First steel ship recommendation for Ops

[RomaThePastaBote]

Buongiorno, it is me Roma with my trimonthly (stupid) request for ship recommendation (again) for Ops (again)… After a long time of saving due to my choice not playing ranked, nor clan battle, I finally saved enough for my first ever (and probably the only one) steel boat. I wonder which one has the more distinct playstyle enough to grab, credit making ability is no factor this time around. As of now, I am currently eyeing:

• Mecklenburg, love the black camouflage, and the look of the quadruple turret. Gameplay-wise I heard she is very accurate, but I also about to grab UU for Colombo, so I am worried that they overlap as 16 barrels of accurate BB firepower.
• Plymouth, loved Edinburg, so what else is better than jacked her to 11.
• Shkishima, just for the big gun big sound, but the low barrel count and turret traverse is going to kill me since I lived through Yamato's traverse rate.
• Austin, USS 2nd Amendment, but outside 15s of awesomeness her long reload for the calibre kind of veer me away.
• Bourgogne, pseudo supercruiser seems fun, but 32mm plating will be rough in Ops, and the French dispersion their overpen tendency give me PTSD after crawled through Ita BB, and half-way through Fra BB.

Also piggyback this thread, so I do not flood the section with another one. Anyone know how far away is the CV rework? Because I also have enough coal and I have been eyeing Immelman as well, if the rework is close I have Ägir as a contingency plan.

Other factors if it helps you lads, my preferred class leaning toward BB/Big cruiser a lot, and I only have high level captains in German, Japan.

Thank you all kindly in advance for your opinion, and put up with my endless stupid question.

[Admiral_Karasu]

Okay, something tells me Roma is not interested in my stupid answer (I have no steel ships), so let's get some steel ship experts here.

[RomaThePastaBote]

15 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Okay, something tells me Roma is not interested in my stupid answer (I have no steel ships), so let's get some steel ship experts here.

Oh I don't mind, when it comes to opinion more is better, besides I kinda need to know about the CV rework as well

[UnrepentantSinner]

From your list i have Bourgogne and Mecklenburg and both work fine for Ops and Asymmetric Battles. Even with the UU the Colombo is not as accurate as the Mecklenburg + you get torps and decent secondaries among other things, so i think she is worth having, even if you have UU Colombo, but i may be biased, as i really like this ship. Don't have Austin or Shikishima for the same reasons you mentioned, but i have seen people performing at least decent with Shikishima in Ops and Asymmetric Battles, but never in Austin.

Edited December 9, 2024 by UnrepentantSinner
typo

[Wolfswetpaws]

2 hours ago, RomaThePastaBote said:

Buongiorno, it is me Roma with my trimonthly (stupid) request for ship recommendation (again) for Ops (again)… After a long time of saving due to my choice not playing ranked, nor clan battle, I finally saved enough for my first ever (and probably the only one) steel boat. I wonder which one has the more distinct playstyle enough to grab, credit making ability is no factor this time around. As of now, I am currently eyeing:

• Mecklenburg, love the black camouflage, and the look of the quadruple turret. Gameplay-wise I heard she is very accurate, but I also about to grab UU for Colombo, so I am worried that they overlap as 16 barrels of accurate BB firepower.
• Plymouth, loved Edinburg, so what else is better than jacked her to 11.
• Shkishima, just for the big gun big sound, but the low barrel count and turret traverse is going to kill me since I lived through Yamato's traverse rate.
• Austin, USS 2nd Amendment, but outside 15s of awesomeness her long reload for the calibre kind of veer me away.
• Bourgogne, pseudo supercruiser seems fun, but 32mm plating will be rough in Ops, and the French dispersion their overpen tendency give me PTSD after crawled through Ita BB, and half-way through Fra BB.

Also piggyback this thread, so I do not flood the section with another one. Anyone know how far away is the CV rework? Because I also have enough coal and I have been eyeing Immelman as well, if the rework is close I have Ägir as a contingency plan.

Other factors if it helps you lads, my preferred class leaning toward BB/Big cruiser a lot, and I only have high level captains in German, Japan.

Thank you all kindly in advance for your opinion, and put up with my endless stupid question.

The steel ships currently in my Port, in order of welcoming, are ...

