This is a personal blog of a professional 3D Artist from the moment I picked up a 3D program to present time. It contains my interests in games and my modelling practice, mixed in with things that I have found interesting over my time writing on it. I pride myself with being able to put myself into my writing so don't be too shocked if you see some of my own twists on making points here too.
I thought I would just keep this one brief. I have gone ahead and finished my Muzzle brake along side the gun barrel so I just thought I would share my progress with you. I think the Muzzle brake turned out really well, even though it was a incredibly difficult model to do. I'm cuffed with the result which you can check out below. I could have put the threading for the attaching the muzzle brake to the barrel but though better of it as you just wouldn't see it.
I have kept the model quite shiny for the Muzzle Brake so you can see the painstaking effort I have gone to to avoid pinching in the mesh (Proud Face!). I didn't post any sketchfab stuff of my mantlet I will add this in as a separate viewer. I still have a few notches in the barrel to get in and a screw to put in the gun sleeve but its almost done. Least this gives you a good view of how the model is progressing anyhow which brings the Turret to almost completion. I then get to start explore the hull of the tank.
welcome back to my blog. I thought I would start by saying I'm going to be taking a bit of a break away from World of Warships. I have been going a bit overkill with it and thought I should look at some other games other than just this one. I was going to be doing a review on the Kawachi Battleship in the Japanese line but have lost a bit of my momentum with the current research trees in World of Warships. I don't want to feel forced with my reviews to get out content so though it was best to take a little break away from playing it so often in a bid in revitalising my passion for the game.This does not mean I don't like the game and this ship has sailed, I will return to reviews soon after a short break.
On Shore Leave... Be Back Soon
I have started to look at some other Youtube channels as to see what might tickle my fancy. I just wanted something different to play for a while whilst I 'rearm and regroup' as it were. I happen to stumble across the No Guts No Galaxy Channel which specialises solely on Mech Warrior On-line Content (which is unsurprising as they are devs for the game). This title is a long running franchise and I am a completely new player to it. This games goes way back to when I first started playing games on PC, originally having its roots in the 1980's as a tabletop board game.
The 1980's Table Top Version of the Game
The games was originally done by Battletech but has now been taken over by Paranha Games for its current release, Mech Warrior Online. I do confess that I have a deep seated love for big Mechs, having growing up watching Gundam and playing Armoured Core. Why I haven't come across this title is a bit of a mystery to me, however I guess its better late than never. I started my Cadet Period (a kind way of saying noob friendly starter period where you get more cash for your first 25 games) with some pre-built trial Mechs (trial mechs are in game to try before you buy and regularly rotate so you can get a feel for what you want before purchasing your very own machin). The initial trial Mechs span across the four classes of Mech, from speedy lights to heavily armed Assaults. Each jump provides a different style of play whether it be harasser, brawler, long range sniper or just being versatile in your approach.
The Iconic Symbol of Mech Warrior: The TimberWolf
The type of class outlines your play style but this isn't entirely true as what Mech Warrior was famous for was your ability to customise your Mechs to your specific play style. The Class of Mech you choose acts more as a base until you get your grubby hands on it and adjust the load out to what style of play you want to go down. Even lights have the ability to carry big weapons which lends to a less handy capped style of play. After your Cadet period this should give you a good idea of how your play style is going before you go ahead and buy your first Mech. I played across the board between lights, mediums, heavies and assaults and found qualities in all that I liked. Playing with the Raven with 2 long range large lasers I could play the scout harasser having the speed to relocate when I drew too much attention and also with the Zeus getting up close and personal brawling it out with other mechs. I quite like the high mounted weapons of the Raven light but also liked to close the range getting in the action.
Raven 3L Light Scout Mech
The good thing with the Cadet period is that you get a lot of C-Bills (In Game Currency) so by the time of finishing your starter period of 25 games you have enough to buy almost any machine you like. From so internet trawling most players end up with about 8 million C-Bills but I was lucky enough to get just over 10. This meant that the Assault line of mechs were more accessible to me and their was one in particular that I had caught my attention. This was the huge King Crab mech that looks truly terrifying on the battlefield. Not only is this a well designed piece of art its got a huge arsenal of fire power to finesse its charmingly rugged good looks. The draw back to such a large machine is the reduced manoeuvrability where making a mistake means you just have to deal with it. These mech's don't stop easily so sometimes its better to just gun it rather than stop and face the music whilst trying to reverse.
