With the announcement of the German cruisers and Russian destroyers, the United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy will no longer be alone in the non-premium tier of World of Warships. Since the closed beta launched in March of this year, only two nations were available outside of the premium ships with only rumblings of when the other nations would join like the World of Warplanes and World of Tanks games before. Wargaming.net has now confirmed that come October 19th, players will be able to play one branch each of the German Kriegsmarine and the Soviet Navy/Military Maritime Fleet of the USSR.
KRIEGSMARINE CRUISERS
Though details are still a bit scarce right now, the German cruisers look to be very middle of the road with a heavy emphasis on strong survivability and artillery, with support from torpedoes. Best guesses at the German cruisers put them somewhere closer to the battleships that we have been seeing so far, and less like the light and fast cruisers put forth by the United States Navy (USN) or Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Still, there are no overwhelming features revealed thus far for the German cruisers, so it will be interesting to see how they fair in the accuracy, range, turn speed of turrets, and volume of fire departments as the statistics bars only tell a very small story. For example, though never mentioned in the text the German cruisers have aircraft; the video makes it a point to show an aircraft on a catapult. Nevertheless, we can compare what we know so far against the ships that are already released and reach some conclusions.
The first ship you will find yourself, the Hermelin, has a lower survivability and concealment rating than the IJN or USN counterparts, but stronger guns and solid maneuverability. By the time you get up to Tier IV with the Karlsruhe, the survivability gets close to the Americans with good concealment , though the artillery and maneuverability seem to suffer even against the Japanese. It is also the first German ship to get torpedoes out of the box, as opposed to the Kolberg that can be upgraded in Tier III to include them. The Admiral Hipper at Tier VIII finds itself against some stiff competition, but shows that it has the stuff with best in tier survivability and artillery. The anti-aircraft rating is not class leading, but will not lend any easy targets to enemy carriers. Maneuverability and concealment, though, are certainly below where the USN and IJN cruisers have set the standard. The king of the Kriegsmarine cruisers is the Hindenberg. Claimed to be quite different from the ships leading up to it, the Hindenberg continues the line of strong survivability, solid artillery, and well rated torpedoes coupled to poor maneuvering and concealment. Despite having such formidable numbers, when compared to a Tier X battleship, it is still rather obviously a cruiser. The Hindenburg has a bit better maneuverability and concealment, though nowhere near the artillery, anti-aircraft, or survivability.
RUSSIAN NAVY DESTROYERS
The first thing you will likely notice about the new Soviet Destroyers is that the first tier is actually a cruiser, though this should not come as a surprise, given every Tier I so far has been a cruiser. Still, it is an idiosyncrasy worth noting. The Russian destroyers are middle tier for artillery and anti-aircraft, but are the most maneuverable and rapid firing of destroyers. They also have very rapid, both rate of fire and velocity, torpedoes that do not go very far. This means they will be great for surprise attacks, though on very open maps they may have a difficult time closing the gap before exploding. Expect these to be formidable foes, particularly in the early tiers that have the smaller maps. At first glance, though, the soviet destroyers do scale a bit better than their IJN or USN cousins.
After the cruiser Orlan, whose strengths are much better rated guns at the cost of a little bit of irrelevant anti-aircraft, the first of the destroyers you can captain is the Storozhevoi. This little ship gets top marks for speed and concealment, along with a solid rate of fire on medium sized guns. The torpedoes are well rated, but very short range, necessitating the speed and concealment to really use them. This isn’t a ship you want to see after you enter a narrow straight. The Gnevy marks Tier V with a solid top speed and the similar fast-firing torpedoes that go only 4km. Though it has a much better artillery and survivability rating than the Minekaze or the Nicholas, the Gnevy will have a tough time closing fast enough to deliver its torpedoe load with a detection range of 7km. By Tier VIII, the Russian destroyers have come back with a vengence: top speed of 42.8 knots, good artillery, good torpedoes that can reach somewhat decent distances, great survivability, and good concealment means this is one destroyer that might be worth grinding to. Lastly, the top dog on the tree is the Khabarovsk. Excluding the poor concealment, the Tier X destroyer has the best artillery, the best anti-aircraft, the best maneuverability, and the best survivability with very good torpedoes. The question is if it will be enough to overcome the hump that so many of the other destroyers face at the higher tiers.
WHAT’S NEXT
With October 19th fast approaching, the World of Warships is certainly going to be changing for the better. More variety will be welcomed by the players who have already ground out to the highest tiers of the existing trees, while giving newer players something to learn with them. While the Bismark may not yet be among us, nor the might of his majesty’s Royal Navy, this is a landmark occasion for the young game. Whether Wargaming will flesh out the two new nations with battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers or introduce the Royal Navy is anyone’s guess, though Wargaming has hinted at the German battleships coming soon.
