October Digest #4

World of Warships

Rough mixed day at the office...Ran Salem, San Martin, Goliath, Castilla, and Kitakaze to fulfil Liberty Harbour, Dockyard and Battle of Trafalgar missions.

First time in a long long since I've taken Kitakaze out of port. Got reload down to 2.something seconds so that it was almost Groningen-level rate of fire. Slow torp reload however meant I had to use its guns early on to deal to the opposing destroyer (usually) first up. Once loaded up though that's when the fun began because I could loose off one set at one target and then use to the torp reload to loose off another set almost immediately at a secondary target. Double kills, especially against opposing battleships, is always satisfying. Once I've upskilled this skipper to 21-pt will plonk him on Shimakaze. 

Castilla has burst fire with longer reload (28.5 seconds). Useful at times. Trick I use is to use burst fire, then turn it off to bring reload back to 13 seconds before reactivating burst fire. 

Nothing special about Goliath. Nowadays it's been overtaken by other and newer cruisers. Kept it at a distance and relied on its excellent HP to farm opponents. Am considering swapping the commander over to Defence because it's a stronger vessel by comparison. 

Noticed today Tier X games in Co-Op was filled out with players. Weird or maybe I don't play Co-Op at Tier X level often enough to believe that this might be the norm? Loads of Marceau and Kleber too which seemed funny to me. A trend perhaps?

Trafalgar event means I also get the opportunity to take out both Marseille and Minotaur. Keen to see what the fuss is about a radar Minotaur while I've not really played the Marseille extensively.

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Today's grind involved A. Nevsky, Defence, Kitakaze, Marseille, and Ark Royal in Co-Op, Operations, and Asymmetrics battle modes. Finish this week's Dockyard missions and managed to upgrade more Intermediate levels with the harbour build. 

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Just the two ships in today's extended and for the most part enjoyable commander skill upgrade - A. Nevsky and Salem. Played all three modes - Co-Op, Operations, and Asymmetric battle modes. Added the carrier Ark Royal to play out one of the Liberty Harbour missions. 

The Aegis mission in Operations at Tier X level can be tough. Especially today when the enemy vanguard consisted of the Yoshino and Harugumo. Just getting past them proved fatal as I quickly found out when I died very fast because I foolishly got too close to their withering focus fire. Expected some help because one of the early aims is ensuring the task force commander's ship survives past dealing to the enemy vanguard. But my teammates were hanging back as if...

In a later repeat, survived toward the end but our task force commander died before he even made the gap. What the...?!? What made it worse was some tool of a teammate (in a Libertad too) calling us all dogs in chat for not keeping task force leader alive. He himself didn't make it much further once we finally dealt to the vanguard. It made me all that aware that such toxic player behaviour is part of the reason why I don't participate in Ranked or Randoms. Often lapse back to my team sports playing days where teamwork was the whole point of team sports. But this is a pixel online game. Totally different arena. Totally different expectations. 

Thing troubling me was that the level of powerful battleships that we had could have easily knocked off the vanguard sooner rather than much later. Funny part, in that game where our task force commander died early, was that towards game's end there was just me in my cruiser, our carrier and our sub doing his valiant best to infiltrate and cause damage left. Our potent battleships - all four of them - died early and did not make it past halfway point (bar one but he was probably our best battleship player).

Did not know Ark Royal had guns. On the Two Brothers map advanced to help a teammate deal to an enemy battleship but drew too close to effectively launch my attack planes so figured to somehow play gladiator instead once I noticed the defensive guns kicking in the closer I got. Played the carrier like some lumbering Bob Semple tank against a 'modern' battleship. Hilarious to se and really expected to die quick but I survived. And we got the enemy ship...well, my teammate did. 

Reached Level 3 on Liberty Harbour. Wasn't prepared to accumulate the sixty thousand naval base supply tokens needed for the final upgrade so spent doubloons instead. Realised then that I don't want to continue playing the Liberty Harbour event any longer simply because effort is far greater than the value of the reward. Realised then that you can skip the grind altogether by just spending doubloons to reach all three levels. Then you will have completed the harbour, gotten Bridgeport, and collected David Farrgut. And sail on your merry way to the next event over the horizon. 

Finished the first week of the Trafalgar event yesterday. Nice change from the usual skipper grind because it allowed me to sail out other ships not usually deployed. Have yet to take out the Minoatur and test its known configuration - standard smoke or unusal radar. I see it so much on other YT streamers feeds that I already know it capabilities. But seeing and experiencing by association to actually driving are two totally different things, as we all know.

Marseille is an interesting ship. Did not fare well the times I took her out as it was really the first real time testing her. Familiarisation usually requires a week or so of devotion. Hope next week's missions will showcase her strengths, and I can improve. 

Lean on acquiring new ships so far. In fact, no new ships this month. Not bothered however as I'm seriously done with this game. Just going through the motions albeit with some briefly high moments and mostly monotonous mind-numbing lows. The end of this year can't come soon enough at the moment. 

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October Digest #3

World of Warships

Upgraded my way toward Level 3 in the Liberty Harbour event today just before logging out. Initially baulked spending all that accumulated Naval Base Supplies tokens (old hoarding habit) but then realised I'm quitting this game at the end of the year. Pointless therefore to conserve so exchanged some Voyage tokens for dubs to upgrade my way to one intermediate level shy of Level 3. Once upgraded, I will upgrade the other sections at my leisure. Ample time due to playing daily.

Felt much more comfortable today playing A. Nevsky with my 19-pt commander. Expect to upskill him to 20-pt by the end of the week and then I can switch to my other 19-pt commander who is Seasoned (one of the Doe brothers) on Salem. If time free, I will then run Zao whose skipper is just 16-pt; but I do so love this ship. Priority though will be my 19-pt commanders of which there are three in total: the other one is on the Pan-American cruiser San Martin.

Flitted between Operations, Asymmetric and Co-Op without too much bother which felt good. Even keen to hook into it after taking a break to do some grocery shopping. 

Always a degree of trepidation whenever I step out of my comfort zone or realise that I will be earning my grinding stripes proper. But once immersed, that unease mellows pretty quick.

Nevsky shone in the Raptor (CV) mission. Led the way to the carrier then hung back close to the Engineer boat to facilitate healing up. Radar is very useful for pinpointing precise locations. 

Taking out the enemy cruisers is crucial in Asymmetrics. They pose more of a threat initially. Deal to them first up and the rest of the fight will become much more easier. 

Always keep one eye out for the rest of your team as you may suddenly find yourself all alone. Help out where you can; you never know when that assistance may be repaid in kind down the track. It costs you nothing to be a teammate but time and effort. 

