Opinion needed - Which ship and why?

[Lord_Slayer]

Of the ships shown below, which would you get and why?

[ArIskandir]

Any of the DDs, Ragnar or Z-42. Why?  

Because high tier BB play is very boring, and High tier CL play is very frustrating. DDs keep the most agency, and have the most dynamic and fun playstyle. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

31 minutes ago, Lord_Slayer said:

Of the ships shown below, which would you get and why?

X Ruggiero di Lauria or X Mecklenburg 

The former is faster and has bigger guns and a supposedly interesting torpedo defense system.
The latter is reasonably fast (for a battleship) and offers torpedoes for brawling, especially attractive in the feeding-frenzy environment of Co-op mode.

Edited July 27, 2024 by Wolfswetpaws

[HogHammer]

Just my two-cents...

Vallejo is a hard pass for me.  The reason, I find it hard to spend steel at T9 (steel just feels to me like it currently is a little harder to obtain - of your available ships pictured, there are better places to spend steel).

The other ship I would exclude is the Komissar. Personally, I just cannot justify it. To me, it feels like, "Hey guys, we need another steel ship—let's throw something together quick." I'm not impressed.

What is left really depends on the classes you like to play.

In the past week, I picked up the Ragnar and Plymouth.  Being a fan of the Minotaur, I have to say I really enjoy playing Plymouth and wish I would have picked her up long ago.  The Ragnar, I've heard mixed messages, but I like DDs, and I have to say this ship can punish other DDs and does more than respectable against cruisers.  No torps, but I don't really find that an issue, at least for me.

I love playing DDs. I would have picked up the Z-42. In testing, it was awesome, but it was nerfed big time prior to release. At some point, I will probably pick it up, but for me, the current tech tree Z-52 makes me more than happy.

I really like the Mecklenburg—it's German through and through. In randoms, I do find it hit or miss, depending on MM. But for other modes, especially in the new Mode Shuffle, I absolutely enjoy the heck out of this ship.

The R. Lauria is another ship I will probably pick up in the future.  I know people like it, but overall, I'm not a big fan of Italian BBs.  And, already having the C. Colombo in port with its recent buffs, the R. Lauria was placed on my future "wish list."

[MidnightPhoenix07]

Lauria, Z-42, Mecklenberg would be my three picks.

 

Lauria is pretty much everything you wished the tech tree battleships were. She’s fast, stealthy, with very accurate guns (and a normal reload). She can be a bit squishy with her low health and odd citadel shape, although she’s surprisingly durable when angled, and she has the typically bad Italian AA and lower range for a t10 battleship. But her guns behave a lot like Thunderer (same dispersion, almost the same sigma and similar ballistics), and both her shell types overmatch 30mm (have fun cruisers). Lauria is a bit more of a flanker than Thunderer, and rewards good positioning to abuse anything that’s broadside (or even angled, because of the great pen angles SAP has). In theory she will struggle against destroyers since both her shell types are capped at 10% and her secondaries have terrible reload. But in practice they’re not going to like getting hit even with the damage cap.

Arguably Ragnar is the stronger selection especially for comp modes, but personally I think it’s boring and very one dimensional. Z-42 is sort of like a German Daring and a bit of a Z-52 sidegrade, with the British short smokes but German hydro. It’s a great anti-destroyer cap contester with decent guns and torps to deal with anything larger. I love my Z-42, and Ragnar’s one of the few ships in my fleet I come closest to regretting buying. 

Mecklenburg is the German battleship for German cruiser players, or battleship players that want a longer range play style. It has the secondaries, torps, and German armor scheme to brawl when it needs to, but it doesn’t have as much health as GK/Preussen and its main battery firing angles are painfully bad. But in exchange it has great long range accuracy and reliable damage and performance from both HE and AP.

 

Komissar is about what you’d expect from a Russian heavy cruiser with Nakhimov rockets. Accurate high velocity main guns, very vulnerable citadel, and planes for spotting and poking cruisers and battleships. I’m not as big a fan of it (especially since I already have Moskva, Stalingrad, and Petro), and I’d hold off on it until we know how the CV rework 2.0 ends up affecting hybrids. 

I’ve heard some great things about Plymouth, and it’s probably going to be my next purchase in December. From what I’ve heard, it’s roughly a bigger Edinburgh two tiers higher, with the ability to use smoke and radar at the same time. I’ve seen it recommended a lot for comp (particularly ranked) if you do really well with UK light cruisers. 

Vallejo is a downtiered Worcester preliminary with slightly improved ballistics and Lazo’s spotter gimmick. Good AA cruiser and a reliable damage farmer like other high tier US light cruisers, but that’s about all it does. If it were coal I’d probably get it, but with how limited steel is, being a t9 hurts it here for a similar reason that Black/Neustrashimy/Flint were less popular picks. 

