Captains, we're starting a new series of videos called "How to play?"
Our first episode is dedicated to battleships.
Why does our game feature ships with such powerful guns,
sturdy armor, and large HP pools?
The answer lies in the question— to deal high damage,
withstand incoming damage, and break through the opposing team’s defenses.
This is the essence and purpose of the overwhelming majority of battleships.
With that in mind, let’s figure out how to achieve
peak performance with this ship type.
The majority of battleships are capable of firing over long distances.
But that capability has several downsides that we need to take into account.
Firstly, it takes ages for shells to reach their targets,
so opponents always have time to perform maneuvers and avoid being hit.
Secondly, when the firing range increases,
the dispersion of shells increases as well.
Thirdly, the longer the firing range,
the worse the penetration of armor-piercing shells.
As a result, firing on targets at maximum range
is rarely as effective as one would prefer.
So closing the distance is advisable.
The question is—how close?
Battleships can typically be divided into two groups.
The first group is comfortable fighting at long and medium ranges.
The focus of the second group is getting up close and personal.
Let's review each group in detail.
In this video, we’ll take Tier X ships as examples.
However, the majority of our recommendations will be valid
for ships of other tiers as well.
The first group includes several branches at once.
We'll start with Great Britain.
Their ships have powerful high-explosive shells,
a long firing range, good concealment, and not-so-sturdy armor.
These factors make them great for fighting over medium and long ranges.
Their concealment gives them the ability to hide
from unwanted attention from the opposing team.
The next group of long-range fighters can be found
in the second branch of U.S. battleships, headed by Vermont.
These ships are slow and quite bulky,
but they also have a hefty salvo weight, decent accuracy,
and moderately good firing range values.
By the way, the latest changes have added versatility to this branch,
so U.S. ships can now close in on opponents more reliably.
Legendary Yamato and her close relative, Shikishima,
also belong to that group.
Their moderate maneuvering capabilities are nicely offset
with reliable protection against armor-piercing shells
and powerful guns that can penetrate the majority of ships
at various hit angles.
The remaining branches, headed by Tier X Montana and République,
offer solid versatile warships
that are great at fighting both over medium and long ranges.
We can also add two more battleships to the group—
French Bourgogne and American Ohio.
And separate mentions go to Soviet battleship Slava and British Incomparable.
The armor of these warships is more similar to that of heavy cruisers
than that of battleships.
Both of them have decent concealment.
Slava's good accuracy and Incomparable's large caliber
and perfect shell penetration capabilities
make them highly effective especially at long ranges.
Let's proceed with close-quarters battleships.
Here, we can immediately distinguish German battleships.
The main features of the German branch headed by Schlieffen
are good maneuvering abilities, powerful secondary batteries,
and the availability of torpedoes and Hydroacoustic Search.
Preußen and her precursors are slightly different.
Decent armor plus powerful secondary and main battery guns
are combined with large ship sizes and modest maneuverability.
Soviet ships represent yet another branch of close-quarters battleships.
Their bow, stern, and deck have solid armor,
and the main turrets traverse relatively quickly.
In addition, Soviet battleships are equipped with guns
that have high accuracy at close and medium ranges.
The Exhaust Smoke Generators of Italian battleships,
combined with their good armor, semi-armor-piercing shells,
and the fast traverse speed of their main turrets,
make these warships capable of approaching opponents
for surprise attacks and retreating to a safe distance in case of danger.
However, none of this implies that long-range battleships
can't approach their targets
and close-quarters battleships can't fire from afar.
We're only talking about achieving maximum efficiency.
Moreover, it's highly unreasonable to over-extend the range to your target
and move to the map borders while playing long-range battleships.
It's also a very bad idea to rush into a group of opponents
during the initial minutes of a battle playing Kremlin or Schlieffen.
Analyze the current combat situation and choose your targets wisely.
About those targets—the majority of battleships take about 30 seconds
to reload their main battery guns.
So battleships fire rarely but hit hard,
and it would be a pity if the full power of your salvo was to hit the water.
Choose your targets thoughtfully and carefully, and—
what's even better— plan a few salvos in advance.
The ideal target is a ship with its side turned to you.
This way, you'll be able to inflict the maximum possible damage.
That's why it's reasonable to wait for your opponent to expose their side
and then open fire as soon as your guns are ready.
But if you see that none of your opponents
are going to expose their sides soon— don't spare any shells.
You can slightly improve the reload time of your guns
by utilizing Commander skills and upgrades.
Don't forget that some skills are activated
only in specific battle situations.
That's why, before unlocking any battleship Commander skills,
you should make sure to read the description of each skill in the Port.
You can also fire high-explosive shells at targets
that are moving toward you bow-first
or those that are retreating and exposing their aft.
As we've already mentioned, British battleships have an advantage—
their HE shells deal high damage, have good penetration capabilities,
and have high chances of setting target ships on fire.
At the same time, you won't find HE shells
in the magazines of Italian battleships.
