World of Tanks

[Agent Sorchus]

The big thing is that T8 armor still is weak to side attacks and with at most 8 players on a fairly large map it should be easy to flank and kill them. I would never bring an IS to this map. The only thing IS's have is peakaboom powers, and this is an open map with a fair number of hills, which is one of the reasons I don't especially want to bring my IS-3. (low gun depression is bad for it on this map.)

The above is exactly right on what soft stats are, but just to further the list things like power to weight, surface pressure of the tracks and other things that you might be able to change but never see that you have changed them. The 12T has a really long autoloader refill time, no elevation or depression, rather low power to weight ratio and maybe some more things, including the front mounted engine.

Tanks people have volunteered; Tiger, T-29, ARL, IS-3/TigerP.

Team page PM me for the password

[xthetenth]

I think that interferes with my clan wars, so I don't think I'll be able to come. Also, I hate Sand River with a burning passion.

[Nephtys]

I have a fondness for Sand River's rolling duneside. It's the place where I got 9 kills in a match as a T29, singlehandedly acing two Tiger-IIs, an IS and a M6 with the might of invincible T29.

Now Campanovka? And that big city with the hill and railyard? Fuck those maps.

[The Vortex Empire]

The one with the railyard and the hill is only fun for me when I'm in a TD. Malinovka is just... bad.

[xthetenth]

Malinovka is hilarious with a good strat for clan wars. Komarin, on the other hand just doesn't improve. It actually gets worse.

[Zinegata]

With heavies and mediums/TDs counting as equal in the tourney for Tier purposes, there's no real reason to get a medium or a TD over a heavy.

[Nephtys]

I'd argue that a well driven Pershing or T-44 can give a heavy a run for it's money. It's a teamwork thing though, since the power of those vehicles is their incredible repositioning ability. Flanking is even easier due to less players on each team.

[Zinegata]

I'd argue that a well driven Pershing or T-44 can give a heavy a run for it's money. It's a teamwork thing though, since the power of those vehicles is their incredible repositioning ability. Flanking is even easier due to less players on each team.

With fewer players though, it's less likely for a flanking medium to be able to avoid what becomes a "trade shot for shot" situation with a heavy; which a heavy will ultimately win.

Successful flanking is more often the result of an enemy tank getting distracted by multiple enemies; which really isn't gonna happen much in a 5 tank vs 5 tank battle.

A better argument for the inclusion of mediums may be to do some ninja capping, but if the enemy knows you're packing mediums then they're just as likely to stay close to the base and grind the mediums to death while they're in the cap circle.

[Rekkon]

Another tank sale.

I also recommend the two Chieftain's Hatch articles on US guns and German armor.
Part 1
Part 2

[xthetenth]

Huzzah. Gold ammo sale. Shame I still have a bunch for my IS-7, but I guess I should top up my Maus, I've been running it more than expected. I only wish the T110 was out so I could buy a pile of gold for it too. If they keep running these sales at least I don't have to buy right now for when I get an E-100.

I'm really just itching for my new US tanks and warplanes CBT. Pretty much just playing clan wars and Absolute Power.

[Hawkwings]

Just bought a T25 AT, which is on sale right now. First match, killed a Tiger with the stock gun at long range, hitting front armor. Why is this gun suddenly so good when it's on this tank, as opposed to the same gun on the Slugger?

Also, I'm debating whether I should keep the Slugger or sell it and retrain the crew (100%, 67% camo) for the T25.

[xthetenth]

The T25 is so superior to the Slugger you'll never want to drive the slugger again. Wait till you get a genuinely good 105mm on it. Yum.

[Nephtys]

Just bought a T25 AT, which is on sale right now. First match, killed a Tiger with the stock gun at long range, hitting front armor. Why is this gun suddenly so good when it's on this tank, as opposed to the same gun on the Slugger?

Also, I'm debating whether I should keep the Slugger or sell it and retrain the crew (100%, 67% camo) for the T25.

The 90mm is more than capable of punching through the front of the Tiger. The hull's driver plate and frontal turret are only like 130mm and non-sloped after you apply normalization basically. A 90mm will punch clean through that most of the time, on any US vehicle.

[xthetenth]

They're having a Valentine's Day special for a day of free premium

They're also selling the Valentine for 300 gold instead of 1000, and half price gold consumables (which like the shells are only really useful for clan wars but this is awesome for those of us in serious clan wars.)

[PeZook]

So, I have 303 gold left over from the time I played the game enough to warrant paying for it, and I have a bit of a dilemma.

Should I buy the Valentine, convert 7500 or so exp from elite tanks, or buy a day of premium? I'm inclined towards the Valentine, figuring that since I'm not planning on buying any more gold in the nearest future and a premium tank will make credits in the long term (important since I will be upgrading to an IS in a few months time).

[Agent Sorchus]

Do eet. MMaker loves this tank, and it is one of the most forgiving peices of armor on the battlefield. Don't forget to add a Spall liner just to piss off the weak arty that tries their luck against it when everything else has failed.

Just watch out for Lees and Hetzers, the are very hard to pen and their guns are more than sufficient against the valentine.

