World of Tanks II: Fighting, Bragging, Raging Edition - All aboard the Lemming Train!

[Reaver225]

Originally Posted by psilontech

Took out the T-28 first (Because I knew I could pen him) while wildly turning, looping, and juking. Took a single hit during all of this before turning my attention to the PzIV and his painfully slow turning turret, finishing him off after a bit of work on my part.

T-50s are a bane on T-28s, simply because of their rapid firing gun and slopes means it's quite easy to bounce shots. I hope you enjoy your T-50-2!

[Leon]

I love when doing what people are complaining about works.

Was in my Marder II on Karliea Assault (Attacker) and drove up the hill to keep it covered as there was no way i was going to go anywhere else being the 2nd smallest unit on the team.

Constant stream of camping quips from a souma TD (who ill advisedly went out into the middle of the swamp and was wrecked early on) and general grumbling from assorted other tanks. (arty can hit you says a M4 - no really i didn't know that... Arty can hit most of that map aside from some good rock area's and behind the hill) 100% cammo + Net + sitting behind a bush hard up against a rock = Im not going to be seen till i shoot and i am not going to shoot till i have a target that i think i can hit

2 Kill and 2 Damaged from a T3 TD in a T6 battle is decent enough.

[Eldariel]

How many tank slots does one really need? I calculated I'd want at least 20 and even on sale, that's quite a bit of money for something completely trivial. How many are the more experienced players here working with?

[Renegade Paladin]

Originally Posted by Eldariel

How many tank slots does one really need? I calculated I'd want at least 20 and even on sale, that's quite a bit of money for something completely trivial. How many are the more experienced players here working with?

I have fifteen slots, but I focus exclusively on the American heavy and medium trees, so it serves my needs. If I were collecting tanks from several nations or was interested in SPGs I'd need several times more.

[Grif]

Originally Posted by Eldariel

How many tank slots does one really need? I calculated I'd want at least 20 and even on sale, that's quite a bit of money for something completely trivial. How many are the more experienced players here working with?

I only started playing for like a month and 16 is already not enough.

[Leon]

I have 20 and its not enough.

Used to sell a tank to make space if i wanted something but now i have a stable selection that i am loath to part with but continue to want to try new things

[darksolitaire]

16 slots here, these days I'll sell tanks I've elited. Only 5 are bought, managed to snatch 6 free slots from T-127/Tetrarch/French introduction and russian heavy tree change.

[Grif]

Originally Posted by Renegade Paladin

I have fifteen slots, but I focus exclusively on the American heavy and medium trees, so it serves my needs. If I were collecting tanks from several nations or was interested in SPGs I'd need several times more.

Unless you like playing low-tier SPGs (SU-26 is a beast), they generally are the elite-and-sell type. Though I might end up keeping 4 SPGs in my garage. (SU-26, SU-8, SU-14/Obj 212 and Obj 261.) I like playing with different kinds of SPG.

[Eldariel]

Well, ****. Guess I should invest in at least like 10 more slots when they come on sale next. Haven't used any money thus far but right now I can't play Marder II and MS-1 while keeping my teching tanks and I'm only at Tier 7; it'll only get worse from here.

Lessee now, I'd want to hold:

Spoiler

Tier 1: MS-1
Tier 2: BT-2
Tier 3: Marder II, SU-26, (M2 MT/Pz38t)
Tier 4: Grille, (T-28/SU-85B)
Tier 5: PzIV, SU-85, Chaffee, T-50-2
Tier 6: KV-2, GwPanther, S-51, T-34-85, E8, E2, M18 Hellcat
Tier 7: T29, Tiger (P), M40/43, AMX 13 90
Tier 8: IS-3, ISU, Object 261, Gw TypE, Lorraine, (T92)
Tier 9: E-75, T30, (Patton/Bat****/T-54)
Tier 10: T110, Maus, IS-7

And that's before the French arty and TDs which I'm not familiar enough with, and before the new Tier 10 Meds and TDs.

So that's like 34 tanks before new releases, and 4 I might or might not hold...

Unrelated, could anybody explain why KV-3 has the highest win percentage of all Tier 7 tanks in pubs among the top EU players over the last 2 weeks?

