Russian Navy (VMF) - Tier 6: Budyonny

Despite my love for the Kirov at tier 5, i found i severely disliked the Budyonny and felt it to be a chore to try and grind through.

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Coming off the Kirov as well as i did, i was optimistic for the Budyonny. The Budyonny was essentially an upgraded Kirov so i went in with the same mentality that i learned from later stages of playing the Kirov.

Design

The Kirov's design layout is the basis for the Budyonny and this can be seen just by comparing the two side by side. The differences mainly include armor, speed and armament.

Armament

A step down from the Kirov's 180mm guns, The Budyonny's 152mm guns lead me to encounter a few problems when apply the Kirov's play style to the Budyonny. I attempted to use the 152mm guns the same was i used the 180mm guns and this lead to underwhelming results. Not being as big and powerful at tier 6 as the Kirov was at tier 5, i needed to reevaluate my play style. Searching around i was told to use it was a high explosive spamming machine that sat at range, constantly lighting enemies on fire.

The other welcomed addition to the guns was that these new 152mm guns were laser accurate and fast. Even at maximum range you could easily hit enemy targets with no problems. This velocity and accuracy meant i could start learning how to predict enemy turns or how to aim my guns so that my shells hit an enemy performing a turn.

Protection

Despite the description of the ship stating that it was up armored compared to the Kirov, this upgrade was all but negligible. I found, even a maximum range, that i was getting sent to the bottom of the sea faster than i had in the Kirov. Being able to face tier 8 opponents in the Budyonny was very punishing for someone such as myself. I found myself taking huge amounts of damage at any range. The only option was to dodge.

Maneuverability

The one saving grace was the Budyonny's increased speed. It still possessed that horribly rudder shift that the ships before it have had but nonetheless being able to throw off the opponents aim with speed of this ship allowed for it to run and gun away from enemies at range.

Play Style Transition

Sadly i never got the hang of the Budyonny, My win rate is around 37% and i never feel confident in sailing it how I've learned to. I found myself at the mercy of any ship that could out range me or outgun me. If i failed to dodge i was punished hard. The addition of more powerful aircraft carriers meant that sitting behind islands became increasingly harder despite have pretty good AA guns.

My progression through the Budyonny was very painful towards the end where all i wanted to do was get to the next tier and away from this ship.

The Budyonny stands as my most enjoyable ship to date - my inability to adapt to it's play style meant i likely spent more time waiting for battles to end so i could go to the next than i did actually sailing the ship.