World of Tanks

[weemadando]

I don't know, some assault maps seem to have good advantages for smart attacker - using forests and terrain to mask approaches, then letting one player scout to expose enemy positions for the main assault force.

Of course, most players are fucking idiots.

[Alkaloid]

I don't know, some assault maps seem to have good advantages for smart attacker

Westfields is good for the attack, multiple angles of approach, decent cover through most of them and little cover for the defenders.

most players are fucking idiots

Thats the crux of the problem Most players don't play defensively except when they're camping at Malinovka or El Haluf and haven't got the first clue how to, and no one in public is really willing to set up a decent assault plan pre game or follow someone who does. Thus its all pell mell charging straight at the flag/straight at the other sides most obvious target.

[weemadando]

Or, you know. People parking a tank broadside in the open and then getting one shotted by someone two tiers below while they try to aim.

[Simon_Jester]

Who knows? Maybe getting flattened over and over on defense in Assault maps will teach a few people lessons.

[Alkaloid]

Encounter though. Really really good fun, especially on flat open maps, because it forces fast moving battles with a lot of manoeuvre. I like it.

[weemadando]

I do like the Encounter - I tend to see two versions of it.

1) Heavy tanks rush for the Zone and light tanks rush the enemy spawn.

2) Light tanks rush the zone and heavy tanks rush the enemy spawn.

Depending on how those two strategies mesh, you have some brutal outcomes.

[Skywalker_T-65]

The AMX 40 seems to be built for the Assault maps defense side. Heavy armor and not much speed makes it the perfect low-tier defense tank. I like the new mode with only one base (Encounter? Or something else? I din't pay attention...). Both teams are forced to Zerg-rush the single base, and you get some MASSIVE melees going on.

[xthetenth]

The new game modes are hilariously imbalanced. Seriously, Assault? The Defenders need to either kill all enemy vehicles or hold out for 10 minutes, while the attackers need to kill all enemies, or drive through open deathtraps, up hills, directly into the jaws of entrenched sniper teams. No advantage whatsoever for being the attacker.

There's some really good cover for the attackers to push into en route to taking on the defenders' base. The spawn itself is usually rather hard to attack, so that encourages both sides to push up to the middle. For example, in Sand River, the only good cover for the defenders to camp from is their bank of the river, the rest of it is dominated by the foliage covered ridges on the spawns. So some fighting over the spawns is likely to occur. In westfield the defenders have very little in the way of cover until the back slope of the far side of the valley, so unless the attackers are horribly uncoordinated they'd need to push forward to get into decent cover.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

I picked up the tier 3 French spg, the Lorraine 39, I kinda like it, its really small, I mean like, itty-bitty, six and a half tons fully loaded, so its really good at hiding. I had a scout tank drive right past my hiding bush and not spot me, I can hide under heavies, almost.

[Skywalker_T-65]

A quick question for the Vet players...when you got the long '50 for the PzIII did the matchmaker start hating you more than normal? Because ever since I got that gun I have always been the lowest tier, getting matched with stuff like IS' and Tigers...

On a positive note I've almost finished with AMX 40 now. So at least some good news.

[Nephtys]

In some versions, there's a brief grace period with fresh tanks. You get kinder matchmaking for your first (x) games in a tank. Or at least you used to, I can't recall if it still does.

[Rekkon]

I seem to recall reading somewhere a while back that vehicles tended to get tiered lower before they were fully upgraded, so it might be possible.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

I got the tier 3 French TD, Renault UE 57, and damn, I thought the arty was small, I've owned cars that weighed more than this two and a half ton tank destroyer.

[xthetenth]

I know, the thing's totally adorable. Better yet it has an actual gun, making an amazing sniper platform just because it's an utter swine to hit.

Also, huzzah, ran the first strat I made myself in clan wars and it worked pretty well. Took a landing zone and all that jazz.

[Alkaloid]

OK, so my new favourite thing are the guys who charge across the battlefield, die alone, and then instead of quitting the game and starting another like normal people hang around in the current one and abuse the players on their team who are still alive for using cover, not being a moron and blaming the loss on them because of win percentage. Is this a new thing? I've never noticed it before but its been a semi regular feature of my last few games.

Also, been playing with the new TD's, and the game sounds so much better in low tiers. Lots of fast firing guns and autocannons make this constant yammering thats much better to listen to than the occasional boom whistle you get after about tier 4. Makes me wish they would introduce infantry bots already.

[Hawkwings]

Oh, those people have been around since the dawn of time. My favorite is when I'm in an arty in those kind of matches. Then I actually have time to argue with them and watch them rage.

In other news, I finally got the 122 for the KV-1S and hot damn, that thing explodes people good! My first pub match I did nothing but miss, bounce, and get blown up by arty, but my second match I got 5 kills and ace tanker. I've been playing like my ARL 44 or kind of like my M18, which is probably good preparation because they both involve having little/no armor and repositioning after every shot.

[The Vortex Empire]

So I just picked up a Sherman Jumbo and a Hummel.

The Jumbo is absurd. I've only got the M1A1 and the first turret at the moment, but the damn thing bounces everything tier 6 and lower from the front. Speed's a bit lacking, but you can pretty much play it like a heavy anyway.

