Saturday, January 24, 2026

January Digest #8

World of Warships - Another Asymmetric report

The long weekend. Jumped into Asymmetrics again with Mainz, my new favourite German cruiser.














As the game summary above shows, it proved to be an interesting session with a lot more losses this time round. Not worried though because I achieved my daily goals - rewards from both Event Pass and daily coal crates. Also upskilled my captain who is now 12 point. 

Game 1: UNSURE. I believe this was a victory but I don't remember anything about this game as I died pretty quickly and early. 











Strong lineup in terms of firepower and brawling capabilities - double Valparaiso with Ipiranga. The CV was a bonus (depending on player skill of course).















Being paired with a Val I sailed confidently towards the A cap (my torps and accurate cruiser fire and the Val's firepower and brawling abilities). But I got blasted into oblivion around D4 by combined cruiser and battleship focus fire. Still, I was expecting a hard fought win by my teammates. Did not stay to take more screenshots. 










Game 2: LOSS. Made some wrong positional decisions and failed to contribute. As a result I died early. (1) Positioned myself behind the island at E6. This blocked my view of the enemy Budyonny who was free to cap B. (2) Failed to help the Chapayev racing to the middle to help out. Was too slow to come out of my hiding place and he died needlessly. (3) By the time I emerged the cap was taken and I was about to be focus fired by a total of four enemy ships. (4) Should have sailed directly into the cap, contest it against the Budyonny, and then deal with whatever would happen next. But I didn't. And paid for it.

Don't know what happened to the others after becoming a spectator but the GQ Johnny was last man standing in our loss. 




























Game 3: WIN. Spawned with a Valparaiso. Again confidentally sailed for the C cap. However as I drew near I got focus fired by a Sinop so decided to use the island cover to close distance and loosed off two sets of torps at the impudent Ruskie. Then loosed off my other two sets at its companion Lyon

Flank secured, we moved into the centre where our Carnot did his best but was overwhelmed by numbers (obviously).  























Lost our Pommern on the right flank in the meanwhile. This just left me, Val, and Zeiten left to take out the enemy remnants who still outnumbered us. By effective and combined coordinated fire and movement, we achieved our victory. I contributed further by sinking the enemy carrier Independence and thus eliminated the pesky air threat. 

Game 4: LOSS. Two Brothers map. Interesting because we started off well enough but then one by one our team died leaving me to fight off the remnants. I tried my best but ran out of health.





































The image above shows the situation I was left to confront. Took out the two cruisers Kikjduin and Chumphon capping our base. Barely had time to sigh relief when I had to quickly deal to the openly hostile Fiji charging at me. Then without respite the F. Caracciolo emerged through the gap. Loosed off torps but then grounded myself as an almost-full health Colorado appeared. Was unable to loose off more torps as I had to reverse. So used my guns and came "this close" as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, would say to sinking her. Ran out of time. Secondary battery hits from Colorado finished me. 

Game 5: LOSS. Here I made the common mistake of hesitating and dithering. Spawning in the centre can be manageable depending on where one deploys, and how one reacts to the situation. D'oh! After stating the obvious, I dithered by reacting too early to the incoming enemy fire. Then, because I had advanced too far forward, I failed to make use of the island cover to tackle the greater enemy forces coming at me. 




































With a glut of target choices I froze. This hesitation cost me time and then my ship's life. I thought that I had help from the Zeiten and Tirpitz. The Val and Kitakaze I thought would hold their respective flanks. But obviously I was wrong because we lost. 

Game 6: WIN. Riposte map. Spawned in the middle. I chose to play aggressively and sailed towards the B cap. 























Doing so meant taking out the enemy cruisers first before tackling the battleships. Managed to complete the first part but died while attempting the second part. Luckily our Pommern came over to help. His assistance won the situation in the middle. 















Game 7: LOSS. Same map as previous game. Spawned on the left flank which is too open making one susceptible to crossfires from the middle. And in my case, I failed to pay attention to the threat posed by the enemy Laudon, one of the new European battleships. It smacked me as I was attempting to take on the threat to my front. I raced to use the island (H6) as cover. But I had suffered a big bite from the Laudon who was in grid G5 (see two images down).




































My loss left the Hawke to deal with the Sinop alone. He could have, and should have. But he didn't. This left the remaining two teammates a mammoth task. Hipper is good enough but not in this situation; the Laudon would have smacked him to oblivion. And the Pommern had his hands full with the KGV and Gneisenau.