The Meaty King Crab 0000
The good thing about a assault class is its ability to house a butt-ton of weapons of different types and for me not knowing what any of these weapons are/can do this was a perfect platform to experiment with. I choose the King Crab 0000 that has 2 ballistic, 4 energy and 4 missile hard-points as I thought this would give me some room to play with different set ups (and also it was the cheapest of the range as well, which also helps... these mechs aren't cheap). I thought whilst I am learning the game I probably needed the ability to take a few hits if I inevitably get it wrong so it just seemed a good choice.
My King Crab 0000 Build
The main thing about Mech Warrior Online is the option to customise your robot how you please, whether this is visual or physical, the game accommodates to that. For this particular mech there isn't a huge amount of custom skins like other machines such as the Ebon Jaguar Mech (this is probably because its still fairly new but im just guessing) but you are still able to customise your outer primary, secondary, tertiary colours, interior and sounds relating to your build.
Flashy Custom Skins for the Mechs
The real customisation comes with your load out screen and the weapons you choose to load. This is where you balance your speed, armour, weaponry and modules. Each Part of the Mech Structure is segregated into compartments where each has a certain amount slots to mount things within them. As you can see from the image below I have mounted AC 20 in both the left and right arms. Due to the size of the weapon it has occupied all of the available slots for the arms. These weapons also weigh quite a substantial amount so add on to my total weight limit I can carry. I am allowed to equip weapons in any part that has a weapon hard point so I have choose to go with 4 energy weapons in my right torso. I could have gone with missile weapons in my right torso as an option but generally feel I get on better with energy weapons as a whole.
My King Crab 0000 Build Load Out
Having the heaviest mech in the game allowed me to experiment with different load outs to see what was effective. My build is ment for short range brawling with pulse mediums & dual AC 20's. The AC 20 is kind of like a tank shell and hits hardest at close ranges, being the largest of the ballistic class, it has a hell of a punch. The draw back is to get the most of this weapon you have to be almost face to face with the enemy at a optimum range of 275m. The can hit enemies up to ranges of 500m but the damage tapers off from its optimum range to its maximum effective range. This goes for all weapons such as missiles, energy and ballistics. Normally combats starts at ranges of excess of 1000m. My ER Large laser makes sure that my machine at least has the potential to hit back before I close the distance for my closer range weaponry.
The weapon hard points will effect how you engage your enemy too. These mechs are huge and where a weapon is located determined how much of the machine you will have to show to be able to get a shot off. For my Mech I have high mounted lasers so I can peak a mound without having to show the whole of my mech to the enemy thus reducing the chance of being hit. If I wanted to fire my arm mounted cannons I would have to expose the large bulk of my mech above a edge to be able to use them so this dictates my engagement style with each individual machine.
Hell Bringer Mech is a Great Example of High and Low Weapon Mountings
The game play its self lives and dies on the teams ability to play together. This is not a game where you can run into the enemy by your self and kill the whole team like many popular first person shooters have driven towards. All mechs are hard to kill one on one and being able focus fire working as a team to flank and get better firing solutions is a key to success. The matches aren't hugely fast paced so lends to a more thoughtful approach to battlefield awareness and tactics. Employing effective electronic counter measures, anti missle cover, intel on enemy locations and their machines status enables a team to be precise in its split second decision to act. Whether this be getting a well placed shot into a identified weak or damage part of a mech, flanking an enemy attack with your lance (4 person team in your company/total team of 12 players) while they are busying themselves with the rest of your team or provide locks for missiles, team play is crucial to your success as a mech pilot.
