i.e., while playing/grinding/unlocking ships etc. (that is, without paying resources or cheesing it with a filled out reserve & resetting a tech-tree line for the Research Bureau), what is/are the trigger(s) which cause(s) your commander reserve to go (+1)?

Like, the wiki (yes, yes, I know, it's outdated as all hell where added ships go, but it should still be fine as far as such long-standing information goes) only describes what the Reserve is and what happens when it's full, but not how to expand it 'normally'.

I’ve just returned to the game after a long break — apart from a few weeks around August 2023, I basically stopped around October 2020. I was unsure what to expect but I’m enjoying myself.

Back in the day I enjoyed the US CLs — had a blast with Dallas, muddled through Helena, and surprised myself at getting on alright with Cleveland despite not being a confident player at high tiers.

Back than, IFHE was mandatory on all CLs from (IIRC) T6 upwards. I understand there have been changes and now it is less mandatory. I’m honestly a bit confused about where to put my captain skill points with these ships now!

Getting 31mm pen on Dallas and Helena seems worthwhile to me, as I can now farm HE alpha damage on T7 BBs and some T8 (and T9 for Helena) cruisers that I couldn’t before. I know the loss of fire chance hurts though.

Cleveland… Getting over the 32mm threshold seem worth it?? I don’t know, though, maybe it’s not if I can harm same-tier cruisers with my alpha damage. I’m also about to unlock Mogami and advice what best to do with the 155s would also be useful.

I would follow the recommended skills but not sure I trust WG on this!!

So, what’s the conventional wisdom on IFHE these days? I’ve done some googling but struggled to find stuff that’s I’m confident is up to date.

Why can’t I find the commander that I was supposed to receive in the commander barracks, and why is he also not available on any of my ships?

I’m certain that I haven’t deleted any captains. Why does it show as claimed, yet it hasn’t actually been credited to my account?

Has anyone else encountered the same issue as I have? Or is it possible that I failed to meet or trigger certain requirements?

Is there anyone knowledgeable who could help me out? Although I’ve already contacted WG support.

I've recently made two pretty big mistakes, and am looking to plan ahead a little better. I leveled up a seasoned commander (Farragut) to level 21, then another (Suzuki) to lvl 20 plus enough XP for 21, but they are both trained on t6 ships I wasn't focusing on, and now need 200k+ EXCP each to train for their forever homes. Woe is me. I think Suzuki will wait until I have Kitakaze, and Farragut will wait for the Montana.

Now I'm about ready to start on a 3rd lvl 21 commander, and am days away from saving up for Lütjens. I have Hindenburg, might someday grind Schlieffen, and am at Scheer on the P. Adalbert line. Should I get Lütjens and stick him on the Hindy forever, or put off getting him until I have Schlieffen or Prinz Adalbert? Have Pommern and Scharnhorst '43 hence the desire for the new commander.

I could just get an Azuma with the coal, as something better for Suzuki to drive than an Ise, then save up for Lütjens while I grind up Schlieffen, or is Adalbert a better meta choice?

TLDR: Lütjens on Schlieffen, Hindenburg, or Prinz Adalbert in todays meta?

Background

My profile isn't private and you can look at the stats if you want, but TLDR, I have around 1200 battles in randoms and 200 in Co-Ops. I use Co-Ops to quickly grind missions/tasks/community tokens as well as learning ship specific aiming sometimes, and I otherwise do randoms. I have 22 ships right now ranging from Tier I to Tier VII, with my ships/gameplay centering around Tier V at the moment (that's where most of my Battleship grinds are right now). Tier Vs include Furutaka, Kongo, Nicholas, Pyotr Velikiy, Derfflinger, Iron Duke, Tiger Emile Bertin, and the utterly fantastic Kalmar (only premium ship thus far). I also enjoy Tier IV Moltke, and Tier III Nassau, and am building into secondaries with those. 

For Tier VI, I have Fubuki, Pensacola, New Mexico, Nurnberg, and Guepard. For Tier VII, I have Minsk. Almost all of these are somewhat difficult for me in randoms, but I like Pensacola and Guepard a good deal thus far. New Mexico is a bit of a slog and TBH I need to learn more about positioning (always open to advice/tutoring). I'm working on grinding coal and community tokens mainly, with tech line interests in everything American, German BCs, British BBs/BCs, everything French I guess, and Russian BBs. Main interest is BBs but having lots of fun in Kalmar. 

I read a lot online and watch a lot of WOWS content, and I played tanks for a long while with decent stats (glory days with that were 2014-2017), so I understand the concepts behind premium vehicles and earnings, and the idea you shouldn't just buy a Tier VIII premium without having ground there in the game. I'm not looking to open my wallet just yet and while there's probably two dozen premium ships I want (mostly BBs), I don't want any so badly I need to buy them without grinding first or without hearing others out. 

Coal ships are where things seem to differ from tanks. I have about 123K coal right now and a coal coupon. I was going to save for Pommern since I like the secondaries BB idea and heard it was supposed to be one of the best credit grinders in the game, but I've heard substantially more... mixed reviews recently... 

Now I'm not sure which Tier IX coal ship to get... or if that should even be my first coal purchase. I'm also intrigued by Scharnhorst '43 and maybe the October Revolution... So now for the questions. 

1. How much of an earnings differential is there between premium ships of increasing tiers? Is there a site where I can find average credit statistics by ship?

2. People keep saying there's no reason to buy lower tier premiums for credits. Is this true? In tanks, it didn't make sense to get a Tier IV or lower premium for credits, Tier V were decent and worth getting if new or you liked it, Tier VI-VII were very nice, and Tier VIII were the premier credit grinders. While Tier VIII were the best in output, I rarely saw the arguments that Tier VIIs weren't worth it. Is the ships economy just that inherently different, or is the tier bias just much stronger in WOWS versus WOT?

3. I keep hearing premium time is often half off twice a year. Is this just for WOWS or is this for Wargaming Premium? 

4. Is Pommern still worth it for my interests? Obviously I have a while before I should pull out a Tier IX coal ship in randoms, but would it still be worth getting it to guard against removal or use in PVE, or does it just not hold up? 

5. What are good lower tier premium BBs and DDs, if they are even worth it? 

6. Battle of Jutland containers (coal) - will they give you the permanent camo if you don't have the ship? Probably waiting a while on this one, want Konig Albert and Agincourt, don't want to throw away coal but if nothing ends up appealing coal-wise (or I get good enough ships via dockyard/community tokens/Taihang) I'd consider going for these. But I don't want to be stupid about it. I also don't want to gamble with IRL money. 

Any and all advice appreciated, more than happy to elaborate on anything if needed. 

1) I have 24,1500 STEEL + a coupon.

2) I already have the following 5 STEEL ships, BB Bougogne, CL Austin, CA Stalingrad, CA Plymouth & CL Vallejo.

3) Which of the following would you suggest?  pros & cons.

I''ll try to drop in from time to time with wiki links and generally uninformed advice.