Welcome to Azur Lane! I've been playing daily for over 3 years (with historical gear set-ups only, even though there are 'meta' gears to choose) and it's great- I now have 99% ship collection and it feels rewarding getting them. Monetisation is really friendly too, I've only had to pay money to expand my dock to keep all my ships, and that was after about 2 years managing to avoid paying by collecting all the free gems and using those instead. If you want a quick TLDR heads-up on the plot, read below, otherwise, avoid reading to avoid spoilers. Spoilers: So basically, all the factions (based off WW2 factions) long ago fought against the Sirens (aliens) as a united front together- the Azur Lane. Since then, co-operation broke down until some left the Azur Lane (the flashpoint: whether to utilise Siren technology) to form the Crimson Axis, with others later joining them: these include the Germans (Iron Blood), Japanese (Sakura Empire), Italians (Sardegnia Empire) and Vichy French (Vichya Dominion), of whom the leaders of the first two- Bismarck and Akagi- have even made deals with the Sirens for tech (Bismarck later Iron Blood against the Sirens, Akagi is still shifty). This whole Azur Lane - Crimson Axis conflict was just a masterminded plot by the Sirens, who manipulate things in order to 're-enact' historical battles to gather data. As the pointlessness became evident, a would-be major battle between the Azur Lane and Iron Blood in the polar regions was used by Bismarck to unite the factions against the Sirens, and in the process, killed Compiler, a high-ranking Siren. Talks are underway to resume peaceful relations, if not re-integrate the Crimson Axis into the Azur Lane, with the opposite Free and Vichy French factions managing a successful reunification. As you can tell, this is not the first time the Sirens have meddled with peoples' lives- there are multiple timelines, and in most of them, the Sirens have already won, killing most of the shipgirls in the process. The survivors only survive through constant combat which damages their internal wisdom cubes (shipgirls are fully organic, but are created through the formula: cubes+ parts of given historical ship= shipgirl of said ship). This corruption causes metamorphosis- the META phenomenon- which basically turns them into edgy/depressed versions with better combat stats- the goal of Siren experimentation. The majority of METAs are part of the Ashes faction, which hates the Sirens, but sometimes (rarely) co-operates with them. Others are unquestioningly loyal to the Commander (Helena META or Memphis META), some are helpful to us and their alter-version in our timeline (Queen Elizabeth META), some do their own thing, some join 'our' version of 'their' faction (Gneisenau META), some are mute, mindless killing machines (Souryuu META), and some have gone REALLY bad (Hatakaze META). But generally, the Commander brings out a positive side to the METAs that they forgot they had. What's interesting are the origins of the shipgirls and Sirens, which have been slowly yet incredibly expanded since the game started: both were created initially in the 'original timeline' as defence projects by the scientists Miss Anzeel (a.k.a. the Creater) and Dr Aoste (a.k.a. the Magister) respectively. Following an arms race in that timeline's USA and USSR for cube-based weapons and Bon Homme Richard going... not quite META [but worse: turning into an evil gremlin that wants to corrupt/kill shipgirls, sow chaos and that can shapeshift into a corrosive, black tornado], the Sirens became somewhat of a contingency against both shipgirls repeating BHR's transformation, and the X (the reason why Sirens are also called the Anti-X or Antiochus): also called Leviathans, the X are basically the ultimate enemies being overpowered corrosive monsters. (What's worse, in a recent event, it was revealed that Hatakaze META and one of the Siren Arbiters (high ranking Sirens, named after tarot cards; this one was XV- The Devil, I think) have joined the X against basically everyone else.) The Leviathans/X are related somehow to BHR (probably BHR became the X), and they are what destroyed the original timeline- the only survivors being the Sirens (which have mainframes for their intelligences, infinite numbers of bodies [limited only by resources], and can travel across dimensions) and the original members of Ashes (who are shipgirls gone META, and can also hop across dimensions). This leads us to the present moment in time: Bon Homme Richard has discovered our timeline branch and is attacking it. Several Arbiters have now engaged BHR in what is a likely doomed war of attrition to prevent the destruction of this branch. Queen Elizabeth META literally told the Commander and 'our' Queen Elizabeth, "I'm ready to evacuate you and your allies out of this branch before it falls." Meanwhile Akagi is playing god (back in the Musashi event) by both figuring out how to grant herself more power without cube corrosion effects (what could go wrong) and may be trying to revive her dead sister Amagi. Likewise, the Eagle Union is trying to revive Lexington with a Type II-rigging (basically, same shipgirl, but different ship- in WW2 some ships that were sunk had later vessels named after them e.g. Benson class destroyer Laffey, then Allen M Sumner class Destroyer Laffey; Yorktown class carriers Yorktown and Hornet, and the Essex class carriers Yorktown and Hornet. For reasons obvious to those with knowledge of industrial capacity in WW2, this phenomenon was mainly found in the US Navy during the conflict, although many navies have and still do reuse the names of past vessels). Well that's a TLDR, if there's anything you want to know game-, lore-, or history-related let me know and I'm more than happy to help a new Commander.
