November Digest #2

SurrounDead

Patch 0.8.0 Pandemic just dropped. Big changes. Perhaps the most significant (for me) is that zombies can now bite and infect you. Unless you have the antidote (has to be crafted), you're doomed. Need a syringe to administer the antidote. Searching the labs and underground bunkers now becomes a priority.

Other than that, lots of other changes - too numerous to absorb in one reading. Will re-read later when I have more time. Maybe it's time to return to the game. 

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World of Warships

Saturday 7 November

Last night logged into the NA account and earned enough through playing the Horror of the Abyss game and rewards from other Events and coal loot crates to finally upgrade the last two Tier 4 ships - Courbet and Gangut. Now I can concentrate on the next Tier level. 

Will skip the Tier 4 carriers for now. 

A new session of Clan Naval Battles also started last night on this account. This time, you had to earn a certain amount of main battery hit ribbons. Base start set at 10 (which earns you one star). I managed to earn 6 stars (reached 250 bar level) on one class of ship and 3 on the same class but different nation before I ran out of attempts. 

Ran the Atlanta B because it has a four point eight second reload, and eight 127mm guns. So there are plenty of opportunity to score hits and reach the 250 ribbon goal. 

On the other, I chose Kotovsky  - eight 152mm with eight point two base reload. 

In Co-Op it all depends on the map, and number of live players on your team. More players limits the amount of hits possible. Larger maps improves your chances however. 

I suspect the number of main battery hits increase when playing Asymmetrics. But haven't tested that speculation out just yet. 

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Tonight I logged back into the NA account to start grinding my Tier 5 ships. Frustrating moments not remembering that battleships/battlecruisers are tricky to maneouvre, especially when space is tight or when navigating through islands. Got caught out a couple of times when confronting enemy cruisers with torp capabilities. Silly dumb mistake on my part. 

Also checked in on the clan's progress in the Naval Battles. Dropped down from 9th to 14th in our grouping. Wasn't going to do more though as I felt I had done enough having earn nine stars from my fourteen attempts. Even though I earned two more attempts.

Noticed that it's the same group of guys participating which leads me to believe the clan, while looking full on paper, really has only a few active players. Not surprised. And not my concern to be honest.

Considering leaving as I'm not gaining any real benefits from being part of the clan. And there's always that pressure, or obligation, to take part. Even when I don't feel like it. 

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Unlocked second level for Event Pass on both accounts. New European cruiser line part of the rewards. 

Just biding time until the next Horror from the Abyss chapter is unlocked in a few days. Have a feeling new class of ship will appear. Possibly destroyer class while the last chapter will debut the battleship class. Think this is what happened with the Star Trek event but memory is dodgy at best.

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Playing the Horror of the Abyss event is useful for those resource-poor. Instead of the usual slow grind through Co-Op, simply jump into Horror and run a few games to build up your resources quicker. Been able to upgrade some of my Tier 5 ships on my NA account in the past few days thanks to this event. 

Certainly quantity of rewards is improvement on the Pacific Front card game. Both are useful in their own way. Just depends on how much time you want to invest in either game modes.

Just noticed the Puerto Rico B is not available for sale even though it's one of the pairings listed in the 48-ship Black Squadron. Seems certain ships are excluded from the sales pitch. Which is inconvenient for those wanting to complete a pairing. What a crock!

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Logged into NA account tonight (Wed) and the next chapter in the Horror From the Abyss event kicked off in conjunction with the Iberian Corsair/Pirates event.  Am enjoying this event because it's a change from the usual grind. Finished the progress track pretty easily and quickly.

Was wrong about a new class of ship being introduced; still playing the cruiser class. New type of missions though. Much more fun than the Pacific Front card game, that's for sure. 

A fair few familiar items in the sales pitch with the Iberian Corsairs/Pirates event. Characters, flags, ships, explosive effects available from previous events. I have the Numancia on my Asian account. Currently grinding my Spanish Unique commander on it. Decent enough ship with eight torps in two salvos of four per side. No smoke though. 

Also starting today is the Salvage event where you exchange resources for a chance to grab the German tech tree supership destroyer, Z-57.

Firstly, the Salvage event is WG's way of clawing back a swag of your hard-earned resources. If you're wealthy in resources, well, fine. Spend it. But for most of us, the price is too steep. I will be saving mine for other things. It's not a premium either but a supership, part of the tech tree line. And superships cost you dearly to run in a game so forget it. 

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Gridiron

Son told me my grandson is back playing gridiron again. His year in the States hopefully taught him something. Like how to play. Cautiously adopting a wait-and-see approach for now. 

His former team folded while he was away with many joining a more established local team. May watch a game or two. 

He and his Dad (my son) called round yesterday (Sunday) and he's looking fit. Lost weight and looking like the giant that he's becoming. 

