October Digest #2

 World of Warships

After a bit of trepidation I finally ran Lisboa and Libertad in Asymmetric today (Wednesday). Had a few games in Co-Op first to familiarise myself with the ship. 

Did well enough in Asymmetric to now feel confident in running the vessel tomorrow to grind out the next Dockyard Event mission tasks. Ran the ship with the anticipated secondary build that definitely helped. 

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Liberty Harbour event began today (Thursday). Unimpressed. Same old lure to get you to spend time and money on something with sweet f-all rewards.

Finished next Dockyard mission tasks in today's session thanks to Asymmetric. Asymmetric is easily my favourite battle mode because it offers just enough of a challenge without the monotony or boredom of Co-Op. But more importantly, I can upskill from 20 to 21 point quicker. Especially when you don't have the necessary Elite Commander XP to just spend your way to the top. Currently upskilling my last Unique commander, Lisboa, to 21 point: hope to complete it by end of the weekend, if not sooner; probably tomorrow (Friday). Then it's back to the coma-inducing Co-Op grind mode for my 16-pt, 17-pt, 18-pt, and 19-pt commanders. 

Don't understand the latest sale event in the Armoury. A bunch of 10-pt special commanders who offer nothing like Seasoned or Unique skilled commanders. Why is WG doing this? The commanders costs coal which would be better spent on ships.

Monmouth and Incheon are now available as doubloon ships.

Another new ship, Indiana, on offer as an Admiral pack or part of a sequential bundle (pot luck). 

Ran Libertad for much of today's grind. Only four defeats: one was neglecting to protect our base which was capped by the enemy; the other three I can't remember how we lost. The remainder were victories. And Libertad figured in the top three for over ninety percent of them. 

Playing her is simple: don't get too close. Make use of her long-range secondaries (over 12km). Keep your distance initially until you can rid yourself (and your teammate) of any cruiser and destroyer threat. Then take out the torp-carrying battleships. Finally just bow in on the remaining battleships and focus on them with your secondaries. 

Always use the F button when loaded; using it on one ship whilst focusing your main guns on another vessel is being efficient as well as effective. 

Beware of crossfires. These can happen when a teammate decides to abandon their front leaving you vulnerable to crossfires. Use the islands to help protect your flank. Try and keep bow in where possible. Have faith in your secondaries to help out. 

Your secondaries are good but so are those of the Schlieffen and Pommern. If paired with either, stick close to them because together you can clear up a flank with ease. Same goes if you're with an Iwami or Napoli or Salem. 

If paired with a cruiser, support your cruiser always. Should they go down first, don't run away. Hang in there and slug it out because you can - your main guns plus your secondaries will back you up. Good positioning helps too. 

Vary your speed always. Libertad's speed manoeuvrability is good; make use of it. Instinct should warn you when torps are coming your way and should start slowing down or turning as a result. You lack hydro so rely on your eyeballs. And know your enemy ship's characteristics. 

Never turn too close to the enemy as they'll hammer your broadside with ease. Came close to dying within the first few salvos a couple of times because I turned while too close to the enemy focus fire. 

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Upskilled Lisboa to 21 points today (Friday) earlier than planned using economic bonuses in Asymmetric. Now I can play him on this tech tree line and exploit his talents. 

Bought the first three Navy 250 sequential bundles. No Indiana but enough resources to happily complete free retraining for de Ruytier who was returned to the Tier X Dutch oven Utrecht. Been playing him on Groningen. 

Decided to continue the trend of returning selected assigned commanders back to their ships and opting to upskill/grind them in Asymmetric. Not sure about running Utretch in Asymmetric however. It's one gimmick is its dual bomber threat, but then the destroyer Tromp does the same job, is more stealthier, and has torpedoes for backup. Paper-thin cruiser armour that crumples easily under concentrated focus fire puts a dampener on gambling with Utretch in Asymmetric. And I sometimes have trouble calculating where to target my bombers. 

Looking forward to trialling Zao in Asymmetric. Always liked her; she is one of my earliest Tier Xs acquired long ago. Saw one player bring her into Asymmetrics today but can't recall how it fared. Weak armour, as with all cruisers, but her long-range torps (lots of them) and her main guns can catch an opponent unawares if careless. Happy to gamble despite that major defect. 

Another ship I'm going to run with her upskilling captain in Asymmetric is the fairly versatile San Martin. She has a good heal, decent torps, and her gunfire can be punishing if the build is right. Kiting is an asset she excels in. 

Day 2 of the Liberty Harbour event saw me activate the Naval Command base. Not that I will be playing the missions from his section as I will be playing missions exclusively from the Operations Base instead. Just need to activate the Fuel Depot section which I expect to do so tomorrow. Doing this will gain access to 20000 Naval Depot Supplies in the Memory Note. After that, I don't know nor care what happens next. Focus is on upskilling commanders in Asymmetric.

Hilarious moment happened as I was completing the third mission task for the Operations base (score 50 rocket/bomb ribbons in a CV). I was in the Tier VI US premium carrier Independence. It was a Co-Op game with a few live players and the rest BOTS. 

Not expecting much from this excursion initially apart from completing the mission task - had a few more bombing/rocket ribbons left to earn. That's when I noticed that the rest of the team had died off and we two survivors were left to face off against four enemy ships. Things started to warm up just then. 

