[2022] 6/14/22 - New Player Captain’s Log: The Count of Montecuccoli

Greetings Captains,

Welcome to this week’s edition of the New Player Captain's Log! For those of you who aren't sure what this is or what it might do, feel free to check out the introductory post here.

Without further ado, let’s proceed with Week 20!

Accomplishments
Here’s a list of personal milestones that I hit during the week:

1. Spent most of my time playing a class other than Battleships
2. Unlocked the Montecuccoli and the Trento

Focus Points of the Week
I had just one very simple focus point for this week:

1. Work on general cruiser strategies with Ahskance
2. Continue to improve on Italian cruisers

Improving with Italian Cruisers Ships: Giussano, Montecuccoli, Trento

As I continue to hover in these middle tiers, it seems like a good idea for me to branch out and start to learn and understand non-Battleship classes better. With this in mind, I turned my attention fully toward cruisers. I chose to experiment with Italian cruisers specifically, as I have had some fun in the lower tier Italian cruisers in the previous weeks, and I am particularly enjoying SAP’s uses and capabilities. Throughout the week’s matches, I progressed from the Giussano to the Montecuccoli and even to the Trento, albeit for only a few matches.

Surprising no one, I started to struggle a bit as I climbed the ladder into Tiers V and VI. Just like with BBs, I found that I was punished a lot more for poor decision-making as it relates to positioning and pushing. I can still very clearly see where I have improved (especially when it comes to aiming/leading), but it did feel like I took one step backwards at times. Due to this, I decided to reach out to Ahskance to see if he could give me a few general tips as to how I should be playing these Italian cruisers.

Ahskance gave me a really nice breakdown of the armor schemes of the ships I was using, and how that relates to how I need to angle myself when in game. After that, we divisioned up for a few matches where he gave me some more specific direction on where I could position myself on the map to be most effective. It certainly gave me a lot more insight into my role when I am playing a cruiser, and I am excited to take this into next week to see if I see any notable improvements.

I think that about covers it this week! I want to remind everyone that the New Player Captain’s Log is also designed to be a place for new players to reply with their experiences or seek advice as well, so feel free to join in on the conversation below!

See you next week for some more New Player musings. Fair winds and following seas!

Yup, this is exactly my strategy as of now. I am not doing anyone any favors by playing at higher tiers when I don't know the strategies to do so. I'm enjoying broadening my horizons in the middle tiers quite a bit.

This is really good advice that a few people have shared with me, actually. PT seems to be a really good thing to take for someone who is starting out (like me). As people continue to learn and grow, it obviously will become less important to take. But for now, it does seem to be useful!

Agreed! I learned so much about the use of SAP by simply analyzing armor schemes at the tiers I am focusing on. Don't get me wrong, it is a lot to remember. But there are still some general use tips that can be applied at large once you understand how your armor and the armor of your competitors works.

This is definitely important to highlight. How it was framed to me is that due to the fact that you can easily get spotted in smoke when firing, the smoke can be used more for emergency getaways and large turns that leave you exposed. I tend to favor gunboats over torpboats anyways, so I wasn't in the mind to get close and smoke up anyways.

The Venezia is definitely the appealing carrot dangling at the end of this line for me, lol.