I went with standard tank build. Did try secondaries too but it is unfortunately no rupprecht in that regard. Torp build is a bit pointless. You would get a small boost to reload and speed but you'd sacrifice main battery performance in additionto making the torps even more fragile. I tend to lose quite a high number of torps every game.
and here i am going with a torp build because its the very unique thing you can do with karl johan that you can't do with other BBs. if i want a decent 305 main battery performer with a standard tank build i can play odin/brandenburg instead (with that said she still performs decent in that regard even without the dispersion mod).
though if you want the latter specificly on T9 you don't really have other options since its the only T9 BB that offers 305s as of now.
Maby if there was some captain skills you could take but atm you can only equip slot 3 and 6 upgrades which will give the massive benefit of boosting torpedo reload from 86s to 73,1s and bump the speed from 86 to 90,3 knots while gaining a net nerf for torpedo survivability. The torps are good enough as is.
Hard to say which one is better. K14J gains better armor (32mm), concealment, meme torps, more dpm (ap and he), bigger salvos, better AA, one more heal charge and slightly more main battery range in exchange for losing best in tier secondaries, manouverability and speed, overmatch, BC dispersion and fast cd damage cons. I'd say it can tank a bit more but since the guns are only 305mm I have found myself spamming HE quite a lot. Might not even be against equipping range mod to get some more reach for my he spam. Gun feeder is a must since you still want to use the AP whenever you get a chance. I'm still testing it so can't be too certain at this point.
I caved in and got it, I'm using the captain build guide, which states similar things to what you said.
Will probably need some time to get used to her.
Karl is straight up an Agir with better everything and is only balanced by its dorito giving it a proper battleship mirrored to it and making the battle asymmetrical. It's a cruiser with better armor and should be treated as one.
I'll probably regret it later but I traded the Napoli in for this one and will try to grind it back later. I like that it's a good ship and kind of uncommon.
Edit: Played the first round murdered a sub with secondaries and took out a BB. Also 8 torps per side with 13 km range is hilarious. Even if you don't really invest in a torp build it's useful for throwing out into choke points.
Brandenburg is pretty much the T8 little sister of the Mecklenburg (which is considered one of the better TX Steel ships), if you like their playstyle it could easily worth it.
Just don't forget it won't have a Hydro. IMHO it's a good ship for Ranked, Brawls and also Operations and Assymmetric. Not very good in Randoms where pushing is not meta.
Anyhow the Nr. 1. ship to get is probably the Johan, but others already suggested that one.
> Brandenburg is pretty much the T8 little sister of the Mecklenburg
Apart from the accuracy which — weirdly — isn’t great on Brandenburg. They could’ve (and probably should’ve) made her more accurate, but it’s still a good ship. Then again there’s Odin which is more accurate but lacks a turret (and is unobtainable without (heavy) gambling).
The combination of long reload with shit pen and accuracy is almost a dealbreaker for Brandenburg already, the low HP though push it straight into "nope" territory.
The difference in accuracy is massive though. Mecklenburg is one of the most accurate battleships in the game while Brandenburg is below average even for tier 8. It unfortunately makes the ships play completely differently as Mecklenburg is fantastic even out to 20km while Brandenburg will struggle to effectively deal damage at distances further than 15km.
As someone with a 58% WR in Brandenburg B (over 140 battles), that ship can be fucking horrible lol.
Her turret angles are absolutely foul for tier VIII, her lowered HP pool from her Bismarck derived hull is VERY notable because you eat HUGE chunk damage from literally everywhere, she attracts HE spam with her huge superstructure, her torps are of standard German BB torp fragility, her guns are pretty inconsistent and their fire chance TANKS if you get IFHE, ***and*** she uptiers absolutely horrifically because of her low gun caliber (CBs will just shit on you with superior guns of the same caliber and you won't be able to do anything back due to lack of overmatch lol).
But again... 58% WR, she can work even in randoms ~~if you force her to because you happen to need a tier VIII credit farmer~~ if you can get the hang of her. Feast or famine though.
LOL, yeah, I similarly have a good WR in Brandenburg but whew can stuff go downhill in it. There are 36 T8 battleships and Brandenburg is 34th for hp, a mere 58,800. The secondaries are supposed to be a selling point (it has Tirpitz armament plus another pair of 105mms), but they have Tirpitz dispersion, not Zieten.
I traded my Agir & Duke of York (both coal ships, so it's easily obtainable back) for Kidd and Agincourt respectively.
Kidd is good as a support DD (USN smoke + good AA, DefAA optional) and it can knife-fight other DDs thanks to it's provided repair party and Fletcher DPM (and an engine boost should you mount it). Very good option if you want a gunboat with a niche to support your team :)
Agincourt, as long as you don't run into CVs considering you don't have any AA, is mad fun: Her secondaries straight up has better DPM than Schlieffen, and would obliterate ships that comes into her secondary range. it's a Tier-V close range brawler that I would recommend for fun :D
Do we have just a single trade in for this event, the groups(a, b, c) made me re think this idea like we have a chance per group? I was looking to trade in my F. Sherman for either the Minegumo or the Karl Johan. I do main DD but it seems the Johan is the overwhelming "get it now" ship.
