August Digest #5

World of Warships

Chose the simple expediency at the start of the week of playing just five ships, all part of my Commander upskill long-term grind. Kamikaze (proxy for Kitakaze), Cossack, Leipzig (proxying for Preussen), Narai (one of the Rong brothers), De Grasse (for Jean Bart). 

Doing this satisfied the Holiday tokens mission (play five games to collect 1200 tokens) requirement. And plonked blue economic bonuses to grab the daily three coal loot crates. 

In and out!

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Today is Friday. Got another Pan-Am new destroyer, Tier VII Marcelo Dias from the Event Pass. Swapped out the commander that came with the ship and transferred in an Event commander, Jose Padilla Lopez, who is a 10-pt captain. Which is more preferable as a 0-pt commander. 

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Upskilled the three 19-pt commanders to 20-pt today. Disrupted game due to some software update. Fortunately it happened while I was in port and not in-game. 

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Issue with gaming PC. Forced to jump on to my backup. Had to update the game as a result. Took many hours. When I finally jumped into the game (early hours of next day) I managed to play five games on five tech tree line DDs (with no commanders) in order to grab the doubloons. Then logged out.

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Had to reset my gaming PC (clean reboot). As a result had to once again upload WOWS which took all day and night (win10 and laggy). But I finally managed to install the game, logged in and got my doubloons. Now that's dedication...or obsessiveness. Depends on your mindset and outlook. 

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Continuing the five-game grind for the Holiday tokens. Interesting change as it's been a long while with some of these ships. Today it was the last of the tech tree Tier V destroyers line with one premium thrown in - Visby, Muavanet, Kalmar, Antioquoia. 

Tomorrow it's the start of the Tier VI tech tree line - Fubuki, Hatsuharu, Farragut, Gnevny, Gaede. Should be fun.

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Iron Nest

Two missions completed tonight (Monday). High Tide is a beach landing defence with a weak infantry force. Reinforcements arrive soon enough but ideally you want to be knocking the enemy BEFORE they land and debus. 

Managed to knock out the enemy HQ landing craft. But it was a frenetic firefight. Did enough to complete the task but struggled with hitting the enemy landing craft. Once they divested their forces, it became a lot less frantic. But if not for the friendly reinforcements, we would have been overrun. 

Next mission was Blind Fire. Basically, knock out four AA batteries blind fire. No aerial photo-recon possible, even post-fire. But you have spotters who can report. Some miscalculation involved before I could report success. Now on to the next mission, Phantom Battery.

Projecting ahead, I reckon the developers will expand campaigns into Europe. Or even North Africa. At least that's the wishful thinking. 

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Tuesday saw me attempt Phantom Battery. With much dread. And it was justified as I struggled initially to organise myself with the time pressure. Moreover it was prioritising what actually needed doing to deal with the countdown.

(1) Survive. Make your Emergency Move as soon as possible once you get Iron Nest operational again. 

(2) Confirm new location. Triangulate with just TWO Position Reports, both within the same grid as your gun. Being in the same grid means you are easily locatable with friendlies in close proximity.

(3) Get info from your Spotters as quickly as possible. Once the Phantom Battery is confirmed spotted and reported back, make another Emergency Move to pause Counter Battery timer so you can load the required ammo.

(4) Once in new location and verified, quickly load the AP and double gun fire at the target. May have to repeat to make sure. 

It doesn't matter how well you fared in the end, just that the mission was successful. Now on to the last mission. 

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SurrounDead

Don't forget to resave your current save with a name so it's not overwritten as I just discovered today (Wednesday). Started two new games and suddenly realised I hadn't changed the save settings to save my old current saveslot which I had been playing for months and almost completed. So, everything's gone. Everything I had worked long for. Gone. 

Typical Homer J moment. 

Anyway, started three new characters, one on Nightmare setting, one on Hardened. And one on Standard. Died not soon after spawning in Hardened when I couldn't orient myself and chose to simply take on the zombie spawns with a knife.

Had better luck in Nightmare when I made it to the Valley Safe Zone more or less after orienting myself and choosing to evade the many zombies this time. But don't fancy my chances with just a knife and no food, water, or money. 

Currently surviving in Standard mode at my "old haunt" base after spawning in the area. Dealing with the Primary Infestation not far from my base but skint on ammo. Managed to knock off the Zombie boss by using a nearby friendly group as bait. 