Shikishima
Bourgogne
Gato
Mecklenburg

The Shikishima does have a nice "boom" when she fires her guns.
That said, she plays very much like her sisters in the Yamato class.
A "safe" choice, but the lack of top-speed (for Tier-10) and the lack of gun barrels and other armaments might inspire a player to seek a ship with a more lively play-style.
 

The Bourgogne does offer a more lively play-style.
More speed.  More gun barrels (albeit, smaller guns).  What's not to like?
Well, as you've already mentioned, the armor isn't the best versus H.E. projectiles.
Training a Captain in the Fire Prevention skill seems prudent.
A "less safe" choice than the Shikishima, but a fun choice and an exciting challenge to manage her virtues while minimizing the opportunities for red-ships to take advantage of her armor vices.
Can you activate the main-battery reload-boost and say "Surprise mother-<bleep>-er!" in French?  🙂 

The Gato?
You don't seem interested in the Gato, especially for Scenario Operations.
Moving along. 🙂

The Mecklenburg.
More gun barrels!  (But, they're even smaller and more cute.  "Awww.")
Decent top-speed.
She has Torpedoes, for those close-quarters encounters.
And a decent secondary-battery suite, too.
So, with all those "toys", what's not to like?
The "small HP pool", the turret traverse arcs, and the "low level of anti-torpedo protection".
This sporty, yet sometimes awkward, girl could use a bit of padding here & there, eh?  🙂 
Oh well.
Perhaps a player could work on their "just dodge" proficiency and live with it?
Personally, I can.  Though, the gun traverse arcs are occasionally annoying.
The Mecklenburg is a nice ship for those who like to keep life interesting.  🙂   

Good luck in your ship shopping decision process @RomaThePastaBote.  🙂 
 

[BOBTHEBALL]

4 hours ago, RomaThePastaBote said:

Buongiorno, it is me Roma with my trimonthly (stupid) request for ship recommendation (again) for Ops (again)… After a long time of saving due to my choice not playing ranked, nor clan battle, I finally saved enough for my first ever (and probably the only one) steel boat. I wonder which one has the more distinct playstyle enough to grab, credit making ability is no factor this time around. As of now, I am currently eyeing:

• Mecklenburg, love the black camouflage, and the look of the quadruple turret. Gameplay-wise I heard she is very accurate, but I also about to grab UU for Colombo, so I am worried that they overlap as 16 barrels of accurate BB firepower.
• Plymouth, loved Edinburg, so what else is better than jacked her to 11.
• Shkishima, just for the big gun big sound, but the low barrel count and turret traverse is going to kill me since I lived through Yamato's traverse rate.
• Austin, USS 2nd Amendment, but outside 15s of awesomeness her long reload for the calibre kind of veer me away.
• Bourgogne, pseudo supercruiser seems fun, but 32mm plating will be rough in Ops, and the French dispersion their overpen tendency give me PTSD after crawled through Ita BB, and half-way through Fra BB.

Also piggyback this thread, so I do not flood the section with another one. Anyone know how far away is the CV rework? Because I also have enough coal and I have been eyeing Immelman as well, if the rework is close I have Ägir as a contingency plan.

Other factors if it helps you lads, my preferred class leaning toward BB/Big cruiser a lot, and I only have high level captains in German, Japan.

Thank you all kindly in advance for your opinion, and put up with my endless stupid question.

Mecklenburg is kinda mid, not worth the steel imo. But then again in OPs it may be alright.

Plymouth is also mid, not worth the steel either.

Shikishima is just a better Yamato but who wants to spend steel on a slightly better TT ship.

Austin is very dakka dakka and can be very fun when the booster is up, I don't have it but it may work in OPs?

Bourgogne, very fast, MBRB and all that fun stuff. I haven't used it in OPs, I'll give it a try to see if it's worth it.

 

Immelman is a good CV but Agir is not worth it at all, no idea on the CV rework but if that's a concern for you I'd just stay away from CV entirely. 

 

When I think about OPs I think of ships with high DPM and the ability to citadel all those Azuma's and Yoshino's.

[Arcus_Aesopi]

Mecklenburg is awesome for Operations with 12.5 Km German secondaries and fast main guns.  You have to be careful with it, but it does excel in multi-target dd/cruiser situations.  I wouldn't go hard into a bunch of superships or big gun BBs, but she's solid. 