Having played the Libertad and Karl XIV Johan in enough Asymmetric game, it is interesting to watch how others fare in her in the same battle mode. On the Shatter map, my Nevsky spawned to the north on the left flank with a K. Johan. Sailed south to the large island to my front and paused there using my radar to spot the enemy who seemed to congregate on the opposite side. I think they were expecting me to YOLO around in a blaze of glory. The K. Johan however sailed around the other (right) side and straight into heavy enemy fire. Half expected my teammate to brake and then pull back using his good guns and torps to do some damage as I would have done if my cruiser teammate had just revealed the enemy's location. But no, he blithely ignored my help and promptly died to the enemy's concentrated fire and torps. Left me to deal with the enemy on my own who chose at that point to push around my side en masse. I figured no point in hanging around and sailed happily to my death. My last view was of my remaining teammates on the far right sailing to the middle after taking care of their flank. 

Generally those who play the Libertad in Asymmetric understand the assignment and fare well. Those that die do so gloriously while those who survive and score high do so playing to Libertad's strengths. I'm glad I chose the secondary build upgrade instead of the recommended one for that slot. As stated in a previous post, scoring several hundred secondary hits at 12 km range is insane. 

Why not grind in Randoms or Ranked? Good question. Simple answer: not good enough and certainly not into being targetted by teammates trolling or trash talking you while you're trying to deal to a live opponent. Distractions I can do without even though I do get easily distracted. 

Asymmetrics is easily my favourite battle mode at the moment. I know exactly what I'm up against. No illusions. No expectations either. You can rely on teammates only so far; the rest of the way is on you. To contribute. To participate. Playing passively is not the way to go. Playing smart however is your only goal. Know when to push. Know when to back off or stay hid under cover. Where possible engage with your secondaries; their contributions can never be underestimated. 

Operations offer variety of scenario missions that test your ship's capabilities as much as showcase your own skill level. Sometimes you lose. Other times you win. Contribution is up to you and your decisions. Knowing the objectives can never be overlooked. 

Even in Co-Op, I always play the objective(s) unless it's blatantly obvious which is more important. Prioritise. 

Wow, six years of playing this game has taught me much...and yet so little. Perhaps the greatest lesson learned is that it is just a game after all. That's always been my attitude towards games whether on the sporting field or currently with online and tabletop gaming. Play to enjoy. Always. So the propaganda tells me. 

Yada yada...knowledge already known to many who play WOWS regularly. Guess that's why I'm quitting end of the year. Nothing new here, folks. Cheers...

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Waking up unexpectedly and playing pissed off is never a good thing. But circumstances being what they are, it's all there is until things settle down. 

Resumed grinding my 19-pt commander on A. Nevsky in Asymmetric. Started off badly (still pissed off) and it showed in my poor performance so switched over to San Martin. Stronger cruiser somehow. Luck changed. Improved. Finished off the daily grind on the Libertad to again complete another 350 secondary mission task. Finding this Pan-American battleship to be OP as heck some times. 

In the last game for the grind, just myself and a Yamagiri left to face off against the six enemies. While the Japanese supership kept her distance and provided useful crossfire with both guns and torpedoes, I sailed boldly toward the enemy from my flank which I had cleaned up with another Libertad. My flank comrade died fairly quickly leaving me to finish off the remaining enemies - a North Carolina and a Richelieu - and a cruiser (name forgotten).   

Anyway, sailed toward the remaining enemy who had capped the middle and far cap circles. Lucky for me they came at me one at a time. Not that it really mattered as I was fairly confident this game was over. 

It's a cocky attitude to have I know but that's how much faith I have in this ship in this battle mode. 

Stayed bow-in all the way as I closed the fight. Took damage as sailed to close but it was not as severe as if I had opened up my angling exposing my vulnerable broadside. Used my secondaries effectively which easily whittled down the enemy HP. Scored a couple of battleships off my secondaries pounding away mercilessly. 

Needless to say, we won despite the odds. Yamagiri capped off the win by finishing off the last enemy - Le Fantasque with her guns. Well played sir.

Note: At a certain point, the enemy will veer away after initially "charging" at you. It's in the makeup of this game setup. If you can weather that rush, and score kills (ie take out the cruiser/destroyer threat), that veering away will turn into a retreat. But if they get you first, then they will turn about and press on to your now-vacated post. 

Liberty Harbour. Fifty days left to run on the event. Be mindful of that time frame in case you ever feel the need to "sprint" your way to the finish. Over one and a half month's worth. Ample if you play daily and suffer no time playing restrictions. Even if constrained by time or life obligations (work, family) all you need to complete are the daily missions which should suffice for progressing your way to the end.  

You need to complete all the upgrades - Operation Command, Naval Command, Fuel Terminal, Military Port - to successfully finish the build. Each sector consists of three major upgrades and ten intermediate ones. Advancing requires spending Naval Base Supply (NBS) tokens. You need a fair amount for each harbour sector. You can fast-track (as with every WOWS event) by spending doubloons if you have them to spare. 

The harbour build upgrades offer Collection tokens. You need sixty to complete the collection. Reward is a historical American naval figure, David Farragut. Name I'm familiar with through my American Civil War gaming. 

Completing all twelve sector upgrades earn Memory Notes. Collecting Memory Notes count towards obtaining the ship reward Bridgeport.

Note: you can compete in either one or both Commands. Up to your personal inclination or preference. I am concentrating solely on Operational Command daily missions.

Operational Command is for all PvE missions. At present I am one intermediate phase shy off the Level 3. Needing sixty thousand NBS tokens before that happens however. Figure to upgrade all the others before accumulating the necessary final amount. That's the way it's got to be sometimes.  

Naval Command is for all PvP missions. Halfway between Level 1 and 2. Needing fifty five thousand NBS tokens in total to reach Level 2.

Fuel Terminal provides boosters that unlock extra missions for either Operational, Naval or Military. Two intermediate levels shy off Level Two.

Military Port is like Festival token bonuses - you get something for nothing; you just have to have enough ships to contribute to the expeditions being offered. One day missions are preferable if wanting the reward the next day. Same progress status as the Fuel Terminal.  

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Becoming more and more comfortable flitting between Operations and Asymmetric modes for variety and a change of pace. 

Today I was able to upskill my San Martin commander to 19-pt and the A. Nevsky commander to 20-pt. 

Finally took out my Salem commander, primarily to get a 100 incapacitation ribbons mission - one of sixty, the other of forty - after initially running both Libertad and Utrecht and not getting them quick enough. But Salem knocked them off fairly quick. 

Liking the Salem so far and looking forward to grinding her in Asymmetric where I believe she will do well. Her guns do damage for sure and looking to exploit that. In Co-Op she's a beast but that's Co-Op.  

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Stardew Valley

Marching toward Perfection with my third character is taking a lot longer than anticipated; just need to buy the ten million gold clock. At five million plus so far. Need to grow more money crops or something. Even with the farm on Ginger Island growing pineapples, it's taking a long while (both in-game and time spent playing). 

Everything else however is all done. Whoop-de-doo!

Current character is farming on the standard farm setup with the mineral quarry onsite. So there is little free land available for farming. Crops are sparse and has to compete with the row upon row lightning catchers. Fortunately the past spring and summer have been wet ones with lots of storms so useful. 