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Continued today (Thursday) with my new character. Slow at first getting established but trotting along nicely. Managed to kill off the Primary Infestation I was tackling yesterday. But had to repeat killing the Zombie boss. Scored some handy weapons. And even collected a second car - a Utility - just down the road from my base. I was heading to the Valley Safe Zone to sell off loot in the yellow Sedan I found yesterday when I was approaching the Primary Infestation farm house. Incidentally, it's visible from my base so it's real close. 

Also learned a new trick for using metal fencing as a gate. 

I've placed a crafted metal fencing as a barrier gate outside the front entrance. Good thing as it saves on materials needed to craft those swinging gates as with my previous character. All you do is interact (F key) by selecting it to move (as shown above). 

Once highlighted, move through (as shown above) and right click to restore the fence in its original position (as shown below). 

Voila! Instant gate! Cheap and effective. Stops the zombies that spawn periodically in this location from entering your base. 

For now, I'm in the early days of establishing myself. I'm past the immediate survival stage for now. Priority is setting up all the crafting benches (just one more table to go - the Weapons and Equipment bench). Need to establish a well too.

Also searching loot crates for useful weapons, better gear, tools and resources, plenty of ammo of all types, medicine, and food and water. And build up plenty of reserves and resources to prosper rather than survive from day to day. 

Took out the Zombie boss at Whitewood which is close to Valley Safe Zone. Yet to tackle the Primary Infestation there. Not enough ammo at the moment to confront it for now. The weapons I currently have aren't powerful enough. Grenades and molotovs - lots of both - would be most welcomed.

I may relocate to the warehouse behind Whitewood because of its close proximity to Valley Safe Zone. But I am thinking of establishing several regional/local bases instead. 

Take a deep breath....!

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Moved to the warehouse behind Whitewood. Dealt to several Zombie bosses in the session - the one at Whitewood and Pacific Mall and the Gun Store between Whitewood and Pacific Mall. 

Also picked up a third car - a Charger just outside of Pacific Mall. 

Collecting legendary weapons quicker this time round. Scored the Colonel's Revenge (5.56), Valkyrie (5.56), Lechie (.300 Winchester), Crusher (7.62) and the Rocket Launcher (66mm) - from crates and Zombie boss kills. All scored in today's sesh. Productive day after the first few days just surviving and establishing myself.

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Last night I continued to improve on my relocation to the warehouse behind Whitewood. Cutting down trees, smashing rocks, looting crates, dealing to bandits. Typical day in Zombie land. Going to keep my first location as either an overnight stopover or a forward base of operations. Considering doing that for the north, west and south.

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BIG NEWS!!!

Should have seen it coming. Doing a clean reset meant a reinstall of the game. Thus all my past saves are gone. Kaput. Every single one. 

Only my Steam Achievements in the game are all I have left to prove I've done time in the game. To my pleasant surprise I learned I've done all except one - the "Redacted" (hidden) achievement. You know the place - out west, the base with all those unexploded bombs and gun turrets, the underground rail lines that I began to explore. That place.

So now I have a purpose for this time round. Currently doing well enough. No car yet but I have a hunting rifle with scope which is my primary weapon for now. I also have an M2010 and CR308, both as backup. And my trusty baseball bat for melee and deer hunting. Lol.

Airdrops now happening so that means more goodies. Need to head east to find a mode of transport.

Even saw the Ice Cream van early on. But no credit so not worth pining. 

Forgot there are three options when launching into. The one I've been using and check the box to always open with it is the unstable one, which is the first option (DirectX 12). But the one I should have been using (and suggested by the AI search) is the second one - DirectX 11 - which is apparently, according to play community, the more stable. 

Point of perspective actually. Sure, there were the odd quirks with the version I used (vehicles sometimes spawning scattered on the odd occasion or the clock when you double tap the 'J' key would stay displayed for as long as you're alive; once dead, it will never display again unless you quit and then rejoin the game) but it never bothered me that much from dealing with my tasks.

Anyway, all my Global achievements exist forever. Yay! Some good news then.

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August Digest #4

World of Warships

So the Holiday Convoy, Pan-American Destroyers & AA Rework Update (15.7) kicked off today (Thursday).

New ships are available to grind toward. No doubt, many players will go for the long-awaited New Jersey which is an Iowa-class battleship. I have some of these "new ships" already so am not that interested. 