Now playing offensive guard and defensive end. He confirmed that playing standards are totally different between Oz and the US at his age level. US influence however is growing with many US-born players coming over and coaching the current and next generations. Which is good. Improves the playing standard. And, more important, their interest in the local scene is offering local players a route to enter the US game and college system. 

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Solo Wargaming

Was transporting stuff between the workshop and studio today (Tue). In the mood for some tabletop gaming. I wanted to use a gaming mat to overlay the gaming boards. 

Originally had several but over the years they've deteriorated so badly I've had to toss all but one. But removing it from it cardboard storage today revealed it too was puckerooed. 

The brand is popular with gamers and still active. I acquired them at a tournament way back in the early 2000s. Surprised they've deteriorated so badly. It's now just a solid rock-hard glump (see photo below). Does not matter if you stand it or lie it down for storage; it eventually goes rock hard. Of course, I had to bin it - carrying bag and all. 

What a waste of money. Irony for me is my models (some I've had since the 90s) are still fine but this this POS accessory is a dismal fail. Now I'm always going to look at this mob's sales pitch with a healthy dose of disbelief.

Fortunately for me I have a backup plan. I still have a working Scenics grass matt 100 inch by 50 inch that is still fine. Slightly smaller than the planned 2710 mm by 1220 mm table setup. And, joy among joy, it's not deteriorated, warped, or set rock hard. Quality items last longer for sure.

Now I have to finish off painting the Royalist artillery and some cavalry.  Hope to achieve this before my birthday. 

Also got plenty of planning to do to setup this short solo campaign. Using Victory Without Quarters ruleset with some campaign add-ons. 

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League of Augsburg

As if I needed further incentive with my return to tabletop gaming, I happened across a few of their YT videos last night. Very impressive. Beautiful models, well painted, always attract the eye. The batrep was well done, well edited. The battle of the Boyne scenarios included actual photos of the various locations. And several other batreps impressed enough to consider buying the ruleset.

The entire period (17th-18th century) has always being one that I would have attempted if I hadn't started out with Napoleonics and WW2. But it was like the pinnacle of wargaming for this poor boy from a lower socio-economic setting. Plus, models and rules were only available from overseas. Regrets come free with time. 

Maybe one day... but first I have to finish this ECW foray.

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November Digest #1

World of Warships

Asian account (Sun 1 Nov)
Two more Seasoned commanders upskilled tonight to 21 pt - J.J. Honore for Jean Bart and R. von Jutland for Preussen. Used a combination of Elite Cmdr XP and Free XP to get them over the line. 

Next commanders for focus upskill be the two latest Unique commanders acquired recently - J. A. Collins (Commonwealth) and P. C. Topete (Spain) along with three commanders currently on 17 pts. Their ships are Hindenburg, Anhalt, and Halland but I am running them on lower tiered vessels.  

NA Account (Sun 1 Nov)
Not much to say. Usual grind in Tier 4. Managed to earn enough credits to upgrade to a new ship, Tier 5 Italian DD Maestrale. 

Checked in on the clan's progress in the latest Naval Battles. They weren't troubled by the opposition so didn't bother participating. Instead did my usual Tier 4 grind and then continued playing the Pacific Fronts card game when on this account. Will do so until I run out of supply tokens which are dwindling gradually. No reason to hoard them anyway now that I have the Monaghan. 

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Asian account (Tue 3 Nov)
Mundane session changed up by a couple of highlights: (1) Made the impulsive decision to buy out the remaining phases in the Dockyard event to get the Tier IX Marlborough B. Yes, it cost me dineros, but I justified the expenditure in wanting to discover the details of these missions associated with the pairings. I know I said I would pass on the event, but I changed my mind because curiosity got the better of me and I was bored. 

Once I played out the Black Friday mission specific and received the rewards, with the steel and the discount coupon I was also able to (2) acquire the steel ship, Tier X Shikishima. It was a toss up between Shikishima and Willem de Eerste. In the end, settled on the former because it's been on my bucket list longest. 

Played both ships. Chose the Marlborough version instead of the Black Friday dockyard one. Played her for the doubloons and steel reward associated with the mission. I then switched over to Shikishima, to familiarise myself with her potency as befits her reputation. Both performed well enough once I remembered to keep my distance and avoid charging in brawling. 

NA Account (3 Nov Tue)
Two new ships acquired by grind. Both Tier 5. Which leaves five Tier 4s left to grind to Tier 5. Excluding the Tier 4 carriers which I will grind separately later on. 

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Asia account (5 Nov Thur)
Guy Fawkes Day back home. Logged in last night (Wed 5 Nov) to play the North American account but server down so went to bed. Good night's rest. 

