Premium Ship Review - IRN Aurora

[LittleWhiteMouse]

The following is aimed at new(ish) players looking to find a little more information about various ships from events, for premium currency or for real-world cash.  The goal is to allow players to make an educated decision before parting with their time and money and to find premium vessels that suit their chosen style of play, whether that is competitive, cooperative, or simply for fun.  The idea here is to elabourate on information not commonly available through reading statistics and provide some (heavily) biased anecdotal evidence to encourage or dissuade you from making your purchase.  The usual disclaimers apply:  everyone knows the Matchmaker clearly loves me because I spend money so that's why I occasionally get really good games, not because I have any particular skills of note.

 

Other articles in this series:

• Available Ships: USS Atlanta, IJN Atago, IRN Aurora, IJN Ishizuchi, VMF Murmansk
• Pre Order Ships:  USS Sims, IJN Yubari, VMF Gremyashchy
• Limited Release Ships: KMS Tirpitz, IJN Fujin,  HMS Warspite, IRN Imperator Nikolai I, VMF Mikhail Kutuzov, ORP Blyskawica, PLAN Anshan, ROCN Lo Yang
• Gift Ships:  USS Albany, USS Arkansas, IJN Iwaki, IJN Tachibana, IJN Kamikaze, IRN Diana, SMS Emden, USS Marblehead
• Arpeggio of Blue Steel Ships:  Fog Kongo, Fog Myoko
• Condensed Reading:  Mouse's Quick Summary of Premium Ships

 

Without further ado: 

 

The Imperial Russian Navy Pallada-class Cruiser

Aurora

The Survivor

 

Quick Summary:   A slow, soft skinned protected cruiser with excellent firepower for her tier.

Cost:  May be purchased through the online store for approximately $13 USD or through the Soviet tech tree for 2250 doubloons.  Note that the Aurora is the ship most often gifted to players through online giveaways and bundle deals.  Keep your eyes peeled here for information on if you can get this ship for free.

 

PROs

• Good broadside weight.
• Best range of all the tier 3 cruisers at 11.2km
• Nice, tight turning circle at 400m.
• Sees a maximum of tier 4 opponents.

 

CONs

• One of the slowest ships in the game at 19kts
• Very weak armour, with 6mm covering most of the ship and only 80mm over the citadel.
• Slow turret rotation at 36s for 180'.
• Poor AP performance except at very close range
• Different AP & HE shell flight times.
• No secondary armament.
• Horrible AA rating

 

Often mistaken for a clone of the St.Louis, the Aurora has a personality all of her own.

 

 

The Full Review

The Aurora is a curious throwback in World of Warships, joining the few other examples in game of pre-Dreadnought era vessels.  She is one of only a handful of vessels where her main armament isn't primarily housed in center line rotating turret, but rather gun emplacements along her port and starboard sides.  Sharing the same tier and gameplay style as the American St.Louis, the Aurora often finds itself directly compared and measured against this American Protected Cruiser.  The parallels are obvious.  But is the Aurora simply a slower, smaller, squishier and slightly longer ranged St.Louis?

 

Givin' them 'the business'.

The Aurora has a broadside of eight guns -- 6 off each side plus a free rotating turret on the bow and aft portions of the ship.  This can make her very quick to respond to a threat on the opposite side, able to immediately train 6 guns while the front and rear guns rotate.

 

Primary Armament

The Aurora has fourteen 152mm guns with six down its starboard side, six down its port side and a fully rotating turret on the bow and stern.  This gives her a combined maximum broadside weight of eight guns which should sound very familiar to anyone that has played the American St.Louis.  The weight of firepower for her tier is just staggering.  Firing at once every eight and a half seconds, when ripple firing this works out to a shell every second which quickly feels like an overwhelming deluge to poor ships caught under her crosshairs.  Once the Aurora finds her range, she will steadily batter anything she encounters into submission through the sheer weight of fire.

