How do YOU level up your Captains?

[Musket22]

I use the following method;

1. Select 5 ships (2 BB, 1 DD & 2 CA/CL) - all must have 115% Captain XP bonus built in.

2. Pick the Captain going up the promotion ladder.

3. Put whatever 'flag' deemed necessary on the ships for bonus Captain & Free XP

4. Rotate that Captain through the 5 ships each day so that he gets Captain XP.

The alternative would be to use an already Level 21 Captain and then just rely on Captain XP.

So the question is: Would using the Level 21 Captain be a faster way of getting the Captain XP?

[Leo_Apollo11]

Hi all,

I use Elite Captain XP in 99.99% of cases... I only grind captain when I grind XP for ships in new lines or when re-grinding lines after Research Bureau reset...

 

Leo "Apollo11"

[aleksi111]

Haven't done the math, but my understanding is that you generate 5% more CXP with non-elite captains as with 21pts

Just it being a situation where the non-elite Captain generates 100% of whatever modifiers you have to themselves + 5% towards the Elite Captain XP pool vs 21pt Captains not making the +5% but having everything go towards ECXP.

 

That aside, fastest way to generate CXP, Elite or Normal, should be with those ships you consistantly perform well/great in among selection of comparable vessels [boosters wise]

[Admiral_Karasu]

1 minute ago, aleksi111 said:

Haven't done the math, but my understanding is that you generate 5% more CXP with non-elite captains as with 21pts

Just it being a situation where the non-elite Captain generates 100% of whatever modifiers you have to themselves + 5% towards the Elite Captain XP pool vs 21pt Captains not making the +5% but having everything go towards ECXP.

 

That aside, fastest way to generate CXP, Elite or Normal, should be with those ships you consistantly perform well/great in among selection of comparable vessels [boosters wise]

But would a 21pt captain potentially generate more XP by virtue of having those 21 pts in use?

[aleksi111]

Good question.

Quite likely as the inherent advantage of fully specced out captain would make the games you play that small bit easier, smoother and better -thus benefitting from improved battle performance with increased post game rewards to show for it.

 

IMO the ship would still play key role.

Tennesee or any other slower ship like her are much easier to miss opportunities and be overtaken by events without any ability to react in time to influence game, and thus rack up XP compared to faster +30kts ship.

You could still have absolute monster games, yes, just you would lack certain tools to pro-actively make them happen regularly as game could well be decided in your teams fauvor faster than you can close in to effective gun range and positions 

 

Edited November 9 by aleksi111

[Wolfswetpaws]

59 minutes ago, Musket22 said:

How do YOU level up your Captains?

I use the following method;

1. Select 5 ships (2 BB, 1 DD & 2 CA/CL) - all must have 115% Captain XP bonus built in.

2. Pick the Captain going up the promotion ladder.

3. Put whatever 'flag' deemed necessary on the ships for bonus Captain & Free XP

4. Rotate that Captain through the 5 ships each day so that he gets Captain XP.

The alternative would be to use an already Level 21 Captain and then just rely on Captain XP.

So the question is: Would using the Level 21 Captain be a faster way of getting the Captain XP?

Normally, I "level-up" a Captain by playing the ship that they're assigned as the Captain of.
If I want them to progress quickly, then I can send them into random battles or scenario operations with economic boosters.
Grey or Green boosters, if I'm not in a rush. 
Blue boosters if I'm keen to make fast progress. 
I have few red boosters, so I am unlikely to use them for Captain training.

Occasionally, I'll get a ship and may not immediately decide upon a permanent Captain assignment.
(My Ipiranga is currently in that situation, and I temporarily assign Commander Federica Estival each time I sail the ship.)
If a Commander is temporarily assigned to a ship, I don't mind that they accrue CXP.

Occasionally, I decide upon a permanent Captain for a ship, and they don't have a lot of Skill Points.
If I feel it is necessary for the ship's performance, then I can use CXP to promote the Captain to the desired amount of skill points.


As for 21 point Captains helping to increase the CXP in a player's inventory?
Yes, that method has been used by a number of players with good success.
Simply play all the 21 point Captains in your Port on a regular basis to continually accrue CXP.
When the pool of CXP is large enough, you can use it to promote another Commander to 21 skill points.
Repeat as desired.

Personally, I've not been in a rush to get 21 point Commanders/Captains.
I have a 20 point Commander, and I could promote them.  But since they aren't assigned to a ship, I don't feel it is necessary at the moment.
I've been more interested in playing the game for fun.

