Navy Field

An MMO Naval Tactical Simulator, Navyfield has a simple premise: take the various warships developed and used during World War 2, let players customise them as they see fit, then unleash them on the open ocean. A player starts with a generic frigate and, as their sailors level, will get access to better ships (destroyers, cruisers, battleships and carriers) and better hardware (cannons, torpedoes, mines, depth charges, scout aircraft, fighters and bombers).

Originally only featuring the big four naval powers (Germany, Japan, America and the UK); a later update added the French navy, then another added the Soviet navy, and the Italian navy is due who-knows-when.

Like its ground based younger cousin World of Tanks, the game doesn't care what nation you pick when it comes to battling and just tosses everyone together.

Provides examples of:
 * Allegedly Free Game: Ranting aside, until very recently, players were actually forced to pay in order to continue playing after level 30. (For those unfamiliar with the game, that's not long.) Some players have premium accounts because it entitles you to a minimum of +1000 experience and a x10 exp multiplier overall for battles.
 * Boring but Practical: The FFs and DDs, beginner ships with little in the way of firepower or armour, but their speed and small size make them harder to hit. They can also spot enemy submarines while submerged and can hit them with torpedoes and depth charges, making them the best anti-sub defence for the big ships.
 * Cool Boat: All the end-game battleships.
 * Game Breaker:
 * The Kuma series of torpedo cruisers is still considered this by some -- the final upgrade can launch as many as 40 long-range, high-damage, hard-to-spot torpedoes in one salvo, and reload in under 30 seconds. Somewhat balanced in that small ships can dodge the torps while the big ones can take enough bulge armour to absorb the damage, while the ships themselves are fairly fragile and are often target #1 for any battleships.
 * During the recent in-game anniversary period, they were giving away superhedgehogs left and right, resulting in everyone and their grandmother having a preposterously powerful close-in anti-ship weapon.
 * Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The game is very popular in Russia, to point they have a version in Russian.
 * Glass Cannon: Ships that are all guns and engine, and no armour. Very fast with plenty of firepower, but will often die from the first salvo fired at them. Many players go so far as to completely neglect armor and just go with Bulkhead and Bulge, which are Endurance and Toughness respectively -- one lets you keep fighting no matter how badly you're banged up, and the other lets you soak up torpedoes before you actually die.
 * Mighty Glacier: Most battleships, with exceptional armour and heavy guns, but a large turning circle. Surprisingly, not all that slow either, capable of short high-speed dashes. And improbably maneuverable, as they can roughly turn on a dime.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: But with torpedoes; see Game Breaker. Not only can the Japanese Kitakami do this, but the Russian destroyers can too.
 * Point Defenseless: Dependent on the ability of the sailors and pilots involved -- an elite AA gunner on a battleship can take down a full squadron of rookie torpedo bombers in seconds, while a rookie gunner on a destroyer will probably not even get a hit against low-flying elite fighter pilots.
 * Sea Mine: Players can set them.
 * Ship-to-Ship Combat: It Makes Sense in Context
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Some surface ships take out their aggression on a submersible.
 * Water Level: Duh!