[2021] A Barrage of Battleships

On a basic level, Battleships are the new-player friendliest class.

Cruisers can be out-detected and die quickly from armor that works in skilled hands but eats damage in non-skilled hands.


Destroyers have low health pools and are quickly killed when detected if helm'd by a new player


Carriers are a class which has a subset of the base audience due to their different playstyle/mechanics

Battleships have enough armor to not die easily, and big enough guns to hurt what they shoot at. It's a great class for a person who doesn't want to load into a game and shortly after be sent right back to port.

No, my response was about why you can see so many Battleships in a queue. They are less likely to get slaughtered while a newer player figures out ship handling and play patterns.

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I don't have any official reasoning to give as to why ASW is one way or the other. Subs are still in testing.

Conjecture would state that Battleship detection being so much larger than Cruisers means additional range is required for interacting against a Sub attacking from further distances. Further, Battleships are Capital Ships and known for carrying large guns that do large amounts of damage. The idea that they have powerful ASW is thematic under that line of logic.

The argument for Cruisers to hold the ASW specialty is interesting, as it could allow them to fit more of the consumable/variable roleset. However, Cruisers can get closer to subs before being detected (Air Detect Range is used for a Sub at Periscope Depth) and should be able to work with the medium ranged ASW given. That concept is in the Eye of the Beholder, however, and I'm not here to debate the merits of that discussion today.