Over all this game is very fun to play and I would say its a solid 7-8 out of 10 at the moment. The visuals are nice but not as good as some of the Mech games currently on the market such as Hawken and Titan Fall but I find the gameplay much more enjoyable than these titles. Game play is and should always be the most important aspect of a game other than solely just judged on visual quality. Visuals do help with immersion but the core game is what makes anything fun. The game is improving even as I have started playing with the development team just adding quite a major patch into the game and adding more new mechs to the game. I feel this title has a good amount of room to expand and improve but the core game play is there and that's what I like. The Training area for the game has just been completely overhauled so now makes alot more sense than when I first started playing a week and a bit ago. The learning period for completely new players should be a lot shorter now as a result but I picked a fair amount up from just watching game play the game on You Tube.
One thing of note to mention about this game is the design style for the mechs. The designs of the mechs have a very functional feel about them. The designs aren't flashy or graceful in some instances but most weapons of war are designed with functionality in mind and this is definitely conveyed in their style. Each design looks believable and as if it could be used and really defines the attention to detail in this simulation games. I have just bought a mech on their premium store which looks pretty awesome. It's a classic mech called the Mauruader. It was a orginal design from the board game that has made its way into this game but has had a serious modernisation to its look by their concept artist Alex Iglesias.
The Impending Marauder Mech
I hope I have sparked your imagination or at least some interest in this game as I feel its a really good game on the Free to play market an definitely worth taking a look at. I have pre ordered my copy of Fall out 4 (Coming out in November) so as I've enjoyed writing this review I think I might try doing reviews for different games as I play them as a change to my normal posts. Spice it up a bit as it were.
I hope to catch you back here for my late week post on my Tiger Tank. Till then take care and I'll see you here for the next one.
I mentioned that I was doing another challenge at work so as a extra bonus post I am showing you the fruits of my work. I had another 3D CG Sphere project task to do under the title of 'Junk Yard'. The whole thing took 7.5 hours from start to finish, that included the design, modelling, lighting, texturing and render time.
It was a bit of a rush at the end to get it out and let a few Photoshop errors slip through (if you look close enough I'm sure you will see them). On the whole I'm pretty happy with the end result considering the time limit I was given. I think I might continue this a little in my own time to get a better result as I ran out of time to do what I wanted. I ended up faking the DOF (depth of Field) in Photoshop (and a few other things) as the renders were taking too long. I was using volumetric lights and particle effects so they slapped on quite a bit of time to my renders that I wasn't expecting.
I think given the extra time I would like to look more at the lighting, put some more emphasis on the rollers as they aren't as visible as I would have liked. I would also revisit some of the materials as I think they could have been a little better. The black paint seemed to get lost on the lower part of the model some better care and attention to these and I think I can improve the outcome a little more. Other than me criticising my own work I hope you like the outcome of this little creative experiment. I have been given another to do at work under the theme 'Clock Work Orange', so I will keep you posted on that one too. If you like my work of have any feedback feel free to comment on the piece as I would love to hear your thoughts.
Hi all, and welcome back for my weekly report on weekly things done in the week!
Normally I would do a update prominently on my Tiger Tank but this weeks proceedings have been so interesting I thought I would let you in on what I have been doing at work this week. My work place is going through a little bit of a quite period whilst we are waiting on approvals to start projects so in the mean time we have been set some small projects to keep us sharp and up to date with our skills in 3D. This has nothing to do with client work but I thought this was a great idea/ use of free time (also a great opportunity as not many work places would allow you to do this kind of thing) and wanted to share with you what exactly I have been doing.
One of my first challenges was to do a speed modelling exercises. I was given 2 hours to replicate a given model and present it to my bosses. A simple challenge but difficult nether the less. For this challenge we were given a image of a car wheel and told to come back after the 2 hours were up and see where we had gotten with it.
Reference Image for Modelling Challenge
In this challenge, how you spend your time and what you focus on getting right in your modelling work flow is crucial to a good end result. 2 hours is hard to get anything looking pucker so I tried my best and got this as a result.
