The Yubari, the Aircraft Prevention Package.

Hi all again and thanks for all your continued interest in my blog.

Just a quick heads up I am thinking of increasing my blog posts to 2 per week but obviously this will increase the amount of commitment for me to post here. I may try a couple of trial runs getting 2 posts up here and see how it goes. I would like to focus a bit more on my 3D as I seem to be posting more about games that I am playing (mainly World of Warships lately, but I will try and incorporate World of Tanks and War Thunder plus a few more when I go through my game rotation). This was originally what I set my blog up for (self reflection and interesting things 3D related). Stay posted if that's what you look here for as I will be being a bit more pro active with my modelling at home. Ironical I am doing another Premium ship review this week on the Imperial Japanese Yubari Class Cruiser but I will try and give you a update on my Tiger Tank progress. Don't be alarmed if its games that you look at my blog as I will be continuing with that too (but hey it may even give gamers a idea of how much work goes into the creation of games if you watch my 3D stuff here too =D)

So the Yubari, what can I tell you about this ship. The Yubari begain its life as a experiemental light cruiser in 1917. Its development was to counter the problem the Imperial Japanese Navy was having following the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty restricting the total fleet displacement to 300,000 tons. The Design philosophy for the Yubari was to improve on existing designs giving a light cruiser the battle potential of a 5000 ton cruiser.  In the design stages and the use of unproven designs lead to some design flaws that were later ironed out later when the Yubari was called back for repairs or refits.

Upon the Ships completion the Ship had a 4190 ton displacement, 13% over its original design specification. The ship featured a curved stem that integrated multiple smoke stacks into one. This resulted in reducing the amount of material needed saving on deck space needed other architecture and weaponry.To also save on weight of the ship the belt armour was incorporated into the hull of the ship drastically reducing the displacement whilst maintaining the overall protection of the ship.

Yet another Mighty Jingles Review of the Yubari Cruiser

The Yubari was the only ship of its kind made and was considered a successful concept, future cruiser adopted some of the ambitious design choices of the Yubari. The ship went through a few improvements to make up for the original design mistakes such as enlarging the smoke stacks  by 1.8 meters to improve the draw of exhaust fumes and providing additional ballast to aid with extra stability. 

After its final refit in 1944 its armament had been significantly upgraded with the focus of adding as many AA guns to its upper structure. This was mainly due to its previous conflicts proved their was a need for them. In March 1942 where the Yubari was attacked by 2 SBD-3 dive bombers and 4 F4F-3 Wildcats killing a few of her crew. The following morning the Yubari was again attacked by SBD-3's where this attack caused fires near to the torpedo launchers. In a serious design flaw, the length of the fire hoses were too short, leading to the crew having to manually jettison the torpedo launcher to avoid them exploding. Depite the damage taken in the attack, the Yubari evaded over 65 bombs and up to 12 torpedoes. The Yubari's plight was not quite done there as 4 B17's attacked her whilst returning to harbour. This attack left three gaping holes in her stern from near bomb misses. Strong anti air needed? I think so!

The Yubari in World of Warships this is a premium cruiser on sale for £14.41 singularly or as a pack for £36.04 as a part of a 3 ship pack. These purchases grant you access to the closed beta test so if you don't have access to WoW closed beta and are interested in the game. I would highly recommend purchasing any of the premium ship in this 3 ship pack as they are all fun and exciting to play (such is the life/play time of a destroyer captain).

In game the Yubari has a main battery of 2 turrets with double 140mm guns and one 120mm Secondary gun. The 120mm secondary is a dual purpose gun that acts as both anti air and anti ship defence. Where the Yubari really shines is in its anti air. It has the best anti air in the whole of the tier 4 and arguably tier 5 ships which makes it a real power house of a support ship for battleships (such as the myogi which has zip) and carriers. This ship would be one of the only ships that you hope that there is a massive number of carriers on the enemy team. I find myself actively powering towards incoming planes and getting at least 3 air kills with this ship before payloads are dropped, mopping up the remainder as they run away with their petty lives. The majority of the ships AA armament is self defense but intelligent play can have you seated close to priority targets for carriers to get effective fire in or in the line of travel of incoming planes.

