What would you recommend as a Battleship line for me?

[Rowan]

I've been going down the Japanese route, but I've found I'm not enjoying them. For a battleship, I want to get right into the fray, use my secondary guns, high armour, high survivability. What lines are best for this

[R[e]venge®-uk*]

No Battleship can get "right into the fray" ..... Sorry!! Secondaries are the Germans but you have to time and wait for the advance!!
Good luck!

[Rowan]

Originally posted by Revenge®-uk*:

No Battleship can get "right into the fray" ..... Sorry!! Secondaries are the Germans but you have to time and wait for the advance!!
Good luck!

What's the point of having good secondaries if you can't even get close to use them? Like...genuinely?

[christof]

Originally posted by Rowan:

Originally posted by Revenge®-uk*:

No Battleship can get "right into the fray" ..... Sorry!! Secondaries are the Germans but you have to time and wait for the advance!!
Good luck!

What's the point of having good secondaries if you can't even get close to use them? Like...genuinely?

Stay at long to middle distance at the start. You may even get close enough for your secondaries on the higher tiers. But mostly they will serve as a deterrent for enemy DDs and cruisers to get too close to you. In the case of the German BBs and battlecruisers, quite the deterrent indeed.
Once the most imminent torpedo threads have been sunk and the enemy lines a bit thinned, you can start your advance. Provided you have support that is. A single ship just pushing in will usually be focused and gunned down quickly.
Once you do push, the time for your secondaries truly comes. But beware from enemies that just decide to ram you on their last hp.

[Nepgear]

Originally posted by Rowan:

Originally posted by Revenge®-uk*:

No Battleship can get "right into the fray" ..... Sorry!! Secondaries are the Germans but you have to time and wait for the advance!!
Good luck!

What's the point of having good secondaries if you can't even get close to use them? Like...genuinely?

They're good late game, in a smaller format like ranked, in an aggressive format like convoy, or against bots.

Russian line or Ohio are good for playing aggressive too with their survivability. The Russians don't have good secondaries though.

[Jackson]

Originally posted by Rowan:

Originally posted by Revenge®-uk*:

No Battleship can get "right into the fray" ..... Sorry!! Secondaries are the Germans but you have to time and wait for the advance!!
Good luck!

What's the point of having good secondaries if you can't even get close to use them? Like...genuinely?

You certainly can. But if you go in before it's the right time you'll just die. That's life. This game is about strategy more than anything... Even tho you wouldn't know that based on so many of the players. Nevertheless, if you want to do WELL, that's how it works. People who think and plan more live longer, thereby doing more on the whole and being more productive to the team.

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

In the current state of the game, battleships simply don't "get right into the fray", because cruisers out-DPM the crap out of them, while destroyers and submarines alpha them off the field with their torpedoes. Above Tier 4, charging in is nothing more than assisted suicide. Everything in this game is about careful positioning and target prioritization. That doesn't mean you have to spend every match sitting in the back and sniping. But in any ship you need to act carefully with how and when you apply pressure and advance.

The heavier German battleship line leading into Preussen (and its former end-of-line, the coal ship Grosser Kurfurst) is the most geared towards aggressive play in terms of armor protection and volume of secondary battery. However, they suffer for that in exchange in the form of poorer volume and reliability of their main battery, along with their massive size (particularly the superstructure) at later tiers, which ironically makes it easier for all ship types to farm damage off of them in spite of their strong armor and health pool. This very strongly sets them into the role of late-game ships; you must remain cautious in the early stages of the match, staying close enough to where your main battery can actually hit anything, yet far enough away that you don't just get farmed down. You apply pressure, pick off vulnerable targets, and wait to make your push when your team is prepared for it and the enemy is not.

[gildyslast1]

Of the Japanese BBs, I do like the Amagi. It is torpedo resistant, & has 5 twin gun turrets that fire at a reasonable rate. It also has a good kill capacity. It is my favorite of their BB line, but I have only made it to t9 so far; I have not been overly impressed w/what I've seen of the Yamato, tho.
German BBs, I really like the t10 Preussen; technically, the t9 cruiser Agir is actually a pocket battleship and is very effective. The Bismark has a pretty decent rate of fire, but is spread out a bit much.
My favorite American BB is the Iowa/Iowa class. It has very long range, great fire power, & is tough. Sadly, they limit its extra options; I'm not sure why. It should be top of the line. Still, a good ship.
Everybody has a favorite, likes different features. Find out what best suits you, and perfect your talent. Also, learn where to fire at various types of ships w/HE & AP, figure in armor piercing w/HE, and over penetration to small ships. For example, an AP hole in a DD that is 8", 12", even 16" can be patched reasonably quickly if just went thru, whereas an HE round that tears a 30"- 50" hole and sprays pieces of shrapnel around can be a lot more deadly. In BBs, an AP round gets thru the armor and ricochets - ugly.

[Lyfe]

Japanese and reaching Yamato. There's the right accuracy and satisfaction.