Here is one of the guides I found from the old site.  I'll try to put up as many of these as I can dig up for the new people and vets refernce.  Hope this helps someone.  See you in the water.

 

IJN Early Ship Guide 11 2 2005 3:49AM     I'm reposting this guide...it was the most viewed guide in the IJN forums in previous  forum so ,althogh is very old, it might still help new players.Was done by the highest  IJN players at server and with cooperation of other players. I will elaborate on the first group of ships for the IJN briefly in this guide. Its pretty old so it doesnt includes much info in tsukikei,since it came many months  after the guide.However there is an tsukekei update later on. *All early IJN ships have paper armor ========= DESTROYERS ========= Level 12: Kagero. Kagero is pretty good, cheap to repair, rather fine turning speed and quick. Carries  dual torp launchers and enough torps for 3 attacks. Early guns will be weak but they  get decent soon, providing acceptable fiepower from its 3 firing ports.Still, with only  65 gun space can only hold a few rounds.Nonetheless is a fine ship to begin with. Level 16: Akitsuki. Akitsuki is a bit slower usually, but has better firing capabilities and more DP than  the fragile Kagero.It also wields some more base armor and has more displacement  to occupy.Its an average ship as it is, and includes a single torp launcher. Level 22: Akitsuki Kai. It is a formidable ship, but requires some good driving skills. At the expense of  some armor and DP it has improved turning power, and becomes usually faster.  Same firepower, and optimized can be pretty fast as well, a couple of knots under  torpships. Level19: Fubuki. It's a basic torp ship, and quite effective. has a sleek small design and it can be very  quick. However has decent firepower being equipped by the well known 5.5 light  guns from its 3 R mounts and 3 torp launchers. Here little DP and armor set back this  fine ship.The turning power is also remarkable. Level 32 Shimakaze: An advanced torp ship. Equipped similarly than a fubuki, but with extra gun space  for  extra shells. As fast as a fubuki, but repairs scale up 100 credits. However, you do  gain a lot of DP and slight armor, and still use 3 torp launchers. The only drawback  besides the repair costs is the weaker turning speed. However it is still good and the ship is quite poweful. =========== LIGHT CRUISERS =========== Level 28: AGANO Agano is a cheap CL, and some consider it plain bad. Truth is that is not easy to use  and requires a lot of practice,but it can be quite good. It boasts 3 gun ports and 2  torp launchers with up to 3 loads. The armor isnt very good, so that turns into a  faster CL than average. Basically the Agano can be used as long range support and use eventually torp  spreads or torp strikes on enemies. Some good aiming is required to use this ship  effectively. Triple Guns help but is much better the learn to use the 7.9 as soon as  possible,which in the end will work better for this ship. Another support task given  to  the Agano is the recon plane it an carry. If an Agano fullfills its 3 support tasks  properly, it is more than worth its cost. Level 38: Kuma Kuma is a basic torp ship. It has 2 torp launchers per side*, and seven baby gun  ports. Only single guns can be fit there, but the torping capabilities make for this  lack. As in practice, ship can keep an average speed, a tad slower than a DD if fully  equiped. is noticeable that is good to create torp attacks but weak on direct  confrontations.it is also a bit slow to maneuver.*Kuma kai and Kitakami not in my  possesion, so I can not review those ships. As in practice, they seem faster,get less  guns but more torp space and in kitakami, basically even more torp launchers. Level 39: CL Mogami 1938 It is important to properly customize this ship but is extremely powerful nonetheless.  It has sizeable 55 t mounts but lack of storing space, so torpedos can not reload  after the initial launch. Torpedos from one side can be slipped into the other side for  a later launch. For example, you could launch a torpedo from west side, then turn  and launch torpedos from the east TORPEDO launcher. However, if enough time  given, you can use the West side torpedo launcher using up the torped