War Thunder SHIPS - Anybody play and general points?

[Destraex]

I think it's time War Thunder Ships specifically, has it's own thread. The War Thunder thread is far too many pages to discuss shippy things properly amongst the noise. Additionally WTS get's very little press and has even fewer players than the main tank and aircraft game in war thunder. Further reason to consolidate and close ranks around this excellent war thunder module.

I have been playinmg a fair amount of warthunder ships myself lately to the point that two of us created a clan. However I believe you need a tonne of people in your clan to make these green researcheable ships progress relatively fast?

I have been loving pretty much all kinds of ship fights in war thunder, Destroyers are probably my favourite. The larger ships are new to me as I am into cruisers for the first time. Smaller PT boat and frigate types are also fun and even have their place in large battles with BBs. I love that.

Unfortunately most of my friends are still stuck on world of warships.

Dislikes and problems:
•   Looks like rudder control is about holding a key down until your finger goes blue. Alternately using an anologue control may be a fix. I am thinking of mapping my rudder to a hotas throttle dial. EDIT: Just mapped this to a dial on my throttle.
•   Holding c down until your finger goes blue to look around without changing where your guns are looking. Again this is probably going to have to be a throttle tweak. EDIT: Just mapped this to a mouse key. Probably work on making this a toggle rather than having to hold the button down
•   I'd like some maps to start with a bit of sailing and orientation time. Most games I join people are firing at each other from spawn to spawn.
•   It's grindy. But I enjoy the game so thst is not a problem
•   The whole war thunder interface seems like a casino kinda setup
•   Not a huge fan of having modern stuff mixed with ww1/2 stuff. But it's not a huge deal like it is with the tanks. You don't really notice until you see a guided missile streaking towards you. Which is rare.

General questions:
•   I think the ships in war thunder are to scale. But can anybody confirm that they are?
•   Is the ships playerbase growing? I know world of warships is slowly losing its plsyerbase.

The good:
•   warthunder generally does everything world of warships did but better.
•   The more realistic aiming system
•   Torpedoes are more a long gsme or an emergency fire game than in wows. In wows torpedoes were too fast and too much like laser beams.
•   I like that all ship types at all levels are in together
•   Respawn mechanic is ace
•   War thunder ships has a huge variety of unique mechanics. Rocket mortars, mines, radar, towing, buddy repair help.
•   War Thunder client is on steam like wows was.
• An absolute tonne of insane detail including being able to look at your ships armour in dock and move the cursor around after choosing enemy round types to see what different angles with that shell at different ranges do.
• A very detauled graphical and damage model compared to WOWS. Including showing the sailors on deck.
• Weather effects that make ships roll and smoke drift in wierd and wonderful ways. So many other things. I would not be surprised if tides and current are modelled but I don't think so.
• Some actual battleships in the line up now.
• Ammunition being carried to ready racks during down time
• Being able to take out components that are not just by chance % that wows has.
•  Individual left and right engine control if you want it.
• Maximum friends group for a game is 4 instead of 3 in WOWS I think
•

So what I am wondering is if anybody else plays war thunder ships. I am pretty sure I saw Silentapprovalrobot say that he is enjoying it. I am of the opinion that it is the best multiplayer ship game around. Not that we have many choices.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

There was a big spike in naval players, but I'm sure 90+% of these new players were only there for the U-Boat vs destroyers event.

Blue water navy matches seem to be more populated but there's still the problem with eagle-farming bots.  High tier navy is supposedly the best way to generate in-game currency in the war thunder economy so people just use a bot to throw a ship in.  It auto targets the nearest ship and just goes in one direction, firing its big guns til it dies.

Makes you a massive target if you're the 1st to spawn in.  Gaijin did a shitty thing to "fix" this.  If you wait to spawn, it puts you at rhe front of the pack so you become the new priority target.

Mid tier coastal navy is still my fave.  Zipping around in high speed gunboats is a blast.  At least, I think so.  Not many others do as most matches are 2/3rds ai players.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

As for scale.  I dunno if it's accurate but it seems so. 

Back before they separated coastal and blue water forces, I'd sometimes be able to sneak up alongside a heavy cruiser while in my tiny little 78' Vospers torpedo boat and drop a string of depth charges alongside their hull.

The things seemed absolutely massive in comparison.  Kinda like the opening scene in Star Wars when the star destroyer flies past.

Back to the player-base.  I'm not sure, but I think players tend to prefer the Enduring Conflict battles over the quick matches.  I suspect it's because it's easier to farm achievements there to unlock event giveaways. 

I tend to avoid the enduring conflict stuff as I always seem to join at the wrong time and get dropped in the middle of a circular firing squad because the enemy has camped the spawn.

I'd like to see more historical battle events rather than random grab bags of mixed nations.

I was playing with a group who did historical stuff.  Mostly night actions in the Med between Royal Navy, Kriegsmarine, and Italians.  It was a lot of fun and very intense. Tracer effects at night are pretty overwhelming.  Sadly, the guy who did all the heavy lifting in creating and organizing the matches has stopped playing die to stupid real life commitments.

[Destraex]

There was a big spike in naval players, but I'm sure 90+% of these new players were only there for the U-Boat vs destroyers event.

Blue water navy matches seem to be more populated but there's still the problem with eagle-farming bots.  High tier navy is supposedly the best way to generate in-game currency in the war thunder economy so people just use a bot to throw a ship in.  It auto targets the nearest ship and just goes in one direction, firing its big guns til it dies.

Makes you a massive target if you're the 1st to spawn in.  Gaijin did a shitty thing to "fix" this.  If you wait to spawn, it puts you at rhe front of the pack so you become the new priority target.