Some other interesting statistics there too, such as yes, A-20, BT-7 & Sturmpanzer II are indeed objectively terrible, having under 50% average win rate among the game's top players.

[darksolitaire]

Originally Posted by Eldariel

Unrelated, could anybody explain why KV-3 has the highest win percentage of all Tier 7 tanks in pubs among the top EU players over the last 2 weeks?

KV-3 had one of the first win rates not so long ago...I wonder if it received stealth buff? I'm more amazed by T25/2 and 59,7% win rate. That's terrible td and I can't be convinced otherwise.

[Grif]

Originally Posted by darksolitaire

KV-3 had one of the first win rates not so long ago...I wonder if it received stealth buff? I'm more amazed by T25/2 and 59,7% win rate. That's terrible td and I can't be convinced otherwise.

I think KV-3 is oft underestimated by most players. The front is disgustingly bouncy and aiming for the turret is the same. The move up to Tier VII is a good one overall, considering it gained much needed hp with a better engine upgrade and an equivalent gun to the IS.

That said, I'm also surprised by how well T25/2 is doing. For a tank destroyer, it plays so much more like a gimped medium than a proper TD.

[Eldariel]

Originally Posted by darksolitaire

KV-3 had one of the first win rates not so long ago...I wonder if it received stealth buff? I'm more amazed by T25/2 and 59,7% win rate. That's terrible td and I can't be convinced otherwise.

Seems when you play it as a med it suddenly functions. It has great view range, great mobility and a passable gun. Paper but that seems to be true for all the good TDs.

Originally Posted by Grif

I think KV-3 is oft underestimated by most players. The front is disgustingly bouncy and aiming for the turret is the same. The move up to Tier VII is a good one overall, considering it gained much needed hp with a better engine upgrade and an equivalent gun to the IS.

I just...don't see why it'd do so well if IS does so poorly. I find the gun inadequate, the armor inadequate, the mobility decent but that's it. Like I really have trouble penetrating unless I have free view of the target's front (or the target is Tier 7 or lower). I'd just much rather be in a Tiger (P) or a T29...

[Leon]

Because its the Good Old KV-3 (i have a 70% win ratio in 47 battles - i know not a big pool to draw from but i am happy with that result given my T-54 has 5 less battles and only a 33% win ratio ~ and that is a bad tank to have losses in)

Given its now a T7 and i have both Tiger and KV-3 they are two different styles of play as a KV-3 can brawl when a in a Tiger that is a bad idea unless you significantly out mass the opponent

[groz_nez]

Originally Posted by Eldariel

I find the gun inadequate, the armor inadequate, the mobility decent but that's it. Like I really have trouble penetrating unless I have free view of the target's front (or the target is Tier 7 or lower).

I've used the gun with both IS and KV-3 and I don't find that bad unless you facing something like E-75 (not to mention Maus or E-100). In IS I Averaged at about 1k damage per battle (of 212 battles), so the gun has reasonable damage potential. Gun just takes quite a bit of learning so you know where to shoot and when to shoot. Also even though I only have 50% & 51% win rates on those tanks, I think it is also partly because of bad luck and the fact that the guns before top guns are bellow average for the tier.

I finally got some credits to spare so decided to play more on IS-8 (also finally managed to unlock the top gun with free experience). Have to say I'm beginning to like it a lot more than when I was using BL-9. My rate has risen from 30% to 34% with few victories (I have less than 20 games with IS-8). Now getting the IS-7 doesn't seem such a painful grind.


Managed to get Ace Tanker badge for my SU-85 by killing Tiger P from 1450hp all by myself . Killed some other smaller tanks too. I think I only had something like 3 AP rounds left at end of the match. Almost all of my shots had hit.

[Yana]

Well Leon, you convinced me to give the SU-26 a shot, and after the teething problems that plague every tank, I can see why you love it so. Having a turret as artillery is a complete game changer. If it weren't for the fact that the range in this thing is a paltry 600 or so meters, I could just go hide in a bush and snipe away the entire match. That and the 122mm is just strong enough to hurt some t7 tanks while having a fast enough RoF to suppress anything else.

I'm curious though, what equipment did you select and what secondary skills have you trained your crew in?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Yana

I'm curious though, what equipment did you select and what secondary skills have you trained your crew in?

