German IX cruiser Admiral Schroder

[Samuel_Stevens_destroyer]

I dislike of how the ships main guns look way to small on such a large vessel but they are not and the second thing is that it's a nine, why can't the Germans get a X cruiser or is it impossible for War Gaming to make one, they could increase the size of the main batteries and increase it to the level of a ten but we never get that.

[Lord_Magus]

I think WG has stretched 's hull compared to the real-life design to make room for all those 128mm dual-purpose guns, which is what leaves the guns looking a bit small relative to her size.

I considered Admiral Zenker's 1928 design to be more T8 material myself. I fail to see what reason there is to choose her over Ägir if they're the same tier. Admiral Schröder has 1 less main gun of the same caliber with lower AP alpha than Ägir (8300 vs 9100), slightly lower top speed and no torpedoes (even though the historical design had them). It seems like the only things Schröder has going for her is 2km better stealth and the engine boost consumable. Which hardly seem like enough.

I'm guessing WG probably buffed the side armor (which they describe as "not bad for a cruiser") to something thicker than a 100mm belt and 40mm turtleback, which would've rendered it a glass cannon even by T8 cruiser standards. And they could easily give her better main gun firing angles (including a 360° rotating Y turret). But even if they have then she doesn't have much going for her compared to Ägir.

 

 

As for a T10 German cruiser there's an excellent option available for WG to use: KW 45.

Armed with 4x2 380mm (same as Bismarck and Tirpitz) and 2x4 533mm torps, and armored with a 200mm belt and 100mm turtleback. And a speed of 35 knots. And WG could always do the same turret-swapping as they did with Siegfried and Ägir to create a version with 4x3 305mm.

WG is clearly aware of it because the article I linked is on their own site.

[Fr05ty]

I'll drop this here, because there ARE T10 designs for the German lines, but WG hasn't yet gone for them: