Harbin, or OMG I Hate This Ship!!

[MrYee]

So far this thing has just been a useless turd - cant shoot, too easily spotted to use torps, and just not a lot of fun.  Finally had a decent game with it (and a bad team, so it was still a loss), but it showed that it can be useful.

94K damage total: 7 torp hits for 73K damage, 70HE hits for 17K, and the rest was fire and flooding.  I have been trying to play it like a big DD and it finally paid off.  It takes so much damage just from breathing on it, so you have to be careful.  The torp damage is not great, but it can hurt quite a bit if you plan it well.

 

[theLaalaa]

I hate my Harbin, too...

[Crokodone]

The pan Asian line is extremely heavy handed on captain skill points. Concealment expert, RPF and survivability expert is a must.  Meanwhile, I'm supprised yout having trouble with Harbin; she has the highest shell velocity and shell performance  of the entire line. She's technically a t8 Smolensk without the reload or hydro. Pan-Asian cruisers are primarily farmers. You can't play aggressive with them at.

[Guardian54]

On 4/21/2022 at 1:55 PM, Crokodone said:

She's technically a t8 Smolensk without the reload or hydro.

Does Smolensk have this bad accel/decel? No? There's your answer.

Long, slender ships with any reasonable amount of engine power should have excellent acceleration/deceleration up to high speeds (even fat ships should accelerate ok at low speeds) but poor turning characteristics for their rudder size/angle. The PA CLs grossly lack in both departments. Which is NOT ACCEPTABLE for something this fragile with a citadel.

I consider a PA CL similar in handling to a UK CL with damaged engine. That's how bad the decel/accel is.

(...Just won a match with 2570 Base XP, the highest I've ever gotten in Harbin I think, lol)

EDIT: Also Smolensk has mostly hidden citadel, improved bounce angles on AP, +60% guns, and IIRC also higher ROF.

[BattlecruiserOperational]

don't worry, it doesn't get better. The Jinan is by far the worst T10 ship I have ever played. This line needs SOMETHING. At least give it a hydro instead of AA...

[altitude902]

I dunno about your problem with Jinan?

I get some pretty consistent damage out of mine. Requires your team to not be an uncoordinated bunch though.

Proper spotting while in your smoke, getting your torps out pre-emptively as you've got good range... Then just run demo expert with Da Rong as Commander and burn. them. down.

[Guardian54]

On 5/4/2022 at 2:32 PM, altitude902 said:

Requires your team to not be an uncoordinated bunch though.

This sentence is unsuited to random battles. Any ship with no ability to perform unless the team is already winning... is a bad ship. Period.

[Zeus_cat]

I quit playing Harbin in random; just a target waiting to get sunk.  I have had a few decent games; mainly when I dumped torps and just happened to hit something.  I'll grind it in coop and hope Sejong does better in random, but not really expecting it will.

[CaptainZub]

1 hour ago, Zeus_cat said:

I quit playing Harbin in random; just a target waiting to get sunk.  I have had a few decent games; mainly when I dumped torps and just happened to hit something.  I'll grind it in coop and hope Sejong does better in random, but not really expecting it will.

 

[Zeus_cat]

23 hours ago, CaptainZub said:

 

You must play it better than I do cuz I never look that good at the end of the battle

[Guardian54]

On 6/10/2022 at 5:56 PM, Zeus_cat said:

hope Sejong does better in random

It does not.

1. Same hyper-lethal garbage accel/decel.

2. Similarly garbage ROF which is worse than DM reloading its 8-inch shells.

3. 9.7km minimum camo is NOT ENOUGH for a puny paper-plated cruiser.

4. Armor still garbage.

5. it loses even the 22mm HE pen of Harbin and drops down to 21mm so IFHE is even more useless (can no longer pen 27mm heavy cruiser plating found on US/KM CAs). Meanwhile IJN gun DDs laugh with 30mm base HE pen on 100mm popguns.

TLDR: Still no firepower, no protection, no mobility, no miscellaneous features. Sejong might make a good Tier 6, if not for being ripped a new one by Dallas or Pensacola any day of the week...

[Sammy_Small]

I don't know whats worse the... The fact that Harbin has the 2nd "best ballistics" of the entire line ( Chunking has the "flattest arcs" )... Or that the only cruiser with worse 130 mm gun ballistics is a Bogatyr down at tier 3...

Heck Har(bedge)-bin makes the Krispy Kream ( Krasny Krym ) look good... and it is a considered on of the weakest tier 5 cruisers.

The entire line is requires you to play them in a "sweaty try hard mode" in order to have any impact... I guess line was designed for people who enjoyed playing the Z-31.