World of Tanks

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Paingod
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

ydejin wrote:Gratz on getting the T-50-2 Paingod.
Thanks! It's a fun tank to have, but hasn't proven to be *more* fun than the T-50. It's different, but still almost as fun. When I get the crew trained up, I might feel more at home and likely would call them equals but with differences for fun.
ydejin wrote:I've got the Patton unlocked, but I haven't decided if I want to get it or not. I've got the T-54 and while it's a great tank, I really don't like the high-end battles it tends to always get stuck in. With my Pershing I almost always feel like I can make a good difference in a battle, there are always targets I can penetrate from the front and maybe a few I need to get a side shot in. With the T-54, even with the best gun, there are battles where I just look at all the IS-7s, E-100, and Maus and think "ugh" this is not going to be a fun fight.
I know how you feel, sort of. It seems the heavier I go into the game, the less fun I'm having per round. I enjoy my Tier V KV more than either my KV-3 or KV-1S. I think once you hit Tier VI, the 'fun' factor of the game starts to slide and things become more about working the system than enjoying yourself.

I'm curious to see how the Tier VI Artillery performs once I get my S-51 (39,000xp to go with the KV).
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

Well, I've got the S-51 now, but I can't say anything good about it yet. Most of the crew is still 50% trained and I've had it in exactly 1 fight. I think I'll avoid using it until I can get the crew to 75% and also get a Gun Laying Drive to increase my base accuracy and let me aim quicker - just another ~600,000cr or so. At 1,000+cr per shot, I'd like to have the best chance to aim quickly that I can.

It took 127,000xp to get the thing - not because it's "good" but because it lets you skip the artillery line up to it. It is better than the equivelant USSR SPG you get for tier VI, though. One nice thing I've run into so far is that the default gun seems to at least have a good range on it. I remember getting my M7 Priest and having to move halfway up the field in order to hit the back wall of a map. It also has a very narrow arc of fire, meaning that I'll be breaking my 'aim' often to turn and fire, which is not good. With my poorly trained crew, aiming and reloading takes forever.

On the plus side, the thing just looks nasty. Take KV treads and put a giant f'ing gun on the front of them. It's ugly-beautiful.

I plan to live in constant fear of T-50 and T-50-2 tanks... I know how easily they can get into the back lines. I've done it numerous times myself. My last round with the T-50-2 last night had me run past 6 heavy/medium/TD defenders and still manage to decimate their Tier VII artillery unit before anyone could kill me. There's just no stopping a determined T-50.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Paingod wrote:Well, I've got the S-51 now, but I can't say anything good about it yet. Most of the crew is still 50% trained and I've had it in exactly 1 fight. I think I'll avoid using it until I can get the crew to 75% and also get a Gun Laying Drive to increase my base accuracy and let me aim quicker - just another ~600,000cr or so. At 1,000+cr per shot, I'd like to have the best chance to aim quickly that I can.

It took 127,000xp to get the thing - not because it's "good" but because it lets you skip the artillery line up to it. It is better than the equivelant USSR SPG you get for tier VI, though. One nice thing I've run into so far is that the default gun seems to at least have a good range on it. I remember getting my M7 Priest and having to move halfway up the field in order to hit the back wall of a map. It also has a very narrow arc of fire, meaning that I'll be breaking my 'aim' often to turn and fire, which is not good. With my poorly trained crew, aiming and reloading takes forever.

On the plus side, the thing just looks nasty. Take KV treads and put a giant f'ing gun on the front of them. It's ugly-beautiful.

I plan to live in constant fear of T-50 and T-50-2 tanks... I know how easily they can get into the back lines. I've done it numerous times myself. My last round with the T-50-2 last night had me run past 6 heavy/medium/TD defenders and still manage to decimate their Tier VII artillery unit before anyone could kill me. There's just no stopping a determined T-50.
Ugh. I've gotten to the point where I always save up the ~100,000 credits to upgrade the crew even before I buy the tank.
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Re: World of Tanks

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ydejin wrote:Ugh. I've gotten to the point where I always save up the ~100,000 credits to upgrade the crew even before I buy the tank.
I really should have as well. As it is, I got 2 of the 6 trained to 75%, and was able to buy ~10 rounds of ammo. I really won't take it back onto the field until everyone's 75% at least, if not also having the GLD. I read through the WoT forums this morning on the S-51 and there's a lot of love for it in the SPG threads there. Apparently the 203mm cannon it gets is a splashing beast - if you can just get that round near your target, they're hurting... but you only carry 12 rounds and it fires every 40 seconds with a 100% crew and optimum equipment.

Interesting tactics - like looking for bunched up attackers and just landing a round in the middle of them to hit them all, using splash damage to hit someone under cover, etc. Apparently some people even carry 1-2 AP rounds for direct-fire situations.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

I love Free Experience. I love that it makes it easy to 'round off' a tank or accelerate you through something horrible (I'm looking at you, AMX 40). I strive to keep enough of it around to take the edge off some greater hurt.

But what do I do when I really want something and I'm not miserable with the performance I'm currently getting?

The S-51 has really made me love Artillery more than ever. My crew is up to 90% and they started to 'feel' at home in the SPG around 85% trained. So I'm actually having a good time as Artillery (as opposed to the M7 Priest, which I keep waiting to get better but doesn't). I've got everything researched except the 203mm cannon - which takes 35,000xp... and there I am with 26,500xp on the S-51 and 8,000xp in my 'Free' pool.

I get 500-1,000xp per round on average with the S-51 in it's current state. I'm having a good time, but I think I'll have a better time when my damage goes from 950 to 1850, even if the rate of fire drops to 1 every 40 seconds. It already takes me 10 minutes to use my 13 shots with the 152mm cannon.

So do I save the 8,000xp in my 'Free' pool and just keep playing or give in to my urge to have a BFG?

On Artillery ... playing counter-artillery is fun, but impossible when the opposition knows you're gunning for them and they keep moving (I always do)... so I don't bother anymore. Why do some people think I can just "kill" enemy artillery? Don't they get that if he moves just 20m from where he fired, there's no way I could kill him? I mean - I'm going to have a 40 second reload time. I'll be moving for 20-25 seconds of that to get a better shot, starting the second my shot leaves the barrel.

