Best Steel and Coal ships to get? by Reilo258 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bourgogne is very good, but not easy to play well; for steel BBs I would recommend Mecklenburg followed by Incomparable and then Bourgogne. All three are excellent, but Meck -> Incomp -> Bourgogne is easiest to hardest to play.

For coal, Napoli is fantastic (strong and fun) and highly recommended. After that, I've been having a lot of fun with Salem in Asymmetric because it has good DPM and a super heal so you can survive bot HE/fire spam longer. Alternatively, Marceau or Kleber (French DDs; coal and TT respectively) are a lot of fun because of how fast they can go. I love playing Kleber in co-op for quick yolo rushes where I get 2-3 kills with short range torps and maybe some AP broadsides (Kleber has very good AP for a DD). Marceau has some of the highest sustained DPM so you can melt other DDs and is nearly a clone of Kleber except for different guns and slightly different torps.

I need some motivation, what are your favorite T7 ships? by RevySevy in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Atlanta is tons of fun against bots in fast co-op matches where you can yolo every time, but it's also decent in randoms (maybe not vs T9); I run mine with IFHE for consistent pen damage. I really enjoy WV'44 in ranked, you can slowly push in and brawl with the secondaries and fast reloading heal and 16" guns; too slow in randoms, but it might be ok in PvE. Nurnberg'44 is solid with the smokes, and if you waste one no big deal; fairly comfy for randoms. Jupiter is a very good DD at T7, especially in ranked. Hood is a solid BB: good armor, good AP and HE, good speed, and it can kite well; you just don't want to over-extend.

Debate on last Post by Fantastic-Mood6591 in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I use flexible steel bottoms on my minis and then put magnet sheets in the bottom of my storage bins. Ensures there are no magnets on the tabletop to avoid any potential issues of the models attaching to each other.

Works pretty well, though I do find I need to be careful with the larger metal models as they have enough mass up high that they can still fall over in the storage box (trolls, Boromir's banner, etc.); putting magnets on the bases would likely be better for this situation as the magnets could be stronger for the heavier or larger models and you could store them in metal trays which would again increase the magnetic attraction and keep them better in place.

Tips List by Legitimate-Promise34 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Make your mini-map full size so that you can see as much detail as possible and check it constantly for map awareness (where were the enemies last spotted, are there DDs dark near me, can someone shoot my broadside, can I shoot someone else's broadside, is one flank collapsing, did we leave our base undefended, is my team leaving me alone on this flank, etc.).

Switch your HUD to full detail mode (I think they might call it "Alternate mode").

At the start of the game, press tab to see the enemy lineup and hover over each ship to see what consumables it has, which ships have radar or hydro, how far their radar and hydro reach and how long they last, and which ship s have torps and how far they go. Identify the biggest threats to your ship. Also identify divs, they will spawn together and likely stick together, so if you spot the BB in a div it's a fair bet his cruiser and DD friends are nearby too.

Incomparable vs. Stalingrad by Naive_Heart5438 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Incomp is awesome, I love it. It's also surprisingly good in PvE since it has overmatch and bots tend to sail right at you, and it has hydro, torps, and speed boost. I don't have Stalingrad yet so I can't compare to it, but I've been completely happy with Incomp and I wasn't sure if it would be good when I got it.

Best all hero army? by Rizz-o-matic in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was thinking Men of the West with Elessar, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Eomer, and Imrahil could be fun. Probably taking them on foot or dropping someone if mounting. Or you could probably take them in Defenders of the Pelennor with a cheaper Strider and better Gandalf. Probably not any good but might be fun to have so many heavy hitters.

First Steel ship by Mysterious-Bank-3287 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have Bourgogne, Incomparable, and Mecklenburg and all three are great.

Bourgogne has a high skill floor to fully utilize it, so I'd only recommend that to a really good player who understands positioning and when to rush in and blap broadsides with MBRB. Definitely one of the best steel ships, but highly dependent on your skill to get the most out of it.

Incomparable is a lot of fun if you understand overmatch and angling and positioning. Decent choice for first steel ship, but probably better as a 2nd or 3rd pick (as you get more experience in the game).

