World of Warships

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makers of World of Tanks show off their boats...

Q: Which time period will be covered by the game?
A: In the game we will introduce Warships from the start of dreadnought era till the dusk of the Artillery Warships.

Q: What classes of Warships will be presented in the game?
A: In the game we will introduce following types of Warships:

Battleships. This is the heaviest ship of the team. The most armored and protected warships, which normally have medium speed and large-caliber weapons
Cruisers. Depending on the specific warship, the main traget of this class will be hunting enemy destroyers or protecting the team from aerial enemies. And, of course, Artillery battle with other cruisers.
Destroyers. The smallest and the fastest in World of Warships. Torpedo's are their main weapon and battleships main targets. Also can help with aerial defence of the team
Airaraft carriers. Big and vulnerable warships, which have big range of fire thanks to planes: fighters, bombers and torpedo carriers. The gameplay on an aircraft carrier will be similar to RTS-games.

Q: Will you have submarines in the game?
A: No, because submarines are quite vulnerable, when not underground. So there won't be any player controlled submarines in the game.

Q: Who is developing the game
A: Lesta Studio under Wargaming control.

Q: Will you be able to give a warship a name and make it displayed to other players?Also, are we going to be able to fly flags, to reflect country and clans?
A: It's planned to allow players to select warship name from the premade list. As for flags, we do plan to allow clan flags aside of regular premade list of flags (which will include countries).

Q: What size of maps will WoWS have?
A: 50х50km, with probably bigger ones in future.

Q: Will you integrate all 3 projects in one battlefield.
A: No, because it's impossible

Q: When will Alpha Test be started?
A: As soon as the game will require this stage of Development.

Q: Does player controlls only one warship?
A: Yes, he does

Q: How many nations will be introduced in the game?
A: By released we will have full Japanese and USA trees. Afterwards we plan to introduce Britain, germany, USSR, France, Italy.

Q: How the crew system will work?
A: Crew will be represented by small amount of main officers, which will have their own skills and perk. There will be a possibility to knock out the officer. In this case warship will suffer penalties similarly to vehicle in World of Tanks.

Q: The average dogfight lastedroughly 45 seconds, and small tank on tank fights would not ussually last long either. However ship to ship clashes would often last hours on end, and usually a few ships would be sunk and others damaged before one side retreated. How does WG plan on making battles last only 15 or so minutes?
A: In time period of our game warships already had enough firepower to sink an armored opponent fast enough. History also has some facts about 'oneshots'. For example, admiral-class battlecruisers Hood was one shot by Prinz Eugene during WWII, because of setting ammunition deck on fire. We are very careful to historical details and will tune the gameplay in the way, when player will feel operating a true steel monster.

Q: What will happen if you get shot below the water line will your ship begin to flood or will it just be normal damage
A: Both things will happen. You will have the HP bar as well as some kind of flooding bar. As for flooding mechanics - it is complex enough, but players do not need to now how internal things actually work, it is enough to know that after a certain number of hits under the waterline with big guns it is possible for the ship to capsize. And it can actually happen even before you loose your green HP bar points. Predicring further questions, there will not be any repair/flood micromanagement - everything that can be repaired will be repaired to at least of 50% effectiveness automatically, or to 100% with consumable used, same story with flooding.

Q: How will the upgrade system look like?
A: There will be predefined lists of what you can mount onto the ship, and all armament and machinery will be in that lists. We call them pre-sets. Everything that is listed in pre-set will be installable at once; players will not be allowed to mount each AA gun manually.

Q: Will there be scouting-specific aircraft launched from non-carrier warships?
A: Yes, you can launch hydroplane from non carrier warship. All planes will provide scouting for every allied ship.So spotting will be a little different from WOT, but based on the same principles.

Q: Will the firing range be much longer than the spotting range?
A: Yes, firing range for many ships (BBs especially) will be much longer than the spotting range - use your planes, Luke!

Q: What kind of ammunition will there be with the different classes of guns?
A: AP/HE/Common, etc. AA guns will have the HE and radio-controlled shells as well. Armament will be customizable like in WOT - you will be able to load shells you like most, though only historical types of shells for specific guns.

Q: Is there going to be weather on release?
A: There is going to be a wheather, but no guarantee for it to be in release version - though later it is very possible.

Q: Can you give me a tier number for the Bismark? it will be a tier 10?
A: 8 at best

Q: With Air craft carriers, How many planes will I be able to launch and how Do I control them? IN a RTS view?
A: Many planes - at least tens of them. Yes, they will be controlled in RTS view

Q: Will we be able to lay smoke screens in the game?
A: Smoke screens are possible.

Q: After the testing is done do you expect Patrol boats(PT and Eboats), submarines, and destroyer escorts?
A: No. No U boats, no PT boats, no patrol boats. Our game is about big ships.