2 Hour Wheel Challenge Result
You can obviously see where I have made short cuts to get this out in time but it was definitely fun to do. Given the time frame I didn't have time to dote on mistakes made and just had to run with it and get a finished result in the time set. Maybe next time I will spend a bit more time on my Tyre =D!
My next challenge was based on a well known exercise called the '3d cg sphere' project. For those that don't know about this exercise check out this website to get an idea of what its about. The premise is you are given a scene with a sphere already placed in it and a word to outline the theme. Your not allowed to change the camera position or divert wildly away from the sphere object but you have free creative license to change as you please.
Base CG Sphere challenge scene
CG Sphere Challenge Interpretation Examples
For example, here are some efforts I think are worth looking at and you will get the crooks of what I'm getting at. Some of the results artist come out with are really really cool and you should definitely check them out if you like what you've seen.
Our Challenge was on the theme 'Mushroom'. This made it a fairly vague subject matter but I think this was intentional to see our creative responses to the challenge. I approached mine with a scifi take and took Aliens Isolation visual theming, mixed with my old game I worked on 'Eden Star'. The end result was a time capsule for Mushrooms in Year 'Alien'. My mum is a massive mushroom fanatic so this will probably please her. The whole challenge took about 7-8 hours to do with modelling texturing lighting & special effects so I hope you guys like it (insert anxious faced me here).
The Mushroom Preservation Capsule
Lucky for me I have another one on the theme of 'Junk Yard' so after the enjoyment of doing that one I'm happy to be doing another. I'll let you guys see the result of that one when I'm done.
Now I've gone through my working weeks work I'll get down to my Tiger Progress report. This week I made a good start on the Muzzle Brake of the Tiger tank. This is a hard shape to get right so I have tried my best to get a solid first effort before I refine it further and add the details in. It's still a work in progress as there is more to do but its a good start for a difficult model.
That's all for this weeks progress report. I know its been a bit brief with my tiger tank but I promise there will be more to come soon. I hope you have a great weekend like normal and I'll catch you here for my ship review early next week.
Hi all, you may be wondering why I started this post with a picture of a bed. Well to cut a long story short, this really what my week consisted of. A nasty bout of flu. I didn't want to leave you with nothing to read over the weekend so I though I would show you what I have done in the few hours I have felt human enough to do anything productive this week (mostly dosed up on a butt load of Co-Codamol and anti flue stuff).
I was going to make a substantial start on the gun barrel and mussel break as these will be quite challenging as a whole to get done correctly. I did some research on how the profile and dimensions of the gun would look along the length of the barrel and ended up with this illustration from my usual Tiger reference web site.
I have looked at some reference pictures for the mussle break too as this will be the most complicated object out of the two.
I had made a start on the gun barrel this week before being struck down with terrible illness death so I'll be frank in saying its pretty unimpressive what I have done this week. In light of being bed bound I'm sure you can't blame me. I don't think I will be doing the breach of the gun to any degree of detail as you won't be seeing it on the model when its inside the turret. I will probably put a place holder 'box shape' to represent it to finish it of rather than leave it as a open object in case I come back to it and do the interior.
I hope you all have a good weekend/ better weekend than my week has been so far. Take care and I'll catch you here for the next one!
Hi all and welcome back for another Ship review for World of Warships!
The Incredible Opening Trailer for World of Warships
This week I will be featuring the new German Addition to World of Warships the Tirpitz. There has been a lot of hype leading up to this ships release along side the German tech tree. Now this ship has had little over a week to bed into the game, I though this would be a perfect time to give a little on the ships history development and express my opinions on the ship in game.
The Tirpitz didn't have a very exciting service history but the lengths that the British went to to destroy the Tirpitz from its construction to its sinking were extraordinary and are definitely worth of some mention (or alot as this is my longest post to date).
Shore Shot of the Finished Tirpitz
The Tirpitz began its life as a small cog in the wheel of what was known as 'Plan Z' that was developed by Erich Raeder throughout 1938. After World War 1 and the following restrictions laid down by the 'Treaty of Versailles' made sure that German Naval power was extremely limited as to avoid something simular to WW1 to ever happen again. 'Plan Z' was essentially a naval power development program whose goal was to re-equip the German Navy with enough power to challenge the British Navy.
