We continue our series of video tutorials dedicated to the new aircraft carrier game play.

In the previous episode of “How It Works” we covered the types of aircraft that the new carriers have on their flight decks, namely: attack aircraft, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. Today we will discuss AA defenses, fighters, and aircraft HP. Watch the new video and use the knowledge you gain to your advantage in battle!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvrwz-1XhnM&list=PLVmXzlhZvJVSo3LA0O0ccjHRxxv-Qzchb
Subtitles can be enabled in the video player separately.

Enjoy watching!

To allow you to adapt your Commanders and ships to the new carrier gameplay as comfortably as possible, from February 8 to February 11, you’ll be able to retrain your Commanders, redistribute their skill points and demount modernizations for free. This event includes all Commanders and ships, regardless of specialization or class.


In Update 0.8.0.1 we will carry out balance changes and improvements of aircraft carriers and AA stats.

• To reduce the attacking and spotting potential of Attack Aircraft against destroyers in high-tier battles, the number of aircraft in the squadron was changed to 9, and in the attack group to 3. The changes affected the aircraft carriers VIII Lexington, VIII Shokaku, X Midway, X Hakuryu.
  
• Increased the height which returning aircraft need to reach in order to become invulnerable to AA fire. This will allow ships to fire longer on returning aircraft and will help to counter the tactic in which the player gives the order to the squadron to return immediately after the first attack group’s run (“F” key by default).
  
• Maneuvering among the AA explosions allows you to reduce the damage received from air defense, even while in the AA range of ships with powerful air defense. We redistributed the efficiency of air defense between the constant damage taken and the puffs of damage from explosions - the efficiency was increased for the former and decreased for the latter. This will keep the tactics of dodging explosions still effective, but it will not allow planes to stay too long in the range of air defense without taking significant losses, especially when attacking a formation of ships.
  
• Changed several features of the Japanese torpedo bombers. Now, if during the preparation for the attack, the attack group maneuvers, your aim will not stabilize (aiming cone stops narrowing). And when maneuvering during an attack run - begins to widen. In order to carry out an effective attack, you need to preemptively choose the line of attack and try not to make last-minute maneuvers.
  
• Reduced the chance of flooding by approximately a third for the Japanese aerial torpedoes in tiers IV-VIII, and by half for German (tier VIII) and Japanese (tier X) aerial torpedoes.
  
• Significant changes have affected the alternative plane torpedo module for X Hakuryu. The attack run preparation is now longer, and more difficult - the parameters of the aiming were changed and the angles of the torpedo spread were increased even when aiming is at its most accurate. In addition, the speed of aircraft when returning to the aircraft carrier is reduced and the delay before the start of a new attack is increased. We have significantly changed the characteristics of torpedoes: reduced speed, increased detection radius and arming time.
  
• To increase the effectiveness of attacks, we added resistance to AA damage for bombers at the time of readiness to attack (when the aiming indicator turns green). In this phase of the attack, all bombers will receive 30% less damage.
  
• Bug fixes: the aiming for the stock attack aircraft on the carrier VI Ranger is now similar to the aiming for all American attack aircraft. The characteristics of the basic 'Fighter' consumable for V Emerald are brought to the same value as 'Fighter II' and the minimum speed of the stock Japanese bombers of all tiers does not exceed the minimum speed on the researchable bombers.
  
• If the ship has no 25 mm AA guns, medium-range AA defenses start at 1 km. These ships' AA configuration will now be emphasized if you can't shoot planes inside of a 1km range.

British torpedo bombers showed excessive efficiency in combat. To balance them, the following changes have been made:

• Changed the parameters of the approach to the attack of British torpedo bombers: the duration of the attack preparation has been increased and the angles of the torpedo spread at optimal aiming have been increased.
  
• Changed settings on all the British aerial torpedoes: increased time of arming, increased range, and their speed is now equal to 35 knots.
  
• On British aircraft carriers at tiers VIII and X there is now only one type of torpedo: Mark XII (basic tier VIII aerial torpedo).

• Fixed a bug where the flag of the eleventh Ranked Season was displayed incorrectly in the player's profile in the section with season statistics.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the game to freeze when switching to the port in some cases on weak PC configurations.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the sound of shots in combat to be played incorrectly in some cases.
  
• Finally, in honour of the Lunar New Year celebrations, all players that switched over to the Dragon Port will see a new loading screen with a thematic image.

While you're here, you may be interested in the most recent Dev Blog post featuring 0.8.0 AA — how it works, how it interacts with commander skills and upgrades, and everything else.

Prefer to put your feet up and watch Youtube video? We have you covered - this Friday, 8th February we'll tell you all about the mechanics of anti-aircraft defense, new consumables, and fighter planes in our 'How It Works' video series.

Commanders!

The game is nearing the second in a series of updates dedicated to aircraft carriers, with plenty of fascinating things coming your way. A new tech tree of British carriers, changes to certain in-game mechanics, and much more!
https://youtu.be/ArFx4RHA1nI
Subtitles can be enabled in the video player separately.

Enjoy watching!

It's been less than a week since the release of Update 0.8.0 - a major, and probably the biggest change in the game yet, CV rework. We want to share the first list of fixes, changes and tweaks that are to be implemented to improve the new CV and counter-CV gameplay. But first of all, we sincerely thank you for your feedback and game activity, as well as apologize for any stress and inconvenience that you may have experienced due to massive game changes.

Please note that all information in this article is preliminary.

Critical changes and fixes that we're working on right now (to be implemented within 0.8.0 in "hotfix" update ASAP):

• Reduce the excessive efficiency of X Hakuryu;
  
• Reduce the excessive efficiency of IJN Torpedo Bombers (reduce flooding chance, introduce spread debuff when manoeuvring);
  
• Resolve the "F-spam" issue, when a CV can just recall its squadron at any time without considerable penalties (increase the vulnerability time for the squadron after recall so that players can shoot down some planes before it completely disengages);
  
• Overall AA balancing: shift a part of the damage from flak bursts to constant DPS. Flak bursts proved to be an interesting aspect of AA. However, on the one hand, they deal disproportional amount of damage, and on the other hand, avoiding them often results in completely insufficient damage to the planes;
  
• Overall Attack Planes vs. Destroyers balancing. While this is an important thing to do, we would like to indicate that most players seem to underestimate the power of manual AA activation (

  by default). Due to great destroyer concealment, if often makes sense to turn AA off until spotted. A destroyer spotted at minimal range is a lot harder to hit with the first attack run even with rockets. Although, this trick does not remove the need for further balancing;
  

• Additional Premium CV and UK CV (unreleased) balancing;
  
• Remove the inconsistency between X Des Moines and X Salem in close/mid-range AA;

Changes and improvements that we work on now in the timeframe of next updates (0.8.1 and beyond).