The Yubari is a good light cruiser but like all ships it has its draw backs. The guns are effective against destroyers and cruisers but really struggle when facing thick armored targets such as battleships. Having 2 turrets with your main armament of 4 guns means having 1 turret knocked out reduces your fire power by 50%. The Kuma and the Pheonix by comparison have more turrets and armament on their decks so generally in a gunnery duel you will have the disadvantage there.  Being a light cruiser the Yubari wont withstand sustained fire for long having the lowest health pool of 18.5k hp but some of that health loss can be negated using the agility of this ship by dodging fire.

The Yubari is a decent ship to captain with its good maneuverable which help make up for the Ships terrible torpedo firing arch. Turning to fire the torp's however generally leaves you having to expose a big section of your ship to fire so I tend to use these more of a secondary engagement option. When captaining the ship regardless of how good the jap's torps are in comparison to other nations its just better in this ship to use as a surprise attack. Using the guns is far more effective in combat with a decent range of 12.8 km (over its equivalent tier Kumas 11.6 km and Phoenix's 12.5km) .

The turning circle of the Yubari is 690m considerably less than its equivalent tier cruisers.You will probably find the Yubari behaves pretty much like a heavy destroyer which enables you to get aggressive with your movements and dodging fire. When facing off against carriers when closing the distance, this maneuverability really helps evade incoming torpedoes too.

In summary for this ship you will need to really pay attention to your teams actions during a fight as you will mainly play a support role. Use your maneuverability to your advantage as dodging incoming fire and torpedoes will keep you alive. This ship doesnt like being the subject of sustained fire so be careful with your engagements and use you strong AA fire to aid in the defence of your fleet. You will have a surface detect ability range similar to a heavy destroyer so surprise attacks with torpedoes around head land and hit and gun attacks with your guns will be your friend.

Thats all for today. Till next time.

HMS Warspite, that gruff old lady you can't quite get rid of.

This week I'll be looking at the new premium ship the HMS Warspite of the Royal Navy. This ship has a long history of combat seeing more combat honors of any other ship ever in the Royal Navy, participating in as many as 15 separate combat scenarios (7 of which were major engagements in the World Wars). The HMS Warspite was commissioned in 1912 as a part of the Queen Elizabeth class Super Dreadnoughts in response to the rumored development of German battleships sporting 14 inch guns.

At the time of her designing Germany and the United Kingdom were having a naval race which increase tensions between the two nations in the lead up to World War 1. On the date of her official intoduction into Royal Navy the HSM Warspite was arguably one of the most powerful ship to exist to date. 

HSM Warspite resilience was legendary being able to take punishment in large quantities. This was proved in the Battle of Jutland (1916) and in Crete (1941) where Warspite took huge amounts of damage and was able to return in a repairable state. Her reputation of the Warspite earned her the nickname 'Grand Old Lady' from her crew and with her 15 inch guns and feared reputation on the seas. HMS Warspite holds the one of the longest known hits in a gunnery duel from a moving ship to a moving target, smacking the Italian ship Giulio Cesar at a range of 24km in the battle of Calabria in 1940.

After 2 refits in her service in the Royal Navy she was a considerable force on the open seas with 14 inch belt armor and bristling with guns and improved engines modernising her for current state of sea faring battles. In World of Warships introduction of the 'Grand Old Lady' I hoped that Wargaming had done a good job in introducing their first British Royal Navy Ship into the game.

The entrance of the HMS Warspite has caused quite a bit of talk on the forums in World of Warships when first people looked at the stats, this prominently comes down to the gun armament rotation speed and range of the 15 inch guns. 

Another Mighty Jingles Video on the Grand Old Lady

All is not lost however as for a battleship the Warspite has a 14km visual spotting distance which is very good for a Battleship, that's pretty much cruiser styles spotting distances. The turning circle is incredible enabling you to be aggressive with your evasive maneuvers. This agile movements and the combination of the thick hide makes the Warspite fun to captain whilst being able to output the damage with you big ass guns. I find that I can consistently do decent damage with this ship having good shot dispersion in comparison to the Imperial Japanese fleets Battleships and large caliber of gun for its teir.

