Pioneer: Tier X Commonwealth (Australian) Premium Light Cruiser 1945

A further development of the light cruiser design, armed with sixteen 152 mm guns—a configuration considered in Great Britain in the late 1930s. The arrangement is distinctive in that it concentrates three of the four main battery turrets—and thus most of the ship’s firepower—in the forward section. Had she been embodied in metal after World War II, the cruiser could have been transferred to a Commonwealth country.

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Work In Progress

Key Features of Pioneer

The most striking element of Pioneer is the distribution of her main battery. While she carries sixteen 152mm guns in 4 quadruple turrets, just like X Plymouth, Pioneer carries 3 of these turrets forward in a super firing arrangement similar to that of VI Dido, allowing you to use 75% of your firepower when firing forward. However, the rear turret has relatively poor firing angles forward, making it hard to get all guns into action without giving broadside. This main battery benefits from a very good reload speed, allowing you to inflict a lot of damage to your targets, even while not revealing your broadside. While her firepower is impressive for a Light Cruiser, care must be taken in its use as she has a fairly short-ranged main battery and torpedoes relative to other ships at her tier.

Battle Tips

In battle, Pioneer will benefit from a strong yet slow set of consumables. Like her Tech Tree sisters, she has the Crawling Smoke Generator typical of Commonwealth cruisers, allowing you to remain mobile and effective while still covered by smoke. This will be vital since, while she has decent concealment, her hull is quite large for a light cruiser and is not the most agile or resilient, making you vulnerable to more heavily armed opponents. Pioneer carries both a long-range Surveillance Radar, similar to that of the other X Brisbane, as well as the Improved Submarine Surveillance found on X Cerberus. However, both of these consumables will require a long time to prepare, meaning that to have the most impact, you must preserve yourself for the mid to late game.
Overall, Pioneer will be a solid support cruiser with her impressive albeit short-ranged firepower, able to assist the team in the later stages of a battle with her powerful consumable set, so long as you survive long enough to use them.

Pioneer Info

Ship Name:   X Pioneer

level: 10

WG Introduction: October 27, 2025

Base value: 31,000

Estimated release: 15.0

Rarity Level: Rare Ship. Requires dedicated or focused effort via challenging events or long-term commitment.

Game Nation:  Commonwealth (Australia)

Armor

Hit points: 46,900

Plating: 16-120 mm

Fires duration: 30 s

Torpedo protection: 1%

Hull plating fore/mid/aft: 25/25-120/25 mm

Deck plating fore/mid/aft: 25/30-51/25 mm

Fore Athwartships: 25 mm

Aft Athwartships: 25 mm

Citadel Fore Athwartships: 63 mm

Citadel Aft Athwartships: 63 mm

Armor Belt: 25-120 mm

Plating: 25 mm

Citadel Deck: 51 mm

Superstructure: 16 mm

Citadel Bottom: 40 mm

Turrets: 51-102 mm

Tonnage: 19,236 t

Main Battery Armament

4 x 4 152 mm/50 BL Mk.XXIII on a Mk.XXIII mount:

Firing range: 14.5 km

Reload time: 7.8 s

180-degree turn time: 30.0 s

Maximum dispersion: 133 m

Sigma: 2.05σ

Shell Types

HE Shells:

16x 152 mm HE 6crh Mk IV:

Alpha Damage: 2,100

Alpha Piercing HE: 30.0 mm

Ammo Type: High Explosive

Shell Air Drag: 0.3297

Shell Always Ricochet At: 60.0°

Normalization: 8.0°

Shell Detonator: 0.01

Shell Detonator Threshold: 2.0

Shell Diameter: 152 mm

Shell Krupp: 1.0

Shell Mass: 50.8 kg

Shell Ricochet At: 91.0°

Shell Speed: 841.0 m/s

Burn Probability: 9%

AP Shells:

16x 152 mm AP 6crh Mk IV:

Alpha Damage: 3,100

Ammo Type: Armor Piercing

Shell Air Drag: 0.3297

Shell Always Ricochet At: 60.0°

Normalization: 8.5°

Shell Detonator: 0.025

Shell Detonator Threshold: 25.0

Shell Diameter: 152 mm

Shell Krupp: 2609.0

Shell Mass: 50.8 kg

Shell Ricochet At: 45.0°

Shell Speed: 841.0 m/s

Depth Charge Airstrike

Aircraft: Handley Page Halifax GR

Plane HP: 2000 hp

Reload time: 30.0 s

Available flights: 3

Number of aircraft in attacking flight: 1

Maximum range: 11.0 km

Number of bombs in payload: 2x 650 lb Bomb Mk VIII

Maximum bomb damage: 3900

Fire chance: 28%

Secondary Armament:

6 x 2 102 mm/45 QF Mk.XVI on a Mk.XIX mount

Maximum range: 7.3 km

Reload time: 3.0 s

Maximum HE shell damage: 1,500

Chance to cause fire: 6%

HE initial velocity: 811 m/s

HE shell armor penetration: 17 mm

Torpedoes:

4 × 4 533 mm QR Mk II/Mk XM*:

Range: 6.0 km

Reload: 120 s

Alpha Damage: 16,767

Speed: 65 kts

180 degree turn time: 7.2 s

Torpedo detectability: 1.3 km

Chance of Flood: 282%

Anti Aircraft Defence

Long Range:

6 x 2 102 mm/45 QF Mk.XVI on a Mk.XIX mount:

Action Zone: 3.5-5.8 km

Hit Probability: 90 %

Damage Within an Explosion: 1400

Continuous Damage Per Second: 70

Continuous Damage: 289

Number of Explosions Per Salvo: 4

Mid Range:

6 x 6 40 mm/56 OQF Mk.IX on a Mk.VI mount:
8 x 1 40 mm/56 OQF Mk.III on a Mk.VII mount:

Action Zone: 3.5 km

Hit Probability: 90 %

Continuous Damage Per Second: 333

Short-Range:

12 x 2 20 mm Oerlikon Mk.II on a Mk.V mount:

Continuous damage per second: 154

Hit probability: 85 %

Action zone: 2.0 km

Mobility

Maximum speed: 34.0 kt

Turning circle radius: 760 m

Rudder shift time: 10.5 s

Propulsion: 100,000 hp

Visibility

Surface detectability: 12.3 km

Air detectability: 8.3 km

Detectability after firing main guns in smoke: 6.2 km

Available Consumables

Slot 1: Damage Control Party:

Charges: unlimited

Work time: 5 s

Reload time: 60 s

Slot 2: Repair Party:

Charges: 3

Action time: 28 s

Reload time: 80 s

Regeneration per second: +234 hp/s

Slot 3: Crawling Smoke Generator:

Charges: 3

Action time: 102 s

Reload time: 130 s

Smoke dispersion time: 10.0 s

Slot 4: Surveillance Radar:

Charges: 3

Action time: 20 s

Reload time: 120 s

Ship detection radius: 12 km

Preparation time: 270 s

Slot 5: Submarine Surveillance:

Charges: 3

Duration time: 20 s

Range: 8 km

Reload time: 120 s

Preparation time: 270 s

Note: All stats are listed without crew and upgrade modifiers but with best available modules. The stats are subject to change at any time.

Important: All information in this post is 'Work in Progress', the announced adjustments and features may undergo multiple changes during testing, all changes will be added to this post immediately after they become available, the final details will be officially published and labelled in the ship info as 'Released' on this post.