... and along the same vein - there's no more rewarding feeling in the game so far than to know where enemy artillery probably is and ripping a shot off and killing him. I did this in Mountain Pass last night, assuming their artillery was sitting in the middle of their starting hill - and killed him before he ever even got to fire his gun once. Feels good man.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by DD* »

Completist that I am, I just got my American T30. The armor situation is atrocious (the WOT folks should never have let it in the game this way) but the 155 is a beast :)

So, next patch I should have a Tier 9 TD and Tier 8 premium heavy (my T34). Fun.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by DD* »

Oh, and the T30 is pretty much a useless POS the way it is today. Just sayin'...
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

DD* wrote:Oh, and the T30 is pretty much a useless POS the way it is today. Just sayin'...
I've stalled at the T29 on American heavies, since I've heard everything past that is pretty crappy. Hopefully the new replacements will be good.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by DD* »

ydejin wrote:
DD* wrote:Oh, and the T30 is pretty much a useless POS the way it is today. Just sayin'...
I've stalled at the T29 on American heavies, since I've heard everything past that is pretty crappy. Hopefully the new replacements will be good.
I like the T32 quite a bit. I even like the T34, which is better than its critics would have you believe (IMHO). But the T30 is a real struggle. Bounced 5 shells in a row off an IS7. Granted the 7 is a mean SOB, but the T30 is supposed to be in the same tier. In the meantime, he hits me twice and it is goodnight Irene.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

Is it wrong that when I see "T29" pop up on the opponents list and I'm in my KV, I think "I could take him"? I've learned too well about that giant soft spot in the back and sides of the turret. As "just a KV" I can get around a little easier and thump them there when they look away, hammering off 30% of their health in a single shot. I've probably killed 3 of them by myself with peek-a-boo play in my KV (in 450 battles).

For annoying tanks, I've discovered that the 122mm gun for the KV-3 and KV-1S seems extra-bouncy despite having 175 penetration on the AP ammo. My KV with 168 penetration on the 107mm gets more solid hits and reloads twice as fast. I wonder if the round has a steep drop-off of penetration over distance ... the only times I can rely on it is when I'm with 20m of an enemy... and even then, last night all I did was Crit a Medium German Tier VI tank with it twice in his face (no tread hits), and both times it did no damage - I probably wasted 2,100cr to hurt his driver and radioman or something. All I know is that I slammed him good and at close range twice with AP ammo and didn't leave a scratch, but he smeared me easily.

The S-51 is a beastie with the 203mm gun - I opted for just getting it. I can wipe off 40% health from an IS-4 in a single frontal shot, or 17% health from a T95 looking right at me. I only get 12 shots for the round, and the accuracy leaves something to be desired - but - I've had more income-earning rounds in general than with the 152mm gun. I had one that was 45,000cr with 12,000cr repair and reload - a good haul.

My garage only has three non-elite tanks in it now: KV-1S, M7 Priest, S-51. I have space for 1 more tank which I was going to fill with the AMX 13 75, but every time I get 500,000cr, I buy a component (GLD, Binocs, Heavy Rammer). The French tank has thus failed to appear.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Genghis »

Been playing this off and on lately. I would play it much more if the match maker was not so borked. When you go up against tier 9s and 10s in a tier 4 tank, I just don't see the point in playing. The primary tank that I have been using is the KV, which typically gets ok matches. The KV-3 is a grind from hell. Crummy gun, tissue armor, slow... just a bad tank mainly because of the match-ups. If it was more games against tier 5-7s it would be decent. But against tier 9s and 10s, you are utterly useless. Too slow to scout, two weak gun to damage anyone (4% hits don't count), one or two shot against higher tiers).
The t-50 is another fun tank against even tiers. But I keep getting stuck bottom tank vs tier 9s. I would be more effective scouting on a motorcycle, at least its a smaller target.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

I've discovered that the MM can work to your advantage, but you've got to work it.

The T-50 is a pure scout - though my worst rounds are like 1 Tier IX, 2 Tier VIII, and a smattering of the rest. When I'm at the absolute bottom, I find a place to hide early on that allows me to actually spot targets for others to shoot at with impunity, even if there's no artillery (especially if there's no artillery). If there is artillery, once things cool down from the initial conflicts, I'll find the weakest spot and try to break through to scout them, and even possibly kill them.

The T-50-2 is a Tier V scout that will face down Tier X tanks - it's an "End of the line" scout and is treated as such. It also doesn't make money in some rounds, even with Premium. It's more of a "Premium" tank that you play for fun than for anything else. Sometimes MM is nice to you and you're like a heavy medium in a round, but it's rare.

I can provide more tips on scouting with these as I have and love them both.

The KV is interesting - a low tier Heavy with a solid gun choice. I prefer the 107mm because of the accuracy and reload over the 152mm "DERP" cannon. I've seen too many Derp KV's fire once and then everyone knows they've got 20 seconds to reload and they get smashed. Play it as a support heavy. Don't be first, learn to peek-a-boo, and never expose the back of your turret to the enemy (they'll "Rack" you).

The real fun with the KV starts after battle 350-500 (depending on Premium status and skill) when you get the S-51 artillery. It's f'in amazing for it's tier and I regularly rack up 2-5 kills and 800+ experience per round with it.

The KV-3 is a true heavy - 120mm frontal armor and slow as death. I also use the 107mm on this; the 122mm gun doesn't have much more penetration and reloads much slower. It can work out in front, but again if the MM isn't kind to you you'll need to hang behind other heavies and support them. The KV-3, despite having good armor for it's class, doesn't have the health to stand up to anything larger than itself easily.

What I've also discovered over time is that many tanks are mouse-pounding, spittle-frothing, rage-inducing suck until the Crew gets to approx. 95% trained and then magically the tank stops sucking so hard and it starts performing well. It literally feels like there's some magical line they cross and they say "Well, shit. I'm tired of missing shots and bouncing hits all the time." ... The KV-1S did this to me. The KV-3 did this to me. It could also be the combination of actual experience with the tank and the Crew getting just good enough to bring the tank stats up to a playable level.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

I'm enjoying the new patch a lot more, interface is a lot cleaner and explanatory. Not sure on the new crew perks though. Finally back into it with a vengance to try and get past my SU-8 arty and on to the next one!
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

I haven't even logged in with the new patch to see how things are running... I haven't been in since March 30th.

I had joined a clan and spent the night playing with them - and found the experience wholly unsatisfying. All we did was random battles (no one had Tier IX/X tanks for real clan fights or land grabs). I played with a total of three other people.
  • One wanted to watch to the end of every fight and that's not something I do. Me and the next guy dropped him after 3 fights.
  • One was from Hong Kong and was generally really nice and complimented every good hit I got - he fought with me in every round for the evening and was a fair player. Better with artillery than a tank.
  • The last was a commercial airline pilot who seemed to like to put himself in the middle of every map so he could be hit from every side.
I spent my time trying to play with them and not just off on my own. It really broke my comfort zone and I averaged about 250xp per battle (with Premium). I wasn't sure what the etiquette was for being in a Platoon and just ignoring your Platoon mates. I felt compelled to go where they went and try to assist them at all times. There was no attempt to coordinate anything with them except 'stick together' ...