Logged into Asia account this morning after some gardening fun and saw the new Event Pass with the Euro cruisers in Early Access released as part of the rewards. One of them Tier VI Tre Kronor is a free reward if you unlock the second level. Saw it in a game when I was running Perth. Nowhere near it so can't comment on its performance.

Repulse B is also offered as a halfway mark reward. Which should please those wanting to play the Black Friday pairs missions for doubloons and/or coal. 

Of course if you want to grab a Euro cruiser now, you can gamble your way there through the Armoury deals being offered (see below). 

Also the new Halloween event kicked off today as well. Horror From the Abyss it's named. Know nothing about it. May attempt it but first have to read up on the rules and conditions. Looks interesting enough. Backdrop is something Lovecraftian. Set in the Bermuda Triangle. Oooh!....

Unsure about the temp ship being offered. Expeditioner is its name. Comes with a specific event commander. May sail her. Or go with one of my commander upgrade vessels. 

Layout now changed whenever you enter a game. Why? No idea why this has been done; perhaps a change is as good as a holiday thing? Whatever.

Priority Cargo event still a thing. For those resource poor, fair enough bargain in these packages. Buy one or buy all. Up to you. 

Aim today has been to grind the Event Pass up to Phase 6.  

NA Account (Thu 5 Nov)
Logged in tonight to primarily play the Horror of the Abyss event after testing it out on the Asia account. 

It's basically like the Star Trek event (last year) where you earn rewards (in this case, the 20 relics) to purchase ship mod upgrades. Other rewards are earned but it's the relics that are important because they allow you to progress through the upgrades and levels. 

You can upgrade as much as long as you have enough relics to do so as each change costs relics. You can also switch between upgrades so one game you might use the missile upgrade and then switch over to the torp upgrade. But each switch also costs relics. Having an abundant supply allows you to experiment with the best combinations.

Camo changes happen depending on which upgrade/mod you're using at the time. 

Once you've completed the progress bar (see above), you have to wait till the next level/chapter is unlocked. In the meantime, there are relics to earn (as much as you want). Stuff like shield regeneration, missiles, high-damage torps, long-range guns, healing smoke screens, etc., exist to make this an entertaining interlude/sideshow from the usual dull grind. 

Good thing was that with the credits earned from tonight's session, I was able to upgrade three more Tier 4 ships without having to play them further. Just two left to upgrade - both battleships - aside from the four carriers. 

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Samoa vs Tonga (Rugby League World Cup)

Watched parts of it about ten minutes in before switching over to a tv movie. Moments of individual skill and brilliance but bugger all team cohesion or direction from the Sa-sa boys. Reminded me more of touch footy in the backyard than an international game. Didn't believe Samoa would win. And my prediction proved right. The Tongans won out in the end when I checked back later. 

Australia will smack Samoa back to the islands in their meetup. Tonga will fare better against New Zealand and may cause an upset. May. 

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Stories in November

Enjoying a feast of Lovecraft's works courtesy of Miskatonic Studios. Their use of AI is fine with me because it enhances the storytelling. My current favourites (of those I've seen thus far) include The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Mound, and The Dunwich Horror. 

Just watched The Rats In the Walls. Lucius the black cat was my favourite. Rats don't bother me as they should but I would not want to face a swarm on my own. Not without a flamethrower and grenade launcher combo weapon.  

At the same time, I've been gorging on the Dredd universe courtesy of Aremacielo(?). Again, its use of AI is fine by me although the people animation are too beautiful-looking which can be detracting at times. But a nice contrast in this violent blasted universe which perhaps accentuates the vivid contrast. Intentional then? 

They do have 'ugly' characters like the Angel family but they're so unique and obvious from the general populace that you can't mistake them for the homicidal cannibal maniacs they are. 

Anyway, enjoying catching up on the Dredd timeline since I last left it many decades ago. And a lot has happened since I last read it back in the 70s. 

In my youth, I used to read Dredd via the 2000 AD comics. Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Nemesis the Warlock, and Slaine were faves and remembered best among a cast including Strontium Dog, Tharg the Mighty, ABC Warriors and so on. 

I actually preferred Slaine over Dredd because he was such a blood-thirsty but formidably brave character. Especially when he goes into Berserk mode. 

And not forgetting Nemesis in his never-ending struggle against Torquemada the Inquistorial Grand-Master. That Nemesis was an alien didn't bother me because I hated the Inquisition with a passion then. Fundamentalism and religious persecution would raise my passionate ire, as they still do today. 

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October Digest #6

World of Worldships

Black Friday event fast approaching. Loads of ships still available. Just checking what's missing from my port fleet from what's currently readily available.

