Best steel ship currently available

[Captain_Rawhide]

What would you consider the best steel ship available and why.  With a new coupon coming up, I'm thinking it might be time to part with some steel.  Doesn't matter what type of ship, just the 'best', however you define it.  Thanks for your help.

[Wolfswetpaws]

The steel ships that interested me, I welcomed as soon as I could save-up the steel and have a coupon ready.
Thus far, I've welcomed the Shikishima and the Bourgogne. 
I'm currently saving-up for the Gato.

Other people may have opinions on what appeals to their criteria.

What do you look for in a ship, @Captain_Rawhide ?

[palestreamer]

Bourgogne has been fun, my only steel ship, no regrets. Very fast BB with a great broadside.

[Asym]

49 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

The steel ships that interested me, I welcomed as soon as I could save-up the steel and have a coupon ready.
Thus far, I've welcomed the Shikishima and the Bourgogne. 
I'm currently saving-up for the Gato.

Other people may have opinions on what appeals to their criteria.

What do you look for in a ship, @Captain_Rawhide ?

Crap, now I am going to haft to look.........again !  Sigh 

I have both the Burgoo and the Shakey.... 

[aleksi111]

 

[MidnightPhoenix07]

For a battleship, easily Bourgogne. And for a steel ship in general, also Bourgogne. It may be squishy and have smaller guns with sometimes questionable dispersion, but it is so much fun to play. Use your speed and stealth to get onto a flank, and then shove AP into all those broadside cruisers and battleships. It’s a battleship, but one that identifies as a really big cruiser. Then Mecklenburg for the accurate long range German niche, until Lauria comes back, and definitely Lauria before Mecklenburg.

For cruisers, I guess Stalingrad because it’s the only “real” option. Not as strong as it was before the skill rework, but its main strengths are still there — heavy armor for tanking damage, and super accurate 305 mm guns that perform like they’re battleship guns. Austin’s more fun now imo, but much more feast or famine, and much more difficult to play. 

Ragnar’s still the inherently underpowered and arguably better choice, but personally I think it’s boring. It’s got the health and armor, radar, and cruiser guns with improved dispersion, but in the end all it really does is farm. Z42 is much more flexible and enjoyable imo, sort of a Z52/Daring mix. 

[Captain_Rawhide]

Not looking for any specific criteria.  I usually try to fit ships into weaknesses in my fleet and where I have 21 pt. Captains available.  But that gets complicated for me.   

[Helstrem]

I have Bourgogne, Incomparable, Shikishima and Stalingrad.

 

Of those I'd put Shikishima first by a fair margin, then Stalingrad, then Incomparable, then Bourgogne.  I've had some awesome matches in Jean Bart, but I've never had much success with Bourgogne. 

I plan on picking up Plymouth with the coupon.

[Arcus_Aesopi]

Bourgogne, Stalingrad, Ragnar and then Mecklenburg is the order that I actually got them.  I play Bourgogne (most) and Mecklenburg frequently in coop... others not as much.  I'll probably get Incomparable next.

Mostly chosen because of the other ships I already have and these "fill the holes" the best.  Bourgogne stands out as the best of the lot to me.

Good luck and have fun with whatever you decide!

[ArIskandir]

2 hours ago, Captain_Rawhide said:

Doesn't matter what type of ship, just the 'best', however you define it. 

This is a very vague guideline...  If you mean the best at terrorizing players and harvesting salt while farming XP like it is on sale, then Gato is what you are looking for but...

you need to be able to be good at sneaky games, you need to be patient and you need to be able find the openings to perform shotgun attacks.

 

[Type_93]

2 hours ago, Captain_Rawhide said:

Doesn't matter what type of ship, just the 'best', however you define it.  Thanks for your help.

You’re the one spending steel, you should get a ship that fits how you like to play. 
If it’s BB, Bourgogne hands down. 
For a cruiser, get Stalingrad for CBs. Austin or Plymouth for memes. 
For a DD , Ragnar isn’t bad. Smalland out classes her though. 
And if you just want to make people salty, get Gato  

 

[Itwastuesday]

Dunno what's best. I got a few, getting Stalingrad maybe next though it seems boring.

 

Shikishima is trash, don't buy it. You don't want a six gun battleship when Yamato exists. Secondary memes are just memes, gun sound isn't worth all the steel.

Plymouth is a nice cruiser if you can't decide if you'd want to run smoke or radar on Minotaur. It can be very strong when you get to contest areas with Plymouth abilities, also since Petropavlovsk and other actually useful cruisers have gone extinct, you aren't countered often. If you'd like to do everything and be useful for your team instead of maximum damage numbers, this ship is for you.

Bourgogne is quite strong though disappointing in the way you play it in current meta. It has also been cursed to forever deal 200+k damage and lose every game. 

