Gdansk - Opinion

[HogHammer]

What are your thoughts on the Gdansk?  I have thought about adding the ship to my port.  I already have the Smaland and Halland, by the way, and I love playing them and do quite well.  Would it be worth it?  How is the play style compared to the two ships I mentioned?

[BOBTHEBALL]

Gdansk gunpower is quite good, especially because of the gun arcs. However she's limited heavily by no AP which if you know how to play the game will increase your damage output by an amazing amount. Also because of her quick 10s radar which only allows for a quick short burst of salvos at the enemy DD. However she does get an amazing 1 minute cooldown timer.

Basic TLDR because I don't like writing essays is yes she's good, she isn't the best imo but it is different to Smaland and Halland.

Gdansk is quite similar to French destroyers, but instead of saturation, they have smoke and a spotting radar as well as consistently strong DPM (like Kleber with perma MBRB), but no AP

Halland is a torpboat, a mid one at that so not really comparably.

Compared to Smaland she accels at all ranges and at farming, she lacks in sustain compared to her and also lacks radar duration.

[HogHammer]

Well, I guess another gal gets added to the port.  Thanks!

[BOBTHEBALL]

Enjoy the grind! And ask away.

[RX160S_Byarlant_Custom]

Gdansk is a gunboat not dissimilar to the French line, albeit with a few differences that make her rather distinct. They both have rather large HP pools, great ballistics even at long range, high speed and concealment. The differences, however, define Gdansk from her other gunboat peers.

Firstly, the inclusion of radar. This allows for the spotting of destroyers, and thus forcing the engagement, though this is slightly different from that of Smaland. It is longer-ranged, but only lasts 10 seconds stock (iirc), which means you're putting at most one or two salvos into the radared target. It still gives you useful vision control, but it's not as terrifying as Smaland's radar. Combined with her speed though, this means you can accurately hunt down the enemy destroyer well regardless, as you can radar again in a relatively short amount of time to point you in the right direction, or even simply to force the enemy DD away (note that allies may see targets you radar for less than 5 seconds though). 

Secondly, Gdansk gets smoke, in exchange for not having any other gimmicks that increase her survivability, such as heal (Soviets) and French saturation. Combined with her large size, this will be important in keeping her alive, since you will likely take irrecoverable and full damage for every hit. It can also be used as a farming tool, which adds into the third point. 

Thirdly, she has great HE DPM - much like a French destroyer with permanent MBRB, allowing you to put out respectable damage and fire setting at all ranges. This is limited by the lack of AP, so one must be more careful when fighting against certain ships, as you do not have the option to, say, burst them down like Kleber can against a CL like Minotaur. 

Also, she has high speed, but the engine boost is slightly different from the standard ones, having a shorter duration and cooldown for an additional charge. 

Halland can be played as a gunboat (especially with UU), but Gdansk performs in this role much better, as she is not hamstrung by ballistics, relatively lackluster agility and HP. Additionally, smoke gives you opportunities to use guns where Halland simply cannot. Halland's main role is more of a torpedoboat given her fast-reloading narrow-spread torpedoes, which Gdansk cannot compete with - her torpedoes are serviceable but by no means the main source of her damage. Halland also has a heal, which allows you to last till late-game if played right. 

Gdansk is more in line with Smaland, but again there are major differences. Smaland excels at forcing engagements at close range with her radar and speed boost, which also temporarily gives her French destroyer acceleration. Her 7.5km radar lasts longer and her concealment is much lower, which allows her to ambush at a much closer range than Gdansk can. This is important as Smaland, like Halland, favours closer ranged engagements owing to ballistics fall off at around past 8.5km. The presence of a heal also allows Smaland some staying power, and makes her absolutely nightmarish to outtrade, as she is able to control the engagement AND outdamage enemy DDs, as well as potentially heal up for more HP. Gdansk is inferior to Smaland in terms of this set-up ability (note that she is still good at doing this, it's just that Smaland is really strong), but in turn her greater effective range allows her to be much more capable at farming or damaging targets at long range. 

So Gdansk can be somewhat be seen as the evil child of Mogador and Smaland with smoke instead of heal/radar, a smidge of obesity (she is much larger) and slightly different parameters on her radar, as well as a lack of AP, among other qualities. Definitely a great and fun gunboat in my opinion. 

[GMMF]

Bad turret angles and large hull without French saturation makes her melt very fast when fighting other gunboats in close range, so need to find that sweet spot where you can light them up with radar and win gun fights using the better shell arcs.

[BOBTHEBALL]

15 hours ago, GMMF said:

Bad turret angles and large hull without French saturation makes her melt very fast when fighting other gunboats in close range, so need to find that sweet spot where you can light them up with radar and win gun fights using the better shell arcs.

That is also very true.