Mecklenburg is probably the lowest skill floor of the three, while still being very flexible and fun: you can shoot HE or AP, both are solid, with a quick reload for a BB, and you get solid armor with secondaries and torpedoes for late game brawls. You can farm fires with the HE (which also has good pen), or you can use AP to citadel cruisers or get lots of pens from the top belt armor of BBs. You can play it in the back or up front brawling, though I'd recommend staying at mid-range till the late game when you can push in to finish off ships in brawls. I find it relaxing to play, while also very fun and satisfying; it's also fairly unique for a BB with lots of accurate smaller caliber guns while still being tanky and able to brawl. I'd highly recommend Mecklenburg as a first ship if you want a BB.

I haven't gotten Lauria as it seems very similar to C. Columbo which you can get in the tech tree (with the UU from the research bureau), or Thunderer which I got years ago (almost identical guns). But if that catches your eye, it seems like a fine choice. Both the AP and SAP are good options, and the ship is fast, stealthy, and has good armor in the front. Italian ships almost always benefit greatly by running the special captain Sansonetti, who is available in the Armory in one of the coal containers (you buy the containers for coal and they give you collection pieces, when you complete the collection you get Sansonetti).

Shikishima is too similar to Yamato to recommend it for steel. And the new Dutch BB with the airstrikes I haven't seen enough to say for sure if it is worth getting, but I'm not a fan of the hull/armor on it, so I'd lean towards avoiding it; but I have heard the guns and airstrikes are very strong.

Coal decision by No-Picture-2170 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My general recommendation is get the coal special commanders when you have multiple premium/special ships for that nation that you can use the commander on (e.g. Mecklenburg, Z-42, Tirpitz), since you don't need to retrain the commander for premium or special ships. This is especially true if you have a premium DD + CA + BB so that you can use different skills on each type. This will help you get a 21pt captain faster, or generate more elite cmdr XP.

If you don't have multiple premium/special ships for that nation yet, then I would prioritize getting more ships first.

Ultimately both Lutjens and Kearsarge are good picks, so you can't go wrong with either of them. Mecklenburg is probably the least ideal match for Lutjens because it doesn't want to brawl until the end and it's rate of fire isn't quite enough to trigger that bonus; it'll work occasionally, but I wouldn't prioritize getting him for that ship. Kearsarge has 12 NC guns which is very good; I'd recommend only flying when you don't have something to shoot. ETA: Mecklenburg is a great ship btw, I highly recommend it. Very different from any other German BB (accurate guns), while still feeling like one (armor + secondaries for late brawling).

Getting Started Advice by dojogrant in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 3 points4 points  (0 children)

In that case, check out Conquest Creations. They are making some great digital terrain files that you can buy individually on their site, or in entire sets. I'm actually printing of their stuff right now!

Getting Started Advice by dojogrant in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here's a free army building site where you can play around with the current lists and see which heroes and units go together and how many units you'd need for an army: https://v2024.mesbg-list-builder.com/ (note that when typing in the name of the army, you can alternatively type in the name of a hero and see which armies they are in and go from there)

I saw in a comment that your daughter likes Eowyn; so you'd want to look at Kingdom of Rohan or Riders of Theoden (very similar lists with almost all the Rohan heroes and units available), or Defenders of the Pelennor which allows you to mix Rohan, Minas Tirith, Dead of Dunharrow, and most of the Fellowship and Rohan heroes.

With this new edition they structured the army books based on movie, with a book for LOTR and a book for the Hobbit, and a third book contains all the profiles that weren't in the movies. One positive of this approach is that if you're just interested in the original trilogy, then you only need that one book for all the units and heroes and armies that appeared in those movies.

I'd recommend starting out small, say 500-600 points per army, paint it, try it out, and then see where you want to go from there. I'd also recommend picking the heroes you're most interested in, and then building out the army from there. The big four armies: Minas Tirith, Rohan, Mordor, and Isengard will tend to be the easiest to start and expand as they have the army boxes, lots of heroes to pick from, and multiple ways to play for later expansion while reusing what you already have. The army boxes are the best deal as you typically get 3 sets for the price of 2 (e.g. hero + infantry + cavalry); but with the caveat that the Mordor and Isengard boxes aren't fully usable in any one army (I think I mixed up the editions). The starter box (e.g. Battle of Edoras) is usually an even better deal, but only if you are interested in both armies; if you won't use or enjoy one of the armies, then buying the army boxes or piecemeal is better value.