Within the founding design of Plan Z The Bizmark and the Tirpitz were just the start to this grand design to rebuild the German naval fleet. Proceed these ships were plans to build larger more aggressive battleships that the world have never known before. These were the H Class battleships. These designs only existed in blueprints but they were set to dwarf all known designs of battleship ever conceived, even the mighty Japanese battleship Yamato. The largest of the H designs was the H44 that would have weighed a estimated 155,000 tonnes, been 400 meters long and house eight gigantic 508mm guns.
The Gigantic H44 Design Battleship
The Tirpitz was laid down in 1936 and launched in 1941. At the time of her launch she was 25% bigger than what the Treaty of Versailles allowed. After wartime modifications she was the heaviest battleship ever built by a European Navy. The ship at the time of her launch was impressively armoured and equip for war. She was fast being able to reach speeds of almost 40mph and was able to fire her projectiles over 20 miles. To the British having already faced off with the Bizmark knew the threat that the Tirpitz posed to a Island nation of Britain. The sinking of HMS Hood stood testament to that. A ship like the Tirpitz having the ability to strike with high speed with big guns, if left unmolested or allowed to break out into the Atlantic Ocean could reek havoc in the shipping lanes. These lanes were the lifeline that supplied the UK with enough food and materials to not be starved into surrender. Churchill saw the Tirpitz as one the biggest threats to the UK and was determined to disrupt or destroy the Battleship at all costs.
The Tirpitz
March the 28th 1942 saw one of the boldest operations in the British offensive to disrupt the Tirpitz. The mission was simple, knock out the only dock large enough to repair or service a ship of that size in sailing range of the Atlantic Ocean. By destroying this base it would effectively limit the operation area of which the Tirpitz could be a threat to Britain in. 600 British Commandos moved towards the Harbour against a defending force of over 6000 troops disguised as a German flotilla. This was inevitably going to be a one way trip for many of the troops with the odds so heavily stacked against them and no way of being able to retreat. The flotilla ruse worked in allowing the Commandos entrance to the harbour where they beginning their attack. In the Action the Campbeltown Destroyer I42 rammed the dry dock of the Saint-Nazaire harbour allowing the commando's landing quick landing onto the dock but disabling the ship. After the intense fighting between the Germans and British Commandos the fighting came to an end by either the capturing killing or capturing of British troops. The Campbeltown sat firmly in the in the wall of the dry dock harbour and the German forces boarder to search the ship. After the all clear was given the german troops settled down to celebrate their victory.
The Campbletown Wedged Firmly into the Harbour Wall
The search of the Campbeltown was not thorough enough and missed the large amounts of explosives hidden deep within her hull. Just before noon 4 tonnes of high explosives erupted in a massive mushroom cloud, sowing panic and either killing or wounding over 200 German solders near the ship. The explosion had completely destroyed the dry dock rendering the harbours ability to be able to be a base for the Tirpitz's intended battles in the Atlantic.
Following this set back and a few further unsuccessful brutish air attacks the Tirpitz was ordered to Kaafiord in Norway to put her out of reach from any British Air attack launched from within the UK. The ships new position was ideally situated to strike at convoys travelling between Britain and Russia, something the Russians sorely needed to stay open to aid their fight against the German. The Brits decided to take a new approach at tackling the German menace that had thus far avoided any serious damage from numerous air raids. The decision was made for a more stealthier approach, a under water strike with manned vessels.
Following Britains first failed operation using submersible torpedoes called 'chariots' to attach explosive charges to the Tirpitz hull, a new operation was initiated using Midget subs or X Craft. The Tirpitz by this point was defended a vast array of field guns, machine gun nests and torpedo nets in a bay that gave the defenders a natural fortress.
Torpedo Nets Can Be Seen from Aerial Shots.
