Tonight’s CBs went ‘okay’ but they definitely could have gone better. This is the META theorycrafting phase of CBs and it really shows. We definitely had some good games, though.

It’s also a little weird having to call more and more often these days. That’s what I get for always showing up and committing to the time slot.

Bourgogne is Back

I used Bourgogne exclusively for the last half of Clan Battles tonight, and I think it was the right choice. Battleship compositions are leaning heavily toward tanking, so we’re seeing a lot of GKs and Kremlins.

The reason I picked Bourgogne over Satsuma (and later Yamato), is because the former can change flanks within a couple of minutes and can quickly finish off DDs or broadside cruisers. Satsuma and Yamato have minor issues with anti-cruiser work and major issues with fighting DDs in general.

Satsuma vs Yamato

I got some hilariously bad Satsuma games tonight (not necessarily losses, just games where my contributions were next to worthless). That’s got me wondering whether Yamato isn’t a better choice than Satsuma. Not just because of the extra gun, either.

To start, Satsuma’s supership ‘gimmick’ is the fire adjustment mechanic. It lowers shell dispersion significantly for a brief window. Sounds great, but I personally can’t stand this consumable. It builds up a charge with each salvo that depletes over time. Even when the charge is full and ready to activate, it will drain to zero instantly if it isn’t used quickly enough. My issue with this is that the neither the build up speed nor the charge ‘holding’ time are very forgiving. It punishes you for not firing constantly, which with a ship that relies on enemies giving broadside, is extremely annoying once you start to notice how it affects your play. It’s best to ignore the mechanic entirely until the stars align.

I’m sure this works out fine in randoms, but in Clan Battles, where every cruiser is keeping a close eye on where the enemy battleship is and angling accordingly, there’s rarely an opportunity to activate the consumable and score good hits with it. Couple this with all the anchored Russian radar cruisers and Satsuma’s tendency to overpen and most games I’m lucky to break 50k damage.

Yamato on the other hand, scores far fewer overpens on the same targets due to having smaller caliber guns and more of them. I’m also using the legendary mod, so Yamato’s dispersion is better than Satsuma’s out of the gate. The ship itself is also smaller, which definitely makes a difference when the occasional Shimakaze or Yueyang sneak close enough for torpedoes.

For now I’m going to keep Satsuma in port and rely on my usual BB picks, Yamato and Bourgogne, but once I figure out this particular supership, I might give her another go. I’ve also got my credits to think about; Satsuma’s not really for earning, just wanton destruction.