[Wolfswetpaws]

24 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

But would a 21pt captain potentially generate more XP by virtue of having those 21 pts in use?

After a Commander reaches 21 skill points, all their experience earned becomes ECXP (Elite Commander eXperience Points).
 

Quote

Earning

In battle, ECXP equal to 5% of all Commander XP earned is contributed to the common pool.

A commander who earns twenty-one (21) Skill Points becomes an Elite Commander. Elite commanders continue to earn experience as do lower-ranked commanders. However, an elite commander no longer accumulates CXP; all his experience is earned as ECXP. Thus an elite commander earns far more ECXP per battle than not-yet-elite commanders.

Using Elite Commander XP

Elite Commander XP  can be:

• Applied to any non-elite commander to gain additional skill points.
• Used to retrain any commander moved to a different, non-premium ship (instead of spending doubloons).
• Used to redistribute skill points (in lieu of using doubloons).
• Converted into Free XP  for doubloons .

Spending Free XP on Commanders

After all ECXP is spent, Free XP  can be used instead of Elite Commander XP .^[7]

For a single operation, Elite Commander XP  and Free XP  can be spent together, just as Ship XP and Free XP can be spent together researching ships and ship modules. When Elite Commander XP and Free XP are spent, the following rules apply:

• To retrain a commander, promote him to a new rank, or redistribute his skill points, the available ECXP and/or FXP must be sufficient to fully complete the operation (no partial operations).
• When an operation can be completed, Elite Commander XP is spent first then Free XP is used only if there is not enough ECXP.

Example using both Elite Commander XP and Free XP

A commander with 7 Skill Points and 100 CXP is assigned to a non-premium ship for which he is not trained. 5000 XP is required to fully re-train him.  8000 Elite Commander XP is available. The player completes re-training by spending 5000 ECXP. 3000 ECXP remains. (Note that CXP cannot be spent for re-training.)

Now the player chooses to promote this commander to the maximum attainable rank using all types of XP. He has 100 CXP, 3000 ECXP, and 40,000 Free XP.

The cost of the next commander rank (8) is 30,000 XP. He already has 100 CXP so he only needs 29,900 XP. To reach that, he spends 3000 ECXP and 26,900 Free XP (total 29,900). To reach the next rank (9), 41,000 XP is required. Since he has no CXP or ECXP and only 13,100 Free XP remaining, he cannot promote this commander to rank (9).

https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Commander  
  
 

[Sumseaman]

41 minutes ago, aleksi111 said:

Double post, can't find delete tool

It's too late....you must accept a permanent forum ban.

[pew_pew_magoo]

Play well with boosters and use elite Capt Xp. 

[Musket22]

34 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

After a Commander reaches 21 skill points, all their experience earned becomes ECXP (Elite Commander eXperience Points).
 

https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Commander  
  
 

Yes but my question revolves around the following;

Is the amount of ECXP accrued by a lvl 21 captain on let's say the Black B with its 115% CXP

more than

the amount of CXP accrued by the Lvl 14 Capt. Henry Bailey (name doesn't matter but...) on the same Black B?

If the Level 21 Captain gets 5,000 ECXP, will that be more / same / or less then Capt. Henry Bailey would get? 

[GandalfTehGray]

I've got so much capt xp that I don't care to find out which is more, but I'd say if I have a choice of the 12 pt capt or a 21 pt capt I'm imaging the extra performance I get will lead to increased earnings even if there was a better rate on the 12 pt capt. 

[DoW_]

The vast majority of my captains have been up leveled with ECXP earned by Halsey or Lutjens in Ops running red or blue boosters.  Returns 25-55k per match, booster depending. 

 

When grinding  new lines, usually run green captain xp booster and use the same captain to go up the line, paying the low amount of xp required to retrain the 10-14 point captain when the next ship becomes available. Installing at least a 10 pt captain (tier 5 and up) permanently to the ship at that point. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, Musket22 said:

Yes but my question revolves around the following;

Is the amount of ECXP accrued by a lvl 21 captain on let's say the Black B with its 115% CXP

more than

the amount of CXP accrued by the Lvl 14 Capt. Henry Bailey (name doesn't matter but...) on the same Black B?

If the Level 21 Captain gets 5,000 ECXP, will that be more / same / or less then Capt. Henry Bailey would get? 