My one remaining teammate was in the US battleship Tier VII tech tree Colorado. He was attending to the enemy carrier to the north. I was in the south east corner avoiding the enemy ships heading my way. I chose a wide sweep but then decided to run diagonally in a more north-westerly direction. This new course would take me through several cap circles. Why not help out, I thought.  

But my new course would take straight into enemy gunfire. I launched all available planes against the two battleships confronting me whittling down their health but it was not fast enough. I was surprised though to still be alive running their gauntlet of fire. The Colorado meanwhile had sunk the enemy CV and was hurrying back to assist. Had no inkling if he would make it in time or if I would still be alive. 

I deliberately held my course however braving the gauntlet while losing over half my ship health in damage. Yet I survived and was about about to head to an unclaimed cap circle when time finally ran out. 

The Colorado couldn't believe what had happened and laughed about it in chat. A few what-ifs were posed. Had my planes sunk the targeted battleship could we have delayed the inevitable? Would the Colorado have made it back to deal to the last enemy ship with its guns? Why had our other teammates given up so easily and died?

Again the lesson stands: play the objective. Or play to the clock. 

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Day 3 of the Liberty Harbour event. 

Completed all the missions required and duly received the next Memory Note - a quantity of credit and, more importantly, thirty thousand Naval Base Supplies - the event currency. Was thus able to fast track through several intermediate stages between Level 1 and 2. Shy one intermediate upgrade to unlock Level 2. Hope to achieve that over the weekend.

Completed the day's missions in a selection of cruisers using their assigned commanders (from the upskilling grind) - Zao, A. Nevsky, San Martin and Salem. Not so confident with cruisers as I am with battleships so needed to run a few games in Co-Op battle mode with each ship. Also ran the Zao CLR simply because I love her cool green camo scheme, not because she's part of the commander upskill grind. 

Had to complete the last stage of secondary mission (earn total of 350 secondary hits ribbons) in the Libertad via Asymmetric. Needed around one hundred plu; funny part was I scored over 350 secondary hits in that single run!!

I am planning to upskill my higher-levelled commanders through Asymmetric mode because it's more entertaining and just a tad challenging. Expecting a lot more early deaths and loads of defeats however. But first I will run the ships through a few games in Co-Op to familiarise myself with the vessel as a few don't have torpedoes.

Other cruisers in the current commander upskill grinding list include Worcester, Hindenburg, Goliath, Castilla, Brisbane, Gouden Leeuw. They should all get in a few games in Asymmetric between now and when the battle mode is withdrawn. 

Zao starts with fast stock torps at 8km. Can upgrade to 12km range but slower speed than stock standard. Accurate HP/AP. But brittle as heck. You're dead if you show broadside so angle bow-in when you can. Use island cover where possible. Played her a lot today. 

A. Nevsky has a very good 12km radar. No smoke. Remember her with good AP but times have changed and she's been overtaken by the current crop of cruisers. Still useful in specific situations. Just a matter of learning what those situations are.  

San Martin has torps but that's all I remember at the moment. Confusing her with St Vincent with the awesome heal. But St Vincent is a battleship. 

Salem has good guns and an excellent rate of fire. Excellent pummeller. Choice of hydro or radar. Played the most after Zao today. Impressed. Seen her in a few Asymmetric games where she performed pretty good especially holding her own when under island cover. Not so useful when caught in the open though. 

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Today I played A. Nevsky exclusively in both Operations (for one of Liberty Harbour mission tasks) and Asymmetric (cmdr upskill grind and Liberty Harbour missions). 

Well prepared for playing cruisers which can proved both frustrating and punishing. One misstep, one miscalculation, one moment of inattentiveness, and you're stuffed. Died so many times it wasn't funny. Those times when I managed to play well enough to survive, I contributed little to nil. Seeing others score ship kills in battleships was disheartening and envious at times. 

But I will persevere because playing cruisers teaches you to be more aware of the situation, mindful of your surroundings, and pay close attention to the mini map and observe closely what your teammates are doing. All of which can be a bit more preserving of your life.  

Probably one of my two best performances today was when I held one flank on my own against five ships - one destroyer, two cruisers and two battleships. Kept them occupied while my teammates dealt to the others.

The other was on one of the ice maps. Spawned in the middle. Sailed for cover behind an island and waited. Didn't have long to wait. Using island cover I sailed by and dealt to those I could. Had help from a Yamato. Together we held the middle and prevented the enemy from capping our base. 

Noticed cruisers get into Asymmetric games quicker. 

If you time it right and play aggressively, you can force your opponents to retire once you survive their initial push. And you can pursue them easier. Especially if you have good backup like a battleship with accurate guns and heavy secondaries. When that happens, you can even go YOLO on opposing battleship. Just remember to angle in correctly. And don't get caught in crossfires.

Puzzled by how accurate the enemy gunfire is even when you're not spotted AND in cover. 

At the start of my session, I was lost when playing Operations initally. Died too quickly. Realised Nevsky has been so power crept it's only use at Tier X is island hugging and using its radar at the right time. It does require a skilled player to use her; sadly I'm not in that category. But I will give it a good crack while Asymmetric is still around.