Recommend me a BB

[Pan_De_Muerte]

Hello all, hoping to gain from your collective wisdom. I'm looking for a battleship recommendation, either tech tree or premium.

My current experience with BBs comes from a pair of Black Friday acquisitions, a Jean Bart I bought and an Alabama I won. I also have British BC experience up to Renown, and German BC experience up to Mackensen.

I guess I'm looking for something sturdier than Jean Bart. Her secondaries are fun (168 hits in my last battle), her AA seems decent (70+ planes downed in one battle) but she melts horribly fast and her guns are better at shooting around an enemy than at it.

I'm sure a lot of this is my lack of skill. I gave up on the BC lines because I seemed to always die first. I've had a few decent games in Alabama but it seems I never hit hard enough.

I feel like there are two potential answers, either a long distance sniper that hits monstrously hard, or a secondary-encrusted fortress. What would you recommend?

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

For decent armor and survivability...German main line and Italian battleships. They won't do as much damage, but you bring some serious survivability to the table.

American BBs (Montana line) have good heals, and are also quite survivable.

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, Pan_De_Muerte said:

Hello all, hoping to gain from your collective wisdom. I'm looking for a battleship recommendation, either tech tree or premium.

My current experience with BBs comes from a pair of Black Friday acquisitions, a Jean Bart I bought and an Alabama I won. I also have British BC experience up to Renown, and German BC experience up to Mackensen.

I guess I'm looking for something sturdier than Jean Bart. Her secondaries are fun (168 hits in my last battle), her AA seems decent (70+ planes downed in one battle) but she melts horribly fast and her guns are better at shooting around an enemy than at it.

I'm sure a lot of this is my lack of skill. I gave up on the BC lines because I seemed to always die first. I've had a few decent games in Alabama but it seems I never hit hard enough.

I feel like there are two potential answers, either a long distance sniper that hits monstrously hard, or a secondary-encrusted fortress. What would you recommend?

The Alsace is a slightly more "tanky" battleship, when compared with the Jean Bart.  Tier-9 French Tech-tree.

Both BB's can be set-up to go fast and cause mischief.  🙂 
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Long-distance sniping implies that you're not being detected.  🤔

The Yamato can do some long-range shooting, especially with the proper hull-modules and perhaps an upgrade to tighten her gun dispersion.
But, she's likely to be difficult to conceal.

Some other ships are like "shotguns" because they have many gun barrels, but not the best dispersion.

I'm not familiar with the Conqueror.  I do have the Thunderer, and I've been disappointed with her long-range dispersion.

Possibly someone else can offer some better suggestions?  
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The secondary-battery gun porcupine would probably be the Schlieffen.  🙂 

[Kynami]

Well, battleships in this game do come in a variety of specializations. The thing with ships that are heavy on effective secondaries is there is two major ways of using them. Either you are patient about when you actually push in or you look to push in a side fairly early after allies are in position to force enemy reactions. Either way you are attempting to disrupt what the enemy is doing and are very liable to eventually end up sunk. But going out in a blaze of glory and giving the rest of your team the chance to heavily capitalize on you being the focus for a while. Far too many players either never push (hello to the GK hiding in the back with the Yamato all game...) or push way too soon without support. I'd suggest trying both the coal ship Scharnhorst '43 and the tech tree T8 Bismarck to see if you actually enjoy secondary gunned ships.

And there is also the new line of Pan-Am battleships which are quite over-tuned once you get past the Ipiranga. Stupidly agile, obnoxiously long ranged secondaries once the funny button is up, and some improved heals.

The USN options for available durable and dependable battleships at tier ten really come down to Ohio, Montana, and Vermont. Unfortunately the grind to Vermont itself is painful, and the trip to the Montana gets better at the North Carolina. Ohio itself being behind a massive steel purchase. While there are some premium options that are available earlier I can't really in good faith suggest blindly buying them to get a feel for later offerings.

I would not suggest trying to play an always in the back sniper, because unfortunately that has below average game impact. Just because you have all that range doesn't mean you should be trying to use every kilometer of it for every shot. Even the Yamato does not do particularly well on shots further than 17km unless the opponent is making it easy on you by failing to attempt to angle or dodge. For every replay reel devastating strike against a paid actor there is usually a dozen whiffed shots at ranges past 22km against players actually paying attention. You want to be just in close enough to make it very hard to dodge while not being a free buffet for multiple HE spammers. Though you will probably need to be range of at least one HE kiter to actually do your job often enough. With that said, there are some good IJN premiums here. Mutsu at T6 is fairly similar to the tech tree T7 Nagato but has some fun gimmicks. The Iwami is available for coal at T9 and is a dependable ship that can flex some close range options when needed but mostly likes sitting in the mid-range.

