Hey all.

I'm fairly new to WoT - found it a few months ago thanks to the MMO Grinder, and been playing it on and off, mostly German tanks. Got my first Tier VI a couple days ago - the VK 3601 (H), chosen for the fact that it's the only German tank at this tier with armor not made of spitballs.

Had an amazing game with it today, in fact. Which apparently I got somewhat wordy about, so spoilered for length.

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Tier 4-6, Cliff, south start, team as derpy as usual. Two mediums, TD and arty stay to defend the west road, me and a T-34 head east, while everyone else turns the middle into a grindhouse that lasts for more than half of the game.

A scout comes rushing down the east road and we gun him down. Next up is an M6 followed closely by a T1 H1. I get into a prolonged exchange with the M6 at ~50-100m, with both of us scoring penetrating shots, but the fact is, my 8,8cm simply deals a lot more damage, so I destroy him with 2/3 health left. Through this fight, the T-34 is just hiding somewhere in the back, making no contribution whatsoever. Which, I suppose, is fair enough, since the only contribution the T1 H1 makes is one towards my Steel Wall, by bouncing a dozen or so shells off my turret.

With the M6 down I quickly take out the T1 H1 and take stock of the tactical situation. The middle has fought a war of mutual extinction and all we have left is some light tank, some American TD, an M3 Lee and the T-34. The other team has their artillery, a damaged KV-1S and a JagdPz IV (which ends up hiding somewhere and is thus irrelevant).

Oh, and a Pz IV, an M3 Lee and a Hetzer who broke through the west flank and are currently capping our base.

I turn around and lumber towards that cliff overlooking our base from the east. Along the way I pass the KV-1S trundling around the middle, which I could probably kill in a couple shots, if I didn't mind our team losing the game in the meantime. So I accept the fact that it will most likely follow me and shoot me in the back and keep going.

I arrive at the cliff's edge just as our M3, who was the only other one to head in that direction gets blown the hell up. The rest of our team is making a beeline for the other team's base. At this point our base is about 80% captured.

The M3 is partially hidden behind a hill. The Pz IV is mostly hidden behind a wreck, with only the turret showing. The Hetzer is currently repositioning, with its side towards me. All three of them are at about 60-70% health.

I get spotted and eat a penetrating shot each from the M3 and Pz IV. My own shot kills the M3.

Pz IV gets another shot off, while the Hetzer finally turns around and starts aiming towards me. Before he can fire, I lob a shell at him and blow him up.

Pz IV gets two more shots off by the time I reload (pesky superior RoF), bringing me down to about 1/3 health and damaging my gun. I burn a repair kit and throw a shell his way, hoping, at best, to zero out the cap counter and give us the win, as by now my team took out their arty and has started capping as well.

Instead, I score my third one-hit-kill.

I feel pretty awesome about it for all of two seconds before the KV-1S arrives, its shot breaking my right thread and bringing me down to about 70hp.

"Screw this, I'm going down fighting," says I. I traverse my turret, and send a shell straight through the KV's middle, since in an act more befitting of a Tier I player, he did not bother to turn his front armor towards me. It brings him down to 14% health. Then all I can do is wait for his second shot to finish me off.

So I wait.

And wait...

And wait...

An- my own gun reloads and I turn him into a burning wreck.

My best guess is that my first shot either nailed the KV's loader, or his ammo rack. Either way, the aforementioned JagdPz IV is nowhere to be found, and half a minute later our team captures their base and we win.


End result is: 7 kills, Top Gun, Sniper, Defender, Steel Wall, Reaper, Boelters Medal, and the moral of ALWAYS TURN YOUR FRONT ARMOR TOWARDS THE ENEMY YOU STUPID PONCE!

On the downside, my earnings for that game: 21K. My actual profit from that game after repairs/resupply? About 9K. Do the higher tiers get better ratios, or will it take me 6 months to farm enough silver for a Tier IX?

And as a sidenote, would anyone on the European servers be willing to occasionally team up with a mostly competent player in tiers 3-6? If yes, my game handle is Contrived. I play evenings on most days.