Doubloon ships: Got lucky in that many were gifted through Santa crates in the past seven years. Or I was fortunate enough to possess the dubs at the time. List is small. Plus, this is the current listing available because WG rotate ships regularly. 

Steel ships: Have a few but this list is still much larger than the doubloons one. A few interest me but I am in no real rush to grab them. The two of interest - Shikishima and Willem De Eerste. 

Blue Archive ships: Yeah, I don't have any. Nor am I interested given they're standard ships in glamorous camo with weeb commanders. But if you want to splurge because they "look pretty", or are a fan of this genre, then go for it. 

Coal ships: Got all the coal ships that are available. They haven't added any new for a while now. 

Research Bureau ships: Akin to the steel ship list in that I am in no rush to get any. I have just one - Ohio. Happy to concentrate on building up enough of the necessary resources to do the resets, enough times to grab my target ship - Vampire II. 

Uncharted Seas event presents two "new" destroyers obtainable through event tokens. To be frank, I am not interested nor am I likely to spend money for the tokens to acquire them because it's simply a gamble. If they show up in the upcoming Santa crates, well and good. But I don't really care for either. 

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Black Friday - World of Gambling

NA Account (Wed 28 Oct)
Logged in tonight. Lo and behold, it's the Black Friday event. Much like last year. WG are offering the opportunity of pairing up certain ships with their Black Friday versions. But it will cost you. Completed pairings will then offer specific ship missions to play. Rewards for completing said missions will either be doubloons or a combination of doubloons and coal or doubloons and steel. It depends on the rarity of the ship. 

In the Armoury WG are offering two of means of obtaining those ships - (1) spend real money or (2) exchange doubloons. Cash is exchanged for tokens which you can then spend on bundles (either BF premium or standard crates). Or you can buy the ship outright (for cash). 

Doubloons Offers (shown above) is similar with the same results: you gamble on the chance of earning a Black Friday ship via the BF premium crates. Note I said premium, not the standard BF crate. 

Because I am on a new account I am still grinding around Tier 4 and 5 level on the tech tree. So I decided to spend some of my hard-earned doubloons. And scored myself the Atlanta B. Which is a really good ship. And it was my first Tier 7. Yay!

But then I remembered I also had the Marlborough B through the recent Dockyard Event. D'Oh! But that meaningless as I cannot participate in the pairings missions because I only have half a pair. I would need to purchase the other half. Ain't going to do that though. 

Right now I can only buy the bundles for the resources as I'm skint at the moment on resources. And while the doubloon offer bundles have refilled my Elite Commander XP and Free XP stocks somewhat, I still need loads. So, I can only look and window ship shop. 

As the two images above shows, there are forty-three complete pairings available.  

NOTE  This event is only RELEVANT if any Black Friday ships are bought from this event only and thus completes a pairing. If you've already got completed pairs from previous years, they do NOT count. Be mindful of this. It's stated in the rules but easy to overlook in one's excitement. 

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H. P. Lovecraft

New studio releasing adaptations of this fantasy writer's works. Just getting into it. Making me want to replay Arkham Horror. Or Eldritch Horror. Anyway, enjoy. Link. 

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October Digest #5

English Civil War

Going to see if I can actually finished this project that's been neglected far too long now. Fingers crossed. Aiming for an end around late November or mid-December. Of this year.

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World of Wartships

North American servers routinely shut down for maintenance. Inconvenient at times but switching to another server takes a few moments. Happens way more on this account that on Asia servers. 

The end of the year can't come fast enough. 

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Jack Gardiner

A link to Fan Boy, a collab with two members of Dirty Loops - Henrik Linder and Aron Mellergard. Shout out also to Owane, another outstanding muso who often collabs with Jack.

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Guthrie Govan

In contrast to Jack Gardiner, there's Guthrie Govan. Link. I like him a lot: easily a favourite. I find Guthrie most interesting. It's not the shredding that appeals but what how he plays. Melodic. Flows. Brilliant. His Larry Graham style blues is my favourite of his short pieces.

And, again...link!

EDIT: It's Govan, not Gowan. Apologies. And my favourite short piece by him. Keep playing it on repeat. Link. 

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Command: Modern Operations

Been awhile since I last played this interesting simulation/game. 

It's a nice change-up from the usual tabletop or historical gaming that I'm used to. But...

...I hate having to reread the manual because it's quite an involved game. And I have a memory like a sieve. Like a bottle with a massive hole in it.

Now while updating I noticed that there's now two versions - the professional version for those organisations using it as an educational tool teaching real-world simulation, and the more familiar recreational version. For now, I'm staying with the recreational version.

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Kriegsspiel

Joined the group a couple of weeks back and was initially floored by what I found. I was expecting something like those old-fashioned gentleman's club where they sit in comfortable leather armchairs and ponder their various adventures whilst smoking fat Cubans and sipping large brandies. Old and conventionally traditional. As old as the mahogany grandfather clocking ticking away in the dusty corners of the smoking room. 