Instead, I am going to concentrate on using my holiday tokens for doubloons instead. So, each day you play a total of five winning games (Tier V and above) in whatever battle mode you choose to earn a total of twelve hundred tokens. Nine thousand holiday tokens is needed to earn three thousand doubloons PER update. And as the image below shows there are six Updates in total. Or eighteen thousand doubloons on offer.  

The new Pan-American destroyer line is now out in Early Access. Got four of them today - two free from crates, one for dubs and one from the Event Pass. The remainder are behind a pay wall. Will wait for their eventual release for free grind in a couple of Updates.

The return of the Event Pass saw the release of two of the new Pan-Asian destroyers as rewards which also includes the premium Pan-Asian destroyer Jurua. Nice effort from WG this time round. 

Also released is a new economic bonus (legendary). It is the next level up from the red one. Got thirteen of each using the fifty-two Exchange tokens gifted to me. Does that mean service costs are going to rise considerably? Is this a preview of what is going to happen in the future? If so, it's a bit suss.

December 2 will be a day to remember as a free Tier IX ship (or equivalent credits if already in your port fleet) will also be gifted to EVERYONE participating. Part of the Santa/New Year celebrations.

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You can exchange resources for Holiday tokens by clicking the cross icon in the top right corner of the page (below). The rate is as follows:

Something to keep in mind when one gets too lazy to bother grinding for these tokens the "usual way". Today I played more games than usual in order to complete the weekly grind missions for the Event Pass - the five 3000 BASE XP ones. For a change, I played the Yimeng after earning the daily coal loot crates. This ship is one of those being offered in the Holiday Convoy ships event. Got it several updates ago. It has the torpedo protection gimmick unique to this vessel. No smoke. No hydro. Good secondaries (at least level with Pommern). Guns smack alright but are not top tier smackers. At least you have a fair number of guns. 

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Today (Saturday) I exchanged 200,000 coal for 60,000 holiday tokens and got Bismarck '41, an historical ship I missed out on when it was released recently. Glad to have it now. Took it out and enjoyed it. Slow reload but wicked secondaries. 

It's the only ship I'm interested in. Now I will return to my focus on getting holiday tokens to exchange for doubloons. Pricey exchange but 18,000 FREE doubloons is worth it. Any extra holiday tokens I will spend appropriately. 

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Sunday was a quiet session with just the Leipzig to commander grind. Priority today was the daily coal loot crates and 1200 holiday tokens. Then quickly logged out. 

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Iron Next Heavy Turret Simulator

Took on the Iron Road mission today (Thursday). Completed it with no problems which was a relief because I noticed in the global achievements that it had a 41% completion rate. So I was a bit nervous at the beginning. But then it was knocking out a moving target that seemed to be the hurdle that had to be overcome. And I got first attempt. Chuffed.  

The briefing was both informative and straightforward. You got mission instructions including a direction, speed and ETA which when duly processed (calc-ing in the head) gave a firing solution that was plotted and actioned. 

Once the train convoy was taken out, the rest proved easy by comparison in that I had to gun plot and then knock out two bunkered gun emplacements before signalling the assault to proceed. And then, to further assist the assault and thus finish off the mission, I had to knock out the remaining enemy units and structures. Only then was I stood down.  

The good thing from succeeding with the Iron Road mission was receiving several new punch cards, among which the EMERGENCY MOVE! is most welcomed as it pauses the counter-battery clock whilst also enabling the turret the option to reposition. 

Next mission will be raising the Siege of Cartagena. 

Glory to Castile!

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Broke the Siege of Cartagena after a couple of stuff ups early on tonight's late-night session. Got so caught up in the plotting that I forgot to read the communications coming through especially after destroying the primary objectives - knocking off the signals station, an assembly point, and a command HQ. Thought it was just knock out the nearby enemy units after self-congratulations. But I forgot about the coastal batteries mentioned in the initial Command HQ message.

When I attempted to knock out the batteries however I soon learned that the information from the friendly listening post was erroneous. The bearing and distances when plotted did not match up to the actual locations of the enemy guns once revealed.  

Eventually the enemy guns were silenced. And then I had to wait for the call for assistance, namely firing smoke to assist a breakout. Was given two timings for smoke firing. Fortunately I was ready both times. 

Next mission, The Gorge, is meant to increasing in difficulty, i.e. more complex. Looking forward to it.

