September Digest #2

World of Warships

Played both servers - one in the morning, the other late at night. So much easier on the latter because I know what I'm doing - most times. Even got a clan invite. But the name of the game for me is playing solo casual and see how far I can go while it's still (largely) free to play. 

Above show where I'm at after my first login session.

Notable for my first ever 8-ship sinking on this server. 

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Monday saw me continue playing my Tier X ships with my SEA account. Played HAYATE, Elbing, Z-52, G. HOFFMAN, Daring, Cassard. Interesting moment in the Cassard. Survived the game with my lowest HP count ever. Just 8 HP left, as the image below shows. A seagull dropping would have sunk me if it had struck! 

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Tough resisting the urge to buy anything in the game. Very hard indeed. Rather than constantly fight the temptation I'm going to restrict myself to just the one or two purchases PER UPDATE. It means being careful about what to spend. Also, the spending amount will be no more than AUD10 per purchase. That's the intent. See how long that lasts. Lol. 

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Last night (Tuesday) I began compiling a spreadsheet covering expenditures and rewards received while playing this over a certain period (June 2025 to June 2026). Why? Short answer: to keep me engaged mentally. 

I began recording daily performance a couple of years after joining the game back in 2019. But I only began creating and then maintaining a spreadsheet of every reward (in-game) and expenditure (money) only last year (started April 2025). As a challenge therefore, I will compile using daily text records from those earlier years into a similar spreadsheet. 

And I managed to extract all the information I needed for the month of January 2025. But I have a long way to go though.

This "new" project is sort of like other major wargaming hobby project but one without models and paint. It's a flimsy reason I know but it appeals to my current engagement and motivation crisis beyond just logging in and switching off with PC games. Pixel wargaming is a thing, believe it or not.  

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Today did my one Update spend to unlock level 2 on Event Pass. Did it primarily to acquire the "free" 10-pt Event captain (Jose Padilla Lopez) plus the Tier VI Pan-American destroyer Jurua. which is also my first premium on this account. 

Aim will be to use the Event captain to initially upgrade either the cruiser or battleship line as quickly as possible. Once upgraded, I will transfer in one of the other existing captains from the Early Access destroyer line to continue completing the grind. 

On the SEA account, it was the usual uneventful holiday token grind with Tier X destroyers. Ran just two today - the Pan-Asian gunboats Lushun and Lushun B. Yes, they are good gunboats with 1.5 sec reload. And their deep water torps make them pretty useful against battleships if they're able to approach close enough to loose off their torps. But the downside to playing it is no smoke or hydro or radar. 

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Update 15.8 began today (Thursday). Where to begin..!?

Spent all this time playing my SEA account. 

Festive (Snowflake) event. As per their blog, the more ships you have, the more bonus tokens you are eligible for.

A Tier X ship is worth 125 Festive tokens. 

A Tier IX ship is worth 100 Festive tokens.

Tier VIII = 75 Festive tokens.

And this sliding scale continues on down till you reach the base which is Tier V ships.

Depending on how many ships you have in your port fleet, there is a sliding scale of bonus festive tokens awarded after you've earned 1000 BASE XP on any of those ships.

Today, this huge port fleet advantage enabled me to obtain Kurama for 11,000 Festive tokens. Had to play over twenty ships to claim the reward. Lengthy grind but nothing I've not done many times before over the past seven years playing this game. 

Kept her 6 pt captain and ran in her maiden game. She performed well enough (2 kills) but I can say she is not a brawler. Barely survived a run-in with a BOT Napoli. The 'F' key - the funny button - reduces the standard 16km range to 13+ km in a brief rapid fire burst. Has submarine radar. No smoke nor hydro.  

To access the Festive listing click on Update Navigator and there you are.

Logging in you receive the 11th Anniversary Gift after playing a game.

Now that I have the Kurama, the surplus Festive token rewards (as shown below) holds varying appeal.

Not interested in the Enemy Destruction Effects crate. Same with the Red Steel Titan crate or Supercontainer.

I am however interested in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba crates because collecting the tiles rewards you with the Unique Spanish commander. Now instead of doubloons I can spend Festive tokens. Nice one, WG.

And I will also spend the tokens on the Bonus Package for Super ships. Pity that you're only limited to one per player.

Speaking of Unique commanders, I finished off the Commonwealth one by purchasing forty-five crates with coal. I will leave John Augustine Collins in Reserve for the time being. 

The rest of the listing hold no interest for me. 

New Operations missions now unlocked. 

You receive a reward for participating which seems worthwhile if new or with few ships but it's what it is, a participation award. See Combat Missions (below) for details regarding the reward received. 

The new Dockyard Event will be a non-event for me. No halfway ship. Not going for the final reward, as mentioned previously regarding why. Which means I won't be buying the starter packs. Happy to grab the mission rewards and exchange the dockyard tokens though while it's active. 