• Improve plane reserves UI (information should be better presented);
  
• Improve AA sector UI (better usability);
  
• Do additional balancing for individual ships, armament, skills and upgrades, as the statistical data is being accumulated;
  
• Clear the minimap for non-CV ships (remove the unnecessary info about returning planes, etc);
  
• Finish the development for CV bots (Cooperative Battles);

Open questions and concerns to be researched in more detail and addressed if needed (no specific update planned yet, but it may change).

• The amount and quality of CV spotting in the new meta;
  
• MM limits (our ideal limit is 1 CV per team, very few cases of 2 CV (and always 1 at tier X, but right now the limit is 3 across the board): we would like to change the limits where/when possible.

As indicated before, these are the first plans following several days of release. We will keep monitoring your feedback and update you about any further changes.

Thank you, good luck, and fair seas!

Let's talk about the main changes and what they mean.

All details are available in a series of articles where we describe the new system of aircraft controls and attacking, special consumables, changes in the Tech Tree and in other aspects of the game. Wanna be heralded a true flying ace? Read on, the information in this article will come in handy. First, let's take a look at some highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjyQVM2sGAo&list=PLVmXzlhZvJVSo3LA0O0ccjHRxxv-Qzchb
Subtitles can be enabled in the video player separately.

Enjoy watching!

Next episode will cover anti-aircraft defences mechanics.

Reunite with your friends and comrades in arms for a brand new update that brings with it a set of thrilling adventures to celebrate Lunar New Year in World of Warships! Don’t miss the Anshan discount, special lootboxes, unique Commanders, combat missions and the highlight of all the deals – the Huanghe DLC!
https://youtu.be/TANAzybZrC8
In the Dragon Port, you can hear new sounds, enjoy the night sky which has replaced the daylight, and take in the view of the changed landscape and water’s surface.


We have added two unique Pan-Asian Commanders—Dà Róng and Quán Róng—each with enhanced skills. Commander Dà Róng is earned for completing a chain of combat missions, and you can get Commander Quán Róng after obtaining all three bundles of the Lunar New Year collection in sequence.


Complete a chain of combat missions and earn holiday-themed containers, camouflage patterns, and the unique Commander Dà Róng as the final reward.

Play one battle and get three days of Warships Premium Account time!


The Premium Shop is set to offer a special Premium container holding a large number of prizes. Most significantly, it carries a chance of dropping one of the following ships: Tier VI Premium destroyer Anshan, Tier VIII Premium destroyer Loyang, Tier VI Premium cruiser Huanghe, or Tier VIII Premium cruiser Irian. In addition to other desirable items, the container also includes a special permanent camouflage pattern for one of the following ships: Anshan, Loyang, Huanghe, or Irian.


Huanghe is a Pan-Asian cruiser that preserves many traits of her British origins. Little wonder, as in the reality this ship began her combat life in the Royal Navy. Like most British cruisers, Huanghe carries a rich array of consumables. In addition to the standard Damage Control Party and Smoke Generator consumables, players can install Hydroacoustic Search, or the Torpedo Reload Booster consumable, unusual for cruisers. The latter enables the ship to fire several torpedo attacks very quickly.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1005550/World_of_Warships__Huanghe_Pack/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/845020/World_of_Warships__Anshan_Pack/

• 100% Discount on Commander Skill Redistribution
  
• 100% Discount on Commander Retraining
  
• 100% Discount on Upgrade Demounting

That means that if you respec a 19-point commander now, you'll be saving 475 Doubloons or 190,000 Elite Commander XP!

Not Enough Respec Time?
There'll be another 1-week period of free reset in approximately 2 months, around the release of Update 0.8.2.

Try out our Commander Skill Builder tool, with which you will be able to experiment with different configurations that suit your playstyle. Once you've found the build that works for you, you can use the integrated URL generator to share your creation in the forum topic!
https://worldofwarships.eu/content/commanders-skills/

And find out more through the in-game browser!
https://worldofwarships.eu/news/game-updates/lunar-new-year-2019/
https://worldofwarships.eu/news/game-guides/re-spec-my-authoritah/

Happiness and prosperity!

Click on your nickname in the upper-left corner of the Port, then choose "Complete registration" and enter your e-mail address and password to become a member of the huge Wargaming family. This will grant you access to some really great features! Please note that this is only available for accounts created through Steam.

Alternatively, you can do this by visiting https://wargaming.net/personal/.

If you completed registration of your account after our previous offer ended, you will also receive rewards within a week of the release of Update 0.8.0!

You will receive:

1. 3 Steam containers
   
2. 250 doubloons
   
3. 1 day of Warships Premium Account

1. Easily connect to Player Support (notifications regarding answered requests will also be sent to your e-mail).
   
2. Use all of the website features (bonus codes, gifts, Shop, etc.).
   
3. Access other Wargaming products.
   
4. Receive special promo e-mails (optional, you can unsubscribe).
   
5. An e-mail address is required in order to receive the associated rewards for playing on the Public Test Server. However, your PTS account must be associated with the same e-mail address as the one you register.

Take advantage of the benefits of registration!

Exclusive containers that grant three random items from the list below:

• 5х Steam camouflage patterns
  
  • +75% ship XP per battle
    
  • +75% Сommander XP per battle
    
  • +75% Free XP per battle
    
  • -3% to the ship's detectability range by sea
    
  • +4% to the dispersion of shells fired by the enemy at your ship
• 5,000 Free XP
  
• 250 doubloons
  
• 1 day of Warships Premium Account
  
• Signal flags (Zulu, Zulu Hotel, Papa Papa, Juliet Charlie, and November Foxtrot)

* Due to differing national legal restrictions that prevent Korean citizens from completing registration, players located there will receive the rewards without using the feature.
Discuss the news here.