Instead it was like walking into Aladdin's Cave. So much sparkle. They cover a wide range of gaming genres, not just historical. And there's a game happening every day of the week. Just sign up and wait your call-up. 

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Wingman

Who doesn't like Star Wars. Enjoy Wingman - An X-Wing Story. A well-made fan-made production I happened upon in YT.  Link.

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Word of Warships

NA Account (Sun 25 Oct)
Tonight I was able to exchange coal for holiday convoy tokens and combine that with what's already accumulated and grab one of the ships on offer - Bismarck '41. 

Hoping to grab one more ship before event ends.

After spending all this time gradually building up my fleet in the lower tiers, getting to play a decent ship at a higher tier is like light and day. I played Bismarck '41 aggressively; she handled her assignment as expected. A fearless brawler. 

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KOTS XIX

Sorting out which caster(s) to watch for this tournament. Opting to go a solo caster for this tournament whom I found by accident. He's an improvement on the two I initially chose. My usual go-to are still broadcasting the event but not this one together. A pity. 

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October Digest #4

Speculating Spittle

I am wondering just how much of a contribution the original creator of Astartes is actually making on this upcoming Astartes 2 series debuting December 2026. I hear the director involved with the Secret Level Episode 5 has been given control of the whole process. Which makes me quietly confident that we can expect a continuation in the same vein as Episode 5. And the quality and attention to detail will be as expected. The teaser trailer recently released seem to confirm that expectation.

No doubt the early months of 2027 will provide proof that will please a great many Astartes and 40K fans as well as bring in new adherents.

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World of Warships

SEA account (16 Oct)
Finished the Pacific Front card game today. And scored 3,750,000 credit compensation for already having Monaghan. Will continue to play not for the economic bonus crate but for the rewards earned from playing the three operations. Which isn't saying much but it's better than nothing I suppose.  

NA Account (16 Oct)
Same situation as with the Asia server earlier today in that I also finished the Pacific Front card game. Took Monaghan out. Just two forward single guns but they do damage - both HE and AP. And the two five-torp spreads amidships complement the gun damage very nicely. 

Also, a new round of clan Naval Battles began tonight. 

Basically this event pits your clan against another. See who earns the most Base XP after a set time will be declared winner. A bar is initially set which increases once the bar has been reached. And this continues for as long as someone raises the bar. Every clan member is eligible to participate. You get 12 initial attempts. There are certain ships that reward with bonus attempts. 

The reward for participants is oil which is needed to improve clan facilities and structures as well as increase clan resource bonuses. Such as coal: for example with this clan (so far) every 400 earned in-game rewards you with an extra 28. Which comes in handy when starting out and slowly building up your fleet. 

Anyway. to thank the clan for the membership I chose to contribute. Which also conveniently fits in with my daily grind schedule. Managed to score 7 stars from 8 attempts. 

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World of Warships

SEA Account
Continuing to play the Pacific Front card game. Just realised the surplus Fleet Supplies tokens earned (total shown in top left corner of image below) can be used to buy both mods and units. 

To be honest, I had always ignored them because I was able to negotiate completing the operations without using their buying power.

What I've since learned is that you can only buy them in lots of ten at any one time. Which is slow but repeat buying soon builds up your stock.

Note that this only applies to the grey mods, not the green ones which are earned as rewards. So I spent my fleet supplies tokens surplus (lots and lots) on grey flag ones which duplicate your win against an enemy unit. Which makes it easier to complete the ship/unit destruction goal. 

As for the Seafarer tokens, I went looking for more information and found this:

Bit unsure how accurate this is as the first common mission yielded only ten Seafarer tokens. Not the twenty advertised here. But the fact that one of the weekly rewards will be one of the event characters means I can spend the tokens earned (via the Asia account) on something else.

NA Account
Following the lead of the Asia account foray in the Pacific Front card game. Nothing unusual tonight. 

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World of Warships

SEA Account (Sun)
Is it worth continuing to play the Pacific Front card game? Only if bored beyond receiving the reward ship. Enjoyable enough distraction from the usual commander upskill grind. 

Above shows what I spend Fleet Supplies tokens upon. Just three examples. The shield and gunnery training buffs are useful as much as the flag ones. 

Like I said, the flag buff comes in handy when you have a large enemy kill requirement. Example above shows four wins plus three bonus wins makes a total of seven wins this round. 

It is fortunate for me that I ignored these Fleet Supplies tokens altogether during my run to the ship reward. Got so caught up in the game itself that I didn't really need them anyway. Now I have a surplus of over three thousand to spend on. Which really does help with operation completion. 

