After wallowing around in your Erie at tier one, you'll only be able to progress to the Chester before you can unlock anything else. At that point you will be able to unlock the Samson by going sideways into the destroyer line, but I've already warned you about that :D If the Erie was where you got your degree in warships, then think of the Chester as the place that you earn your masters'. Everything I said about the tier one ships last time applies equally here. The Chester is a fast and maneuverable ship, without having the break-neck formula one performance of DDs (destroyers). They are tough enough to take a few hits and keep kicking, thus being more forgiving to players that expose themselves to a thrashing. They are still low enough tier that they get to sit out most of the more complicated stuff in the game, like air warfare. And all round, the Chester has simple gameplay mechanics that follow on from what you've already learned. Even when you've ground out the full upgrade suit on the Chester, consider keeping it and playing it a few times a day just to make sure you are nailing down those basics of gameplay, and not rushing towards more complicated ships.
The Chester is a little lightly armed in its stock incarnation, which means that it should avoid too much direct combat. Start teaching yourself to use islands and bigger ships to distract the enemy, and only engage once you can avoid return fire. You might also want to experiment with different ammo at this point. You'll mostly find that AP shells are your friend at this point, since they will do the most damage as long as they penetrate. When you find your AP (armour piercing) shells doing little to no damage, it means that they are ricocheting from the enemy's armour. At this point switching to HE (High Explosive) ammo will guarantee you more damage, and start setting fires. In battles where you start to see battleships and destroyers, you should start loading the HE early, since AP usually won't harm a BB, and HE is more effective at disabling and pinning down DDs. When engaging cruisers, however, you should try using your AP, especially at long ranges, and when your enemy exposes their broadside. You may find that you start scoring citadel hits on your opponent, which are kind of like the "headshots" of this game. This is what I mean about using this tier as your masters' degree. Now is the best time to master your maneuvers, gunnery, and learn to work with your team (or at least use them to your advantage, even if they ignore you). As you finish upgrading the Chester, you'll find that it can punish other cruisers, and frankly put a savage beat down on enemy DDs. Encountering higher tier cruisers, such as the fearsome St Louis and Kuma classes, as well as encountering any BB should teach you the importance of holding back, and joining the fray once the enemy is distracted. Even the lowest tier ship can still kick ass if it is given a chance to avoid damage, and unleash with guns.
The final things to practice at this point are how to focus your guns, and how to dodge torpedoes. The Chester, like many low tier ships, mounts some of its main guns in the sides of the ship, rather than in centreline turrets. This means that inevitably the ship cannot bring all guns to bear at once. For many ships this is just a fact of life, but for fast turning, fast shifting ships like the Chester, it means you can turn and fire your portside guns (or starboard), and then quickly shift your ass to expose your opposite battery. This is what I call the slalom shoot. It's far more pronounced on later ships, such as the Phoenix at tier four. The other option is to start sailing in a circle, giving your guns a chance to spin and fire. I call this one the Cantabrian Circle Jerk... because you go around shooting in every direction, or just Cantabrian Circle for those playing with the language filters on. The other thing to round out your captaining skills is torpedo dodging. This is a skill that really does rely first and foremost on situational awareness. You need to learn as soon as possible to pull your view out from the zoomed gunsight view in between shots. Knowing where you are, where your enemy is, and where the likely torpedoes are coming from is the difference between a snarling veteran seadog, and a n00b raging on the forums about the OP torpedoes. As a DD captain that frequently has his torpedoes dodged be even semi-competent players, I can say without a doubt that it is not difficult to ruin a DD captain's game with even the simplest maneuvers. Do your best to keep one eye on the mini map, and zoom out every 3-5 seconds. Track the DDs on the map, or guess at their most likely locations. If you even suspect that one is within 10km of you, start maneuvering. Speed up, slow down, and make rapid rudder shifts to throw off potential torpedo salvos. At this point the DD captain will likely charge you, and reveal himself to your guns.
Hopefully with these skills in mind, and a whole bunch of practice, not rushing the next tier, you will become a vastly superior player in no time, and be worthy of your captaincy. Next we might talk about the St Louis, or maybe a little more on the complicated mechanics that you will need to learn, such as torpedoes and stealth, and maybe then you will have my permission to sail that glorious class of gunboat, the destroyer >:)
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