The cellar has one hundred casks for wine and cheese aging. Think I can increase the number but not going to mess with the current configuration. I could boost the quantity of Fairy Dust so as to fast track the cask yield but need lots of Mystic Tree sap for that. Fortunately there's available land at the Railway Station/Spa area. Will see how I go tomorrow night.

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Did not progress far tonight (Monday). Couldn't get the enthusiasm up to make any inroads towards planning. Same old same old mood overwhelmed me. Maybe tomorrow?

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You get odd requests sometimes so it pays to have at least one of each item that is foragable. Even trash has its uses. Like tonight, from my racoon neighbours - three topaz and one rusty spoon please! Certainly. I'll just pluck it out of my a*se. Learned that lesson from way back when I got a similar request for some trash and one other item which both took several in-game days (turns) to fulfil. Raced back to the farm, collected the items requested instantly, returned, exchanged for my reward - some more Fairy Dust. Needing one hundred so I can fast track Starfruit Wine aging in casks. And thus hasten the gold earned. 

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Online PC Games

Going to grab the Into the Dead zombie game soon. Saw Jingles video and while hooked I will pause jumping in impulsively. Not a fan of zombie themed games for some reason. 

Re-examining some historical-themed online games in my Steam library. There are a few games that should provide decent alternative options to WOW. Operative word is "should". None will have the same personal impact as WOW has. Nor longevity. But that's expected. And it will be hard. And none will have the same naval appeal as WOW.

These include Scourge of War - Remastered, Napoleonic themed; Scourge of War - Gettysburg, refighting the famous American Civil War battle; Field of Glory II Medieval, covers the whole Medieval period. And finally Command Modern Operations which covers the modern era from late twentieth century onward.

Not really into skirmish games although I do enjoy playing it on the tabletop. Tabletop wargames such as Blue Max/Canvas Eagles, Rapid Fire/Rapid Fire II, Charlie Don't Surf/any TFL games - to name a few - fulfil that niche very well thank you. Online games like Holdfast Nations and Counterstrike are online equivalents. 

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Tabletop gaming modelling

Really dragging the chain on these ECW figurines. Never enthusiastic about the period in the first place. My lifelong favourites have always been Napoleonic, American Civil War, and World War Two.  Always bypassed the period despite the colourful spectacle that it was. By inclination, I have always been a Royalist (loads of Sunday matinees probably had some influence); believed Cromwell to be a grand usurper. Unfortunately that favouritism is NOT helping me finish off this list that I've had for over a year now.

The Borodino Project was a one-off that evolved from a simple original desire to paint some Westphalians. Yet it snowballed into the massive venture that it became. And I am never going to ever repeat that endeavour again. Ever. And that begs the question: what else is there if you've already done something on this grand scale? For when I look at my unfinished work bench, I fear seeing Borodino Project resurrect itself and repeat.

Not having a live opponent to wage a very English civil war does not help for sure. I was wrong to commit when I did long ago. I regret that. But then there is that part that nudges me and say, "get on with it. It is what it is..." Trouble is, I wish I could shoot that internal voice sometimes. Silence is golden. 

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Tabletop Naval Wargaming

The problem with the tabletop naval wargame rulesets I possess is they're too long, wordy, and involved. The complexity might appeal to me on a certain level but I prefer simplicity and ease when actually playing. Which is why WOWS holds such a great appeal.

But the immediate problem with simplicity is it's very difficult to express in real life because of its inherent complexity. It's the trap that grabs every single ruleset of any complex design. Expressing that lengthy wordy involved rules into something coherent yet simple enough to be played easily can be a tricky wire balancing act. And it might never be truly resolved because of the simple contradiction.

That contradiction are the two core words: simple and easy. 

But adapting oneself to understanding and then implementing such involved rulesets may seem to approach the intent and meaning of those two words. Familiarity and continued usage (experience) aid that process. But is it really simple? Or easy? 

To an outsider, at first it may look a mess, a jumble of meaningless words. An obstacle. To those on the inside however it evolves into something familiar and therefore usable. 

It's a continual struggle I wrestle with whenever I pick up my favourite tabletop naval wargame rules. I don't play often enough so the familiarity and ease of play is forced and unnatural. Which leads to frustration and confusion. Bitching about the rules helps in some way - releases the tension generated. 

Yet, and it remains the forever appeal, I love the look of naval miniatures, whatever the period. I love the game. And it's why I continue, and will continue, to remain steadfastly loyal to it. Even as I approach my seventies. 

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Off-Topic - Cooking

Discovered a cheap lunchtime meal several weeks ago. Combine 2 minute noodle (I use chicken flavoured) with dried Laksa soup in a saucepan of water. Bring to the boil, stirring often. I sometimes add diced or shredded pieces of cooked chicken. Don't let the mix overboil. Once the noodles are fully absorbed by the steaming hot water, remove from heat. Always let it sit for a minute or two to allow the whole blend to fully settle. Then pour into a sturdy bowl. Sprink some chopped parsley or chives. Voila. A warming lunchtime meal in under five minutes. Hot, spicy, tasty. 

I sometimes substitute with Dutch Curry soup flavour. With the beef noodles, I combine them with Mushroom Soup. Dark, earthy, warming. I even throw in real sliced mushrooms to enhance that earthy tone. Mind you, don't add deathcap mushrooms as they can cause an upset tummy. 

And who can go past that old Kiwi favourite for snacking - onion soup dip. Aldi are currently running a Kiwi-themed section. Grabbed Nestle Reduced Cream and Maggi Onion Soup satchets and hurried home to make up this old favourite. Don't forget the dash of vinegar. Mmm.

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October Digest #2

 World of Warships

After a bit of trepidation I finally ran Lisboa and Libertad in Asymmetric today (Wednesday). Had a few games in Co-Op first to familiarise myself with the ship. 

Did well enough in Asymmetric to now feel confident in running the vessel tomorrow to grind out the next Dockyard Event mission tasks. Ran the ship with the anticipated secondary build that definitely helped. 

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Liberty Harbour event began today (Thursday). Unimpressed. Same old lure to get you to spend time and money on something with sweet f-all rewards.

Finished next Dockyard mission tasks in today's session thanks to Asymmetric. Asymmetric is easily my favourite battle mode because it offers just enough of a challenge without the monotony or boredom of Co-Op. But more importantly, I can upskill from 20 to 21 point quicker. Especially when you don't have the necessary Elite Commander XP to just spend your way to the top. Currently upskilling my last Unique commander, Lisboa, to 21 point: hope to complete it by end of the weekend, if not sooner; probably tomorrow (Friday). Then it's back to the coma-inducing Co-Op grind mode for my 16-pt, 17-pt, 18-pt, and 19-pt commanders. 

Don't understand the latest sale event in the Armoury. A bunch of 10-pt special commanders who offer nothing like Seasoned or Unique skilled commanders. Why is WG doing this? The commanders costs coal which would be better spent on ships.