 

Though boasting among the best range of any of the tier 3 vessels (matched only by the US Battleship South Carolina), the Aurora doesn't usually get to enjoy this advantage for very long.  Her slow speed prevents her from being able to kite very effectively.  The small map sizes on which she plays when top tier also limits the ability to keep opponents at maximum distance.  So while range is one of the Aurora's strengths, it's not one she gets to enjoy with much regularity.  This is compounded by the relatively high shell arc from her guns, requiring a long lead for vessels at even modest distances.  At ranges over 6km, the shells will feel like they 'float' down towards their targets.  This is even more exaggerated with AP rounds which have a longer flight time than t

 

This leads to some rather poor AP performance at anything other than very close range.  While the baseline alpha values for her AP rounds look good enough, in my experience, in order to wrack up citadel hits, I was required to get within 4km or 5km at most to reliably punch through the flush sides of my targets.  Once shells adopted a bit of their long-range drift, I gave up seeing anything but modest returns.  Her HE rounds are very reliable by contrast, provided you can ensure they strike the superstructure of your opponents.  Aiming for the funnels and bridge of your targets can stack up damage quickly.  She has a very good chance of setting low tier vessels on fire too.

 

It should be noted that the Aurora's gun mounts are very slow to turn, at 36s for a 180' rotation.  This only really affects the guns mounted on the bow and stern, but it can lead to some tracking issues against close ranged ships even with the guns mounted on her sides.

 

In terms of overall gun performance, the Aurora favours competitively with her peers, being stronger in some areas and weaker in others but without any glaring flaws. 

 

Tier Three Cruiser Firepower Comparison

	HE	AP	RoF	Fire Chance	Range	Number of Broadside Guns	Maximum DPM
Kolberg, 105mm	1200	2300	15 rpm	5%	9.1 km	6	108,000 / 207,000
St.Louis, 152mm	2100	3000	7.5 rpm	7%	10.4 km	8	126,000 / 180,000
Aurora, 152mm	2100	2700	7.0 rpm	8%	11.2 km	8	117,600 / 151,200
Tenryu, 140mm	2400	2700	10.0 rpm	10%	11.0 km	4	96,000 / 108,000

HE Shell Flight Times (seconds)

	1km	2km	3km	4km	5km	6km	7km	8km	9km	10km	11km
Kolberg, 105mm	0.54	1.15	1.88	2.64	3.49	4.45	5.67	6.91	8.48	NA	NA
St.Louis, 152mm	0.60	0.94	1.44	2.07	2.70	3.38	4.22	5.04	6.05	7.03	NA
Aurora, 152mm	0.51	1.07	1.64	2.38	3.10	4.00	4.89	5.86	6.93	8.25	9.42
Tenryu, 140mm	0.44	0.93	1.42	2.04	2.64	3.29	4.08	4.84	5.67	6.68	7.59

 

AP Shell Flight Time (seconds)

	1km	2km	3km	4km	5km	6km	7km	8km	9km	10km	11km
Aurora, 152mm	0.49	1.05	1.65	2.45	3.26	4.31	5.38	6.59	7.97	9.77	11.65

 

Secondary Armament

The Aurora has no secondary armament to speak of.  In this way she matches the German Kolberg class cruiser.  This is a little odd, given the plethora of 76mm guns loaded onto her decks.

 

Maneuverability

First and foremost, the Aurora is slow.  She has a maximum speed of 19 knots, but bleeds this down regularly with any form of slight maneuver to 16 knots.  Even minor course adjustments to bring more guns to bear will see your speed limited in this manner and she will take a long time to get from point A to B.  This makes her among the slowest ships in the game at present.  Even the slower Kawachi and South Carolina class Battleships will sometimes feel faster if only grace that she needn't maneuver as much to maximize their firepower with their rotating turrets.  Still, in a straight line, she can out pace these early Battlewagons though they're about the only ships she can outrun.

 

That said, she is wonderfully maneuverable.  She has a tighter turning circle than Destroyers, meaning that short of the Albany, she can out turn any vessel she normally faces in the game.  While this does mean she's very easy to throw around, this does not make her immune to the horrors of torpedoes.  Being caught broadside on by approaching warheads will still see your vessel sent to the bottom.  When you see approaching destroyers, use your maneuverability to get your bow or stern facing towards these attackers and prepare to dodge the inevitable wave of fish.

 

The Aurora is one of the most maneuverable ships in the game.  Her turning circle of 400m is only outmatched by tier 1 cruisers and the Albany.  She is hampered by a slow top speed of 19 knots which she struggles to reach.

