A sharp increase in USS Black population

[ArnoldSchoenberg]

Did you notice that?

But I didn't see a big increase in USS Flint yet.

Is USS Black better than USS Fletcher?

[enderland07]

A lot of people think that radar is an auto-win button.

I'm unsurprised a bunch of people bought it.

[FrodoFraggin]

I've seen more Flints than Blacks myself, could as easily be explained that the Flint is cheaper.  I'm happily surprised people are spending their Steel instead of hoarding it for another year (or two!) for the Soviet unicorn.

[shadowsrmine]

Nope Radar isn't Auto Win nor is anything else 

[GE_Capital]

Ship goes from being exceedingly difficult to acquire to being fairly cheap.

People surprised when they see it more often.

[Cruiser_Chicago]

If you don't have the coordination from your team to make the 20/24 sec radar valuable, she's arguably a worse version of the Fletcher. The Black has a top speed of 35 kts, which is very slow for a USN DD. The torpedoes can be hit or miss due to how slow they are. However, they reload so quickly that you can have multiple salvos of torpedoes in the water at once. More of a fear and area denial weapon than a consistent damage dealer.

That being said, I can see the radar paying dividends in the upcoming Ranked Battles season, particularly in the upper echelons, and in coordinated division play. 

[wstugamd]

Black offers imo the biggest change in playstyle from the other steel ships. Well unless you run radar on Chung Mu but you have to give up smoke. 

Flint is Atlanta minus two main batteries and radar for smoke. Meh.

Stalingrad is a Moscva with bigger guns

Frenchy is the old Alsace with MBB and Republic secondaries. That’s a high price to pay in steel. 

Im curious about the new IJN battle cruiser but the AP doesn’t hit like the Stalingrad and reload is to slow to sling HE. 

Right now Stalingrad is a huge addition to a CB team and Black is fun. If I can gather enough steel I’d get Flint. Not sure I want the other two at the step cost in steel

[TheKrimzonD3mon]

People chose Black over Flint because the next season of Ranked is T9. I got them both, Flint more or less requires a div to work out well, Black is a DD, DD's do fine solo.

[Sovereigndawg]

7 minutes ago, Th3KrimzonD3mon said:

People chose Black over Flint because the next season of Ranked is T9. I got them both, Flint more or less requires a div to work out well, Black is a DD, DD's do fine solo.

This right here, I however am torn, get the Black or wait for the extra steel for Stalingrad. It seems Stalingrad might be gone soon, which creates more value for it from a collectors standpoint. I can always still get Flint or Black at another time.

[Mainerd]

Since I'm working up all the DD lines right now the Black makes sense to get over the Flint. I also own the Atlanta and Boise so another tier VII cruiser isn't really that novel.

[Bill_Halsey]

48 minutes ago, Sovereigndawg said:

This right here, I however am torn, get the Black or wait for the extra steel for Stalingrad. It seems Stalingrad might be gone soon, which creates more value for it from a collectors standpoint. I can always still get Flint or Black at another time.

The Azuma is going to replace Stalingrad when 8.0 rolls around in all likelihood. So if you don't have the steel to get her when Jan 22 rolls around, it's going to be extremely low odds of getting her. Not so much noticeable increase in the Stalingrad population. I normally find myself the only one. And find myself receiving 1.5 -2.0 mil of potential damage. Also char abuse from angry folks who live in their paren't's basement who don't have one. 

[Crucis]

1 hour ago, wstugamd said:

Black offers imo the biggest change in playstyle from the other steel ships. Well unless you run radar on Chung Mu but you have to give up smoke. 

Flint is Atlanta minus two main batteries and radar for smoke. Meh.

Stalingrad is a Moscva with bigger guns

Frenchy is the old Alsace with MBB and Republic secondaries. That’s a high price to pay in steel. 

Im curious about the new IJN battle cruiser but the AP doesn’t hit like the Stalingrad and reload is to slow to sling HE. 

Right now Stalingrad is a huge addition to a CB team and Black is fun. If I can gather enough steel I’d get Flint. Not sure I want the other two at the step cost in steel

You forgot that the Flint has vastly better torpedoes.  According to the Wiki, their range is 9.2km.

[Bill_Halsey]

6 minutes ago, Crucis said:

You forgot that the Flint has vastly better torpedoes.  According to the Wiki, their range is 9.2km.

It's 55 km speed though. Benson sea mines. You'd need the torpedo acceleration skill to make it usable.

[Sovereigndawg]

16 minutes ago, Bill_Halsey said:

The Azuma is going to replace Stalingrad when 8.0 rolls around in all likelihood.

This would be a travesty for all ship collectors that do not have it already.  Can I put my coupon and steel down and pay the rest in installments. I hate it when WG decides to get rid of a ship suddenly. I want to own every ship and if I can't accomplish my goals for this game, then why should I continue playing it? Oh well.

[Bill_Halsey]

9 minutes ago, Sovereigndawg said:

This would be a travesty for all ship collectors that do not have it already.

I'm not sure if you're being serious or not. Dammed internet. There's a skill/time/pay wall behind the ship.

9 minutes ago, Sovereigndawg said:

Can I put my coupon and steel down and pay the rest in installments.

We talking dinero or steel here?

9 minutes ago, Sovereigndawg said:

. I hate it when WG decides to get rid of a ship suddenly. I want to own every ship and if I can't accomplish my goals for this game, then why should I continue playing it? Oh well.

They've done it before and will do it again.

