Saturday 25 April 2015

The first one hundred battles.






Well now, I wasn't expecting that at all. Although I am not known to keep a very close eye on my own personal ingame statistics, seeing this did make my heart sink a little. While some might point out the fact that one hundred games isn't anything to worry about, it does bring a little cause for concern surrounding my learning curve with this game. Others, might also remind me that these statistics will be wiped going forward into Open Beta.

To me, having these number vanish as the game evolves to the next stage doesn't hide the fact I want do a whole lot better than I have to this point. Despite that fact I am having a good time playing during this Closed Beta phase, I also want my fun to be more productive.

So, what am I doing wrong? Funny thing, I figured it out and have those four answers;




1. Learning to lead my shots better.

Unlike World of Warplanes, which I have been playing for a while now, World of Ships doesn't share a similar style "automatic lead compensator". Zooming in to take a shot with the main armament produces the image above. By using the graticules, I can range in on my target in the vertical fairly easily, it's the directional leading the target on the horizontal I am struggling with.

While I have taken into account how slowly naval shells travel as the make the journey from my guns to where I aimed them at, sometimes my timing is off. And sometimes, I forget that ships fire their shots in arcing fashion, not the straight line shooting from smaller caliber weapons found on planes and tanks. Perhaps, practice will make perfect as I progress along.

Although I am having better luck with torpedoes, I still make errors in judgement leading those shots too. Slower then the mains guns and with limited range, it's trying to make use of their spread pattern that will be my ongoing lesson. However, I do produce results like this, on occasion....



2. Using a ship's strengths to my advantage.





In case you haven't noticed, I have chosen to use Destroyers, for reasons I will cover here and talk about much later. This ship class is known historically for it speed and deadliness with torpedoes. In World of Warships, the ability to lay down a smokescreen, either to cover my own approach to a given area, or provide a visual masking for my teammates against the peering eyes of the enemy, can be a very effective tool. If I only used it more often.

Another big problem I have, I get goaded into a slugfest with enemy ships. I get lured into the fight and either fail to disengage at the right time and flee, or develop tunnel vision, allowing another enemy to maneuver into a firing position and  remove me from the battle. Working on be more aware of what is going on around me will pay dividends in the long run.

3. Learning the maps.





I believe, no matter how well a map is claimed to be balanced, there is a secret to unlocking a more successful pattern to wining. Although it has been on of my longest standing theories when it comes to games, I think World of Warships contains this formula too.

Using the screenshot above, would it make sense to capture the A Point at H8 first? Then move through the islands and collect the B Point at the center of the map? Then off to the C Point at C3, still using the islands to mask the approach?

Well, I have tried this a few times, with mixed results. Perhaps, there is another, much better way to do it.

4. Finding what works and sticking with it.





Despite the learning curve of the game and my disappointing results early on, I do believe I can make the Destroyer playstyle work for me. I am having fun with them and have the desire to improve on my growing skillbase, not only learning from my victories, but those hard lessons that only defeats can offer. To me, speeding around the map, launching torpedoes, popping some smoke and contributing with an honest effort will be part of that "feel good" package I really want.

I know, if I can grasp this and make it work for me on a more consistent basis, results like from these screenshots will only get better....







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