Source: WoWS Portal
We are happy to announce the First Season of Clan Battles that will kick off together with Update 0.6.12’s release. You will have a chance to participate in dynamic battles governed by special rules, earn Oil in order to develop your Naval Base, get increased Free XP, rent Tier X ships, and fight for the top positions in the Leaderboard. This article provides details of the Clan Battles rules, so that you can meet the First Season fully prepared.
7 players, 1 battleship at the most, no aircraft carriers
The 7×7 format, that proved to be successful for all seasons of Ranked Battles, offers two undeniable advantages. First, it provides balance when it comes to assembling a team, i.e. even a small clan can regularly send 7 players into the battle. Second, 7×7 battles are a little more dynamic. They make a good balance between personal skill and team play, and they are less prone to excessive concentrated fire where the first detected ship gets almost instantly destroyed by concentrated enemy fire.
The “one battleship” limit was introduced because even two battleships in one team in a 7×7 battle could adversely affect cruisers’ ability to actively participate in battle by delivering cross-fire from their high-calibre guns. That said, even one battleship can make a great contribution to the team’s results with the help of the teammates, both by by using its armour and by dealing damage to its priority targets: cruisers. Skilled players will probably make use of the map’s terrain and their ship’s concealment in order to stay undetected for as long as possible and provide the enemy with an unpleasant surprise.
Exclusion of the aircraft carriers from the First Season of Clan Battles was one of the hardest decisions we had to take. Unfortunately, tournament observation results and preliminary tests of Clans demonstrated that an aircraft carrier in a well coordinated team provides perfect reconnaissance through the entire map, creates a lot of obstacles for destroyers from the opposing team, and generally makes the battle follow the “everyone sees everyone else” scenario. It goes without saying that such a situation reduces variability of battles and the role of torpedo attacks. Besides, there are still very few high-tier carriers in the game, and it’s quite difficult to learn how to play them well. Moreover, such battles where all ships were researched and upgraded in anti-aircraft configurations, and where the carriers were expected to mainly provide reconnaissance, caused extreme overload and exhausted the players. We recognise the advantages and disadvantages of this decision perfectly well. In future, we will be looking for suitable ways of using aircraft carriers as a ship type in Clan Battles.
Tier X. Don’t have the right ships? We are here to help you!
Clan Battles will be played with Tier X ships. Top-tier ships are the most powerful and interesting representatives of their respective branches. These ships usually accumulate the best characteristics and demonstrate authentic gameplay. All Tier X ships are well-balanced across the board. Each Tier X ship has very distinct strengths and weaknesses, and can fit its own niche in every team.
However, an evident problem that might arise lies in the fact that it takes a long time to research a Tier X ship. A lot of players who would like to try Clan Battles immediately might not have Tier X ships. Worry not, we have a solution for this problem: renting!
When the season starts, any player who played a Random or Clan Battle with Tier VIII–X ship will be given a set of three special Tier X ships for temporary use: Japanese cruiser Zao, Japanese destroyer Shimakaze, and German battleship Großer Kurfürst. Here’s what you need to know about these ships:
- The ships are assigned to the player for temporary use. When the First Season of Clan Battles is over, these ships will be removed.
- The ships can only be used to participate in Clan Battles.
- If you start playing Clan Battles from Update 0.6.12, you will be able to try nine different ships. In each successive update, these ships will be replaced with three other ships of the same type. A special timer will notify you of that.
- You won’t be able to mount any camouflage on these ships.
- You will be able to re-assign Commanders to these ships without penalty.
- Rented ships will bring you the same amount of credits, XP, Free XP, Commander XP as ordinary ships.
- When these ships are removed, the Commander will be automatically sent to the Reserve, and the upgrades, consumables and signals will be moved to the Inventory. The XP earned with a rented ship will be transferred to the starting ship of the respective nation.
- If the ships have alternative modules (for example, Shimakaze’s torpedoes), they can be mounted free of charge.
Ship renting will help players who don’t have Tier X ships take part in the First Season of Clan Battles. For players who have already purchased top-tier ships, the ship rental system will let them test new ships and make a reasonable decision as to which top-tier ship(s) to research next.
4 maps and new rules
The four following maps will become the battlegrounds for the First Season: Islands of Ice, Mountain Range, Hotspot, and Sea of Fortune. However, you’ll probably have to revise your usual tactics for these maps, as the Key Areas will be relocated:
As before, such an arrangement of the Key Areas presents the team with the challenge of deciding to split their forces or stay together. However, in contrast to conventional schemes, aggressive manoeuvres pay more dividends compared to being on the defensive. Along with other peculiarities described above, such an arrangement will provide for more dynamic battles and variability of game tactics. As we go forward, we’ll be able to add new maps to the rotation in order to support the variability of gameplay. That’s all for now. Our next publication will cover the Clan Battles economy, the Rating system, and other peculiarities. Thank you for your attention!
