September Digest #4

World of Warships

NA account (Thu/Fri)
Jumped into the game last night with a plan - grind and upgrade the Pan-American line as much as possible. Sticking with my plan of researching the module but skipping buying them. Saves on credit for better use buying new ships. Besides, skipping the part where selling off these mods because you're no longer playing these ships becomes a thing. 

Thus I managed to advance from Tier 2 Alme. Barroso through V. Guerrero, Cordoba to Tier 5 La Argentina before switching over to play a few games on T3 UK destroyer Valkyrie. Did more than enough to research the module (B hull) toward Wakeful. Will buy Wakeful next time I log in. Right now, having fun with Valkryie. Mastering firing single torps can be fun. Got a few 7-kill games out of her.

Tonight (Friday) will continue to grind the UK line to Tier 5 - where possible - for destroyers, cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers. 

SEA account (Fri)
After a short nap, I logged in and played the five Holiday Convoy token ships. Then logged out. In-between, I chose to finally upskill two 20-pts commanders using Elite Commander XP, and then chose to accelerate one phase in the Event Pass in order to grab the elite commander XP booster and thus replenish part of what I'd spent to upskill my two commanders to 21 points. 

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NA account (Fri/Sat)
A couple more ships acquired for the UK tech tree line. Had fun in Caledon before progressing to the Danae. It's like really potent peer-wise at its level. Nice balance between AP and torps. Also acquired Wakeful. Hoping it's as much fun as its predecessor, Valkyrie. 

Now starting on the battlecruiser line by acquiring Indefatigable. Meanwhile continuing to earn the necessary ship XP in the dreadnought Bellerophon to advance to the next ship in line. 

I do recall dimly remembering grinding the UK tech tree line from way back, especially the fun memories I had of the mid-tier battleships and battlecruisers. And the odd cruiser, such as Emerald. Hardly remembered much else, if anything at all, regarding the lower tiers though. Relearning has been both an enjoyable as well as surprising experience. 

Finished off the session by grinding the daily Holiday Convoy tokens and full coal loot crates. 

Total of ships now stands at 43. Aim will be, by end of Dec Update (mid-Jan 2027), complete as much of the four tech lines of the port fleet as possible. This applies to Japan, USA, UK, and Pan-America. Not touching the other tech tree lines until then. 

SEA account (Sat)
Longer than usual grind today. Usual goals reached. Decided to grind the Dockyard rewards so jumped into Asymmetrics with Karl XIV Johan. Doing the same for this account as the NA account in terms of spending a certain amount per Update (no more than AUD20). 

Not unexpected but this 11th Anniversary celebration is leaving one feeling underwhelmed and flat.

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NA account (Sat/Sun)
Longer than usual grind. Continued with the UK tech tree line. Doing so because I want to reach all the ship classes at Tier IV level - that is, destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships. And carriers, my first on this account. So three news ships added to the port fleet tonight - Queen Mary, Orion, Hermes.

Playing slow big dreadnought/battleships like Bellerophon and then Orion takes some getting used if you don't appreciate the gun configuration as the images below show.

The above shows the gun layout for the Tier III battleship Bellerophon. Three forward facing turrets - one front and two midships - and two turrets facing rearward. If taking on opponent from the front angled slight slide-on, one of your forward turrets is going to be inactive. If you turn on even more to the extent where you present more of a broadside than angling in, then the rear turrets may be able to fire too. But then you expose your own broadside for the enemy to chomp upon. 

Forward firing while angling slightly is not too bad but dispersion will be bad. So angling-in just a little helps lessen the dispersion effect. 

Until I realised the characteristics of the gun layout and how to maximise firepower as a result, I struggled mightily at first in Bellerophon. But then I improved enough to consistently score well enough once I understood and played to its unusual configuration.

Once mastered and I had enough Ship XP, I graduated to the next battleship, Orion. The gun setup for the Orion (shown above) is a little more "conventional" - in the sense that this is how most modern players will recognise such a gunship layout - of two up, two back. A lot more easier to utilise but still tricky if wanting to maximise damage depending on the target. Temptation is to present broadside but we all know the risks by now so it's a gamble. Less of a problem in PvE than PvP. 