Other members of the guild were all chatting on Teamspeak through most of their rounds and I found it highly distracting. I don't have a mic (wife was asleep 4 feet behind me, my PC is in the bedroom), and couldn't chat back.
  • One person was obviously getting high while he played. I don't care what he does, but I didn't need to keep hearing him inhaling and coughing.
  • One person kept bitching about his Chinese food sucking (could have been the same guy as above).
  • Another guy kept just saying "BatChat" every time he saw one.
  • More annoyingly, I kept hearing narrative about tanks and moves in fights I wasn't a part of. I mean ... I'm sitting in my S-51 and I hear "Shit - IS-4, get him... get him..." and I actually started looking for him.
All in all, I think that before I play again, I'll drop the clan. I was seriously expecting it to be like night and day - people asking me to flank, people offering direction and tactical advice, maybe even the guild leader acting as a commander-type role ... :doh:
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by DD* »

I was in a clan briefly, and had the same experience. I'll get an unsolicited invite every once in a while. Might be old age, but I find WOT much more enjoyable solo.
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Re: World of Tanks

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DD* wrote:I was in a clan briefly, and had the same experience. I'll get an unsolicited invite every once in a while. Might be old age, but I find WOT much more enjoyable solo.
I agree. I still haven't gone back - but will remove myself from the clan today with a "Thanks for letting me try this out" letter to the leader. I think that the problem is close to what you mentioned - I'm getting on in my years - 35 of them now - and I'm not interested in "socializing" with a bunch of 20-ish players being 20-ish year olds. If they had been all tactics and trying to hone skills I'd have probably played WoT for the last four nights instead of Space Rangers 2.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Genghis »

How I loath the kv-3. Have a 51% win rate on the KV, 32% on the KV-3. I use the 107 on both. You would think with better armor and the same gun i should have roughly the same win rate if not a little better. My overall win rate on all my tanks is 50%. I have everything but the 100m and the 122 unlocked, and people suggest on the forums to use the 107 anyway. The big problem is the KV-3 is absolutely useless in most matches due to the MM. And now with the latest patch, i get to lose money every time i use the piece of junk.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Genghis wrote:How I loath the kv-3. Have a 51% win rate on the KV, 32% on the KV-3. I use the 107 on both. You would think with better armor and the same gun i should have roughly the same win rate if not a little better. My overall win rate on all my tanks is 50%. I have everything but the 100m and the 122 unlocked, and people suggest on the forums to use the 107 anyway. The big problem is the KV-3 is absolutely useless in most matches due to the MM. And now with the latest patch, i get to lose money every time i use the piece of junk.
At one point the KV-3 was considered way over-powered and they were going to move it up a tier. I'm not sure if that already happened or is still planned. I haven't played lower tiers of late (mostly I play my Tier VIII Pershing), but I do remember having serious difficulty penetrating on KV-3 even from the side, so at least at the time, I was very supportive of their moving it up a tier. I do remember the KV [and KV-3(?)] were extremely slow, although many of the Heavies really start out slow. The T-29 starts out slow and mostly stays slow. The Tiger I was painfully slow to start, but I felt it did pretty well once I got the engine fully upgrade (although IIRC the last engine upgrade was something crazy like 50,000xp).
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

The KV-3 can be a beast - it's got rock-solid frontal armor for it's tier and when you're near the top of a round it's almost frikkin' impossible to get killed unless you charge ahead and get yourself surrounded. I've recently tried out the 122mm on my KV-3 after spending ages using the 107mm... and at the end of the day, I'm realizing that I will probably sell off my KV-3 after the next patch and it gets bumped up a rung (and I get a free garage slot and tank for it).

I don't hate the tank - I think it performs well enough. It's a heavy support tank - perfect for sniping, and only mediocre at brawling due to speed and Match Maker placement. The problem for me is that I already have a KV with the 107mm and a KV-1S with the 122mm. The KV-3 feels like a slow lovechild between the two and just feels redundant. I never lose money with it, though. Lately it's been rare for me to lose money on anything except the T-50-2 (which is very normal to lose credits on).

I have discovered that the true value of any tank is completely obscured until the crew hits about 95% skill with it and it's been upgraded completely. I hated and detested my KV-1S, swearing up and down that I was going to sell it off as soon as I unlocked the KV-13 because it was a huge pile of steaming shit. It's got crap for armor as a Tier VI Heavy and 75% of my shots with the 122mm gun (1,024cr per shot) were bouncing off every goddamn thing I shot at, even from 75m away. It was pure rage fuel ... fire - bounce - fire - bounce - *boom* "We're done"

Now my KV-1S is my highest per-battle XP tank (1,962xp - I was near the bottom and killed 5 tanks that were equal to or higher tier than me and survived the round) and I even earned the "Ace" badge with it - top 1% performance of all people using the KV-1S. I wish I had recorded that match - sniping, dodging, luring enemies into range for allies. By the end I was pinned behind a Tiger II tank that had an allied T29 pushing him on the front to hold him in place and I only had HE rounds left - I actually had to back up to fire at him to get the kill shot and not kill myself because I only had something like 119hp left.

My KV-1S loadout: 122mm D-2-5T (20AP, 6HE), Vents, Rammer, GLD, Speed Governor, Repair Kit, First Aid Kit. Crew is ~153% trained - going for "Band of Brothers" on them all to get the extra performance out of it as long as they're all alive, which happens most rounds; tends to be that the KV-1S either performs admirably or gets nuked instantly. Crew casualties are somewhat uncommon.

Footnote: Equipment sales made me splurge all the cash I had saved up towards my KV-13 and then some. I ended up buying 3 Large Vents, 2 Rammers, and 2 GLD's for my heavies over the last couple days. I've got a small collection of gold and can dismount anything I have. 10 gold is a small price to save 600,000cr.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Daehawk »

I played some recently. Have they upgraded the explosion graphics? They seem a lot better ..I even saw oart of a tank..maybe the turret...fly off and hit the ground in a puff of dirt.

A lot seems different but I cant put my finger on it.