Please note that the servers will be temporarily unavailable due to the release of an update. The schedule is available below.

Maintenance times are tentative and subject to change. Please accept our apologies for any inconveniences.
https://youtu.be/vTU_EwcJPtA Subtitles can be enabled in the video player separately.

TL;DR? Get a rundown of the Update LIVE during Wednesday's stream!
Jan. 30, 14:00 PT (17:00 ET)

We're launching a series of updates focused on aircraft carriers. In addition to the new gameplay experience, Update 0.8.0 kicks off an event called "Fly! Strike! Win!" with new Directives dedicated to naval aviation.

All details are available in a series of articles where we describe the new system of aircraft controls and attacking, special consumables, changes in the Tech Tree and in other aspects of the game. First, let's take a look at some highlights.

Please mind that during a test it is impossible to tweak up the balance right because a test server is very much different from the main server. It offers different game conditions and incomplete statistics, with many of your opponents replaced with bots. For several months following the release of reworked carriers, any of the aircraft parameters, including the number and types of aircraft in a flight formation, will be subject to change. In doing so, we would very much appreciate your feedback and support!


Under the new concept, you control only one squadron in the air, but now you can use your squadron to carry out several attacks in a single offensive mission.

Apart from that, a new type of aircraft—attack aircraft—will appear in the game, armed with unguided rockets. Torpedo and dive bombers will continue to be at your service.

Squadrons are controlled with the WASD keys and the mouse.

Once you've selected your target and are ready to attack, hit the left mouse button. This will cause a flight formation to detach from the squadron and switch to attack mode. When the formation is ready, hit the left mouse button again to make it attack your target.

We've taken every effort to keep anti-aircraft (AA) defenses of every ship unique. Now, AA mounts are divided into three types, depending on their range of operation:

• Short-range guns (caliber: up to 25 mm inclusive);
  
• Medium-range guns (caliber: up to 85 mm inclusive);
  
• Long-range (caliber: more than 85 mm).

AA mounts deal a certain amount of damage continuously with a given frequency to one randomly selected aircraft in a squadron that is within their reach. Moreover, medium- and long-range AA mounts fire shells that explode in the air in a hostile squadron's path, substantially damaging aircraft within the shell’s explosion zone.

Every squadron will now be equipped with specific consumables: "Fighters", "Engine Cooling" and "Repair".

The "Fighters" consumable replaces Catapult Fighters previously mounted on ships. After this consumable is activated, a squadron of fighters will be called in to battle. If fighters are called in by an aircraft, they will arrive to patrol the area around the point at which their assistance was requested. If this consumable is activated by a ship, fighters will not race to a given point on the map but will escort the ship instead. If hostile aircraft enter their patrolled area, fighters automatically attack them and can destroy as many of them as the number of fighters patrolling the area.

More details about the new aircraft controls, attack modes, types of aircraft and the mechanics of AA defenses and consumables are available in a dedicated article.


All changes that produce an effect on gameplay entail changes to such game aspects as the matchmaker, the Tech Tree, economy, upgrades, Commander skills and much more.

• In the Tech Tree, aircraft carriers will be placed at even tiers only. (second aircraft carrier branch is in development)
  
• Up to three carriers may be matched to a team for battle (may be adjusted later).

Now, you will have more options for fitting up your carrier and more strategies to pursue in combat, but it will take you many a dozen battles to acquire a good understanding of the mechanics and become a true flying ace. Controlling air squadrons with the new AA defense mechanics in place is a tricky business: you need to master the skill of starting a maneuver well in time to evade explosions of AA shells, keep an eye on enemy squadrons, and foresee the actions of your target.

From January 30 until February 8 you can reset skills and retrain your Commanders free of charge. All upgrades that interact with aircraft or AA defenses will be demounted from your ships so that you can "pimp" your ships the way you like.

All details on the subject are available in a separate article.

• Japanese carriers boast fast strike aircraft and AP bombs. We have reworked the mechanics of AP bombs to make them more interesting yet harder to use: the trajectory and angle at which the bomb hits a ship depend on where you drop it.
  
• U.S. carriers boast stronger aircraft, torpedoes with a short arming threshold and two types of rockets for attack aircraft.
  
• UK carriers are planned to arrive in the next update with their own distinctive features

However, if you don't like the new gameplay or would like to research the whole carriers branch from beginning to Tier X once again, until February 21 you can exchange any available researchable aircraft carriers for credits and Free XP, and sell Premium aircraft carriers for their full price in doubloons. You can do it in the Inventory section. The rules for compensation for aircraft carriers are intended to ensure maximum advantage to players, and the general principle is really simple: you lose nothing, and even gain an extra.

For a more detailed look into the unique features of carriers and the rules of replacement, read our special article.


The Eleventh Season of Ranked Battles will really stand out: battles will be fought with Tier IX ships in the reworked Arms Race game mode. We've added new bonuses and enhanced the logic of dropping buffs to add more dynamism and fun to naval clashes in this game mode.

• Format: 6 vs. 6;
  
• Shorter-than-usual duration of the season: 27 days only;
  
• Fewer Ranks: the new season will offer 18 Ranks only;
  
• Fewer Leagues: League 2, League 1 and the Premier League remain only.
• The League of Sea Wolves will no longer be available;
  
• However, despite a reduction in the number of Ranks, the total amount (and weight) of rewards remains practically the same as in prior seasons;
  
• The amount of Steel you can get (5,500) will not change, either.

More details about the Ranked Battles are available in a separate article.


Your Clan needs Oil to develop the Clan Base and get extra bonuses? Don't miss our weekly competition codenamed "Naval Battle"!

The competition will consist of two stages:

• "Preparation": From Monday till Thursday. At this stage, your Clan needs to confirm its participation and earn, by joint efforts of all clanmates, a given amount of base XP to be able to move to the next stage;
  
• "Engagement": From Friday till Sunday. Here you will compete against another Clan and your primary task will be to outscore the adversary by the number of stars you get. Stars will be issued for earning base XP with ships of different types and nations.