I mentioned that the turret range and rotation speed were pretty terrible and to be fair for battleship... it is pretty terrible. 50-60 seconds to rotate the turrets 180 degrees is down heatedly bad to say the least and combined with its shell range of just over 16km I can see why when people are looking at the stats of the Fuso and the Warspite are just shoving their noses up and raging.  

I feel that people are really overlooking the advantages of this British  Legend of a battleship. This ship was designed to take a beating and dish a proverbial crap ton back and you will have to come to terms with taking damage whilst being clever in your engagements. Getting into gun range to deal damage in the initial stages of the game is important but there is no use powering into the fleet of enemy ships and getting focused down. This Battleship is really meant for the experienced player who can read the flow of the battle and use the accuracy of the big guns to deal consistent high damage to your foes. Once within range of other battleship they are committed to engage you due to Warspite matching most of the equivalent Battleships speeds.

Citadel Hits don't really happen that often with the Warspite. The citadel seems to be sunk bellow the waterline and the kind of engagements you are likely to have will be at a range where the shell trajectory will be too shallow to penetrate to lower vital areas that will cause massive damage. The massive torpedo bulges ensure a massive reduction of damage when torpedoes find their mark. The secondary armament of this ship is deadly to light ships unwary of the massive bulk of this ship powering up to them and can surprise many with their damage output.

In summary for this ship I feel there is a certain amount of experience needed to really benefit from this ship. Looking past its short comings and looking at its advantages really helps you to focus on how to play this ship more effectively. Using this ship you will really notice the turning speed and how you can use it evasively and also to make up for the really bad turret traverse. You can respond to threats effectively with this maneuverability and if not know that your thick 330 mm armor  can weather the storm. It's taken me some time to get used to and love the Warspite even if I was initially disappointed. I do fear this ship will suffer the same fate as the Lowe tank in World of Tanks where people playing for a few hours buy this ship and really suck at it because its geared towards the experienced/intelligent player. 

World of Warships USS Sims

Hi All,

Just a quick update on World of Warships.This week I want to give a little more incite into the USS Sims, the premium teir 7 destroyer that has made its appearance into the closed beta. I mentioned earlier that I had purchased a destroyer in my previous post. However it seems that I may have accidentally bought all 3 of the new premium ships in the beta. These are the Russian Gremyashchiy destroyer, the Japanese Yubari cruiser and of course the American USS Sims Destroyer. (The Gold I have from these purchases I am very much considering the Atlantia Premium American cruiser as it looks like a sexy ship too, bristling with guns and sleek as hell. My wallet will be hurting on this game mark my words!)

The USS Sims is pretty much the groundings for all that is great about American Destroyers. Its is a small, fast manoeuvring destroyer with a strong destroyer artillery armament shooting 4 shells every 7 to 8 seconds from its 127mm guns. The Sims is the most manoeuvrable ship in world of warships with a manoeuvrability rating of 97. With a top speed of 39 knots and Rudder shift time of 3.5 seconds, this can be a slippery character of a ship to get fire on. The rotation speed of its guns are nothing more than spectacular making this a king of close quarter combat with any opposing nations destroyers. With this destroyers combination of guns and agility it makes a very strong contender for being one of my most favourite ships I have commandeered so far.

Torpedoes in American destroyers are nothing special when compared to the Japanese or Russian counterparts, being slow and of short range. However the speed of the ship does make closing the distance to effective range on other ships easier than would normally be expected. The guns on this ship are really what make this destroyer shine but the torpedoes still pack a substantial thump to any tunnel visioning battleships or unaware cruisers. The fragility of destroyers is a factor that all captains have to contend with so closing to short range to torpedo your opponents normally means you take fire from secondary batteries before dropping your fishes in the water. The speed of the Sims makes it completely capable of catching targets unaware to deadly effect before secondary or primary have even chance to bear on you. With each torpedo causing around 14k of damage these fish leave big sore marks that opposing players won't soon forget.

