9 June 2024: Weekly Digest - mostly PC gaming

2 June 2024

Slow day in WOWS. Grinding for the last rewards in the Dockyard Event. Played my usual credit earning premium, the German Tier IX premium battleship Pommern exclusively in this session in Co-Op. 

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3 June 2024

Finished the Dockyard Event and received the last steel reward.  Long grind though completing it because it required earning tens of thousands of BASE XP. Especially arduous in Co-Op where there is a limit imposed in the range of around 300 maximum per match - irrespective of how well you do. Did this all session except for the last few when I jumped into the Utah Beach/D-Day event to fast-track the last few thousand damage requirement.

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4 June 2024

No grind today. Initially logged in to grab the daily reward but stayed to complete the daily loot crate missions - three grabs at coal. Played the Tier III German destroyer G-101 and the finished the session by playing a favourite - ther Soviet Tier V premium destroyer, Okhotnik. Nothing more satisfying than sailing up to close an enemy battleship/battlecruiser like the Konig or Kongo and releasing three or four salvos of torps into their amidships. 

G-101. Has four torpedo launch locations - two singles one each side of bow facing forward and the usual midships launchers firing two torps each. That's six in total in one launch. 7 km range is handy so you don't need to commit harikari to send them on their way. Decent enough HP means you can contest other similar tiered DDs and maybe a light cruiser, although not for long. Weakness: 11,000 HP means it can be killed easily as I found out in one game when I failed to notice the torp that killed me by the Tier VII Japanese destroyer Akitsuki. One torpedo. Has smoke but no hydro. Can contest caps but needs to scoot when things get hot quick. 

Okhotnik. A war canoe as one YT streamer once described it which I like and agree. Odd gun arrangement though - one long line of eight guns down the spine of the ship. So they can easily deal to other DDs and a few light cruisers without too much hassle but you'll need to expose your broadside or much of it in return. However, it's low in the water. And you have smoke. Torpedoes are its main asset - four banks of three (total 12) amidships, firing arcs though are generally midship limited (unlike the G101 which is more like 180 degree). Range of those torps though is only 4.5 kms so you either need to get in close or hide in ambush. But they hit hard enough - over 13,000 damage done with one. So a bank of three torps will do close to 40,000 damage which is decent enough to sink even battleships at that tier. 

Latest Dockyard Event was slightly different this time round insofar as I already had the West Virginia '44 - the halfway mark reward - from an earlier Dockyard event. 

• There is usually a series of missions that require completion. Each mission is released weekly. 
• Each mission rewards with a special shipyard token to signify its completion as well as completing specific tasks. Only shipyard tokens can advance each phase level - one shipyard token per phase level. So, you need thirty ship tokens in total in theory but there is a certain condition once you reach Phase level 20 for this Dockyard Event. See below for explanation of that special condition. 
• Each misssion requires completion of at least 6 tasks. Complete them all if you want but not required.
• A certain number of these specific tasks reward with a shipyard token (initially set at three tokens for the first few missions but increasing right up to five for the last mission). 
• Each missions consists of up to ten indvidual tasks with some tasks assigned to specific ship classes. For example, the destroyer ship class, might have to earn 25,000 BASE XP to complete one such task. Other tasks are open to all ship classes.
• The event is restricted to Tier V and upwards for all ship classes.
• Missions stay "open" throughout the entire Dockyard Event timeframe or until fully completed. 
• Each phase level reward is supposedly worthwhile although in truth only the steel and red economic bonuses matter - besides the ships. But even these "real" rewards are small when compared to what is required to earn them, especially if playing only Co-Op. The grind does not match expectation in other words so be mindful of that. But any historical ship is worth it in my estimation. Not the paper or fantasy versions sometimes foisted on the community. 
• There is a "halfway point" where a ship is offered as reward and incentive to keep progressing. This event's halfway point is the West Virginia '44 at Phase level 20. If you already have her then you are rewarded by advancing three phases (skipping phases 21, 22, and 23) for free. In theory what the event is telling you is that can basically earn the Wisconsin for free simply by grinding all the phases. In theory. 
• You can get a head-start by purchasing several levels at the beginning of the Dockyard Event. There are two options but I can't recall how many phases in either although one advances more than the other; you can pay for both if you really want a great head-start. This is common to all Dockyard Events - a choice to advance quickly but you have to pay the price. This costs real money and this option is only available until you reach the fifth phase. Thereafter it is no longer available. Question though is the final reward worth the head-start? Quite often, going by past involvements, the Dockyard Event final rewards ships have generally been between nothing extraordinary to so-so - Puerto Rico, Lushun, Michelangelo, Schroder - to name the few I've been involved with personally I have never played since obtaining. 
• If the grind gets too much, you can pay to advance each phase by spending a quantity of doubloons (2000 for this event) which is about AUD12. So, in theory, to buy your way to the "Big Whiskey" is going to cost around AUD360! The choice is with you. Grind for nearly two months and get it for free, pay some of the way and grind the rest, or pay upfront and get the ship immediately. I tend to play the middle road lately because I'm getting lazier. 

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11 June 2024

Sorry for the absence. Health issues hit me last week necessitating hospital stay from Wednesday; only got out yesterday. Will resume next week as I will be taking the rest of this week off. Cheers.

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