World of Warships

[ChrisHunt]

I've taken a bit of break from flight sim recently - not that that stopped me from buying the Dove at half-price . The reason for the break is in the title - World of Warships is huge fun for free and it can stay that way too if you don't mind being a bit restricted in the size of your docks. For those that haven't tried it - it's a free internet based game (and a big download) which starts you out with 4 pre WWI light cruisers (USA, Russia, Japan and Germany). As you gain experience in one ship you gain enough experience points to "research" your next ship and enough virtual currency to buy it. The battles are either against Bots (good for initial learning) and then follow online gamers. It's rare that I survive a battle, preferring to mix it up quite quickly usually results in me being outnumbered and outgunned. Battles are small scale in area and usually over in about 20 minutes - as you progress you find yourself fighting the big boys, which makes it interesting. Graphics are superb and each ship is different enough from the others to keep interest levels pretty high.

If you've not already got it it's worth a go but I warn you it's pretty addictive.

[Airspeed]

Thanks Chris,
Will have to consult my Almanac of Idle Hours, to see if I can fit it in!

[Paul K]

I've looked at World of Warships a few times, and thought Hmm...maybe when I get time. It certainly looks fun. I wonder if you can set up historical 'what-if' battles, such as the big German units of WW2 ( Bismark, Tirpitz, Scharnhorst et al ) all in one fleet, fighting the R.N. Home Fleet in a WW2 Jutland-style encounter.

World of Tanks looks fun too, by the way.

[ChrisHunt]

It's easy Mike - just drop a few essential daily tasks and you'll have the time for a bit of mindful blowing stuff up.

Paul, unfortunately there are no British ships and so far the range of battles is a bit limited and certainly no historical scenarios yet. It' way more fun than tanks - you quickly learn to be philosophical when you spot 6 or more torpedoes within yards of your ship and it's far too late to do anything about it.

[Paul K]

Paul, unfortunately there are no British ships and so far the range of battles is a bit limited and certainly no historical scenarios yet. It' way more fun than tanks - you quickly learn to be philosophical when you spot 6 or more torpedoes within yards of your ship and it's far too late to do anything about it.

Chris, surely British ships are available as payware DLC or something, aren't they ?

[ChrisHunt]

Unfortunately not Paul - despite having one of the largest navies afloat at the time our ships don't figure yet in World of Warships.

[Paul K]

Unfortunately not Paul - despite having one of the largest navies afloat at the time our ships don't figure yet in World of Warships.

Has anyone told them the R.N. was the biggest navy in the world in 1940, and the second biggest at the conclusion of the war ? Ah well, its a game.

[GaryJ]

The game is still in beta stage at the mo. The RN will turn up eventually.
Here's my fluff on it. It's graphically beautiful and runs very smooth. It's a little bit arcady and does suffer at certain times from annoying kids that like to fire on their own side. The special effects and sound are fantastic.

As for the navies, well, the German ships are fast at reloading their guns, but the ships armour is pants and they sink rather quick
The Japanese Destroyers are the best, as their torpedo ranges are long. Russian torpedoes just about make it off the ship
The guns on Japanese ships take most of the day to load and traverse.
US ships are good are rounders.

It's great fun to play, especially with skype link enabling chat. It's bl**dy addictive!

I think it's around 6gb.....doh!

The biggest thing, it's FREE

[ChrisHunt]

One tip with WoWS is to pick a country and more or less stick with it as far as the tech tree goes (ships available to each country); this gets you to the next level quicker and minimises the number of slots you need to get the better ships. If you do run out of slots you can sell ships you've use (and abused) so that you don't have to purchase new slots. New slots are got by selling old ships or by purchasing new with dubloons (or hard cash to you and me). You can also buy more advanced ships or credits or experience or a combination of various.

As GaryJ said - it's a bit arcady but that adds to the fun because it's a short learning curve - at least firing guns is but avoiding getting sunk takes a bit longer - and each battle is over relatively quickly so you don't have to invest huge amounts of time each night.

[saltysplash]

I play both World of Tanks and World of Warships.

Both are great games but frustrating when the RNG is against you or you have problems understanding the spotting rules.
Even better when played with friends as a Platoon in Tanks or a Divison in Ships.

Sadly still no news of when the Royal Navy will make an appearance as the Russian designers seem to think the US and Asian market is more important. They have even introduced Taiwanese and Chinese ships prior to the RN.

HMS Warspite is available as a Premium ship occaisionally but the range of its guns is rediculously short considering its history of having the Longest range gunnery hits.

Still a great game even without the RN which will come, but I feel the RN ships may, just may end up like British Tanks in World of Tanks....basically crap.