[Kruzenstern]

4 hours ago, Pan_De_Muerte said:

I guess I'm looking for something sturdier than Jean Bart. Her secondaries are fun (168 hits in my last battle), her AA seems decent (70+ planes downed in one battle) but she melts horribly fast and her guns are better at shooting around an enemy than at it.

Funny, for me Jean Bart is an exceptionally tanky ship that has reasonably accurate guns with very fast reload, and the all-front layout makes bow-tanking easy (though it entices a lot of bad players to just do the bow-in-reverse thing that is NOT a good way to play seeing how vulnerable she is to HE-spam). One of the best tier9 BBs in the game imho. She is not really a secondary ship though, she might have lots but they have no performance boost whatsoever and very bad pen.

And if you always die first, that is rarely a problem with the ship but a problem with the way you play. The german BCs especially are some of the strongest ships all around, though only starting at tier8. And as already mentioned, long range sniping is a bad way to play. It is always best to be flexible, staying at mid ranges where you will actually hit something, have the option to get close if there is a good chance to rush something, and can go dark if overwhelmed. Both being too close and being too far away will hurt your team. As with most things, the grey is where it's at, not the black or white. Regrettably ever more humans are only capable of understanding black or white, not grey.

[Kruzenstern]

1 hour ago, Kynami said:

And there is also the new line of Pan-Am battleships which are quite over-tuned once you get past the Ipiranga

While I wouldn't know about PvP, in Operations the Ipi is just as overpowdered as her successors. That line is totally ridiculous. Might be exactly what the OP should look into though.

[aleksi111]

I mean, there's either North Carolina or Schlieffen up for takes for free by just completing the mission chain.

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

5 hours ago, Pan_De_Muerte said:

Hello all, hoping to gain from your collective wisdom. I'm looking for a battleship recommendation, either tech tree or premium.

My current experience with BBs comes from a pair of Black Friday acquisitions, a Jean Bart I bought and an Alabama I won. I also have British BC experience up to Renown, and German BC experience up to Mackensen.

I guess I'm looking for something sturdier than Jean Bart. Her secondaries are fun (168 hits in my last battle), her AA seems decent (70+ planes downed in one battle) but she melts horribly fast and her guns are better at shooting around an enemy than at it.

I'm sure a lot of this is my lack of skill. I gave up on the BC lines because I seemed to always die first. I've had a few decent games in Alabama but it seems I never hit hard enough.

I feel like there are two potential answers, either a long distance sniper that hits monstrously hard, or a secondary-encrusted fortress. What would you recommend?

There is some BBs that offer strength and fun in different ways.

St.Vincent is by many considered one of the strongest T10 BBs since you get pretty much everything with no real drawbacks. You get:

• Thunderer AP
• Thunderer HE with insane fire chance
• Conqueror Zombie heal that makes you almost impossible to kill
• Def AA for CV strikes
• Speed boost
• Highest damage torps in the game for close up brawls
• Possibility to run Cunningham Captain which gives you Superintendent for free after snatching 2 kills which isn't hard for a BB with this Alpha strike, so you "free up" 3 Cap points which you can spend elsewhere. Also you get 10% faster reload on the guns after getting the "Witherer" which you get after 8-9 min since its a HE spamming Monster.
• Almost no superstructure so takes less damage and is hard to set fires on.
• It excels at both long, mid and close range due to having pretty much every tool in the toolbox....

Libertad is the new shiny OP/Unbalanced Monster WG released that makes the secondaries kill half the enemy team for you without you lifting a finger pretty much. So if you like secondaries this line is definitely for you. Also works great with new Legendary Joakim Captain.

Edited November 6 by OldSchoolGaming_Youtube

[Nevermore135]

I usually recommend one of the first three BB lines (US, Japanese, or German) for newer players. They are less defined by their gimmicks and do a good job at teaching the basics of BB play.

The German line is more forgiving than the other two due to their armor and hydro at higher tiers. The original American BB line is pretty unremarkable these days, but offers a good bare-bones BB experience that will really hammer in the importance of angling, aiming, and proper positioning, and the improved heals are helpful. Japanese battleships offer a similar experience, albeit being more specialized for long range combat due to their dispersion curve. All three of these lines are well-suited for standard survivability and main-battery focused playstyles post skill-rework, allowing an inexperienced player to focus on learning the fundamentals.