Q: Will waves and wind be a factor when shooting?
A: No! Ships of WWII had complex FCS and Gyroscope systems to avoid these factors.

Q: How will the interface of game play be like such as sniper mode torpedo mode and so on?
A: Third person view, binocular view, arty-style view for long-range firing and top-down view for aircraft managing.

Q: Will we be looking at realistic engagement distances and times?
A: Yes, realistic distances, though shells will have a tuned up speed (like 3-4 times higher to make game a little more fast-paced). Shells will also have their dispersion ellipse as in real life. You will have to predict the position of impact of your salvo, though the game will show you the exact dispersion ellipse of that zone. After first 3 salvoes, you dispersion ellipse will become minimal, which represents specification of target parameters

Q: Since ships have multiple gun turrets, how will that work?
A: Main caliber guns, controlled by player will aim all at one target. And no, this can not effect WOT problems. Second caliber huns are controlled by AI, though you can mark priority targets for them.

Q: Reading that players choosing a Destroyer will have a three accompanying AI-controlled destroyers, and choosing a Cruiser will have an accompanying Cruiser; How will that work?
A: That's very old info. We will have no AI controlled ships in PvP - if player choose a DD, than balancing tool will get another three players on DD in that team slot. Totally there will be 10 slots approximately.

Q: What's the tonnage of the biggest ship that'll be featured on WoWs?
A: Less than 80k. We are not considering ships with higher than 80k displacement to appear in game, because such ships are more about magic than about possibility of technology of 1940s.

Q: What Top Tiers will there be for release?
A: USN will have the Iowa and Montana as the tier10 BBs in game, while IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) will have Yamato and N13. There will not be any ships with higher tier than 10.

Q: If you run your ship aground would it be impossible for it to sink?
A: Yes. But it will also be almost impossible to live long after that with small HP left.

Q: Can you tell us why its only going to be the USN and the IJN at teh release of the game and not having a third nation?
A: Because it takes about 3 months for one person to make, for example, a battleship. Of course we have more than one 3d modeller, but you must understand, that ships are very complex things, and it takes time to build it and to tune it with a gameplay point of view. So we decided to concentrate on two nations with biggest fleets in WWII, and to implement other nations after.

Q: How far are you guys on getting alpha/beta out?
A: Well, we are already on a pre-alpha stage, so we have some maps, some ships and some gameplay features working. When we are done with core gameplay features and with polishing them, we will start the closed Alpha.
a) There are like 30 ships already made, but very few of them are actually tuned enough to be in game.
b) Already acceptable, though there are still things to remake and to polish
c) We already fight each other on a developer fightings.

Q:Some battleships such as the German H class designs had a large set of main guns AND torpedoes. In these case, which of those would be the main armament, or would they both work as such?
A: You will be able to switch between torpedoes and main caliber guns.

Q: Somewhere above the devs said smaller nations like sweedan, and dutch ships would be in game, would this be as a tech tree or more likely premuim ships?
A: It depends on how many ships we will find

Q: When your carrier (or any ship with aircraft flying) is sunk, will your aircraft instantly be destroyed or can you still control them until they run outa ammo and fuel?
A: You will be able to control the rest of your planes until they are out of fuel.

Q: Also, will ships be able to become "beached" or will the battle ground be out in open water further from shore to prevent this?
A: There won't be any special radar sight of any kind. Radars will just bring bonuses to accuracy and range of sight.

Q: Will there be a team damage occur? Will there be a fine system in place similar to WoT?
A: Yes, there will be similar system

Q: What will be German Top Tiers, once the Tree released some time after?
A: Currently we are planning to have their H39, H41 and H42m though thing may change closer to release date.

Q: You've already disclosed Top Tier available upon release. And what will be Tier 1?
A: Erie for USN and Katoriclass for IJN

Looks like a replacement for my secret "Warship Gunner II" addiction.

So, rise up! For those who haven't been following, this is in closed beta now. I've watched some streamers playing it and it looks pretty awesome.

So, not live yet? I've been watching a few streams and nobody ever answers that question...

I'm looking forward to it!

Wink_and_the_Gun wrote:

So, not live yet? I've been watching a few streams and nobody ever answers that question...

I'm looking forward to it!

Nope, not live. It went into CBT last week I think? It's a blast though

I so want to play...

For anyone interested in seeing [size=1]awful[/size] gameplay, I added it to steam for broadcasting purposes. If you want to see someone good, check out this guy.

Does anybody have any invite codes for this? I really really really wanna play this.

MoonDragon wrote:

Does anybody have any invite codes for this? I really really really wanna play this.

Wargaming is handing them out on social media, and there are streamers who have codes to give away from time to time. Just be careful about what streams you're watching; some of them are scam artists. I stream it every now and again on Steam when I'm playing it if you're interested in watching me be horrible.