 

Durability & Defense

Where the Aurora lacks is in protection.  She has 22,500 hit points which is more than most of the other tier 3 cruisers, but still 7,000 less than the St.Louis.  This is combined by having weak armour --  with 6mm over the majority of the whole ship.  The small exception is a 9mm plate over her machine spaces combined with a 71mm bit of belt along the waterline.  This pales compared to the dual layers of the 102mm belt of the St.Louis followed by a 76mm turtleback. High explosive shells are very effective against the Aurora, while AP tends to over penetrate if not properly aimed.

 

Once she's no longer top tier, though, the game changes significantly.  Tier 4 cruisers, nevermind Battleships, will eat her alive.  Attempts to use her broadside guns invites taking citadel penetration after citadel penetration if your opponents have the inclination to use AP rounds.  Taking hits here will very often see your engine knocked out.  High explosive hits often damage her steering gears, giving her a sense of startling fragility.  When things go wrong for the Aurora, they go wrong quickly.

 

Against even the rudimentary attack craft seen at tier 4, she is almost defenseless, with a 2.0km range on her 76mm AAA. 

 

The Aurora has more HP than most other cruisers of her tier but this is contrasted by having very poor armour. 

This Aurora had her engines knocked out from Battleship AP rounds through her front port quarter which slammed through the length of the ship into her Citadel.  The visible damage to her rear starboard quarter was mostly high explosive rounds from a St.Louis.

 

How to Kill It

It's important not to under estimate the Aurora when she locks onto a target.  Her high explosive spam, when walked across the decks of a target vessel can stack fire criticals with alarming alacrity.  You have effectively two options when engaged by the Aurora -- opt to trade damage with her or outrun her.  Any cruiser or Battleship facing her is spoiled for choice, though I would strongly suggest AP rounds over HE when facing the Aurora to sink her quickly.  Aim for her waterline and watch the damage stack quickly.  High explosive can work, but be respectful of her DPM.  Aim for her gun turrets and see if you can knock them out while peppering her with your shells.

 

Destroyers have to be wary of her tight turning circle.  If you can catch her unawares, two to three torpedoes are usually sufficient to cripple her.  These should be launched at very close range if you can't get her broadside to ensure they strike true. 

 

Carriers have little to worry about the Aurora.  She's too slow to ever manage to get into the backfield ahead of her team mates.  In addition, she has little to no AA defense.

 

Overall Impressions

The Aurora is a very comfortable ship to play.  She ticks all of the right boxes with responsive handling, fun firepower and relaxed game play.  This comes in part from her low tier, which is often less stressful, more chaotic and downright silly than the more cut throat and punitive play styles that begin appearing at higher tiers.  She does feel a bit like a glass cannon at times -- able to deal out damage but not take it well.  In collecting examples of game play, very often I found my poor ship burned and battered to near catastrophic levels but still holding on.  The Aurora has the firepower to make a good account of herself if under estimated.  I found I could reliably sink her nemesis, the St.Louis, if I caught her unawares. Things never went quite so well when the tables were turned.  Overall, she feels much more balanced than the St.Louis, having appreciable (but not crippling by any means) weaknesses.

 

The Aurora offers comfortable, fun, low tier gameplay.

 

Would I recommend?  Yes, I would.  Though the Aurora doesn't offer any unique form of game play, it is a fun bit of game play.  That said, comparing her to the Murmansk, the other Soviet premium cruiser, the Murmansk is hands down the better vessel for training and grinding credits for your Russian Captains.  Still, if you have gold or cash to spend, the Aurora is a fun ship to play.

 

Recommended Modules:  The Aurora can mount two upgrades. 

• Main Battery Armament 1 is the only reasonable choice for the first slot.
• The Aurora takes internal critical hits often, so I would strongly recommend Propulsion Modification 1.

 

Recommended Captain Skills: 

For the Aurora, you want to emphasize her gunnery with Captain skills. 

 

• For tier 1, Basic Fire Training will increase her rate of fire from 7.0rpm to 7.8rpm.
• For tier 2, Expert Marksman to increase her gun rotation from 36.0s to 22.5s for 180' turn.
• For tier 3, High Alert to reduce the cooldown on your Damage Control Party.
• For tier 4, Demolition Expert is slightly preferable to Advanced Firing Training, giving roughly 1-2% increased chance overall to start a fire.
• For tier 5, None really appeal, I would instead suggest getting Advanced Firing Training at tier 4.

