Naval Academy
Greetings commander!
This video will teach you the basics of moving
and maneuvering your ship in World of Warships.
A ship is a complex machine:
your effectiveness and survival in battle depends on your maneuvering skills.
Today, we will try to make this task easier for you.
Press W to start moving forward.
In World of Warships you don't need to constantly hold the key
to keep the ship moving.
Controls are based on “the engine telegraph” concept.
You can select one of the forward speed values: ¼, ½, ¾,
and full speed ahead, as well as reverse.
You can increase the speed by pressing W a corresponding number of times.
Press S to decrease the speed.
Once you've selected the desired value,
the ship will accelerate and then continue moving at the pre-set speed.
A ship's maximal speed and dynamics
depend on its weight (displacement),
the engine power (correlation between its weight and engine power),
and the hull's shape.
Even the lightest destroyer weighs several hundred tons,
while battleships weigh tens of thousands of tons.
No wonder that such giants have incredible mass inertia.
First of all, you must get used to the fact that accelerating
and decelerating in World of Warships takes a while.
You won't be able to sneak behind an island, shoot and quickly withdraw.
Additionally, speed and maneuverability are seriously impaired
when moving in reverse.
Remember, movement means survival in our game.
A stationary ship is an easy and priority target.
It is important to keep moving
and change course to make it difficult for the enemy to target you,
to evade torpedoes and aviation,
and, of course, to avoid collisions with islands and allied ships.
Having selected the movement speed, you can now focus on maneuvering.
Press A to turn left and D to turn right.
The main thing to remember is to prepare your turn in advance.
A big moment of inertia impairs a ship's maneuverability.
The radius of the turning circle
largely depends on the linear dimensions of the ship (length, width, etc),
the shape of its hull and its rudder gear.
The longer and narrower your ship,
the bigger its turning circle radius, and vice versa.
The wider the hull, the smaller the radius.
As a result, the turning radius of the long, but wide battleship Yamato,
which is one of the biggest ships in the game,
is comparable to a much lighter, but narrower destroyer.
Remember that as soon as you release the turn key,
the rudder returns to its central position
and the ship continues moving straight forward.
Again, it doesn't happen at once;
the ship needs a certain amount of time to return to a straight-line course.
This property is called directional stability.
Ships with a smaller turning radius relative to their dimensions
have worse directional stability, and vice versa.
The game has a collision alert system,
which looks like this:
After receiving an alert,
you will have some time to change your course and avoid collision.
Remember that slowing down will not decrease the turning radius significantly.
The game has an autopilot function
that is intended to make it easier to control the ship
and allows players to focus on firing.
Press M to open the tactical map.
Click the left mouse button to set a waypoint,
or hold SHIFT to specify up to five waypoints
that can be changed freely at any time.
The movement speed is set to ½ by default if the ship is stationary.
If the ship is moving it will continue at this speed,
but it may be adjusted without canceling the defined itinerary.
Full stop, reverse movement,
or any change of the rudder position
will instantly disable the autopilot
and you will have to set waypoints from scratch.
When specifying your course,
take into consideration the specifics of your ship
and the actions of your teammates.
For example, even the heaviest battleship will have a hard time
fighting off enemy destroyers and aviation without the support of cruisers.
Autopilot allows you to set a course between islands
and focus on firing your artillery,
but this is the topic of our next episode.
World of Warships Action Stations