Emden with premium hedgehogs FTW! basicly emden is either AA whore or ASW

Trust me mate, you aren't going to have any space for armour.

I can't even fit a Skelecrewed BO + L75 AA Gunners in it.

Once I got L30 AA men, is it worthwhile to consider (for AW or GB2) having no surface guns at
all, just AA guns, and use the weight saved to add on armor?

Don't bother with Emden until you have level 30 AA gunners.

correct. You can always buy an Emden, no matter which branch of the ship tree you
take. (as long as you meet the level requirement of course)

So does that also mean it won't prevent you from selecting any future ships?

it is NOT on any ship tree. you can get it at lvl 26, you do not have to select it, and
it will not disappear from the buy list if you go down a certain ship tree or whatnot.

Just curious, since Emden is all alone in the ship tree, when exactly can you get it?

I tried an Emden for awhile when I got to lvl 29'ish and could afford one. The
problem was, I was actually losing money with that ship. I ended up selling it back
and going back to my Z99. The aa was fun, but my aa gunners weren't good
enough yet to make it truly effective. The 2x3.4" aa guns (0.8 reload) can really
throw up a cloud of flak, which is fun.. but it still doesn't guarantee hits if your
gunners suck.

Right now I'm saving up for a Koenigsberg... I figure I need about 40K more to be
able to buy the ship and at least get basic armament for it. Although by the time I
save that other 40K, I might be up to lvl 37 and just keep saving for an M-Pro. :)

wow...i have found great advice from here...
thx all