Bourgogne is a great all around ship especially for positioning, but secondaries are pretty important in Ops for racking up damage... these don't do a lot without fires.  Bots cheat, so they get to start fires and you don't so much 🙂 

IMHO

Good luck whatever your choice.

[Wolfswetpaws]

6 hours ago, RomaThePastaBote said:

Also piggyback this thread, so I do not flood the section with another one. Anyone know how far away is the CV rework? Because I also have enough coal and I have been eyeing Immelman as well, if the rework is close I have Ägir as a contingency plan.

Personally, I'm curious about the proposed CV changes.  I figure the best way to stay informed is to monitor the devblogs.

As for the Agir, she's a ship I don't regret getting when she was available for 1 million FreeXP.
Nowadays, she's available for coal.

Compared with getting a CV, the Agir is a safer bet, I feel.
She's not over-powered, but does offer reasonable performance and a guns/torpedoes/sec-bat weapons suite.

[RomaThePastaBote]

9 hours ago, UnrepentantSinner said:

From your list i have Bourgogne and Mecklenburg and both work fine for Ops and Asymmetric Battles. Even with the UU the Colombo is not as accurate as the Mecklenburg + you get torps and decent secondaries among other things, so i think she is worth having, even if you have UU Colombo, but i may be biased, as i really like this ship. Don't have Austin or Shikishima for the same reasons you mentioned, but i have seen people performing at least decent with Shikishima in Ops and Asymmetric Battles, but never in Austin.

Oh hey, it is nice to know that Mecklenburg will not be overlap by Colombo UU as she does to Lauria, hence why Laurio is not even on the list.

7 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

The steel ships currently in my Port, in order of welcoming, are ...

Shikishima
Bourgogne
Gato
Mecklenburg

The Shikishima does have a nice "boom" when she fires her guns.
That said, she plays very much like her sisters in the Yamato class.
A "safe" choice, but the lack of top-speed (for Tier-10) and the lack of gun barrels and other armaments might inspire a player to seek a ship with a more lively play-style.
 

The Bourgogne does offer a more lively play-style.
More speed.  More gun barrels (albeit, smaller guns).  What's not to like?
Well, as you've already mentioned, the armor isn't the best versus H.E. projectiles.
Training a Captain in the Fire Prevention skill seems prudent.
A "less safe" choice than the Shikishima, but a fun choice and an exciting challenge to manage her virtues while minimizing the opportunities for red-ships to take advantage of her armor vices.
Can you activate the main-battery reload-boost and say "Surprise mother-<bleep>-er!" in French?  🙂 

The Gato?
You don't seem interested in the Gato, especially for Scenario Operations.
Moving along. 🙂

The Mecklenburg.
More gun barrels!  (But, they're even smaller and more cute.  "Awww.")
Decent top-speed.
She has Torpedoes, for those close-quarters encounters.
And a decent secondary-battery suite, too.
So, with all those "toys", what's not to like?
The "small HP pool", the turret traverse arcs, and the "low level of anti-torpedo protection".
This sporty, yet sometimes awkward, girl could use a bit of padding here & there, eh?  🙂 
Oh well.
Perhaps a player could work on their "just dodge" proficiency and live with it?
Personally, I can.  Though, the gun traverse arcs are occasionally annoying.
The Mecklenburg is a nice ship for those who like to keep life interesting.  🙂   

Good luck in your ship shopping decision process @RomaThePastaBote.  🙂 
 

I wish WG had something like test drive so I could give Bour a run in training room to test the dispersion, it is the biggest reason preventing me from serious comparing her with Mecklenburg, which I am slightly bias towards since I have captain and most of German trees grinded.

 

6 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Mecklenburg is kinda mid, not worth the steel imo. But then again in OPs it may be alright.

Plymouth is also mid, not worth the steel either.

Shikishima is just a better Yamato but who wants to spend steel on a slightly better TT ship.

Austin is very dakka dakka and can be very fun when the booster is up, I don't have it but it may work in OPs?

Bourgogne, very fast, MBRB and all that fun stuff. I haven't used it in OPs, I'll give it a try to see if it's worth it.