Is there any sort of shot indicator that helps you aim? Or is it pure guesswork?

I saw this teased on the WoT site and got excited. I look forward to seeing it's release.

For anyone that wants to try a game very much like this that you can play now, I recommend giving Navy Field a try. It can be fun but the controls have a learning curve and the music is irritating as all hell.

Seriously, WoW people. I put 1,500 battles into the tank beta, (before ultimately defecting to WT, but let's not talk about that now), give me a beta key already.

Tamren wrote:

Is there any sort of shot indicator that helps you aim? Or is it pure guesswork?

From what I've seen on twitch, it appears you have a shot indicator to tell you where you're shooting, but it's up to you to decide if that location is going to be full of enemy ship when your shots get there.

Nevin73 wrote:

Navy Field

I had good times in Navy Field I, but the grind. My god, the grind.

Tamren wrote:

Is there any sort of shot indicator that helps you aim? Or is it pure guesswork?

Part guesswork, part aiming reticle. Holding alt will give you distance to target and the flight time of your shells, so it's up to you to determine how much lead you want to give them based on that.

It seems very similar to WoT aiming reticle. But colour indicates your gun readiness (loading and turning), rather than penetration ability.

Wut.

And suddenly I'm OK to wait for WarThunder ships.

That and the whole HP damage thing is just as sh*tty with WoW is with WoT and the absolute failure of World of Warplanes.

I mean, I get that aiming is hard, but you're levelling the playing field with a daisy cutter if you just show people exactly where to aim. And not only that but this is a 3rd party mod that mos players don't even know about and that you have to opt-in for, not part of the game.

Warthunder has a lead indicator for tanks and planes, but hitting stuff is HARD in Warthunder. Deflection shooting needs no explanation, and even then the indicator you get doesn't anticipate changes in direction or speed. If you aim right on the dot when firing at a diving plane you will miss because the indicator shows you where to shoot NOW, but the target is gaining speed and will simply run past the shots. Really all it does is give you a realtime indication of where the target is facing, which you would otherwise have to guess by looking at the plane itself or be unable to at all if the target was in a cloud. You still have to AIM. Similarly while the tank shot indicator shows you where the shell will land. You will not necessarily hit that spot given the inherent inaccuracy of cannons. And the indicator does little to help you hit moving targets.

This aim assist in WoW does both of those things. It shows you exactly where the target is facing and where they are turning at any range. Things you would normally have to guess yourself, and your skill at said task being the measure of your performance as a player.

Expect folks running that to get banhammered. It's right in line with weakspot modifications.

As for HP in the game, hate it if you want, but it doesn't keep you from getting one shots on other ships. Very few things are more satisfying than putting 4-6 rounds into the citadel on some ship for an insta-kill.

Ok, so apparently WG greenlighted it. I agree with them in that leading isn't hard to learn, but eliminating the need to learn it isn't a good thing in the least.

And with a bit more reading, found out why; there was a lead indicator back in alpha(same as the mod). Also, they're putting more emphasis on situational awareness than on gunnery.

Last edit, I swear. Here's the word from the EU producer:

Ladies, Gentlemen, Pirates,

In response to all the heated discussions around modifications I would like to reiterate what members of our Community Team have been imparting on you already: We have taken note of the issue and are working towards a solution.

We like mods and know that moddability makes it simply more fun and more personal. It also allows us to see solutions that we have not thought of ourselves or did not have the resources to implement. Of course there are mods which introduce a variable into our design that we don't want or are not sure about. These we will keep an eye on and take action.

At this time we are still in a closed pre-release phase which we are using to full effect. Part of that is seeing what kind of mods appear, how they work and how they affect the game. Because of this we are not immediately condemning any general group of mods, but we are also not going to indefinitely ignore anything that breaks the game for our players.

On a side note, our definition of "breaks the game" is entrenched in statistics and design experience, not only direct community feedback. But you already knew that.

As part of the steps taken to combat the appearance of mods like these, we are considering encoding our script files and making our file architecture different from World of Tanks. This should slow down the appearance of modifications directly ported from WoT, which is very easy at the moment. Building on that we will then change certain game logics that modders could exploit and encode even further. All of this together means that over time we will be increasing the hacking difficulty of our scripts, making them more and more difficult to break, and most importantly – to support.
Unfortunately, this would also impact harmless mods, at least initially, but that's a bridge we will cross when we get there.

Another thing we are considering is revisiting our own target prediction system, which we had tried in Alpha. We have a few ideas on how to rework it to make it work better than it did before and make it fulfill the role we originally intended it to. However, we are not quite sure we want to go down that road yet.

For the meantime you will have to endure in the face of potential mod users, but rest assured that we are taking steps to work it out.

Action Stations! 