Also i could have sworn that if you did not log in your premium was not used. But mine's gone and chat folk swore it had been like that since beta. But i know for a fact I could leave a month and still have my time left. Now it's gone :(

I researched the Hellcat....before I realized I had been saving that exp for a LONG time to get something else. Then I saw I couldn't afford a Hellcat anyways. Double drat.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by xwraith »

Paingod wrote: I've got a small collection of gold and can dismount anything I have. 10 gold is a small price to save 600,000cr.
+1000

On the other hand the XP grind is really starting to get to me. My Leopard is lucky to earn a couple hundred a round. I really haven't learned how to max out XP per round. Scouting doesn't seem to pay and in some of my Tier IX matches I get 10k+ credits, but not nearly enough XP to get to that mythical high tier scout. :grund:
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ydejin
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Daehawk wrote:I played some recently. Have they upgraded the explosion graphics? They seem a lot better ..I even saw oart of a tank..maybe the turret...fly off and hit the ground in a puff of dirt.
Yeah, explosion graphics have definitely been upgraded.
Daehawk wrote:Also i could have sworn that if you did not log in your premium was not used. But mine's gone and chat folk swore it had been like that since beta. But i know for a fact I could leave a month and still have my time left. Now it's gone :(
I'm sure that's always been the case. It's always calendar based, regardless of whether you login or not.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

xwraith wrote:On the other hand the XP grind is really starting to get to me. My Leopard is lucky to earn a couple hundred a round. I really haven't learned how to max out XP per round. Scouting doesn't seem to pay and in some of my Tier IX matches I get 10k+ credits, but not nearly enough XP to get to that mythical high tier scout. :grund:
Scouting is a risky proposition.

I find my best scouting rounds generally follow this pattern:

1. Rush to a bush somewhere in the middle of the map. I've listed some of my favorite bushes below.
2. Sit there for half the round, spotting enemies so allies can fire on them with impunity. Don't shoot yourself or you'll get spotted (depending on camo netting, tank camo, and camo skill).
3. When targets get scarce, start running around the outskirts looking for artillery and dodging fire.

If the map doesn't have good spotting opportunities, your choices are pretty limited...

1. Try and rush to spot as many foes as possible and die in a blaze of glory.
2. Be patient and hide somewhere until 3-4 minutes into the round and then try to rush their artillery by looking for the weakest point in their offensive lines.

A lot of scout tanks might feel terrible until the Crew gets 95%+ trained and the equipment gets capped - then suddenly you feel like a real scout. Things can be challenging up until then.

Gotta remember that if you light up an enemy, any damage done to them is given 50% credit to you. When I spot a column of heavies early in the round in my T-50-2 and artillery kills one of them - I get 50% of that damage to my credit. Unfortunately, as other tanks move up they start doing their own spotting so you start getting less and less for it until you're eventually getting nothing and just sitting there.

What stinks with the T-50-2 is that it costs 9,000cr to repair from busted, you can easily use 1-2 consumables (3,000cr-6,000cr) and at the end of the round, you only earned 11,000 - which after repairs, restock, and reload equals -1,321cr earned... but it is a fun tank to drive - and I know their artillery is sweating until I get killed.

I did have a round in Westfield with my T-50-2 last night where I assumed my usual perch, but there were no light tanks to climb the hill and spot. What I got to do was fire from cover with impunity at half a dozen enemies. I even managed to pick apart a Tiger tank from 46% health to 5% health without being spotted. It was hilarious watching his turret spin in confusion as he crawled up a hill 360m away from me. I also got several solid hits on a T-20 that was running through the valley, but lost track of it when it had just 11% health left. Unfortunately, my team didn't do so hot and I was one of the last tanks to die.