 

Other useful skills include Situational Awareness, Basics of Survivability and Fire Prevention.

[StaticDreams]

Every time i see your avatar... i cant help but be mesmerized :3

anyways thanks for the post

[DelroyMonjo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LittleWhiteMouse  sez:    For tier 4, Demolition Expert is slightly preferable to Advanced Firing Training, giving roughly 1-2% increased chance overall to start a fire.   <---- WHAT?

 

The only good use to put this ship is to load it with HE and fire away at whatever is close enough to hit.  It's only role is as a firestarter or to kill DD's who wander in too close.  Be sure to lead the target at about twice the normal tics on the rangefinder as the shells have to go to the moon and back before landing.                        

[ClockworkSpectre]

Absolutely can't agree on the Tier 4 captains skill suggestion, but otherwise pretty good.  Among other benefits the extra range from AFT really helps you get into the fight faster considering the horrible top speed. 

[LittleWhiteMouse]

LittleWhiteMouse  sez:    For tier 4, Demolition Expert is slightly preferable to Advanced Firing Training, giving roughly 1-2% increased chance overall to start a fire.   <---- WHAT?

 

 

The only good use to put this ship is to load it with HE and fire away at whatever is close enough to hit.  It's only role is as a firestarter or to kill DD's who wander in too close.  Be sure to lead the target at about twice the normal tics on the rangefinder as the shells have to go to the moon and back before landing.                        

 

Because of the math in regards to starting a fire vs flat bonus in range increase:

 

("Ammo's fire rate" + Pyromania perk) * ("Ship's fire rate" * (1-(Modification from upgrade + Modification from perk))

 

For the Aurora against the squishiest of targets (ships without upgrades / captain skills):

 

("Ammo's fire rate" + Pyromania perk) * ("Ship's fire rate" * (1-(Modification from upgrade + Modification from perk))

(0.08 + 0) * (0.80 * (1-(0.00 + 0.00))

6.4%

 

With Pyromaniac, it will look like this:

 

("Ammo's fire rate" + Pyromania perk) * ("Ship's fire rate" * (1-(Modification from upgrade + Modification from perk))

(0.08 + 0.03)*(0.80 * (1-(0.00 + 0.00))

8.8%

 

This gives an average number of fires that could be caused per minute with 100% shooting accuracy:

 

• @ 7.0 RPM without Pyromaniac:  3.58 fires per minute,
• @ 7.8 RPM without Pyromaniac:  3.99 fires per minute.
• @ 7.0 RPM with Pyromanic:  4.93 fires per minute.
• @ 7.8 RPM with Pyromanic:  5.49 fires per minute.

 

Notice how a simple rate of fire increase bumps up the fires per minute -- an on par skill investment for aspiring fire bugs.

 

This is contingent, of course, on landing on sections of the ship that aren't already burning.  Mitigation due to the critical immunity period from an activated damage control cooldown (5 seconds for most ships, 20s on Wyoming, Arkansas and South Carolina, 10s on Kawachi, Ishizuchi and Myogi) will still register as fire criticals, though no fire will ignite.  Pyromania works out to about one extra fire every 120s, again assuming 100% accuracy.  The value of Pyromania decreases slightly against upgraded targets with experienced Captains, but these are a rarity at low tiers.

 

Fires will deal 0.3% of a ship's HP per second for one minute with a maximum of four fires running at one time.  Getting these fires to spread out over the target ship is difficult and one of the challenges of HE-spamming cruiser gameplay.

 

The pay off for Pyromaniac isn't as immediately tangible as Advanced Fire Training which increases her range from 11.2km to 13.44km.  This opens up the possibilities of a new meta when the Aurora is top tier, allowing her to kite some targets (notably enemy Battleships) while keeping continually out of range of return fire.  This is invaluable given the difficulties she can face while trying to trade shots with these larger ships which are often the last survivors in a given match.  The range bonus, like Pyromania, is situational. Pyromania, however, is more ubiquitous.  Most encounters throughout the match will be at ranges well inside of the bonus provided by Advanced Fire Training. 

