January Digest #8

World of Warships - Another Asymmetric report

The long weekend. Jumped into Asymmetrics again with Mainz, my favourite German cruiser.

As the record above shows, it proved to be an interesting session with a lot more losses this time round. Not worried though because I achieved my daily goals - rewards from both Event Pass and daily coal crates. Also upskilled my captain who is now 12 point. 

Game 1: UNSURE. I believe this was a victory but I don't remember anything about this game as I died pretty quickly and early. 

Strong lineup in terms of firepower and brawling capabilities - double Valparaiso with Ipiranga. The CV was a bonus (depending on player skill of course).

Being paired with a Val I sailed confidently towards the A cap (my torps and accurate cruiser fire and the Val's firepower and brawling abilities). But I got blasted into oblivion around D4 by combined cruiser and battleship focus fire. Still, I was expecting a hard fought win by my teammates. Did not stay to take more screenshots. 

Game 2: LOSS. Made some wrong positional decisions and failed to contribute. As a result I died early. (1) Positioned myself behind the island at E6. This blocked my view of the enemy Budyonny who was free to cap B. (2) Failed to help the Chapayev racing to the middle to help out. Was too slow to come out of my hiding place and he died needlessly. (3) By the time I emerged the cap was taken and I was about to be focus fired by a total of four enemy ships. (4) Should have sailed directly into the cap, contest it against the Budyonny, and then deal with whatever would happen next. But I didn't. And paid for it.

Don't know what happened to the others after becoming a spectator but the GQ Johnny was last man standing in our loss. 

Game 3: WIN. Spawned with a Valparaiso. Again confidentally sailed for the C cap. However as I drew near I got focus fired by a Sinop so decided to use the island cover to close distance and loosed off two sets of torps at the impudent Ruskie. Then loosed off my other two sets at its companion Lyon. 

Flank secured, we moved into the centre where our Carnot did his best but was overwhelmed by numbers (obviously).  

Lost our Pommern on the right flank in the meanwhile. This just left me, Val, and Zeiten left to take out the enemy remnants who still outnumbered us. By effective and combined coordinated fire and movement, we achieved our victory. I contributed further by sinking the enemy carrier Independence and thus eliminate the air threat. 

Game 4: LOSS. Two Brothers map. Interesting because we started off well enough but then one by one our team died leaving me to fight off the remnants. I tried my best but ran out of health.

The image above shows the situation I was left to confront. Took out the two cruisers Kikjduin and Chumphon capping our base. Barely had time to sigh relief when I had to quickly deal to the openly hostile Fiji charging at me. Then without respite the F. Caracciolo emerged through the gap. Loosed off torps but then grounded myself as an almost-full health Colorado appeared. Was unable to loose off more torps as I had to reverse. So used my guns and came "this close" as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, would say to sinking her. Ran out of time. Seondary battery hit from Colorado finished me. 

Game 5: LOSS. Here I made the common mistake of hesitating and dithering. Spawning in the centre can be manageable depending on where one deploys, and how one reacts to the situation. D'oh! After stating the obvious, I dithered by reacting too early to the incoming enemy fire. Then, because I had advanced too far forward, I failed to make use of the island cover to tackle the greater enemy forces coming at me. 

With a glut of target choices I froze. This hesitation cost me time and then my ship's life. I thought that I had help from the Zeiten and Tirpitz. The Val and Kitakaze I thought would hold their respective flanks. But obviously I was wrong because we lost. 

Game 6: WIN. Riposte map. Spawned in the middle. I chose to play aggressively and sailed towards the B cap. 

Doing so meant taking out the enemy cruisers first before tackling the battleships. Managed to complete the first part but died while attempting the second part. Luckily our Pommern came over to help. His assistance won the situation in the middle. 