Monmouth and Incheon are now available as doubloon ships.

Another new ship, Indiana, on offer as an Admiral pack or part of a sequential bundle (pot luck). 

Ran Libertad for much of today's grind. Only four defeats: one was neglecting to protect our base which was capped by the enemy; the other three I can't remember how we lost. The remainder were victories. And Libertad figured in the top three for over ninety percent of them. 

Playing her is simple: don't get too close. Make use of her long-range secondaries (over 12km). Keep your distance initially until you can rid yourself (and your teammate) of any cruiser and destroyer threat. Then take out the torp-carrying battleships. Finally just bow in on the remaining battleships and focus on them with your secondaries. 

Always use the F button when loaded; using it on one ship whilst focusing your main guns on another vessel is being efficient as well as effective. 

Beware of crossfires. These can happen when a teammate decides to abandon their front leaving you vulnerable to crossfires. Use the islands to help protect your flank. Try and keep bow in where possible. Have faith in your secondaries to help out. 

Your secondaries are good but so are those of the Schlieffen and Pommern. If paired with either, stick close to them because together you can clear up a flank with ease. Same goes if you're with an Iwami or Napoli or Salem. 

If paired with a cruiser, support your cruiser always. Should they go down first, don't run away. Hang in there and slug it out because you can - your main guns plus your secondaries will back you up. Good positioning helps too. 

Vary your speed always. Libertad's speed manoeuvrability is good; make use of it. Instinct should warn you when torps are coming your way and should start slowing down or turning as a result. You lack hydro so rely on your eyeballs. And know your enemy ship's characteristics. 

Never turn too close to the enemy as they'll hammer your broadside with ease. Came close to dying within the first few salvos a couple of times because I turned while too close to the enemy focus fire. 

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Upskilled Lisboa to 21 points today (Friday) earlier than planned using economic bonuses in Asymmetric. Now I can play him on this tech tree line and exploit his talents. 

Bought the first three Navy 250 sequential bundles. No Indiana but enough resources to happily complete free retraining for de Ruytier who was returned to the Tier X Dutch oven Utrecht. Been playing him on Groningen. 

Decided to continue the trend of returning selected assigned commanders back to their ships and opting to upskill/grind them in Asymmetric. Not sure about running Utretch in Asymmetric however. It's one gimmick is its dual bomber threat, but then the destroyer Tromp does the same job, is more stealthier, and has torpedoes for backup. Paper-thin cruiser armour that crumples easily under concentrated focus fire puts a dampener on gambling with Utretch in Asymmetric. And I sometimes have trouble calculating where to target my bombers. 

Looking forward to trialling Zao in Asymmetric. Always liked her; she is one of my earliest Tier Xs acquired long ago. Saw one player bring her into Asymmetrics today but can't recall how it fared. Weak armour, as with all cruisers, but her long-range torps (lots of them) and her main guns can catch an opponent unawares if careless. Happy to gamble despite that major defect. 

Another ship I'm going to run with her upskilling captain in Asymmetric is the fairly versatile San Martin. She has a good heal, decent torps, and her gunfire can be punishing if the build is right. Kiting is an asset she excels in. 

Day 2 of the Liberty Harbour event saw me activate the Naval Command base. Not that I will be playing the missions from his section as I will be playing missions exclusively from the Operations Base instead. Just need to activate the Fuel Depot section which I expect to do so tomorrow. Doing this will gain access to 20000 Naval Depot Supplies in the Memory Note. After that, I don't know nor care what happens next. Focus is on upskilling commanders in Asymmetric.

Hilarious moment happened as I was completing the third mission task for the Operations base (score 50 rocket/bomb ribbons in a CV). I was in the Tier VI US premium carrier Independence. It was a Co-Op game with a few live players and the rest BOTS. 

Not expecting much from this excursion initially apart from completing the mission task - had a few more bombing/rocket ribbons left to earn. That's when I noticed that the rest of the team had died off and we two survivors were left to face off against four enemy ships. Things started to warm up just then. 

My one remaining teammate was in the US battleship Tier VII tech tree Colorado. He was attending to the enemy carrier to the north. I was in the south east corner avoiding the enemy ships heading my way. I chose a wide sweep but then decided to run diagonally in a more north-westerly direction. This new course would take me through several cap circles. Why not help out, I thought.  

But my new course would take straight into enemy gunfire. I launched all available planes against the two battleships confronting me whittling down their health but it was not fast enough. I was surprised though to still be alive running their gauntlet of fire. The Colorado meanwhile had sunk the enemy CV and was hurrying back to assist. Had no inkling if he would make it in time or if I would still be alive. 

I deliberately held my course however braving the gauntlet while losing over half my ship health in damage. Yet I survived and was about about to head to an unclaimed cap circle when time finally ran out. 

The Colorado couldn't believe what had happened and laughed about it in chat. A few what-ifs were posed. Had my planes sunk the targeted battleship could we have delayed the inevitable? Would the Colorado have made it back to deal to the last enemy ship with its guns? Why had our other teammates given up so easily and died?

Again the lesson stands: play the objective. Or play to the clock. 

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Day 3 of the Liberty Harbour event. 

Completed all the missions required and duly received the next Memory Note - a quantity of credit and, more importantly, thirty thousand Naval Base Supplies - the event currency. Was thus able to fast track through several intermediate stages between Level 1 and 2. Shy one intermediate upgrade to unlock Level 2. Hope to achieve that over the weekend.

Completed the day's missions in a selection of cruisers using their assigned commanders (from the upskilling grind) - Zao, A. Nevsky, San Martin and Salem. Not so confident with cruisers as I am with battleships so needed to run a few games in Co-Op battle mode with each ship. Also ran the Zao CLR simply because I love her cool green camo scheme, not because she's part of the commander upskill grind. 

Had to complete the last stage of secondary mission (earn total of 350 secondary hits ribbons) in the Libertad via Asymmetric. Needed around one hundred plus; funny part was I scored over 350 secondary hits in that single run!!

I am planning to upskill my higher-levelled commanders through Asymmetric mode because it's more entertaining and just a tad challenging. Expecting a lot more early deaths and loads of defeats however. But first I will run the ships through a few games in Co-Op to familiarise myself with the vessel as a few don't have torpedoes.

Other cruisers in the current commander upskill grinding list include Worcester, Hindenburg, Goliath, Castilla, Brisbane, Gouden Leeuw. They should all get in a few games in Asymmetric between now and when the battle mode is withdrawn. 

Zao starts with fast stock torps at 8km. Can upgrade to 12km range but slower speed than stock standard. Accurate HP/AP. But brittle as heck. You're dead if you show broadside so angle bow-in when you can. Use island cover where possible. Played her a lot today. 

A. Nevsky has a very good 12km radar. No smoke. Remember her with good AP but times have changed and she's been overtaken by the current crop of cruisers. Still useful in specific situations. Just a matter of learning what those situations are.  

