My next research bureau ship?!

[Pirate_named_Sue]

I’m sitting on 45k points right now and can reset a line and collect with silver/free xp pretty much whenever I feel like it. I’m not in a rush though and can afford to build it slowly with battle pass earrings. 
 

The big question, I am between Illinois and Hector. It would be played in coop or special modes, potentially CB. I don’t play high tier randoms anymore unless by mistake, and I stay the eff away from the toxic horror show that is ranked. 
 

Thoughts and opinions? I have plenty of BBs and HE slingers alike already in my port. Just like having something shiny and chrome to mess around with that won’t be a complete bore in it’s likely only home of coop. 
 

Tanks!

[Latouche_Treville]

Hi!

I'm almost in the same situation. As far as i understand, Illinois will shine in coop if played like a cruiser.

No opinion on Hector.

EDIT:  More details here :

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Latouche_Treville

[MidnightPhoenix07]

Of those two, definitely Illinois. It’s a battleship that identifies as a really oversized Des Moines. Small HP pool for a battleship, and you don’t have the alpha strike of a battleship, but you’ve got amazing DPM and Des Moines/high tier US CA superheavy AP shells (with their improved pen angles). Easily the best choice now for any missions requiring hits in BBs, and one of the best for ribbons in general.

Hector on the other hand is kind of underwhelming imo and not really that unique. It’s more or less a Tier IX Commonwealth-flavored Dido. It has crawling smoke like the other Commonwealth ships, and good stealth and agility for the tier. Lots of torps (same torps as Neptune), with the typical British single/wide spread. Less squishy than the British CLs (although it can’t heal anywhere near the potential of the British cruisers), but still squishy for a cruiser, and pretty bad AA defenses. Except for the single-fire torps and crawling smoke, it’s pretty much the same as any other smoke/DD caliber light cruiser. 

[Capt_Kremenski]

I'd highly recommend Illinois too.

I'm a coop main and confirm it's great fun to play.

The main battery reload speed is just hilarious as you can see here - 

 

[AkiraKurai]

22 hours ago, Pirate_named_Sue said:

between Illinois and Hector

Both ships wont see much in CB if the current standar rules of 1 BB per side and some heavy restrictions on specific ships.

Illinois doesn't fulfill the traditional role of a BB in CB, which is to be a threat to anyone turning broadside at any time, however it does fulfill the role of being a DPM platform in the sense of replacing a Cruiser slot, potentially may see play if a 2BB rule was allowed and definitly 3BB assuming certain BBs where limited or restricted by numbers.

Hector is a joke, a funny one where you're basically a crawling smoke sejong with gimped turret angles (most of the time you'll find yourself being unable to use that 7th gun unless you're angled towards them at a 40~60 degree angle, so technically you have less DPM than a sejong) with standard torps that also have a faster reload, you also get citadelled more easily, at least you have a improved heal which recovers more cit damage.
Honestly think of Brisbane without the radar and superheal, also more fat so you eat pens for breakfast (similar handling characteristics though), that's about it.

[Latouche_Treville]

I hope to get Illinois ahead the 12.10 update, to test captains and modules on the PTS.  33 334 FXP remaining before reaching 676 290 FXP, to reset the Harugumo line, which will give me a X3 bonus, then one exhausting grind to catch the X2 bonus and at last get 51 000 RP (shine,gleam,glisten, guardian angels singing).

If it's not skill -definitly not- at last stubbornness will pay off!

[Pirate_named_Sue]

Sounds like it’s a near unanimous decision with Illinois taking the win. Thanks, that will be my next research ship!

[Latouche_Treville]

I got it!!!! And when you're lucky with the MM, she's a marvel!!!

Spoiler

 

Here is the replay :

Illinois_42_Neighbors.wowsreplay

And my choice of modules and skills (for co op only) :

Edited December 19, 2023 by Latouche_Treville

[Wulf_Ace]

cant say that I saw even one Hector in battle since it released

[DoW_]

5 hours ago, Latouche_Treville said:

I got it!!!! And when you're lucky with the MM, she's a marvel!!!

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Here is the replay :

Illinois_42_Neighbors.wowsreplay 1.84 MB · 0 downloads

And my choice of modules and skills (for co op only) :

Consider the dispersion module for slot 6.  Even for coop, hitting what aiming at > slightly higher dpm, in my experience with this ship and US BB’s in general at the high tiers. 