My favorite Bushes:
Spoiler:
  • In El Halluf, any of the bushes that run along the riverbed work well as cover. The key is to get there early and pray you don't get spotted. Don't move unless spotted, don't fire. Your team naturally lines up on the ridge looking for targets, so this works well for you.
  • In Erlenberg there's really no great spot to light up enemies and I generally try to run a back-end dash to spot artillery - or - cross a bridge and find a bush in some out-of-the way place and wait for enemy lines to pass me by (this has never succeeded, but I keep trying to find ways).
  • Fisherman's Bay has a lot of excellent bushes on the western side that let you spot advancing foes well before your team would normally get to them. I generally find one that's about 100m away from the western road so I don't get easily spotted by a heavy using it. I have had opposing scouts almost run headlong into me as they were doing the same thing.
  • Karelia has a lot of good bushes mixed with heavy cover, but what I tend to do in this map is wait for enemy scouts and stay near artillery. Scouts have an easy time slipping through the middle or eastern flank and I've had great success being a counter-scout (killed two T-50-2's with my T-50-2 in one round on this map last night, sparing our artillery from being destroyed). Once I kill the enemy scouts I'll rush the middle and hug a wall and use heavy cover to try and get to their artillery.
  • Komarin is kind of anti-scout, but I've discovered that if you get to the hill just west of the team 2 base, you can camo into a bush on the top of it and spot Team 1 tanks as they cover the base. Alternately, getting to the backside of that same hill as Team 1 lets you spot Team 2 foes as they approach the base - but either way it's risky as this is a popular scout-rush spot and Mediums like to hit it as well.
  • Malinovka is a camper's dream - and if you can find a bush just a little ahead of the battle lines you can generally easily spot enemies as they move around the other side. Alternately there's a few good spots on the eastern side - but don't go up the hill unless you really need to. There's a lot of heavy fighting up there and you'll probably be better served spotting the people trying to climb the hill instead of being on the hill as they come up.
  • Murovanka can be tricky. If you're on the northern team, it's a cinch to spot from the heavy bush cover in the south, and relatively easy to do a south-to-west artillery run once the tanks coming that way have been stalled or beaten. As the southern team, I've actually had some success in running far east and going right up the eastern wall to the enemy base. Trees are so thick that if someone isn't sitting right there to see you, you get by scott-free... but someone usually is and you'll have to dodge a lot of fire. Alternately, the southern scout can grab a bush on top of the central hill and try some passive scouting over the town.
  • Prokhorovka is a snap. You've got the choice of going up the hill to the east or down the road to the west. I generally choose the road and push down the western wall. About halfway between the two sides there's a great line of bushes there that afford a high-ground advantage (to help you accelerate downhill if spotted) and a solid line of sight. I generally try and stay ahead of my allies so I can spot for them - it usually means death for the scout in front, but not before they have a good long run at the enemy tanks if you keep yourself moving from bush to bush with bushes in front of you.
  • Redshire is tricky as well. I've actually had one amazing suiscout ride here - I was on the southern team and ran right up the road and right over the top-middle of the northern hill. As I crested the hill, I lit up everyone on the enemy team and they were so confused to see me there that I was able to get all the way down the hill and even killed an Artillery unit before I was put down. For real tacticals, you should be able to find bushes with good sight lines around the middle of the map and positioned on hills.
  • Sand River is a nightmare with very little cover. What I tend to do is one of two things... first I might run ahead and simply try to spot enemy tanks and gauge where their strength is. It seems more valuable to do this on the southern front instead of the northern one. Alternately, I've had some luck with running north and hugging the wall all the way around the map and into the enemy base.
  • Steppes has a couple of good middle bushes in the open on the eastern side, but you've got to get there early and there's a good chance another scout or Medium will try to beat you there. Alternately, there's some luck in running down the road (the depression of it makes you hard to hit until you pop out the other side) or running up the eastern wall. Both generally end in death, but you might spot an artillery unit and get it nuked by your own.
  • Swamp is kind of a pain in the ass, but if you get to the bridge on the northern side, you'll see a row of bushes on a slight ridge. This is a great place to run to at the beginning of the map from either side and spot advancing tanks in relative safety - either as they try to cross the bridge from the south or as they come through the town on the north.
  • Westfield is easy for me - run up the hill on the eastern side and look for patches of bushes overlooking the road. Park yourself in relative safety deep inside the bushes there and passively scout everything on the road AND on the hill. If you're coming from the north, try to get as far south as you feel you safely can and vice versa for the south.
  • In Himmelsdorf your choices are pretty limited. Suiscout down the middle, try to take the tracks and find artillery, or head up the hill and harass opposing tanks making the climb up. If the enemy has good scout tanks, I might also consider counter-scouting and staying near the base or artillery.
  • Abbey is fun - I like to mix it up. Sometimes I'll suiscout down the eastern road and blow by the advancing heavies before they can even get onto the road - spotting artillery as they're trying to set up - or I'll find some bushes overlooking either of the other approaches and simply spot for my team to shoot at them.
  • There's a few great places to spot in Arctic Region. If you're on the southern side, you know the common camp spot that TD's like to use that overlooks the middle - but there's also a nice bush with heavy cover if you go north and cut down the middle road east - just at the bottom of the hill you'll find a large rock with bushes in front of it. Use this to spot advancing enemies and the hill makes it harder for them to get to you. If you start on the north, there's an excellent set of bushes almost in the middle of the map that you can get to quickly and early that let you spot every side of the map. Run into the middle and cut north - you'll see a set of 3 bushes in a "U" shape. Get yourself angled in there and no one will see you unless you're shooting or they're almost in your base.
  • Cliff has a very good spot for scouts to run to in almost the middle-eastern side of the map. On the western side of the east mountain, you'll see a small grove of bushes with rocks all around. I run here at the beginning of the round and get into a bush to spot heavies as they trundle up the hill road. It's easy to back out and run away when they get too close, and affords artillery a few excellent shots before the round even begins.
  • Ensk is a pain in the ass. I generally suiscout up the eastern wall after the first couple of minutes when fighting has broken out or wait to counter-scout near my artillery and then go up the eastern wall to look for their artillery.
  • Fjords can be difficult. From the east, I'd recommend going towards the middle and finding a bush to spot advancing foes as they come up the hill. They'll be at a speed disadvantage and you may even be able to run through them to spot and/or kill enemy artillery. From the west, I'd recommend trying to suiscout for artillery by following the southern road and then blowing through the town, using the buildings as cover. It's kind of unbalanced and in favor of the eastern side when it comes to good scouting positions. You might try setting up in a bush at the middle road or waiting to counter-scout, but odds are you'll just end up frustrated.
  • Lakeville affords a few great spots to sit in right along the lake. If you get there early from either end and stay covered, you can spot the road in the middle AND opposing tanks and TD's as they move around their own side, not to mention spotting foes moving through the town. I love it when heavies on the middle road think they're safe and you've got them spotted and they're getting hammered - they start frothing about f***ing hax or f***ing scouts.
  • I haven't had a scout in Live Oaks more than once and can't comment on great spots.
  • Depending on which way you want to go, Mines offers some nice choices. You can run to the top of the hill and die right away, or head to the islands and sit in the little clumps of trees you see in the water near them to spot foes there, or head up to the town and hide in some northern bushes to catch foes moving through there.
  • Mountain Pass is a bitch as a scout - the map is made for multiple heavy choke points, not spotting and scouting. Your choices are pretty limited and I generally end up suiscouting up the eastern side - artillery likes to sit there to help out their advancing tanks and if you can get to the top of the hill, you'll spot them for a counter-bombardment. It's a death sentence, but you'll at least get out of this map and hopefully into something more scout-friendly.
  • I've never actually had a scout on Province...
  • Ruinberg has basically one path for scouts - the eastern road. The decision then becomes to suiscout and hope to get to their artillery or to sit tight and try to spot approaching lights and mediums and then run for your life before they get too close.
  • Siegfried Line offers a couple choices. You can run the open fields and use your superior speed and manueverability to try and zig-zag your ass to the enemy side and find artillery or try and run the eastern road and use buildings as cover if something goes bad.
Last edited by Paingod on Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Awesome post Paingod! Thanks.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by DocDarm »

Thanks, Paingod! Most helpful post of the year! Thanks for giving up your secrets.

I've got a german scout VK2801 that costs me credits to play since it's always getting blown up...I plan to put your tactics to use!

I've also got arty M12...I just researched the M40/M43, but I've only 200K credits and the new M40/M43 costs 2.5 million. I'm thinking I'll have to pull out the wallet...what's a million credits cost in US dollars?
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

I've put in 383 battles as a pure scout now (T-50, T-50-2) and have spent a lot of time in a lot of bushes... :lol:

My T-50 is a whiz at earning credits for a Tier IV - always around 10k earned or more after repairs it seems. It's probably my most all-around fun tank in stock. It replaced my T-46 when it came out, and I loved the T-46 for 280+ battles.

The T-50-2 is more difficult with a base of 9k to repair if destroyed, but I've earned up to 25k with it in some rounds. With Premium I'd say it's always breaking even or earning a little, but it's not great income. What it is is fun. I think you've got to love scouting to want to keep the top-tier scout tanks (T-50-2, VK2801, Chaffee). I don't know if these top-tier scouts can be cash cows, or if you're just supposed to keep them for the love of scouting.

What I can't say for certain is how well my T-50-2 tactics will work for the others. The bushes are great - if you can get to them before enemies start trundling into view and can spot you. The T-50-2 has the acceleration to get there and turn on the Camo netting a few seconds before the first tank pops into view in a lot of these places - but they work for both the T-50 (59kph) and T-50-2 (72kph) so a fast tank should still be able to make it.

In looking at the VK2801, it seems almost like you're supposed to be a more intimidating force on the field - you'll have the same top speed, but slower acceleration and almost twice the frontal armor. You can even get a gun that does 350 damage, but has low penetration... a real scout and SPG destroyer. I might have to work up mt German lines and get one of these to try it out.