San Martin has torps but that's all I remember at the moment. Confusing her with St Vincent with the awesome heal. But St Vincent is a battleship. 

Salem has good guns and an excellent rate of fire. Excellent pummeller. Choice of hydro or radar. Played the most after Zao today. Impressed. Seen her in a few Asymmetric games where she performed pretty good especially holding her own when under island cover. Not so useful when caught in the open though. 

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Today I played A. Nevsky exclusively in both Operations (for one of Liberty Harbour mission tasks) and Asymmetric (cmdr upskill grind and Liberty Harbour missions). 

Well prepared for playing cruisers which can proved both frustrating and punishing. One misstep, one miscalculation, one moment of inattentiveness, and you're stuffed. Died so many times it wasn't funny. Those times when I managed to play well enough to survive, I contributed little to nil. Seeing others score ship kills in battleships was disheartening and envious at times. 

But I will persevere because playing cruisers teaches you to be more aware of the situation, mindful of your surroundings, and pay close attention to the mini map and observe closely what your teammates are doing. All of which can be a bit more preserving of your life.  

Probably one of my two best performances today was when I held one flank on my own against five ships - one destroyer, two cruisers and two battleships. Kept them occupied while my teammates dealt to the others.

The other was on one of the ice maps. Spawned in the middle. Sailed for cover behind an island and waited. Didn't have long to wait. Using island cover I sailed by and dealt to those I could. Had help from a Yamato. Together we held the middle and prevented the enemy from capping our base. 

Noticed cruisers get into Asymmetric games quicker. 

If you time it right and play aggressively, you can force your opponents to retire once you survive their initial push. And you can pursue them easier. Especially if you have good backup like a battleship with accurate guns and heavy secondaries. When that happens, you can even go YOLO on opposing battleship. Just remember to angle in correctly. And don't get caught in crossfires.

Puzzled by how accurate the enemy gunfire is even when you're not spotted AND in cover. 

At the start of my session, I was lost when playing Operations initally. Died too quickly. Realised Nevsky has been so power crept it's only use at Tier X is island hugging and using its radar at the right time. It does require a skilled player to use her; sadly I'm not in that category. But I will give it a good crack while Asymmetric is still around. 

October Digest #1

World of Warships

After grinding my five missions for the GQ Johnny tokens today (1 October), I decided to treat myself and took out Lushun as it's returning to the game in the next dockyard event as Lushun B. Earned her in a 2023 dockyard event. Thirty-five phases in total. Once earned however she became a port princess given my focus was on other priorities at the time. But figured it was time to "take her out for a spin..." 

Recall watching a Trenlass video from around the time of her release where he played her. All I remember of that memory was a game filled with lots of Lushun firestarter moments where Trenlass played brilliantly from behind cover and he did well to hold a flank in her. Her deepwater torps are deterrents to heavier vessels although playing her as front-line might require caution given her combined strengths (hydro, 360 turrent rotation, good concealment) and weaknesses (no smoke, slow speed, slower torp reload) might find better utilisation on a flank, farming from cover, or dealing to capping enemy DDs. 

Ran her in a couple of game with Sa Zhenbing at the helm in Co-Op then restored her assigned captain for one final game. Performed to expectation. Took on a Marceau and before that a Kleber (admittedly it's Co-Op) and Lushun more than held her own despite having no smoke. Reminded me so much of Groningen with its MG-like rate of fire. 

And her deepwater torps in double quadruple tubes at 11km present a decent defensive wall against aggressive cruisers or battleships. But its her stealth and gunboat build that marks her for notice.

Keen to see what are the new coal ships. I heard Defence is returning - have it from last year. What are the others however does not interest me at the moment. 

Noticed the new devblog site upgrade. Same old same old content however. New ships released with Update 14.9. Yawn....!

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Was going to skip this Update's Dockyard event but remembered my ultimate goal so participated. Paid for five phases (bare minimum to finish this dockyard event: up three from previous dockyard events). Also forty five phases - much longer than the previous (Laffey) by far. 

Finished the first mission six tasks by playing Karl XIV Johan in Asymmetric. The last mission task (earn 900 ribbons) needed to be done using a destroyer. Thus I took out Groningen because it's good for earning loads of ribbons. Five quick games later and I was done.

This latest Event Pass (German Reunification themed) offers nothing of value as I already have the Prinz E. Friedrich, the halfway reward. No end of event reward ship which is disappointing. One of the 'new' releases would have made a fine reward incentive.

Liberty Harbour event starts 9 October (next Thursday local time). 

Despite the fun of Asymmetric, I have decided this will be my final year playing World of Warships in my current commitment (playing daily). Once I reached 700 ships, I'm done committing to playing every day for several hours. Not the sort of retirement I had envisaged. 

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Mixed day of wins and losses in Karl XIV Johan in Asymmetric. Not too bothered by the outcome however. Still stand by my faith in the Pan-European vessel although I am fully aware of her weaknesses. But maximising her strengths and playing smart even with her weaknesses (AP not that great) can extend ones survivability that little bit longer.

Making full use of island cover to screen yourself from being focus fired upon is essential and helps prolong your survivability. Too often when hammered to death, I was caught out in the open and often presented my broadside making it easy for the accurate enemy fire to score successes. And make no mistake, the bots aim is better in Asymmetric. Couple of times I was killed off by accurate enemy fire before I could sneeze Dixie.

Also remain aware to guard your base. Lost a couple of winning games because our team forgot the enemy were capping our base. 

Play the objectives whatever they be. If you're on a flank and a cap is there for the taking and you're the only one left, take it. Unless urgency requires you elsewhere, take the time to cap.  

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Perseverance pays off. Enjoyed a special moment today (Sat 6 Oct) - a 10-ship-kill game in Asymmetric. 

Had help from my teammates for the most part. And many kills were just me finishing off the severely wounded. But once I was all alone, I remembered to play the objectives and capped twice to help the cause. Ignored the remaining two enemy ships. The enemy managed to cap one back but by then the timer had run out with us as victors. Play the objective.

Not long after, I enjoyed a really good seven-ship-kill game. Again, co-operation is the name of the game. Had great help from a Moskva. Together we took care of our flank, capped it, then moved to the others. Three enemy battleships left - V. Veneto, Richelieu, North Carolina. While the Moskva provided fire support from cover, I raced out into the combat arena, sailing directly for our foe. Secondaries took care of one battleship which had beached itself and loosed off torps on other two to close out the game. 

As a result of this session, I was finally able to upskill the Pan-European Unique commander Swirski to 21-points. 

Perhaps buoyed by this good mood from this session, I've decided to switch Lisboa back to his assigned ship, Libertad, and have him grind from 20-point to 21-point in Asymmetric. 

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Stardew Valley

Currently seeking Perfection for my third character. Finished my second one a few days back. I have several active because I wanted to hook up with every available single female character. Of those, ditzy Hayley is my personal favourite. Yep, I have a thing for blondes. 