Whatever the non-21-point-Captain earns during a battle, only 5% of their earned CommanderXP becomes EliteCommanderXP (and goes into the "EXCP pool").
The rest belongs to them, so that they can make progress towards 21 skill points.

I don't know if premium Commander would earn more than a non-premium Commander, all other things being equal.
If I want my Commander to earn more, I provide them with economic boosters.

 

[Musket22]

3 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Whatever the non-21-point-Captain earns during a battle, only 5% of their earned CommanderXP becomes EliteCommanderXP (and goes into the "EXCP pool").
The rest belongs to them, so that they can make progress towards 21 skill points.

I don't know if premium Commander would earn more than a non-premium Commander, all other things being equal.
If I want my Commander to earn more, I provide them with economic boosters.

 

Inquiring mind wanted to know...

🙂

[Wolfswetpaws]

7 minutes ago, Musket22 said:

Inquiring mind wanted to know...

🙂

This might help?
https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Economy#Commander_Experience  

Edited to add:  https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:The_Economics_of_Battle  
 

Edited November 9 by Wolfswetpaws

[AdmiralThunder]

I don't grind Elite Captains anymore. WG took any desire to do that away during the Captain rework when they revoked the Elite status I had earned on 54 19pt Captains and made me regrind 70% more CXP to get them back to Elite. I still don't have them all there. I currently have 42 Elite 21pt Captains but they are not all ones that were at 19pts when the rework hit; some are new.

These days it just happens, or I use Elite Captain XP when I build enough up.  I don't purposefully work at it as I used to. Why bother. WG could (and it wouldn't surprise me if they actually did) do another rework and up it to 23 or 25 pts and once again take what we have earned away from us and make us grind more to get it back. I am done with that treadmill.

Getting a new 21pt Captain is great, don't misunderstand, I just mean my days of actively going after that is over post rework and screwing over by WG.

Edited November 9 by AdmiralThunder

[Justin_Simpleton]

3 hours ago, Musket22 said:

Yes but my question revolves around the following;

Is the amount of ECXP accrued by a lvl 21 captain on let's say the Black B with its 115% CXP

more than

the amount of CXP accrued by the Lvl 14 Capt. Henry Bailey (name doesn't matter but...) on the same Black B?

If the Level 21 Captain gets 5,000 ECXP, will that be more / same / or less then Capt. Henry Bailey would get? 

I think the non-elite captain would earn more CXP than the elite captain because there is an extra 5% ecxp earned.  Of course, all the cxp goes to the non-elite captain and the extra ecxp cannot be immediately credited to his skill progress.  For the elite commander, all the cxp is ecxp but no additioal 5%.

[HamptonRoads]

32 minutes ago, Justin_Simpleton said:

I think the non-elite captain would earn more CXP than the elite captain because there is an extra 5% ecxp earned.  Of course, all the cxp goes to the non-elite captain and the extra ecxp cannot be immediately credited to his skill progress.  For the elite commander, all the cxp is ecxp but no additioal 5%.

^^this.  CXP explained in the wiki:

Commander - Global wiki. Wargaming.net

[Altwar]

3 hours ago, AdmiralThunder said:

I don't grind Elite Captains anymore. WG took any desire to do that away during the Captain rework when they revoked the Elite status I had earned on 54 19pt Captains and made me regrind 70% more CXP to get them back to Elite. I still don't have them all there. I currently have 42 Elite 21pt Captains but they are not all ones that were at 19pts when the rework hit; some are new.

These days it just happens, or I use Elite Captain XP when I build enough up.  I don't purposefully work at it as I used to. Why bother. WG could (and it wouldn't surprise me if they actually did) do another rework and up it to 23 or 25 pts and once again take what we have earned away from us and make us grind more to get it back. I am done with that treadmill.

Getting a new 21pt Captain is great, don't misunderstand, I just mean my days of actively going after that is over post rework and screwing over by WG.

42 twenty-one-point captains?  Holy moly that's a lot!  Probably need to push some of those to shore and behind a desk so the young guys can get a chance?  😁

For me after all this time, I've just four 21 point captains.  I remember when it was a 19 point limit and I made some mentions on The Forum That Was that they should go for an extra two.   Guess I should have been careful about what I wish for?  🫢

A few things probably handicap my captains' advancement though.   One, I tend to move my highest pointed captains upward and so have had to waste captain XP to get them trained up to the new command.  Two, I'm a co-op main; I prefer to relax and grind xp at a somewhat leisurely pace as opposed to sometimes getting in randoms and getting mashed.  And three, I'm actually a World of Tanks main so I spend more of my gaming time there.

