Yeah, I couldn't just leave it alone

So, with the final Mission, consisting of lighting twenty ships on fire to go, I had to come back and tie up this loose end.

Seeing this uncompleted task kinda bothered me, okay, maybe more than just a little. My plan was simple enough, like before, just bounce back and forth between the Arkansas Beta and Ishizuchi.

A few high and low points along the way. Seems I did rather well on the losing end of some battles.

Another ship that has caught my eye in my travels, the tier IV Russian Battleship, Imperator Nikolai I. I believe it was offered a short while ago, part of a bundle deal from the Giftshop. Hard to say when it might appear through the ingame store.

With the tier II German Cruiser, Emden, acquired, it was time to take it out for it's maiden voyage....

First, my son wanted to get some game time with his dear old dad, so I figured, why the heck not! The Emden performed much as I expected for a ship from the same era as the Albany and St. Louis. Even with the fact it was a PvE battle, I was still working the ship over, maneuvering into position, firing the guns for maximum effect. Not a sweatless venture.

Was it worth it? Check this out for yourself http://worldofwarships.com/en/news/common/shipsmas-miracle/ and give it a try.

The dealing of the damage

So, when I logged in this morning, I was greeted with two things. First, another micro-update, bringing my client up to 0.5.2.1, which did....things, The second thing was the addition of the Emden to the German tech tree, for those who don't have the time or patience to complete the Mission.

I, for one, will continue to stick to my guns about purchasing lower tiered assets and the Emden is no different. I have set the bar down to tier IV, but I won't go any lower, no matter the hype around these premium ships.

After sixteen battles, bouncing back and forth between my Arkansas Beta and newly purchased tier IV Japanese Battleship, Ishizuchi, I ended the second part of the Mission requirements....

....on a high note, amassing the 300,000 damage needed to advance to the next stage.

Torching twenty ships? Going to be a hot time on the ocean, perhaps, even tonight!   

Back, for a limited engagement

Time, once again, to dip my feet into the virtual waters. However, there is an incentive that I have been waiting a while for; A Mission!

Don't mind the screenshots, they were taken out of order. But, the gist of this Mission is this, sink, wreck and torch. Part 1 consists of sinking 10 ships, using anything tier IV and above.. Part 2, do 3000,000 damage, using anything tier IV and above. Finally, part 3 is catching 20 ships on fire, using anything tier IV and above. Okay, what do I have that could put the most amount of ships on the bottom in the shortest possible time?

Time for my tier IV Arkansas Beta to earn more of her keep. And, for the first battle out....

....I was rather impressed, since all of the battles have to take part in straight PvP, no bots allowed. Now, I did rotate my tier V Soviet ships, Murmansk and Gremyashchy into the mix, it was the Arkansas that started it....

....and finished it. Which got me to thinking, I was having a lot of fun with my Beta reward ship and based on some good times I remembered from a while back....

....I bought a tier IV Japanese Battleship, Ishizuchi of my own. My son doesn't know yet, but I hope he approves. So, with 10 ships sunk, time to move onto the next part of the Mission, breaking in my new purchase....

Perhaps, it's time to take a more serious look at Battleships, especially with me at the helm.

While I was gone....

Going backwards to the last post I made here, this is what I missed out on over the previous five months....

July, the launch of some new Community Contests on the forums and update 0.4.0.4.

August, TwitchCon, update 0.4.0.5, WarGaming's 17th Anniversary, with players receiving the tier III American Cruiser, U.S.S. Albany (yeah, missed that one, fun ship back in Beta), GamesCon and PaxPrime.

September, update 0.4.1, the first X2 weekends, game goes Live, Tirpitz introduced and update 0.5.0.1.

October, update 0.5.0.2, Ranked Battles introduced, Soviet Destroyers and German Cruisers now ingame, Phantom Fortress event, the strangely painted premium Japanese Destroyer, IJN Fujin....

....is available for a limited time, during the Haunted Hornet event. I even got a few games in during this period....

November, update 0.5.1, Veteran's Day, update 0.5.1.1, Thanksgiving and Ranked Battles Season 2.

Granted, I didn't cover everything that happened in minute detail in my absence, but needless to say, I missed a few things between then and now.

Some of the reasons I haven't been around much, playing sporadically here and there is that real life activities consumed most of my time, not allowing me to partake in virtual adventures. But, I did find time to slip the odd game in, across most of the WarGaming titles, just Ships took a bit of a back seat to Planes and Tanks.

I didn't abandon Ships altogether now, I still kept an eye out for special things I thought would come in handy, especially after my communications vacuum surrounding the Albany-not-in-my-harbor incident.

In mid-November, I caught wind of this, now closed, giveaway http://na.alienwarearena.com/giveaways/world-of-warships-bonus-code-invite-code-key-giveaway collected my prizes and blasted a few battles off in PvE mode....

Now, with the month of December underway, I keep an eye on the Ships forums and Portal, waiting to see if there is anything to entice me to put in more time on the waves. Right now, despite some new nations and their ships added to the game, I am not very much in a grinding mood. I have been somewhat content to just login, here and there, collecting on some of my ship's Dailies.

Now, if a decent Mission were to show up, similar to what Tanks and Planes has offered in the past (and rumors abound, could be again this Holiday Season), I might just make the extra effort to set sail for that loot.

Until then, I will just causally patrol the waters, searching....waiting....