At PAX Australia, I sat down with Alexandre Leblanc, Producer at Wargaming Asia, to go hands-on with World of Warships.
I was tasked with a defend and escort mission, protecting a single carrier while it limped back to port for repairs. To do so, I chose a Destroyer-class ship with an abundance of cannons, four banks of three guns… and really, I felt like I was channeling my inner Black Flag, blasting all weapons at once at anything that came at me.
Destroyers are fast and agile, but they sacrifice armour doing so. I could have selected the slow but powerful Battleship or the mostly-balanced Cruiser. A Carriers was really out for this particular mission, given my objectives; I mean, planes wouldn’t have been that much use.
If, for some reason, I had decided to go with a Carrier, I was told I wouldn’t have a World of Warplanes; while planes are varied in their tasks, from recon fitouts to dive bombers and torpedo launcher fitouts, you’ll only be able to assign the planes tasks and flight plans rather than control them yourself.
All up, the four classes of ships in the game have been balanced rock, paper, scissors-style – or is that rock, paper, scissors, Spock-style – to make for fast, competitive gameplay. Our developer demonstrated the combat mostly using torpedoes, which were tricky to lead and aim, but so effective if they connected. In true World of style, a game was won if an enemy base was captured or if all enemy ships were destroyed.
Like in World of Tanks, your ships’ crew can be upgraded in Warships. With 3000 crew per ship, however, you won’t be able to see details of all of your staff. Rather, you’ll be able to read up on and interact with department heads.
In alpha, there are more than 50 ships available amongst ten tiers in World of Warships, with 80 ships expected for launch. Additional countries such as Russia, Germany and Great Britain are also expected soon. In terms of polygon count, other World of War-type games in Wargaming’s stable don’t even hold a candle to the ships.
World of Warships heads to a beta in Q1 2015.
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