Seeking advice... sitting on 177k coal atm.

[Felbombling]

Hey gang,

 

I've come back after a long layoff, so I'm not up to speed on the coal ships in the Armory.  Beyond that, I already have about ten premium ships running from tier III - VIII, spread over six nations.  My issue is that I am torn between picking up Gunther Lutjens for 175k coal so that I can bomb down the new German BB line, and he seems tailor made for it with his Secondary Battery Loader perk... OR... picking up another premium ship.  Nothing really jumped out at me looking over the ships available for coal, other than the Moskva which I am semi-familiar with.  If I were to grab a coal ship, I imagine it would be in the upper tiers so that I can have extra help finishing some of the Campaigns I've neglected over the few years I've been playing lightly.

So, given the above information, is there a gem sitting in the coal section I should be aware of that would outweigh the perks that Gunther would bring?  [Side note... I have three German premium ships already in the port, so he would seem to be a fine candidate for synergy there.]

Many thanks in advance to any replies I collect from this post.  Looking forward to the theory crafting ahead.

Cheers,

Felbombling

 

*** EDIT ***

I pulled the trigger on Lutjens.  He is versatile, with abilities that are fairly easy to activate.  With the ability to hop ship to ship on my three premiums, I also have the opportunity to boost his progress here and there.  The main reason, though, was keeping an eye towards the end-game of the tier X Schlieffen.  I'd rather hop into that with Lutjens being a seventeen point Captain rather than a ten point Captain had I waited.  As for Coal ships, which I put serious consideration into, I have disposable income which I could use to get many of them for Doubloons if I really wanted them.  I don't have that option with a Captain like Lutjens.

Many, many thanks to all who participated over the last few hours.  I took all your feedback into consideration.

Sea you out there!  :P

 

 

[SuperSSL]

Lutjens is a solid pick. Pretty much mandatory if you enjoy secondary builds at all and very useful on other ship types as well.

Only other option to consider is Forrest Sherman, the upcoming T10 US destroyer. It may be releasing as soon as next month, though there has been no official confirmation as of yet.

[Wolfswetpaws]

6 minutes ago, Felbombling said:

Hey gang,

 

I've come back after a long layoff, so I'm not up to speed on the coal ships in the Armory.  Beyond that, I already have about ten premium ships running from tier III - VIII, spread over six nations.  My issue is that I am torn between picking up Gunther Lutjens for 175k coal so that I can bomb down the new German BB line, and he seems tailor made for it with his Secondary Battery Loader perk... OR... picking up another premium ship.  Nothing really jumped out at me looking over the ships available for coal, other than the Moskva which I am semi-familiar with.  If I were to grab a coal ship, I imagine it would be in the upper tiers so that I can have extra help finishing some of the Campaigns I've neglected over the few years I've been playing lightly.

So, given the above information, is there a gem sitting in the coal section I should be aware of that would outweigh the perks that Gunther would bring?  [Side note... I have three German premium ships already in the port, so he would seem to be a fine candidate for synergy there.]

Many thanks in advance to any replies I collect from this post.  Looking forward to the theory crafting ahead.

Cheers,

Felbombling

 

Might be nice to know which ships you've already got, so we don't duplicate your existing choices.

That said, if you're not enthusiastic about any ship at the moment, then welcoming Gunther Lutjens is probably your best option.

The third option is to look among the hull-upgrade modules and pick one for a ship you already have.  
That way you'll improve a ship that you play frequently, and you'll delay your Ship/Commander decision until you save-up enough coal.

It's your coal.  You can keep it or spend it.  Eventually, one might collect "all of the above", so what will be most useful to you for the longest amount of time?

[Felbombling]

1 hour ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Might be nice to know which ships you've already got, so we don't duplicate your existing choices.

That said, if you're not enthusiastic about any ship at the moment, then welcoming Gunther Lutjens is probably your best option.

The third option is to look among the hull-upgrade modules and pick one for a ship you already have.  
That way you'll improve a ship that you play frequently, and you'll delay your Ship/Commander decision until you save-up enough coal.

It's your coal.  You can keep it or spend it.  Eventually, one might collect "all of the above", so what will be most useful to you for the longest amount of time?

Wolf, I have currently in port the following Premium ships...

Atlanta, Krasny Krym, Kirov, Emden, Graf Spee, P.E. Friedrich, Gallant, Duke of York, Aigle and Vampire.  *** missed the Jean Bart and Monaghan ***  Didn't scroll the listing far enough!