You gotta explain the X/Antichus stuff again I'm sorry lost. I've been playing the game since 2020 but never really knew much about the lore besides the azur lane anime and some stuff here and there.
@@notorioussmoke2836 Ok, I'll try. (I can't believe I wrote so much last time!) Some of my answers will just be speculative as it all the info hasn't been released, but I'll point those parts out. If this explanation is too long, the TLDR is in the bottom paragraph. Back in the original timeline, Dr Anzeel used wisdom cubes and naval artifacts to develop shipgirls, whilst Dr Aoste was working on a similar-but-different weapons project (what we now call the Sirens/Antiochus/Anti-X). Meanwhile, the Northern Parliament developed unmanned, "mass-produced ships" using cube tech. When the cold war of this timeline (sparked by cube weapons development) reached its peak at Savo Island- where the (basically) NATO and Soviet fleets had a stand off- Bon Homme Richard [BHR] snapped and (as far as I am concerned) turned into the X (a malignant, destructive and corruptive force; generally looks like black mist), in the form of a giant black tornado that destroyed both fleets. *This thought is speculation, but I believe this transformation created the first of the X. BHR doesn't exist in any other timeline as of yet, the reason being that the mere existence of another BHR in another timeline could risk spreading the X that the original spawned. Therefore she only ever existed in the original timeline.* Following this, the cold war thawed, but Anzeel's project was put on ice. One result was the "safety lock" being fitted to all shipgirls before they can reach metamorphosis. This should give them the option to go back before they can complete metamorphosis, in which corruption or cube damage causes the cube to revert into an origin cube, and dramatically change their appearance and attitude (we have only seen this safety lock with Kronshtadt so far). However, there are a lot of other META ships in game, yet at the same time, regardless of their appearance or attitude, none of them can (or choose to?) manifest as the X (except maybe Hatakaze META, who works with the rogue Siren Devil and the X, for unknown reasons AFAIK, although she was uncharacteristically nice to Hiei META during the current Amagi event). Meanwhile Dr Aoste was given the green-light (and backing) to proceed with his project. The Anti-X were (deliberately or by coincidence) the perfect weapon to fight the X. Unlike the shipgirls, whose bodies could be relatively easily corrupted or destroyed, each Anti-X unit has a digital mainframe that can control a large number of mass-produced units, a humanoid avatar of itself (e.g. Purifier), or mute, cloned copies of shipgirls. That makes the Sirens virtually indestructable against the ravages of the X, because so long as they can harvest materials for their operations and their mainframe is intact, they can wage a permanent war of attrition. [Time skip] Eventually, the original timeline is about to be destroyed by the X. *As part of its endgame, Aoste releases the Sirens to do something morally questionable at best and genocidal at worst. (Can't remember if this is explicitly said by Aoste or not.)* The Sirens are to create a near infinite number of alternate timelines to experiment on in order to find a way to stop the X. To that end, countless millions have died in proxy wars ("re-enactments") set up by the Sirens pitting various factions against each other, in which the Sirens have wiped out countless timelines. "Our" timeline is designated as "Test site Beta", and is remarkable in that the Commander exists in this timeline and none other, except for the original timeline. Hence, it is of particular interest to them. *Some would argue that the Sirens have forgotten/overwritten their original purpose by this point and are just doing their own thing by creating and destroying for their own sake/power/ego, others would argue they're still following Aoste's directives and aren't in fully in control. Then again, would he have wanted them to do this? It's all up to interpretation.* Some shipgirls of this timeline survive, but all are META, and they form the nucleus of the Ashes faction. E.g. Enterprise META/ Ash/ Code G- who is particularly interesting to the Sirens for her sheer power. Other METAs join them, but some don't: Helena META has a group that do their own thing, others are loners, others "re-join" their original faction. The METAs can teleport between timelines like the Sirens, but hate the Sirens. The Sirens and Ashes generally dislike each other at best. So- long story short- although the Sirens have been the enemies of the anime and most of the game, the "real" big-bad is the X: more than ever because it has found Test Site Beta, despite the Siren Observer Zero trying to hide it (AFAIK). That's why the Sirens are starting to be more co-operative recently. Historically, Sirens try to get shipgirls to release their full combat potential by using constant combat to send them META the hard way, just so they can record the data. They also create and destroy timelines at a whim for just data collection with no ethics. However, their (nominal) objective is fighting the X. The X can also send shipgirls META- through corrosion- but this can generally be reversed (so long as it is not too long) as it is an artificial metamorphosis occurring from the outside-in, rather than inside-out. If there's any further specific questions about the Sirens or X, feel free to reach out. P.S. Almost forgot, the X can manifest itself conceptually- i.e. if everyone in Test Site Beta knew what X was, then the X could use just that to manifest itself into reality in that branch (hence why BHR doesn't exist outside the original branch).