Detailed info would be available in the game through clan interface.

The Concealment Expert skill is changed: ships of all types will now receive a 10% bonus. Previously, it was equal to 16% for aircraft carriers, 14% for battleships, 12% for cruisers and 10% for destroyers.

Aftereffects for various types of ships:

• Destroyers will have more time to initiate a maneuver should they unexpectedly find themselves in a dangerous vicinity to a cruiser;
  
• Cruisers can be less fearful of battleships tweaked for better concealment;
  
• For battleships, this skill will no longer seem a must, allowing more flexibility in what concerns configuration choices.

This change to the skill will remove weird situations when a ship with huge dimensions could get a bigger bonus to concealment than a smaller-sized ship.

We'll keep a close eye on how these changes affect gameplay experience with these ships and take measures if needed.

In update 0.8.0, fire duration on certain large cruisers has been increased from 45 to 60 seconds. This change is systematic and affects the following ships: Kronshtadt, Stalingrad, Azuma and Alaska.

The excellent armor of these large cruisers created an excessive advantage in survival during long battles. With the correct positioning of the ships, the only way to deal a lot of damage to them is through setting fires. Increasing the time required to extinguish the fire for these cruisers won't reduce their combat efficiency compared to conventional cruisers due to their distinctive features: high damage from the main battery salvo, a well-armored citadel and a large amount of hit points.
                                                                                                                  
The ships listed below showed a statistical lag in comparison to other ships of their tier and type. Taking into account their individual characteristics, we made a number of balance edits with the intention of increasing their efficiency.

Japanese battleship Izumo, Tier IX:

• Increased the sigma parameter from 1.8 to 2.0 to achieve tighter grouping of shells inside the dispersion ellipse.

The battleship will become more potent in battle due to the increase in accuracy of the guns, compensating for the unconventional arrangement of the main battery.

Japanese battleship Kii, Tier VIII:

• Main Battery reload time was reduced from 31 to 30 seconds
  
• We changed the following parameters of torpedo armament:
  
  • Range was increased from 6 to 10 km
    
  • Speed was reduced from 63 to 62 kts
    
  • Maximum damage was increased from 14,600 to 17,233

This turns Kii into a battleship with more opportunities to use her torpedo tubes, elevating them beyond being a weapon of "last resort". Previously using them required players to expose the ship's broadside to enemy fire at vulnerable range, due to the restrictive launch angles.

Japanese battleship Nagato, Tier VII:

• Main Battery reload time was reduced from 32 to 30 seconds.

By reducing the reload time of the ship's guns, we emphasize the role of Nagato as a battleship with good maneuverability, with her small number of accurate guns coming at the cost of armor protection.

U.S. battleship Colorado, Tier VII:

• Increased the sigma parameter from 1.9 to 2.0.

The new sigma will distinguish the battleship as a slow ship with decent maneuverability, good armor, and a small number of accurate guns.

French battleship Dunkerque, Tier VI:

• Reduced the main gun reload time from 28 to 26 seconds.

Reducing the reload time will compensate for the small caliber of Dunkerque's main guns, making the battleship better balanced against other battleships at Tier VI.

U.K. battleship Hood, Tier VII:

• ncreased the sigma parameter from 1.8 to 1.9, improving the ship's firing accuracy with a tighter grouping of shells inside the dispersion ellipse.
  
• AP fuse delay was increased from 0.015 to 0.033 seconds.

Due to the new fuse timing, armor-piercing shells will detonate more often inside the citadel of armored ships, but more frequent overpenetration of lightly armored targets should be expected.

French destroyer Aigle, Tier VI:

• Torpedo range was increased from 7 to 8 km.

Increasing the range of the torpedoes will grant the French destroyer a larger window within which to launch torpedoes whilst remaining unspotted by the enemy. This will allow for more opportunities in battle to strike battleships.

U.S. destroyer Mahan, Tier VII:

• Main Battery reload time was reduced from 4 to 3.3 seconds.

Despite the fact that the destroyer has one of the best damage-per-minute statistics for her tier, the specific ballistics of her guns often prevents this ship from realizing this advantage when engaging other destroyers. The new parameter won't change the features of her main battery ballistics, but will significantly increase her efficiency in combat with enemy destroyers at close range.

U.S. destroyer Sims, Tier VII:

• The stock torpedo stats were changed:
  
  • Range was increased from 5.5 to 7 km
• The alternative torpedo stats were changed:
  
  • Range was increased from 9.2 to 10.5 km
    
  • Maximum damage was increased from 8,500 to 9,667
    
  • Reload time was increased from 72 to 76 seconds

Changing the characteristics of the stock and alternative torpedoes emphasizes the difference between the two styles of gameplay available to Sims:

• "High risk, high reward" gameplay, employing torpedoes with a short range and good speed, capable of causing a great deal of damage.
  
• The comparatively safe option with a longer range, meaning that torpedoes can be fired from a greater distance, but with less damage and low-speed.

Soviet destroyers Ognevoi, Tier VIII, and Udaloi, Tier IX:

• "Repair Party" consumable was added to an extra slot:
  
  • Number of charges: 1 (Repair Party I) and 2 (Repair Party II)
    
  • Reload time: 120 (Repair Party I) and 80 (Repair Party II) seconds
    
  • Duration: 28 seconds
    
  • HP regeneration speed: 0.5% of HP per second

Soviet destroyer Kiev, Tier VIII:

• "Repair Party" consumable was added to the slot with "Smoke Generator":
  
  • Number of charges: 2 (Repair Party I) and 3 (Repair Party II)
    
  • Reload time: 120 (Repair Party I) and 80 (Repair Party II) seconds
    
  • Duration: 28 seconds
    
  • HP regeneration speed: 0.5% of HP per second

Adding the "Repair Party" consumable will allow for more effective duels with enemy destroyers, making the progression to Tier X more logical.

British Tier V cruiser Exeter has been added for testing by developers, supertesters and community contributors.