The Hummel demonstrated to me exactly why I hate arty so much. It's easy mode. Pubbies never bother to do counter arty, so you never get killed unless your whole team collapses, and you can hit anywhere on the map with complete impunity. Best of all, it prints money.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Yeah, the players who charge like idiots and then proceed to hurl abuse at the smart players who use cover annoy me. I mean, sometimes I stay around after I die and talk, but only if the rest of the team talks back, and I never yell 'fail team fails!' or something at them...unlike other people

And it sounds like the TD's/Arty are fun...maybe I should try that when I'm done with my current spread of TIV's...(almost done with the AMX 40, I only have like 1,000 more experience to go with it). But that could be a while, since other than the aforementioned AMX, I still have a lot of grinding to do. The PzIII and A-20 are both getting horrid matchmaking so its taking a while to say the least.

[xthetenth]

The Hummel demonstrated to me exactly why I hate arty so much. It's easy mode. Pubbies never bother to do counter arty, so you never get killed unless your whole team collapses, and you can hit anywhere on the map with complete impunity. Best of all, it prints money.

The Hummel is the best/only good tier five arty. The M41 is decent but its hull turns like glaciers drift, the French one apparently decided that a normal distribution is totally even through the whole aiming circle rather than being more likely to have shots go to the center, and the Russian one is quite literally good at nothing compared to the other pieces and is as large as a house.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

OK, so my new favourite thing are the guys who charge across the battlefield, die alone, and then instead of quitting the game and starting another like normal people hang around in the current one and abuse the players on their team who are still alive for using cover, not being a moron and blaming the loss on them because of win percentage. Is this a new thing? I've never noticed it before but its been a semi regular feature of my last few games.

Also, been playing with the new TD's, and the game sounds so much better in low tiers. Lots of fast firing guns and autocannons make this constant yammering thats much better to listen to than the occasional boom whistle you get after about tier 4. Makes me wish they would introduce infantry bots already.

My normal response to those people is "Shhh, dead don't talk." For me though, the most annoying people are the ones who are like "Fail team, we lose," before the match even starts.


The Jumbo rocks, but I don't use the M1A2 gun with it, I don't like giving up over a hundred mm of turret side armor, for a gun I'm not really manuverable enough to use effectively anyway, so I just use the stock turret and the 105.

[xthetenth]

Victory!
Battle: Karelia Monday, June 25, 2012 6:21:15 PM
Vehicle: T1 heavy
Experience received: 2,311
Credits received: 54,369
Battle Achievements: Top Gun, Sharpshooter, Master Gunner

Hahahahahahaha. After so many people telling me the T1 is terrible, that.

So it turns out that if you're in a T1/M6, there's an amazing place on the defensive side of Karelia for those tanks to go hull down in arty cover. Go into the south cap from regular mode, then hide behind the rocks on the ramp to the top level of that cap. You can hull down and basically be in arty cover from all but the most extreme angles. So anyway, I pulled up there and see a stug and VK 3001(P). Start shooting the stug, kill him, notice that a second stug's been shooting at my front armor and bouncing shots, I kill him from full in return for one round that actually pens, then I switch fire to the M8A1 that pulled up behind him. After that, the 3001(P) squared off against me and proceeded to not pen me while I blasted him away. After that I swung down the hill, and ran facefirst into an M2 Medium and Panzer III with the short gun. Shotrammed the M2, then splatted the Pz as it tried to circle around because my tank isn't a wallowing pig like a KV. Not entirely sure what those guys were thinking, to be honest, they were behind the main group, but moving up into a higher tier tank that'd just gone hero mode on their high tier tanks' faces. So then I get a bit farther and run into a PzJg 4. We traded shots, he penned once, I bounced once. Then a StuG that'd started tagging along went ahead to get their arty piece and I swung over to the plateau to try and snipe the north base and maybe pick up another kill. I then proceeded to make a nearly maximum range shot on a Sherman that was oneshottable for a no damage crit. That would've been a Boelter's. Goddammit.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Wow...making me regret not going for the heavys. The biggest gun I have (caliber wise) is the 75 on the AMX. Though the long 50 on the PzIII is my best...when I actually get a good match anyway. I also have never gotten that much money...the most I have gotten is 15k or so with the Premium Stuart.

[xthetenth]

That was with premium, I managed to bag a 30 day code during the E3 livecast thingy, which I'm using to get that account a T-50-2, and playing the US and USSR heavies on it because I can and to get credits. The T1 is going amazingly and somehow my churchie is winning at everything, but my T-28 is cursed. There one spot on the entire map that will get good shots on me as I move? Someone makes a straight line to that spot and scopes right on in. Suicidal ISes that just won't take no for an answer about killing me? Check. T-28s with the top gun and a death wish? Check.

[Zinegata]

Why do I always end up on the "Assault" side of an "Assault/Defend" map ~_~

[Skywalker_T-65]

I finally finished the AMX 40!!

I'm going to wait to move on to the AMX 12 until I have more credits, but thank God I don't have to use the turtle anymore. The game knew I was almost done too...all my last few matches were horrible on the matchmaking front.

But now, I'm going to go up the American tech tree and try to get my first heavy tank.