VK2801: 25 tons, 650 horse power - 26hp/ton
T-50-2: 16 tons, 550 horse power - 34.4hp/ton (with RSG, 37.8hp/ton)
Chaffee: 20 tons, 500 horse power - 25hp/ton
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Paingod wrote: In looking at the VK2801, it seems almost like you're supposed to be a more intimidating force on the field - you'll have the same top speed, but slower acceleration and almost twice the frontal armor. You can even get a gun that does 350 damage, but has low penetration... a real scout and SPG destroyer. I might have to work up mt German lines and get one of these to try it out.
Are the low penetration guns generally sufficient to penetrate side and back of mediums and tank destroyers? I seem to recall hearing something about nerfs to HE. Can you still do damage to tanks with HE if you do not penetrate?
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

ydejin wrote:
Paingod wrote: In looking at the VK2801, it seems almost like you're supposed to be a more intimidating force on the field - you'll have the same top speed, but slower acceleration and almost twice the frontal armor. You can even get a gun that does 350 damage, but has low penetration... a real scout and SPG destroyer. I might have to work up mt German lines and get one of these to try it out.
Are the low penetration guns generally sufficient to penetrate side and back of mediums and tank destroyers? I seem to recall hearing something about nerfs to HE. Can you still do damage to tanks with HE if you do not penetrate?
You can. HE bounces very rarely and will simply explode on contact, but the damage listed is the base - it gets divided in half and the target's armor reduces that number. I'd have to go look up the exact equation in the wiki, but HE will almost always hit, just not very hard unless it's a huge base damage (like the S-51's 1850dmg HE cannon).

IF you manage to penetrate with HE rounds, I believe they do massive internal damage and component damage, but it's very rare.

The 400 damage on that might translate into 4% damage done to an IS from the front (it's about the same damage as an M7 Priest, and I always swore up and down when I'd hit an IS and just "plink" it). The lower the armor of your target, the more damage you'll do.

With that gun, though, you might be able to run up behind an IS-7 and hit his rear with AP ammo (70 armor) and actually do full damage to him. When you're at very close range, you actually get a bonus to penetration.

Most SPG's have armor values below 40 (I think my S-51 is 12 armor all the way around, for example)... Check out the WoT Wiki for tank armor values, and it's even helpful to look up tank weak spots... some people even have 3D models with weak points in colored zones mapped out for you to study. Knowing where to hit a tank makes the difference between being destroyed and destroying them.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Daehawk »

I love playing my 38H. It does great.

yesterday in another tank I was fighting a guy in the exact same tank. I dinged him 5 times and he damaged me 5 times. I barely hurt him and he blew me up...front to front..same guns and all. I dont get it.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Daehawk wrote:I love playing my 38H. It does great.

yesterday in another tank I was fighting a guy in the exact same tank. I dinged him 5 times and he damaged me 5 times. I barely hurt him and he blew me up...front to front..same guns and all. I dont get it.
Might have been ammo racks. My T-44 used to blow up in just one shot pretty frequently (say maybe once very 15-20 matches) in just one hit when the ammo rack got hit -- I ended up splurging for the Wet Ammo Racks equipment add-on, and didn't notice it happening at all after that.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

Daehawk wrote:I love playing my 38H. It does great.

yesterday in another tank I was fighting a guy in the exact same tank. I dinged him 5 times and he damaged me 5 times. I barely hurt him and he blew me up...front to front..same guns and all. I dont get it.
Random numbers and crew training?

I had a pretty good night tonight with the KV-1S and the T-50.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Paingod gratz on hitting Ace on the T-50. I had despaired of making it on my Pershing since I hit my highest XP in some 570 matches two weeks ago and that wasn't enough to get Ace Tanker. But this weekend, I finally hit it on my 688th game in the Pershing. So definitely not an easy achievement for me to get.

52 shots! I hope those shells are cheap ...

As far as Genghis and the KV-3 goes, I was in a game last night where the KV-3 saved our bacon. It was Himmelsdorf and we deployed badly. The force on the hilltop was quickly overwhelmed and about 7 enemy tanks streamed down from the hilltop to our base. Somehow even with 7 of 15 enemies on the hilltop, the other forces mostly lost their fights, but we had 2 friendly tanks get to the enemy base. Our only remaining tank was the KV-3. He came back to our base and basically proceeded to take on all the remaining enemies. They could not touch the guy. He blew up 2-3 of them, and was still at 100% health when the timer for capturing the enemy base concluded and we won the game in spite of the fact that they were all pounding away on him.

Obviously this was a low-level game, but if it's on the high end of the tanks in a game, the KV-3 can be well nigh indestructible.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

Yeah - rounds for the T-50 are very cheap; I think it cost me around 1,200 to restock ammo there.

As for the Ace Medals - I don't think they started keeping track until the medal came out, so even if you had a 2,500xp round, you wouldn't have gotten the medal until you got a round with another high score. I'm Ace with the KV-1S and T-50 now, and 1st Class with KV and T-50-2, but 2nd class with S-51 and KV-3.

My objective now is to save up the cash for either the KV-13 or IS. I haven't decided which. A lot of people call the KV-13 the most fun Medium in the game, but the IS leads up the Heavy line. I've got one open garage slot and would be willing to sell off the KV-3 (I'm just playing it each night for a doubles round and that's it. It's just too slow for me).
ydejin wrote:Obviously this was a low-level game, but if it's on the high end of the tanks in a game, the KV-3 can be well nigh indestructible.
So true. So very true. A KV-3 at the top of a round is a nightmare for enemies. I've had a few rounds with the KV-3 on top and it was like I was Superman.

My best round last night (shown above) was one where the KV-1S was 2nd from the top, and by the end of the round it was just me and a KV left. The KV had no driver and had to sit and guard the base while I went hunting the last couple tanks. He got an enemy SPG that tried to sneak in and cap, and I killed the last Churchill without him even being able to fire a shot at me despite us being 40m apart with a dead hulk of a tank between us. I ended with 7 kills on that one (the first kill was a poor T40 that came around the corner and simply popped as soon as he saw me - I almost felt bad - I was pre-aimed at him and everything.).
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Paingod wrote: As for the Ace Medals - I don't think they started keeping track until the medal came out, so even if you had a 2,500xp round, you wouldn't have gotten the medal until you got a round with another high score. I'm Ace with the KV-1S and T-50 now, and 1st Class with KV and T-50-2, but 2nd class with S-51 and KV-3.
That's true. But in this case, I knew that my 1,756xp round from a week and a half ago was my new highest XP game on the tank, and that it wasn't good enough to hit Ace Tanker, therefore in 572 matches I still hadn't hit the top 1% on any single match (a bit embarrassing that!). However, my 1,848xp game this weekend was enough to hit the top 1%.

