World of Tanks Mark 2

[Melchior]

Any suggestion for skills / equipment on a VK 36.01? I currently have improved ventilation and gun rammer, with the third slot empty (I'm using the konisch gun), with repair (at about 70%) on most of the crew.

[The Vortex Empire]

Optics/Rammer/GLD, 6th+repair/Camo/BiA+assorted gunnery and view range stuff.

[Vendetta]

Optics, Rammer, GLD

I have gone

Repair
Snap Shot
Off Road Driving
Repair
Repair

When the commander can do a retrain to get 6th sense active he will then train repair again, likewise the loader with Adrenaline Rush. Second round is going to be

Repair
Repair
Smooth Ride
Situational Awareness
Repair


I use the stock turret (for the higher traverse) and Konisch, by the way, makes it an excellent responsive medium that can offer decent threat at any range rather than a pocket heavy.

[Highlord Laan]

Well, I decided to try out the game with the 8.6 update, and all I can cay is to hell with you rocket camping shitbags hiding in the corners of the map. Might be worthwhile if I could mount three spall liners on an M4, but I doubt even that would save me from being in the same time zone as an impacting S-51 shell.

[Jub]

How are they hitting you if you're moving and using cover? Unless you sit still in the wrong spot arty should have no chance to nail you.

[Zinegata]

Funnily, since the update and the arty changes I still can't recall an instance where I was even hit by arty.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I haven't played yet since the update...I might hop on real quick and see how my KV's fair...hmm...

[The Vortex Empire]

The KV-1 should be seeing a new renaissance, with 105 HEATspam finally neutered.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

Well, I decided to try out the game with the 8.6 update, and all I can cay is to hell with you rocket camping shitbags hiding in the corners of the map. Might be worthwhile if I could mount three spall liners on an M4, but I doubt even that would save me from being in the same time zone as an impacting S-51 shell.

Have you ever made a post that wasn't whining or rabidly attacking acceptable targets? I mean your last several posts in this thread were complaining about how changes to arty have ruined the game even after everyone responds to you each time that the changes make arty do the opposite of what you say.

The KV-1 should be seeing a new renaissance, with 105 HEATspam finally neutered.

Was it just the 105 or did the 122 get ruined, too? Despite it (used to) costing several times as much for roughly equivalent output, I liked using the occasional one of those on my KV-1.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Well, just did a couple matches in the KV-1 and 4. I was hit less by arty than I used to be, that's for sure.

Though the KV-4 remains an arty-magnet nonetheless.

[xthetenth]

The KV-1 should be seeing a new renaissance, with 105 HEATspam finally neutered.

I've taken the Churchill III (accept no inferior british knockoffs) out for a few spins and it's been an absolute beast. Tier five heavies are nasty.

[Vendetta]

I think the only times I've been killed by arty have been point blank when I've been going for them.

I used to be able to rely on the first arty shell landing somewhere nearby as soon as I got spotted in the Centurion. It wasn't a case of if they shot me, they would shoot at me. The fact that their traverse dispersion is so massive now means that doesn't happen nearly as much.

[The Vortex Empire]

The KV-1 should be seeing a new renaissance, with 105 HEATspam finally neutered.

I've taken the Churchill III (accept no inferior british knockoffs) out for a few spins and it's been an absolute beast. Tier five heavies are nasty.

Absolutely, and with the global accuracy buff and the Churchill IIIs already great firing on the move, it can practically shoot for weak points at range while going full speed.

[Vendetta]

The term "full speed" doesn't really apply to a Churchill though.

(also, Churchill is one of those tanks that only works when the opponent is bad, if the opponent is at any point non-bad they'll just shoot at the nice invitingly flat turret and wreck you)

[The Vortex Empire]

The term "full speed" doesn't really apply to a Churchill though.

(also, Churchill is one of those tanks that only works when the opponent is bad, if the opponent is at any point non-bad they'll just shoot at the nice invitingly flat turret and wreck you)

This is World of Tanks we're talking about. They're always bad.

[Melchior]

Thanks. So the idea is that I should upon reaching 100% retrain the first skill to BiA on everyone, then go for snapshot / repair / etc. (and finally retrain 6th sense instead of repair on the commander)?

[Vendetta]

I'm wholly unconvinced that the small bonus from Brothers in Arms is worth a whole skill from every crewman compared to all the actually significant bonuses you get from other skills.