Ragnar I just hate and I don't know how anybody gets it to work. It's like a worse Elbing with radar instead of smoke and torpedoes. Or a slower, worse Kleber/Khabarovsk. I probably suck in it, but I'm not afraid of it either in anything.

Z-42 also feels much like either a less strong Harugumo or a less practical Daring. Or just in all ways worse than Daring. Get Daring. Ignore Kriegsmarine.

 

Some opinions on the rest :

FDR doesn't seem intresting even for a carrier, and if I decide to grief with flying gocarts I want them to go as fast as possible. 

Mecklenburg looks a lot like a HE spammer with German armor. Why? Who wants this?

Incomparable is another 6 gun battleship and I would guess it's superannuated by St. Vincent. But it's not as butt ugly as Vincent, so maybe. 

Austin at least has something going for it, but I don't care about SAP and I already have Colbert anyway. Another maybe, though I suspect that I would always just prefer other light cruisers instead.

Gato no

Stalingrad is the other cookie cutter choice everybody used to recommend. Hard to see what it offers over UU Petropavlovsk. Seems like 99% of Stalingrads park somewhere and have much fun shooting at sterns of kiting ships to little effect which tells me it lacks something critical. 

Vallejo seems intresting actually. Weaker, less useful Worcester at T9 but with better ballistics. Why yes please, I would like such a thing. I hate american ballistics.

[Capt_Kremenski]

Without question, Bourgogne.

It's just mad fun to play a 41 knot battleship and the MBRB comes in very handy.

[GMMF]

Steel ships aren't weak in nature, but some of them have unique traits that might interest you, and up to you to see which unique stuffs you will like to keep playing with. 

Since there's no criteria so the good old Bourgogne & Stalingrad can be considered, they are both strong & unique with their own merits. Bourgogne gets you agility + reload booster while Stalingrad gets you good ballistics + accuracy on one of the best 12-inch guns. Still, they have their issues so up to you to consider, Bourgogne has 32mm all around so will melt very fast if you sail into the wrong grid, and the dispersion sometimes might raise your blood pressure on crucial salvos. Stalingrad needs a lot of awareness due to the large hull and squishy side, and if you bow in too early you will have no way out due to the high detection & 60s fire duration.

Consider the FDR & Gato if you are either a CV/sub player and they are the only steel representatives of their class, I am not so not much to type. 

Mecklenburg's unique point is that you get a good accuracy while having 16 guns, but the bad turret angles will hinder you a lot, and ammo selection is crucial due to the small caliber. Get addicted to those clumped up salvoes here https://youtu.be/e-w_ZcV4_uI?si=hcSVGmywx8qMQSmX 

Shikishima is a bit generic, but if you want a static gun platform that has fast reloads, she's the one, but not that unique nor not that strong.

Incomp is one of the kind BB, with best in tier concealment and high single shell damage, dies very easy and the broadside armor is the same as paper in T10, overall a very high skill ceiling BB where you can sneak around and delete people, but also will get very bad experience when things goes against you (getting spotted by planes/subs/DDs, 6 gun dispersion screwing up, gets deleted from full to 0 when not paying attention). Certainly not something to buy first due to the high skill demand, but for me, it is addicting to play her in ranked. 

Ragnar gives you a really good gun platform to enjoy holding down left mouse button, laser accuracy & good ballistics. But very clumsy hull to move around and no torps, can consider her if you are a gunboat enjoyer. I melt some DMs with her and its very enjoyable. 

Austin is also another one loaded with gimmicks, the reload booster and SAP shells gives you unimaginable levels of dpm. But ultra-light cruisers like her aren't easy to play in this meta, plus she doesn't have smoke. Hence she's unique and also uniquely hard to excel. 

Plymouth's trait is radar + smoke, superior area control capabilities but ultra-light cruiser as well, needs to be mindful as always and you don't have superheal like your fellow UK CL peers. With the bad turret angles you will always forced to go broadside to shoot all 4 guns, so has to be careful. 

Z42 is plain good old cap contesting DD, with german hydro & UK DD smoke. But cap contesting...is tiring imo. Get something more unique as your first ship compared to being a capfighting slave for team. Not too sure about Vallejo, spams HE like everyone else but she costs steel. not that impressive by the looks. 

[ArIskandir]

1 hour ago, Itwastuesday said:

Gato no

Guy said "Best"... Gato eats for breakfast every ship on your list, with the possible exception of Z-42. 

[Volron]

"Best" is subjective.  For "safest", Bourgogne hands down.  There is a reason why she is highly praised by a lot of people of all skill levels, I would advise taking that into consideration.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Volron

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

6 hours ago, Captain_Rawhide said:

What would you consider the best steel ship available and why.  With a new coupon coming up, I'm thinking it might be time to part with some steel.  Doesn't matter what type of ship, just the 'best', however you define it.  Thanks for your help.