Pacific Front card game. Often you will find yourself up against enemy units with a much higher HP.  This is quite common in the very last entry point of an Operation. Never fear. Sort through your cards for matchup. Select one to start with; no mind if your match initially shows a loss or low victory. Plonk grey and/or green boosters on them to bump up your odds of victory. If still no clear advantage, simply shuffle the card combinations around to find the best victory conditions. May have to mix and match several times. Eventually you come up with the best-fit combo (I try for the maximum of 100% victory). 

Then battle. 

I have always tackled the toughest Operation first since this event began. I like going from hard to easy. Sort of like sliding down a slope. Which is the reverse order of play for most people (you know, go from easy to hard to extreme). 

With each entry point (or zone of battles), I usually go for the entry point that is the most difficult within that zone of battles. Of course, if there is only one, that's the one you end up playing. Reason being is you get to use your best cards while they're still "fresh", so to speak. Remember: after use a unit card will lose a certain amount of HP. And after three uses, a card is removed because its HP is said to have fully expired. 

Certain entries have fixed local or global conditions. Completing and beating those affect future entries, and often will remove those future conditions (or nerfs against you) and thus improve your chances for victory. 

NA Account (Sun)
Upgraded more ships from the new tech lines tonight. But now I am resource-poor. No problems however. Will recover soon enough. 

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October Digest #3

World of Warships

What the heck is Blue Archive. If you're a weeb, you would know. Seen the event advertised but happily passed it by. Funny looking camo is sure to attract entranced buyers though. 

To break the monotony of the grind, I've found that jumping into the card game Pacific Front has become a pleasant albeit temporary distraction. 

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Bledisloe Cup 2026

Just heard the news of the Wallabies loss over the weekend. For the life of me (which isn't saying much) I simply cannot fathom how the Wallabies could lose when it seemed they were on a roll. 

I mean, the Saffas had it over the All Blacks during the recent Greatest Rivalry tour. Then the Wallabies do a job on Saffa over in Perth. But then the Aussies get steam rolled by the ABs at Eden Park. What a crazy game is world rugby. Plays havoc with one's sensibilities sometimes. 

Totally Kiwi to the core when it comes to rugby loyalties. But I will support both Wallabies and ABs when it's us against the rest of the rugby playing world. Especially against the Northern Hemisphere teams. 

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World of Warships

NA Account
After a lengthy all day and night grind I finally earned the Marlborough B. Played it in one game. Still much the same as I remember it. 

Also joined a clan after repeatedly turning down clan invites ever since signing on to the NA server. Not really a clan person but I liked how a player was promoting his clan as "playing for fun not work" in chat. Appealed to me, especially the casual part. Will try it for a week.

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King of the Sea XIX 

KOTS 19 began this weekend. Saw a qualifying match as broadcast by two YT WOWS streamers. Unfortunately the broadcast was irritatingly bad for their first time as they kept moving all over the place. Disjointed. Flitting quickly from one place to the next. Never staying in one spot long enough to see what was going on. They may be great players but shit presenters. Would rather watch paint dry to be honest. Hope their next broadcast is an improvement.

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World of Warships

SEA Account
Fun part is sometime getting two bites at the cherry. As with this Pacific Front card game. Logged in and was completing the current operation when it suddenly got updated. 

Above was the current operation being played. Then...

Was part way through when it suddenly updated. No mind. Opportunity to progress faster towards the reward goal by playing two operations instead of one. 

NA Account
Had a chat with the clan leader tonight after completing the Pacific Front operation. Introduced myself and he welcomed me on board. He's okay with my being a casual member although I said I will happily join in clan events if asked. 

After that, I played my usual five ships to earn the Holiday Convoy tokens. Session tonight proved to be quite productive. 

Unlocked the second level of Event Pass and scored the Tier 6 British premium Warspite. 

Also earned enough ship XP to upgrade to the following news ships. All Tier 6s: Fubuki, Gokase, Fuso, Alme. Cochrane, Nurnberg. With the last one, was torn between this and Deutschland. In the end went with Nurnberg.  

Impressed with and having fun in the Tier V Konigsberg. Good all-round cruiser for me, among the top five Tier 5 played thus far. So far I've only played Agano, Omaha, Emerald, Hawkins, Montecuccoli, La Argentina. Of these others, Omaha, Emerald, La Argentina are also good all-rounders that I would not hesitate to take into battle. 

With Konigsberg her AP is excellent against ships that expose broadside. Even whittled down battleships suffer especially when you target their superstructure. She has more than enough torps to deal good damage with enemy threats on either side so that's a plus. Maneouvres okay but can get stuck within clusters of islands; much better in open water. 