Game 8: LOSS. Myself and the Toulon took on the middle. I died too soon while tackling the enemy cruisers. Got one but the other escaped. Meanwhile crossfiring whittled my healthpool down fast. Left on his own Toulon had to retreat. But it was too late. Meanwhile the Rooke had decided to play chicken early in the game and sailed north. Massa B was stranded and did his best but was taken out. This left the V. Veneto to deal to the enemy on his own. 

















































Game 9: LOSS. Died but managed to help secure the centre. Had enormous help from the friendly Ipiranga and support fire from the Sejong. However the situation went from hopeful to dire when our left flank lost out with the enemy wiping out our friendlies and capping C. The A cap was also capped uncontested as both Valparaiso and Ipiranga were clearing the threat in the middle with me. When I left the game, just two friendlies to take one six enemy ships. The results state we lost. 































































Game 10: WIN. The island stradding grids F/G5 is a natural barrier and so I simply sailed up to it and just sat there for several minutes. Allowed the enemy to cap. Then waited while the bulk sailed elsewhere before reacting. Took out the inquisitive Eendracht as I emerged from cover. Sailed into the cap and captured it. In the process of capturing, sunk the enemy Ranger, then assisted the team. 





































SUMMARY. Mixed outcome as disclosed. Partial listing. 















The record (above) does not match the individual match reports. (1) Relying on memory to make these reports, and (2) my middle mouse is busted so I cannot scroll down the summary list and therefore it only shows the most recent matches. I do know I played more than nine games. 

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World of Warships - A New Day, etc, etc...

Jumped into Asymmetric with Mainz thinking to improve on yesterday's mixed results (post above). Needed a few more Base XP to complete the cruiser task for the Dockyard event.  But started the session awfully. Four losses in a row. Only improved when I stopped taking screenshots for analysis and simply played the game. 

After I had fulfilled the cruiser Base XP requirement (Dockyard event) I switched over to the battleship task. Doubt I will finish it in time and claim the last 250 steel on offer however because 42,000 BASE XP is a tall ask. Paused to decide which battleship to play among my commander upskill group. In the end went with Jean Bart. 

First run in Asymmetric it performed beautifully. Next game not so well because I was too exposed and failed to take out the destroyer early. Plus myself and the Pommern with me were being focus fired from two directions. 

Last game however was another good win and then I logged out.

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World of Warships - Jean Bart

With only eight 18" guns (two turrents in the front), you'd think this ship might struggle in the game because she doesn't possess a "funny button" or has sets of torpedoes or some other gimmick that seems the fashion these days. But nope. She's strong. She's powerful. She's a winner. Just keep her facing the enemy and avoid presenting citadels, know when to push and when not to, and you will be fine. 

Played this ship exclusively to finish the battleship task for the final Dockyard mission (earn 42,000 BASE XP). Managed it without too much trouble in the end. It took me several hours although it did not feel like the usual frustrating grind. Quite the opposite - very entertaining, to be honest.

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Friday, January 23, 2026

Digest January #7

World of Warships: Playing Asymmetrics

Asymmetrics in a Tier VIII ship is completely different to that in a Tier X ship. Lot less stressful but just as much fun. When I say stressful, I am referring to how teammates die so much quicker in Tier X. It is less so in a Tier VIII game except this time round it's you that's dead. Lol. 

Below is a visual record of my session today in Asymmetrics when I entered in the potent Tier VIII German premium cruiser Mainz. But first a result in Co-Op mode. There's greater competition for "kills" in Co-Op. It's always first in, first kill. And so on. Hence why I jumped into Asymmetrics because there's always loads of enemies to take on. Plenty all around.























Fault line map. Spawned south centre with team mates. Don't remember much from this game other than I died fairly early and we lost (see record at bottom of post). 























Now from when I jumped into Asymmetrics. Sunset Isles map game (above). New map getting some rotation in-game. No real opinion regarding it. Just another map. Spawned south centre. Teammate in Nurnberg sailed to cap B. I chose to advance to the opposite side of the island (grid F5) and waited for the enemy Flint fast approaching. While my teammate capped B, and successfully defended it on their own-some, I concentrated on taking out the Flint and and also covering my teammate's left flank. With the cap action dying down (no more immediate threats) the action was elsewhere so it was a quiet remainder of this match. Relatively straightforward win. 














Lineup for next match on the Two Brothers map. Note that enemy BOTS generally spawn between 2 ad 3 tier lowers (depending on the composition of your own team).























