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She's not well-armored, but she's quite fast - 35kts, compared to the 22kt max of St. Skipping to Omaha or Cleveland is kind of jumping into the deep end. Omaha will have to fight ships as high as Tier 7, and will have to do so with uncomfortable frequency, and Cleveland can be pitted against ships as high as Tier 8. The current matchmaking system means that you'll very often be top-tier in that ship, and when you aren't top-tier you still only have to face Tier 5 ships. I would suggest not skipping any ships in a line, at least not until you've tried them first, so I guess that's a vote for Phoenix. Any suggestions or comments are appreciated.
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I think it will help me later in defending against them. I am leaning toward the Omaha so I can learn about shooting torps. The Cleveland is a big upgrade in survivability, artillery and AA, but no torps. It also offers torps and since I have eaten enough of them, it would be nice to shoot them at others. The Omaha is about equal to St Louis in survivability and artillery but much better AA. The Phoenix is a step down in survivability and artillery but offers torps for the first time. But, I am 69, and WoW is the first MMO game I have ever played. I have about 400 battles in her and another 400 in the Erie. Good luck and have fun with whatever choices you make. Before the nerf my favorite ship was the Marblehead which is an Omaha class premium ship but not as good as a fully upgraded Omaha. I played through the US cruiser line first and got through the light cruisers before The Great CL Nerf of '16. I can't make much comment other than that. Again, each nation tends to have different faults and attributes and each line seems to have it's duds that you have to work through to get the one that pleases you most.
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I warn you though, the first tier battleships of every nation are hard to love. Louis's durability and don't mind the slower speed, you might want to consider going sideways into the battleship line. No other cruisers in the USA line have torpedoes so if you plan on playing higher tiers and you like the torpedo option you may wish to consider another nations line.
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The Phoenix and the Omaha are agile, lightly armored and, as you mentioned have torps. It is slow and heavily armored like a battleship but is stuffed full of cruiser size guns.
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