New Event Pass. Halfway reward is Orion '44. Final rewards are just camo. A bit meh to me but worthwhile - again - to anyone low on ships or resources. 

Before I forget, super ships are worth steel instead of festive tokens. 

And finally in this quick review, there is the new Wishing Wharf where you purchase (with real money) Wharf tokens to exchange for a chance at a new ship. Other WOWS YT streamers will have posted ship reviews on these new ships somewhere for those interested.

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SurrounDead

The other day, I "discovered" Lab 1, a place I'd heard about but never came across in my previous travels - until now. Not that I was looking all that hard in the first place. This place is close to the Observatory. Originally headed there to loot a military chopper that had crashed in the area. When I got there I decided to approach it carefully because I remembered an earlier time when I walked into a Coyote ambush by underestimating the situation. 

Immediately marked it permanently on my map so I know where it is every time. 

Anyway, I saw the Coyote soldiers guarding the entrance take on the zombies. So I helped out the zombies by executing the soldiers, then finished the job by wiping out the zombies. 

The bucket list is growing.

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There is a third Safe Zone aside from the main Valley Safe Zone and Ship Safe Zone. I thought it was permanently situated in the far north but in the mode I'm currently playing it's now in the south-east. On the main north-south route in the eastern side of the map. 

Each time I've visited I always pay the Settlement Officer the price for the location of specific loot such as classified containers and/or Coyote outposts. Which yields decent loot. 

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Modelling Corner Global

Relaxing after working on my WOWS spreadsheet project I got this YT notification about some modeller creating a sky table. Curious as to what this involved, I watched him create something awesome for his Gaslands Crimson Skies game. I knew about Gaslands but didn't know they'd gone aerial. 

His design is a 6 by 4 table comprising three 2 by 4 pressboard (or MDF) sheets laid crosswise on a solid table base. 

He rolled out a open water naval mat. 

Then he placed the mirror side wooden panels on top which latch together to keep the shape. Height, he said for this example, was short. He reckons it would look more effective higher though; I suspect he'd be right. 

Once established he followed this with his LED lighting system that consisted of two different coloured reels, one blue and one natural that flickered with sound (thunder and lightning effect) - placed around the table in a random configuration. Then he covered the lighting with cotton stuffing/wool/stuffing. 

Once sorted, on top went the plexiglass overlay (8mm thick I think). And Bob's your uncle. An aerial gaming table. I was floored. What a brilliant idea. It can be dismantled into pieces for travel to conventions and exhibitions. 

The effect is really striking in a darkened room. Envious but in awe at the creativity of certain individuals with a passion. And the models are great too.

His YT channel is SkirmishersGuild. He also has a facebook page. He's from the US. Please support by subscribing to either or both of his channels.

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September Digest #1

World of Warships

Went to check my player profile. My NA account profile exists but my SEA (main) account profile does not exist. Checked the game by logging in. Still there as I anticipated. I log in daily to grind my five ships for the Holiday Convoy tokens. Then log out. Everything hunky-dory via Steam. Steam Guard playing up however. Checked timer sync. 

Halfway done going through my Tier IX tech tree line destroyers. Ran Kitakaze, Yugumo, Christopher, Fletcher, Tashkent. For the most part, been playing these destroyers without a commander. Tomorrow (Friday) it's the turn of Udaloi, F. Schultz, Z-46, Jutland, Mogador. 

Once I've completed this and the Tier X and supership lines, I will return to Tier V and resume going through the premiums. 

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Friday, as mentioned above, ran Udaloi, F. Schulz, Z-46, Jutland, Mogador. Five ships for the holiday convoy tokens. Foregoing the usual daily coal loot crates (three each day). 

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Saturday it was the turn of Orage, Adriatico, Chung Mu, L. Katonis, Ostergotland. Which completed the standard tech tree line for this tier. 

But then I decided to also run the premiums as well mainly to complete the full coal loot crates for today. So also played Friesland, Groningen, Minegumo, Halford, Johnston, Benham, Black, GQ Johnny. 

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Iron Nest

Yeah, not bothering completing the final mission because there is one of three way it can end which doesn't interest me. 

Instead, I'm waiting for news on whether they're going to expand the war theatre to north of the Pyrenees. If you read the daily news of the times, war is looming in the rest of Europe. Again. 

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SurrounDead

Building up ammo resources. Hunting for the elusive rocket launcher. All before I complete the final Global Achievement. Not much to report then. Will return once I have enough to enter the Redacted underground base and clear it of Coyote soldiers and discover the loot therein. 

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Brisbane River Fire Festival

Wife yesterday (Friday) took a few photos of the air force rehearsal flyover while at work. She claims they were going too fast for her phone camera. I asked why not take a video instead. She just glared at me. Lol. 