Just completing the tasks for the Walnut Room (Mr Qi) so I can earn the necessary Qi tokens to purchase several crafting recipes and finish off the crafting achievement. Just that and the good neighbour achievement are the main achievements left to complete. Everything else is done. As stated, catching the Legendary fish can be done in one day using magic bait with max fishing buff. Having mastered fishing helps too cos you earn the Advanced Iridium Rod as a bonus. 

Once I've completed the Perfection for this third character I will take a break before completing the remaining active characters at my leisure. 

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Other PC games

Steam's Autumn Sale is currently active.. Looking for a new game to take over once I'm done with WOWS. Seen a few YT recommendations. Am interested in a couple already but happy to cast my eye further afield. No firm decision yet made however. Maybe none will be acquired. No rush anyway.

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September Digest #3

English Civil War

Resumed work on the Royalist cavalry after a very long and extended break. Decided to change my current listing to make all units conform to a similar size. The exception being the personal bodyguards of the main players - King Charles I, Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice. My miscalculation when initially drafting up the order has forced this change. 

Currently working on the King's Lifeguards (red uniforms), the two Prince's Horse regiments (blue uniforms), and the Northern Horse. Tweaking the numbers might generate another Horse unit but that's purely speculation at this stage. 

Pics to follow on painting progress. Cheers.

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World of Warships

Asymmetric Battle mode tends to wake me up from the normal zombie grind. 

Karl XIV Johan is my go-to ship at the moment. Potent long-range torps (13.5 km, quadruples each side). Decent secondaries. Quick reload. Quite effective in the developing strategy I am finding with this mode: once you weather the initial assault by the bots on your flank, then you can take the game to the opposition as a decent brawler. 

Today, in my one-and-only match I spawned with a Salem on north flank. We faced off against an enemy DD (Shiratsuyu)), two cruisers (Deustchland and Baltimore), and two battleships (V. Veneto and Bismarck). We survived the inital assault, persevered and took care of the cruisers then the battleships. Lost the Salem but cleared the cap then captured it. 

Got assistance taking out the surviving loitering DD from the friendly Goliath capping the centre. By then, there was just myself and the Goliath. We survived the onslaught from the remaining two battleships (Monarch) and hybrid carrier/battleship (Nebraska). Eventually won out because we had the two caps while the enemy had none. 

I place heavy reliance on the torpedoes with this battleship as its AP is fairly lightweight compared to a Pommern or Libertad. Managing however to play a balanced game using both assets carefully. Most times it works, especially you and your teammates are on the same page and cooperate. Other times, it doesn't work. 

The battle mode remains popular especially with those playing battleships. On the Asia server, at least fifty-plus battleships queue up to play.

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All good things come to an end eventually. The advent of missiles into WOWS, as outlined in the latest devblog, signals the end for me with this six-year journey. I can easily play Command Modern Operations because at least it covers the broad spectrum of modern warfare a lot better than WOWS. And it is more playable without having to cost more for each new advent. 

There is also the return to tabletop wargaming and model hobby where too many incomplete projects remain. And demand attention. 

So the remaining months of this year should prove interesting only from the POV I remain focussed on my seven hundred ship goal. I have thirty-two ships left to go. Can I do it? Not sure is my initial response but anything can happen between now and then.

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Still stand by using Karl XIV Johan exclusively in Asymmetric battle mode. Used it yesterday and today. Did as expected which means its survivability rating remains good/better than good. 

Latest news from the devblogs is that missile ships will be happening. Haven't bothered to read it through properly, relying on comments from favourite YT streamers regarding the matter. Some say as early as Update 14.10 (November). Others say we are moving into the Cold War era of WOWS ship combat. 

There was also forewarning of this eventuality with the last Star Trek event. So it shouldn't come as a surprise despite the usual protests and complaints. Speculation is rife but I'm not interested. I

However, it's becoming more and more clear that this will be my last "full on/daily grind" year of playing. Six years is long enough to devote to one game. And my attention is constantly wandering even when playing the game. 

Playing Groningen is valued because it's such a consistent ribbon earner. A high ribbon earner. Whenever the mission task requires earning several hundred ribbons, the Dutch farmer often shows up. Average is several hundreds.  

Guilio Cesare is an absolute beast in Tier V, and it rules as far as battleships are concerned at its tier level. Cruisers are practically dead whenever this Italian monster sets its guns on them. One shot kills are common: from full health to dead in the water. 

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Weekend grind in Asymmetric. First game was a win. Accidentally logged into the game with Almirante Grau, Tier VIII Pan-American premium cruiser. Lower-tiered opponents, mostly destroyers (over half the opponents). Before I realised it, I was one of the last two but couldn't survive being blatted by one of two battleships. Fortunately our surviving teammate was in a CV and he won the game.  Second game was a defeat however.

After that loss, I decided to switch to my usual go-to Karl XIV Johan in order to earn the remaining GQ tokens (play five games). And that's how each day pans out at the moment. 

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Stardew Valley

Perfection achievement is straightforward and easy to obtain if you plan it right. 

(1) Monster Hero achievement and Pepper Rexes. The wiki states these creatures spawn after Level 7 in the Skull Cavern. But when is part of the discovering. Simply move through each floor until you hit the floor with the Pepper Rexes. Once you deal with those there, immediately leave the mine, then turn around and return the same floor and repeat the process. It pays to have plenty of stairs. 

If you don't have enough stones to begin with, build a load of crystalariums and produce plenty of jade. On the 28th day of each season, visit the Desert trader with your hoard of jade exchanging them for stairs. Problem solved. 

(2) Crafting achievement. Probably takes longest (along with the Friendship one) because crafting recipes show up gradually and commensurate with your progress through the game. Make sure to check out all the crafting recipes sources - Walnut Room, Island Trader, Pierre's store, Robin's Carpentry shop, Wally's Fish Shop. 

Don't forget the Racoon family (newly added with last update) who have to offer a couple of crafting recipes. They sell Fairy Dust which comes in handy because the dust instantly produces the produce from any crafting item (preserve jars, dehydrators and others). 

(3) Master Angler. Easier than anticipated. Work your way quickly through the fishing rods to become more proficient.

For the Legendary Fishes make sure to have plenty of Seafood Pudding (+4 buff to fishing). Need the Advanced Iridium Rod because it has three slots - one for the Trap bobber (slows down fish fight) and one the Sonar bobber (IDs fish). And I prefer using the Magic bait (third slot) which enables out of season fishing. If Legendary fish are all that's left to go, you can obtain all in one fishing session using Magic bait. 

One of the Stardrops is earned once you reach the Master Angler status. 

(4). Increasing yield (gold). Starfruit wine cycled through a cask is easily the best and most expensive yielding produce. Truffle oil is also a high yield earner along while any Sweet Gem Berry fruit brings in gold. Once you unlock Ginger Island you can farm large crops of pineapple which you put through a dehydrator and sell off to earn more gold. 