@@SanzuRiver I'm sorry to hear that. Although I'm a habitual daily player (always do my dailies without fail and constantly set and collect commissions; I'm not sure how often you play), you might be able to improve by: 1. being active during events to get at least some to all of the new ships: the easiest time to get event ships is when they release or rerun due to the rate up % rates. 2. if you haven't done all the PRs, select one (preferably for a major faction), put 2 fleets together and passively grind EXP. (it also helps for perma-stats) 3. Map drop- exclusive ships. There's a list of them on the Azur Lane wiki, and some of them get forgotten a lot: Aylwin, Dewey, Junyou, Hiyou etc. You can link this with Point 2 above. 4. Retrofits- a lot of players don't complete all of them due to the coin investment, but not doing any retrofits instantly forfeits 10-15% of total collection. 5. METAs. Yes, Op. Si. is a chore, but it's the only way to get half of the METAs (and at least it drops gold plates). 6. Check the Guild shop, Medal shop etc. for new ships or dupes for limit breaking or retrofits. (Gold Bulins are a must as well, I've run out of use for Elite Bulins, but I still need more than 30 Gold Bulins for MLBs- even active players can only get a max of about 8 Gold Bulins per month: 4 weeklys, approximately 2 from Merit shop, 2 from the monthly Medal shop. New events also introduce new ships that use them up as well). 7. Whenever they run a special rate up event where you can choose 2 ships to have an increased chance of pulling, choose 2 unobtained gold rarity ships from either the heavy or special construction pools. Why? These are (statistically) the hardest to drop under ordinary circumstances. Being in the heavy/special pools, they also cost basically double the cubes and coins to pull. Therefore, if you focus on these ships during the 'select 2 ships to rate up' events (generally twice per yr IIRC), and light construction ships when there are no events on, you will be able to use your resources most efficiently, and save for events. There is a bell curve to the collection rate and by the 90%s (I'm 99.5% now- only 4 missing: Houston II, Roma, HMS Enterprise, Z16) you'll find it more easy for the stat to drop than increase (every new event release drops your % in the short term while unobtained), just as early game players can increase very quickly. If you have any more questions about min-maxing formulas, feel free to reach out. My ships all have full historical gear loadout (many at max level), and the gear lab loves me for my patronage, so I've had to learn how to accumulate coins and other materials.
Azur Lane became my main gacha game after leaving Fire Emblem Heroes around the start of 2019, though I can see that it might feel a bit outdated nowadays with Live2D and 3D models becoming the standard. It's main draws are it's VERY generous gacha system (arguably the most generous I know), huge roster and bold character designs. But on the other hand the main story is just convoluted alphabet soup nonsense, and the game is inevitably bloated after all these years, making it potentially overwhelming to newcomers. The game is great for collection-driven and pulling dopamine, as it's generosity ensures you can pull very frequently with little effort and without paying, and the huge roster means there's always new characters to look forward to pulling. But it wouldn't be the game I'd suggest for people who value gameplay or storytelling in their gachas.
@Hilipinapixili I'd say the fleet building is decently interesting, but then there's Helena. I haven't played much of the normal stages, but what I saw were WW2 inspired factions - so I guess they will fight it out, become friends and then fight the tentacle aliens, which is a pretty generic anime storyline. Then there was the recent event and META ships and the game lost me completely in terms of plot.
@@WhileIHaveElectricity Exactly, it looks like it's basically going to be alternate WW2 story with aliens. Generic maybe, but good writing can make the most generic stuff feel fresh and interesting. However, Azur Lane instead suddenly throws alternate dimensions, time travelling and dreamworld BS at your face and everything becomes convoluted for the sake of being convoluted. The fact that event story arcs tend to feel kinda samey and formulaic doesn't help. Even I will admit that I've been skipping the story for a while, and this is my main gacha. If someone is interested in gachas with strong writing I often suggest Nikke due to it's VERY STRONG start and character-driven content, though one needs to be able to stomach the shamelessness. If unable to do so, I guess Star Rail can suffice. Reverse 1999 has a ton of potential and cool ideas but kinda squanders them with really awkward writing and a questionable localization IMO.
The plot is very heavy and you would lost easily if you don't follow it from the beginning, the main story that you follow are the monthly events, the main campaign is just WW2 Pacific front retold on AL
I just started playing two weeks ago. The game is fun, and i enjoy collecting ships. My main issue is their are so many currencies and modes that its pretty overwhelming.