[Ensign Cthulhu]

I got the Hector and liked it, but she suffers from being - okay, power CREPT is a gross understatement; it's more like "pole-vaulted over by the world record holder" - by the Brisbane. 

If you like spamming small calibre HE from the safety of 1/4-speed smoke, Hector might be your thing - but I'll join with the others in saying that Illinois is probably overall the better ship, especially since she can take Halsey if you decide to wander into modes where his special talents activate. 

As Midnight Phoenix points out, WG has become fond of throwing in a mission from time to time that asks for large numbers (~1000) of BB primary armament hits, and Illinois is the best BB in the game for that. And while others have pointed out correctly that she doesn't have the killing alpha strike against BBs, this is a benefit when you're explicitly looking for the number of hits you can get and you want the target to live a bit longer.

[Wolfswetpaws]

On 11/2/2023 at 9:46 PM, Pirate_named_Sue said:

I’m sitting on 45k points right now and can reset a line and collect with silver/free xp pretty much whenever I feel like it. I’m not in a rush though and can afford to build it slowly with battle pass earrings. 
 

The big question, I am between Illinois and Hector. It would be played in coop or special modes, potentially CB. I don’t play high tier randoms anymore unless by mistake, and I stay the eff away from the toxic horror show that is ranked. 
 

Thoughts and opinions? I have plenty of BBs and HE slingers alike already in my port. Just like having something shiny and chrome to mess around with that won’t be a complete bore in it’s likely only home of coop. 
 

Tanks!

I welcomed the Illonois as my first research bureau ship.

After seeing a Yuro youtube video about her, I became interested.
https://youtu.be/SzsgZTP6SEU?si=pB0DTDyK38f1OOso

I don't know enough about the Hector to form an opinion.

Good luck in your decision process @Pirate_named_Sue  🙂 

[UnderTheRadarAgain]

Hector is more like a budget Colbert. Except everyone on board speaks English. The smoke and torps are nice to have in co-op.

You would need to have the skills of the gods to play her in randoms - much like Colbert actually.

[YouSatInGum]

On 11/2/2023 at 8:55 PM, Latouche_Treville said:

No opinion on Hector.

 

 

Don't worry....  I'll give enough opinion for both of us.

 

Hector is probably the worst reward ship in the game.

Think of a combination of Sejong and Neptune but takes the worst of both.

Just as vulnerable as Neptune but no super heal.  Even worse is the DD caliber ballistics forces you closer so even more likely to spotted and blapped.

On top of that, the one possible saving grace could have been hydro crawling smoke hydro trap high risk play, but then WG nerfed the hydro to be like Daring's short range so even that's not possible.

I love ultralight cruisers, as Atlanta is my favorite ship in the game, but Hector is just awful.

[Wolfswetpaws]

17 minutes ago, UnderTheRadarAgain said:

Hector is more like a budget Colbert. Except everyone on board speaks English. The smoke and torps are nice to have in co-op.

You would need to have the skills of the gods to play her in randoms - much like Colbert actually.

For some reason, that phrase reminded me of a book title ....
  
 

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

On 11/3/2023 at 2:46 AM, Pirate_named_Sue said:

I’m sitting on 45k points right now and can reset a line and collect with silver/free xp pretty much whenever I feel like it. I’m not in a rush though and can afford to build it slowly with battle pass earrings. 
 

The big question, I am between Illinois and Hector. It would be played in coop or special modes, potentially CB. I don’t play high tier randoms anymore unless by mistake, and I stay the eff away from the toxic horror show that is ranked. 
 

Thoughts and opinions? I have plenty of BBs and HE slingers alike already in my port. Just like having something shiny and chrome to mess around with that won’t be a complete bore in it’s likely only home of coop. 
 

Tanks!

If those are youre only options and you only play CooP I would probably say Hector (even tho I never played it myself.... so pinch of salt).

If you instead played a lot of randoms I would say Illinois hands down. But in CooP I think Illinois would struggle to get a lot of damage in since its pretty much Des Moines on an Iowa Hull (I think).

Edited December 19, 2023 by OldSchoolGaming_Youtube

[Wolfswetpaws]

19 minutes ago, OldSchoolGaming_Youtube said:

If those are youre only options and you only play CooP I would probably say Hector (even tho I never played it myself.... so pinch of salt).