The clock costs ten million gold and worth the investment if you don't want degradation and constant replacement of such items as fences. And mandatory as one of the Perfection requirements. 

Just get the essentials towards realising Perfection. No more. 

Example: you need two Radioactive bars for two crafting items - Heavy Tapper and Hopper (both recipes obtainable from the Qi's Walnut Room on Ginger Island. You also need two radioactive ores for Hyper Speed-Gro and Magic Bait (also both recipes from Qi's Walnut Room). Do you need any more then? Not really but it's up to you in the end.

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Finished grinding to Perfection with my second character, the one who was a mess to begin with. First few days was sorting out the mess and refining the messy setup. 

Currently doing my third character. Only active for six seasons - first two seasons spent sorting out the Community Centre and getting the four candles from Grandpa's ghost by start of the third season. Should be interesting. More advanced than my second character in terms of perfection in less than half the time. 

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September Digest #2

World of Warship

Not going to get Conrad Helfrich: don't have enough festive tokens to get the required collection mosaic tiles. 

Finished the Event Pass and got the Tier VII premium crate reward. Unfortunately I have all the Tier VII premium ships that are currently available so received 12,750,000 credits as compensation. Surprised I didn't get one of the "new" ships WG is continually foisting on us. 

Only bright spot was finally grabbing the coal ship - Tier IX premium Soviet destroyer Neustrashimy. Hence why I finished the Event Pass sooner than expected (grabbing the coal). 

Goal for the remainder of this month is complete the commander upskill grind. Asymmetric battle mode kicking off soon so that should provide some fun. There's also the new German Early Access cruiser line kicking off tomorrow. 

And the penultimate Dockyard Event mission kicks off as well. I could expend doubloons to finish the Dockyard Event and grab Laffey sooner but prefer to wait given there are still several other major events happening between now and Christmas - Liberty Harbour build event, Christmas snowflakes, etc. 

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Got three of the new German cruiser line - Tier VI Deutschland, Tier VII Admiral Scheer, and Tier IX Manteuffel - using German tokens for the first two, and got a lucky break upon spending dubs from the Grand Voyage event to acquire four sequential bundles and scored the latter upon opening.

Just the Tier VIII Knesebeck left to go. Foregoing getting the Tier X Prinz Aldabert; don't have enough dubs so will wait until the entire line goes out of Early Access.

Manteuffel is fun to play. No problems taking on such OP vessels such as Napoli, Schlieffen, Pommern, Los Andes, Ipiranga without fear. With a secondary build, she's almost as potent as Pommern and Schlieffen. Even gun DDs like Marceau wilt under the relentless secondaries. 

Upskilled Charles-Henri Honore to 21 pt today. Also upskilled remaining two Uniques - Pan-American Lisboa to 20-pt level and European Swirski to 19-pt level.

Another Wishing Well event that I'm avoiding. Another pointless and futile attempt to part you with your money (if you're not already wise to it). New overpriced ships that are just not worth the asking price. 

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Thursday saw the release of the last Dockyard Event mission. Wasn't expecting to finish it in one sitting but I did. The various tasks weren't that difficult apart from earning fifty thousand BASE XP. But managed to do so by jumping into Asymmetric. Struggled initially with the skipper grind ships (Poltava, Prinz E. Frederich, etc) as these ships weren't as good as I had hoped. Multiple defeats. But eventually got it right with the selection in the awesome Tier IX premium Karl XIV Johan, the European battleship. Repeatedly performed to expectation and beyond, and often held the flank many times over. Noticed that despite assurances that you will face two tiers lower, there were games when the difference was sometimes three tiers. Subs and carriers showed up too. 

As a result, playing Asymmetric helped getting BASE XP faster. Eventually I finally got the Dockyard Event reward - the Tier X US destroyer Laffey. As a bonus, I also acquired the Tier VIII German Early Access cruiser Knesebeck. This completes the German cruiser Early Access line from Tier VI to IX. The final ship - Prinz Aldabert - is behind a 20,000 dub paywall so will wait till it's released into the tech tree line in a few months. 

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Friday was a quiet day after my marathon all-day all-night session yesterday. Completed the Knesebeck missions for 100 German tokens then logged out. It will be a quiet weekend as well. Maybe time to get back to some tabletop gaming. We shall see. 

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Four new ships - three carriers and one sub - paid for with my wealth of credit accumulated. 

Used the festive tokens for them to buy a few more Finest Hours crates (a la Conrad Helfrich). Regret now getting the explosive effect instead early on instead of focusing on the Finest Hour collection. Would have Helfrich by now. My fault for not paying attention. 

Having fun playing Asymmetric at the moment; nice break from the commander upskill grind. Karl XIV Johan performs well when not yolo-ing. Ideal tactic is to wait for the enemy to come to you, deal to them, then push. Not ideal: pushing aggressively without support. Depends also on your team mates. Playing a battleship usually means pairing with another ship. Use islands when you can. 

Today was supposed to be a quiet grind - a few games, then log out. But it got frustrating because I was distracted a lot from playing by anything outside of the game - dogs barking, tv show, cooking lunch, going to toilet, etc. 

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Weekend quiet as far as WOWS goes. Did the minimum five game grind then logged out.

The coupon event was poorly received with many missing out on this Twitch-initiated event. Not sure who was the target group - old hands or newcomers. Anyway, never bothered. Those fortunate enough, and wise enough to how the event was setup, benefited. The rest merely griped.

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Stardew Valley

Having recently discovered the Perfection Achievement, and completed, I attempted to repeat with another character. Frustrating because I'm not sure what the f**k I was attempting with this character who happens to have survived fifteen seasons (my longest running character). It was not privy to the recent updates (Dec 2024) so I had to grind to get back to Ginger Island and complete the attendant tasks. Sitting at 68% on the Perfection scale.

Play Stardew Valley as a decent break from the daily salt mine WOWS grind.  

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As of September 26 I am currently at 86% according to the Perfection tracker. Took a week and a bit to sort out the mess I had created and get it into a semblance of organised and efficient order. Just needing to complete the Master Angler and Crafting achievements as well as finalise friendships with a few characters before unlocking the boulder behind the train station and I can advance to the top of the mountain.

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September Digest #1

World of Warships

Reading through the devblogs for Updates 14.8 (September) and 14.9 (October) promises more of WG's 10th Anniversary celebrations. Which means more goodies but with the usual conditionals. Because nothing is ever truly free with WG.

Update 14.8 (September)

Kicks off in two weeks time (or thereabouts). New login calendar is nothing much apart from the addition of Festive tokens (at least 2,000) for use with the Battle Performance event. 

Of personal interest will be the reward, the new Japanese cruiser Kushiro, obtainable for 10,000 Festive tokens. Not a difficult ask if I read the devblog properly. As well, keen to grab the Bonus Package for Tier X ships. Unfortunately limited to just one per player. Worth 1,500 Festive tokens. Everything else doesn't interest me apart from maybe grabbing some Supercrates.