Mid tier coastal navy is still my fave.  Zipping around in high speed gunboats is a blast.  At least, I think so.  Not many others do as most matches are 2/3rds ai players.

I had no idea about most of that. I do like coastal boats but am more interested in the larger vessels. Not many people playing that mode unless you hit the right time of day. That might be because I never choose anything but realistic mode.

[Destraex]

As for scale.  I dunno but it seems so. 

Back before they separated coastal and blue wager forces, I'd sometimes be able to sneak up alongside a heavy cruiser while in my tiny little 78' Vospers torpedo boat and drop a string of depth charges alongside their hull.

The things seemed absolutely massive in comparison.  Kinda like the opening scene in Star Wars when the star destroyer flies past.

Back to the player-base.  I'm not sure, but I think players tend to prefer the Enduring Conflict battles over the quick matches.  I suspect ots because it's easier to farm achievements there to unlock event giveaways. 

I tend to avoid the enduring conflict stuff as I always seem to join at the wrong time and get dropped in the middle of a circular firing squad because the enemy has camped the spawn.

I'd like to see more historical battle events rather than random grab bags of mixed nations.

I was playing with a group who fid historical stuff.  Mostly night actions in the Med between Royal Navy, Kriegsmarine, and Italians.  It was a lot of fun and very intense. Tracer effects at night are pretty overwhelming.  Sadly, the guy who did all the heavy lifting in creating and organizing the matches has stopped playing die to stupid real life commitments.

I don't think I have tried any of that. Will have to take a look.

I think the scale is about right. If it is then it really will teach me a bunch about ship sizes, freeboard and such.

[Destraex]

Just unlocked this bad boy. It's the first time I have really felt slow and vulnerable. Big guns for a cruiser though.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Nice.

I'm working on the last upgrades for the Hood then I'll have completed the Royal Navy tree.

Working on the 5.7 ranking Italians too.

[Dammit Carl!]

I'm so out-of-date with Warthunder in general that every time I log into it, I just futz around with my stuff and wind up flying some low tier matches before logging off.

Still, love the gameplay moreso than Wargaming's offerings, so I know I'll wander back over to WT some day.

[Destraex]

Nice.

I'm working on the last upgrades for the Hood then I'll have completed the Royal Navy tree.

Working on the 5.7 ranking Italians too.

Very nice. I think I "will" prefer battleships when I get that far up the tree. But I was already too far down the line so battlecruisers it is. I hope the Hood is not as unlucky as the real one was.

[Destraex]

I'm so out-of-date with Warthunder in general that every time I log into it, I just futz around with my stuff and wind up flying some low tier matches before logging off.

Still, love the gameplay moreso than Wargaming's offerings, so I know I'll wander back over to WT some day.

Have you ever played the ships in war thunder Carl?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Nice.

I'm working on the last upgrades for the Hood then I'll have completed the Royal Navy tree.

Working on the 5.7 ranking Italians too.

Very nice. I think I "will" prefer battleships when I get that far up the tree. But I was already too far down the line so battlecruisers it is. I hope the Hood is not as unlucky as the real one was.

I've been one-shotted more than a few times.  Just have to take about a 40% ammo load

[Dammit Carl!]

Have you ever played the ships in war thunder Carl?

Sort of.  Last time I touched WT naval items was when the "patrol boat," stuff came out and then for just a little bit.  Think my thinking at the time was that I had time invested in WoWs (beta tester and all of that) so I was more concerned with that grind.  Then my gaming ADD kicked in and tra-la-la there I go elsewhere...

[Destraex]

Nice.

I'm working on the last upgrades for the Hood then I'll have completed the Royal Navy tree.

Working on the 5.7 ranking Italians too.

Very nice. I think I "will" prefer battleships when I get that far up the tree. But I was already too far down the line so battlecruisers it is. I hope the Hood is not as unlucky as the real one was.

I've been one-shotted more than a few times.  Just have to take about a 40% ammo load

Thanks for the tip. I had no idea taking less ammo made you less vulnerable to ammo racking. I'd imagine in real life that even 40% ammo is enough to have a similar effect to 100% ammo load if you get hit in the magazine. But I guess the magazine might withstand the explosion of less ammo if it is protected enough. I would be interested in the naval thinking of the time on this subject, not that any captain in his right mind would actually take less shells on any mission due to the uncertainty of how long you will be out of port and how many engagements you will be in.

P.S. These British ships seem to have an absolute tonne of freeboard (they are tall making them suitable to heavy seas) compared to other ships. I know British ships were designed for the North Atlantic, but were they really so much taller than their contemporaries? I am still interested in confirming the scale thing.

[Destraex]

Have you ever played the ships in war thunder Carl?

Sort of.  Last time I touched WT naval items was when the "patrol boat," stuff came out and then for just a little bit.  Think my thinking at the time was that I had time invested in WoWs (beta tester and all of that) so I was more concerned with that grind.  Then my gaming ADD kicked in and tra-la-la there I go elsewhere...

War Thunder now allows you to skip all the coastal craft and start directly down a "blue water" tree. So if you don't want to play small ships you can go straight to large ones now. I also last looked at war thunder ships when it was primarily small boats. But that was a good thing because I have a fair few to throw into my blue water fleet line ups. Small boats are useful for capping points clandestinely. I also generally have an aircraft in my line up for laughs but am yet to bother looking into what speed and height to drop a torpedoe from because I get show down so easily in them... AA fire is rightfully heavy with so many ships below.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Yeah, flying an aircraft in naval battles is a risky affair.  Floatplanes are good for grabbing points and heavy bombers like the Lancaster are good for one-shotting battleships but you need to stay above 4000m.   Nothing is quite as satisfying as landing a 12,000 lb bomb on the deck of the Arizona though.