do you have good gunners? can you handle the dual 8" spread?
if yes, then go cleveland; if not, stay where you are

keep in mind its impossible to blockshot with the dual 8s, but a close-enough spread will be good enough for the ship. Plus there is no point in getting the cleveland if you want to stick the 6"s on it.

What does "good" mean in your book? my gunners are 11/11 with 100 vets 100 experts but I don't plan to boost. Will that give a good enough spread or shall I stay away from the dual 8s in this case?

Cleveland as awesome range for a CL, and good firepower if you can handle the 2x8" Ds.

Rather than rush in, it picks out its target from range, and can easily tear apart other CL2s and some CAs.

That said, brook always was quite efficient at harvesting blitz noobs, mainly due to the fact they are noob and stay there while the ships with massive broadside and sometimes block salvo is rushing them at full steam.

With the recent growth of PHH in blitz I'd kinda prefer cleveland nowadays tough.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I think I probably will test it since Cleveland is not that expensive to buy and in any case will give me some ship variety.

I've never boosted any crew but my other gunners are VE thanks to the event, the US crew I started a bit too late to take full advantage before the drops stopped coming so they are not as good as my Sov and IJN. Waiting on attendance days now =P

hmm if i remembered correctly (if they havent changed it), cant you use the dual 8" Ds on the brooklyn?
its probably a better way to test your dua 8" spread.

if you CANNOT equip the dual 8" Ds on the brooklyn, i will strongly suggest you sticking with the broolyin.
the main reason is because, like you said, your gunners are not boosted.

out of all the sailors required on a ship (especially lower level ships), gunners are on the top on the boosting priority list. (engies next...etc etc.)

so yeah, just stick with the brooklyn until you get some boosts

you know what about 20 minutes ago I went and did just that =P

I can fit the 8" Ds on the Brook. The spread is worse but probably not unmanageable. The real issue is with the 8" Ds, the range advantage over the trip 6" Ls is so tiny it isn't even worth thinking about. The spreads even overlap. The reload rate gets me a little but the damage per shell is nearly 3 times bigger so it kind of makes up for it.

The Cleveland can fit the twin 8" Ns but with only 2 binds. That would give a slight range advantage but with even worse reload than the Ds. (not actually tested as my BO needs 3 more lvls)

I'm still thinking about a 6" Cleve. Nobody has said anything about the FCS. I remember when I remodeled Kirov to Gorki I got a noticeable sudden spread improvement because of the better FCS, I imagine it would be the same. I might trade the tighter spread for 3 less guns. After all, 12 guns isnt bad... it's what nearly all other CL2s get, no?

i dont think the very slightly better fcs would make the cleveland better while using the trip 6s
since these guns are ones you can already blockshot in the brooklyn fcs (eventually), you will just end up being at a disadvantage by using a 4 gunned ship when fighting against another brooklyn.

in my opinion, or standard, a higher level ship should, most of the time, be able to take out lower level ships - as well as giving higher level ships a bigger challenge.

since your gunners are not boosted, you're at a big disadvantage already against most people already. so i would still suggest sticking with the brooklyn.

pssst there are ways to get nf items with the recent event *hint hint*

Main issue with 2x8 D on brook and 2x8 N on cleveland is the ammo.

Now for the range, I've tested all possible Cleveland gunsets with LHE.

Range gives :

lvl 37 3x6"/47 mk16 Ls : 20,7
lvl 40 2x8/55 mk11 Ds : 23,0
lvl 39 2x8/55 mk11 Ls : 24,5

(thats the number of points on your guidelines btw)

So you definitely get quite an appreciative range advantage with the 8".

However, even with lvl 120 I had somewhat erratic spread while testing the 8" (one especially where a shell strayed up to "mark" on the 3x6"/47 guidelines)

I however remember using them with good result in blitz with about the quality of gunners you describe. Sure it won't be an awesome spread, but its going to be usable.

My gunners were 11/10 with 70 vets, unboosted, maybe around 50 xpert on each if I remember well (that was over 3 years ago)

On Nelson, I had leveled a US up to BB1 and my gunners were elite BVE. since they blocked the 6/47 I ended up using brook mainly in hobbit map, seeing as I could just dumb rush and get 60k off the swarm of DD getting close to torp me, and CA somewhat figuring keeping their range was bad in an impressive leap of logic.

The few games I did with the cleveland due to the ship just being pure awesomeness however were marked by quite a few good salvos landed on CL2-CAs. the 8" per shell damage is much better, altough DPS wise the 6/47 are prolly much over them, due to number of barrel and reload.

That said, if you encounter a good M-pro or a good Mogami 1938, they will easily scrap a brooklyn. Same for a 2x8" edin. A Cleveland can give them a run for their money with its greater range and speed.

If you have a 2nd pair of gunners for AA, cleveland is the first ship with usable T slot to display a decent AA battery. At that level, I'd stick with the 3/70 mk23 N for those (GA: 37).


To summarize:

Ships

Cleveland :

+speed
+FCS
+Useable AA battery
-R slot number (if you wish to use the 6/47 only, or in a certain fashion the 8"/55 mk11 Ds. I however do not consider viable on brook due to ammo issue, and due to low level spread + lower FCS)

Brooklyn:

+Firepower
-unusable T slots for effecient AA battery (you shouldnt be using torp at that point anymore)
-FCS (for same lvl gunners, spread will be lesser and guidelines shorter, which can lead to dissappearing shells if the BO ability is unsufficient. Especially with 8" Ds with LHE)


Gunsets

3x6"/47 mk16 L

+ DPS (salvo power/reload)
+Spread
-(x2) range
- per shell damage
ON BROOKLYN:
+ ammo


2x8"/55 mk11 D

+(x2) range
-Spread (pretty much NEED CL2 FCS to be efficient at lower level. Brook somewhat compensate the lesser spread by 2 more shells/ salvo, but spamming shell isnt that nice when you only got 40 shots)
+ per shell damage




NORMALLY if you choose the 8" you'll use the cleveland, and the 6/47 should stick to brooklyn, seeing as you'll have more use of the 5th gun slot of the brook than of the better FCS of the cleveland with those.

I can see 2 reasons 3x6/47 cleveland could be used:

-Person wants the working T slot AA battery
-Person has really really crappy gunners and will take any spread improvement he can take.

WIth your gunners, should you decide the 8" aren't for you (altough thats pretty much how CA will play, with less speed and more firepower/ better spread, so cleveland is a good way to get used to a more ranged playstyle) you'd be better keeping the brook till balti.

I however can tell you right away you'll be a lesser balti player in the first few games than someone who used the cleveland, if its your first time playing a CA.

3 last piece of advice:

1-Drop the torp if not already done
2- Time has come to drop HHE for LHE. Range is going to become quite interesting past DD level. I normally switch to it on atlanta (APC for HAW in fact. LHE range still.)
3- SCOUT. If you dont have one leveled, get on it right now.. From now on, you'll be shooting farther than your ship can see. If you want to rely on that range, you must see people when they are at your max range.

On a footnote, I suggest the 8"/55 Ds over the Ns on cleveland

2 main reason :

1 - I doubt you can spot the shell the extra range gives you with LHE, due to laking BO ability. I hope your BO isnt BVEd if your gunners aren't. In fact I'd be ready to bet you'll struggle to spot the LHE on the Ds.
2- Same as with brook using the 8"/55 Ds. AMMO.

If you got any question, feel free to poke me in game (aingeal or verfallen on kaiser) or send me a PM over those forum. I also answer here as you can see :)