[Itwastuesday]

8 hours ago, Pan_De_Muerte said:

I feel like there are two potential answers, either a long distance sniper that hits monstrously hard, or a secondary-encrusted fortress. What would you recommend?

What I recommend is you watch this 

 

[palestreamer]

The secondary encrusted fortresses are my personal favorite. Both German BB lines are good for this.

Then Yamato for the long range sniper as a change of pace. 

The Montana line for the US.

These can all be done for free.

[WildWind84]

GK with Lutjens 21 point (sec. builds+some tany skills), Iwami (with sec. builds - main guns in that case don't suffer too much) and Libertad (sec. builds+main guns). Possible option is also Anhalt (not sec., but some tanky with speed and rudder and main guns, just use HE and AP ). 

EDIT: Massa can have both builds, but suffer hard against subs. 

My personal favourite: P. Rupprecht (sec. build with some tanky skills and WITH IFHE). 

Edited November 6 by WildWind84

[Justin_Simpleton]

It sounds like you may enjoy the Kansas.  It can take a lot of punishment and the guns hit hard.  The AA is good, too.  Put John Doe on as the cmdr.

Be aware that the meta of the game changes where a ship that is great now may not be so later.  This was my experience with the Lenin.  Your playstyle may change as you gain experience.  I used to like the tanky ships but now, Monarch is really fun to play.

[WildWind84]

14 minutes ago, Justin_Simpleton said:

It sounds like you may enjoy the Kansas.  It can take a lot of punishment and the guns hit hard.  The AA is good, too.  Put John Doe on as the cmdr.

Be aware that the meta of the game changes where a ship that is great now may not be so later.  This was my experience with the Lenin.  Your playstyle may change as you gain experience.  I used to like the tanky ships but now, Monarch is really fun to play.

This also would consider - Kansas: main guns good, tanky, good ASW, good AA, good main range, BUT slow speed. 

Edited November 6 by WildWind84

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

11 minutes ago, Justin_Simpleton said:

The AA is good, too. 

Only against tier 8s though...and even then you are relying too much on defAA and the enemy captain hitting flak...

[Justin_Simpleton]

1 hour ago, WildWind84 said:

This also would consider - Kansas: main guns good, tanky, good ASW, good AA, good main range, BUT slow speed. 

Yes, the Kansas is slow but it doesn't matter until you have to run to the other side of the map.

[Pan_De_Muerte]

I tend to see two main styles of play - fire from a long distance to wear down your enemy, or close with them quickly and blaze away at close range. I did not know that sniping specifically meant firing at long range from stealth, I meant it as accurate fire at great distance. That would, theoretically, limit incoming fire to that from other battleships and particularly long-ranged cruisers (and CV strikes, I guess) and remove the threat of destroyers and submarines poking hulls in your hull.

However, at least with my captain skills and aiming ability, long range fire with Jean Bart isn't very accurate. I manage to land one shell out of a salvo of eight. So I tried putting on the secondary gun mod and signal flag. While it does hit often, it doesn't hit very hard, and I tend to die to fire, AP, and torpedoes. Yesterday I lost every battle from T2-T10 in randoms and this morning isn't starting out all that great either. Skill takes time, but the temptation exists to pick up something that will help me.

[Itwastuesday]

What you see is basically people who have put no thought or effort into learning the game. Do not copy them. Snipemax battleship players are the dumbest, most useless breed of battleship driver and the wehraboos driving Schlieffen etc rarely have the patience and map awarness to make their ship work. 

Positioning takes a bit much to explain, wish we had a pictured guide on it or something, but it is how you get the good shots and the correct range. As a battleship you always want to get closer, just not in a way where you die accomplishing nothing. 

[Nevermore135]

34 minutes ago, Pan_De_Muerte said:

However, at least with my captain skills and aiming ability, long range fire with Jean Bart isn't very accurate. I manage to land one shell out of a salvo of eight. So I tried putting on the secondary gun mod and signal flag. While it does hit often, it doesn't hit very hard, and I tend to die to fire, AP, and torpedoes. Yesterday I lost every battle from T2-T10 in randoms and this morning isn't starting out all that great either. Skill takes time, but the temptation exists to pick up something that will help me.

I wouldn’t expect a premium ship purchase to enhance your experience.

A good rule of thumb regarding premium ships is resist the urge to buy/play at tiers higher than you’ve reached in at least one tech tree of the appropriate ship type. This will ensure you’ve had the chance to become more familiar with the basics before jumping right into high tiers. It’s very common for newer players to jump into high tiers with a premium ship and struggle due to the unforgiving nature of that ecosystem, leading to a constant feedback loop of frustration.