Rammer, GLD, Net.
Initially Cammo Skill but i replaced it with BiA and Cammo is now at 77%.
When its at 100% again i'll likely replace it with another of the new perk based ones and start Cammo over again

I am glad to have another Convert to the Way of SU-26 :)

[Maxymiuk]

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.

Spoiler

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.

[Eldariel]

Originally Posted by Maxymiuk

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?

Hate to break it to you; you'll be hardpressed to make profit without Premium on Tier 8+ and even with Premium on Tier 10. The game is basically balanced so that you need a Tier 6 or lower (Tier 5s seem usually about optimal) moneymaker to support high tier tanks.

[SanguisAevum]

Originally Posted by Eldariel

Hate to break it to you; you'll be hardpressed to make profit without Premium on Tier 8+ and even with Premium on Tier 10. The game is basically balanced so that you need a Tier 6 or lower (Tier 5s seem usually about optimal) moneymaker to support high tier tanks.

In generall, this is true. Allthough given a decent enough grasp of the game, you CAN make T10 work. (I rarely loose credits on my IS7, granted i use a premium account though.)

A T5 or T6 to make silver is very sound advice, especialy if you don't use a premium account.

Alternativly, you cold spend a one off amount of cash and purchase one of the T8 premium tanks. Those things literally print silver for your account.

[Eldariel]

Huh... Sometimes these games man:

Spoiler

[Grif]

Originally Posted by Eldariel

Huh... Sometimes these games man:

Spoiler

I know that feeling man.

In other news, I started on the new French TD and the French Light tree. Good lord, the AMX 38/40 is as painful as described. Thankfully, the TD (The Renault UE 57 is cute!) isn't as infuriating, but mobility remains the bane of any and all early French tanks.

[Maxymiuk]

Originally Posted by Eldariel

Huh... Sometimes these games man:

Spoiler

Tell me about it. "Only guy on right/left flank" is my leading cause of death.

[otakuryoga]

yeah i had one the other day on siegfried line
i am runnin my arty..south spawn..i head left to get behind the first building

i look up and notice that the entire team(except for an afk is8) ran right
but no one ran to the far right
--everyone is clustered at the SW corner of the city?!!?????

the afk guy finally loads into the game..and promptly heads off to the city

t-44 comes waltzing down the field completely unopposed and shoots me as i am trying to relocate to the half of the map that has people from my team on it

[Grif]

Spoiler

This is why I love my M18.

[darksolitaire]

Originally Posted by Grif

Thankfully, the TD (The Renault UE 57 is cute!) isn't as infuriating, but mobility remains the bane of any and all early French tanks.

Somua was pain for me with it's useless "tower" . But so far S-35 CA is great, even with stock gun.

Hey, new patch. Hello, Jagdpanther 2

[nhbdy]

I'm considering starting this game (have to wait for it to patch when I get home) but I was wondering if any tips could be made available for a newcomer, I saw the video tutorials and read a guide or two on their forums, but it seems there isn't a ton of info for those who don't have experience with the game?

It seems as though the different nations have different trees, and thus need to be developed separately? If this is the case could I get any generalizations as to what each nation specializes in?

[Eldariel]

Originally Posted by darksolitaire

Somua was pain for me with it's useless "tower" . But so far S-35 CA is great, even with stock gun.

Hey, new patch. Hello, Jagdpanther 2

Ugh, T-34-85 is one of my favorite vehicles. The new gun better be worth a damn; I haven't grinded a second crew skill for the crew for no reason. Overall, I'm really interested in what comes out of this because it touches many of the tanks I play a lot now and intend on getting in the near future.

Originally Posted by Grif

Spoiler

This is why I love my M18.

Woah, that's mighty impressive already! I've been thinking of getting one too, this just consolidates my decision.

Originally Posted by nhbdy

I'm considering starting this game (have to wait for it to patch when I get home) but I was wondering if any tips could be made available for a newcomer, I saw the video tutorials and read a guide or two on their forums, but it seems there isn't a ton of info for those who don't have experience with the game?

It seems as though the different nations have different trees, and thus need to be developed separately? If this is the case could I get any generalizations as to what each nation specializes in?