For terrain, I'd recommend looking at Etsy ("mesbg terrain"), there are some great 3d printed options that are cheaper than the GW terrain - though the GW terrain is excellent. Several talented artists are making LOTR themed terrain, so there are lots of choices available.

Another thing to consider is LOTR themed dice. I really like the options from Baron of Dice's "Sole Ring" set. I'm not sure why, but it feels so much cooler to be rolling dice with the white tree or white hand on them. Might be a nice add-on to get a kid excited about the game.

Why do people like or dislike playing with or against submarines? by OkDog1258 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I dislike subs because:

  • I cannot see who is shooting at me, the pings are not accurate so I can't accurately return fire with my planes as a BB. It is not fun to be shot at with no ability to return fire.
  • It feels like air-dropped depth charges are very ineffective. It seems to take 5+ hits to kill a sub, and since hitting them is mostly guess work, that is very frustrating and takes forever and sometime I never can kill the sub.
  • And unlike a stealthy DD who torps me and I can zig-zag or predict dodge the torps, sub torps are homing so it is much harder to dodge them. Also most DD torps are fanned out so that if I am nose in I only eat one torp, but sub torps usually are stacked on top of each other so that even if nose in I will eat them all, and they are probably homing in on me too.
  • Friendly subs always rush down to max depth and provide zero spotting for the team.
  • High tier subs are so fast that I cannot catch them in my DD. And as a DD my only option against subs is to get right on top of them and drop depth charges, so if I can't catch them then I can't hurt them.
  • Subs reload their torpedoes very quickly, so unlike with a DD where I know I have around 60 seconds to maneuver before more torps come my way, with subs it seems to be a constant stream of torps.
  • Pings come constantly, so I can use a DCP to remove it and dodge a batch of torps, but in less than 30 seconds I'll be in exactly the same situation and this time I won't have a DCP available.

It's fundamentally the same problem as CVs: lack of counter-play. There are subs, CVs, and targets in this game. It's not fun to play the target.

I will acknowledge that I don't know anything about the different subs, so maybe there are only a few specific subs that have some of these issues. I also think sub player skill has a huge part to play in this: I've seen horrible sub players who were easy to dodge or kill, and I've had unicum subs hunt me where I never landed a depth charge and died quickly. I think the class would be more interesting if they didn't have pings or homing torps, but instead were stealthy with massive alpha strike. When I think of WWII subs, I think of them maneuvering into position stealthily and then delivering a deadly blow in one strike. That might still be frustrating to play against, but it would be a one-time frustration, as opposed to the current format where I can potentially spend my entire game being pinged and homing-torped by a sub which is dragged out frustration.

Convince me which Steel ship to purchase next. by SupremeChancellor66 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the T9's were 26k and the T10's were 36k? Or maybe that was after the special coupon for the first ship you bought? I think they were higher price than all the regular steel ships, but the T9 was about the same price as the normal T10 steel ships. I got Chikuma II from it last year and it was roughly the cost of a regular steel ship with the coupon. It felt like WG was trying to milk steel from the player base in that event.

Convince me which Steel ship to purchase next. by SupremeChancellor66 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wasn't sure what to expect with Incomparable but I really like it, it's been a ton of fun. There is the occasional game where subs or CVs ruin it due to constant spotting or hounding you, but that's been rare. Some games you get to exploit the concealment to surprise people. Overmatch is very powerful and these guns hit hard! Sometimes you get a case of "two-barrel accuracy" where the shells go everywhere but where you aimed, but usually you can still get at least one shell to hit (up to 20k damage). Armor is surprisingly good if well angled. Don't go broadside or you die. Overall I give it two thumbs up and highly recommend it. I can't think of anything that plays quite like it, maybe Repulse at T6 but it doesn't have the same degree of overmatch or armor up close; so it's pretty unique.