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KOTS XIX

Briefly saw the same duo doing the podcast tonight hoping for some improvement. But, again, I was disappointed because it's much the same - lots of jerky camera movements that was hard to figure out who what and where. Both casters know (and play) the game intimately but sheesh, they're terrible at this podcasting. 

I much prefer SeaRaptor and Lord_Zath who at least allowed the audience time to figure where everything is and what's happening. But I don't know if they're still doing the business - at least on YT. Pity. 

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World of Warships

NA account (Wed 14 Oct)
Uncharted Seas began tonight (Wednesday) on the NA Server. Or tomorrow (Thursday) on the Asia server. 

Splurge if you have the cash. Otherwise, move on. 

I've gone for the play-for-free 70 Seafarer token bundle because you can earn the tokens through playing a weekly mission. Completed the first one tonight and got 10 such tokens which I spent on the first two bundles - 3 premium days and a permanent camo. 

The ultimate prize is a Tier VII ship crate containing over 30-plus premium ships. Worth the effort I suppose. Of course, you can fast-track to your desire by spending money to purchase the tokens quicker if you don't feel like playing. 

Or you can gamble for one of the Beyond Known Waters sequential bundle offering varying quantities of said tokens. 

I estimate that I probably have two, maybe three, more days of playing the Pacific Front card game for the Tier 6 US premium destroyer Monaghan.  Not exactly hard. And I've seen a couple of Monaghans in the game tonight so obviously others have completed the card game. 

SEA account (15 Oct)
Contrast between both accounts is never more evident than today. Noticed that since I have all the Tier VII premium ships from the 70 Seafarer token bundle I'm switching direction and now saving up for one of the 10-pt commanders. Doctor whatever-his-name-is. 

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NA account (15 Oct)
Forgot about the clan bonuses, clan naval battles, and clan battles. Still got a few more days left to decide if I will stay or leave. Likely will stay and at least contribute once to Naval Battles - to keep the clan happy. 

Acquired the remaining Tier 1s to now complete the whole Tech tree lineup. So Russia, France, Europe, Netherlands, Commonwealth, and Spain are now represented. Quickly played each Tier 1 once in order to advance to Tier 2 which is where I'm at with these nations. Will return to them after I've upgraded the lines I'm concentrating on at the moment to Tier 5 level. That's Japan, USA, UK, Italy, Pan-Asian, Pan-America. 

Hosho turned out to be a shit ship when I played it tonight. I played it awfully bad. How bad? Bad enough to permanently ship me ashore as base janitor for life! 

My excuse for tonight's abysmal performance is I don't know much about which CV mods to take given I tend to ignore CVs (and subs) altogether. Took me several games to figure out I'm useless on her despite "best efforts". 

My performances on Langley, Rhein, Hermes improved faring way better than my horrendous Hosho outing. 

Have yet to acquire Komsomolets.

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October Digest #2

World of Warships

The news article excerpts posted in October Digest #1 contained a fair amount of information and nearly all enticements. For me, the only enticements I'm interested in is not contained in that info dump. Hanging out instead for the ongoing Holiday Convoy tokens doubloon exchange and the 4 Supercrates rewards.

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WOWS servers routinely go down for maintenance prior to every Update. Tried to find out how long after being unable to log in to the NA server earlier tonight (Wed 7 Oct). I usually log in between 9pm and 10pm. 

Asked the question online and got a reply that seemed reasonable from an answer found through a facebook page. Extrapolated from that answer which was based on an earlier Update this year. All speculation for now.  

NA server - 5 hours from 7pm to midnight. Why so long I wonder?
EU server - 3 hours from noon (tomorrow) till 3 pm 
ASIA server - 3 hours from 5am to 8am

Proof that this might be probably was when I logged in after midnight tonight. And got in! 

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NA account (Wed 7 Oct)
The Pacific Squadron missions are like the previous card missions (Dunkirk for example) WG have foisted upon the player base. Did the first EASY Operation with the NA account that resulted in sinking the Myoko. Wasn't all that impressed as I forgot how much waffle goes into making this sort of event "engaging". 

Actively committed to the Marlborough B dockyard event now by purchasing the 5-phase Starter pack. For better or worse as they say when making a long-term commitment.

SEA account (Thur 8 Oct)
Grabbed the remaining three Pan-American destroyers today now that they're out of Early Access. Total cost came to over half a million Free XP and nearly thirty-nine and a half million credits. Happy to do that as I wasn't interested in grinding for them anyway. 

After my usual grinding of my three 20-pt commanders (on Narai, Leipzig and De Grasse), I jumped on 20 de Julio to see what it had to offer. Ok. Interesting outing. In my only game with it, I ended up in a cap facing off against a Republique and Vermont steaming down on me. 