Always nice to see new people start this almost 6 year old game. If you need any help, feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my ability as there are many things I still haven't figured out in the soon to be 6th year of playing(mostly limited to fleet comp and gear comp. If it does damage, it gets used is how I tend to play) Side note: get Enterprise asap. She may only have one skill but she follows her irl counterpart by being an unkillable aircraft carrier. Side note 2: give Arizona and Juneau daily hugs. They need them(Arizona passed away after 82 years on April 1st, 2024, following the passing of her last survivor, and both of them were laid to rest on April 23rd. Juneau, on the other hand, was abused in pvp until her retro changed the skill people abused her. The skill stayed the same, only she doesn't instantly die in pvp before healing the rest of your ships like she did before) Side note 3: dont pull on heavy or special. Event banners pull from these two so all ships from them will show up during events Side note 4: try to have at least 400 on hand at all times. This will equal 200 pulls from a UR banner and get you the UR guaranteed if rng decides to screw you over
@th3world3at3r9 Cheers! I'll pick up Ent from medal shop, if CV box rolls around. I only really used Arizona at the start, but looks like I scrapped her, along with Juneau to make space for... I guess event grinding, too many events XD. Anyway, I did look at the skills and will get them , if I feel that I am dying too quickly! I actually alternate between light/heavy/special (and event), I do want to get a variety of ships even if it is not as efficient. Also I am yet to get to 400 XD, only ever went as far as 250 (I think), but Alvitr/Vanguard banners ate most of them XD. I am a getting-screwed-by-rng enthusiast XD, some of the time.
@WhileIHaveElectricity rng can't be screwing you over as bad as it does me. I haven't been able to keep over 400 since Shimakaze first rolled around back in 2021. She zeroed me and drove me to the pity that I somehow made it to. After that, during one of the few russian events(I forgot the name of this one) I got screwed over badly by kirov costing me 356 cubes just to get her. I have yet to recover from both of them fully as the last time I had over 400 was just before Alsace was added and I very highly doubt I'll ever be over 400 cube again anytime soon
@Sweetguy1821 Yes take Enty over Hood. Entys skill let's her do 2x damage and lets her avoid all damage for 8 sec. Hoods skill is just a barrage that does a good chunk of damage to light armor enemies. Plus carriers do a screen clear of any shots fired by enemies
the most "pay to play" this game is, imo, is just for the "dock space" if you want to keep all the ships. for the tech lab fleet points, you don't actually need to keep all the ships. just get them to level 120, to get all their tech points, and then u can scrap them for dock space. the tech points give perma boosts for that ship class, like HP, FirePower, Reload, etc. as far as spending money goes, i dare say that the bi-monthly gives you plenty of rewards for being, what, $18 or something, every 2 months? skins, blueprint pieces, premium currency, and more, for just that? that's cheaper than TV subs, and you get so much use out of it. same is to be said about the monthly, as well, for $8. this is assuming that you constantly run commissions, like, 24/7. granted, most take a minimum of 1 to 2 hours, the key ones take 8 and 10 hours. the 8 hour ones are usually timed to appear during night time, so if you just check your phone for about 40 seconds every hour or 2, you can get a whole bunch of resources, for just.. that. not much at all. if you don't do commissions, then you'll be struggling, though, as the passive oil / gold income rate is low
@MSgtRazor I did see some guides pop up for me on youtube with people mostly recommending dorm space, but to me this feels like something only really needed for constant grinding, since it's the only thing that drains enough morale. Regarding tech points - i think it's more so trying to get a copy of every ship, subject for dock space, but secondly yes, FdG. I feel like I got plenty of gems so far just by playing, so I guess there will be more dock space eventually and I am full on oil, unless I grind extra hard - but that's because I use somewhat efficient fleets and lower maps/events. I will get those foxes XD
@@WhileIHaveElectricity thanks, also quick question how do you get enterprise? I see people recommending others to get it from the medals but I can’t seem to find her
@@App-8491 Ahh the medal shop has two SR boxes for 80 medals, these rotate every month! Prior month boxes were BB and DD, this month two CA boxes! Need a CV box for Enty. You can also get Enterprise from beginner tasks (which I am yet to fully complete), though I personally want San Diego for that anti-air.
@@WhileIHaveElectricity Nicholas, Charles ausburne, and halford are all up there in the sr or research level. Think I'd try Fletcher , Charles ausburne, and halford with halford given the beaver badge and Fletcher carrying the ASW equipment. Of the three the one I don't have is halford. Swipe Helena from the guild shop if you haven't already. Helena and Juneau are probably the most useful us light cruisers below sr level. (And Helena becomes an sr.)