When the Operation was in progress and the subs were approaching the mission area only 2 of the 3 X Craft launched made it to strike the Tirpitz. After the 2 X Craft snook into the bay behind a smaller patrol vessel the crews found themselves behind the Torpedo nets and with the Tirpitz clearly in sight. Explosives were successfully attached to the Tirptiz's hull before the crews allowed themselves be captured. The proceeding detonations caused crippling damage to the ships infrastructure, buckling the hull of the ship. The turbines had been destroyed in the blast and the the rudder was severely damaged. Not only did this mean a lengthy period of repair work following the X Craft attack, it was a huge moral set back for her crew. For a ship that many hoped would be at the forefront of glory and German supremacy she had so far only fired her guns in anger once at shore targets.
A Midget Sub or X Craft Sub
Following this attack Churchill ordered a huge air attack on the Tirpitz on the 3rd of April 1944 with 41 new Barracuda dive bombers with Corsair escort to which little effect was done. Churchill was at wits end. Every attack sent failed to deliver the decisive blow he craved to secure waters around Britain. Churchill turned to Barnes Wallice, the infamous inventor of the bouncing bomb, for a final solution the would end danger imposed by the Tirpitz. Barnes Wallace's response to this challenge was the invention of the impressive but truly terrifying 'Tall Boy' Bomb.
The Tall Boy was 20 ft long and weighed in at about 12,000 lb (5443 Kg). The blast craters left in testing were up to 100 ft wide and 35 ft deep, a purely destructive weapon perfect for destroying any target it would hit. Churchill called on the infamous 617 squadron to carry out this risky precision bombing exercise on the Tirpitz. This squadron had already made a name for itself after successfully carrying out the famous bouncing bomb run that destroyed the dams in Germany's Ruhr Valley.
The Famous Bouncing Bomb
On the first bombing attempt 27 Lancaster Bombers from the 617 had to travel to a remote Russian Air Base to be within striking distance of the Tirpitz in Norway and await clear weather. When the operation was green lit and the 617 squadron was approach the bay where the Tirpitz was sleeping, the defensive smoke generators were activated in response to the incoming air attack. The smoke released had almost covered the Tirpitz and the bay in smoke making bombing the Tirpitz even more difficult. The Tall boy was extremely expensive so the crews were told only to drop the bomb if they thought it could hit the intended target. Many of the 27 Lancaster bombers didn't drop their payload but from the ones that did one tall boy hit its mark near the bow of the ship. The blast was huge leaving a mangled gaping hole where the bomb had struck. This hit had rendered the ship more or less useless as a sea vessel due to the extensive structural damage sustained and the decision was made to move the ship to a a static location where she could act as floating artillery.
The Tirpitz was moved to Tromso and was placed in shallow waters to act as a floating artillery platform. Special bed on the bay were constructed so that if the ship was to take on water and sink she would just rest on the bottom and still be able to fight. This move to Tromso was a vital mistake put her within striking distance of Lancaster bombers launched from the UK. On near perfect conditions on 12th of November 1944 the 617 squadron set out again. The Luffwafer air base set up near the Tirpitz to defend her in the event of a air attack scrambled in response to the incoming attack but went to the wrong location leaving the Bomber a clear attack run to hit the Tirpitz.
Tall Boys Explode Around the Tirpitz During the Attack
29 Tallboy's were dropped and the ship took 2 direct hits and one near miss. Several of the Tallboys hit close enough to disrupt the sea bed and the sand bank specifically built to cushion the Tirpitz in the even that she was to sink. The first hit struck the deck between turrets Anton and Bruno but failed to explode. The second hit amid ships between the catapult and funnel ripping open a huge hole and causing massive damage to the ship. The blast had ripped a hole from the side of the ship to the bottom; an entire section of belt armour had been obliterated by the blast. The third seemed to have struck to the port side of Turret Caesar blasting more holes below the water line. The ferocious bombing cause the ship gradually list to port. As the list increase further and approached 45 degrees and as the ship looked as if she would stabilise, the Turret Caeser detonated blasting the turret roof and parts 25 meters into the air that landed back into the water ontop of a group of men swimming to safety. The damage sustained had exceeded the threshold that the mighty Tirpitz could handle in a final explosive show of fury, the once monstrous beast rolled over capsizing in surrender.