I would highly recommend looking to this ship for a special desert of high tension with a icing of excitement. This ships are readily available in play if you are currently in the closed beta or are looking for a strong American style destroyer for you arsenal when the open beta gets released.

Another Mighty Jingles round up on the new premium ships in World of Warships. Stop making such good videos Jingles. Here is a link to his channel if your interested in hearing more about his stuff! https://www.youtube.com/user/BohemianEagle

For those people that are interested in World of Warships and are not in the closed beta I strongly recommend checking out their website and signing yourself up.It is such a strong game even in its current state I am excited for War gaming and other players when they finally cut the baby strings and let their baby run free in the wild.

On other news I have started modelling one of my favourite tanks of all time, the fearsome Tiger Tank. I've been trying to keep this one as accurate as possible when I have been modelling it by getting my hands on as much blue print material as I can. the surviving 131 and the Fury film most definitely sparked this but hopefully I can do the Tiger some justice by doing it to the best of my ability. That will be coming in a later post to show you what I have done so far.

Till next week...

World of Warships! AMAZING!

Hi all again,

being as im lazy and haven't done any more 3D to show you I thought this would be a great point to say something about the closed beta game I am currently playing. For those people that have being following my blog you may be aware that I play World of Tanks but Wargaming have been busy with a new flag ship title, World of Warships, that is on the brink of having its baby strings cut and let out into the wild (the gaming community).

For WoT players you will instantly feel right at home with the controls of the ships and the garage configuration. There is more than enough differences to make the game feel fresh and exciting and gives a challenging new play style to master with having to really think about your plan of action before you do things.

In its current state there are 4 classes of ship that play in completely different ways. The Battleship that's all about the armour, big guns and massive damage... when they hit =) . Cruisers that are lightly armoured have high DPM guns and and fairly nimble in comparison to their Battleship brothers. Destroyers that are fragile, turn faster than a virgin's head in a whore house and pack a massive punch in the form of torpedoes more torpedoes and yes more torpedoes. Finally Aircraft Carriers that are the long striking arm of your fleet with flights of bombers torpedo planes and fighters.

(http://worldofwarships.com/en/content/game/classes_of_ships/ check this page to see more on the classes.)

I have started playing both available nations currently in the game which are the Japanese and American lines of ships. The Americans currently have access to the Aircraft Carriers but not Battleships and the Japanese are the other way around having access to the Battleship behemoths but not the Aircraft Carriers. Americans in pure redneck style have the gun advantage sporting deadly guns but the Japanese seem to have the edge in torpedoes giving them a very different feel in how both nations play. The Russian line is still in development and at the moment only consists of premium vehicles but I expect that these will soon be mashed into the fray of battle very soon. Being a tight arse I havent shelled out for any russian ships but I have just got myself the lovely american destroyer , The Sims. that will be included in the game in a few days.

Mighty Jingles is a guy I follow on you tube (who I recommend looking at his channel) who posts regularly about most of the games I currently play. He has a good sense of humour and is entertaining to watch (even if he does remind me of my grandad (sorry jingles if you read this =) I know your only in your mid 40's). He's normally very informative and is defiantly one to watch in World of Warships having served in the navy himself on the HMS Newcastle.

This video actually shows current in game footage and really you can just sit back and enjoy the pure hair raising good quality of game, both visually and in game mechanics, that Wargaming has made.

Like I said World of Warships is still in its closed beta so dont go rushing to Wargaming's page expecting to just download it and play but I would say go and register your interest as this game it truly spectacular even in its current state.

I am really enjoying the destroyer class at the moment having to be super sneaky and dangerous at the same time. they are a very exciting class to play and can be very rewarding... provided you live long enough to get within torpedo range. 

Here is another Mighty Jingles Video to show you what I mean about the excitement of Destroyers.

From previously being involved with games development I can probably say with a little confidence that the game wont be in closed beta for long as it plays brilliantly and already feels well balanced (except for ramming people which is a little over powered). Hopefully it wont be too long till I get to sink more people with my Torps and Guns in the near future! For anyone already in the closed beta feel free to add my ID on World of Warships which is dna87.

Till next time.