In celebration of the Lunar New Year, we've added new containers, camouflage patterns and unique Commanders.

Lunar New Year 2019 Container and Lunar New Year 2019 Premium Container.
The Lunar New Year camouflage and special permanent camouflage patterns for Anshan, Loyang, Huanghe and Irian.

The Dragon Port has been changed. The Port will be shown at night. We also added some new sounds.


We added two unique Pan-Asian Commanders—Dà Róng and Quán Róng—each with enhanced skills.
Demolition Expert

• +3% (by default: +2%) to the chance of HE shells causing a fire on target;
  
• +2% to the chance of rockets causing a fire on target;
  
• +6% to the chance of HE bombs causing a fire on target.

Survivability Expert

• +400 HP for your ship and +20 HP for aircraft for each ship tier (by default: +350 and +15, respectively)

Commander Dà Róng will be available as a reward for completing a chain of combat missions, while you can obtain Commander Quán Róng via the Arsenal.

Starting from Update 0.8.0, Tier IX ships Musashi and Kronshtadt won't be available for purchase with Free XP, and cannot be obtained for Coal in the game client either.

These ships are becoming extremely popular at their tier, and to avoid Tier IX battles being packed with these ships as well as to maintain adequate team setup diversity, we decided to remove the possibility to purchase or obtain these ships for an indefinite period.

These ships have already been replaced with a French Tier IX battleship Jean Bart, and we also plan to offer U.S. Tier IX cruiser Alaska in the near future.

A new set of bundles is available with Lunar New Year 2019 containers and other in-game goodies in the Arsenal. For guaranteed receipt of the main reward, a unique Commander named Quán Róng and Pan-asian Premium cruiser of tier VIII Irian, be sure to obtain the bundles consecutively and in sequence, one by one. You may even find that Premium cruiser Irian drops into your hands in one of the Lunar New Year containers that are part of the bundles.

Bundle offers:

• 15x Lunar New Year 2019 containers, available for 8,888 doubloons.
  
• 9x Lunar New Year 2019 containers and a special permanent camouflage for Premium ship Irian, available for 8,888 doubloons.
  
• 3x Lunar New Year 2019 containers, unique Commander Quán Róng, Premium ship Irian, and the "Irian" commemorative flag, available for 8,888 doubloons.

In light of the changes to aircraft carrier gameplay, some Operations were temporarily removed from rotation:

• Cherry Blossom
  
• Operation Dynamo
  
• The Ultimate Frontier
  
• Raptor Rescue
  
• Hermes

Part of the gaming process in these Operations is tied to carriers. Unfortunately, at this stage bots have not been "trained" to handle the new gaming process. Work is already underway to "educate" them, and we'll make every effort to put these Operations back in the game.

• By popular demand, the graphics settings will now contain an option to configure the transparency of fog in battles. By default, it is set to the minimum value. Thus, players that are comfortable with fog in battles will not need to change anything. But if you feel like making fog in the game a little more transparent, switch its transparency setting to maximum. However, the fog cannot be removed completely using the game settings because this parameter is important for the visual perception of the game process. This setting will also help you configure the visual display in battles involving local weather activities.
  
• Fixed an unintended change which immediately removed a detectability penalty applied to a ship after firing if the ship has left the enemy's line of sight. In Update 0.8.0, the penalty will work for 20 seconds if the enemy had line of sight towards the ship at the moment of shooting.
  
• Improved the interaction of shadows with the effects of fires, flooding, and smoke.
  
• Added a message to notifications for instances when a ship attains Elite status.
  
  • The description of the peculiarities of Elite ships will be added as a tip window in the Modules tab.
• We reworked the geometry of armor protection for cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov, with more detail added. This change will not affect the combat performance of the ship.
  
• Minor improvements in the geometry and textures of the following ships: Akizuki, Mahan, Asashio B, Atago B, Dreadnought, Bourgogne, Hood, Perth, West Virginia 41, and Vanguard.
  
• Destroyer Kagero’s model was reworked. It was brought in line with the ship's real model with numerous changes in the geometry of the hull and main battery turrets, thickness of smoke stacks, form of superstructures, location of anti-aircraft defenses and much more. This change will not affect the combat performance of the ship.
  
  • The "Urashima" camouflage was adjusted to match the new model of destroyer Kagero in the game.
• Fixed an issue which caused the incorrect display of the window used for purchasing Premium Account time in the game client.
  
• The "King of the Air" and "AA Defense Expert" achievements will no longer be displayed in the Achievements section of the Profile of players who have never earned any of them.
  
• Fixed an issue which sometimes made it impossible to maximize the Clan or Division chat.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused the carousel of ships to overlap with the missions of the "Mighty Prinz" campaign on screens with a resolution of 1,366 х 768 or smaller.
  
• Fixed the visual display of battleship Hood in the carousel.
  
• Made minor changes to the Czechoslovakian Legions patch.
  
• The list of rewards in the Daily Shipments section now automatically shifts to the current day.
  
• Fixed the display of a service text in the description of reasons regarding the impossibility of selecting Clan Battles in the Campaigns window.
  
• Fixed the incorrect display of the combat missions banner when setting up a Division.
  
• Fixed an issue in the Operations selection screen, which caused the name of an Operation to stretch beyond the limits of its field.
  
• Fixed poor performance of the Port camera when flying over ship modules in the London Port.
  
• Enhanced the display of visual effects, which will no longer be disrupted when a player moves the camera. This, for example, helps to avoid breaks in a torpedo's wake.
  
• Added an option to re-configure the replay saving parameters. You can utilize it by editing the scriptsPreferences section of the preferences.xml file. Future updates will not affect your personalized settings. To change the settings, edit the following parameter:
  
  • maxReplaysToSave — number of replays to save, 0 — save all replays, N — save replays of the last N battles
• Fixed an issue that caused minor increase of the memory used by the game during a battle over time.

Guineas were exchanged for credits at an exchange rate of 1 Guinea to 100,000 credits.

Captains!

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad, one of the most dramatic moments in WW2 history. The siege started on September 8th in 1941 and was lifted on January 27th in 1944, 872 days after it began.

