Balti suffers from overmatch that’s more and more prevalent at that tier so the name of the game is to get yourself into a spot where you will take less damage - behind islands and whatnot. Don’t be too aggressive early game, you have excellent concealment that lets you radar enemy dds when they spot you. But that doesn’t mean you should be too close to the frontline.

Look at your team comp and see if you have other cruisers or bbs willing to shoot at dds, and if the dd on your side is a gunboat like akizuki, you need to decide whether or not it’ll be worth it to play more aggressively to eliminate or heavily injure a dd.

And in between reloads, just take a glance at the map and see where your allies are headed, I’ve made the mistake of overstaying an overran flank in a Balti, Buffalo, and DM many times. This will also help you keep map awareness and also see if there may be a BB on the other side of the map lining up a crossmap salvo for you if you’re spotted