A clan can now field any number of BBs, and 2-3 stalingrads BB seems to be about right, intermixed with support ships like Henri and the odd DD.

If you're up in any combination of ships against that and you can't field 2-3 Stalingrads yourself, you can't do shit. You don't even need to try.

• You can't get "close" to Stalingrads to effectively torp them because at any point they can radar you and you're fucked. As a Zao, you can't torp them at all.
• You can't kill Stalingrads quickly, they just sit there and soak up whatever you throw at them while one or the other flank gets butchered
• They can take all the time in the world to setup a crossfire on your team and push you out of all map control, then just blap you with heavy and accurate AP from all sides while showing you bows.

It effectively doesn't matter that Stalingrad has low DPM. You cannot show a Stalingrad side, ever, because she'll pump 6-9 shells from 21km right into your citadel and anywhere from half to three quarters of your health is gone, if you're not blapped outright. And with 2-3 stalingrads and a BB all around you, there's no way to not show side to at least some of them, and you're fucked.

Sure you see her from orbit and you can "disengage" and then now what? You still can't do shit about them sitting there smugly denying you any push while your other flank gets butchered.

There's now a CW season for the haves, and it starts when CW starts and features 5 leagues. And then there's the CW season for the have nots, and it starts 2-3 weeks later (when the haves have left the lower leagues) and has 3 leagues (because the haves will never leave typhoon and hurricane).

So good luck trying to get enough steel to be able to afford the indispensable item required to compete if you can't play half the season and can't play all the leagues.