Gato hands down .... also very future proof considering WGs path with this game. You can sit 2.3 km away from a T10 BB and then nuke him from full HP without him ever knowing you were there.

Doesnt matter how "OP" or "Strong" any other Steel ship is, they can still get shat on by CVs, Super CVs, Subs, Gato, soon Super Subs .... and be afraid .... Russian Sub tech tree and Russian Premium T10 Submarine......

Other decent choices are:

• Mecklenburg
• Bourgogne
• Ragnar

[Andrewbassg]

5 hours ago, MidnightPhoenix07 said:

For a battleship, easily Bourgogne. And for a steel ship in general, also Bourgogne. It may be squishy and have smaller guns with sometimes questionable dispersion, but it is so much fun to play. Use your speed and stealth to get onto a flank, and then shove AP into all those broadside cruisers and battleships. It’s a battleship, but one that identifies as a really big cruiser. Then Mecklenburg for the accurate long range German niche, until Lauria comes back, and definitely Lauria before Mecklenburg.

For cruisers, I guess Stalingrad because it’s the only “real” option. Not as strong as it was before the skill rework, but its main strengths are still there — heavy armor for tanking damage, and super accurate 305 mm guns that perform like they’re battleship guns. Austin’s more fun now imo, but much more feast or famine, and much more difficult to play. 

Ragnar’s still the inherently underpowered and arguably better choice, but personally I think it’s boring. It’s got the health and armor, radar, and cruiser guns with improved dispersion, but in the end all it really does is farm. Z42 is much more flexible and enjoyable imo, sort of a Z52/Daring mix. 

This.

[Itwastuesday]

2 hours ago, ArIskandir said:

Guy said "Best"... Gato eats for breakfast every ship on your list, with the possible exception of Z-42. 

So does every other submarine... I would guess FDR is the best since carrier still out-influences everything.

[Musket22]

1 have 4 steel  ships in port, Bourgogne, Austin, Vallejo & Stalingrad.

Of those 4, Bourgogne the most fun.

Saving up for CL Plymouth or BB Incomparable.

[Lord_Slayer]

7 hours ago, Captain_Rawhide said:

What would you consider the best steel ship available and why.  With a new coupon coming up, I'm thinking it might be time to part with some steel.  Doesn't matter what type of ship, just the 'best', however you define it.  Thanks for your help.

 

7 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

What do you look for in a ship?

 

So I have a few......

 

Shikishima was one of my First. (Black and Flint also gotten before they flipped to coal)

Overall, I find each one fun to play, though FDR and Austin can be frustrating at times.

Incomparable is definitely a LOL ship. The Guns and Speed are ridiculous as if set up right, you can actually out pace DDs.

Gato I got because I have all the other subs, so........

[Otago_F111]

any noise about new steel ships coming up?

[BOBTHEBALL]

8 hours ago, Captain_Rawhide said:

What would you consider the best steel ship available and why.  With a new coupon coming up, I'm thinking it might be time to part with some steel.  Doesn't matter what type of ship, just the 'best', however you define it.  Thanks for your help.

Bourgogne and Stalingrad easily. everything else is just not as good. And not really worth it. As for upcoming ships there are some that might be steel but we have no information on them.

[BOBTHEBALL]

7 hours ago, MidnightPhoenix07 said:

For a battleship, easily Bourgogne. And for a steel ship in general, also Bourgogne. It may be squishy and have smaller guns with sometimes questionable dispersion, but it is so much fun to play. Use your speed and stealth to get onto a flank, and then shove AP into all those broadside cruisers and battleships. It’s a battleship, but one that identifies as a really big cruiser. Then Mecklenburg for the accurate long range German niche, until Lauria comes back, and definitely Lauria before Mecklenburg.

For cruisers, I guess Stalingrad because it’s the only “real” option. Not as strong as it was before the skill rework, but its main strengths are still there — heavy armor for tanking damage, and super accurate 305 mm guns that perform like they’re battleship guns. Austin’s more fun now imo, but much more feast or famine, and much more difficult to play. 

Ragnar’s still the inherently underpowered and arguably better choice, but personally I think it’s boring. It’s got the health and armor, radar, and cruiser guns with improved dispersion, but in the end all it really does is farm. Z42 is much more flexible and enjoyable imo, sort of a Z52/Daring mix. 

Stalingrad is still very strong and can be played very well in this meta no doubt about it.

[BOBTHEBALL]

4 minutes ago, Otago_F111 said:

any noise about new steel ships coming up?

Nothing so far but it's a safe bet that Cope Island will either be steel or RB.