If you love "World of Tanks," wait until you see its soon-to-be-released counterpart of high seas combat.
"World of Warships" is coming — and it is amazing.
Officials with Wargaming.net, the parent company for both franchises — are staying tight-lipped about a hard release date, but closed beta testing for the hotly anticipated game began March 12.
"We're trying to convey the majesty, for lack of a better term, of these ships and the way they did battle. But without the blood. And the sharks," says Nicholas Moran, an Army National Guardsman and Wargaming's resident historian and chief evangelist to the military community.
Besides, he adds, "What's not to like about driving around in a 40,000-ton battleship with 16-inch guns?"
He expects "Warships" to fill a niche that the gaming world has left largely empty in recent years.
Nicholas Moran is Wargaming.net's "The Chieftain."
Photo Credit: Video still
"I was into naval war games before I was into tanks, but it's been a long time," he said. "There are lots of airplane games out there right now, but there aren't so many ship games these days. So, as I go around talking with people, I know a lot of people are looking forward to this. I'm know I'm really looking forward to it."
As with "World of Tanks," Moran has been sifting through archive records helping provide solid technical details for the game developers.
"While the Army's ordnance branch files are a mess, the Navy's are great," he says. "They have blueprints for everything."
3-D modelers at Wargaming's development studio in St. Petersburg, Russia, have been taking those designs and "recreating these ships to the 'nth degree' of detail. They're working very hard to get the look of these ships right."
OFFduty got a chance to take a peek — and play a bit — as beta testing opened up.
"Majesty" is a pretty good descriptor — and damn those torpedoes. It's a fun and fluid game.
Basic gameplay has the same feel as "World of Tanks." You command an individual ship that you can upgrade between battles.
Players of "World of Warships" choose from four classes of ships — battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers — with a total of 75 ships available flagged from both the U.S. and Japanese fleets.
Photo Credit: Wargaming.net
You choose from four classes — battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers — with a total of 75 ships available flagged from both the U.S. and Japanese fleets.
Battles are force-on-force play, with teams randomly assigned by the server. Initially, the game will ship with six maps.
As with all of Wargaming titles, the game itself and the online play will be free, but players can pay for faster upgrades.
"For me, 'World of Warships' is all about the scale and size. It's about captaining massive ships covered with huge guns, with each class providing a unique gameplay experience," the game's lead producer Chris Stott tells OFFduty.
"If I'm feeling like playing the biggest and most destructive ship on the block, I'll play a battleship to slowly move around the map and destroy everything in my path," Stott says.
"On the other hand, I really enjoy the speed of the destroyer if I want to rush into the front lines first, weave between the falling shells, and hopefully get my torpedoes in the water before my ship explodes."
Carriers play more like a real-time strategy game with a top-down view as the player controls squadrons of aircraft around the map.
Carriers play more like a real-time strategy game in "World of Warships" as the player controls squadrons of aircraft around the map.
Photo Credit: Wargaming.net
"Each of the classes has a distinct role to play and can really complement each other well in a battle. It will be really interesting to see what strategies and combinations organized teams will create as the game evolves," Stott says.
While the basic mechanics of the game are similar to "World of Tanks," he says the tactics will be decidedly different.
"Ships do not handle in the same way a tank or a car that you are familiar with does," Stott said.
"Players will have the momentum of an enormous ship and the water surrounding it to deal with, so 'World of Tanks' players won't be doing much peeking around an island, or shooting and pulling back, in a massive battleship like they are used to in a heavy tank. You aren't just riding around in a tin can with a gun strapped to it."
Players will need to carefully plan attack routes across the map while balancing a broader array of strengths and weaknesses.
"You'll need to remember to keep your main batteries focused toward the enemy, decide whether you want to broadside your enemy or minimize your ship's profile, all while making sure you are using your secondary guns, anti-aircraft, or torpedo launchers to their maximum effect," Stott says.
"You have many tools at your disposal to strategize and react with, and your success lies in knowing where your ship's strengths can be the most effective."
The ships will hail from a wider window of history than "World of Tanks," which is a World War II set piece. "Warships" will draw from the fleets of World War I to some relatively modern designs, including Fletcher- and Gearing-class destroyers.
"We also have the Essex-class aircraft carrier in game, which had several versions in service until the early '90s," Stott says.
If you want to get into the action early as part of the closed beta shakedown crew, go here to request permission to board.
