User blog comment:FlammeumDraco333/Tales From the Not so Blocky Seas/@comment-25373667-20160131001523

Flamme's Honest Ship Reviews: North Carolina class Uberbattleship

"Could you make a more OP ship?"

- Me, 2016

The North Carolina is one of two level 50 battleships on the United States tech tree, and is often overlooked and underestimated, since most people are more likely to head towards the South Dakota to get the Montana over the Iowa. However, underestimating a North Carolina is a fatal mistake, especially when her captain is even moderately competent. This review will be a bit different from my previous ones, and will hopefully be more in-depth.

Overview

Overall, the North Carolina is a very sturdy and stable ship, capable of dishing out every bit of punishment you can throw at her.

Her armament is quite good, with 340 range on her 406mm main armament, with reasonable damage per shot and good reload. Her secondaries take up ten slots, five per side, with the primary options for armament being dual 5"/38 weapons, or single 5"/38 guns. 3" AA guns and crappy 5" guns are available, but only an idiot would choose those over the superb DPM of the 5"/38 guns. I highly recommend secondaries for rapage of submarines and the cruisers and destroyers you will often times face now due to the "upgraded" matchmaking.

Armor and toughness are where this ship also excels. You can equip a full 20" deck along with 23" belt when equipped with full armament and secondaries, which is quite good, although a little worse than the South Dakota. However, two inches of armor is an acceptable trade for this ship's insane toughness. You can literally sit there and ABSORB salvo after salvo after salvo of 16" shells from a Lion for minutes on end and not sink. In fact, once I was engaged in a 1v1 duel with a South Dakota, with both of us at full health, and both of us landing good hits. By the time I took out the South Dakota, I was still comfortably sitting on 75% of my health pool.

Mobility can be quite surprising for this beast. Although her top speed is considerably lower than the South Dakota's 25.4 knots, with the North Carolina making 22.5-23 knots fully loaded, her turning circle is infinitely better. This ship can literally turn circles around a light cruiser, which is a respectable feat indeed. She is very responsive to turning, and can easily dodge torpedoes, even at close range. Acceleration is fairly average, and indeed superior to the South Dakota.

Gameplay and Tactics

Playing this ship can be quite fun, and when used correctly, you can easily defeat most other ships of your tier, and utterly smash anything lower than you. Even some level 60 ships can be defeated by your superior awesomeness.

When up against lower tiered battleships (levels 30-40), simply use your superior range and speed to stay out of range of their guns, and dish out punishment with near impunity. It is also likely that they won't be able to penetrate your thick armor, meaning if they do manage to get in range, they won't be able to do much.

When up against similar level opponents, it really depends on what you're facing. When facing short-ranged brawlers, you're going to want to stay out of reach of their guns, and pepper them from long range with your superior weaponry. Against long range snipers, you want to angle your ship at about 20-30 degrees, due to your amazing turret firing arcs, and charge them, not letting them get out of reach of your guns. The increased angle of your ship's armor plates will also mean more shots will bounce off harmlessly. When squaring up against similar play-style opponents, you'll want to angle your ship as much as possible to increase the probability of bounces, and get in close and personal, where you are likely to hit more shells and absorb more hits than your enemy can.

Against, higher tiered opponents (level 60), you'll want to play conservatively. Let your allies take hits for you, since they are likely less competent than you. Get in close, because their guns are likely able to outrange yours. You'll still want to angle heavily to increase bounces, and make certain to land as many hits as you can. Once you get in close, it is a necessity to spam 5"/38 shells at your enemy between reloads, due to those guns insane DPM, you will slowly drain their health.

Sometimes, you'll come up against the odd cruiser or destroyer. In this case, simply wait for them to close range, and either dump nine well-aimed 16" shells to take them out, or simply DPM them to death with your 5"/38 weapons. Your turning will allow you to dodge torpedoes effectively.

Typically, you can outrun submarines and avoid their torpedoes with ease, so taking them out is trivial. Simply rush to the cap circle, and wait for them to come to you.

Upgrades

Once you grind through the North Carolina, you are presented with a quite British ship. The Iowa. The Iowa has the option of improved 16" guns, or monstrous 18" weapons, with laser-accuracy, and nuke-like damage. The Iowa is very nimble, meaning you'll want to play as a long range sniper due to her inferior armor protection. The Iowa is surprisingly tough, so in a pinch she can brawl. She also has ASW Rockets, meaning subs will cower in fear of your might! Overall, the Iowa is a lot like the Admiral class on steroids.

Rating

Due to her superb weaponry, toughness, and turning ability, along with a quite promising upgrade, I give the North Carolina a 9/10, with her only flaw being her quite low top speed of just 23 knots.