 

Immelman is a good CV but Agir is not worth it at all, no idea on the CV rework but if that's a concern for you I'd just stay away from CV entirely. 

 

When I think about OPs I think of ships with high DPM and the ability to citadel all those Azuma's and Yoshino's.

I also understand why Plymouth is rare, tier 8 survivability against tier 10 and supers is rough, the utilities seems nice but only smoke got use often in OPs somehow, radar to a lesser extent as outside of Cherry, and opening part of Frontier, I guess it is a pass on her. On the matter of rework, I am leaning towards getting one since no concrete days given and new 14.0 patch mentioned nothing either, so if I am lucky Immelmann can run wild in OPs for a month or two, before getting hammered by it. . .

4 hours ago, Arcus_Aesopi said:

Mecklenburg is awesome for Operations with 12.5 Km German secondaries and fast main guns.  You have to be careful with it, but it does excel in multi-target dd/cruiser situations.  I wouldn't go hard into a bunch of superships or big gun BBs, but she's solid. 

Bourgogne is a great all around ship especially for positioning, but secondaries are pretty important in Ops for racking up damage... these don't do a lot without fires.  Bots cheat, so they get to start fires and you don't so much 🙂 

IMHO

Good luck whatever your choice.

I also have plans for hybrid build as well, but having no hydro discourage me from going close and personal to utilise the secondary since it reduced to around 10km without the mod in 3rd slot.

4 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Personally, I'm curious about the proposed CV changes.  I figure the best way to stay informed is to monitor the devblogs.

As for the Agir, she's a ship I don't regret getting when she was available for 1 million FreeXP.
Nowadays, she's available for coal.

Compared with getting a CV, the Agir is a safer bet, I feel.
She's not over-powered, but does offer reasonable performance and a guns/torpedoes/sec-bat weapons suite.

My sole reason for Ägir as of now is just for the great aesthetic of the ship😅 

On why I want Immelmann is I do not have any carrier with skip bomb (well or any tier 10 CV for that matter, I researched Haku and Essex but 24mils credits upfront is a deep cut on my end since I struggle a lot with credit), so I kind of want to grab one to feel the new fresh wind in OPs.

 

Once again thank you all kindly for taking time casting your opinions, it seems that Mecklenburg got a big majority of thumbs up, it seems she will getting a ticket home, now I only need to wait 3 more days to knock that 600 steels in Christmas BP off so I can finally get enough steel

[OT2_2]

10 people = ten different opinions. That's how it is. Personally, I would choose Mecklenburg and Aegir. Love both and they are well suited for any game mode in WoW IMO. Aegir fully sec spected even retains her accuracy on the main guns! Aegir in this configuration gives most value for the money, and it's versatile. Mecklenburg as steel ship is utterly reliable with good armor, top accurate guns, torps and ok secondaries. 

[Taylor3006]

I tried using Austin & Agir on the PTS when they were testing high tier operations. The Austin can do well but the problem is with the Azumas that are found in so many ops. Their HE hits hard and you can lose a lot of health very quickly. IMHO it is just too frail. The Agir just can not put enough lead downrange fast enough to deal with the DDs you find in Cherry Blossom. If you division up with a faster firing cruiser to deal with those, you probably would be fine. I did have a pretty good game with her in Raptor Rescue where things are not so fast and furious. 

Honestly I don't see any steel ships that I want to play in operations other than Kommissar. Still on the fence whether I want another hybrid but from what I have seen in replays, she functions pretty well without using the planes for more than spotting. I really just hate the new FPS plane gameplay. Chikuma II may do well too but still getting a feel for her in co-op so not sure. 

Napoli is the king of cruisers for the mode. The new Spanish cruiser from the last Dockyard who's name I have forgotten, does remarkably well in my experience. She really smacks around the Azumas and Yoshinos found in Cherry Blossom, Aegis, and Raptor Rescue. Just avoid using the reload module that everyone seems to like and go for the faster turret traverse and range mod instead. Salem is great, just take hydro over radar. Prinz Eugen and Tirpitz still perform really well for me. They are some of my oldest premiums so maybe my familiarity with them clouds my judgement. 

