Which Black Friday ship to get

[That WoT Player]

I’m in a weird situation: I actually have some gold dubs to spend. Been playing the test servers for rewards and just got a super container with 1000 more dubs, and I’ve noticed that the Black Friday event is still on going. 
 

Which ship should I get? I have 8,350 doubloons (which is just 200 short of Chkalov, who I actually want), and am looking for a mid tier captain trainer. I already have enough German, US, and IJN premiums, and want some advice on which of the others would be a good choice. 
 

Any suggestions? Thanks 

[Col_NASTY]

Unless you just want them for the looks save your Dubs for mega santa crates.

They are not perfect either but you can get better ships.

IF you have all the regular ships then the BF ships are cool ( i have them all ) but for a different reason. You get an easy to finish mission for 2500 Dubs if you already have the same NON black version.

[HogHammer]

19 minutes ago, Col_NASTY said:

Unless you just want them for the looks save your Dubs for mega santa crates.

^^This^^  Over the years of playing WoWs, one thing I learned is to use in-game currency or open my wallet only during Christmas.  The risk/reward is far better.  I've landed some really nice ships in these crates and have no complaints whatsoever.  

[Wolfswetpaws]

42 minutes ago, That WoT Player said:

I’m in a weird situation: I actually have some gold dubs to spend. Been playing the test servers for rewards and just got a super container with 1000 more dubs, and I’ve noticed that the Black Friday event is still on going. 
 

Which ship should I get? I have 8,350 doubloons (which is just 200 short of Chkalov, who I actually want), and am looking for a mid tier captain trainer. I already have enough German, US, and IJN premiums, and want some advice on which of the others would be a good choice. 
 

Any suggestions? Thanks 

Last night, I welcomed the Brandenburg-B to my Port, for 8,900 doubloons, via the Armory's Black Friday event section.
Granted, that's more doubloons than you've budgeted.

Then I had a lot of fun sailing the Brandenburg-B in Scenario Operations as a member of a division hosted by @Volron.  🙂 
I'd done my research by reading the WOWs wiki page and @LittleWhiteMouse's review (now available here on DevStrike).
After 5 battles, I have to say that LittleWhiteMouse was correct, the Brandenburg and Brandenburg-B derive a lot of their damage from a full-secondary build and by getting close enough to use their 10.9 km range. 
It's not that the main-guns are total slouches, but yeah, they're 305mm instead of 380mm. 
So a clear understanding of what they can do and can't be expected to do is beneficial.  🙂 

Also I plan to eventually add Fire Prevention to the Captain's repertoire. 
Currently Commander Catherine Ironfist is a good fit for the ship, but she only has 10 skill points and will require more experience to get gud.  🙂 

The Mainz-B, Loyang-B, Lazo-B, Saipan-B, Kaga-B, Cossack-B, Atago-B and Atlanta-B are within your budget, though.
So what sort of ship are you looking for?  The Kaga-B and the Saipan-B are the closest to the Chkalov you actually want.  
Is there an obstacle preventing the additional 200 doubloons from being deposited into your budget?
As a mid-tier trainer, I suggest the Loyang-B.  She's a clone of the Benson and is a decent & versatile ship in her own right.

[Tricericon]

1 hour ago, That WoT Player said:

I’m in a weird situation: I actually have some gold dubs to spend. Been playing the test servers for rewards and just got a super container with 1000 more dubs, and I’ve noticed that the Black Friday event is still on going. 
 

Which ship should I get? I have 8,350 doubloons (which is just 200 short of Chkalov, who I actually want), and am looking for a mid tier captain trainer. I already have enough German, US, and IJN premiums, and want some advice on which of the others would be a good choice. 
 

Any suggestions? Thanks 

You can probably scrape the 200 doubloons up through ranked or PTS without too much trouble and get the ship you want.

[That WoT Player]

1 hour ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

The Mainz-B, Loyang-B, Lazo-B, Saipan-B, Kaga-B, Cossack-B, Atago-B and Atlanta-B are within your budget, though.
So what sort of ship are you looking for?  The Kaga-B and the Saipan-B are the closest to the Chkalov you actually want.  
Is there an obstacle preventing the additional 200 doubloons from being deposited into your budget?
As a mid-tier trainer, I suggest the Loyang-B.  She's a clone of the Benson and is a decent & versatile ship in her own right.

 

I already have enough mid-tier IJN and USN ships, though I do want Kaga for the OP memes. I only have Lazo to train captains (i have Moskva, Kirov, Mikoyan, and Oktober revolution but i can't take those to Ops). I looked at loyang, but DD play is too volatile for my tastes right now. 

 

36 minutes ago, Tricericon said:

You can probably scrape the 200 doubloons up through ranked or PTS without too much trouble and get the ship you want.

 

PTS is over (and i got all the dubs this time around, anyway), and i have no desire to play PvP modes; I often find my team mates to be lacking in certain areas. 

 

1 hour ago, HogHammer said:

^^This^^  Over the years of playing WoWs, one thing I learned is to use in-game currency or open my wallet only during Christmas.  The risk/reward is far better.  I've landed some really nice ships in these crates and have no complaints whatsoever.  

 

With how they treated the anniversary rewards, it might not be as fruitful this year... 

[Itwastuesday]

I'm hesitant to recommend gambling, but the container droprates are decent and I got Jean Bart (great!) and Kearsarge (blehh) myself out of a set of 2 I just bought with money. Then again you might get Saipan Black or smth, or nothing at all. I guess what I'm saying is that if you can accept throwing the dubs away, these containers aren't bad.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

24 minutes ago, That WoT Player said:

With how they treated the anniversary rewards, it might not be as fruitful this year... 

Christmas has stayed more or less unchanged in that respect: https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/490 

25 minutes ago, That WoT Player said:

i have no desire to play PvP modes; I often find my team mates to be lacking in certain areas.

I know how you feel. That being said, when the opportunity to grab the Ragnar's owl camo for steel instead of having to brutalize my brain ranking out so many times came up, I was able to find the last bit of steel in Ranked wins. It sucked, but because the losses didn't count against me for steel farming I could bear it, and it got me what I wanted.

That's the question you need to ask yourself: "How badly do I want this thing?"

Kaga is hilariously good for co-op. I bought the Kaga Black when it came in a few years ago with absolutely no regrets.

Chkalov seems like it has a higher skill floor as well as ceiling, and I know I do very badly in Russian CVs. Saipan is something best left alone. Mine was a lucky crate drop, but I wouldn't have bought it and I wouldn't advise that anyone else do so either unless they are already a CV unicum and understand fully what they're getting into. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

3 hours ago, That WoT Player said:

I already have enough mid-tier IJN and USN ships, though I do want Kaga for the OP memes. I only have Lazo to train captains (i have Moskva, Kirov, Mikoyan, and Oktober revolution but i can't take those to Ops). I looked at loyang, but DD play is too volatile for my tastes right now. 

As you wish.  Good luck with whatever you decide.  🙂 

Edited to add: 
I have both the Kaga and the Kaga-B.  There's a slight variation in which skills I chose for their Captains.  Otherwise, I enjoy both.  🙂 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Wolfswetpaws

[That WoT Player]

Post cancelled. I got 250 dubs from the Xbox crate, and picked up Chkalov.