German and Russian cruisers?

[Croissantleader]

Are Germans supposed to HE spam and the Soviets (Riga line) use AP all the time?

[R[e]venge®-uk*]

No No No!!

It really is all situational.
German AP is actually pretty good at closer ranges or broadsides the HE gets like super Pen so can pen most BB's hence it is used more at range and the germans love to Kite.

Russian HE still hurts DD's and stuff nose in at range more than the AP will, that said higher up the line, (Riga & Petro) when up close you can use the AP to knock out turrets, but against armoured targets over say 10km Nose in, you want to be using HE to start fires then back to AP try knock out a turret and so on and on rinse repeat!

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

German HE has terrible damage compared to any other nation, and should generally be avoided whenever AP can be used instead. Even battleships can be chunked hard with German AP if you aim for their superstructure. Only fire HE in German cruisers if you're shooting a destroyer, or your only targets are battleships who are well-angled or at extreme ranges where AP won't work.

For the Soviet supercruiser line, it's important to distinguish the Tallinn from the Riga and Petroblyatovsk. Tallinn is basically just a German cruiser but with Russian guns and shells, and should be played accordingly. Petro is a heavily armored floating railgun platform designed to sit bow-in to everything and take potshots with its "pocket battleship" caliber guns, and Riga is just a weaker version of Petro. Same case applies for them - only use HE if you're shooting a destroyer, or when all available targets will just bounce your AP.

[Croissantleader]

And what about the russian light cruiser line? I wanna grind out a line thats hood for HE and an other thats best for AP

[Dee-Jay]

Originally posted by Totally Innocent Chatbot:

German HE has terrible damage compared to any other nation, and should generally be avoided whenever AP can be used instead. Even battleships can be chunked hard with German AP if you aim for their superstructure. Only fire HE in German cruisers if you're shooting a destroyer, or your only targets are battleships who are well-angled or at extreme ranges where AP won't work.

Interesting. I tend to play Prinz Eugen (and Hipper when I've not sold it) by starting fires from range at first, or supporting the DD's with HE. Then move in for more aggressive stuff with the AP and torps etc. I've just kinda written off the weak HE damage.

Might try this approach you say here.

[Dee-Jay]

Originally posted by Croissantleader:

And what about the russian light cruiser line? I wanna grind out a line thats hood for HE and an other thats best for AP

The Soviet light cruiser line is HE focused - but once you acquire the 180mm's at T9 with Donskoi, you can AP wreck stuff too at the right range/angle. Plus you have the Soviet long range radar too, so even if you have to lie low a bit when uptiered you can still offer utility to your team.
Those guns are also high comedy on the mid tier premiums, especially Molotov.

I don't think of Donskoi-Nevsky as light cruisers anyway. More like "medium cruisers". :)

[Hiei]

In my opinion you (Depending on the ship) don't want HE/AP *All the time*
It ends up being situational, granted ships do have specific play styles as fire starters or whatever.
If I play something like Smolinsk or Illinois and I'm throwing HE at a ship and it gets 3 fires, I might switch to AP because I'm not going to be getting any more fires.
Or if you're using AP and a ship is really angled to you and you can't get pens, you might want to use HE to try and set a fire still.

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

Originally posted by Dee-Jay:

Originally posted by Totally Innocent Chatbot:

German HE has terrible damage compared to any other nation, and should generally be avoided whenever AP can be used instead. Even battleships can be chunked hard with German AP if you aim for their superstructure. Only fire HE in German cruisers if you're shooting a destroyer, or your only targets are battleships who are well-angled or at extreme ranges where AP won't work.

Interesting. I tend to play Prinz Eugen (and Hipper when I've not sold it) by starting fires from range at first, or supporting the DD's with HE. Then move in for more aggressive stuff with the AP and torps etc. I've just kinda written off the weak HE damage.

Might try this approach you say here.

It's quite situational. German HE is still functional against battleships since it can still set fires fairly well. Since you're effectively a kiting cruiser, you may find yourself needing to rely on it often, as your AP won't be so effective against angled or bow-in targets at 20km. But when you encounter a battleship's broadside, even at 12-15km, switching to AP and aiming for their lower superstructure can have marvelous results. I still have fond memories of chunking BB's for 10-15k damage per salvo in my Hindenburg.