Oh, and lastly, I tend to focus more on my Unique and Special commanders as opposed to the normal generic commanders, even though 3 of my 4 21 pointers are generics (those 3 been with my fleet from the beginning).

 

 

[Colonel Potter]

I only really play operations now that they were opened to tier 10. I use economic boosters and get tons of ECXP. Only use the ECXP to level them up.

Leveled up the Pan-American unique commander up to 21 long before the Libertad was unlocked.

And that's only playing a couple of games a day at most.

[AdmiralThunder]

1 hour ago, Altwar said:

I'm a co-op main

Me as well. 45K games vs just under 1800 in Randoms.

[Musket22]

1 hour ago, Altwar said:

42 twenty-one-point captains?  Holy moly that's a lot!  Probably need to push some of those to shore and behind a desk so the young guys can get a chance?  😁

For me after all this time, I've just four 21 point captains.  I remember when it was a 19 point limit and I made some mentions on The Forum That Was that they should go for an extra two.   Guess I should have been careful about what I wish for?  🫢

A few things probably handicap my captains' advancement though.   One, I tend to move my highest pointed captains upward and so have had to waste captain XP to get them trained up to the new command.  Two, I'm a co-op main; I prefer to relax and grind xp at a somewhat leisurely pace as opposed to sometimes getting in randoms and getting mashed.  And three, I'm actually a World of Tanks main so I spend more of my gaming time there.

Oh, and lastly, I tend to focus more on my Unique and Special commanders as opposed to the normal generic commanders, even though 3 of my 4 21 pointers are generics (those 3 been with my fleet from the beginning).

I also am Co-Op main (61,579 Co-Op and 5,535 Random) 62 x Lvl 21 Capts - I may have some OCD...

This is my daily playlist;

Japan	Toru Kawabe		T8*	CA	ARP Takao	203
Japan	Toru Kawabe		T8*	CA	Atago B	203
Japan	Toru Kawabe		T8*	BB	KII	410
Japan	Toru Kawabe		T9*	BB	Iwani B	419
Japan	Toru Kawabe	20	T10*	CA	Yoshino B	310
USN	Henry Bailey		T9*	DD	Black B	127
USN	Henry Bailey		T9*	BB	Georgia	457
USN	Henry Bailey		T10*	CL	Austiin	127
USN	Henry Bailey		T10*	CA	Salem	203
USN	Henry Bailey	14	T10*	BB	Wisconsin	406
Germany	Otto Eberhard		T8*	CL	Cross of Dorn	150
Germany	Otto Eberhard		T8*	CL	Mainz B	150
Germany	Otto Eberhard		T8*	BB	Brandenburg B	305
Germany	Otto Eberhard		T9*	CA	Roon CLR	203
Germany	Otto Eberhard	19	T9*	BB	Pommern B	380
Britain	Oliver Howard		T8*	CL	Belfast ‘43	152
Britain	Oliver Howard		T9*	DD	Somme	113
Britain	Oliver Howard		T9*	BB	Marlborough	356
Britain	Oliver Howard		T10*	CL	Plymouth	152
Britain	Oliver Howard	19	T*	CL	Edgar	152
	Raul Rivera		T6*	CL	Nueva de Julio	152
Pan-Am	Raul Rivera		T8*	CL	Almte Grau	152
Pan-Am	Raul Rivera		T8*	BB	Atlantico	381
Pan-Am	Raul Rivera	20	T9	CL	Santander	152
Spain	Santiago Escudero		T9*	CA	Alm. Oquendo	203
Spain	Santiago Escudero		T10*	DD	Alvado de Bazan	203
Spain	Santiago Escudero	19	T10	CA	Castilla	254

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

Not having many 21 point captains (currently only 2), I grind the old fashion way...place captain on tech tree ship, and play.

The higher point captains are also on premium ships, which I use to generate more credits and XP on occasion...but mostly these captains are on these ships because they are fun and I want good captains on them.

If I really need elite captain XP (or credits), I put blue boosters on my full secondary build Midway and rock and roll. (58% win rate and a ship I really enjoy playing.)

I'm not really into min-maxing my way up the tech trees and into high tier all the time gameplay.

Part of the fun is in the journey.

