It's that time again...
Had no plans to buy another Premium ship anytime soon, as they cost REAL money, but WG put one that was on my list for sale for Christmas so I grabbed it. So welcome to AdmiralThunder's Fleet to the German(KM) T8 Premium Battleship(BB) Tirpitz.
The Tirpitz was the only other BB of the Bismarck class built by Germany. They are almost identical in real life and in game although Tirpitz was completed later in real life and was a little heavier. The real difference between them in that Tirpitz has torpedoes and Bismarck does not (Bismarck gets the Hydroacoustic Search consumable instead). Yup, a big heavy brawling BB with torps. While I have learned how to deal with them in game, and generally win any fight with them, it is such a pain having to stay outside of that torp range and if you get too close and aren't paying attention you eat a wave of torps and get sunk. Will be nice to have torps for me now. Also it will play the same as Bismarck other than having torps to use as well, which I have a ton of games in, so no learning curve.
What is really nice is that the Tirpitz is a Premium ship. That means I can take any Capt from it's nation in the game (Germany in this case), off any ship as long as it is the same nation, and assign it to the Tirpitz without having to retrain it at a 500 doubloon cost. I can also send the Capt back to that same other ship at no cost for retraining. I would only have to pay to retrain if I tried to send the Capt to a different ship than it came off. If I want to change the Capt skills that costs however. So I can use my Bismarck Capt (or any KM ship Capt) on Tirpitz, swapping it back and forth as needed, with no penalty as long as I leave the Capt skills alone. This is great as it let's you train (ie; earn Capt points) faster. All of my KM BB Capt's from the T6 Bayern on are setup the same and what I would want on Tirpitz. So I can use Tirpitz games to advance those other Capt's development at no cost.
Another perk of Premium ships is they earn more resources vs standard tech tree ships and they come with permanent camo. Tirpitz is a real money maker which will help me a lot. Being a T8 it can see T6-T10 ships. As not many people play Co-op with T9 or T10 ships, but T6-T8 is the most populated levels in Co-op I will almost always be top tier in the match which is always nice.
As usual stats and then port shots below with 1st game results to follow when I play it. As it is a Premium ship there are no hull, gun, engine, etc... upgrades. It comes fully upgraded...
Ship: TIRPITZ
Nation: German Navy (KM)
Tier: 8 Premium
Ship Type: Battleship(BB)
Survivability(HP): 69,300 HP
Armor: 19-360MM / 24% Torpedo Damage Reduction
Maximum Speed: 30.5 knots
Rudder Shift: 12.8 seconds
Turning Radius: 850m
Detection By Sea: 14.3km
Detection By Air: 13.3km
Detection When Firing In Smoke: 15.0km
Main Armament: 4X2 380MM (2 turrets front/2 rear)
Main Gun Range: 21.4km
Rate Of Fire(ROF)/Reload(RL): 2.3 shots per min ROF / 26.0 seconds RL
180 Degree Turret Rotation: 31.6 seconds
Shell Dispersion @ Max Range: 276m
Shell Type:
Armor Piercing(AP) = 11,600 damage
High Explosive(HE) = 4400 (34% chance of fire)
Secondary Guns:
105MM = 8X2 (dual purpose)
150MM = 6X2
Secondary Gun Range:
105MM = 10.8km (dual purpose)
150MM = 10.8km
Secondary Gun Rate Of Fire(ROF)/Reload(RL):
105MM = 8X2 20.0 shots per min ROF / 3.0 seconds RL (dual purpose)
150MM = 6X2 8.82 shots per min ROF / 6.8 seconds RL
Secondary Gun Shell Type:
105MM = 8X2 High Explosive(HE) (dual purpose)
150MM = 6X2 High Explosive(HE)
Anti Aircraft Defense(AA):
20MM = 12X1
20MM = 8X4
37MM = 8X2
105MM = 8X2 (dual purpose)
Overall AA Rating = 69
Torpedoes: 2X4 533MM
Torpedo Reload(RL): 90 seconds RL
Torpedo Range: 6km
Torpedo Speed: 64 knots
Torpedo Max Damage (p/ torp): 13,700
Torpedo Detection Range: 1.3km
Mounted Modules:
Slot 1 = Main Armaments Modification 1 (helps protect against main/secondary/AA guns and torpedo tubes being damaged)
Slot 2 = Damage Control Systems Modification 1 (reduces risk of fire and flooding)
Slot 3 = Secondary Battery Modification 2 (extends range and improves accuracy of secondary guns)
Slot 4 = Steering Gears Modification 2 (reduces rudder shift)
Slot 5 = Concealment System Modification 1 (-10% to detection range and +5% to enemy gun dispersion)
Camo:
Tirpitz comes with it's own Type 10 Tirpitz permanent camo. The camo provides the following benefits...
-3% Detectability Range By Sea
+4% Dispersion to Enemy Guns
-10% Post Battle Service Fee
+50% XP Earned
Mounted Consumables: (*)
Damage Control Party (stops fires and flooding + repairs damage to main/secondary/AA guns and torpedo tubes)
Repair Party Repair Party (heals back some of the damage taken)
Spotter Plane (ship launched Spotter Plane - increases main gun range while active) (**)
* - consumables are manually activated special features. They have a limited active time then require a recharge period (sometimes lengthy) before you can use them again. All consumables have a premium version (II) available that cost resources and have to be purchased for each battle. The standard versions (I) are free and come mounted by default.
** - Tirpitz has the option to mount a Spotter Plane - OR - Catapult Fighter in the same slot. I have chosen the Spotter Plane as the ship's AA is pretty good and catapult mounted fighter planes are not. The increased visibility and firing range while the spotter is active is of much more use.
Captain:
I have sent the 0 point Captain that came with Tirpitz to the reserves. Most likely I will dismiss him at some point. I currently have assigned the 14 point Captain that is on the Bismarck over to Tirpitz. I will be using my T6 KM BB Bayern and T7 KM BB Gneisenau Captains on it as well once I get the Bismarck Capt up higher in points. Currently the Bismarck Capt is on it however and the points are assigned as follows...
1pt = Priority Target (let's you know when you are targeted and by how many)
1pt = Incoming Fire Alert (let's you know when a ship targeting you shoots)
2pt = Expert Marksman (increase rotation speed of main gun turrets)
3pt = Basics Of Survivability (-15% to the time of repair, flooding recovery, and fire extinguishing)
3pt = Basic Fire Training (decreases reload time of secondary guns and increases damage output of the AA guns)
4pt = Advanced Fire Training (increases the range of both secondary and AA guns)
KM T8 Premium BB Tirpitz w/ Type 10 Tirpitz Permanent Camo (Port = Hamburg, Germany):