At lower tier level it's recommended to steer clear of destroyers getting too close because these bigs ships are slow as hell and you're a sitting duck to a fast and dangerous torpedo destroyer. Or even a cruiser with torps. You have no maneouvrability because of your awful rudder shift. You will wear a lot of damage if not anticipating torps coming your way. Or worse. 

The battlecruiser class begins with Indefatigable, a veteran relic of WW1. Its gun layout is interesting (see above - bow to left, stern to right). All-round coverage with the two midship turrets able to fire both sides. And to make this class distinguishable you also get torpedoes. Or at least one per salvo per side. More manoeuvrable than the slow battleship class although that isn't saying much. Weak armour so stay angled. Brawling is high risk so choose your fights carefully.

Next ship up from Indefatigable is Queen Mary. Both ships fought at Jutland. And both were sunk. Gun turret config is different yet again with two forward, one mid, and one astern. But similar in play style to its predecessor Indefatigable. Yet to take her out, and will play to advance to the next ship up.

Also added my first carrier on this account, Hermes. It should prove challenging. Whereas they're a barely item played on my SEA account, here I actually want to master this class. Most of the CV players I've encountered since joining this server have been rarely seen; what's been seen have done little or nought. I want to be more useful when it's my turn. 

Scouting's a big plus in a carrier; if you can do so for your team, you're valued. If you can contribute further by causing damage, or even sinking an opponent, that value increases. But don't expect much thanks from the player base. Playing a carrier is often a thankless task given they're so OP in the game.  

SEA account (Sun)
I began upskilling both Unique commanders for Spain and the Commonwealth - Topete and Collins respectively - by placing them on lower tiered premiums and grinding them to 21 pts through a combination long long grind and ECXP spending. But it will take time. Probably won't reach the goal until after Xmas. Perhaps.

Ran Cervantes (for the Holiday tokens) and the Perth and Numancia for the two Unique commanders. Then finished off the session with a nice game in Asymmetrics. Paired with a G. Kurfurst and together we rolled up our flank before joining up with the others to help win the game. 

Almost completed this week's Dockyard event mission (six tasks) bar one mission. But wasn't up to grinding the remaining six thousand plus BASE XP in either Co-Op or Asymmetrics.

Miscalculation (no surprises there). I was playing the Cervantes when I should have been playing the Marcilio Dias (confusing this account with the NA account where I don't have the Marcilio) as it's the last of the Early Access ships. Once the other three are released in a couple of Updates, I can quickly fast track upgrading the classes using accumulated Ship XP and Free XP. 

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NA account (Sun/Mon)
Fully aware that I'm creating double the trouble by having, and playing, two WOWS accounts. No reasonable answer beyond it's something to do.

Tonight I continued with the UK line grind, particularly reacquainting myself with carrier play before switching over to play out the Japanese line for some Event Pass goodies. 

Interesting moment with one game having to defend our base solo against two enemies while my teammates were way off at the other end of the map chasing down the enemy CV. Of course, I tried but eventually died. And only then did the turkeys crowing about sinking the CV realise the issue.

This was offset when, at other times, players did stay back to defend the base. Kudos to them, and I complimented them as such in-game. By then I was playing battleships. 

SEA account (Mon)
Continuing the commander upskill for my two Unique commanders - Topete and Collins. 

So I began the session with the daily loot reward. Scored a Supercrate. Saw the guaranteed drop in 46 more attempts. Not before. No, that wouldn't do for WG. Anyway, hoping to get a nice doubloon reward (not expecting a new ship - God forbid) when it does eventuate. I am not expecting or hoping for a new ship even though there are still well over hundred-plus left (I think WG has released over nine hundred in total).

Had one really good/great game in the Numancia playing Topete. Was chilling out watching, and occasionally helping out, my teammates tackle the enemy. Steered clear of the brawling arena content to float shells in from range. When suddenly I found myself left on my own. 

To my surprise I was expecting my remaining two teammates take out their respective foes. But they somehow died: both had been on full health too. 

I was now the sole survivor left to take on the last two enemies - a Borodino and a Wujing. I was in the cap next door to them. After sussing out where they were both positioned, I decided to wait for them to come to me. And they did. But both decided to approach me from two different direction, from either end of the island I was hiding behind. But I was sort of expecting this. 