I suppose the other good news is that twice in the past ten days I've exceeded my previous best XP game. No idea if that means I'm actually getting better or if it's my new super-powered Crew Skills/Perks.

The snazziest new perk I've got is Sixth Sense, which lets me know when I've been spotted. I'm sure that has saved me from getting hammered on many occasions. As soon as I knew I'm lit up, I skedaddle. But I've been running this crew for a long time, so they've got quite a lot of XP and correspondingly have a lot of skills. Each crew member now has Brother-in-Arms (5% improvement in major Role on top of ventilation system), and a second skill on top of that at 100%, and a third skill at 75%.

I had more of the fancier skills/perks for a while, but I've concluded that repair is still critical so I reworked things to put that back in. IIRC my current mix is:

Commander: Brothers in Arms, Sixth Sense, Mentor (improves learning for all other crew members) (75%)
Gunner: Brother in Arms, Repair (100%), Snap Shot (reduces turret rotation penalty) (75%)
Driver: Brother in Arms, Repair (100%), Smooth Ride (reduces on move shooting penalty) (75%)
Radio Operator: Brother in Arms, Repair (100%), Signal Boosting (increases signal range) (75%)
Loader: Brother in Arms, Repair (100%), Camouflage (75%)

I think once I hit 100% on the third skill, I'll put most of them on to Camouflage. I might try to get Recon on the Commander (increase view range) and/or possibly put the Radio Operator on Situational Awareness (also increases view range).

Other skills that seem like they might be pretty decent, Clutch Braking (increase vehicle rotation speed), Jack of All Trades (commander can take over other positions when crew members are injured/killed), Relaying (increases signal range for allied vehicles -- but not your own). I had Deadeye (increases critical hit chance) for a while, until I discovered it was only a 3% increase, so I decided more repair was a better deal. I suspect more camo is also more important than a 3% increase, but maybe night.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

I gave Clutch Breaking to my KV - I hate it when I get a scout running around me and I'm constantly *almost* able to hit him. They're my highest trained crew with ~230% training. I probably should have gone all Brothers in Arms first (they're all working on it now). I don't really have the Gold to reset them and don't want to waste the experience otherwise. They're working on it now.

I also tried it out on my T-50 - I'm not sure if it helps a moving tank, but the thing feels really snappy on turns - I *think* it's turning quicker around enemies, maybe not. I can't really tell. It's just a nutty tank anyway.

I didn't really think through my skill choices well until I got to my KV-1S and then really thought about it. I was so excited to have choices that I gave my KV commander the "see critical" perk thinking I might be able to see areas of a tank that are in distress light up so I can aim at them - but it just puts lame little icons at the bottom under the tank. I didn't even notice them until I went looking for it. Worthless, but might be fun for Artillery to see how badly you f*** someone up with that HE.

My problem is that despite over 2,800 battles, I keep changing out tanks (in general). My crews get moved into new tanks and reset skills. I don't have any Premium Heavies to train Heavy crews with, so I'm left doing the long slow grind in my KV (230% trained), KV-3 (175% trained), and KV-1S (175% trained). The KV-1S is by far my best performer right now aside from the S-51 (180% trained).
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by ydejin »

Paingod wrote:I gave Clutch Breaking to my KV - I hate it when I get a scout running around me and I'm constantly *almost* able to hit him. They're my highest trained crew with ~230% training. I probably should have gone all Brothers in Arms first (they're all working on it now). I don't really have the Gold to reset them and don't want to waste the experience otherwise. They're working on it now.
So with Clutch Breaking can the KV actually hit scouts running circles around it?
Paingod wrote:My problem is that despite over 2,800 battles, I keep changing out tanks (in general). My crews get moved into new tanks and reset skills. I don't have any Premium Heavies to train Heavy crews with, so I'm left doing the long slow grind in my KV (230% trained), KV-3 (175% trained), and KV-1S (175% trained). The KV-1S is by far my best performer right now aside from the S-51 (180% trained).
I always used the 20,000 credit training when moving from tank-to-tank, and when I kept an older tank, I moved the trained crew up to the next tank and recruited a new crew for the old tank. So my Pershing and T-54 have very highly trained crews (since they're the crews that I started out with on Tier I tanks), but many of my lower tier tanks crews are just so-so.
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

ydejin wrote:So with Clutch Breaking can the KV actually hit scouts running circles around it?
I have no idea - but I was hoping. It's happened several times to me that I can only barely not keep up with a scout circling me. I turn my chassis while turning my turret to get the benefits of both - but it's never been enough. I'm hoping it will be now.

I'm always shocked, as a T-50(-2) that more tanks don't try harder to block the circle of death. If they back up against a wall or rock, they've increased their odds of hitting me from 0% to 50% because I will then - at some point - be forced to run in front of them. Most just sit there and try to follow me with their turrets and don't move their chassis - completely ineffective.
ydejin wrote:I always used the 20,000 credit training when moving from tank-to-tank, and when I kept an older tank, I moved the trained crew up to the next tank and recruited a new crew for the old tank. So my Pershing and T-54 have very highly trained crews (since they're the crews that I started out with on Tier I tanks), but many of my lower tier tanks crews are just so-so.
I do the best "non-gold" training they can get, but most of my tanks were shuffled off when the crews were at 90-95% and they only ended up 80-85% trained for the next tank they get into - and starting with my KV-3, I had to use fresh crews because I kept my KV... so my KV-1S crew is all new to that tank as well. After the 7.3 update, I'll dump the KV-3 crew and move them into a different USSR Heavy - maybe the IS or even IS-3 if I have it by then.

I've read that if you train a crew in a Premium tank, that crew can be moved into any other heavy tank of that nationality without penalty or retraining. I can't test it - my only "Premium" tanks are Tier II and III and I'm probably never going back to that league unless it's to work up another line of tanks.

I still haven't figured out what I want to get. I've got 700,000cr saved up now and this is about half of what I'd need for either an IS or KV-13. The IS reads like it's going to be the KV-1S all over again but at a higher tier - that's not a bad thing for me. The KV-13 would be an alien to me as I've never played Mediums with any intention to keep them, but I hear a lot of good things about it. If I got the KV-13 I'd probably never move beyond that into the other Mediums.