 

Theory crafting aside, it's difficult to appreciate the benefits of a skill like Pyromaniac when looking at results in game.  We simply do not know if the trait's bonus was the deciding factor between a fire lighting or not.  That said, the math can't be argued that it is more likely.  But without the skill set -- namely the ability to aim and spray shells across the decks of a ship to maximize fires to back it up, Pyromaniac becomes 4 wasted skill points.

[suleiman71]

Excellent review as usual...you win the upvote race. lol

 

And concerning getting Aurora for free, like I have, WG and its partners usually give this ship away every few weeks on average...and there's a lot of codes in those giveaways. It's a very good ship in my opinion.

[DelroyMonjo]

Theory crafting on that Demo Expert is just pencil whipping.  I've run about 20 rounds of AP from an Aurora and about a gazillion rounds of HE.  Starting fires is NO PROBLEM!  The extra range would be much more welcome.  Mattter of fact,  I rarely use AP in any of my cruisers (LVL 5 and lower) as HE just gives every ship fits when stonked with 8 rounds of HE per volley.

 

 

 

LittleWhiteMouse     sez:                   

 

 

But without the skill set -- namely the ability to aim and spray shells across the decks of a ship to maximize fires to back it up, Pyromaniac becomes 4 wasted skill points.

---------

Did you not just contradict yourself?

[suleiman71]

Theory crafting on that Demo Expert is just pencil whipping.  I've run about 20 rounds of AP from an Aurora and about a gazillion rounds of HE.  Starting fires is NO PROBLEM!  The extra range would be much more welcome.  Mattter of fact,  I rarely use AP in any of my cruisers (LVL 5 and lower) as HE just gives every ship fits when stonked with 8 rounds of HE per volley.

 

 

 

LittleWhiteMouse     sez:                   

 

 

But without the skill set -- namely the ability to aim and spray shells across the decks of a ship to maximize fires to back it up, Pyromaniac becomes 4 wasted skill points.

---------

Did you not just contradict yourself?

 

We're talking about the fire increasing skill? Or the fire decreasing skill? Whatever it is, I can't remember, I'd agree that it is wasted skill points most likely.

[LittleWhiteMouse]

Theory crafting on that Demo Expert is just pencil whipping.  I've run about 20 rounds of AP from an Aurora and about a gazillion rounds of HE.  Starting fires is NO PROBLEM!  The extra range would be much more welcome.  Mattter of fact,  I rarely use AP in any of my cruisers (LVL 5 and lower) as HE just gives every ship fits when stonked with 8 rounds of HE per volley.

 

 

 

LittleWhiteMouse     sez:                   

 

 

But without the skill set -- namely the ability to aim and spray shells across the decks of a ship to maximize fires to back it up, Pyromaniac becomes 4 wasted skill points.

---------

Did you not just contradict yourself?

 

Skill set in that sentence meant:  "The ability to aim and spray shells across the decks of a ship to maximize fires."

If you don't know how to, or reliably can't do this, then Pyromaniac isn't a worth while skill.

[alexf24]

Excellent review Mouse.

 

On the Pyromaniac recommendation, it would not work for me. The reason is I keep all my premium ships without a Captain, just sharing, and using whichever needs help or best applies, at the time. As I trade captains with Murmansk/Aurora, and RU DDs, I am more inclined to have AFT for these DDs. It would be nice and I might agree if I had a permanent Aurora Captain, but not at the moment, and at my RU Tree level (Ognevoi is my highest, going soon for Kiev), I do not have captains high enough to have both Pyro and AFT/Last Stand (also important for RU DDs).

 

[LittleWhiteMouse]

Excellent review Mouse.

 

On the Pyromaniac recommendation, it would not work for me. The reason is I keep all my premium ships without a Captain, just sharing, and using whichever needs help or best applies, at the time. As I trade captains with Murmansk/Aurora, and RU DDs, I am more inclined to have AFT for these DDs. It would be nice and I might agree if I had a permanent Aurora Captain, but not at the moment, and at my RU Tree level (Ognevoi is my highest, going soon for Kiev), I do not have captains high enough to have both Pyro and AFT/Last Stand (also important for RU DDs).