The contribution of the Baltic Fleet forces to the defense of Leningrad cannot be overstated. To mark the anniversary, we invite you to join us in a special Soviet-themed competition.

Click on the "Participate" button on the following page to join the competition!

You can click the "Participate" button right now or at any other time before the competition ends. By joining the contest, you agree to the terms of the competition and grant us permission to publish your results.

After clicking the “Participate” button you will immediately receive a Sierra Mike signal flag as confirmation that you are taking part. You will also receive the "Lifting the Siege of Leningrad" Combat Missions, but they will only be visible in-game after the start of the event.

Guaranteed prizes are provided via the combat mission "Lifting the Siege of Leningrad, pt. 1". Each participant will be able to complete it up to three times, immediately receiving a random daily container for every 5 battles won in Random PvP or Coop battles.

Note: 3 combat missions will appear in-game after clicking the "Participate" button (Lifting the Siege of Leningrad pt.1, pt.2, and pt.3). Pt.1 can be used to track your progress for daily containers and will reward you immediately upon completion. Pt.2 & Pt.3 are not intended to be completed, only to confirm your participation and to track your total base XP earned during the competition.

• 1x Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya container (5 000 Free XP / 1 WoWs premium day / 250 doubloons / 2 500 doubloons) for the Top-100 players in each group.
  
• 1x VII Leningrad for the best player in each group (or Doubloons equal to its price if a winner already has the ship).

The day after the Competition, we will randomly choose 75 participating players with 10+ battles, across all 4 servers (EU, NA, CIS, SEA). Those winners will also get 1x tier VII Premium destroyer Leningrad, or Doubloons equal to its price if they already have the ship.

Unfortunately, we can’t make leaderboards for this event, so all results will be calculated after the competition.

Good luck captains!
Action Stations!

Following numerous stages of Closed Tests and three major Open Beta Tests, we are happy to announce that the new aircraft carrier gameplay is ready and will be arriving with Update 0.8.0. We have prepared several articles for you covering the most relevant information about the updated gameplay and various changes that have been applied to aircraft carriers.

In this first article, we’ll take a look at the main changes and basic elements that you need to know in order to master the new gameplay relating to the ship type.

So, what prompted us to change our in-game aircraft carriers? Well, this type of ship has traditionally been one of the hardest to master in World of Warships. As part of this, the gameplay of aircraft carriers will no longer resemble that of a real-time strategy. It was also very notable that previously, an experienced player skillfully commanding several squadrons could inflict colossal damage to a target in a short period of time. The difference in combat efficiency between newcomers and those who had mastered this ship type was also enormous. The extremely specific control system also had an impact on carriers’ popularity and contributed to the relatively small number of players choosing to take them into battle when compared to other ship types.

Having considered these factors, we decided to introduce a series of dramatic gameplay changes to the entire aircraft carrier ship type. The main objective of these changes was to increase the popularity and visual aspect of this ship type, while balancing it against other types. The new gameplay focusses on the interactions between aircraft and ships. Now, players control only one squadron in the air, but with the added ability to carry out several attacks in the duration of a single sortie.


Your aircraft carrier transports aircraft that are ready to take off at your order from the first moment of a battle, so now you don't have to wait for a squadron to get ready for takeoff.

In the new concept, keyboard and mouse become equally important tools for controlling your aircraft. To select a squadron, you need to press keys [1], [2], or [3]. Upon pressing the selected key the second time, the associated squadron will take off. [1] launches a new type of aircraft—attack aircraft, [2]—torpedo bombers, [3]—dive bombers. Each squadron launched will only be composed of a single type of aircraft.

The squadron’s speed can be changed using the [W] and [S] keys, which increase or decrease the speed of your aircraft and consume Boost in the process. Use the [A] and [D] keys to turn. Besides these controls, you can use the mouse for more precise aiming. By doing so, your aircraft will turn more smoothly. This is important when aiming at a target, because in most cases active maneuvering increases the spread of your attack.


Boost is an engine enhancement which allows a squadron to significantly accelerate or slow down. Please note that the squadron’s turning radius depends on its speed. If you fly at maximum speed, its turning circle will be made along the largest radius. To turn more quickly, the squadron needs to slow down as much as possible. Boost is displayed on a scale to the left of your aircraft, and recharges when it’s not in use. Instant full restoration is possible with the use of a special Engine Cooling consumable. Please note that you can't accelerate until Boost has been restored to a certain level.


You can launch a new squadron only in one of the three following cases:

• The previous squadron has spent all of its ammunition and is returning to the aircraft carrier.
  
• All the aircraft in the squadron were destroyed.
  
• The order to return was given by pressing [F]. Once this order has been given, it cannot be canceled.

Aircraft take the shortest route when returning to the carrier, and having reached a certain height, are no longer able to spot, while also being invisible to enemy squadrons and ships. Whilst in this state, they cannot be damaged or shot down. Aircraft that manage to return to the carrier successfully replenish the squadron on the deck, and are ready to take off again immediately.

Aircraft now have a brand new attack mode. Once you've selected your target and are ready to attack, hit the left mouse button to separate a flight from the squadron and start the attack run. Depending on the squadron type, you will either see an ellipse for launching rockets and dropping bombs, or the torpedo reticle for a torpedo attack. At this point, the reticule will be colored yellow, and a special timer will indicate when the flight is ready to attack. When in a state of attack readiness, the reticle turns green. To deliver an attack, simply click the left mouse button again.


Mind that aircraft need time to make a target run and carry out a successful attack, and furthermore, that projectiles need time to reach their target. You need to be sure to take the correct lead on your target and consider the size, speed, and maneuverability of the ship you’re aiming at.

The rest of the squadron falls out of the player's control, follows the attacking flight, and then comes back under control once the attack is completed. The aircraft that carried out the attack return to the carrier to replenish their ammunition. If, during an attack, any aircraft in the attacking flight is shot down, it will be replaced by another one from the squadron.

You can carry out several attacks in one sortie until you exhaust all available ammunition.

If you remain in attack mode for a longer period of time without carrying out an attack, all aircraft rejoin the squadron, and you can try to make another run on the target.

