Baltimore - Straight to Des Moines or suffer more getting guns?

[Dabba]

Poll is simple. Don't need much discussion about why shes bad or how to fix her. Simply are the guns worth the agonizing time, effort and possibly aneurysm, or should I shoot straight for the DM after the hull upgrade. Stock guns are terrible but so is the whole ship. I'm not sure a little extra dmg per shell is worth it unless they have a MASSIVE pen advantage or something. 

[Pope_Shizzle]

Get the guns.  Faster ROF is reason enough to get them.  They aren't that expensive.  You'll play maybe 10-15 extra games if you get them, but on a ship where you're likely looking at 100+ anyway, isn't it better to enjoy those 100 games more by being able to go pew pew faster?  Also, the new guns are better.  They do more damage and seem to penetrate better.  I have no actual evidence to back this up other than my own anecdotal experience playing the ship.

 

TLDR: Play 100 games with slow firing guns or 110 games with faster firing ones.  I think the choice is pretty easy, TBH.

[Noshiro_]

Uh, they do give a pen advantage. Those are super heavy shells.

[Personator]

Get your DM in prep for rank 1 this season \o/ 

 

[Gaishu_Isshoku]

They have faster RoF, drastically improved penetration and shell normalization, and extra base damage. They won't transform Balti into an excellent ship, but they will make her more playable. Would definitely recommend grabbing the guns.

[Kenjister]

Yeah, the guns are a large upgrade.  People like to rag on the arcs, but to me they feel comfortable.  They're just a smidge worse than the HE arcs that you're already used to.

That and in close range engagements, the arc works in your favor.  You can drop citadels into German turtleback CAs like it's nobody's business.

 

[Dabba]

Bump for sample size but looks like the guns are the way to go.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

There is nothing absolutely redeeming about Baltimore, nothing that will teach you how DM behaves.  The less time, resources you spend on worthless Baltimore the better.

[MrDeaf]

There is nothing absolutely redeeming about Baltimore, nothing that will teach you how DM behaves.  The less time, resources you spend on worthless Baltimore the better.

 

They seem to play mostly the same.

Except you get twice the DPM in DM.

 

You can either spam shells from long range, behind an island, or sneak in up close and try to alpha strike other ships not expecting you to be there.

The one extra thing DM can do is brawl every other ship inside of 10km, where as Baltimore you have to be selective about who you are brawling.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

 

They seem to play mostly the same.

Except you get twice the DPM in DM.

 

You can either spam shells from long range, behind an island, or sneak in up close and try to alpha strike other ships not expecting you to be there.

The one extra thing DM can do is brawl every other ship inside of 10km, where as Baltimore you have to be selective about who you are brawling.

 

Baltimore's guns are more viable across more ranges than DM's, her guns behave like Pensacola, NOLA.  It's nothing at all like DM's shells, which, just like Atlanta, prefer to launch satellites in orbit and then parachute on the way down.  I'm not saying Baltimore's shells are like KM, Soviet shells, but they behave better at range than DM's.  DM's guns and shells, except against big, slow BBs, are only good at knife fights.  Baltimore plays nothing like that.

[ryuukei8569]

 

Baltimore's guns are more viable across more ranges than DM's, her guns behave like Pensacola, NOLA.  It's nothing at all like DM's shells, which, just like Atlanta, prefer to launch satellites in orbit and then parachute on the way down.  I'm not saying Baltimore's shells are like KM, Soviet shells, but they behave better at range than DM's.  DM's guns and shells, except against big, slow BBs, are only good at knife fights.  Baltimore plays nothing like that.

 

Thats AP only that does that. DM's HE arcs are basically the same as baltimores, New orleans, and Pensacola. The only real issue there is that DM faces the Railgun armed cruisers Moskva and Zao more often.

[Gavroche_]

You want to frontally penetrate Mogamis and Atagos? Get the guns. The Baltimore has excellent concealment allowing it to ambush other cruisers.

If your style is spamming HE (not intended to be criticism if it is) then the guns aren't all that necessary.

I play with a blend of both styles, so I got the gun upgrade.

[Dabba]

You want to frontally penetrate Mogamis and Atagos? Get the guns. The Baltimore has excellent concealment allowing it to ambush other cruisers.

If your style is spamming HE (not intended to be criticism if it is) then the guns aren't all that necessary.

I play with a blend of both styles, so I got the gun upgrade.

 

I do prefer AP but will switch to HE depending the target and positioning. If I want to spam HE and burn people down I play Sims

[Kenjister]

 

Baltimore's guns are more viable across more ranges than DM's, her guns behave like Pensacola, NOLA.  It's nothing at all like DM's shells, which, just like Atlanta, prefer to launch satellites in orbit and then parachute on the way down.  I'm not saying Baltimore's shells are like KM, Soviet shells, but they behave better at range than DM's.  DM's guns and shells, except against big, slow BBs, are only good at knife fights.  Baltimore plays nothing like that.

 

Baltimore and DMs top guns are the same.  Both fire super heavy shells which gives that infamous floaty arc.  It's nowhere near as bad as people claim it to be though!  They don't have any outstanding features, but the excellent normalization and arrangement make them very comfortable to use.  You can't duel 1v1 long range very easily, but that's about the only drawback.

 

Baltimore's stock guns are the same as NOLA, but with a 4.0 rpm and 9 guns.  This gives her less DPM than the two proceeding ships, as well as facing tougher enemies.  The lack of pen really starts to show at this point.

[Madwolf05]

Uh, they do give a pen advantage. Those are super heavy shells.

 

Actually that is apparently false until the very edge of the gun range in this game. Since you don't ever reach it's true max range, thanks to how WG did ranges, the SHS offer no advantage until the least KM of the DMs range. So really they're at a disadvantage because they're simply no as good as the regular shell until that point, and the flight time is longer and more arching.

[Kenjister]

 

Actually that is apparently false until the very edge of the gun range in this game. Since you don't ever reach it's true max range, thanks to how WG did ranges, the SHS offer no advantage until the least KM of the DMs range. So really they're at a disadvantage because they're simply no as good as the regular shell until that point, and the flight time is longer and more arching.

 

Whether it be from the increased normalization values, or the specific way they calculate pen in game (that "krupp" variable) I've found the SHS to have superior pen at all ranges.

[Dabba]

Oh yeah. Didnt think about the DM sharing the same shells. May as well get used to them now. The NC SHS aren't bad after getting used to them.