So... been a little addicted to this game of late. Discovered it a couple of months ago and my son and I have been playing it ever since.
I am not good at this game, I will be the first to admit this. I do, however, ENJOY the game and play it frequently. There are two types of ships in this game: regular and premium (sounds like gasoline). Regular ships are chains of ships you can gain/purchase by gaining XP and also coins (won after each match). There are multiple branches (countries/regions) you can pursue, and each one generally has several classes of ships you can research and purchase (destroyers, cruisers, battleships and now also carriers and submarines are coming).
Sometimes a type will split, such as light cruisers and heavy cruisers... destroyers and even American battleships do the same.
That being said my favorite lines have been the Russians, the French and the Italians. At least for regular ships. I have also purchased a number of premium ships! These are, more often than not, German, British or Russian. I am going to list out my favorite premium ships and describe what I like about them.
Before I do, let me note that ships have tiers. Lower to higher, weaker to stronger. Currently I have nothing above tier VIII (8). The highest is tier X (10).
Ship Type Country
Okhotnik Destroyer Russian (tier V)
This ship is pretty crazy. It was designed on paper but never built. Experts say it would have sunk in the North Sea waves. It is long and lean, and has crazy weaponry for its tier. As with most Russian ships, the torpedoes are, unfortunately, short ranged. I love this ship for its crazy design and guns, it is a hoot to play.
P.E. Friedrich Battleship German (tier VI)
This is a gorgeous ship. Just fine to look at. Truth be told, when I select a premium ship it is usually because of a combination of appearance and quirkiness. :) This ship is just handsome and also quite capable for its tier. It's shining assets are its secondary guns which will do serious damage to anyone who dares to come within 8 kilometers of the ship. The secondaries on this ship have sunk other ships while I was focusing on something else...
Molotov Cruiser Russian (tier VI)
This is, as the name suggests, a burner. Just heaps fire upon other ships as you pummel them with HE (high explosive) rounds. Cannot take too many hits itself though.
Duca D'Aosta Cruiser Italian (tier VI)
Most Itallian ships come with special ammo known as SAP (semi-armor piercing) which is very effective. This ship has HE and AP (armor piercing) only. But it makes up for it with generally sound ballistics and speed. I have regular tier Italian cruisers who have SAP... quite a fun ammo.
Blyskawica Destroyer Dutch (tier VII)
This is a fine destroyer. It was built for the Dutch in Great Britain. She is fast, stealthy and hits hard. All around she is good at everything.
Munchen Cruiser German (tier VII)
Picked this up recently and am so glad I did. This was a project that mounted rapid reload rifles on a light cruiser. She pummels enemy ships with the amount of shells you can throw at them. Also has decent chance of setting fire with HE, and the AP are above normal.
Scharnhorst Battleship German (tier VII)
Oh my. This is a GEM. It is often consider as a battle CRUISER not a battle ship. It is quick, light, relatively low-caliber rifles for a battleship yet... it hits HARD and has excellent penetration for its shells. It can also take quite a beating and has excellent secondaries on top of that. This is probably the best ship in my harbor -- just cannot quite compete with tier IX and tier X ships. But I have thumped tier VIII battleships with this ship. It is impressive.
Borodino Battleship Russian (tier VIII)
OK. So I have a thing for the French battleships that mount their main guns only on the bow. These ships are quick, have good armor and great firepower. When I found out that there was a RUSSIAN version of this... I hopped right on it! This was a "paper ship"... it was designed but never actually built. But wow I love this ship. A lot of people say "don't waste your money on this thing, it is mediocre at best". But I loved it. It has 2 fewer rifles that its French brethren. It has no torpedos, and nothing flashy about it. But... it has Russian guns. Russian HE and especially Russian AP is often heads above everyone else for impact and damage. This ship is no exception. Yeah, it is sad if you don't get a solid shot on an enemy since there are only 6 barrels and a fairly long reload time, but when they hit they can citadel (that means hit a sensitive part of the ship which damages it more than a normal hit) any other ship! I love it.
Mainz Cruiser German (tier VIII)
This is the bigger sister to the Munchen. She has the same rapid firing weaponry, more of it, and is built on the frame of a HEAVY cruiser, not a light cruiser. She can get into it with the best of them even with her smaller caliber at this tier. Good ship.
Tiger '59 Cruiser British (tier VIII)
This is another one of those quirky ships that most people stay away from. Her problem is she has two turrets of 2 rifles for firepower. And that is IT. Nothing else. BUT... these guns are from the tier X ship "Minotaur" and they fire at a rate 3.2 seconds per round. That is exceptional! They also have the ability to smoke like most destroyers have, or some Italian cruisers. Smoking means to lay out a smoke screen that blocks you from normal detection (radar smashes that though). They are, however, very fragile so getting hit by other cruisers or battleships is not an option. :) But I love this ship. It is scary to play because if you are not paying attention, you will get blown out of the water in a single round from a bigger and badder ship. On the other hand, it is stealthy, has smoke, and can rip off so many shots that you can take out bigger ships as you chip away their hit points in small but regular chunks. This ship also cannot "burn". It has no HE rounds, only special AP rounds. These AP rounds have a short fuse and will not over penetrate like many AP shells can. Basically overpenetration means shells penetrate SO well that they shoot out the other side of the ship before they explode... causing little damage to the ship that was hit. But with the Tiger, the shells are set to explode very quickly on first impact so they explode before over penetrating.
That is it! Those are my favorite premiums (I have a couple others, and some that I have sold)... honorable mention would be the Exeter, a tier V British cruiser that just sets fire to everything it hits and has decent protection as well.
You may have noticed I have more cruisers than anything else. Battleships are big power hitters. Often slow, but also heavily protected from damage, slow to reload guns but when they hit they hit hard. Destroyers are quick as lightning and while they can shoot at you and cause damage to you, they also have torpedos that unleash terror on everyone else. :) Cruisers are like a cross between the two. Many of them have torpedos (though not as many as destroyers), have guns that hit harder than destroyers but not as hard as battleships, and can have decent armor as well, to soak up or deflect hits from other ships, even battleships. Cruisers are generally quick, hit hard, can get hit back and survive... they are fun ships to play, but they can also be some of the most varied ships in their capabilities.
Anyway... if you play the game, find some videos on youtube by people like Carbine Carlito or read the reviews written by whitemouse. They will show you how the ships play, and review the technical details of each ship.