[Simon_Jester]

Me, I already have a couple of premiums in that tier range, both of which are relatively slow, well armored tanks, so the Valentine doesn't tempt me much. I view it as just a smaller, fluffier Matilda.

Experimenting a bit with premium ammo I bought in the last sale. Not enough data for an opinion yet.

Also, I decided I was nostalgic for the Lee, and bought one. I must be going mad.

[PeZook]

Oh, this reminds me. I have ran my Sherman quite a bit in the last few days. Unfortunately, the howitzer/HE trick isn't particularly useful in the kind of battles usually fought by mediums. It requires careful aim, and isn't effective when you have to dance and maneuver in order to avoid getting speared by something.

I'd recommend trying it when you are facing a tank that you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT HURT any other way, nor easily retreat from: I did get SOME sort of critical hits on things like the E-75, though it wasn't anywhere near enough to prevent me from being casually blown up seconds later.

Increasing the fuckoffedness of the shell isn't enough to guarantee anything, either - the KV and the sweet, sweet 152mm gun it sports are also unable to consistently blow up heavier enemies by lobbing shells between the tracks.

[Marko Dash]

i finally bought a KV-3, the credit grind was one of the longest ones i've had to do since I've never bought any gold. i built up to 600,000 and then decided to raid my depot for anything not currently in use. this paid for the rest of it, most people have tons of credits worth of unused equipment that they forget about, i tend to let my unused equipment gather for times like this.

the T-127 was the easiest slot to clear because even though it was a prem tank it's not a unique one and if i wanted i could probably find another valid code. every other slot is taken by something grinding for something else except the KV which is there for credit earning and the 7.3 slots.

i had intended to hold off on getting a KV-3 at least until after i got my T29, but i'd started playing a lot of company battles and the only tank i have that most people will accept is my jumbo. that, combined with the news that the long awaited Russian heavy rearrange is coming soon (7.3) made the KV-3 a higher priority than the T29.

however the stock 85mm sucks balls, and you have to get the tracks to mount the 107, so i see a few days of crappy experiences in it for me.

[PeZook]

Hmm...interesting, I found the KVs stock gun to be surprisingly good for...well, a stock gun.

[Marko Dash]

All stock guns tend to suck balls, most tanks get to have a second option in the form of one the upgrade guns of the previous tier mountable right away. in this case the 107, it's just that the KV-3 is so close to weight capacity at stock that you can't put anything on it until you upgrade the tracks. i average 250xp a game, although my stats are coming up now that I've installed more RAM. faster loading times and higher draw distances are a big help in this game.

the free 24hr premium today is going to help a lot, so i'm going to spend most of my free time today bouncing between the KV-3, M6, and M10.

[Simon_Jester]

If the Great KV Tree Rationalization gives people an incentive to actually get normal KV tanks with the normal turret instead of every single one being a KV-2 even though in real life the KV-2 was something of a failed experiment...

It's sort of like how nearly every Panzer IV you see mounts that ahistorical schmallturm turret. It feels weird that you almost never see the tank looking the way it looked on the battlefield.

I like the 107, no mistake about that, but I think maybe it'd be better if it were on the Soviet Tier 6 and 7, instead of 5 and 6.

[Vejut]

Haven't gotten it quite yet, kinda want to avoid it if I can, because it is a fantasy gun and like you said, everybody seems to mount the fridge turret for it.

Will say I really like the 122 on the small turret though--even though I'm an idiot and in clan wars with a tier V, I think I've only gotten three complete bounces out of it. Not a lot of damage, but still, hurting an IS-7 or Patton at all with a tier V gun isn't bad.

Didn't really like the 152, sadly--just way to much reload time for not-really-feeling-like-enough blam. Anybody tried the long 76mm?

[Hawkwings]

Finally got the first gun upgrade for the ARL44, and wow what a difference it makes. In one of my recent matches I got around 1200xp in the thing playing peekaboo against enemy Lowe, IS, and T29.

It's nice playing the ARL44 after learning on the American medium line, because its paper-thin armor is actually heavier than the mediums. It is slow, yes, but the gun is awesome, and after I get the Tier 8 90mm I plan on finally taking revenge on those stupid Type 59s.

[Rekkon]

Do eet. MMaker loves this tank, and it is one of the most forgiving peices of armor on the battlefield. Don't forget to add a Spall liner just to piss off the weak arty that tries their luck against it when everything else has failed.

Just watch out for Lees and Hetzers, the are very hard to pen and their guns are more than sufficient against the valentine.

+1

I have the spall liner on mine and ran into the enemy base by myself a few days ago with only 45 HP. Despite all their T2 arty targeting me (4-5) of them, I stayed alive long enough to kill three and another tank or two. It was awesome. Also be wary of Marders, as they can poke effective holes in you, but at least against them you can sit and slug it out with a fair chance of winning since they are squishy to your gun. Valentines cannot get matched higher than T4 on their own, so you are always top-tier. Platoons of these things are absolutely evil, though you do need to learn the weak points of the more heavily armored foes that you will see (B1, B2 and AMX 40). Of all my tanks, my Valentine actually has seen the most matches and has the most Top Guns. I routinely live long enough to run out of ammo, and it is hilarous to see people go out of their way to flank you (60mm armor on all sides).