I'll probably go IS even though I don't actually have any strong desire to move into the world of Tier X battles all the time. I'm feeling quite happy with my KV-1S and S-51.
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Genghis
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Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:57 pm

Re: World of Tanks

Post by Genghis »

So was playing last night with the free premium account for a day. First match was with my KV, think I ended the match with 6500 xp. Next was the kv-3, I was lucky enough to get a match where I was second from the top, only tier 7 and below. Ended up winning that one and gain 2200 xp (yes premium + 5x xp and get a whopping 2200 xp). Next 8 matches in the kv-3 were all losses, games vs tier 9s and 10s. One match i was killed within 5-10 seconds of the game starting because the KV-3 is so slow it can't get to cover before it is spotted and killed in Malinovka (whopping 43 xp in this battle + repair bill).

Before I started playing yesterday I had been pondering getting a month of premium and picking up a lowe. After last night I just can't justify giving them money for intentionally pissing people off enough with the MM to make them pick up a premium just so they have a chance at the game. The KV and the KV-3 should play very similar, yet due to the MM the kv-3 is a free kill. The additional armor does nothing to mitigate tier 9 and 10 tanks it runs up against in every battle. If the tier 9-10 was maybe 40% of games that would be one thing. But of the 10 matches last night all but one was vs tier 9 and 10 tanks.

-------
Other tanks I had is :
Light tanks :
Russian t-50 - pretty fun tank. a lot of matches were your the scout tank are random. Its still fun to zoom around the map.
Russian ms-1(sold) - of the starter tanks enjoyed this one the most. Sold it long ago though.
russian t28 / t46 (sold)- One of these tanks I liked a lot once it was maxed out. It was a pretty fast tank, decent gun. Only reason I sold it was I gained the t-50 which does everything this did only better.
German PzKpfw 38t (sold)- really disliked this tank, leveled it just to get to the next stage then sold it. Gun was crummy and slow speed.
US lights - Tried a few of these up to the M3 - lee. Do not remember much about them as I just went through as quick as I could.

TDs:
I tried the a few of the TDs going up to the Hetzer on the German line. Only one that I ended up liking was the Marder II. I know a lot of people seemed to like the Hetzer, but I just couldn't get into it. I did not get the final derp gun and maybe that may have changed things.

Heavys:
KV - hated it at first with a 50% crew, stock, and no gear. Now it at 100% crew with equipment and the 107. It my main money making tank probably tied with the t-50 for the most fun tank. The only problem with it is it gets thrown up against tier 9s sometimes.
kv-3 - just a piece of junk in the current MM. If the MM could be adjusted it might change things, but currently is a case of frustration. I rarely get top tank in the MM, maybe 1 out of every 15 games. The only reason I haven't sold it is I am grinding to the IS.

SPGs
German Wespe - Decent SPG, inaccurate as hell. The one benefit is it has a huge range. I think I only hit 1 out of 11 shots even when I have the tank centered with full accuracy. Working towards the Grille -> Hummel
German Bison (sold) - If you hit you do quite a bit of damage. I had this a few months ago and sold it to go down the russian spg line.
Russian su-18 (sold)- Pretty good spg. The turret is great. Only reason I sold it is to go up the line.
Russian su-26 (sold) - was not impressed by this spg. yes it has a turret, but the range and damage is pretty bad in the match ups that it has. Typically it might do 5% damage to most targets due to the MM. Sold it to try the US SPG line, and I was going to try for the s-51 through the KV line.
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Paingod
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Re: World of Tanks

Post by Paingod »

My x5 games last night were horrible. I was a complete failure almost every time - and in every match, I was generally in the bottom 4.

My best was with the KV-1S, getting a 1,000xp match which turned into 5,000xp. Even my two matches with the S-51 were miserable because I was scouted once and missed most of my shots the next. These are my two favorites right now.

My rounds with the AMX 13 75 were horrid, but that's typical. French tanks just aren't clicking with me. Fully upgraded, 93% crew - the thing just doesn't feel right. I can't scout (I know it's not for that) but some team mates think I should be. In my hands I'm lucky to get 1 kill and 2 assists before being destroyed. I watched last night as an enemy AMX 13 75 plowed over 5 allies (all equal or higher tier) and went on to be destroyed only by an IS-3 that returned to base to stop him.

The KV is starting to collect dust since I've come to prefer the speed of the KV-1S, but even that was a miserable round. I got a few good hits in, but the noggin' on my tank is so huge that even with a fully hidden hull I provide a clear target to enemies. it does remain an excellent income tank as long as I don't suck too hard with it for reasons unknown.

All in all, I kept being out in front and dying far too quickly. I don't know why I kept trying to do that - I thought I knew better. It was like I had simply forgotten 2,800 battles worth of insight and reverted to a newbie. WTF? As frustration mounted, I just kept getting worse. I think that when this happens, all I should do is shut off WoT and go play something relaxing for an hour before even thinking about it again.

As for the KV-3 - it's really a hit or miss tank. It does not have the armor OR mobility to face down anything of a higher tier, so it must be played strictly in a support role. Find a couple big guys on your team and stick with them and never get ahead of them. Wait for them to get the enemy to pop off shots and then sneak out to try and punch someone; don't be the first person to peek-a-boo that corner!

One comical moment last night was having a Derp-equipped KV charge at me down a hill while I was in my KV-3. I figured "I can take him. This is gonna hurt, but he's done" ... I fired, he fired. I knocked 56% of his health off. He bounced off of me. A zero-damage Derp shot from 60m? WTF? He rammed me for 40 points of damage and my next shot killed him.

I agree on the T-46 sale - despite loving this tank for it's mobility, when the T-50 came out there was no reason to keep it. It does everything the T-46 does only better.

The T-28 isn't even a scout; it's a dysfunctional Medium that's halfway between the T-46 and KV. It's a big fat target that works best as a long-range sniper.

The Marder II (or Murder as I call it) is absurdly powerful for it's tier. I recall vivid and fond memories of this TD. I moved on to the Hetzer (didn't see what the fuss was about, but it was acceptable fun) and then into the StuGIII. I stopped at the StuGIII because the next TD in line only gets more health and armor but uses the same guns and moves slower. It suddenly wasn't a priority.

American SPG's were fun right up until the M7 Priest. That has become my new nemesis. Some day I'll get past it, but until then I need another 40,000xp and only get about 250xp per battle. I stored the crew and sold the thing to make space. It's not fun.
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xwraith
Posts: 1085
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:42 pm

Re: World of Tanks

Post by xwraith »

Heh,

Just had a very good run in a T-28 -- Ace tanker and an Iron Wall award! :mrgreen:

I might grind my way to a KV after all....
I forgot to call it "a box of pure malevolent evil, a purveyor of
insidious insanity, an eldritch manifestation that would make Bill
Gates let out a low whistle of admiration," but it's all those, too.
-- David Gerard, Re: [Mediawiki-l] Wikitext grammar, 2010.08.06
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