[Sovereigndawg]

2 minutes ago, Bill_Halsey said:

We talking dinero or steel here?

Steel, no matter how I get it.

4 minutes ago, Bill_Halsey said:

They've done it before and will do it again.

I have managed to skate by the previous ones.

If there is a Ranked season before the Stalingrad goes away, I will probably make it.

[Admiral_Thrawn_1]

1 hour ago, enderland07 said:

A lot of people think that radar is an auto-win button.

I'm unsurprised a bunch of people bought it.

Let’s not forget @LittleWhiteMouse Has the Black rated as “Overpowered” which would help sway some people’s opinion on getting the Black as well. Plus with how effective Radar equipped DDs have been in regular Ranked seasons and the fact we have tier 9 as next regular Ranked, I would imagine that is contributing to the Black sales dramatically increasing as well. Other reasons for getting it are it’s a premium ship with economic bonuses, it was only for Elite Ranked players only until it hit the Arsenal so some people feel like its an “easy” shortcut fir them.

Honestly have contemplated if I should possibly get Black myself for tier IX Ranked, but I have some other contenders that might serve me better. There is also the matter of X Steel ships being available. So if I got the Black it would only be after careful consideration of all its capabilities and if the ship is one I genuinely needed and could use more effectively than my other options. 3rd option would be my getting Flint if the CV rework makes it clear that I need Flint, but I have plenty of time to wait and see how things work out with the update before spending Steel.

[LT_Rusty_SWO]

2 hours ago, FrodoFraggin said:

I've seen more Flints than Blacks myself, could as easily be explained that the Flint is cheaper.  I'm happily surprised people are spending their Steel instead of hoarding it for another year (or two!) for the Soviet unicorn.

I'm seeing a lot more Stalins than I ever used to. Fortunately, they're not (usually) well handled, though last night we got our [donkeys] handed to us in clan battles by a pair of them in one fight. That entire team was good, though, so I can't really say it was just the Stalingrads that made a difference.

 

57 minutes ago, Bill_Halsey said:

The Azuma is going to replace Stalingrad when 8.0 rolls around in all likelihood. So if you don't have the steel to get her when Jan 22 rolls around, it's going to be extremely low odds of getting her. Not so much noticeable increase in the Stalingrad population. I normally find myself the only one. And find myself receiving 1.5 -2.0 mil of potential damage. Also char abuse from angry folks who live in their paren't's basement who don't have one. 

We must be playing at different times, then... I'd say at least 30% of my battles these days have a Stalingrad other than mine, though I haven't actually run the numbers on it yet.

[shadowsrmine]

3 hours ago, enderland07 said:

A lot of people think that radar is an auto-win button.

I'm unsurprised a bunch of people bought it.

There is One Other  Advantage to the Black VS  Fletcher or any other Tier 9  Tech Tree  DD  just  like one Fujin,Kami,Gremy  VS their Tier 5Tech Tree Counterparts  (This despite various claims otherwise)That's that you can take any high level commander with an appropriate build and drop him in without having to retrain him and that is KEY I've seen many players in Tier 5 ranked who didn't even have CE  much less many of the other skills needed

[wstugamd]

7 hours ago, Bill_Halsey said:

The Azuma is going to replace Stalingrad when 8.0 rolls around in all likelihood. 

Has WG stated this?

7 hours ago, Crucis said:

You forgot that the Flint has vastly better torpedoes.  According to the Wiki, their range is 9.2km.

Forgot that. Range is certainly nice upgrade from Atlanta. Still very similar ships and game play

[Bill_Halsey]

8 hours ago, Bill_Halsey said:

The Azuma is going to replace Stalingrad when 8.0 rolls around in all likelihood.

 

1 hour ago, wstugamd said:

Has WG stated this?

Not yet, but you can see the signs.

 

[Crucis]

2 hours ago, wstugamd said:

Forgot that. Range is certainly nice upgrade from Atlanta. Still very similar ships and game play

The game play is similar, depending on how much you use the smoke.  If you use the smoke heavily, the Flint becomes more like an HE spamming RN CL.  Still, both are squishy, HE spamming CLs.

Honestly, I wish that the Atlanta got better torps.  It's nearly suicidal to use the current ones between their short range and very narrow firing arcs.

 

[robotdaddy]

How are people getting enough steel to buy a Black?  I’ve seen such complete trash play from Blacks out there - people who can barely play DD, let alone a ship that used to be given to the best players. Just finished a game where I gunned down a full-health Black in my half-health Shima.  How???  They hid behind an island and radared me but had no gun angles on me...really?  I’ve actually checked the stats and some of these players have never ranked out....

[shadowsrmine]

30 minutes ago, robotdaddy said:

How are people getting enough steel to buy a Black?  I’ve seen such complete trash play from Blacks out there - people who can barely play DD, let alone a ship that used to be given to the best players. Just finished a game where I gunned down a full-health Black in my half-health Shima.  How???  They hid behind an island and radared me but had no gun angles on me...really?  I’ve actually checked the stats and some of these players have never ranked out....

Latest  missions 

[Taichunger]

On 12/30/2018 at 10:14 AM, FrodoFraggin said:

I've seen more Flints than Blacks myself, could as easily be explained that the Flint is cheaper.  I'm happily surprised people are spending their Steel instead of hoarding it for another year (or two!) for the Soviet unicorn.

I selflessly bought Flint instead of increasing the radar meta at the high tiers. The sacrifices I make for my fellow players... Lovely ship, very happy with it.