Ok, so a quick rundown:
- Every fight you get experience and credits.
- Some of the credits will be spent on repairing your vehicle and buying ammunition (the higher the level, the higher these costs are). The rest is stored, and can be used to buy consumable items, permanent equipment (Removed Speed Governor on Soviet vehicles is classified as a Consumable but isn't consumed on use so get that for all), new vehicles and better crew members.
- You earn experience for just the vehicle you played with. This experience can be used to develop better components (guns, radios, turrets, suspensions, engines) for the tank, and eventually next tanks in the tech tree.
- Every fight you also earn 5% Free Experience which can be used for anything (generally saved for when you unlock a higher tier tank and want to buy a better gun/engine/turret/suspensions right away), and you can convert vehicle-specific experience into Free Experience by spending real money on the game.
- In the start, you can get a Tier 1 Light Tank from each faction (currently Germany, Soviets, USA, France) for free. Each of these tanks leads to their nation's respective tech tree; you need to play a few games to unlock the tier 2 vehicles (which are split into the four trees: Tank Destroyer Tree, Light/Medium Tank Tree, Heavy Tank Tree and SPG Tree), which you then play to progress in that tree. There are also cross links.
- Your crew also earns experience in fight. You start with a free 50% crew; for 20000 credits a piece you can get 75% crew members and for gold (real money) you can get 100% crew members. Normally crew members affect basically everything in the tank (accuracy, loading times, acceleration, turning speed, etc.). At 100%, crew members can start learning specialization skills beyond their normal ability.


Generally you want to play through all the Tier 1 tanks and fully research them; that's a short operation and enables you to start any path on any nation. The game really "begins" around Tier 4-5 where you begin to have different roles; scouts, defensive and offensive tanks, artillery. Most maps are also locked until you've left the first few Tiers.

Of course learning the maps is a huge part of this game so you want to get started with that ASAP. It'd be hard to give you a rundown of each nation; while there are general trends, fact is that each vehicle is its own unique entity with its own unique considerations. That said:
- Russian vehicles generally have the strongest guns for their tier.
- German vehicles generally have the best armor for their tier.
- American vehicles have the highest gun depression (ability to lower the gun under firing straight forward) and the tanks have good turret armor as a rule.
- French vehicles on higher tiers have "auto-loader" which allows them to shoot a full magazine of ammo in a quick succession after which they have a long load time. They also tend to be fast but with paper-thin armor after the first 4 tiers.

For starters, I'd suggest heading to Tier 5 and picking up a good moneymaker; all the Tank Destroyer lines are fairly good options (Russians and Germans in particular), and then the KV-1 line and the PzIV line are fairly good (though PzIV line has the unfortunate Pz38na blocking the way for a while).

All the artillery lines are also doable though if you go with German artillery, avoid the Sturmpanzer II at all costs; it's an awful vehicle with no redeeming qualities. If you go German Arty (not a bad idea, Grille is a beast for its tier), play Bison and then go through Wespe.

[Grif]

Originally Posted by nhbdy

I'm considering starting this game (have to wait for it to patch when I get home) but I was wondering if any tips could be made available for a newcomer, I saw the video tutorials and read a guide or two on their forums, but it seems there isn't a ton of info for those who don't have experience with the game?

It seems as though the different nations have different trees, and thus need to be developed separately? If this is the case could I get any generalizations as to what each nation specializes in?

Note, there are many exceptions in each nation's tree and SPGs and TDs are usually considered a separate class, but here's a rough overview.

Russia/USSR - Powerful, but inaccurate guns; usually well armoured. (the heavy tanks anyway.)
USA - Very mobile tanks, accurate and fast-firing guns with low damage.
Germany - Very accurate guns, well armoured for most part.
French - Early tanks are well armoured, but very slow and poorly armed; later tanks are lightly armoured but is very mobile and features powerful guns with autoloaders.

EDIT: And I was ninja-ed by a more comprehensive post.

[Leon]

SU-85: Removed 107mm gun ZIS-6C, added gun 85mm D-5S-85BM, held a general readjustment of the machine.

Oh No!
And they say they never nerf Russian tanks...

[otakuryoga]

Originally Posted by Grif

Spoiler

This is why I love my M18.

9 kills, 10 detects
and you only made 1400xp?