[2022] 5/17/22 - New Player Captain’s Log: Hallo, Grosser Kurfurst

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 16!

Accomplishments
There’s a lot of similar things to last few weeks, but nonetheless, here’s a list of personal milestones that I hit during the week:

1. Played the German, Italian and French BB lines in Tiers 4-6
2. Purchased the Grosser Kurfurst with coal, marking my first coal purchase

Focus Points of the Week
Same refrain from previous weeks: my focus points for this week are largely the same, as I still want to put a lot of time into my play in lower to mid tiers before I move on to tackling higher tier play:

1. Continued exploration of the French and Italian lines, expanding to more BBs in both lines.
2. Development of strategy and skills in low to mid tiers.
3. Focused more on how each line is unique, and adjusted my play to fit their strengths.

Mid-Tier Play - French, Italian and German BBs
Ships: Bayern, D. Aligheri, Bretagne

Another week, more time spent with my beloved BBs. This time I focused more on one ship per nation in hopes to get a better sense of what makes each one unique and how to play them differently. For example, after feeling a bit validated about my understanding of Italian BBs acting as brawlers, I spent this week getting more into the thick of it whenever I played the Aligheri. Was I met with success every time? Certainly not. But with each death, a lesson comes. I played the Bayern as more of a tanky, mid-range ship. I did notice I received a considerable amount of fires, but I also survived more often than not. Lastly, I played the Bretagne with a little bit more range. I know her floaty guns make this a bit more difficult, but I believe as I move up the line, this will be a good way to play French BBs as a whole. I should say that since I am playing low-to-mid tiers, the differences between these lines don’t really shine. In my experience, you need to be playing at at least Tier 6 to really feel any distinct difference between lines. However, I think this is good practice for me in terms of gaining the general knowledge of how ships in specific lines are best operated.

My First Coal Ship - Grosser Kurfurst

This week, I finally saved up enough coal to make a significant purchase for the first time. Naturally, since I have a love for BBs, I decided to invest my coal into the ever popular Grosser Kurfurst! I took her out for a match or two (I am definitely NOT a Tier X player yet, so I didn’t want to push it too much) to see how she feels. I have to say, I think I understand why she is so popular! She has decent speed, decent turret movement, an incredible health pool and wonderful survivability. She also seems relatively versatile; I felt as though she would function well as a close-to-mid range brawler as well as a long range sniper depending on what I needed. The main downside that I saw with her is that she is huge, and thus is usually an easy target for those looking to farm that huge amount of HP. I am positive there are still a lot of nuances to her that I have yet to explore, but I am excited to have her in my arsenal nonetheless!

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!

You bring up some interesting points about the economics here. I have 1 Steel Camo that I have been trying to figure out where to put, and the GK might end up being the place it goes after reading this!

These are things I definitely was not aware of, but I think this comes along with the territory of playing at a higher level, which I definitely am not doing yet. I am going to be saving this knowledge for when I am ready to hover in the higher tiers regularly, so thank you!
Also, secondary specs you say? Hmm.

I'm a BB main! I don't usually get the luxury of turning on a dime!

I think I remember @Boggzytalking about some big gun sounds related to some Tier X battleship. I wonder if it was the GK? Might have been the Incomparable.

Yes!

When you put a skin or style on a ship like "Made of Steel", "Infernal", or "Bionic" - it will override the gun sounds to whatever the skin has. This is why the "Master of Waterworld" DD camos have the special sounds as well.

If you put a "Made of Steel" camo on the Incomparable or Shiki it will override the sweet 20-inch gun sounds. The same will happen for the GK's 420's if you put a skin or style on, but not an expendable camo.

I've been told the higher tier French BBs are very interesting and potentially very fun, so I am excited to keep growing to a point where I can use them!

Yup, already got talked off that ledge, thankfully!

Not at the moment, no. But it will be an interesting idea to keep in mind for the future once I am at that point.

These are WONDERFUL tips, actually. I have found that my most devastating games in French BBs so far have been when I have been victorious in more close-to-mid range combat. I'll be sure to focus on adjusting my aim in the future to focus more on pens.