Many thanks.

[Wolfswetpaws]

12 minutes ago, Felbombling said:

Wolf, I have currently in port the following Premium ships...

Atlanta, Krasny Krym, Kirov, Emden, Graf Spee, P.E. Friedrich, Gallant, Duke of York, Aigle and Vampire.

Many thanks.

You're most welcome.

I'll share some of my perspective.  \/\/\/\/

My current coal ships are:

Neustrashimy*, Yoshino, Z-44, Duke of York*, Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya*, Blyskawica*, Aigle, Kirov (for credits, before she was a coal ship), Anshan, Hill, Marblehead*, Yubari.

* = got in a crate while "whaling" for the Enterprise (which I didn't get, yet) or in a crate obtained as a reward for completing in-game missions/tasks.

In the future I plan to welcome the Pommern and the Kearsarge.

I enjoy sailing all of them.

The Neustrashimy's capabilities were a pleasant surprise.  I play her as a stealthy torpedo-'bote.
I recently welcomed the Z-44 as a 'Bote for my Commander Johannes Meckleyne to sail.
I welcomed the Hill so my Commander Leroy Jenkins could have a "training 'Bote" to sail.
The Anshan is a Pan-Asian DD intended for fun sailing and Commander training.
The Yubari is for similar purposes.
I liked the Azuma so much, I welcomed her Tier-10 sister Yoshino and assigned Commander Kirishima (the 2nd.) to be her Captain.  (Yeah, I have an abundance of anime' collaboration Commanders.)
The Aigle was/is my first coal ship.  I played the heck out of her while Scenario Operation Dynamo was still available. 
  I still enjoy sailing her, but she's got quirks that need consideration (and modules & Captain's skills) in order to mitigate (French slow turret traverse, for instance).

I recently welcomed the Shikishima in exchange for steel.  She compliments the Yamato and ARP Yamato nicely and is a good 'bote for Commander Isoroku Yamamoto to be the Captain of.
In the future I'm planning to welcome the Bougogne.  I imagine her play-style will be similar to the Alsace that I already enjoy sailing.

[Nevermore135]

53 minutes ago, Felbombling said:

So, given the above information, is there a gem sitting in the coal section I should be aware of that would outweigh the perks that Gunther would bring?

My general advice regarding spending coal and steel in the Armory is that if there isn’t something that you really want, you are better off just holding on to your resources. The two big exceptions are if there is a ship leaving soon or if you have a coupon that will expire soon.

That being said… I would recommend Salem. She’s been around for a long time (she was the first coal ship, IIRC), but she is still very solid due to her 203mm autoloaders. She will also be very useful for finishing campaign tasks that require high tier ships, especially because many tasks in Halsey’s campaign require American ships. Salem is also extremely good at farming ribbons for missions in Coop (fires, citadels, kills, etc) due to her gunnery and very cheap service costs that she shares with all tier X special ships.

[weiwaynezhang]

34 minutes ago, Felbombling said:

Wolf, I have currently in port the following Premium ships...

Atlanta, Krasny Krym, Kirov, Emden, Graf Spee, P.E. Friedrich, Gallant, Duke of York, Aigle and Vampire.

Many thanks.

I have asked myself the same question lately. I checked your profile, you don't have a lot of T9 and TX. I am assuming that even if I got Lutjens now, I probably won't have the experience to max out its potential. So 90% of the time, he just sail as a regular captain. For you case, I see your German WR% and PR doesn't seem high. I will wait for a bit, maybe grind the line till T8, and see if I can trigger the lutjens speciality on a regular basis before I get him. There are some very nice coal ship right now, some of them may not always stay. Most likely, Lutjens will stay. 

[Felbombling]

9 minutes ago, weiwaynezhang said:

I have asked myself the same question lately. I checked your profile, you don't have a lot of T9 and TX. I am assuming that even if I got Lutjens now, I probably won't have the experience to max out its potential. So 90% of the time, he just sail as a regular captain. For you case, I see your German WR% and PR doesn't seem high. I will wait for a bit, maybe grind the line till T8, and see if I can trigger the lutjens speciality on a regular basis before I get him. There are some very nice coal ship right now, some of them may not always stay. Most likely, Lutjens will stay. 