 

Edited December 10, 2024 by Taylor3006

[RomaThePastaBote]

1 hour ago, OT2_2 said:

10 people = ten different opinions. That's how it is. Personally, I would choose Mecklenburg and Aegir. Love both and they are well suited for any game mode in WoW IMO. Aegir fully sec spected even retains her accuracy on the main guns! Aegir in this configuration gives most value for the money, and it's versatile. Mecklenburg as steel ship is utterly reliable with good armor, top accurate guns, torps and ok secondaries. 

I have never thought about full secondary Ägir, since most lot I met in matches advised against it, I have 2-3 18 points captains in German, I definitely give that a try out of curiosity if I ended up getting Ägir

1 hour ago, Taylor3006 said:

I tried using Austin & Agir on the PTS when they were testing high tier operations. The Austin can do well but the problem is with the Azumas that are found in so many ops. Their HE hits hard and you can lose a lot of health very quickly. IMHO it is just too frail. The Agir just can not put enough lead downrange fast enough to deal with the DDs you find in Cherry Blossom. If you division up with a faster firing cruiser to deal with those, you probably would be fine. I did have a pretty good game with her in Raptor Rescue where things are not so fast and furious. 

Honestly I don't see any steel ships that I want to play in operations other than Kommissar. Still on the fence whether I want another hybrid but from what I have seen in replays, she functions pretty well without using the planes for more than spotting. I really just hate the new FPS plane gameplay. Chikuma II may do well too but still getting a feel for her in co-op so not sure. 

Napoli is the king of cruisers for the mode. The new Spanish cruiser from the last Dockyard who's name I have forgotten, does remarkably well in my experience. She really smacks around the Azumas and Yoshinos found in Cherry Blossom, Aegis, and Raptor Rescue. Just avoid using the reload module that everyone seems to like and go for the faster turret traverse and range mod instead. Salem is great, just take hydro over radar. Prinz Eugen and Tirpitz still perform really well for me. They are some of my oldest premiums so maybe my familiarity with them clouds my judgement. 

 

I do not really mind of low DPM or bad accuracy, as long as I can keep throwing shell it is a good in my book. But since I always play PVE now, stats and effectiveness in battle are now delegate to secondary objective, behind distinctiveness between ships (compare to her nation, or ship in respective classes), and lastly fun factor.

[Taylor3006]

46 minutes ago, RomaThePastaBote said:

I do not really mind of low DPM or bad accuracy, as long as I can keep throwing shell it is a good in my book. But since I always play PVE now, stats and effectiveness in battle are now delegate to secondary objective, behind distinctiveness between ships (compare to her nation, or ship in respective classes), and lastly fun factor.

Well if that is the case, Chikuma II may be a good fit for a steel purchase. It is unusual, has a lot of tools and if you don't mind playing carriers/hybrids, you may consider her fun. I have been experimenting just playing her as a normal cruiser, using the planes to spot or find bots hidden by islands or smoke. She kind of reminds me of Atago only with smoke. One reason I rarely use IJN ships in Operations is because Captain Yamamoto's special talents can not be triggered in that mode unlike the other special captains. 

[RomaThePastaBote]

1 hour ago, Taylor3006 said:

Well if that is the case, Chikuma II may be a good fit for a steel purchase. It is unusual, has a lot of tools and if you don't mind playing carriers/hybrids, you may consider her fun. I have been experimenting just playing her as a normal cruiser, using the planes to spot or find bots hidden by islands or smoke. She kind of reminds me of Atago only with smoke. One reason I rarely use IJN ships in Operations is because Captain Yamamoto's special talents can not be triggered in that mode unlike the other special captains. 

I would love to get Chikuma or even Shimano if I was a little more well-off, I already scrapping the barrel for 24k steels🥲

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, RomaThePastaBote said:

I would love to get Chikuma or even Shimano if I was a little more well-off, I already scrapping the barrel for 24k steels🥲

If you have 24k steel, you can get the Chikuma-II during this "Steel Will" event in the Armory.
And the event provides one 15% coupon, so the price comes down to 22,100 units of steel with a coupon.

But, as you know, the "regular" steel ships in the Armory are more expensive.
At least we get a 25% coupon for those, a couple of times per year.