If you instead played a lot of randoms I would say Illinois hands down. But in CooP I think Illinois would struggle to get a lot of damage in since its pretty much Des Moines on an Iowa Hull (I think).

You're correct about the Iowa hull (with all the virtues, vices & quirks of that hull).
The higher rate of fire of the 8-inch guns is nice.  But the 8-inch guns can feel lack-luster, sometimes.
Well-armored targets or properly-angled targets can reveal the limitations of the projectiles, and the guns seemed to struggle a lot when I was playing my Illonois in the 2023 Halloween event mode.  I think "the filth" effect was helping the red-team ships.  Might just be me?

That said, she's still a fun ship, and as @Ensign Cthulhu pointed out, her rate-of-fire helps when doing main-gun-hits ribbons missions.

[Pirate_named_Sue]

2 hours ago, OldSchoolGaming_Youtube said:

If those are youre only options and you only play CooP I would probably say Hector (even tho I never played it myself.... so pinch of salt).

If you instead played a lot of randoms I would say Illinois hands down. But in CooP I think Illinois would struggle to get a lot of damage in since its pretty much Des Moines on an Iowa Hull (I think).

I went with Illinois! It’s been fantastic in asymmetrical. Standard coop will probably be a little less so, but I’m super happy with it for the current fun mode.

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

46 minutes ago, Pirate_named_Sue said:

I went with Illinois! It’s been fantastic in asymmetrical. Standard coop will probably be a little less so, but I’m super happy with it for the current fun mode.

I think Illinois is a great choice, but I lack the experience of playing CooP. But I usually have a blast with it in Randoms, very few cruisers understand that your "BB" has Des Moines reload so they think they can turn and show broadside.

[Latouche_Treville]

15 hours ago, DoW_ said:

Consider the dispersion module for slot 6.  Even for coop, hitting what aiming at > slightly higher dpm, in my experience with this ship and US BB’s in general at the high tiers. 

I swapped the 6th module to give a try. The reload is almost 2 seconds longer (with CQC skill). Effectively more hits at long distance. But at middle  and short range most of my potential kills are "stolen" by other players.

[BOBTHEBALL]

On 11/2/2023 at 9:46 PM, Pirate_named_Sue said:

I’m sitting on 45k points right now and can reset a line and collect with silver/free xp pretty much whenever I feel like it. I’m not in a rush though and can afford to build it slowly with battle pass earrings. 
 

The big question, I am between Illinois and Hector. It would be played in coop or special modes, potentially CB. I don’t play high tier randoms anymore unless by mistake, and I stay the eff away from the toxic horror show that is ranked. 
 

Thoughts and opinions? I have plenty of BBs and HE slingers alike already in my port. Just like having something shiny and chrome to mess around with that won’t be a complete bore in it’s likely only home of coop. 
 

Tanks!

Hector is horrid not worth it at all, get Illinois it's quite good and enjoyable to play.

[iDuckman]

On 11/2/2023 at 8:46 PM, Pirate_named_Sue said:

The big question, I am between Illinois and Hector.

Oy vey.  I wanted desperately to like Illinois for reasons.  Yet the games I played in her during testing were debacles.  She's a battleship with no weapon range, while still being spotted as a battleship.  Now, to be fair, during testing she likely attracted special attention.  But since she isn't a BB I tried to play her like a cruiser.  Deleted each time. The BB hull didn't help as one would expect.

Hector?  What's that?  I know nothing.  NOTHING.  [RIP John Banner]

Honestly, of those two I'd take Illinois and try to figure out how to play her.  Aren't there alternatives?

 

[Gnirf]

21 hours ago, Latouche_Treville said:

I got it!!!! And when you're lucky with the MM, she's a marvel!!!

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Here is the replay :

Illinois_42_Neighbors.wowsreplay 1.84 MB · 0 downloads

And my choice of modules and skills (for co op only) :

I am maybe in favour of fire prevention in coop or a skill like AR. Concealment is unnecessary, you fire all the time, maximum damage output is the way mostly,the number of coop games you go dark and play tactically as a BB is practically zero. You simply do not have the time.

I have CE often but I want to play all modes.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Gnirf

[Latouche_Treville]

I'll try this during the next PTS session.