[2022] 11/29/22 - New Player Captain’s Log: CM Anniversary

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.

With each topic I discuss, I also added a question at the end to see how y’all feel about things in comparison to how I feel. I just thought it would be an interesting way to get some discussion going!

Without further ado, let’s proceed with this week’s Log!

Focus Points of the Week
Here’s a list of the focus points for this week:

1. Continue to improve at submarine play starting at Tier VI

U-69
I spent a majority of my time this week playing the U-69, as I have a natural preference for the German submarine line as opposed to the US line. While the torpedoes themselves have less damage than the Cachalot, I really, really like that the range of pings/torpedoes is a full kilometer and a half longer. I vastly prefer to keep my distance in submarines and apply pressure where I can as opposed to sneaking around and trying to blap players from close range. This also allows me to be a bit more cautious when it comes to Destroyers and CVs who can easily put pressure on me when I use a ping, because distance allows me to submerge, turn and escape. All in all, it’s a very different playstyle, but one that I am enjoying quite a bit!

Question: Do you think that the range of the ping/torps for the U-69 is worth sacrificing reload, torp speed and damage among other things?

Cachalot
In matches where I was waiting for the U-69 to get freed up, I chose to keep the trend going by experimenting a bit more with the Cachalot as well. As I mentioned above, Cachalot has quite a reduced range for pings and torps, but it does have more damage, a better reload and faster torps among other benefits, so there are plenty of benefits to using this over the U-69. That being said, that 1.5km difference does significantly alter my playstyle, as I do feel that I am constantly in more danger than I normally would be in the U-69. It feels as though I am scrambling a bit more, but I think with some more experimenting and adjustments, I can find a similar amount of success as I do with the U-69.

Question: As the sub lines continue, do you prefer the German line or the US line in the upper tiers?

Anniversary
This is just an aside, but I wanted to let y’all know that today officially marks 1 year since I joined the company (I wasn’t announced to the public until just before Christmas, but I was working for a month before). It’s been a wonderful year, and I can’t wait to see how this game and community continues to grow! Here’s to many more!
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!

Ahh yes, I should have highlighted the concealment more in my posts about these subs. It is very true that the concealment is substantially better for the U- 69, which is nothing to gloss over. @ArIskandirbrings up a great point about the battery consumable too, which I didn't mention because I am still getting familiar with how to use these boats effectively. It is much appreciated!

Thank you both very much! I'm definitely feeling more confident with my play. Am I very good? Absolutely not. Am I significantly better than the day I started? Absolutely! One thing that hasn't changed is that I still find the game very difficult. There are a lot of values to remember (armor values across a ship, armament ranges, detectability ranges), positioning and angling is not always easy, and there are so many players that have a better understanding of these things. That being said, I get immense joy out of playing the game, and when I see success, nothing feels better. I'm also just very excited to see how the game itself will continue to grow and adjust over time now that I have a fundamental understanding of how things work.

Yup, one thing that attracts me to them is the survivability aspect, of course. The trade-off here is that one mistake is FAR more punishing than if I was in a BB, for instance.
However, I will NEVER get tired of hearing about deck gun kills, lmao.