If you want to take a look around and check what your target is currently doing, you can use the free look camera. It’s activated by clicking and holding the right mouse button. While using the free look camera, your aircraft will stay on course.

Depending on the aircraft carrier you use, there are different types of aircraft on the deck, and all of them are ready for immediate takeoff.

If there are fewer aircraft than the maximum number of possible aircraft, the preparation of replacements begins, leading to an aircraft appearing on deck, ready for takeoff. The preparation of attack aircraft, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers takes place simultaneously and begins immediately after a squadron is launched.

A squadron can be launched even if not all aircraft are ready, but in such cases the squadron taking off will be incomplete.

The number of aircraft that can be replaced in a single battle is unlimited. This prevents the situation in which only an aircraft carrier is left under the player’s control, which would mean no chance of influencing the outcome of a battle. But don't waste your aircraft mindlessly, since you will have to wait a long time until the new ones are ready for takeoff, significantly reducing your battle efficiency.

Take good care of your aircraft, because the fewer planes you lose, the quicker that a new complete squadron will be ready!

Attack aircraft are a new type of aircraft that carry unguided rockets. These rockets are most efficient against lightly-armored targets and they are quite precise. More often than not, this aircraft type has a high speed and can reach its point of destination within a short period of time. The reticule of attack aircraft is an ellipse or a circle with special marks inside that show the dispersion when fully aimed. The ellipse reduces to the ideal radius if aircraft aren’t in the process of performing sharp maneuvers. You can launch rockets as soon as they are ready, but for maximum efficiency you should wait until the ideal radius is formed.

Attack aircraft have rather quick aiming capabilities and can drop their payload almost immediately.

Dive bombers are strike aircraft equipped with bombs that can inflict a great deal of damage to armored targets. The reticule of dive bombers is quite similar to that of attack aircraft, but unlike the latter, the dive bombers' ellipse is bigger and expands more during active maneuvers.

When attacking with dive bombers and attack aircraft, consider the features of the ellipse of your aircraft and choose the correct approach point—whether it’s from the bow/stern, or from the sides.

The aiming distance depends on the current speed of the aircraft, its height, and pitch. Keep in mind that the reticule of dive bombers moves rather slowly when ascending and diving, but accelerates when approaching the target!

Attacking with torpedo bombers differs significantly from attacking with other aircraft types. The torpedo drop zone is similar to that of ships using torpedo launchers.

Depending on the aircraft, when getting ready for an attack and while decreasing in altitude, the torpedo cone starts to narrow. The cone is divided into sectors equal to the number of torpedoes ready to be launched by your aircraft. You can drop several torpedoes at once, but it’s better to wait, so as to launch them in a narrower spread and with higher accuracy.

Torpedoes need time to arm before hitting their target. To make this aspect clearer, torpedoes' arming distance is highlighted yellow and their range is highlighted green.

In order to carry out a successful run with torpedo bombers, you need to switch to attack mode at a significant distance from the enemy, keeping in mind that you must take a target lead and that your opponent might make evasive maneuvers.

You can see the radius of your torpedoes' progression on the minimap.

Aircraft of each nation will have their own unique characteristics and settings. More details about them will be available in a separate dedicated article.

The new concept completely revises aircraft survivability. Now each has its own HP pool, which gets drained by fire from AA defenses. To keep track of your squadron's state, check the HP bar at the bottom of the screen. The HP bar is divided into parts, with the number of visible HP bars equal to the amount of aircraft in the squadron. These parts have the following states and color indications:

• Green: aircraft is operating normally
  
• Yellow: aircraft is damaged
  
• Red: aircraft is badly damaged
  
• Black: aircraft has been destroyed, is returning to the carrier, or the squadron has taken off in an incomplete state

We have reworked the aircraft detectability mechanics. Now the detection of aircraft is affected not only by distance and weather conditions, but also by the terrain. If there is no line of sight between your squadron and the enemy, you can't spot each other. This gives rise to new tactical possibilities, for example, the chance to use terrain to approach the target and attack while undetected.

Cyclone and local weather affect aircraft in the same way as they do with ships.

To improve the balance between aircraft and destroyers, squadrons have lost the ability to spot torpedoes. This change will also affect the Fighter and Spotting Aircraft consumables.

Aircraft HP and characteristics can be modified with the help of upgrades and Commander skills. More details about the possible modifiers will be available in a dedicated article.

Aircraft parameters are displayed when you hold the [H] key.

As before, ships defend themselves against aircraft using their long-, medium-, and short-range AA defense mounts.

With the new concept, we tried to keep the unique AA defense settings for each ship, while making the mechanics more understandable and player-friendly.

Short-range AA defenses include guns up to 25 mm, medium-range AA defenses include guns up to 85 mm, long-range AA defenses include guns with a caliber over 85 mm.

Long-, medium-, and short-range mounts constantly inflict a certain amount of damage to a randomly selected aircraft in the squadron in accordance with a preset frequency.

Additionally, long- and medium-range AA defenses fire shells that explode in the air in a squadron's path. If aircraft move into the explosion zone, they receive damage. In this case, only aircraft in the explosion zone receive damage, as opposed to the entire squadron. You can reduce damage from long- and medium-range AA defense by actively maneuvering and varying your speed. However, this is difficult for squadrons with a large number of aircraft. Therefore, when attacking a ship with powerful AA defenses, be prepared that some of your aircraft are likely to be destroyed on approach to the target.

If a ship is under attack from several squadrons, the majority of explosions from AA defense shells focuses on the first squadron, while the remaining squadrons face less intense, but equally spread, resistance. Permanent damage from AA defense mounts is always equally effective, regardless of the number of squadrons within range of the AA defenses.

A player controlling a ship can try to predict from which side the ship will be attacked and accordingly intensify the density of fire in that sector, increasing the damage per minute caused by AA defenses. To do so, it is necessary to select a priority AA sector, which can be done by holding the [~] or [O] key. In the menu that appears, you can select a priority sector by clicking the left mouse button. The effectiveness of a priority sector is increased at the cost of reducing the effectiveness of another sector.

Reinforcing sectors, or switching between them, does not happen instantly. Therefore, be sure to choose the direction which you think carries the most risk in advance. Changing a priority sector or restoring the initial state is done in the same way.