I watched a stream with one of the developers a few days ago and he said the plan is to have close beta's duration under 6 months (plus all the "no guarantee" disclaimers, of course). If their plans turn out to be realistic, open beta should start somewhere around September.

Can't wait.

Hedinn wrote:

Can't wait.

And now you don't have to!

As of yesterday if you buy any of the pre-order packages, you get access to the closed beta along with it.

I think maybe I'm a niche customer. I want a game like this where I can totally customize my ship's loadout. So basically I want to do my own thing in a game you could argue is based in hard history. Even in space games where you often get to pick your guns, I always try to make space "battleships" with the biggest cannons available.

Mr Bismarck wrote:
Hedinn wrote:

Can't wait.

And now you don't have to!

As of yesterday if you buy any of the pre-order packages, you get access to the closed beta along with it.

Woohoo, great news, thank you!

Now just I need to choose the ship to buy without knowing anything about them at all!

[edit] And done! I bought the cheapest package available - the Japanese Cruiser. The game is downloading, very excited to check it out tonight.

I bought the Japanese ship too. I used to use the Yubari a lot in Navy Field. It was considered to be a pretty terrible ship there, but I had a lot of fun turning it into an AA boat, because it had great firing angles. I don't know how important AAA is in WoW, but in NF it was pretty useful to down your opponent's airplanes. I'd hang out in front of my team's BB line and try to take out attacking planes and scouts.

I'm curious, from you guys with access, how is the server population? Is it easy to get a game going on? Or is the server a ghost town?

While I'm still excited for this, I gave Navy Field 2 a whirl last night. It's on Steam (yay!) and it doesn't seem as grindy as the original game. It actually progresses a lot like World of Tanks where you have to research a certain level of equipment on your current ship to unlock the next ship. I'm already on my second ship after three matches.

Huh, I never read about the Sims Class of US WW2 Destroyers. I've always been a huge fan of the Fletchers (after reading The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors). I'll have to think about pre-ordering to get the USS Sims. If it was a Fletcher, I'd pull the trigger immediately.

Edit: Well caving to that temptation didn't take long. I'm in for the Sims. Is the Closed Beta going on now or will that be starting soon?

Ooohhhh.... I can't wait.

Close beta is on now. If you bought the pre-order pack, then provided you're signed into your account on the WarGaming.net site, the WoW page should have a big orange "Download Game" button on it. Enjoy your 6GB of patching.

As for population, I played a long string of games last night without ever waiting more than a minute or so. It seems that the pre-order entry to CBT has been very popular. If things slow down as it gets to late night then you can switch the game type at the top to "Co-op battles" and play with humans against a team of AI. That way you only need half as many players to trigger a game.

Amusingly, people still Female Doggo about kill stealing in co-op games.

Mr Bismarck wrote:

I bought the Japanese ship too. I used to use the Yubari a lot in Navy Field. It was considered to be a pretty terrible ship there, but I had a lot of fun turning it into an AA boat, because it had great firing angles. I don't know how important AAA is in WoW, but in NF it was pretty useful to down your opponent's airplanes. I'd hang out in front of my team's BB line and try to take out attacking planes and scouts.

AA is very important in this game. Carriers can wreck battleships pretty bad if left unchallenged. In WoWS, battleships and destroyers have pretty bad AA, so AA defense is one of the main roles for cruisers'. If there are carriers in the battle, it's very important not to leave battleships without cruiser support.

Unfortunately, fleet formation is not something general population bothers with thinking about. All 3 team's destroyers bunched up in one corner of the map leaving the rest of the fleet without scouting, torpedoes and smoke screens? Check. Cruisers steaming away from battleships leaving them vulnerable to airplanes? Check. Battleships thinking they are invincible, going alone against 4 cruisers and dying? Check.

It took awhile for people to understand tank roles in WoT and even 4 years later majority of people suck at their roles. WoWS is IMO a more complicated game in this area and I wonder how it's going to affect the gameplay.

I loved playing it yesterday. When you are watching videos the game seems to be slow paced but, in reality, when you are "driving" there are so many things to think about, so much stuff to do, the game *feels* very fast paced. Every class feels unique, even nations and ships within one class feel differently (e.g. IJN destroyers have better torpedoes while US destroyers have better artillery).

There are lots of things to learn and I am very much looking forward to playing more.

My first game out in the Yubari last night, I tried to screen our BB and shot down two enemy scout planes. Better yet, a DD hung out a little way in front and lay down smoke. We took practically no incoming fire, because I don't think anyone could see us.

At the end I said to myself, "that's probably never going to happen again." Next game I tried to follow a BB to provide cover, but he went full speed and rammed himself into an island. So... variable.

Mr Bismarck wrote:

At the end I said to myself, "that's probably never going to happen again." Next game I tried to follow a BB to provide cover, but he went full speed and rammed himself into an island. So... variable.

The battleship was just trying to fortify the island, I'm sure.

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