New ships being released are only of passing interest. Unless they're free to obtain through play, then I'll either skip or wait until Christmas. 

The Honorable Service reward system offers more freebies although I'm only focused on the sixth year one even though the devblog states if you've qualified for the previous anniversary years (from one to five inclusive) then you're also eligible for those anniversary rewards as well. We shall see although am highly skeptical meanwhile the only reward I expect will be the sixth anniversary year.

Blast From The Past event should be a hoot if I'm game enough while Asymmetric Battles will be fun as per usual. 

Update 14.9 (October)

Liberty Harbour build is the main event planned for this month. You earn resources to build the port. Completion earns you the Tier VIII US premium cruiser Bridgeport. 

Also released will be a couple of new crates - the Liberty Harbour and the Navy 250 premium one. The first contains a couple of collection elements per drop of which you require sixty to complete the collection. Two thirds can be earned through the Liberty Harbour build. 

A few other goodies are tied in with the port construction which shouldn't look too hard if what's read is how I interpret it. 

New ships once again being released during this Update and will be sailing to a port near you (if lucky) - Lanzhou, Nurnberg '44, Roussillon, Bremen, Aki, Hawaii, Surcouf, C. Aguirre, Blyzkawica '52, Deustchland, Sibir, Optio, Kushio. 

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Eventful Friday. Things back to normal (fingers crossed) today (Saturday). Got three new free ships in today's grind. Managed to complete the next mission of the Dockyard Event. Five more phases left to go then it's Laffey time. 

First new ship was a pleasant surprise upon log in. Received the Tier VIII German premium aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, an anniversary gift reward for six years devotion. 

Earned the Tier X Japanese premium cruiser Kushiro after exchanging Festive tokens (having over six hundred ships was a breeze accumulating the necessary 10,000 festive tokens). Ran it a couple of times; it plays pretty tanky for a heavy cruiser. Lots of torps was the surprise for me with quick reload. First time though I ran straight into a trio waiting for me - a Napoli, AL Bismark, and a Pommern upon rounding an island. 

The rest of the Festive tokens were plied into thirty-nine Supercrates which have been generous in terms of resource rewards (loads of economic bonuses, signal flags, coal, elite commander XP and free XP). Also acquired the one Tier X Bonus Package and one This is Fine Explosive effect. 

Still have enough Festive tokens leftover for my Tier VIII, VII, VI and V ships awaiting conversion. Which means still more Supercrates but there's a 130 limit so any excess (already acquired 29) will be spent on Blue and Green economic bonuses. 

The final new ship received today was the Tier VII Italian premium cruiser Optio, the halfway mark reward for the new Event Pass.

Still unable to fully access the entire range of Honorable Service rewards. Am after the other rewards that are associated with the sixth year rewards - 2 week Warships Premium account, 8 Unique EBs (all types), 7 Supercrates, 10x White Permanent camo, a 50% Discount coupon.

Have not tried the Blast from the Past event. Still playing for Festive tokens in Co-Op. Maybe preferring to wait for the return of Asymmetric Battle mode. 

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Decided to forego going for the Dutch Unique commander until I've gotten all the Supercrates I am allowed. Thirty-one left to go. Any leftover tokens can then go towards completing the collection rewarding Conrad. No rush anyway. Expect he will be made available over the next few Update events. 

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Today I tried to grab some more coal in order to buy one more coal ship - Tier IX Russian premium destroyer Neustrashimy. Thought the quickest way would be through supercrates. But not today although I finally got a ship reward through supercrates. Lucky for me it's the one ship I've been gunning for the past few months - Pan-Asian Tier VIII premium cruiser Irian. Plonked one of the Rong brothers (seasoned commander) and will grind him to 21-point.

It was then I realised the new US destroyer line was now out of Early Access. So spent Free XP and credits to acquire the Tier IX Christopher and Tier X Burrows. 

Getting there slowly but surely toward my seven hundred ship tally. At six hundred and fifty eight as of today.

Got the one hundred and fifty supercrates allocated. Now any festive tokens will be directed toward getting the Dutch Unique commander, Conrad Helfrich. Won't complete the collection of course but I hope to get close enough.

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Naval Wargaming 2025

I am going through a tabeltop naval wargaming revival at the moment. For me, I am concentrating on two main rulesets - Stations Manned and Ready II edition 1.1 (2016) and General Quarters III (2011). SMAR II is no longer available; only recently learned they've shut down their operation in July of this year. As for GQ III, they're very much my favourite because everything about it is well set out, researched, and organised.

Currently set up an historical game using SMAR II but paused it because I'm trying to figure out if I can play the opening moves from contact markers for both sides. Or do I deploy one side instead and leave the other hidden. It's a night action so contact markers would make sense for both parties. 

The US force is divided up into two divisions (Red and Blue) and are blockading the Japanese outpost island. The Japanese resupply forces (all destroyers) are hoping to get in close enough to offload the precious supplies and then tackle the Americans with their torpedoes.

This is another night action hence why I went with contact markers instead of actual deployment. My understanding is that actions are limited from contact markers (as shown in the photo above) so I've deployed the Americans prior to their spotting. Which they successfully do revealing one of the two DDs in the Green division. 

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PC Gaming - Stardew Valley

Forgot all about the Perfection Achievement. Currently completing the last of the Monster Eradication achievements - knocking off fifty Pepper Rexes - which should then unlock access to the top of the mountain. 

Problem with eradicating the dinosaurs is the infrequency with which the Prehistoric floor appears, about a 2.2% chance at or below Floor 7 in the Skull Cavern. Not good odds. Given I started playing last night and it's now dawn of a new day, I found the Prehistoric floor only once throughout the night session. The Rexes did appear a couple of times on the other floors outside of the Prehistoric floor. So, yeah, another long grind.  

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Today (Monday) completed the Perfection Achievement. Getting the last Monster Eradication achievement didn't take as long as I thought once I read the requirements properly. Got lucky though when I hit a Prehistoric floor and kept repeating knocking out the Pepper Rexes on that floor until I had to leave (2am shutdown). 

Doing that whittled down my requirement by well over a half so that I only had eleven to go (needed fifty). Unable to access a floor the following two days but the third I got lucky and was able to locate a floor at level forty-six in the Skull Cave. I was able to finish the achievement in one go. Fortunate too as I was low on stone steps. Jumping down holes is not recommended because you may skip the prehistoric floor which manifests after level seven. Hence why having a ready supply of stone steps is essential because you can simply activate the stone step until you hit the prehistoric floor. 

The following day, the path to the summit was unblocked and my character walked to the top where its partner for this particular game was waiting. Went through all the cast of characters like the end of a movie then the character walked back to the farm. And finished off the day's chores before logging out. 

Taken me some time to finish the game but not too fussed. It's done now. Have not gone the DJT path and trod the Corporation way. Easy to do but not my thing at the moment. 

A couple of achievements left to go to complete this right path (what does Joja Corporation want to discuss at the Pirate's Cove?).

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