 

 

This is one of the pitfalls of running premiums.  Alex24 hits the nail on the head on that if you're not running a dedicated premium crew you'll find you have a hodge podge of skills that may not mesh with the given premium you place them in.  Though Soviet DDs do benefit from Pyromania and Advanced Firing Training, the latter is easily more valuable, especially at mid tiers.  With the camouflage bonus provided by the tier 5 Captain Skill furthering the Soviet Destroyer meta, it can be difficult finding a way to squeeze out an extra 4pts worth of Captain Skills to justify gaining a 1% bonus to starting a fire.

 

For your favourite ships, I can see the justification of running a dedicated crew, or for pre-training one in anticipation for tech tree lines yet to come.  Otherwise, you'll have to make do with what your Captains bring over from their other vessels.

[Nachoo31]

My all time kills of 7 says yes to getting this ship.

[Crucis]

Mouse, I suppose that it all depends on how one uses their premium ships.  I always use them as trainers and have no dedicated Captain for them.  And the result of this is that I feel that it's generally pointless to discuss skills for a premium ship CO, IF you're always using the premium ship as a trainer for non-premium ship CO's.  Thus, the skills the CO has when captaining the premium ship will simply be those best suited to his normal ship, the one he's really trained for, not the premium ship.

 

Regardless, I have to say that I really like having AFT on the CO I put in my Aurora (the CO of my tier 6 Russian DD).  That extra range comes in really handy.  And while the shell arc of the Aurora seems similar to that of the Atlanta, the ships the Aurora is shooting at (often enemy BBs) tend to be much slower and thus easier to hit, in spite of the sky high shell arc.  Hey, I'll admit that I'd love to have more fires.  But since AFT is important to my DD captain, that's what I'm stuck with, and it's hard to argue with extra range either.

 

And it's hard to argue with the results, seeing as I average 32k damage and a 2.0 Kill/Death ratio in my Aurora, which is substantially more than the NA average of 25k damage and a 0.69 K/D ratio.

 

 

[suleiman71]

Mouse, I suppose that it all depends on how one uses their premium ships.  I always use them as trainers and have no dedicated Captain for them.  And the result of this is that I feel that it's generally pointless to discuss skills for a premium ship CO, IF you're always using the premium ship as a trainer for non-premium ship CO's.  Thus, the skills the CO has when captaining the premium ship will simply be those best suited to his normal ship, the one he's really trained for, not the premium ship.

 

Regardless, I have to say that I really like having AFT on the CO I put in my Aurora (the CO of my tier 6 Russian DD).  That extra range comes in really handy.  And while the shell arc of the Aurora seems similar to that of the Atlanta, the ships the Aurora is shooting at (often enemy BBs) tend to be much slower and thus easier to hit, in spite of the sky high shell arc.  Hey, I'll admit that I'd love to have more fires.  But since AFT is important to my DD captain, that's what I'm stuck with, and it's hard to argue with extra range either.

 

And it's hard to argue with the results, seeing as I average 32k damage and a 2.0 Kill/Death ratio in my Aurora, which is substantially more than the NA average of 25k damage and a 0.69 K/D ratio.

 

 

 

Aurora's shell arc is not as high as the Atlanta's, it's an allusion.

[_Bohica_]

Every time i see your avatar... i cant help but be mesmerized :3

anyways thanks for the post

 

Yes, but by which?

 

Her hair?

Her eyes?

Her...um....huuuuuge tracks of land?

[Brutalus_Maximus]

I would agree with those who have talked about not having a dedicated Captain for this ship.  I have a Murmansk, Nickolai, and this Aurora.  All three run exclusively with my RU DD Captain.  All the skills are still good for each ship.  The few skill that are not the "perfect" set up are vastly outweighed by the fact that my Captain has so many points already and is gaining them far faster than otherwise.  Between the 4 ships that is 4 first victory bonuses a day even on the days I don't play much.

 

Also with the 2nd highest range in Tier the Aurora gets the most benefit from the % added by AFT.  At tier III it is never hard to find something that is fat and slow and as this ship is fragile out ranging things is great.  I would take AFT over DE even if I did not already have AFT because it is key for RU DD.