Game 7: LOSS. Same map as previous game. Spawned on the left flank which is too open making one susceptible to crossfires from the middle. And in my case, I failed to pay attention to the threat posed by the enemy Laudon, one of the new European battleships. It smacked me as I was attempting to take on the threat to my front. I raced to use the island (H6) as cover. But I had suffered a big bite from the Laudon who was in grid G5 (see two images down).

My loss left the Hawke to deal with the Sinop alone. He could have, and should have. But he didn't. This left the remaining two teammates a mammoth task. Hipper is good enough but not in this situation; the Laudon would have smacked him to oblivion. And the Pommern had his hands full with the KGV and Gneisenau.

Game 8: LOSS. Myself and the Toulon took on the middle. I died too soon while tackling the enemy cruisers. Got one but the other escaped. Meanwhile crossfiring whittled my healthpool down fast. Left on his own Toulon had to retreat. But it was too late. Meanwhile the Rooke had decided to play chicken early in the game and sailed north. Massa B was stranded and did his best but was taken out. This left the V. Veneto to deal to the enemy on his own. 

Game 9: LOSS. Died but managed to help secure the centre. Had enormous help from the friendly Ipiranga and support fire from the Sejong. However the situation went from hopeful to dire when our left flank lost out with the enemy wiping out our friendlies and capping C. The A cap was also capped uncontested as both Valparaiso and Ipiranga were clearing the threat in the middle with me. When I left the game, just two friendlies to take one six enemy ships. The results state we lost. 

Game 10: WIN. The island stradding grids F/G5 is a natural barrier and so I simply sailed up to it and just sat there for several minutes. Allowed the enemy to cap. Then waited while the bulk sailed elsewhere before reacting. Took out the inquisitive Eendracht as I emerged from cover. Sailed into the cap and captured it. In the process of capturing, sunk the enemy Ranger, then assisted the team. 

SUMMARY. Mixed outcome as disclosed. Partial listing. 

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World of Warships - A New Day, etc, etc...

Jumped into Asymmetric with Mainz thinking to improve on yesterday's mixed results (post above). Needed a few more Base XP to complete the cruiser task for the Dockyard event.  But started the session awfully. Four losses in a row. Only improved when I stopped taking screenshots for analysis and simply played the game. 

After I had fulfilled the cruiser Base XP requirement (Dockyard event) I switched over to the battleship task. Doubt I will finish it in time and claim the last 250 steel on offer however because 42,000 BASE XP is a tall ask. Paused to decide which battleship to play among my commander upskill group. In the end went with Jean Bart. 

First run in Asymmetric it performed beautifully. Next game not so well because I was too exposed and failed to take out the destroyer early. Plus myself and the Pommern with me were being focus fired from two directions. 

Last game however was another good win and then I logged out.

Digest January #7

World of Warships: Playing Asymmetrics

Asymmetrics in a Tier VIII ship is completely different to that in a Tier X ship. Lot less stressful but just as much fun. When I say stressful, I am referring to how teammates die so much quicker in Tier X. Tis is less so in a Tier VIII game. 

Below is a visual record of my session today in Asymmetrics when I entered in the potent Tier VIII German premium cruiser Mainz.

Fault line map. Spawned south centre with team mates. Don't remember much from this game other than I died fairly early and we lost (see record at bottom of post). 

Sunset Isles map game (above). Again spawned south centre. Teammate in Nurnberg sailed to cap B. I chose to advance to the island lee and wait for the enemy Flint. While my teammate capped B and defended it, I took out the Flint and remained covered teammate's left flank. With the action happening everywhere but where I was defending, it was a quiet remainder of this match. Win. 

Lineup for next match on the Two Brothers map. Note that enemy BOTS spawn at least 2 tiers lower. Generally.

Interesting game on the Two Brothers map. Lightning and I sailed south and took out the enemy opposing us. Meanwhile the bulk of the enemy sailed through the gap and dealt to the Yorktown and Scheer who came over to help the carrier. Don't remember but the Surrey died early. That just left myself and the Lightning to take on the rest of the enemy. 