Above image shows the shadow of the jet. But where is the jet itself?

My personal favourite of this beautiful spring sky. Not much smog too. Shame about the Globemaster marring this photo of perfection. Damned air force and their inconveniencing!

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August Digest #6

World of Warships

Finishing off the last of the Tier VII tech tree destroyers. Today (Saturday) I played Z-31, Jervis, Le Hardi, Vauquelin, L. Tarigo, Gadja Mada. Because it didn't matter how I played these ships, I chose to play aggressively - sailing to capture the cap and attacking the enemy ships. 

Also scored the final rewards for the Event Pass - the Pan-American permanent camos. The Jurua one looks both wicked and silly. Still, I will play it along with the cruiser I. Allende, and then the remaining Tier VII destroyers Grom, Skane, Marcilio Dias. Sunday I will start on the Tier VIII destroyers.

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So tonight (still Saturday) I jumped into my other email account to install Black Wukong through Steam (because I bought it while using this other email account). Noticed WOWS was active in the library so instinctively jumped into the game. Upshot is I am now playing on the NA server with a new user name. 

Starting all over again should be interesting. Especially in a new server location. 

Had a chuckle as I scored one of the Pan-American destroyers straightaway upon unlocking an Access Level. Even played, and won, a Random Battle round while progressing through the various Access Levels. 

Mind you, it was a Tier I game (no seal clubbers fortunately), and I was only facing one live opponent (who appeared to be a "noob" like me) and sunk him/her/it quick. The rest were BOTS, and I managed to stay alive.

Anyway, tally from this brief adventure, after eventually logging out, is five ships (3 Tier I, 1 Tier II, and 1 Tier III), twelve port slots, a 24 hour premium day, and a couple of million credits. 

Of course, I got the usual "create account" notification pop up. Not sure what to do there, but for now I will just wait-and-see what unfolds.  

Primary aim is to try and play this time round for free as much as possible. So, no buying new premiums unless I have the doubloons. 

Aim therefore will be to reach Tier V as soon as possible so I can take advantage of the Holiday Convoy token offer of converting tokens for doubloons. 

Premium days will be tricky. But there will times when premium days will be given out as rewards so no biggie. 

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Played both NA and ASIA servers with my two separate WOWS accounts. The aim of playing on the NA server, as mentioned before, will be to play it for FREE. No money spent. Which means it will be mostly casually played than the more serious and grindy ASIA server account.

Today (Sunday) on the SEA server I played JURUA, I. ALLENDE, Grom, Skane, MARCILIO DIAS. Tomorrow will be start of the Tier VIII tech tree destroyer line. As with each tier, the ships improve in performance. I'd say Tier VIII is the start of the "good ones". First two with their Event Pass unique camo; the last ship is part of the Early Access Pan-American destroyer line which will be released for free grind around October or November. 

Did create a WG.net account yesterday (Saturday) with my NA account. And got the rewards. But then the game glitched. Closed out of the game and then logged back in after waiting to join a game (where screen hung for several minutes). And duly received the notification again after finishing the round. Did not respond as I'd already created a WG.net account. Wondering if it will happen again next time I log in?

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SurrounDead

Did the same thing regarding access/security using the moving gate fencing trick at my warehouse base behind Whitewood with my current character.

Collected a couple more vehicles at one of the irradiated areas to the east of the Valley Safe Zone - the Damaged Nuke site -:  a Utility and a Flatbed truck. The Utility will replace the SUV which is just not robust enough whenever I go jaunting about. I am always having to repair it every time I take it out for a zombie rundown. 

The buggy and the Charger are fast enough to dodge the zippy zombies so they're still useful. But SUV will just go into long-term parking along with the Flatbed truck which I realise now I should have left behind. 

Priority for now is getting and building up stocks of ammo. Airdrops are slim picking at the moment. But at least I have all my crafting stations constructed so I can recycle unwanted ammo for essential ones.

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Went to the port precinct ostensibly to check out a crashed helo. Ran into a bandit team looting an abandoned medical supply truck near the crash site. After taking them out, visited the helo, looted it, camped overnight, and in the morning went into the port to deal to the infestation there. Used the shipping containers to deal with the zombie hordes and the three infestation sites - two secondary and the primary. Then dealt to the two zombie bosses - Captain Philips and Large Zombie. 

Collected several legendary weapon from the loot piles - Colonel's Revenge (5.56) and Survivor (7.62). Picked up another Marksman Legacy (.308) but traded that in for cash. And also collected my favourite, the M32 Grenade Launcher. 

Now it's time to churn out lots of ammo. Either recycle surplus other ammo (.45, flare, or shotgun shells) and/or scavenge lots of scrap metal. (abandoned smoking vehicles littered throughout the valley). 