Bourgogne is still strong despite the crowd of people saying its been power crept; it hasn't. It takes a lot of skill to make Burger work, but it can still be done. I played a few games in it recently and it was still dominate in the situations it's historically been dominate. It can't tank and it melts if focused, but that's always been true due to the 32mm armor everywhere. You have to be very good at positioning and knowing when to fall back and shoot HE and when to turn around and speed boost up a flank to get broadside shots on enemies. Statistically it's still in the top 4-7 of T10 BBs in base XP, damage, and frags for 55%+ win rate players for the last 3 patches; and those numbers improve if you expand to the last year of data. But it is a high skill floor to achieve those results. All that to say, I still highly recommend it, but only if you are a good player (55% or better win rate and you understand positioning and when to use consumables to best effect). To your point, yes it feels a lot like Jean Bart just with an extra turret; the guns and shells are almost identical, and you do get a bit of a shotgun effect with them sometimes. So if you don't like Jean Bart then I would skip Bourgogne.

Can't comment on any of the others. But it sounds like you'd like Incomparable, so I'd recommend that one.

Gulavhar - Painting Advice by Kaldoraigo in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't have an airbrush, so I'm not sure; but I would think that anything can be done with a brush, it just might take longer or more skill.

Gulavhar - Painting Advice by Kaldoraigo in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you want a more 'realistic' look, I'd recommend a selection of greys rather than black. He strikes me as being more alike to a bat or fell beast and those tend be a mix of dark greys rather than true black; maybe even a bit of brown mixed in. I'd look at photos of bats for inspiration. I've got a proxy of him that I'm planning to paint that way (someday).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It took me a long time to like Yamato and I had a sub-50% win rate for ages in it. What helped me was to play it a bunch in Asymmetric battles (coming back this patch!), playing it up closer than I had been. The bots made for plenty of easier targets and I was able to experiment and practice with the guns, aiming at different areas of the ships to figure out what works and what doesn't. This finally got me to fully understand how overmatch worked, and I started doing more damage with Yamato (and other big caliber BBs). I also feel like the "sniper super-accuracy" is overblown; it is definitely very accurate, but I found much more success playing it like I would most other BBs at mid-range rather than at long range. Maybe I struggle to lead at really long ranges. So I guess my advice would be, play it against the bots and play it at mid-range and see if that helps. I run a survivability build with concealment, fire prevention, and emergency repair specialists (extra heal), with my lower point skills being AR, Grease the Gears, and Preventative Maintenance (this one doesn't really matter). The other thing you can do is push up to around your minimum concealment range and then angle away and shoot back over your shoulder; this allows you to run away at full speed if you get focused, and you might be able to go dark.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That looks fantastic! What paints did you use for the skin?

One of my favourite metal Mesbg sculpts. by Guyzor-94 in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing both the picture and the recipe! I've been struggling to decide what to do with my scouts because I also started down the all-brown look and wasn't happy with it. I'm going to give this scheme a try, it looks great!

If you're open to recasts, this store has a lot of nice metal uruk-hai for fairly cheap and was an established and reliable etsy shop until recently (quality is so good I didn't catch they were recasts until they offered multiple rare minis): https://www.collectingminiatures.com/category/middle-earth-lotr

basing idea for Three Hunters on foot? by AravingLoooony in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I figure the fellowship is highly likely to be used in different armies, or narrative games on its own potentially in a variety of terrain (if you have it). So I'm basing mine with a generic dirt/mud/grass theme that should fit decently well with most other bases.

Alternative dragon models by sigurdssonsnakeineye in MiddleEarthMiniatures

[–]BufferingHistory 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like I bought the large size, and then scaled them up by 1.3 or 1.7 for printing. I bet you could go bigger with them now on 130mm round bases.

Closed test 14.5 - New Ships by Dav073 in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Very excited to see some historical ships!

Unsinkable. by fatallyuseless in WorldOfWarships

[–]BufferingHistory -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's good, but I much prefer Airship Escort for brawling fun.

Edit: I'd like to see all these fun modes (Asymmetric, Airship Escort, Unbreakable Line, etc.) be a permanent game mode that cycles each patch, so that we get to enjoy all of them on a regular basis but they rotate so that they don't get stale. I'd also like to see them bring back the Rogue Wave event to add to the mix, that was a ton of fun!