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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