Nov 28 2023 (Christmas) Patch

[goesto11]

[UPDATED - see below] *NOTE! KCCP + KC3 Kai users may have a log-in issue. Clearing browser cache may solve it. I ended up deleting both browser cache and re-install fresh KCCP cache, but the latter may not be necessary. Not sure if there are issues for those who use some other means of logging into the game.

Fish are gone and Tanaka Santa is back. There are 5 Christmas quests with various rewards - nothing as significant as the Saury Festival though. You can get the new 14cm Twin K2 gun, and a Ginga if you want. See KC ENWiki for details. I do wonder about the Ne Type Engine as a reward. That's used to upgrade a Proto Keiun to Jet Keiun Kai. You can get 2 of those from quests (and fixed rewards) and 2 Prototype Keiuns from other quests. So why offer a seemingly random Ne Type Engine now?

There are some other changes to note. You can now sort your ship by morale ("sparkle") - icon is an up/down arrow after the clock icon and before sort by level icon.

[Edit} If forgot to mention that for those missing some rare ships, See ENWiki link above for details, but some notable ships are Ranger, Abruzzi, Litorrio, and Victorious, and while not confirmed yet, Langley and Sheffield. For new players, Mizuho drops at World 1.

Akashi improvement expansion includes 14cm Twin -> 14cm Twin K2, and perhaps most notably, Ginga -> Ginga Skilled. [UPDATE] With October ranking rewards, the range of the Ginga (skilled) and Ginga (Egusa) have been increased by 1. So the Ginga (skilled) range is now 7 and the Ginga (Egusa) - if you have one, is now 8. Apparently there is a hint of being able to grab a Ginga (Egusa) in the near future so if you don't rank (or rank occasionally like myself), there will be a chance to get one. As for the Ginga (skilled), well, 7 range is better than 6, but why any range reduction is beyond me (the T4 Hiryuu skilled, has same range as T4 Hiryuu as does the SM79 BIS vs. standard version). Personally, if the Ginga (skilled) had a range of 8, it would be pretty tempting to maybe upgrade a couple Ginga to that, but currently, I'm still more likely than not to just improve some of my stock Ginga and leave it for that.

[Update] Fit bonuses out on 14cm K2 - see ENWiki for all details, but you get +2 more FP on Yuubari and +1 FP & Torp for Nisshin vs. the Kai version, but again, you need to max out for the highest fit bonuses. Nice to have a pair of K2, but I'm not 100% sure if it's worth the expense to upgrade my two 14cm Twin Kai (max). That being said, the K2 version has +1 more accuracy stat (+4 vs. +3) which does help to more offset the hidden NB fit penalty for Nisshin, but, eh, 14cm Kai (max) still probably good enough.

If any members drop by prior to next event, please do comment your thoughts on the above. Lastly, if anyone else wants to post the maintenance patch notes going forward, please feel free to do so.

[Danielosama]

Really bizarre that Ginga (Skilled) and Ginga (Egusa) have lower range than the normal Ginga, maybe Devs are afraid that they'd be too good?

On the other hand, Christmas quests and rewards are pretty nice, I picked the 2x 22A bombers instead of Ginga if one day I ever decido to craft Ginga (skilled).

[Ink20]

Proto keiun was also a ranking reward in the past (that's why I have 3 jet keiun) so they may be planning to give another one (or maybe a ginga->tenga conversion) in the future.
Range 7 is good enough since it's the same as hayabusa(64th)/M22(251th) so you don't need a range extender in some cases.
14cm k2 seems another resources pit, so improving it isn't a priority and I won't make a second one.

[goesto11]

@Danielosama: I have no idea for the Ginga skilled as that is a complete mystery and goes against other skilled LBAA treatment as noted. It's not THAT much better than Gnga - at least I don't' think so. When the Ginga Egusa was introduced, I read a comment about how the RL Ginga flown by Egusa was somewhat experimental and had a shorter range vs. the base model due to structural/equip changes. That was the explanation given why the Ginga Egusa had a shorter range in game. That being said, I don't know if that is true at all, and it very well could be that it falls under "game balance" as the (or one of the) reasons.

From what I've read, Ginga is the strong consensus recommendation, but personally I think macro recommendations should be tempered against what the individual player has for equipment. So yes, if you need T1 M22A and think you have enough Ginga, take what you need.