Above shows the situation prior to the enemy's big push up the middle. The Lightning and I were about to deal to the Iron Duke.

It's here when I noticed on the map the enemy Leander capping our base. I left the Lightning and sped back to stop this from happening. Managed to deal to the Leander, Emerald, Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great). Lightning valiantly took out the Andrea Doria and Kongo but died to secondaries. That left me to face just the Furataka which I managed by using my guns. I thought we had won but I forgot that the enemy still had a destroyer (not sure if it was the Maestrale or Podvoisky). I had sailed into the enemy base because that's where the Furutaka had posted itself. So it would take time to turn around and sail back to our base. 

This defeat offset all the good work I thought we had done.  

LESSON REMINDER: Protect your base. And, do a head count by checking the listing. The enemy destroyer was invisible and remained so because it was outside spotting range. 

Skipped the next game for screenshot; must have forgot in my excitement. Anyway above is the lineup for the following game on the Neighbours map. Team spawned from the northwest. Notable for the inclusion of the North Carolina CLR: I have one and I love it for the unique green camo scheme on this battleship. Also have the Zao version.  

I thought we stood a chance because I had another Mainz with me. Sailed boldly to the enemy base using the islands to my left as flank protection and bow pointed in. 

Unfortunately our tactic was defeated as we both released our torps but died as we retired (or retreated depending on your assessment) to recover. I don't recall if we won. I think we lost. Kii looks isolated but it is a battleship hybrid and should have dealt to the Nurnberg. I don't know what happened with the other two teammates to the north. 

Immediately after this loss, new game spawned on the same map. 

This game I spawned on the left flank. The Iwami started by sailing wide, avoiding the cap. I, however, sailed toward it figuring to at least cap it. The Yorktown was left to deal with the central threat. Meanwhile the Pommern and Mainz B (simply a clone of the Mainz draped in black camo) presented a strong force on our right flank. I expected them to cap A and win that flank without too much hassle. 

Got lucky because the Omono (the first ship spotted on my flank) opted to use the island (D7) to mask its movement as me. I had the same plan but I was waiting for the F. Caracciolo whose guns can smack you if you're not careful. The Zara seemed to hang back so was not an immediate threat. Ignored the situation occurring the centre for now. 

Above shows the situation whereby I took out the Italian battleship with two sets of torpedoes. Meanwhile my teammate sunk the Omono and was about to finish the Zara. I noticed the Fiji (from the centre) was on low health so finished her off. By now, the usual tactics employed by the BOTS at this moment was to turnabout and head back to their spawn point. Which helped our cause and handed us the initiative. We finished capping C before taking on the remaining ships. 

In the end, we survived and took out the remaining ships except P. Heinrich. Complimented my remaining teammates for their contribution to our victory. It was a good game. Highlight I think. 

Lineup for the game on the Northern Waters map. As per usual, spawned in the centre (as shown below).

At first glance, there appears to be two options. Both are defensive. The island straddling G5 is useful as cover but it means the enemy cap B. The larger island at grid F6 is the other option but LOS is blocked by the island (under the letter B) which the enemy can use to hide behind while targeting you from the flanks. 

I chose option 3 which was play aggressively and sail into the B cap and sit behind the island there and await the enemy to show up.

Unfortunately I forgot my own mantra - be patient - and raced in front of the island right into a fleet of ships. Dumbly loosed off all my torps and raced to cover. But died on the way. We still won though. Lol. 

Joined this next game late (animals needing attention). Notable for the great play by the Cherbourg. Contributed small but all the damage had been done earlier by the Cherbourg and the two Valparaiso.

Another game (above) featuring another double Valparaiso. Don't remember anything about this game except that it was a win, and I survived. By the end, I had achieved my goal of collecting the three daily coal crates and logged out. 

Above is the record of my Mainz games in Asymmetrics. Cheers.

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