US cruiser line and play like a ninja. Use Russian ships too if it has radar but expect to eat some torps and enemy shells.

If you want to take out other Cruisers: Go with any of them but know what their strengths and weaknesses are. German cruisers are pretty darn good at this job though in my opinion. The French ships (to me at least) are rather good at this as well; if not a little less durable.

If you want to take out BBs: Burn them with Japanese and/or Russian HE. <the sure-'fire" method; of course if you have AP and a close, oblivious BB showing off it's broadside, I'd say that a British cruiser can do just as much damage.

 

The ships that I've had the most fun on are the US line; because there is no target or threat that I cannot deal with and I love the handling and all-round general purpose (not necessarily the guns though). The British line; because firing from complete safety (unless the enemy has radar) is just the best. and the Russian line; because rapid-fire, flame throwing at 17 -20km's is just great... even if I do end up drawing the wrath of the entire enemy team towards me.

The German line stagnated at Tier 8 for now because having 8 guns vs other ships with 9+ isn't that interesting to me. And Japanese guns are too slow to respond for my liking.

French ships are nice all-round with great gun performance. Lethal, accurate, and long-range if I could cobble together 3 ships, I'd have the German Hulls, US stats (concealment, aa ,etc.), and French Guns.

 

PS: good god I wrote way too much O_o ...

 

[Scotch_Donkey]

On 1/24/2018 at 7:48 AM, Xlap said:

- RN cruisers only fire AP shells. 

Except the Belfast...

[Nimitz_1701]

17 hours ago, Scratched said:

Except the Belfast...

I'm sorry you spelt it wrong. It's real name is the Payfast but some may also call it Cancer. (Still salty from that ranked season.) 

On a more serious note I would like to say a couple things about the German Cruisers.  Tiers 5 (Königsburg) and 6 (Nürnburg) have rapid firing 6 inch guns, and have 360 degree turning for their guns. But they tend to be fragile, and have relatively bad AA. At tier 7 you finally get 8 inch guns. The tier 7's (York) HE is also unusually good but your AP has horrible arcs. Also you suffer from bad rotation speed for your guns. On the other hand the tier 8 (Hipper) solves the turret rotation problem and the gun arc issue but you loss the good HE. While AA is ok with these two it's not truly worth specing into. The tier 9 (Roon) is like the tier 6 in terms of gun layout. She can also be considered an imporment over the tier 8 in every stat expert torpedos as she loses a set per side. The tier ten (Hindenburg) is the Roon but with more Torpedos better AA, and one more gun turret in the front. Also keep in mind both the tier 9 and 10 have excellent rates of fire and triple turrets, also their AA is equal to if not better then the Americans. When last thing, their HE isn't that bad. While it is true that their Alpha is low and their fire chance is meh they do have two advantages. From tier 5 and up they all follow the one 1/4 HE pen rule meaning that their 6in guns can pen 32 mm bows without IFHE, and their 8 inch guns can pen 50mm of armor. This means that they have consistent HE damage. The second advantage is that at tiers 5-6, 9-10 you have a fast rate of fire coupled with a large of amount of shells. Their  AP on the other hand is wonderful only if the enamy shows broad side. I could go on but this seems good for now.

 

[Levits]

If you want a premium cruiser; yeah, Belfast is a cheat with that smoke and HE.

But I agree, the German line is nice. The Tier 7 York was a surprise really and despite it's limited number of guns, it was one of my favorites. I actually had to deliberate on keeping it or selling it. But needed the funds. Russian line is good for simply blasting away, but the German line manages this as well within the same tier and with about the same range.

Some notable ships to look forward to in each nation:

US Cleveland and Des Moines: Rapid-fire guns flinging shells everywhere and some of the toughest ships out there in terms of durability for their tier and class. <Also, there is going to be a cruiser line split where the US gets a heavy cruiser line and a light cruiser line (so I've heard). <Pick up the Cleveland now and you will have a tier 8 later on in the year.

German Nurnberg and York: Nurn is rather good with guns. Range, accuracy, and fire-rates are all similar (if not outright better than its Russian counterpart). The York was a great surprise in that it's both agile, lethal, and has some rather respectable armor.

Japanese Myoko and higher tiers: The Furukawa isn't that bad of a ship, one of the tankiest ones at it's tier, but when you get those extra guns on the Myoko, you will be feeling good about yourself. It really only gets better from there with a very similar feel. So, if you get to the Myoko, you'll know if you like the rest of the line after a few games.

French: To tell the truth, at least from the Fraint onwards, they all feel similar and in a good way. The major difference of course is their survivability. They get tougher, with tougher guns, and the tier 10 has some rather large guns for a cruiser... forgot the caliber but I think it was 240mm or something?... <don't quote me on that.

British Edinburg (<no clue how to spell it) and Monitor: Edin is the first cruiser to get a detection range below it's torpedo range. Also gets you 12 guns rather than the 8 for lower tiers. The Monitor... well, that things just horrible. Can't wait to get one XD

Russian:... whatever; They all act the same. Use that spotter plane and fire away. Tier 8 however should be nice. At some point you get a very respectable AA defense and at tier 10... well, they do say that it's the Russian version of a battleship.

 

The ships you are going to have to look out for...

Pensacola: Great guns for it's tier, but the thing is a floating eggshell.

Low-tier British ships: Basically floating eggshells with apparent nitroglycerin stored within.