 

[MidnightPhoenix07]

For me, it’s a mix between grinding them and using elite commander xp. All of my current tech tree grinds have captains moving up the line as I progress, and usually once they get to the t10 they’ll get boosted the rest of the way to 21 points. But I also have a bunch of 21 point commanders on many of my frequently played non-grinding ships (for example, a lot of t10s and some other tiers that I use for comp or ops) and plenty of premiums they can rotate through.

Before the commander rework I had 14 max level/19 point captains (with a fairly similar method of distribution as now), and enough ecxp stored to boost two of them to 21 points as soon as the update released. One of them was on a tech tree grind, and both had plenty of premiums to run through. I made sure to play that line every day to get the win bonus and the xp rewards from the old daily missions that would also convert the extra ship xp to ecxp. Then I’d either play a handful of premiums with one or the other captain, or just grind some other lines and still get a bit of ecxp each game.

My initial focus was to get at least one 21 pointer in each nation so any premium ship games contributed 100% to my ecxp pool. Right now I have a dozen or so at max level with tons of spare ecxp and plenty of commanders that I could promote to 21 if I really wanted to. But the couple of t10s (and one nation) that don’t have max level commanders yet are ones I don’t play as much, so they’re a lower return on the investment for me. Not that I really need to worry about that with the amount of ecxp I have anyway…

[Gnirf]

In general, to save on boosters, I rotate captains through T9/10s premiums in coop (first win bonus), sometimes combined with theiir respective ship. That is the road to the minimum level 10 or even 14. The 13 level is always FreeXPed, no captain are on 13. Only grey boosters here if any, most of the times 0.

Higher up past 14 if they should advance they will be used Premium ships in Operations, Randoms, I may start as early as 10 points if I find the shp good enough but that has been a recent change. If so green boosters in general. When I reach around 18 I may change to blue boosters. it is rare for ships below T9 for now to get promoted that high.

Earlier old 19 points which in some cases were present a s low as T5 (könig x2) but starts at T6 on some old lines were all advanced to 21, but that is finished now. Red boosters might be used on very rare occasions, then at the final leg  sto get a few quick games for the last stretch.

Some ships will be advanced through use of collected eliteXP. Right now I have between 10-15 T10 or Superships that are in the process of leveling to 21 + a few that are in the process of getting to 14.

Some examples Marseille. 1 Coop game in Colbert (No booster), One/Two games in Jean Bart (Operations/Asym  First win) Blue Elite XP, Credits Current level about 400/500 on the 20 point level.

Dalarna Current level 18 (200/300), Playing various premiums in the Coop mode for first win. On occasion KXIVJ in operations (next update Asym) Blue boosters as Jean Bart.

Balao (For 14 points), Playing Somers, Benham ,Salem daily for first win in coop are on 85/108 on level 12, after this level are reached FreeXP to 14. My final current level for T10 Subs or CV. Playing the sub, practically 0 games.

Italy: Grinding 2. Colombo just on 19 level. Playing Napoli in coop and now when Asym starts again it will be a concentrated effort for 21.

A Regolo on 15 (scheduled for Elite XP in december).

The choices for ships that are given the eliteXP treatment varies, but if the tech tree have several ships at the same time it is more likely that I take one of these, especially if it is a Supership (DD, CA or BB). If the tech tree on the other one have plenty of suitable premiums for first win coop play, ranked play, asym play etc like USA the chances are lower. Jacksonville will soon be purchased, and its captain will be grinded as I do not have any other US ship that are grinded for 21 atm.

Also ships that will be used in regrinds will get the captain treatment this way.

I use some elite captains to grind elite XP in various ways also both in coop and other modes. Halsey f.e. on Missouri I expect to use in Asym a lot. Kuznetzov on my Izmail were frequently used when ranked the seasons before this had T6 included in bronze. Yes as you were matched with a T6 in the opposite team a good, elited 21 pointer Kuz on Izmail is very efficient in t6/7 bronze.

So I use all kind of methods but I usually work on say 3-5 of the above 10-15 more. Especially when they reach high up (19 or above). I guess the new Pan-Am captain will be priority in dec. I grind Los Andes with blue boosters )First win operations) to get Libertad fast. Blue ship Xp i got plenty of so in that regard there is no shortage. Libertad in Asym and Operations will be grinded hard as Los Andes feels fun to play. I expect nerfs so want to use it while it (over) performs.

Edited November 10 by Gnirf