I live in hope that I will find a rocket launcher somehow. Or maybe either the military trader or the ice cream vendor will have in their inventory to sell. One hopes.

Ignored the ambo that spawned on the road to Longdown Port. Did it earlier with a couple of other vehicles found during one of my jaunts. Temptation is to collect. Resist.

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Got my RV today (Monday). And picked up the modified Glock. Just needing to build loads of ammo for my Lechie and Barret. And M32 grenades. 

Marked a couple of bunker locations (red crosses) on the map for later investigations. On the road in-between the two "X" marked (apartment POI shown) a Coyote base sometimes spawns. Easy take out with the Lechie sniper rifle and M32 grenade launcher, but one has to approach carefully. Do a headcount first before opening up. And take out the Lieutenant as soon as he is identified. Rewards from a Coyote outpost is worth taking them on of course. 

Airdrops are automatically shown on the map (red for medical, green for equipment and weapons, and blue for food, fuel and generators). 

Infestation areas for clearing are displayed. Note: you have to clear the Secondary Infestation areas first before you can deal to the Primary. Usually you encounter one or two Secondary Infestations, sometimes in easy to reach places, other times, not as with the Seconday located on the second floor roof in Grain Valley. 

Example of the latter was one secondary located on an upper storey of an apartment building in last session. The primary was on the ground floor. Whenever you tackle an infestation area, zombies in droves spawn to protect their "nest". 

Of course, each Primary Infestation area comes with its own "territorial" Zombie boss. Usually one. Sometimes two (as in Longdown Port and Redacted Airfield and the main towns). 

And then there is the unclaimed crate which you have to find. As with the one on the roof of the hospital in Whitewood. These are not essential to clearing the Infestation but part of the reward.

The Infestation locations are always in the same spot, regardless. So you can develop a strategy for approaching and dealing with them. For example, in Whitewood one of the secondary infestations is located in a house opposite the primary. I normally approach it from the hole in the fence to the north and take it out with an automatic weapon (mg level). 

The other secondary is situated on the outside of another building located towards the police station. This I take out from a safe distance (for me I use the hill upon which the fire tower overlooking the town sits). Then I switch to the primary using a high powered sniper rifle (such as a Lechie or Barret 50 cal). The zombies will spawn in response but they can't climb the slippery slope directly so you're safe enough.

If checked in settings, you will also get infestation zones that spawn in random locations. These grow if left alone for too long. 

And points of interest (POI) are disclosed upon closer investigation (physically visiting or entering and pausing within the zone). These are shown in white on your map. Their locations are fixed.

Other POI are marked in yellow which disappear from your map once visited and verified. They do linger for a while if unvisited before eventually disappearing because when log back in, they are gone.

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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 crafts (yes, there are several so you will be busy). 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 the playing 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 rejoined the game anew) 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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Not yet download the NVIDI app I used to take screenshots of my online gaming experience. But that didn't matter as I was able to take a screenshot of my current endeavours in the newly reinstalled game courtesy of the game itself.

Scored myself a SUV and buggy, (shown above), and a Charger which is at the Pine Street neighbourhood forward base. If you spawn in the eastern area there is a long main road running north-south. Down from the roadside motel (north-east, above the contaminated zone), find and take the trail behind the service station/garage that leads to a couple of homesteads. Along there will be a vehicle spawn. 

Once again I have re-established my main base at the abandoned warehouse behind Whitewood. 

Going to limit the number of vehicles this time round. So am only on the lookout for the RV camper so I can overnight camp wherever (no need for sleeping bag and tent).

Am looking to establish a forward base near the Redacted Zone. There's a gunshop back from the area that will serve fine as a temporary base. It has the added bonus of having several display cabinets that will spawn weapons and the like regularly.  

Weapons. I've had to start from scratch again. Lost the rocket launcher and Lechie sniper rifle when I did a clean PC reset the other day. 

In this new game I recently managed to upgrade from your standard hunter's rifle (.308 round - decent damage) to a Marksman Legacy which does slightly improved headshot damage than the hunter rifle. 

I also have the M2010 sniper rifle which I found early in the game but I don't use it much because rounds and mags are hard to come by at this stage of the game. The Marksman Legacy rifle (with heavy scope) does a decent job for the meanwhile.

I do have the Barret 50 cal sniper rifle. From an airdrop. But no mags came with it. And only a few rounds scavenged elsewhere. 

Trying to build up cash and credit so I can purchase a grenade launcher. Having one makes it easier to deal with groups from afar.

I have a couple of other rifles - a CR308 and a M4CQB - as backups. 

No diversified Battle Ready Glock as yet. Just a standard M9 with a 50-round mag.

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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 (calculated on the amount of red economic bonuses in your port). 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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