Train wheels are metal , as are the tracks , and there is a surprisinglysmall surface area where there is actually contact at any given time . This lack of contact is essential for locomotion as it allows a sort of gliding motion , without which you ' d need significantly more power to combat friction . Imagine how quickly a car loses velocity when you cut the power and compare that to how far you can glide on ice skates . Not the best example , but you get the idea . This is why trains can ' t handle more than a few degrees of incline and why even the tiniest reduction in grip can be very bad . Edit I ' m by no means an expert and only learnt this while working on a project with a train operator . <| sep |> Because BB ' s attract trash tier players . Some of the maps in high tier are trash too . If you get epicenter on the map with the circle of islands for example there is no viable play for battleships or cruisers unless they want to YOLO . Many high tier maps need a lot of changes so that cover and concealment can be used to encourage brawling , so it isn ' t ALWAYS battleship players fault , but on a good map , if the BB ' s sit back , then yeah . nothing really changes at any tier . Everyone would sit back and snipe in T 5 if they COULD , but ships just don ' t have long enough range to do it , so they don ' t . Its a combination of conditioning , mediocrity in the playerbase , and because I can game design . We might not be able to reduce battleship guns to 16 km ranges , but we can add some cover to key locations in the map to let ships sneak in and flank the enemy to punish passive play .