World of Tanks

[Gravitas Free Zone]

The lowest tier that I have American TDs is Tier 4; I don't trust the T82 that much and don't want to be another T18 in the ocean of T18s.

That said, my single M8A1 game today featured four on each team; tellingly, only myself and one other M8A1 on my team actually managed to accomplish anything out of all eight M8A1s.

Meanwhile, I managed a 6000 damage game in the T30, less 495 points of damage when I accidentally shot a friendly; it was facehugging, I had a clean shot at the entire back end of the enemy vehicle, and simultaneously the enemy vehicle backed up, I fired, and the friendly stuck right with it, so it ended up eating my shell. (And exploding.) Starting the encounter, the enemy tank had 1200 HP, the friendly had 500. "I was trying to save you!"

On the bright side, we won.

[Desu]

Once again I have succumb to the temptation to grind yet another tank line, this time being the French heavies. I tried playing a few games in each of the low tiers but ended up using my free XP to skip to the BDR pretty quickly. Considering how rarely I've really run into people playing the BDR I didn't have high hopes for it but apparently it is amazing.



I was in a platoon with another BDR and a full tomato friend who just started playing making it the easiest "grind" I've ever had.

Sadly the ARL 44 doesn't seem anywhere near as impressive for its tier but at least the stock turret is amusing.

[Myssa Rei]

I've regularly set Tigers on fire with my BDR. That should say a lot about its last gun, which is way too good for its tier.

Too bad the tank itself needs a lot of work, what with having no angles at all on the little bits of armor it does have.

[Irenicus]

Nobody really fears the French heavies until the autoloaders start appearing. That is both proof of their overall mediocrity and their ability to deceive and "trap" enemies.

BDR hits really hard, but it's also easier to hit back than against, say, KVs, so people take risks against it. I know I love putting my M4 at risk trying to derp its deliciously flat sides. Same for ARLs. Very deadly firepower, but somehow less obviously "Russian stronk" than KV-1S & co.

Kind of like the similar tier US heavies actually (T29 changed the whole paradigm). Lots of people claim to love driving them, and do amazing things in them, but they're also easier to face.

[Ascaloth]

Oh for fuck's sake.

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What do I have to do to get an Ace in this thing?!

[Strigon 13]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

Nobody really fears the French heavies until the autoloaders start appearing. That is both proof of their overall mediocrity and their ability to deceive and "trap" enemies.

BDR hits really hard, but it's also easier to hit back than against, say, KVs, so people take risks against it. I know I love putting my M4 at risk trying to derp its deliciously flat sides. Same for ARLs. Very deadly firepower, but somehow less obviously "Russian stronk" than KV-1S & co.

Kind of like the similar tier US heavies actually (T29 changed the whole paradigm). Lots of people claim to love driving them, and do amazing things in them, but they're also easier to face.

I prefer to face a million times a one/two tiers higher full HP US heavy tank than a french Heavy/Medium for obvious reasons. I hate french tanks (even more than chinese cockroaches), and everytime I see one on the enemy my vision becomes red. The only time I praise french tanks is when they are on my team.

[Chevalier]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

You're still invisible if you're shooting from more than 15m behind solid foliage. The nerf, such as it is, was meant to increase the chance of spotting people who were shooting from partial cover. (Which smarter people avoided doing anyway.)

So far the 155mm on the T30 is giving me about the same number of freak bounces that I'd get from the 152mm BL-10 on the ISU-152; some of these have been seriously embarrassing. On the bright side, it has a turret.

...and occasionally you get really freak RNG, like one-shot ammo-racking an IS-8 from the front through the corner where the pike meets the side armor.

Well, I snipe in the bush. If you fired when the bush in transparent, you will get spotted.

[Strigon 13]

I got finally (after like 5 updates) the Ace Tanker mastery on the Panther.

Panther on the Prowl

It was a rather fun match, with the exception of those horrendous lag spikes.

[Desu]

Apparently I've hit my peak for the ELC AMX marks of excellence. It was consistently going up until 85.73% but now hasn't moved in about 20 games despite averaging just under 1000 damage. I really wish there was a better way of seeing your progress since it is pretty depressing to go see the same percentage after a 2000+ damage game

Maybe there are just some really amazing ELC drivers out there but considering the expected damage tables and wn8 I'm getting for these games it seems a bit odd.