Exactly.  I consider myself a part-time player, so I don't really pour massive effort into learning the game to the smallest detail, like my gun caliber vs. various deck armour of ships I'm facing.  I know there are some amazing players who can commit that information to memory and apply it in game to various situations.  That is not me.  lol  

What I can say is that I really enjoy having Jack Dunkirk as a Captain of my Royal Navy fleet and the bonus quirks he brings to the table.  I know that there are various ships available for different resource types [coal, steel, doubloons], but you can only get Gunther via coal, I problem real-life currency cannot address.  I'm leaning towards Gunther for the simple fact that I just bought the P. Heinrich and already love it after a few battles, so I'm excited to grind through the line.  It seems a no-brainer to use him for the journey.

[Almedius]

Get Lutjens...especially if you grind the glorious german BC line (the t9 and t10 are as much fun as you can have in this game)...I have major regrets not having him yet(next on the list)...

[AnimaL21]

177?  lol.    I'm sitting on 700k in coal.  Let me know if you find anything worth spending it on.  lol.  

[Ensign_Cthulhu]

2 hours ago, Felbombling said:

Side note... I have three German premium ships already in the port, so he would seem to be a fine candidate for synergy there.

Which ones, out of interest?

Lutjens gets more essential the more German premiums you have, and this is especially the case if they are of different types and you can unlock all the various manifestations of the skills.

[AdmiralClaypool]

Bought Lutjens for the new BB line. Def recommend that! I also bought Kearsarge recently! Very cool ship. Providing spotting in t9 only matches is absurdly powerful.

[weiwaynezhang]

1 hour ago, Felbombling said:

Exactly.  I consider myself a part-time player, so I don't really pour massive effort into learning the game to the smallest detail, like my gun caliber vs. various deck armour of ships I'm facing.  I know there are some amazing players who can commit that information to memory and apply it in game to various situations.  That is not me.  lol  

What I can say is that I really enjoy having Jack Dunkirk as a Captain of my Royal Navy fleet and the bonus quirks he brings to the table.  I know that there are various ships available for different resource types [coal, steel, doubloons], but you can only get Gunther via coal, I problem real-life currency cannot address.  I'm leaning towards Gunther for the simple fact that I just bought the P. Heinrich and already love it after a few battles, so I'm excited to grind through the line.  It seems a no-brainer to use him for the journey.

I see special commander like cherry on top. They are not required for grinding. You can do fine without the reload buff for 5 min of the game. 

personally, I would go for coal ships now. I have more T9 and TX premium than you do and I will keep on getting those for now.

[AdmiralFox08]

3 hours ago, Felbombling said:

Hey gang,

 

I've come back after a long layoff, so I'm not up to speed on the coal ships in the Armory.  Beyond that, I already have about ten premium ships running from tier III - VIII, spread over six nations.  My issue is that I am torn between picking up Gunther Lutjens for 175k coal so that I can bomb down the new German BB line, and he seems tailor made for it with his Secondary Battery Loader perk... OR... picking up another premium ship.  Nothing really jumped out at me looking over the ships available for coal, other than the Moskva which I am semi-familiar with.  If I were to grab a coal ship, I imagine it would be in the upper tiers so that I can have extra help finishing some of the Campaigns I've neglected over the few years I've been playing lightly.

So, given the above information, is there a gem sitting in the coal section I should be aware of that would outweigh the perks that Gunther would bring?  [Side note... I have three German premium ships already in the port, so he would seem to be a fine candidate for synergy there.]

Many thanks in advance to any replies I collect from this post.  Looking forward to the theory crafting ahead.

Cheers,

Felbombling

 

 

Hope this helps

[Felbombling]

4 hours ago, Ensign_Cthulhu said:

Which ones, out of interest?

Lutjens gets more essential the more German premiums you have, and this is especially the case if they are of different types and you can unlock all the various manifestations of the skills.

Emden, Graf Spee and P.E. Friedrich.  All three were either a gift or a grind.

[Felbombling]

3 hours ago, AdmiralFox08 said:

 

Hope this helps

LOL   Why didn't I think of that earlier.  Many thanks!  Vid was great and informative, and I also checked one out on Captains.  They were the deciding factors.

[Utt_Buggly]

4 hours ago, Felbombling said:

Atlanta, Krasny Krym, Kirov, Emden, Graf Spee, P.E. Friedrich, Gallant, Duke of York, Aigle and Vampire.  *** missed the Jean Bart and Monaghan ***  Didn't scroll the listing far enough!