Interesting game on the Two Brothers map. Lightning and I sailed south and took out the enemy opposing us on our left flank. Meanwhile a large fleet of enemy sailed through the gap and dealt to the Yorktown and Scheer defending our base. See where this is heading? The Surrey also died. That just left myself and the Lightning to take on the remaining enemy. 






















Above shows the situation prior to the enemy's big push up the middle. The Lightning and I were about to deal to the Iron Duke.






















It's here when I noticed on the map the enemy Leander capping our base. I left the Lightning and sped back to stop this from happening. Managed to deal to the Leander, Emerald, and Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great). Lightning valiantly took out the Andrea Doria and Kongo but died to secondary battery fire as he was on mid- to low-health. That left me to face just the Furataka which I managed by using my guns. I thought we had won it but then I forgot that the enemy still had a destroyer (not sure if it was the Maestrale or Podvoisky). I had sailed into the enemy base because that's where the Furutaka had posted itself prior to being sunk. So it would take time for me to turn around and sail back to our base which was already being capped. 






















This defeat offset all the good work I thought we had done.  

LESSON REMINDER: Protect your base (again!). Do a head count by checking the listing. The enemy destroyer was invisible and remained so because it was outside spotting range. Also, it was obvious the game wasn't finished after sinking the Furutaka. But I was oblivious because I was simply relieved to still be the last man standing. Brain shut down as a result.















Skipped the next game for screenshot; must have forgot in my excitement. Anyway above is the lineup for the following game on the Neighbours map. Team spawned from the northwest. Notable for the inclusion of the North Carolina CLR: I have one and I love it for the unique green camo scheme on this battleship. Also have the Zao version also with the same green metallic camo.  























I thought we stood a chance because I had another Mainz with me. Sailed boldly to the enemy base using the islands to my left as flank protection and bow pointed in. 























Unfortunately my confidence was boldly and brutally defeated as I died while retiring after taking a battering from focus fire. Of little use was firing off my torps (only one hit). I think we lost. Kii was isolated. It had trouble dealing to the Nurnberg. I don't know what happened with the other two teammates to the north who were pursuing the Normandie

Immediately after this loss, joined a new game where I spawned on the same map. 





































This time I spawned on the left flank. The Iwami (over on the far left) started sailing wide, avoiding the cap. I, however, sailed toward it figuring to at least cap it. The Yorktown was left alone to deal with the central threat. Meanwhile the Pommern and Mainz B (simply a clone of the Mainz draped in black camo) presented a strong force on our right flank. I expected them to cap A and win that flank without too much hassle. 























To my immediate front I got lucky because the Omono (the first ship spotted on my flank) opted to use the island (D7) to mask its movement from me. I had the same plan but I was waiting for the F. Caracciolo which was following behind. Its 18" guns can smack you real hard if you're not careful. The Zara (making up the third enemy on our flank) seemed to hang back so was not the immediate threat. Ignored the situation occurring the centre for now. And I did not notice that our right flank had totally collapsed. And the enemy had capped both A and B now and earning points.























Above shows the situation whereby I took out the Italian battleship with two sets of torpedoes. Meanwhile my teammate sunk the Omono and was about to finish the Zara. I noticed the Fiji (from the centre) rounding the north of the island in grid E6. It was on low health so I finished her off. The Iwami and I finished capping C before moving into the centre. 

In the ensuing combat, we three survived and took out the remaining ships except P. Heinrich which was still lingering at the A cap. Complimented my remaining teammates for their contribution to our victory. It was a good game. The obvious highlight of the session. 
















Lineup for the game on the Northern Waters map. As per usual, spawned in the centre (as shown below).























At first glance, there appears to be two options. Both are defensive. The island straddling G5 is useful as cover but it means the enemy cap B. The larger island at grid F6 is the other option but LOS is blocked by the island (under the letter B) which the enemy can use to hide behind while targeting you from the flanks. 

I chose option 3 which was play aggressively and sail into the B cap and sit behind the island there and await the enemy to show up.






















Unfortunately I forgot my own mantra - be patient - and raced in front of the island right into a fleet of ships. Dumbly loosed off all my torps and raced to cover. But died on the way. We still won though. Lol. 























Joined this next game but got going fairly late as the animals were needing attention. Notable for the great play by the Cherbourg. My contributed was significantly small because all the damage had been done earlier by the Cherbourg and the two Valparaiso.















Another game (above) featuring another double Valparaiso. Don't remember anything about this game except that it was a win, and I survived. By the end, I had achieved my goal of collecting the three daily coal crates and logged out. 















Above is the record of my Mainz games in Asymmetrics. Cheers.

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