Had enough coal to by a sherman and trade it for a Karl XIV Johan. I am a bb main so pretty simple. I could have also traded in my Napoli and bought it back but figured this was cheaper.
I got it out of a christmas crate. Not that great. Twelve guns, but they don't seem to hit that hard and while advertised as having "excellent dispersion" i find it to be mediocre, if not a tiny bit worse than mediocre. Armor is really bad.
Also tried it in ranked and i see no reason taking it over something like a Hyuga that has actually decent accuracy and armor, with better reload + reload booster on top. Not even a competition.
Overall I'd say it's not bad, but definitely underwhelming.
Seems most people are trading in for Karl XIV Johan and are happy with it.
I traded in for Minegumo and it's just not good. I have Hayate and Yudachi and enjoy both (helps to have a 21-point Yamamoto). But Minegumo is just too underpowered for T9: hp is too low, you don't have enough torpedoes (2x4) and don't have a reload boost to compensate, and the torpedoes you do have are bad (one is too slow, the other too short range to use effectively given how sluggish the ship is).
I wouldn't say I regret the trade, I wasn't playing the other ship and now I have a T9 IJN DD credit printer, but the big selling point of lowest detection just doesn't make up for all the other issues, particularly given the prevalence of radar in its tier spread. As a start, it should get a bit more hp and a reload boost, and the 6.5km torpedoes should be extended to 8km.
My advise : trade in a coal ship Tier X; you can regain it later BUT will drop down the cost of your premium tthat you can buy only for GOLD (real money).
Karl xiv johan for sure. I traded in neustrashimy for it and have zero regrets.
Karl XIV johan tops build or gun, survi/standard? I'm about to get it
I went with standard tank build. Did try secondaries too but it is unfortunately no rupprecht in that regard. Torp build is a bit pointless. You would get a small boost to reload and speed but you'd sacrifice main battery performance in additionto making the torps even more fragile. I tend to lose quite a high number of torps every game.
and here i am going with a torp build because its the very unique thing you can do with karl johan that you can't do with other BBs. if i want a decent 305 main battery performer with a standard tank build i can play odin/brandenburg instead (with that said she still performs decent in that regard even without the dispersion mod). though if you want the latter specificly on T9 you don't really have other options since its the only T9 BB that offers 305s as of now.
Maby if there was some captain skills you could take but atm you can only equip slot 3 and 6 upgrades which will give the massive benefit of boosting torpedo reload from 86s to 73,1s and bump the speed from 86 to 90,3 knots while gaining a net nerf for torpedo survivability. The torps are good enough as is.
How do you think it compares to the Rupprecht? Obviously not better in terms of secondaries, but is it a better ship overall or no?
Hard to say which one is better. K14J gains better armor (32mm), concealment, meme torps, more dpm (ap and he), bigger salvos, better AA, one more heal charge and slightly more main battery range in exchange for losing best in tier secondaries, manouverability and speed, overmatch, BC dispersion and fast cd damage cons. I'd say it can tank a bit more but since the guns are only 305mm I have found myself spamming HE quite a lot. Might not even be against equipping range mod to get some more reach for my he spam. Gun feeder is a must since you still want to use the AP whenever you get a chance. I'm still testing it so can't be too certain at this point.
I caved in and got it, I'm using the captain build guide, which states similar things to what you said. Will probably need some time to get used to her.
Karl is straight up an Agir with better everything and is only balanced by its dorito giving it a proper battleship mirrored to it and making the battle asymmetrical. It's a cruiser with better armor and should be treated as one.
Trading in my GK for the Johan... I'll eventually farm enough coal to buy the GK back, if I ever miss it.
I just bought neustrashimy and I quite like it
I'll probably regret it later but I traded the Napoli in for this one and will try to grind it back later. I like that it's a good ship and kind of uncommon. Edit: Played the first round murdered a sub with secondaries and took out a BB. Also 8 torps per side with 13 km range is hilarious. Even if you don't really invest in a torp build it's useful for throwing out into choke points.
Brandenburg is pretty much the T8 little sister of the Mecklenburg (which is considered one of the better TX Steel ships), if you like their playstyle it could easily worth it. Just don't forget it won't have a Hydro. IMHO it's a good ship for Ranked, Brawls and also Operations and Assymmetric. Not very good in Randoms where pushing is not meta. Anyhow the Nr. 1. ship to get is probably the Johan, but others already suggested that one.
> Brandenburg is pretty much the T8 little sister of the Mecklenburg Apart from the accuracy which — weirdly — isn’t great on Brandenburg. They could’ve (and probably should’ve) made her more accurate, but it’s still a good ship. Then again there’s Odin which is more accurate but lacks a turret (and is unobtainable without (heavy) gambling).