[Myssa Rei]

So I platooned with Rocketbrainsurgeon of the WOT Guide website of the same name last night, primarily because we both were apparently strapped for credits LOL. Always a pleasure to group with him, but I always feel that I underperform in comparison as a result.

Some replays of the session:

Himmelsdorf

Erlenberg Assault

Fisherman's Cover

Fjords

Erlenberg Normal

Prokhorovka

Murovanka

[Desu]

I had two pretty amazing ELC games today, one setting a new XP record and the other earning my 3rd Crucial Contribution medal. The Crucial was probably the most satisfying win I've had due to the team giving my platoon a heap abuse at the start of the game for being all scouts and even more when we didn't cap. To be fair I guess we were technically running a fail platoon but considering that the ELC could see tier 9's until this patch I don't really see the problem.

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[Strigon 13]

Well, nothing to say about this weekend...

Spoiler for Interesing compensation:

It is a good thing to not have sold the gift tanks.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

We've all had games where we've wondered what the hell the matchmaker is thinking, and how really bad players can get themselves Tier 10 vehicles, but...

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Oy gevalt.

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I looked at the stats of the Tier 10 makeweights on the horribly-unlucky opposing team and... yeah, not so good. Of course, they also brought a fail platoon along.

Incidentally, anyone else experiencing a phenomenon since 9.1 where the minimap tank markers will appear to be experiencing rubberband lag and warp across the minimap?

[Myssa Rei]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

Incidentally, anyone else experiencing a phenomenon since 9.1 where the minimap tank markers will appear to be experiencing rubberband lag and warp across the minimap?

Yep, saw this happen -- in fact, you can see EXACTLY this in one of the Erlenberg replays I posted above, where sometimes it looks like everyone stops moving on the minimap, then suddenly catapult to where their current positions actually are.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Most LOLtastic RNG of today: Taking a shot at an SPG from close range. The back of the SPG is sticking out from a house that has wooden beams supporting the roof, one of which in the way and is dividing the SPG in the aiming circle about 70/30. The beam takes up maybe 5% of the area of the aiming circle; the rest of the circle is filled by the SPG.

You can guess how this goes.

Of course, this is also one of the INDESTRUCTIBLE wooden beams, so even though it's just had a 155mm shell crunch into it from ten meters away, it just shrugs it off.

[Top Sergeant]

I found out that listening to the Knights of Sidonia OP song while playing Japanese tanks can make you far braver than you should be

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Finally settling down long enough with the T-54 has unlocked the Object 140. Didn't purchase it yet, though the chance of it going on sale because of an On-Track any time soon are fairly low. WG probably won't do another Soviet vehicle for an On-Track for at least another month, and even then, the 140 branches off from Tier 9...

Confirming the T-54 is OP: It's one of the few vehicles that I have over 200 games in that does not have an Ace Tanker, and I fully acknowledge that I'm nowhere near the skill ceiling for it. However, while screwing up in the Leo PTA or the T54E1 will certainly result in deeeeeeeeaaaaaath, the T-54's overall handling characteristics and turret face give it a decent chance of being able to squeak out of a problem.

Edited to add:

Wow, more stuff for... Germany. (!) I've got all the other German premium mediums, another one wouldn't hurt... though the way they've screwed up the tech tree, it's not as helpful as it once was.

Long 88 on Panther chassis will probably be sloooooooow though.

[Strigon 13]

Yesterday I've finally passed the true 54% mark. Also I've decided to go and grind the waffletracktors now, so far the marder 38t is making me wanting to regret starting this line.

Also, Panther with long 88 as premium? Isn't that just a Panther 2? But I remember that back in beta the Panther could mount the long 88.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

The Marks of Excellence decoration looks... silly, at least in its American implementation. It's also so tiny that it's almost unnoticeable under normal in-game conditions.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

The Marks of Excellence decoration looks... silly, at least in its American implementation. It's also so tiny that it's almost unnoticeable under normal in-game conditions.

I really doubt I will be staring at the side of your turret during a match

- Tak