 

Really enjoying this fifteen-mission campaign. Learned there are a couple of "side" or "chill out" missions where you can practice your skills and also grind for requisition points to restock on ammunition. 

HCHE is a nasty bigger blast form of HE. HE is good for pinpoint accuracy with its smaller blast radius; HCHE has a much bigger blast area and therefore does not discriminate. 

Glory to Castile! Down with the anti-monarchists!

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Played two missions in the campaign today (Friday). The first was The Gorge. 

Instantly handicapped when discovering the turret had suffered some damage. 

Was part of a convoy passing through a gorge when we were attacked by those anti-monarchist scum. Our units were able to thwart their initial attacks. But I had to fire blind and try to locate the enemy. All I had was a general location. Sent up air recon to verify and then took it from there. The console (shown above) was out of action: it requires bearing and distance to a target in order to spit out gun elevation. Now I had to guess the elevation. 

You can do it by fall of shot and straddle firing. amending elevation as you go. Or stick to one elevation and simply change the distance. I chose to keep the direction more or less constant and just change the elevation to suit. Able to make it work after initial challenges. 

 

Blind firing wastes ammo. But perseverance pays off however. And this came to the fore in the next mission after completing The Gorge mission. Lucky the enemy were obliging to line up on the same axis of approach so all I had to do was concentrate on placing my rounds correctly.

Then I completed the primary objective in the Rock of Gibraltar mission which was sink a British cruiser anchored in harbour. 

Sneaky Castilians is all I can say. Read the newspaper and you will understand.

Then there is the side mission, the one I saw the YT streamer complete and which eventually got me hooked on this game. Sink a moving ship. Unfortunately, my confidence was sky high, especially after my lucky success in Iron Road. But here I made a calculation error and my Hail Mary shot landed well short and so far ahead that I thought I had fired into the future! 

From here on in, I began chasing my fall of shot to correct. Lucky for me the enemy vessel held the same course and speed. So all I had to was project where it would be at a certain time. But my calc-ing proved faulty (that's why you write it down instead of doing it all in your head) and I plied further time pressure on myself. 

But persistence pays off as I reasoned I still had time enough before the ship disappeared off the plotting board because, as they say, "it ain't over until the fat lady sings!". 

And after four "corrections", I finally got lucky and scored a direct hit on the ship. Truth be told, it was just a lucky shot as I was too busy requisitioning and reloading to fully calculate properly and simply make a quick guess where to aim. My time in World of Warships was useful after all.   

Next mission will be Dead Reckoning.

Glory to life! F*** this war!

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Today (Saturday) I entered the game and clicked on the Dead Reckoning mission. First challenge was sorting out the location of the enemy headquarters. I was given the following information from the engaged spotters (circled red below). Obviously, this was about as useful as toilet paper insofar as both directions are identical in direction but the spotters sending the info are in different locations. So I had to work out precisely whereabout SW the HQ actually was. Was it WSW or SSW? 

I fired the TEAR (specialised ammo designed to reveal hidden enemies) round at SW and what was revealed was nothing. Nada.

So I began bracketing rounds by splitting the difference from fall of that first shot, firstly by half one way, and then half again. I trusted the distance was correct; just the direction needed correcting. And the plan worked for the HQ was soon revealed to be WSW. And the HQ was soon destroyed. 

Once the primary objectives were completed, I was given a secondary mission - find and destroy ten more enemy units. Managed to located and destroy eight. But then ran out of requisition points. No requisition points, no ammo. So it's time to do some chill missions to accumulate points before I can resume my ongoing southern campaign. 

Once that's done then it's the northern front for Iron Nest. 

Reading the little articles in The Castile Herald can sometimes be quite hilarious such as the pre-ventilated headdress or craters for sale. Lol.

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Today I jumped back into the last mission of the southern campaign. It was a slog in terms of endurance as you weren't given clear objectives as with the other mission. Seville was eventually "liberated". Yay...not! 

Mission was fire support, as and when needed. Initially hectic as Iron Nest signalled the assault to start. And you waited for call-ins for fire support. Once the initial call-ins were dealt with and the advance through the city began, you were left to your own devices. In other words, it was time to locate and destroy any remaining enemy units and structures within the city. At least now you operated without any time pressure whatsoever. But you had hidden enemies to locate. And for that you needed spotters. I chose to use STAR shells and FO (Forward Observers) to identify the remaining hidden enemy.  