The effectiveness of AA defense mounts can be increased with the help of upgrades and Commander skills. More details about them will be available in a dedicated article.

Each squadron now has its own consumables, with the number of charges and type depending on the aircraft. Let's take a look at the consumables the squadrons have now and how the ships' consumables have changed.

This consumable appears on aircraft onboard Tier VI aircraft carriers.

In the new concept, fighters are now a consumable and can be called into battle by the player when necessary.

Upon activating the consumable, a flight of fighters is called to the current squadron's position. It takes some time for the fighters to arrive, after which they patrol the area that they have been called to.

If enemy aircraft appear within the patrolled area, your fighters will attack them. Fighters can destroy as many enemy aircraft as their number patrolling the area. Afterwards, the consumable effect expires, even if they have shot down fewer planes than the number of fighters in the flight. Fighters will also leave the patrol area when the consumable action time runs out.

You can avoid facing enemy fighters and leave the patrol area without losses if you react quickly enough. If a group of enemy fighters is set to attack your group of aircraft, you have a chance to shake them off if they can't catch up with you within a certain period of time. But you will have to use the engine boost and have specific skills and upgrades equipped in order to increase the speed of your squadron.

If several squadrons enter an area patrolled by fighters, the latter will attack the squadron that has been in the area the longest. The most effective strategy for countering enemy fighters is to call your own fighters into the area of action of the enemy's fighters, or to make their areas overlap. Don't forget to direct your squadron to leave the area of action of the enemy fighters before they begin their attack.

Fighters no longer affect the accuracy of aviation attacks.

The Catapult Fighter consumable is simply called Fighter from now on. It works in a way similar to that of attack squadrons, but with the difference that Fighter squadrons accompany the ship, as opposed to being called to a certain point on the map.

The values indicated below will be accurate at the release of Update 0.8.0, but may change during further ship balancing procedures.

• For aircraft carriers, the number of launched fighters will vary from 6 to 12, depending on the ship’s tier, and they will patrol the area around the carrier for 10 minutes. Reload time is 90 seconds.
  
• Attack squadrons call in 4 to 8 fighters, which stay active for about two minutes and reload within 20 seconds.
  
• Cruisers and battleships call in 2 to 6 fighters, with the consumable action time of 30 seconds and reload time of 90 seconds (Premium) / 135 seconds (standard).

Although the consumable's action time has been significantly reduced, the mechanics of fighter operation have become completely different, allowing them to effectively protect the ship from enemy air raids and ensuring that they will shoot down aircraft in their area of operation.

AA defense against fighters works the same way as against attack squadrons.

This consumable is available on all carrier-based aircraft.

We previously mentioned that aircraft can accelerate and decelerate using the engine boost. When the boost runs out, players can quickly restore it with the help of the Engine Cooling consumable. During the consumable's action time, boost is not spent while being used to vary the speed of the squadron.

This consumable appears on dive bombers onboard Tier VIII aircraft carriers.

Using this consumable, players will be able to restore a certain percentage of their squadron’s HP.

This equipment will hardly change: it still improves the effectiveness of AA defenses and the damage they inflict, but will no longer affect the accuracy of aviation attacks.

The new concept changes the dynamics of aircraft carriers by focusing control on one thing at a time: either a squadron or the aircraft carrier. You steer your aircraft carrier using the WASD keys only while you are in control of the carrier. However, if you need to change the route of your aircraft carrier while controlling a squadron, you can use the Tactical Map [M] and set waypoints for the autopilot.

Along with the changes in the gameplay of aircraft carriers, the logic of the autopilot has been improved as well. Now the ship can move astern. To do this, simply put a waypoint on the minimap astern of the aircraft carrier.

The speed of the repair of negative effects for aircraft carriers has been changed, which should allow the player to put greater focus on controlling the squadron. For now, the game will have the values indicated below, but they may change during the ship balancing procedures.

Fire extinguishing time on new aircraft carriers is now 5 seconds only, recovery from flooding—20 seconds, and engine and steering gear repair time—10 seconds.

The Damage Control Party consumable is activated automatically if the ship is on fire, flooded, or her steering gears or engine have been damaged. Thus, the rare instances of fires or flooding won't cause too much trouble. If your aircraft carrier has been detected, the Fighters consumable gets activated, which will automatically launch a squadron to defend the carrier from enemy air raids for a period of 10 minutes. An aircraft carrier will find it rather hard to destroy another carrier—an attack squadron will have to face both fighters and very powerful AA defenses. For aircraft carriers it will be more effective to choose other targets in battle, leaving enemy aircraft carriers for later, if the situation requires it. In such cases, the sinking of an aircraft carrier with another ship of the same type is still possible.

If your aircraft carrier is destroyed, you will still retain control of your squadron until all ammunition is expended or until three minutes expire.

We expect this revamp of what has typically been a difficult ship type will make battles in World of Warships more exciting and balanced.

See you in battle, Captains!

Commanders!

The third session of the Public test version 0.8.0 will start soon. This update will present the most important change in recent times - a new kind of CV gameplay.

Since we launched the first open beta, we have made many improvements and changes, fixed bugs, worked on the balance and stability of the version. Most of them have been made thanks to your feedback, comments and suggestions.

We have also taken into account the feedback from the first and second session of the Public test 0.8.0 and want to work a little more on the version. Therefore, update 0.8.0 will be released one week later. The game will be updated not on January 23 and 24, as planned, but at the end of the month – on January 30 and 31, depending on the server.

They will be extended, and you will have an additional week to:

• Fight in Clan battles.
  
• "Knock off" your remaining snowflakes.
  
• Complete the event "In the Name of His Highness!" and receive the premium battleship tier VI Prinz Eitel Friedrich.
  
• Participate in the "Mighty Prinz" Campaign, earning yourself the five researchable Tier VI ships with permanent New Year-inspired camouflage.
  
• Obtain Musashi and Kronstadt ships

However, please note that the combat missions "Nerves of Steel" will expire as initially planned and will not be available for completion after January 25.

Thank you for your patience and attention. See you in battle!

Action Stations!