"Toto, we ain't in... oh wait."

[Ensign_Cthulhu]

In this battle I take the Kansas for her first spin in Randoms - and in Tier 10 matchmaking too!

First impressions last, and my first impression of this ship was a good one.  Further experience since this battle was fought tempered the enthusiasm somewhat, and one of the lessons from this battle is that the captain build needs to lean very heavily toward damage mitigation. 

By no means is this line going to be everyone's cup of tea, but then again I don't think it has to be. I think she could use a touch higher sigma so that entire battleships don't slip through the gaps in her salvo pattern, and maybe the AP shells are a bit too liable to breaking up on harder, higher-tier targets. Close attention to ammunition switching should benefit players, and a captain with enhanced Expert Loader skill (Halsey or one of the Doe brothers from the Armory) would not be a bad thing. 

[Estimated_Prophet]

(Pinned as well for after work.)

[HamptonRoads]

Wait, I thought this ship was a POS with dispersion so bad it is incapable of hitting a ship, let alone sinking one.  This must be highly edited version or I have been misled. 

 

[Navalpride33]

Did someone say "TOTO"?

 

[Ensign_Cthulhu]

17 minutes ago, HamptonRoads said:

highly edited version

This was the battle as it played out - no cuts, trims, edits or other adjustments. 

[HamptonRoads]

3 minutes ago, Ensign_Cthulhu said:

This was the battle as it played out - no cuts, trims, edits or other adjustments. 

--but that doesn't fit the narrative that Kansas is a POS.  How can this be? /s

[contag10n]

Glad you enjoyed her @Ensign_Cthulhu

My first (and only) random match in it was a 13K damage win where I spent the first half the match trying to catch the red team lemming train and the 2nd half getting burned (and penned) to death by a Kitakaze.

If folks like slow shotgun BBs then more power to them. Different boats for different folks.

For me, this turdbucket is a snowflake only.

 

Edit: Get the boat right :) 

[Purple_Dawn]

I’m up to around 100k XP on my Kansas and my opinion is that the boat is not good and not interesting to play.  I’ve had a handful of games with over 100k damage, all as a top tier if I remember correctly.  When bottom tier the AP shatters on almost all BB’s leading me to use HE way more than I would like on a BB. 

The positives is the AA is usually effective and the maneuverability is good allowing one to dodge many volleys as long as you keep moving.

Overall I expect to grind the line to TX like all the others and will revisit twice a year for the snowflakes.  I can’t see myself taking this out for fun.

[Nevermore135]

34 minutes ago, contag10n said:

My first (and only) random match in it was a 13K damage win where I spent the first half the match trying to catch the red team lemming train and the 2nd half getting burned (and penned) to death by a Kitakami.

Kitakami? Do you mean Kitakaze? The former has 140mm guns that have a maximum penetration of 29mm with IFHE. The latter has the rapid-fire IJN 100mm with its ridiculous HE pen. 

[contag10n]

2 minutes ago, Nevermore135 said:

Kitakami? Do you mean Kitakaze? The former has 140mm guns that have a maximum penetration of 29mm with IFHE. The latter has the rapid-fire IJN 100mm with its ridiculous HE pen. 

Thanks

Edited

[dEsTurbed1]

2 hours ago, Ensign_Cthulhu said:

In this battle I take the Kansas for her first spin in Randoms - and in Tier 10 matchmaking too!

First impressions last, and my first impression of this ship was a good one.  Further experience since this battle was fought tempered the enthusiasm somewhat, and one of the lessons from this battle is that the captain build needs to lean very heavily toward damage mitigation. 

By no means is this line going to be everyone's cup of tea, but then again I don't think it has to be. I think she could use a touch higher sigma so that entire battleships don't slip through the gaps in her salvo pattern, and maybe the AP shells are a bit too liable to breaking up on harder, higher-tier targets. Close attention to ammunition switching should benefit players, and a captain with enhanced Expert Loader skill (Halsey or one of the Doe brothers from the Armory) would not be a bad thing. 

My impression so far with around 8 battles:

Lucky to hit more than 3 shells, but when you hit it hurts.

Not an accurate battleship.

If you dare to push in, expect to eat full pens and die early.

A rare support ship.

[iDuckman]

1 hour ago, Purple_Dawn said:

When bottom tier the AP shatters on almost all BB’s

Her predecessor Colorado has SHS AP.  Why Kansas does not is a mystery.

[Capt_Ahab1776]

I got mine today as well. My impression, it’s a floating fortress. So play much like the Colorado. In the rear with the gear, take advantage of the long range and okay sigma.