Well...to cut a long story short, I managed to sink the Borodino with torps as she turned the island because she was whittling my health down fast when she spotted me. Loosed off three sets of torps at her. Then I took on the Wujing emerging from the other side by loosing off my one remaining torp salvo before finishing off the damage caused by tapping the "F" funny button and farmed her with a burst fire of HP. 

And to my immense surprise, and great relief, we won. Snatched victory from the almost-jaws of defeat, you could say. Or not. 

Jumped into Asymmetrics to finish off the session and grab the final two Dockyard tokens for the current mission. Ended up playing out in the Bismarck '41 which performed only slightly better than Perth which I started with. 

Frustrating part was dealing with enemy BBs which just sat back and blasted away at my cruiser. Even with crawling smoke I could not close the distance without going deep and thus play out of position. 

Hence why I switched to the battleship. Needed some payback. Played her more aggressively as a result but the BOTs still kept their distance content to shoot from distance. Kind of hard to deal with that especially if caught in a crossfire unless you're a Valparaiso or Pommern. Both of these ships can take some damage and their secondaries are great deterrents to both cruisers and destroyers. 

But it's much tougher when you're playing cruisers, such as the Perth. Even with torps and long duration crawling smoke.  In one particular game, I was left with a friendly CV who was doing his best to help out while I was pinned down behind an island using smoke and loosing off torpedoes left right and centre as deterrent. Got nowhere. Health diminished rapidly. Died achieving nothing. 

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NA account (Mon/Tue)
Uneventful grind last night. Did the usual coal crate loot grind. Spent Free XP to research all the mods (possible) for all the ships. Then spent coal to buy the Battle of Jutland crates. Got some Free XP back. Guaranteed drop of a premium (either Dreadnought or Agincourt is 1 in 1000 for ordinary crates, 1 in 12 for premium crates which cost doubloons). 

SEA account (Tue)
Likewise today. Buggered from doing yard maintenance first up so mind wasn't really into playing too long. Did the five ship grind for Holiday Convoy tokens, then logged out. 

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Star Play

New game in development that I happened across last night while watching YT. Immediately subscribed.

As soon I wrote this, I recall an earlier time when I raved about another space game that I harped on in one of my earlier blogs. But nothing came of that time. Here's hoping this doesn't end the same way. But attention span being what it is with me, who's to say? I will try and follow through on this one however because it looks really interesting. 

I was immediately attracted to the sales pitch that it's a space exploration game, with the emphasis on SPACE EXPLORATION. I cannot overstate how disappointed I've been whenever I find space exploration games that never quite follow through on that claim because quite often the focus or theme has been usually something other than purely space exploration. 

Sure, you run into varying stages of alien civilisations, and thus enjoy the consequences of those encounters. Maybe improve your own quality of space life through mastering levels of technologies, and so on. Mine planets for resources. Destroy civilisations. Create and build settlements on unsettled virgin worlds. 

But that's not the kind of space exploration that really excites me; I like being aboard a ship, on my own, exploring space and seeing what's out there. 

Being resourceful is a given (after all you're an astronaut trained) so managing and sustaining yourself aboard a vessel is not a problem. And encountering, and overcoming, problems arising from your space exploration is also a given. But it's about the exploring part that really gets me excited. Venturing beyond the horizon somehow excites me more than pew-pew or expanding a processing line on a new world. That sort of thing might appeal to others - the Johnny-come-latelies - but it's not me. 

Sort of like ancestral sailing into the Pacific from Asia on flimsy-looking but seaworthy craft in search of new lands to settle. Or leaving Hawaii and travelling to New Zealand. Or like the Voyagers spacecraft travelling beyond the bounds of our Solar system. What do they see? What are they learning? Not, what bloody civilisation are we running into now, and how can we exploit or kill them scenarios. 

It's by a lead developer who has worked on the popular Valheim game (which I have played and is in my Steam library). He's venturing solo on this new game. 

The game scratches that itch, that aimless chilled-out itch that can only be scratched by taking a look-see. Like the original Star Trek tv series: to boldly go where no idiot has gone before! And having a blast doing so. 

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Astartes II teaser trailer dropped a couple of days back. Teaser is the word as it was way too short. Wondering if Syama Pedersen is still involved with the project even if his hand is seen in the production just from the trailer teaser. Don't know why I thought this. Yet the idea popped into my head as I watched. And now it persists.   

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