No one is mentioning the obvious coal ship choice to consider:

Pommern

Do you have your 25% ship coupon to use? If so, Pommern is very close at hand, and makes a good Leutjens partner.
 

Other things to consider:

What skill point level is your highest German commander? How many 21-point commanders do you have? How much ECXP are you sitting on?

The answers to those questions will tell you haw far behind the other commanders Leutjens would be, and will give you some indication of how long/difficult it will be to close that gap. Beyond a point, his talents won’t bridge the skill point gap.

You just about have to have Mainz and/or Munchen to get his main battery hit-activated skill to come to life.

For me, Leutjens coming in at 10 points wasn’t going to be competitive with my 21- and 19-point German commanders for a long time, plus, my German Premiums were only Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, Odious, and Pommern. Only the last one gets any real play time. In the past year, I’ve picked up: Erich Lowenhardt (was gifted a 2020 Santa  box from a clan mate to get that one), Graf Zeppelin B (from the 2021 black ship random bundle missions), and laid out coal for Immelman. With the advent of the new German battlecruiser line, there is a viable tech tree home ship for him.

Perhaps now, between that and the infusion of German premiums I’ve had, I might start to seriously consider getting him.

[Felbombling]

1 hour ago, MannyD_of_The_Sea said:

What skill point level is your highest German commander? How many 21-point commanders do you have? How much ECXP are you sitting on?

 

Hello Manny.  Yes, I took those questions into consideration before I pulled the trigger on buying Gunther.  My best German Captain has 14.5 levels on the Bismarck.  I had about 130k ECXP, so I went ahead and picked up level 11 for him right away for 69k.  That puts me 3.5 levels behind my best Captain, which I don't consider a huge gap at this point, with the bevy of flags I am sitting on.  [I haven't played in about half a year, but I was logging in every day to collect the daily perks during that lay off.]

Thanks for your thoughtful input.

[Dudefella]

10 hours ago, Felbombling said:

*** EDIT ***

I pulled the trigger on Lutjens.  He is versatile, with abilities that are fairly easy to activate. 

Good choice. I used that guy in every operation and had him at 21 in no time. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

11 hours ago, Felbombling said:

*** EDIT ***

I pulled the trigger on Lutjens.  He is versatile, with abilities that are fairly easy to activate.  With the ability to hop ship to ship on my three premiums, I also have the opportunity to boost his progress here and there.  The main reason, though, was keeping an eye towards the end-game of the tier X Schlieffen.  I'd rather hop into that with Lutjens being a seventeen point Captain rather than a ten point Captain had I waited.  As for Coal ships, which I put serious consideration into, I have disposable income which I could use to get many of them for Doubloons if I really wanted them.  I don't have that option with a Captain like Lutjens.

Many, many thanks to all who participated over the last few hours.  I took all your feedback into consideration.

Sea you out there!  :P

 

 

Congratulations.  :-)
Hope to see you on the virtual seas.  :-)

[Arcus_Aesopi]

11 hours ago, Felbombling said:

I pulled the trigger on Lutjens.  He is versatile, with abilities that are fairly easy to activate.  With the ability to hop ship to ship on my three premiums, I also have the opportunity to boost his progress here and there.  The main reason, though, was keeping an eye towards the end-game of the tier X Schlieffen.

 

Congrats!  He is my Schlieffen commander, but runs most of the German premiums for me.  I use Lutjens also for the Wiemar, star of Narai and the rest of the 150mm main gun light cruisers. I was fortunate to get him at Thanksgiving last year so he was able to level with the Battlecruiser early access... was fantastic and he was 21 pretty quickly in that environment... helped that the Black Ship gambling boxes were giving a ton of CXP at that time.

I have a different commander for the German high caliber premium cruisers (Agir, Prinz Eugen and Graf Spee)  that need a different setup. 

Enjoy!

[iDuckman]

14 hours ago, Felbombling said:

I pulled the trigger on Lutjens. 

It's not a bad choice, though IMO the big commanders are overpriced.  I'd have recommended a T10 ship of some flavor (meaning wait a while) just to give you the option of participating in T10 stuff.  My first -- and still favorite -- T10 was Salem.

 

[Felbombling]

Thanks everyone.  I seem to have run out of Thanks emojis at this point.  :P