Speaking from playing against the dreadnought line. Don’t get out by yourself. From the air, they are like torpedoing and bombing a island. Slightly more maneuverable, (slightly)

Play for memes really.

[Drifter_X]

2 hours ago, HamptonRoads said:

--but that doesn't fit the narrative that Kansas is a POS.  How can this be? /s

The narrative is correct. I its a POS, but that doesn't mean the guns can get damage in if the player is skilled and things go well. 80k damage inst exactly amazing but certainly adequate. Personaly, it would be neat to give her 30k more hit points and the american super heal because she is so fat and leave the guns be. Make it a fairly incompetent meat shield.

[iDuckman]

I was surprised at how vulnerable she seemed to be to light caliber fire.

 

[Purple_Dawn]

I really don’t understand the 40 second reload.  It’s not like the guns are super powerful and it risks being OP if it had standard reload.  Hopefully the reload will be buffed at some point.

[landcollector]

1 hour ago, iDuckman said:

I was surprised at how vulnerable she seemed to be to light caliber fire.

 

Normal 203mm and IFHEd T8+ 152mm HE will absolutely shred Kansas, yeah.

[Shrayes_Bhagavatula]

Wew. I didn't know you were a Canuck, Ensign.

Good commentary though. I like the way that the Kansas looks, and I desperately want to play it. However, my computer is being a complete and utter tater tot as of late, and the game is crashing more often than not.

-Shrayes

[Skpstr]

What I noticed from an afternoon of T8-10 battles, was that Kansas played decently can be a real force late game, because it being late to the party means it typically has most of its HP.

You can't really stop and try tank with it though, or you fall too far behind, and when you arrive at the final stage of the battle, you may have lots of HP, but you're completely alone. 

[MannyD_of_The_Sea]

Got the Kansas Thursday evening. Logged off without further ado. Played a co-op in it last night with the modules installed, but no upgrade slots filled. Monster game. Outfitted the upgrade slots tonight and gad two random battles. One incredibly frustrating loss, one slightly less frustrating win. Got 1900+ base XP in the win, but didn’t feel particularly effective in it. Feels like its “50% more Colorado” as far as gun count goes, but so many drawbacks: slow reload, poor sigma, rotten speed, thin plating. is there more? Or is it more fitting to ask ”is there less?” 

I can’t declare it a “bad” ship yet, but it certainly is hard to consider it an effective ship.

The guns don’t live up to the tease of world-ending power... their dispersion prevents that. Enemies that know you will be shooting at them seem to be able to evade just that little bit to dash your hopes. For me, it seems to be able to sink only the unsuspecting. With its scattergun dispersion, one would think the you will always get something with every shot, but not so - my first four salvoes in this ship all connected for zero damage - non penetrations, torpedo bulge hits, bounces, all.

The lack of speed means it will seldom be in a position to make a decisive, game-changing plays.

I’m looking at the bright side, which, for me, means being able to sell Colorado before having had to finish grinding it.

 

[__Riptide_]

I got the Kansas yesterday, its not that bad of a ship, but definitely not fun to play

Requires tons of RNG if you want to do well with kansas

 

[Ensign_Cthulhu]

3 hours ago, iDuckman said:

Her predecessor Colorado has SHS AP.  Why Kansas does not is a mystery.

She arguably needs it. I was getting AP shatters on a Nelson this evening. 

@Hapa_Fodder, please ask the devs to look at this. It seems almost absurd to be complaining about faulty shells in a pixel-boat game, but in my limited experience thus far, that seems to be the picture which is emerging. This has the serious potential to cost players battles they might otherwise have won.

48 minutes ago, MannyD_of_The_Sea said:

The guns don’t live up to the tease of world-ending power.

They don't have to - that tease is right at the end of the line, with Vermont.

[Epic_Baller]

I really like the boat. She's currently my third highest average damage boat at 85k behind Yamato and Jean Bart.

I tend to play her fairly aggressively and basically always angle to fire all 12 guns. I find you can get away with showing a fair amount of broadside because it seems like the torpedo bulge absorbs a lot of potential damage. My main battery hit ratio is 32%, which isn't bad considering the number of barrels. She really drops the hammer on people at 8-12km.

[Sventex]

12 hours ago, Ensign_Cthulhu said:

First impressions last

And my impression was that the Kansas is one of the most passive ships I've played in the game.  Guns that hardly fire and an engine that hardly get anywhere.

[ZARDOZ_II]

I'd give it the same rating @iDuckman gives to Myogi. "P'tui".  I've had a couple games where I did decent damage.  It's just flat out BO-RING to play.  I can't see anything that would make me want to grind this branch.