I wouldn't even consider BiA until you're at the very least training your fourth skill, it's just not that useful. In real noticable terms it's a tenth of a second off your reload time, and if you're regularly in situations where a tenth of a second is the difference between you getting a shot first or second then figure out how not to be in those situations.

For reference, for the first three skills I'd go for:

Sixth Sense, Repair, Recon
Snap Shot, Repair, Armourer
Off Road Driving, Smooth Ride, Repair
Repair, Situational Awareness, Anything You Like
Adrenaline Rush, Safe Stowage, Repair


If you're a 4 man crew and the loader is the radioman, I'd drop safe stowage for situational awareness. HP values for ammo racks aren't large even at high tiers (280 for M103), so even with an extra 12.5% you're still going to be knocked under half by many shells (~150 damage to modules), or blowed up by dirty great big tank destroyers or autoloaders that get multiple shots on target.

[The Vortex Empire]

I'm wholly unconvinced that the small bonus from Brothers in Arms is worth a whole skill from every crewman compared to all the actually significant bonuses you get from other skills.

I wouldn't even consider BiA until you're at the very least training your fourth skill, it's just not that useful. In real noticable terms it's a tenth of a second off your reload time, and if you're regularly in situations where a tenth of a second is the difference between you getting a shot first or second then figure out how not to be in those situations.

For reference, for the first three skills I'd go for:

Sixth Sense, Repair, Recon
Snap Shot, Repair, Armourer
Off Road Driving, Smooth Ride, Repair
Repair, Situational Awareness, Anything You Like
Adrenaline Rush, Safe Stowage, Repair


If you're a 4 man crew and the loader is the radioman, I'd drop safe stowage for situational awareness. HP values for ammo racks aren't large even at high tiers (280 for M103), so even with an extra 12.5% you're still going to be knocked under half by many shells (~150 damage to modules), or blowed up by dirty great big tank destroyers or autoloaders that get multiple shots on target.

Agreed. BiA comes after 6th, repair, camo (if a TD, light, smaller SPG, or medium), gunnery skills, view range skills...

Likewise, the boost from Optics for tanks with a fast aim time/scouts or GLD for tanks with slow aim time outweighs Vents heavily in my opinion.

[Vendetta]

Also, though I'd started retraining into this vision control model before*, this is even more important in 8.6 where effective ranges are longer and vision control is more important than ever.

It's even useful for heavy tanks in the press, because if you can spot their support line when you peek for your shot, then your support line can disrupt it. (Consider Mines, when you peek the ridgeline at the hill mouth you might be seeing people further back than you otherwise would, and that means the island might be getting shots on them.)

I've had matches where I get a good 1500-2000 spot damage just as part of my natural play just because I can see a little further.

Also remember for the pure XP farming if you see someone first and keep them in vision, then no matter how many other people can see them when someone uses that vision to shoot them you get the credit for the support shot. (same with tracking, if you track someone and the rest of the team keeps them tracked you get all the credit for tracking support)

* Largely based on pretty much every report of real tank combat, by and large seeing the enemy first and shooting first meant winning the engagement.

[Melchior]

Mh, I see. What about binoculars instead of optics? I don't fire from the move that much, are optics better because I would avoid losing sight of the enemy while repositioning?

[Vendetta]

For a tank, I would go for the optics, you have to have been sitting still 3 seconds before binocs start working, which means that not only can you not do the fast peek over a hill for spots as effectively, they don't work whilst you're advancing (if you're moving towards the engagement point and see your opposite number 40m before he sees you, your gun is already settling at the point he spots you, or you've changed course to get good cover, or whatever, but you've reacted first).


To at least some extent it relies on playstyle though. I tend to stay quite mobile if I'm not actually aiming (because arty throws its pants at me like middle aged women at Tom Jones), so I wouldn't often be static long enough for binoculars to do their work.

[The Vortex Empire]

I find binoculars to be pretty much useless since I almost never sit still for longer than a few seconds. It'd be useful for passive scouting, if that's your thing, but Optics are far more versatile.

[xthetenth]

(also, Churchill is one of those tanks that only works when the opponent is bad, if the opponent is at any point non-bad they'll just shoot at the nice invitingly flat turret and wreck you)

It only works brilliantly when the enemy is bad. If the enemy isn't bad you've just got a very deep HP pool and a lot of dpm with a laser accurate gun, which is perfectly acceptable.

[Marko Dash]

The 360 beta has started and at the moment completely sucks.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I've barely been able to play right now with all the lag.

I can't believe I actually miss my college wifi.