Instead, they have semi-armor-piercing shells
that can penetrate targets and deal damage at even the sharpest hit angles.
Semi-armor-piercing and high-explosive shells
are especially good when firing at battleship superstructures
and poorly-armored warships.
When in battle, a battleship's Captain should carefully observe the Minimap
and keep an eye on any opponents within reach of the battleship's guns.
True mastery will come when you've learned to predict your opponent's maneuvers.
Since battleship turrets don't traverse very quickly,
it makes sense to aim them at a target in advance
while the guns are still reloading.
That way, you'll be able to open fire as soon as they are loaded and ready.
You can improve the turret traverse speed
using a Commander skill and an upgrade.
There is another nuance when firing at an opponent's side—
the thickness of their armor.
If the armor is too thin for your shells to arm,
you'll deal quite modest damage from overpenetrating.
It's better to fire at such targets
when they are coming at you bow-first or at an angle.
Another factor that affects the efficiency of your salvo
is the number of guns that can fire at your opponent.
Prior to firing a salvo, it's advisable to take up a position
that will allow all of your turrets to fire at your opponent.
However, you should always remember
that doing so often means exposing your side,
and your opponent can take advantage of this.
It's important for any battleship to survive as long as possible
while taking a multitude of hits.
Survivability under fire is often underrated,
but it's one of the most important functions of a battleship in battle.
It might seem that it's no big deal to take hits from opponents,
but for your team, it's a matter of victory or defeat.
Just keep in mind that all the shells that failed to penetrate your armor
or bounced off could have dealt damage to your lightly armored allies
and sent them to the bottom quite fast.
A lone battleship—no matter how powerful she is—is easy prey.
There is an entire set of effective means for battleships
to survive for a long time in battle.
First of all—their armor.
Armor should be utilized correctly.
It's much easier to pierce it at a 90-degree angle than at an acute one.
The sharper the angle is, the thicker the relative armor
and the higher the ricochet chances are.
Secondly, battleships come equipped with Damage Control Party,
and it's vital to use this at the optimal time.
If you have plenty of HP left,
don't spend the charge on a single fire or flooding instance,
especially if you can restore the damage by utilizing Repair Party.
Our game has Commander skills and upgrades
that can significantly improve the characteristics of ship consumables.
By the way, you'll be able to effectively offset
fire and flooding instances by using...
Yeah, that's right! Skills and upgrades.
Speaking of the Repair Party consumable,
it should be utilized wisely
and shouldn't be activated at your earliest convenience.
Remember that if your bow, for example, has been completely destroyed,
it will receive just 1/6 of a shell's damage upon every hit.
However, after utilizing a Repair Party charge,
the bow will have HP again,
so penetrations will deal more damage to it—1/3 of a shell's damage.
You can learn more about HP distribution and the Repair Party mechanic
in the corresponding video from the "How It Works" series.
Finally, the most important survivability aspect is your position.
Helming battleships is similar to playing chess.
You need to observe the entire board and think several turns ahead.
Why is the open water so important to battleships,
and especially to long-range battleships?
It provides enough room for maneuvering
and diminishes the chances of surprise attacks by destroyers.
However, you shouldn't think that islands need to be avoided at all costs.
It's sometimes reasonable to stay close to land,
protect your side, and restore HP in a safe spot.
When near an island, you can also easily retreat from danger.
On the majority of maps, the flanks provide more advantages than the center.
Opponents can fire at you from three directions in the center
but from only two directions on the flanks.
It's easier to protect the vulnerable sides of your ship on the flanks.
It goes without saying that it doesn't matter to aircraft squadrons
from what direction your ship is approaching.
What actually matters is whether allies
that can cover you with AA fire are close.
Naturally, the AA defenses of any battleship can be improved—
that's when Commander skills and upgrades will come in handy.
Don't forget that if you make your choice in favor of AA defenses,
your battleship won't be able to utilize more important skills
for the type that could improve the ship's survivability
and combat performance.
Another aspect is crucial for your survival—
you need to watch out for opponents helming destroyers.
Being on the receiving end of a sudden and difficult-to-evade torpedo spread
is an unpleasant surprise.
By the way, it's better for a torpedo to hit the center of your ship
than your bow and stern.
The sides of a battleship have torpedo protection,
and this reduces torpedo damage and the chances of flooding.
If you consider torpedoes as the main danger for your battleship,
the following skill and upgrade will come in handy for you.
We've covered the survivability issues,
but taking fire from opponents, surviving,
and dealing damage are tactical tasks.
Battleships have strategical tasks as well.
One such task is to hold a direction or flank.
A battleship on a flank can certainly be effective
at holding back advancing opposing forces,
and they are even capable of entirely stopping them in their tracks.
Moreover, if the current situation allows,
you need to attack and break through the opposition's defenses.
Naturally, it's hard to accomplish all these tasks
without support from your team.
That's why it's important to actively interact with your allies
and coordinate your actions.
Don't consider our advice to be the ultimate truth—
act according to the current situation, but always act wisely.
Remember that battleships are the backbone of a team.