Ministry of Balance Reports: Ship Trimming

May 11, 2023

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Welcome back to the May edition of the Ministry of Balance Report. This update, we’re focusing on some of the ships that appear in your feedback on occasion. That's not all though: Epic Ship Modernizations are also getting tweaked!

Epic Modifications Tweaks

This change is relatively simple, the activation requirements for the Epic Modernizations have been changed to simply account for damage rather than shell hits, citadel hits, and torpedo hits. Ships with really long reload times were disadvantaged compared to fast-reloading ships whenever using modernizations like the Main Battery Mod. 3, and you also shared your feedback expressing wishes to get this changed for a more equal playing field across all ship types.

To activate a stage of your Epic Modernization now, you simply have to inflict 30,000 damage with your ship by any means during the battle. To max out the effects of your modernization, you have to inflict 150,000 damage.

Ship Overview Traits Refreshed

We went through the overview traits for all of the ships currently in the game with a fine-toothed comb, refreshing traits to match changes made to the ship or more closely fit the intended playstyle. We hope the changes improve the accuracy of the traits and lead to less confusion in the future.

For example, Yamato's Superior HE Damage trait has been replaced with Superior AP Pen. Over 75 ships have received refreshed overview traits.

This refresh does not change the performance of any ship in the game. Ship traits only describe gameplay aspects that a ship has.

In addition, many skill ribbons in the game have been updated to reflect their effects and role better.

Ship Balance Changes

Did someone say, "Charles Hughes buff?"

We're doing a pass on some of the less popular ships in the game that are also underperforming compared to their peers to see if we can make them a bit more unique and enjoyable for players.

Flandre

Flandre was and is still fairly unpopular as far as Tier VII battleships are concerned, so we're buffing her damage output and survivability in various ways:

Main Battery Reload Time reduced from 33 to 32 s
Secondary Battery Range increased from 5 to 6.8 km
Rudder Shift Time reduced from 16.6 to 15.1 s
Concealment improved from 15.5 to 15.2 km
Concealment when firing in smoke improved from 14.1 to 13.9 km
Concealment from aircraft improved from 12.4 to 12.1 km
Chances of flooding have been increased

Champagne

Champagne’s primary armament is split across two turrets, one forward and one aft. This makes the ship a bit awkward to handle, so we’re giving her a special buff:

Main Battery Firing Range increased from 17.78 to 18.18 km
Rudder Shift Time reduced from 15.5 to 14 s
Added Main Battery Reload Booster consumable
- 3rd slot option
- 2 Charges, 180 s Cooldown, 15 s Active Time

Gascogne

Gascogne is similar to Champagne in many ways, but she’s much more durable. She’s receiving a more straightforward buff:

Main Battery Reload Time reduced from 30 to 28 s
Main Battery Firing Range increased from 17.52 to 17.82 km
Main Battery AP Shell Damage increased from 11,900 to 13,000
Rudder Shift Time reduced from 15.3 to 13.8 s

Charles Hughes

Main Battery Reload Time reduced from 3.5 to 3 s
Torpedo Reload Time reduced from 110 to 100 s
Added Defensive Anti-Aircraft Fire consumable
- 4th slot
- 2 Charges, 180 s Cooldown, 30 s Active Time
- 400% Anti-Air Damage, bringing the combined Anti-Air Damage Per Second to 320 while active.

ZF-6

ZF-6 does well in most regards, but she lacks survivability:

Health Pool increased from 17,000 to 18,000
- Bow HP increased from 2,500 → 2,600
- Stern HP increased 1,400 → 1,500
- Hull HP increased 12,800 → 13,500
- Magazine HP increased 8,500 → 9,000
- Steering Gear HP increased 5,100 → 5,400
- Superstructure HP increased 1,200 → 1,300