Earlier I and the friendly Black B had successfully taken out the destroyer and cruiser escort. But then my ally died leaving all alone to face off against the two enemy BBs with no other friendly ship in close support. The others were on the other flank unable to help except provide the occasional long-range firing. 

Anyway, I got lucky and survived using my speed and island cover to steer clear of those big guns. First the Republique died as it was less than half health and I used my fast reloading funny bunny to burn her down. But the Vermont was a different prospect as it was still full health and looked very annoyed with me. So I ran and hid around the island while waiting for my torps to reload. 

By then the others were steaming to assist. In the end, however, I farmed "The Brick" (as she's sometimes known in the game) down to help us win out.  

Quick impressions: Torps are weaker compared to other Tier X torp destroyers. It has a funny button for increased fire rate which came in handy whittling down an enemy's health pool. There's another automatically activated AP shell button that operates once you reach the limit (like other similar such buttons) but I didn't pay too much attention to its function and/or capabilities because I was distracted with staying alive against the Vermont. 

Ordinarily I would have died much sooner (against live players), but it was a BOT Vermont and Republique. So I stood a small chance of surviving by being the sneaky DD that I was playing although I kited away and avoided being one-shotted. 

Will unlock the second level of the Event Pass just to get the credit compensation for having the Warspite. Need the credit boost after the big spend on those three Pan-American destroyers.

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NA Account (Thur 8 Oct)
I realised I don't have Monaghan. D'oh! So I jumped into the Pacific Front event with enthusiasm. Woo!

Took me a few moments to get the gist of this card game (when it don't stick, it don't stick). Here's what the memory jogger reminded me:

1) Use your cards to find the best combination to win. Some cards in your fleet offer buffs and debuffs; use these to improve your chances to win. Once settled with the winning combo, then press battle. 

2) Use the enemy unit's HP to determine which of your fleet's cards to line up against. This is to maximise your fleet cards potencies. And pretty important because the closer you get to your objective, the more dangerous the enemy becomes. So save your best units for the end mission phase (if you can). And that means looking at all the entry points of a particular phase to identify which are the more difficult ones. I usually play those first up while I still have full health on my ship cards.

3) 100% victory is a guaranteed win. So go for that as much as you can. Anything less is okay as long as it doesn't drop to less than 65%. If so, use buffs/modifiers to boost your chances if you have them. Focus is a good one. And don't forget to find the best card combos before battling. 

4) Knocking off the primary objective means moving on to the next operation. If you fail however you can repeat until you get it right. Which means that all progress up to that stage is lost which is why restart is not the preferred option because you haven't thought this through properly. 

5) Simply ignore matchups that you will lose. As long you commit one winning card in any phase, you are good to go. Exception will be the final mission objective which must be completed in order to complete the whole mission. 

Once I overcame this massive Homer J brain freeze moment and realised I'm starting all over again with this NA account, I also decided to buy the second Dockyard package so I can finish the event sooner and fast track receiving the Marlborough B given the event has only 19 more days to go. Yeah, I know I made a vow to spend once an Update. Unfortunately plans change. Like my mind. 

As I said before, I have the original Marlborough on my other WOWS account. Back then t was tough to play because of its numerous failings (high citadel, weak guns with poor gun angles, poor armour to name but three). Maybe they've improved it with this version. That's the scuttlebutt. Who knows. 

Not complaining however as it will be my first Tier 9 ship. Already have my first Tier 10 in the Tempesta Nera. And I will eventually have my first Tier 8 with the Holiday Convoy premium Bismarck '41 once I've earned enough Holiday Convoy tokens..    

Eventually I will unlock the second level to the current Event Pass because therein awaits the Tier 6 UK premium battleship Warspite as mid-event reward. Loads of "new ships" to look forward to over the next few weeks. 

Am I having fun though? Is my original aim showing true since starting this second WOWS account? In part, yes. I will form an opinion once I reach one hundred ships. I've currently played eighty-two although my port fleet is thirty-two sold off all my Tier 1s and 2s as well as much of my Tier 3s. Aim will be to starting collecting exclusively from Tier 5 up. 

Then, and it's a big then, I will start playing Randoms in 2027. Just to see how far I can go.   

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SEA Account (Fri 9 Oct)
Played the Pacific Fleet card game first up. Got as far as I could before switching over to the usual Holiday Convoy token grind using my 20 point captains. Then logged out. 

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SEA Account (Sat 10 Oct)
Played and completed the next daily-updated Pacific Front campaign today. Here's how I fared.

First Operation "UNIFORM" rewards. Difficulty: medium.

Second Operation "TERRATHREE" rewards. Difficulty: medium.

Third and final Operation "MAIN FORCE". Difficulty: normal (between medium and hard) 

Got all the Fleet ships bar one now so no more "new" units. 

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