I've been playing this game for well over a year now. Maybe 2 years? I lose track of time. I've gone all the way to Tier X in several lines of ships (the tiers organize ships by their strength level and limit interaction between tiers so that you are never so overpowered that you are killed the second a match starts). I also recently was able to get my first research ship, the Paolo Emilio. But I thought I would list out my [current] favorite ships here.
I don't really like ORDERING them so I will just list them in no special order... maybe alphabetic.
Before I do, I just want to note that over the years of playing this game my choices have varied. When I first started I tried a destroyer. I hated it. I immediately went to the opposite end of the scale and picked up a battleship... and I liked that. They are hard to kill, and can really hit hard. They are also generally slow and easily seen (big targets).
After playing BBs (battleships) for awhile I decided to throw in with cruisers (CA - normal or heavy/CL - light). I found that I really liked cruisers. They were a little more stealthy, hit pretty hard, and were faster and more maneuverable. I played cruisers for most of the time I have played the game. But along the way I found that I preferred LIGHT cruisers (CL) because while they were not as well protected, and their armaments were generally smaller than regular cruisers, their reload was easily twice as fast. I LIKE firing rapidly. Who wouldn't?
The funny thing is that more or less recently I decided I need to expand my horizons a little more and started playing destroyers (DD) and even carriers (CV) and I even have one submarine. I have gotten better at my game play, enough so that destroyers are no longer intimidating to play, nor do I perish immediately like I used to. :D
At first I went for super-stealthy, long range torpedo destroyers. I realized that I actually preferred to be more aggressive, and I like the "gun boat" style destroyers. These are DDs that focus on their main batteries more than their torpedoes. I found that there are some higher tier (8, 9, 10) destroyers that when they were built, were almost going to be considered light cruisers, or escort cruisers! I found that these were the boats for me. For example my two favorites are the Kitikaze and my new Paolo Emilio. Since I am still not the best DD player, I just throw myself into them and play them like light cruisers... and I have had some good success that way! Anyway, on to the topic at hand:
ATLANTA (light cruiser)
This has been and will likely always be one of my favorite ships. It and all the variations of it. It has virtually no armor, it is short ranged, has mostly useless torpedoes... but there is NOTHING like ripping off 14 shots at a time, over a hill and setting an enemy ship on fire. It reloads quickly as well. It is just so fun to play... although you could die at any given moment if an enemy gets a good bead on you.
DUNKERQUE (battleship)
This is a French battleship. It is a downsized version of the Tier IX Jean Bart, but at tier VII it is a lot of fun to play. It has virtually no goodies (no speed boost, no reload boost) but its reload time is pretty short and its smaller guns (at this tier) hit very hard. It has a the forward (chase) design, where it has to main turrets with 4 barrels each, so you always face toward your enemy, so it is good at bow tanking, but the turrets also rotate quite a bit so you can play a more aggressive broad-side kind of battle if you want. French ships have good HE and good AP. So up close battles can hurt the enemy a lot, on the other hand you really don't want anyone shooting at your stern. One well aimed shot through the aft storage door and *boom*.
KITIKAZE (destroyer)
This is such a fun destroyer to play. It's a mainline Japanese destroyer that is almost as large as a cruiser and it has these amazing 100 MM guns, yes, TINY CANNONS, that penetrate better than most other larger guns in other destroyers, even cruisers. On top of that its torpedoes are not bad. They have decent range and reload fairly quickly. I don't bother smoking it up to hide (except when I am trying to escape), I just head in and start dodging and shooting. It burns ships down quickly.
PAOLO EMILIO (destroyer)
This Italian destroyer WAS originally designated as an escort cruiser. It is similar to the Kitikaze in many respects except it has a much slower reload time (due to the SAP shells - which the game nerfs by slowing reload times, otherwise Italian ships would destroy everyone all the time). It is very fast although not as maneuverable as the Kitikaze, but it is enough so that you can do some open water dodging and firing. Its torpedoes are also not bad and hit pretty hard. Just not a lot of them.
ROMA (battleship)
The Roma is an Italian battleship that is a special purchase. It does not have the amazing Italian SAP shells, and is a variant of the mainline ship Vitoria Venito (which DOES have SAP). A lot of people do not like the Roma, but I find that it can be a ton of fun to play. People are so obsessed with Italian SAP shells that they forget the Italian AP shells are pretty darn good. But they do not get the angle benefits of the US and British AP, so that means if you want to use them, you have to catch the enemy ship exposing their broadside. But if you do? And you are within 14 KM? BOOM. Almost always guaranteed a citadel, or even a detonation. Good stuff, and it forces to you get down and dirty, not take pot shots from 18 KM.
WICHITA (cruiser)
The Wichita is an American cruiser (not light) that is related to the Baltimore class line of cruisers. The strange thing about this ship is that compared to its sister/related ships its fire power has been weakened just a tiny bit. But that hasn't been a problem for me. This cruiser seems to be more stealthy and more maneuverable than the related ships and does really well in open waters.
