September Digest #3

English Civil War

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

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

Pics to follow on painting progress. Cheers.

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World of Warships

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After that, I decided to game the remaining four games in Asymmetric with my usual go-to Karl XIV Johan in order to earn the GQ tokens (play five games). Result was three victories and one defeat. 

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Stardew Valley

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just get the essentials. No more. 

Example: you need two Radioactive bars for two crafting items - Heavy Tapper and Hopper (both recipes obtainable from the Qi's Walnut Room on Ginger Island. You also two radioactive ores for Hyper Speed-Gro and Magic Bait (also both recipes from Qi's Walnut Room). Do you need any more then? Up to you.  

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

Currently doing my third character. Only six seasons. Should be interesting. More advanced than my second character in terms of perfection for half the time. 

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