I honestly don't think it's too bad of an idea to give Brandenburg at least 1.9 sigma.
The combination of long reload with shit pen and accuracy is almost a dealbreaker for Brandenburg already, the low HP though push it straight into "nope" territory.
The difference in accuracy is massive though. Mecklenburg is one of the most accurate battleships in the game while Brandenburg is below average even for tier 8. It unfortunately makes the ships play completely differently as Mecklenburg is fantastic even out to 20km while Brandenburg will struggle to effectively deal damage at distances further than 15km.
That’s pretty much what I said. I don’t think the comparison of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg is a good one.
As someone with a 58% WR in Brandenburg B (over 140 battles), that ship can be fucking horrible lol. Her turret angles are absolutely foul for tier VIII, her lowered HP pool from her Bismarck derived hull is VERY notable because you eat HUGE chunk damage from literally everywhere, she attracts HE spam with her huge superstructure, her torps are of standard German BB torp fragility, her guns are pretty inconsistent and their fire chance TANKS if you get IFHE, ***and*** she uptiers absolutely horrifically because of her low gun caliber (CBs will just shit on you with superior guns of the same caliber and you won't be able to do anything back due to lack of overmatch lol). But again... 58% WR, she can work even in randoms ~~if you force her to because you happen to need a tier VIII credit farmer~~ if you can get the hang of her. Feast or famine though.
LOL, yeah, I similarly have a good WR in Brandenburg but whew can stuff go downhill in it. There are 36 T8 battleships and Brandenburg is 34th for hp, a mere 58,800. The secondaries are supposed to be a selling point (it has Tirpitz armament plus another pair of 105mms), but they have Tirpitz dispersion, not Zieten.
I traded my Agir & Duke of York (both coal ships, so it's easily obtainable back) for Kidd and Agincourt respectively. Kidd is good as a support DD (USN smoke + good AA, DefAA optional) and it can knife-fight other DDs thanks to it's provided repair party and Fletcher DPM (and an engine boost should you mount it). Very good option if you want a gunboat with a niche to support your team :) Agincourt, as long as you don't run into CVs considering you don't have any AA, is mad fun: Her secondaries straight up has better DPM than Schlieffen, and would obliterate ships that comes into her secondary range. it's a Tier-V close range brawler that I would recommend for fun :D
You wouldn't get a Napoli because it's directly obtainable for coal.
Ah ! Ahah, forgot about that, might as well remove that mention now... sorry ! :p
Do we have just a single trade in for this event, the groups(a, b, c) made me re think this idea like we have a chance per group? I was looking to trade in my F. Sherman for either the Minegumo or the Karl Johan. I do main DD but it seems the Johan is the overwhelming "get it now" ship.
You can trade in as many times as you want. You can also buy the same coal ship multiple times.
Had enough coal to by a sherman and trade it for a Karl XIV Johan. I am a bb main so pretty simple. I could have also traded in my Napoli and bought it back but figured this was cheaper.
San Diego and Kidd are amazing. Just good all around ships. Probably get Kidd first, still one of the best DDs at T8.
I have Tulsa that i rarely touch because i own dm. Is it viable to trade it for sandy?
Florida worth getting?
I hsve it, has nothing remarkable except the quad turrets I'm so fond of.
I got it out of a christmas crate. Not that great. Twelve guns, but they don't seem to hit that hard and while advertised as having "excellent dispersion" i find it to be mediocre, if not a tiny bit worse than mediocre. Armor is really bad. Also tried it in ranked and i see no reason taking it over something like a Hyuga that has actually decent accuracy and armor, with better reload + reload booster on top. Not even a competition. Overall I'd say it's not bad, but definitely underwhelming.
I went Mysore -> Yudachi. A Shiratsuyu with 15km 2x4 torpedoes, smoke and TRB.
I'm sorry trade in? I've been a work the last few days what have I missed
category in armory
Right on thanks I'll check it out
Seems most people are trading in for Karl XIV Johan and are happy with it. I traded in for Minegumo and it's just not good. I have Hayate and Yudachi and enjoy both (helps to have a 21-point Yamamoto). But Minegumo is just too underpowered for T9: hp is too low, you don't have enough torpedoes (2x4) and don't have a reload boost to compensate, and the torpedoes you do have are bad (one is too slow, the other too short range to use effectively given how sluggish the ship is). I wouldn't say I regret the trade, I wasn't playing the other ship and now I have a T9 IJN DD credit printer, but the big selling point of lowest detection just doesn't make up for all the other issues, particularly given the prevalence of radar in its tier spread. As a start, it should get a bit more hp and a reload boost, and the 6.5km torpedoes should be extended to 8km.
Can u trade a coal ship then get the coal ship again in the armory
My advise : trade in a coal ship Tier X; you can regain it later BUT will drop down the cost of your premium tthat you can buy only for GOLD (real money).
NOT THE SAN DIEGO
Why? Sandy is one of the best ships on T8 :)
WATASHI WA NUMBA ONE