You might want to drop down to lower tier BB play until you become more comfortable with your performance. Also, don’t feel like you have to move up just because you unlocked the next tier. The in-game economy has undergone a lot of changes since the game went live and it’s much easier to advance than it used to be. Every player should advance at their own pace.

Edited November 6 by Nevermore135

[Wolfswetpaws]

18 minutes ago, Pan_De_Muerte said:

I tend to see two main styles of play - fire from a long distance to wear down your enemy, or close with them quickly and blaze away at close range. I did not know that sniping specifically meant firing at long range from stealth, I meant it as accurate fire at great distance. That would, theoretically, limit incoming fire to that from other battleships and particularly long-ranged cruisers (and CV strikes, I guess) and remove the threat of destroyers and submarines poking hulls in your hull.

However, at least with my captain skills and aiming ability, long range fire with Jean Bart isn't very accurate. I manage to land one shell out of a salvo of eight. So I tried putting on the secondary gun mod and signal flag. While it does hit often, it doesn't hit very hard, and I tend to die to fire, AP, and torpedoes. Yesterday I lost every battle from T2-T10 in randoms and this morning isn't starting out all that great either. Skill takes time, but the temptation exists to pick up something that will help me.

The main-gun dispersion of a ship can be viewed and compared with other ships.
Some ships need to get closer, in order to reliably put their projectiles to best use.
  

I think you're aware of this.

And, as others have pointed-out in their own ways, it's helpful to play the ship intelligently and to the ship's strengths.
The Jean-Bart is a ship that I tend to push with, seeking to get close and use my main-guns to their best advantage and use the reload-boost to put more projectiles on-target in the shortest amount of time.
The risk is getting into more trouble than I anticipated, and being focus-fired upon by multiple ships which can overwhelm my damage-control and repair-party and wear-down my hull-points quickly.

Staying afloat through the early stages of a battle can become frustrating, for me. 
Because my team-mates aren't always willing to form an aggressive push with four or more ships in a cohesive manner.
C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?  🙂 

But, if the Jean-Bart can get within 10 km of a red-team ship's broadside?  Her guns are accurate enough.
If she can get closer, like point-blank range, then her guns can be lethal to opposing ships.
So, the trick seems to be finding a way to position the Jean-Bart so that she can play to her strengths, as a close-to-medium range Battleship that sails-in from an unexpected direction to blap the red-team's ships.  🤔

[Wolfswetpaws]

5 minutes ago, Nevermore135 said:

I wouldn’t expect a premium ship purchase to enhance your experience.

A good rule of thumb regarding premium ships is resist the urge to buy/play at tiers higher than you’ve reached in at least one tech tree of the appropriate ship type. This will ensure you’ve had the chance to become more familiar with the basics before jumping right into high tiers. It’s very common for newer players to jump into high tiers with a premium ship and struggle due to the unforgiving nature of that ecosystem, leading to a constant feedback loop of frustration.

You might want to drop down to lower tier BB play until you become more comfortable with your performance. Also, don’t feel like you have to move up just because you unlocked the next tier. The in-game economy has undergone a lot of changes since the game went live and it’s much easier to advance than it used to be. Every player should advance at their own pace.

While there is some merit to what you wrote, there is also merit in the notion that player must, at some point, take the plunge into the deep waters and learn how to swim there (instead of sink).
We can't stay in the "kiddie pool" forever.  🙂 

As for Tier-5 Battleships that can get a player into trouble, but also have the speed which is an analog for fast battleships at higher tiers, I suggest sailing the Kongo.
She's affordable, a decent ship, and can sail at 30 knots in a tier where most of her contemporaries cannnot get above 25 knots.
If a player can learn how to go places (on the map) and do stuff and maneuver to "just dodge" incoming gunfire and torpedoes while managing their AA guns, in Tier-5 Kongo, then I consider it to be worthwhile practice for playing in higher tiers.  Not perfect, but a good start.  🙂 

[Stauffenberg44]

Get an Agincourt with secondary captain build and have some fun at Tier 5. Great way to start the day.

[Merc85]

Legendary mod Colombo.....fun ship to play for sure!!

[mashed68]

Massachusettes while its still available. Nothing like Alabama in play. 

After that my most played BB's are West Virginia 44, Prinz Ruppercht, and scharnhorst 44. Agincort is a new addition that is my go to tier 5 now, and the new pan-am bb's are quickly becoming fav's. 

Edited November 6 by mashed68

[Stauffenberg44]

56 minutes ago, mashed68 said:

and the new pan-am bb's are quickly becoming fav's. 

Yep.