World of Warships: Wargaming weighs anchor with this action-packed combat game

The following is paid content sponsored by Wargaming.

World of Warships is a free, historical combat game from Wargaming, an award-winning online game developer, and publisher. This massively multiplayer online game allows players to command a massive naval fleet featuring some of history's most iconic war vessels from the mid-20th century. Open beta testing for World of Warships launched in 2015 and countless upgrades have been made since the beta stage.

Now, as World of Warships celebrates its one year anniversary, the game is better than ever.

World of Warships offers four classes of ships; each ship has a unique strength that fulfills a different role for the team. Experienced gamer, Aditya Janitra, broke down the differences between the four types of ships offered in the game: destroyers, cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers.

Destroyers
These are the smallest, fastest and most stealthy class of ships in the game. Destroyers can easily spot the enemy team and contend with other destroyers. Due to the destroyer's compact size, the largest caliber gun it can handle is a 130mm, which can be the primary downfall of this ship as it has less damage than other classes. Destroyers are, however, equipped with a torpedo tube feature, which helps offset the lack of large artillery.

Cruisers
This ship offers the most force, and the game hosts a variety of cruisers from around the world. While cruisers have varying characteristics depending on the nation you choose to go to battle with, most cruisers are reasonably quick, well-armed and powerful.

For example, Imperial Japanese Navy cruisers are equipped with large-caliber guns and a decent level of armor. They are also equipped with torpedo tubes, which makes them very dangerous in close-range combat. Meanwhile, U.S. Navy cruisers are loaded with anti-aircraft guns, so they serve a different purpose for your team.

Battleships
The battleship is the behemoth of the seas. The battleship's size allows it to carry the biggest and longest-range guns of any ship in the game making it the most powerful ship in the game. The downside of a battleship, however, is its mobility. Battleships aren't quick, their turrets turn slowly, and their rudders shift slowly (which means they need to make wide turns). This ship must be driven with tactical awareness. Once you commit yourself to a part of the game's map in a battleship, turning back or changing course will take some time so strategy is imperative.

Aircraft carriers
For those who want something a little different, this carrier is unique to the game because you don't actually drive this ship. When you're playing as an aircraft carrier, the game suddenly turns into a real-time strategy game, and you will be controlling each fighter and bomber squadron that is available to you.

Currently, only two nations in the game have carriers: the United States and Japan. Japanese Navy carriers possess a large number of torpedo and dive bomber squadrons, which mean they are a force to be reckoned with. The U.S. Navy carriers are geared toward achieving air superiority, so they have a higher amount of fighter squadrons compared to bomber squadrons.

Wargaming introduced a new "Epicenter" game mode to encourage more aggressive, close range encounters.

Technical features of the game
The immersion features in World of Warships have been well-received. Janitra said, "Wargaming did a great job replicating what it would be like to drive something that weighs a couple million pounds in the seas, or at least how you may imagine it."

"The tactical combat features should be applauded, too," Janitra said.

"You are actually required to plan your next move ahead of time, a strategy feature many computer games haven't focused on in the past."

Wargaming's most recent update (0.5.11) introduced armor maps to clearly define where each ship's strong and weak points are - further enhancing the game's strategic planning. A new map – "Archipelago" – was also added with significant updates to two additional maps.

The strategically designed environments make each match a completely unique experience.

An ever-evolving process
From a development standpoint, the process to design and implement a new ship in the game requires extensive research, design and technical work. It takes an average of six months for a new ship to be introduced to the game, according to Wargaming. So as the game matures, more ships will turn up in the game's inventory.

Insider's tip: Gamers who felt under-represented by the lack of British Warships, you're in luck. These warships have been going through the extensive design process, and will be arriving later this year.

Get a feel for the game's features in this trailer from World of Wargaming.

World of Warships is free to play online, with the option to make in-game purchases that allow you to buy new ships and modules or game intelligence. If you haven't played World of Warships yet, enter NEWCAPT2016 when signing up for a free premium ship to receive exclusive in-game goods.

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