The Hull of the Tirpitz after Her Capsizing
Over 5 years the ship was attacked over 40 times and never got to achieve the glorious nature she was built for. The dogged determination and grit of the British had finally made the ship succumb. The Tirpitz's service to the German nation never more strategic than that of actual battle, tying up available ships that would have otherwise been used else where to defend British interests. Churchill's main concern was worried that she may interfere with the D Day landings due to her location in Norway. In the end, like most of the biggest Battleships of the second world war, the ship succumbed to relentless air attack.
Wow that was a bit of a mouthful but this ship is definitely worth the time it took to rustle up the history on this ship. It cause a real headache for the British Navy and Air force and even though its service history in the was lacking a heroic battle. The plans to sink her couldn't have been more interesting to read so I Just couldn't miss them out in telling the story of the Tirpitz.
So down to the Business of talking about how this ship performs in World of Warship. What are my initial thoughts on this ship? The Tirpitz can boast that it is the best well rounded ship I have played to date in World of Warships. All being said this ship is on sale for little over £40 and in my opinion that is way too much regardless of how good this ship is.
Since leaving the Closed Beta battleships have just not been that fun for me. Shooting the Guns mostly rely on praying to RNGesus to grace you with his light whilst suffering splicing shot after splicing shot. This is made worse when trying to shoot ships at close range and your shots miss by a fricking mile. This is a problem that will largely now have been fixed in the new patch (wargaming are massively boosting Battleship accuracy for ranges under 3km) but still when you have a very slow reload time and miss all your shots, your pretty much waiting to die by horrible torpedo death. This has made many battleship captains as far back from the fight to counteract the close range 'Armageddon' cause by the nimble destroyer in close quarters. The ensuing passive play style is, in my opinion, on of the main contributing factors why most matches end up in draws in World of Drawships current state.
I have had some serious fun in the Tirpitz and I put this down to the fact this ship reacts more like a heavy cruiser than a battleship whilst still maintain arsenal and armour. Her 15'' guns are relatively quick firing of 2.3 rounds per minute and have a good turret rotation time at 36 seconds for 180 degrees. This highlights the first main strength that its a good close range brawler against other battleships and cruisers. The Amagi has a turret rotation speed with its top hull of 42 seconds per 180 degrees and the North Carolina has a Turret rotation speed of 45 seconds. Having this speed in acquiring your targets allows you to keep your guns pointed at a target at close range against even destroyers and also gives you the ability to switch between targets at range without waiting for your turrets to turn. This allows the Tirpitz to be more flexible and fire more shells down range than any other battleship close to its tier.
World of Warships, the Tirpitz
The Tirpitz does however have 15'' guns over her equal tiered 16'' gunned Japanese and American battleships. This is a obvious disadvantage when it comes to initial alpha damage output from impacting shots, however there are advantages to having a smaller gun size. The Tirpitzs has a vastly superior fire rate and the rounds have less chance of over penetrating lighter armoured cruisers like the Pensacola. This enables harder hitting shots to targets that may be harder to damage effectively. This combined with decent turret rotation makes these ship a joy rather than a fight to get the most out of them
The dispersion of the shots fired on paper doesn't look very good. 280 meters dispersion at maximum range is pretty bad when you consider the Amagi's 128 meter or the North Carolina's 270 meter dispersion. This dispersion is really off set by that its inaccuracy is as maximum range of its guns. The Tirpitz can fire up to 21.4 km, so when your at normal combat ranges of 15km - 10 km you can assume that the dispersion will be roughly half that which is more than good enough to get hits on any salvo being let off.
I predict this is probably what's going to characterise the German Battleships over the other nations ships having smaller sized fast firing guns. German ships in the second world war had smaller sized guns compared to other nations ships so may lead to this being uniform for the ships to be implemented in the near future (until you consider what ships they wanted to build through Plan Z that could make their way into the line up in the German Tech Tree). I think World of Warships will probably end up implementing the German nations ships as being well rounded DPS ships. Its still hard to see what Wargaming has planned for the nations characteristics until we get at least one more nation to see an average of stat's to compare against to really make that kind of assumption.
