Current meta question from an OLD player

[Stielhandgranate 127]

Greetings. I've been playing this game since Alpha, but I took a break the last couple of years. I had been playing a lot of navy back in the "good old days" when the K2 got a shore spawn and could wreck everything and before battleships and even heavy cruisers. 

I've come back the last month and want to make sure I'm understanding the current meta. I've always preferred ships with low caliber fast firing guns. SAP didn't exist when I played, so it was only AP or HE. I'm currently playing mostly 4.0-5.7 ships, and I'm finding (might be my bias) that large guns are no more effective (and maybe less so) than small ones. I'm consistently doing more damage and getting more kills with 120mm-155mm guns than anything I try to play with 200mm+ ones. I'm also seeing that HE seems to ammo rack ships with thick armor. Is this new? Is HE better than SAP or AP now for killing ships for some reason? 

The number of times I've taken an SKR or Mitscher out and just wrecked things is pretty amazing. They both have tiny guns in comparison but a high rate of accurate fire, and I'm killing things I don't think I have any business killing. 

What are the current ships/shells to be using and why? Thanks in advance. 

Edited March 6 by Stielhandgranate

[dragloon 111]

naval has not really progressed since the beta

 

every good add has been balanced by not good

 

it still needs some good coders and testers to be assigned to it

 

[Morvran_ 621]

yeah, they've done something wierd and very bad with the damage models. essentially, size of the shell doesnt necessarily matter, its the more shells you fire the better. Whilst vs some targets, some well placed SAPs can be devastating, more often than not, HE is just the way to go, kill the crew and disable modules instead of "sinking" the target ship. For example, in my HMS Hood, vs lighter targets like Destroyers and Cruisers, the Lack of a HE option, means i overpen and do no damage with SAP shells, but against larger targets, that I dont overpen, I  dont necessarily do much damage either unless I land a perfect hit on something critical. HE Spam is just brutal and vs light to medium targets, its enough AP to punch through hull and hit ammo stores and sometimes even on heavier ships. (Case in point, I once managed to 1 shot an italian BB with my 5inch guns from HMS Dido, I still have no idea how it happened, but I was spamming HE shells onto it as I spawned behind it in an EC game, just aiming to start some fires and be a nuisance whilst allied BBs dealt with him, and then BOOM, we were all very confused)

Then you have the bot problem.... If you notice a lot of Moffets, Helenas or the Kerch. They are player bots. They spawn in, switch to let the in game AI do all the firing and then usually just ram the first island they encounter, gaijin appears to have no interest in fixing the problem. So anything good vs those bots at your desired BR will usually net you the most reward. If I need SL, I take the HMS Belfast out and just 1 shot the Moffets with a broadside of SAP rounds, but larger targets like Helenas, Im probably best taking HE rounds, though the SAP rounds on british cruisers are actually quite good. So learning the weak points on those ships helps a lot in NRB games. 

Edited March 7 by Morvran_

[Stielhandgranate 127]

Thanks. I thought something felt "off," but I wasn't sure if it was just me. Apparently it isn't. I'll continue to just play the lower caliber fast firing ships until they get this fixed. 

[kkang2828 1,416]

On 07/03/2023 at 04:40, Stielhandgranate said:

I've come back the last month and want to make sure I'm understanding the current meta. I've always preferred ships with low caliber fast firing guns. SAP didn't exist when I played, so it was only AP or HE. I'm currently playing mostly 4.0-5.7 ships, and I'm finding (might be my bias) that large guns are no more effective (and maybe less so) than small ones. I'm consistently doing more damage and getting more kills with 120mm-155mm guns than anything I try to play with 200mm+ ones.

 

That's correct, RoF is more important than caliber, although it still all comes down to personal preference.

 

On 07/03/2023 at 04:40, Stielhandgranate said:

Is HE better than SAP or AP now for killing ships for some reason? 

 

All shells have different and equally effective uses. There is no all-in-one shell that is the best against everything.

 

On 07/03/2023 at 04:40, Stielhandgranate said:

I'm also seeing that HE seems to ammo rack ships with thick armor. Is this new?

On 07/03/2023 at 11:01, Morvran_ said:

(Case in point, I once managed to 1 shot an italian BB with my 5inch guns from HMS Dido, I still have no idea how it happened, but I was spamming HE shells onto it as I spawned behind it in an EC game, just aiming to start some fires and be a nuisance whilst allied BBs dealt with him, and then BOOM, we were all very confused)

 

Infamous HE bug that appeared last summer. Thankfully we have confirmation that it's been mostly fixed in the newest major patch.

[Morvran_ 621]

9 hours ago, kkang2828 said:

Infamous HE bug that appeared last summer. Thankfully we have confirmation that it's been mostly fixed in the newest major patch.

I shall believe it when.... I don't see it?

Fingers crossed.... but.... you never know