German cruisers

Hi folks!

With the update 0.9 yesterday, a new branch has been introduced to the tech tree - German ships.

They've got a line of cruisers which looks really exciting so far. No battleships yet, so we'll have to keep waiting for the Bismarck.

One of my main issues with the Soviet cruiser line, which is rather similar, down the road is the lack of firepower. The tier 6 "Budyonny" cruisers sport 150mm main guns, well below the calibre of the Japanese cruisers with their 200mm batteries. While they can fire fairly rapidly, their AP shells mostly just bounce off battleships, and even opposing cruisers of similar tiers. Doesn't get any better with the tier 7 ship, and that's already a pretty major investment in terms of game resources.

This means you have to keep switching between AP and HE shells, depending on your target. HE shells don't kill destroyers quickly enough, before you get in range of their torpedo salvos, whereas against battleships, AP is useless, and your only chance is to keep hitting them with HE, causing fires, and manoeuvring wildly to evade their main guns.

The German cruisers are having a similar setup, but at tier 7 (which I consider to be the first "decisive" tier, due to the amount of resources needed to get there), the "Yorck" sports a set of 210mm main guns, with much better mobility than the Soviet "Shchors". Torpedoes are superior as well in terms of range and number.

So if you're a cruiser captain and look for a ship that not everyone has, get going at the new branch.