 

Last bit.  This is a fun little tier three relaxed play ship and I would not recommend buying it.  Why?  This ship has "Giveaway/Prize Premium" written all over it.  Codes, holidays, anniversaries, contests, you name it this little honey is gonna be available for free on a regular basis.  That is how I got mine.  It is also the only Premium my pure F2P kids have.  (Same giveaway.)  Keep your St. Louis for your slow tier three gun spam enjoyment until WG gives you an Aurora.  

[Coyote720]

Thank you for this review, LWM, and for your follow-up post about fire. I am debating getting the Aurora, and this is exactly the information I was looking for.

 

I think the power of demoliton expert is not fully appreciated; I put it on my Murmansk ahead of AFT. If you start one fire, the enemy can put it out. However, if you start two fires with the second coming after they used their repair party, their ship is going to burn! In other words, the damage from two fires can be worth much, much more than twice the damage of one fire.

[aether_tech]

Diana > Aurora

 

The Aurora is just, soooo bad. She's way to fragile, and way to big of a target. Her arc is terrible, and even with a good turning radius, she's so slow that you can't dodge surprise torpedoes anyway.

[Goolash]

Keep in mind that a mere 1% improvement in fire setting is not just a 1% improvement. Assuming 6 hits per salvo:

Stock chance= 1- (.92^6) = 39.4% / salvo

1% Improved chance= 1-(.91^6)=43.2%/salvo

2% Improved chance= 1-(.90^6)=46.9%/salvo

 

Assuming 7 hits per salvo:

Stock chance= 1- (.92^7) = 44.2% / salvo

1% Improved chance= 1-(.91^7)=48.3%/salvo

2% Improved chance= 1-(.90^7)=52.2%/salvo

 

These numbers are not quite accurate, since the target ships have various fire reduction values, but you get the idea. Will AFT raise your hits per salvo or total salvos fired enough to equate to one extra hit per salvo? If so, go with it. I suspect it depends on individual player style.

[Edward_Liu]

Any update to the advice of captain upgrades?

[DeMatt]

1 hour ago, edliu111 said:

Any update to the advice of captain upgrades?

I think a typical cruiser build (Priority Target, Adrenaline Rush, Demolition Expert, Concealment Expert) will work fine.  I also think that, as a tier 3 premium, it's not really worth building a captain specifically for Aurora - whoever you've got captaining a Russian cruiser or destroyer will do just fine as a sealclubber.

[LittleWhiteMouse]

14 hours ago, edliu111 said:

Any update to the advice of captain upgrades?

I would do it like so:

• Priority Target
• Adrenaline Rush
• Demolition Expert
• Concealment Expert

For your next nine points, drop them in the following:

• Fire Prevention
• Vigilance
• Expert Marksman

[Silver_kun]

Nice guide and thanks for the hyperlink for any probability of learning information about obtaining her for free.

[aethervox]

37 minutes ago, LittleWhiteMouse said:

I would do it like so:

• Priority Target
• Adrenaline Rush
• Demolition Expert
• Concealment Expert

For your next nine points, drop them in the following:

• Fire Prevention
• Vigilance
• Expert Marksman

#1) Isn't your original post, LWM, showing the old style Cpt builds?  BFT is now a level 3 Cpt skill, not level 1.

Also, the MGs are 152mm so why would one even use BFT or AFT?

 I don't remember how I got the Aurora & I'd have to agree with aether_tech (*: not related to this PO' ', btw) that the Aurora is 'weak'. How can LWM say it's good?

My dedicated Cpt has PM, HA, BoS & FP (is this that wrong?) - working on CE next.

 

[Edward_Liu]

14 hours ago, DeMatt said:

I think a typical cruiser build (Priority Target, Adrenaline Rush, Demolition Expert, Concealment Expert) will work fine.  I also think that, as a tier 3 premium, it's not really worth building a captain specifically for Aurora - whoever you've got captaining a Russian cruiser or destroyer will do just fine as a sealclubber.

Perhaps, but it's more just like I've been searching for that one ship in the intro with the three layers of guns and I finally realized it's this baby! So yeah, I know it's not practical but it's really fun to sail up to a Chester and just shout loudly at my monitor, "FIRE ALL GUNS!" just for fun :) but noted all the same! But yeah gonna leave a captain onboard her, and maybe when it's time to sail a t6/7 IJN cruiser i can transport him over ^_^