Edited to add:  I already have the Tone.  But, thanks to a video I saw the other day in another topic, I'm tempted.
Edited again to add a link to the relevant post.
https://www.devstrike.net/topic/5629-crate-boat-takes/#findComment-88440  

 

Edited December 10, 2024 by Wolfswetpaws

[Arcus_Aesopi]

1 hour ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

If you have 24k steel, you can get the Chikuma-II during this "Steel Will" event in the Armory.
And the event provides one 15% coupon, so the price comes down to 22,100 units of steel with a coupon.

But, as you know, the "regular" steel ships in the Armory are more expensive.
At least we get a 25% coupon for those, a couple of times per year.

Edited to add:  I already have the Tone.  But, thanks to a video I saw the other day in another topic, I'm tempted.
Edited again to add a link to the relevant post.
https://www.devstrike.net/topic/5629-crate-boat-takes/#findComment-88440  

 

Clearly, I mis-understood... I thought we HAD to whale crates until we got the  Chikuma II in the crate of the crate...  🙂

No... don't... just say no!

[Wolfswetpaws]

14 minutes ago, Arcus_Aesopi said:

Clearly, I mis-understood... I thought we HAD to whale crates until we got the  Chikuma II in the crate of the crate...  🙂

No... don't... just say no!

https://armory.worldofwarships.com/en/category/event_steel/  

Chikuma-II
https://armory.worldofwarships.com/en/category/event_steel/5000005248/  
 

[RomaThePastaBote]

2 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

If you have 24k steel, you can get the Chikuma-II during this "Steel Will" event in the Armory.
And the event provides one 15% coupon, so the price comes down to 22,100 units of steel with a coupon.

But, as you know, the "regular" steel ships in the Armory are more expensive.
At least we get a 25% coupon for those, a couple of times per year.

Edited to add:  I already have the Tone.  But, thanks to a video I saw the other day in another topic, I'm tempted.
Edited again to add a link to the relevant post.
https://www.devstrike.net/topic/5629-crate-boat-takes/#findComment-88440  

 

I never realise she is so cheap, my eyes glanced at two top boats and see the 36k price tags, got disappointed and walk my way back to coal section😅

[Arcus_Aesopi]

27 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

https://armory.worldofwarships.com/en/category/event_steel/  

Chikuma-II
https://armory.worldofwarships.com/en/category/event_steel/5000005248/  
 

I know...  the dangers of sarcasm.

[Wolfswetpaws]

14 minutes ago, Arcus_Aesopi said:

I know...  the dangers of sarcasm.

You're welcome.  😉 

[mashed68]

I choose Mecklenburg as my first [and only planned] steel ship.

Its different then colombo. Colombo is a shotgun spread of high caliber, harder hitting shells. Rear turrets are 360* which is awesome.

Mecklenburg is a much more accurate, softer hitting broadside of smaller caliber guns. It also has HE, colombo does not. And torps. 

 

[Wolfswetpaws]

On 12/9/2024 at 1:21 PM, RomaThePastaBote said:

"Buongiorno, it is me Roma with my  ..."

I decided to use the steel recently accumulated by harvesting seasonal "snowflakes" to welcome the IX Chikuma II , to my Port.
The ship was delivered by Commander Toru Yamashita (3 skill points) and accompanied by a port-slot.  
He will be sent back to Shipbuilder's City with thanks for a job well done.
With a 15% "Steel Will" armory event coupon, the price was 22,100 units of steel.

 
  
 

[UnrepentantSinner]

36 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

I decided to use the steel recently accumulated by harvesting seasonal "snowflakes" to welcome the IX Chikuma II , to my Port.
The ship was delivered by Commander Toru Yamashita (3 skill points) and accompanied by a port-slot.  
He will be sent back to Shipbuilder's City with thanks for a job well done.
With a 15% "Steel Will" armory event coupon, the price was 22,100 units of steel.

 
  
 

Congrats, good looking ship, let us know how you like her. 👍

[Wolfswetpaws]

5 minutes ago, UnrepentantSinner said:

Congrats, good looking ship, let us know how you like her. 👍

So far (one Co-op battle) she's fun to play.  🙂 

[CFagan_1987]

If your still looking for advice I'd suggest the Mecklenburg ... I love playing her in Ops.