Stat Comparisons
The Tirpitz in battleship terms has the ability to manoeuvre pretty well. The ships rudder response speed is extremely fast (for a battleship) to help react quickly to incoming fire or torpedoes. At 21 seconds for pretty damn good for a battleship rudder shift time considering when the Amagi has 25.6 second and the North Carolina has 28.6 seconds respectively. The turning circle radius is a little disappointing however at 850m (or could be very average but we won't know until another nation is added to see where it sits in nation characteristics) but again this is offset more or less by the ships rudder speed enabling you to get a full lock faster than any other battleship of your tier.
One advantage this ship has many people talking about it are the addition of torpedoes to a Battleship. This is unique to the battleship class its only the Tirptiz that has them thus far. On both sides of the ship she has a single quadruple torpedo launcher. These Torpedoes do lack in size over the Japanese torpedoes but they are fast (64 knots) and have a 6km range. This makes them incredibly hard to dodge at close range and adds a very potent sting to ships that like to hero run on battleships to sink them (if all the torps hit its almost 55k damage potential).
The biggest weakness of the Tirpitz is its AA potential. This is a battleship that really needs to have cruiser escort to survive any large scale air attack by the enemy. This ship did survive over 40 air raids before her eventual demise at the hands of the 617 squadron so I think this has been a little harsh on balanced in my opinion but its something you will have to adapt to when taking this ship out.
The Swept Lines of This Ship Are Gorgeous
As far as my over all view of the Tirpitz, I really like this ship and will be eagerly awaiting the German line of ships and what they will have to offer. If its more of this it looks like I will be liking them a lot more than the other nations ships. The higher dpm off sets the accuracy of the guns by sheer volume of fire in battleship terms and the turret rotation speed is much more enjoyable diverse play than other battleships. The torpedoes give a nice edge in close quarters but only to be used as a last resort other than a main armament. I have fallen for the noval trap having knowledge of Torps in a battleship and motoring ahead to try use them. As fun as it is to destroy other ships it will end up pushing you too far forward to be able to dodge incoming fire and ultimately lead to a premature death. The armour on the Tirptiz is pretty awesome and with some angling you will cause serious problems for ships firing AP as may will jsut bounce harlessly off. Combine angling with your rudder speed when facing incoming fire and you will be a hard nut to crack when you decide to make a stand. Any CV captain with any sense will single you out as a priority target if he has the sense/chance to hit you. The AA its good enough for self defence against a few planes but a determined attack will really cause you headaches if not a quick trip back to you port. The ships ability to adapt because of its versatile nature makes it a real power house. Its a great ship and a good money earner for in game credits. I think the pricing for many people will be a big deal breaker when thinking about getting this ship. I do love this the ship but still think its very over priced for what it is. In hind sight of just buying this ship to review and experiencing it, I could have just bought a new game for what it cost to get this ship, however I don't regret my purchase the Tirpitz as it has to be played to be understood.
One of My Many Average Games but Shows the Ships Money Making Potential of This Ship
Thats all for this week. I hoped this provided some insite before looking at looking to buy this expensive ship. I will catch you back here for a tiger styled update later on in the week. Till then late care and have fun.
Hi all and welcome back to my weekly update on modelling my Tiger Tank.
I thought for my late week post I would show my completed mantlet along side some beauty renders. You'll have to forgive the the fast nature of the renders as they were a bit of a throw together. My turret as a whole has got a bit too big to show as a complete model on sketchfab (3d Model Preview I have been using to present my individual pieces) so I have done this to give you a better idea of where I am with the model. I'll probably be looking at the track link holders and the gun from here on in to get the turret finished up. Then a last check over just to make sure I have all the welds in place and I haven't missed anything. I can then starts on the main body of the tank.
This post is going out a little later than I normally do this week due to a serious case of the man flu so sorry for that. I hope you all have a good weekend and I will catch you here bright and early next week for my World of Warships ship review.
