[2022] 7/19/22 - New Player Captain’s Log: Oh my Lanta!

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!

Also, I just wanted to give a special shoutout to my dad, as today is his birthday! Happy birthday, konDad!

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

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

1. Tried out a few more ships I had no experience with prior
2. Achieved 5 stars on the Newport operation on 2 different ships
Focus Points of the Week
Here’s a list of the focus points for this week:

1. Explore ships that I had no experience with.
2. Played more PvE modes such as Operations and Co-op Battles
3. Played more CV at Tier 6.

Similar to last week, I am going to talk about the specific ships that I focused on during the week as opposed to the individual events or topics.

Atlanta
I was able to get my hands on an Atlanta for the first time this week, and WOW was I over my head right away lol. I chose to take her out in Co-op first to get a feel for how she operates and I had almost no impact on the game. I figured that could be an outlier, since I chose not to rush in and purposefully played more conservatively to get my bearings. I loaded up another co-op match, and not too much changed. I tried to get a bit closer this time and while that did up my damage output a bit, I was getting punished for it and retreated. I then made the stupid decision to try it in Randoms, thinking that I may have a little more success when players aren’t wiping out the bots quite as fast. I survived much of the match (somehow) but did a whopping 0 damage to enemy ships. The only thing I did was shoot down 10 planes. For the life of me, I just couldn’t figure out if I should play her at range (due to the lack of armor/sustainability), or play things a bit closer (due to floaty guns, combo of hydro and radar, and short range torps). Either way, I was just not making an impact and chose to put her away for another day.

Question: Do you choose to play the Atlanta more at range or up close?

Ark Royal
To switch things up somewhat, I chose to focus a bit more on CV play this week. My CV of choice was the Ark Royal, as that seemed to be a ship I was seeing somewhat frequently when hovering around in the middle tiers. I started out as I usually do, exploring her capabilities in Co-op. From my perspective, she seemed to be pretty standard with other CVs I have played (mainly just Langley and Ranger) with the exception that her bombs seemed to have a higher dropping speed/efficacy. I know this is probably just a perception thing, but this made me enjoy her quite a bit! From Co-op, I went ahead and ran her through the Operation of the week, Naval Station Newport. My team of random players were able to 5-star it with ease, and I enjoyed the opportunity to practice my aim and lead time on ships that mainly sail straight at you. Finally, I ran her through a few Randoms. Players definitely have a better ability to dodge, but I still had some success with torps and bombs. I’m looking forward to practicing a bit more with CVs, and the Ark Royal might be my go to around T6 (at least for CVs that I currently own).

Question: If you were to play a T6 CV, what would be your first choice?

Repulse
Finally, I was yearning to play a beloved BB, but I wanted to take something out that was a little bit different than normal. Repulse seemed to fit the bill as she’s basically a Battlecruiser, so I took her out in a few Co-op matches as well as another round of Naval Station Newport. I just think she’s a lot of fun! Don’t get me wrong, she definitely has a high-risk, high-reward type feel. She’s speedy and maneuverable as well as decently accurate, but open up to the wrong enemy and you’ll get deleted before you can get a heal off. Since I was tired of dying due to my Atlanta experience, I stuck a little more to PvE with Repulse and had a great time. I was even able to 5-star Newport on my first go, albeit I wasn’t much use (I spilled my drink all over myself during the match). I think I’d like to take her into Randoms sometime soon to see how I fare. Playing her definitely makes me more cognizant of my position and angle, but I am curious if it will make me play things a bit too safe (as I tend to do).

Question: What is your favorite ship that you received from a Dockyard event?

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!

Oh nice, didn't expect that one as much! What about her do you like, if I may ask?

This is definitely an interesting idea. I'll be sure to pass it up the chain!

I'm glad you said this, because I was really hoping that she was a difficult ship to use for a newbie. I was feeling a little bit like I took a fundamental step back when playing her, so this is somewhat encouraging to hear. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on Flint/Chumphon in the future and see if my experience changes.

My poor spelling has once again been found!

Ooh now that you mention it, I have heard really good things about the Bearn. Not so much the Weser, but I will have to try her out sometime once I have her.

Another recommendation for the Weser! Good to see. :)
Loewenhardt is one I have seen around a good amount, but the Furious is an interesting one. I haven't had a lot of personal experience with her, but your description sounds very interesting.

Yeah I really like how T6 really feels like ships as a whole start to get some distinct flavor. I also agree that Ark Royal feels like a nice "intro to T6" CV, but I can also see how she might be a bit slow. I have only used slower CVs thus far, so I probably didn't notice at the time, haha.

Yeah! I did a lot of strings of operations earlier this year (Newport being one of them). I really enjoy ops! I find myself going back to them frequently regardless of what the Op of the Week is.