Edited July 28, 2024 by MidnightPhoenix07

[Guest]

i got lauria from the made of steel event  ( based of if italy got a german BB ) Vallejo i thought of it as a different seattle  and the Z-42 just because i have every other german DD ( including the premiums ) plymouth was my first steel ship and regretted not getting stalingrad instead  ( got it a yr later ) 

as for mecklenburgh not for me as theres enough german BBs in the game , ragnar  not for me, not a great DD player so i wouldnt get  the use of it  and the new Komissar an other hybrid gimick   for those who know how to play it well . ( maybe in the future or in a santa container i might end up with here ) 

[Aethervox]

These are all way over my price range (budget) 😐.

[Admiral_Karasu]

15 minutes ago, Aethervox said:

These are all way over my price range (budget) 😐.

I don't have any of these ships either. So.... I'd say none of them, and the reason is that then I don't have to feel jealous. 🤭

[Aragathor]

By class I'd go with Mecklenburg, Plymouth, and Ragnar.

I can say that neither Vallejo nor Kommisar are worth it.

[iDuckman]

Zath went through this.  I only remember a couple, that he liked the DDs and hated Plymouth.  I don't think he had a high opinion of Lauria or Vallejo, either.  You might search his YT backlog.  It was a couple months ago.

 

[S7CentNickel]

I got the Lauria last month, she's pretty good & fun to play.  The others I considered were the Mecklenburg & Ragnar, but went with Lauria so I had a home for Sansonetti.

[iDuckman]

I know he talked about Lauria.  It might have been that he hadn't played her enough to have an opinion.

In any case, I'm glad she's working for you.

 

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

Ragnar or Mecklenburg.

[Tpaktop2_1 NA]

If the ship is not giving great performance in a match, look for the one where you will get the most out of WoWS anniversaries. So a tier X ship would be the pick. Which tier X I cannot say. I have none of these ships. Sorry for not pointing you to the specific ship OP.

[mashed68]

I just went threw this and went with Mecklenburg. 16 very accurate [for a BB] guns on a German hull with torps and secondaries. Heck yeah. Its really fun, although I didn't realize just how bad the turret angles are. For once I seem to do better in randoms then brawling modes with a German ship. 

It was that or Lauria, which will be my next pick. I have zero plans to ever get any of the other ships you listed. 

[Wulf_Ace]

6 hours ago, Lord_Slayer said:

Of the ships shown below, which would you get and why?

Mecklenburg, fun, strong

[Navalpride33]

None, reason given... Its high tier and whatever capabilities you get today from those ships... Will disappear when WG releases more ships in less then 6 patches from now.

With that said and you still want a high tier ship...

I recommend the ship that will give you fun for the long term. Pick it and ride it till the wheels come off..

If you're just adding to your ship collection.. Any ship will do.

GL

[tocqueville8]

R. di Lauria is stealthy, tanky (150 mm deck, low profile...) fast and hits consistently with SAP.

Komissar has great guns, good planes and a good heal. If you don't screw up showing broadside, you'll have good games. Forget Moskva and such: she plays more like a Yoshino.

Plymouth is fun...at times. In other games she just doesn't work, especially if she needs to kite or if she is pushed away by torpedoboats while the larger targets stay outside of her reach. Ragnar is strong, but kind of boring. The others I don't have.

[Nevermore135]

6 hours ago, HogHammer said:

Vallejo is a hard pass for me.  The reason, I find it hard to spend steel at T9 (steel just feels to me like it currently is a little harder to obtain - of your available ships pictured, there are better places to spend steel).

The decision to put her up for steel always seemed strange after WG turned Flint, Neustrashimy, and Black into coal ships. The reason given for doing so was that they determined players were unwilling to spend steel on ships below tier X.

[Unlooky]

7 hours ago, Lord_Slayer said:

Of the ships shown below, which would you get and why?

Easily Lauria, its baffling that ship made it past testing in the state it is.

[MBT808]

7 hours ago, MidnightPhoenix07 said:

improved AP pen angles

Your thinking of ZF-6, Z-42 does not benefit from improved pen angles.

[MidnightPhoenix07]

1 hour ago, MBT808 said:

Your thinking of ZF-6, Z-42 does not benefit from improved pen angles.

Hmm. I could have sworn it had the same AP angles as Daring. Updated in my post. 

[BOBTHEBALL]

10 hours ago, Lord_Slayer said:

Of the ships shown below, which would you get and why?

In order of best to worst

Lauria > Ragnar > Mecklenburg > Z-42 > Komissar > > Vallejo > Plymouth

The order that I'd get the ships in would be

Lauria > Mecklenburg > Komissar > Z-42 

I wouldn't get the other ones

[Itwastuesday]

Plymouth is the only steel ship I actually enjoy. Can smash triangles but also has the meta cruiser ability to sit in smoke. I suppose I'll get Lauria or Meck next to sit in port. 

[xamdam]

None of the above. 

Signed,
Operations Main

P.S. I know nobody from WeeGee listens, or cares but... T8 Coal Ships? Just throwing that out there...