Prior to completing the mission tonight I enjoyed several playthroughs where I simply quit either from not understanding the mission properly or causing collateral damage or, as in one instance, loading too hastily without proper preparation thus handicapping myself to having only the one gun operational. D'oh! 

So now it's on to the eastern campaign with the ultimate goal, the "liberation" of Barcelona. And the first mission requires Iron Nest and a small infantry force to defend a beachhead and thwart an enemy ship-to-shore landing. 

Yada yada yada...Castile! Looking at my political options right now. High Command is turning into a right royal pain in the bum!

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August Digest #3

SurrounDead

Picked up a Charger car like Walshie the auto trader. Found it at the Longdown Raceway circuit, north of the Observatory (see map image below). Was originally sorting out an infestation south west of the raceway in an off-road discovered. On my way back I then spotted this unsearched area and decided to have a closer look. And came across the cars. 

Was not expecting but happy to grab it and a second jeep. 

Unfortunately the front of my base is now overcrowded with autos. Can't help myself with collecting them as I'll pick up any auto I happen across. May need to expand the parking base because sometimes the vehicles will respawn everywhere. A game glitch perhaps? 

Current base is a property for sale just north of Whitewood and therefore within close reach of the Valley Safe Zone with its main traders.

There's a second permanent Safe Zone in the north not far from the Observatory but it's limited in regards to traders - just the one. But it is well populated by other friendly survivors. 

The third main trader location is the shipwrecked ship far to the north-west on the river, not far from the main port. It has a number of traders but it's not like the main Valley Safe Zone. 

Of course, there are also the many single traders who have permanent trading locations scattered all throughout the valley, generally off-road and out of the way. There's Walshie's Vehicular Shop on the road south of Whitewood near the bridge in the middle of the valley, Trader Joe (eastern edge of the map), Trader Bob (south), and Wilson's Shop (more northern than eastern corner of the map). 

As it stands, I don't need to visit the traders any more anyway as I'm pretty much self-sufficient nowadays. Loads of stockpile stores and equipment as well as being capable of creating all my own ammunition except rocket ammo. Only reason to visit is to build up my cash and credit reserves. 

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Iron Nest - Heavy Turret Simulator

Saw a WOWS YT streamer tonight (Tuesday) playing this and instantly downloaded the demo. Played the calibration mission, and I was immediately hooked. So now I have bought the game.

Playing the game. Setting is an alternate dieselpunk Iberian country. Repeated the Calibration mission then started and completed the Fire and Light mission. I enjoyed it, especially the calculations. Stopped thereafter. Next mission is Liberation of Cuidad Real. 

Figuring out the white chalk pencil. Got the red and yellow figured, as well as the compass. But the white does not generate bearing and distance like the others. 

Your living quarters downstairs has a cat (who can be customized) as your companion along with the usual creature comforts - coffee maker, kitchenette, toilet, shower, bunk bed, map of the country.

Completion of missions provide you with achievements and vouchers as well as other rewards such as a LP record. The record player is upstairs in the gun-plot room in a little alcove behind the left gun. So far, am only using the left gun. Right gun will no doubt be unlocked as the missions get harder and harder. 

The game is simple to pick up. The steps to get the gun firing is easy to master. What probably trips you up will be the calc-ing and instructions. In other words, pay close attention to the instructions. 

But it's very early days. And everything so far it is the usual basic familiarisation stuff.

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Wednesday saw me jump straight into Iron Nest to resume the campaign. Next mission was Liberation. Followed it up by doing Skirmish - Chill - Uncontested Front. This one you can repeat as many times as you want. Then I finished off the session by tackling Counter Battery. 

This one was a tough one because the game introduced the counter-battery threat for the first time. After two failures - slow reactions and disorganised both times - third time proved the winner. 

Ensuring all the information gathering assets are programmed into your calcs - aircraft recces, spotter/recon reports, star shells, etc. But it was more luck on my part than actual skill if I'm being truthful. Completing it however now allows me access to two more missions (see bottom image). Iron Road looks the more difficult so will tackle that one next.

It's stated but it's also obvious: READ the instructions from High Command. Be clear on what's required. 

Don't always accept the reports from your field scouts as they can be inaccurate. Air recon is more reliable and quite important plus the flyover provides useful photo intel. Meanwhile star shells give both direction and distance that needs factoring in adjustment calcs.  

And, yes, the missions get progressively tougher to crack. But therein lies the challenge.

Glory to Castile!

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