Hmm, Tiers 5-7 are my most played, because that's all I have, too poor for tier 8, though not opposed to higher, since my Arty gets tossed in with Tier Xs. I enjoy my IS, KVs 1,2,3, my Hellcat and my Pz IV.
For what it's worth, I've really enjoyed the SU-122-44. Even in matches where I'm outclassed or just stink it up, I always earn a fair bit over what I spend. And it's a fun vehicle that except for rather poor view range and not-so-great depression doesn't seem to have any real vices. On the other hand, I am much less enamored with my other premium, the Panther M10, which I just can't seem to figure out the right role for
Everyone I've talked to including people who were driving SU-122-44s, believe that it is probably the most overpowered premium tank you can buy. It just absolutely devastates in even tier battles, the front armor is absurdly bouncy even up to tier 9. With BIA/Vents/Rammer it slings 122 shells faster than most tanks with 90mm guns. It is probably the only tier 7 tank that, regardless of the tier of tank I am in, when I see one on the enemies side I actually let out a groan. It's also fairly cheap as far as premium tanks go, although I can't speak for the credit income as I picked up the FCM instead.
I have a super pershing ($30) and it's a great income generator. It plays just like the KV line, slow & ponderous but tons of armor. You get a lot of bounces. The gun is a little weak, but only against T9's and some T8's. But in all honesty, pick something that will benefit your primary tank line - for example, I'm a huge fan of the Mediums and going the Super Pershing is allowing me to not only get credits, but to really get my crews ramped up over 100% very quickly for my American mediums - where they have two lines. If you like the Soviet Heavy line, I'd go an IS-6. It's more expensive, but will give benefits to your crews.
The already mentioned SU-122-44 is fast, has a good gun (for a Russian one), good front armor, but the ammo costs 1k per shot. I also don't know how you feel about vehicles without a turret. It's also tier 7, and gets the MM of that tier, so you will see tier 9 vehicles and tier 5 vehicles. The FCM50t: imagine someone taking an E50, giving it the mobility of the Hellcat, the armor of a tier 5 heavy (and the same lack of camouflage) and the gun of the Hellcat with an additional 50mm of penetration. It plays very similarly to the Hellcat or a medium tank. You will also never see tier 10 tanks with it, and you will often be the top tier tank in battle, due to its special matchmaking. Like the Hellcat, this thing is very fragile, despite its on-paper armor stats. It also loses crew with relative frequency. But the standard ammo is very cheap, so it earns very well for me. The Super Pershing is like a KV-1, only slower. It is SLOW. Did I mention it's slow? Lowe drivers sneer at the speed of this thing. But, against people who don't know its weak points, the front armor is impenetrable to most guns in the game. For those that do know the weak points, and are close enough to hit them, the armor is paper, but the speed still isn't there, and the gun has pretty terrible penetration for a tank that can't flank (or go anywhere really). Ammo is cheap. The T34 U.S. heavy is slow (but not as slow as Super Pershing or Lowe), cumbersome, has a Russian-style super-slow aim time, low rate of fire, but the penetration and damage on the gun are quite good. The rest of the tank is identical to a T29. And they play similarly. This tank does not get special matchmaking, so you will see tier 10 vehicles. Ammo costs 1k a pop. IS-6 plays like the other KV and IS tank series, it has some very bouncy armor against people unaware of the weak spots, and a decent gun. If you liked playing the KV and IS line, this tank will feel familiar. It's really like a tier 8 KV-3. Ammo costs 1k a pop. Lowe is slow, large, has a good gun (but bad gun depression) with good damage, penetration and aim time, but again this thing is sloooooow, and really has no armor except on the turret mantlet. It'll frequently see tier 10 vehicles. Ammo cost is again 1k a pop. As for the premium tanks in lower tiers, I honestly never felt they were worth the money.
Hey what are your names on WoT? We should platoon if possible. I'm tmanpdx I've got a TS3 server, which makes it easy to chat while playing. We have a small clan (3 active members) but we don't always have 3 on. We've known / played with each other since BF 1942 I'm PST, and typically on from 9pm-midnight most nights, sometimes earlier, sometimes later ;-)
ferrous. I think I have you on my friends list, the list should be more prominent in the UI IMHO, I forget to check it. My times are usually between 8-midnight PST, but fairly sporadic. I have to admit, I get lazy with grouping, because it's pretty easy to flit from tank to tank as they die, instead of waiting for other folks to finish =)
Adekan, EST here. I sometimes play from work ( where I can be called away at a moments notice if a customer walks in ) from 11AM to 5PM and play on and off while at home from 6PM to 2AM. I have a pretty wide range of tanks from tier 5 to tier 8. I have a bunch of tier 9s unlocked, but ended up selling them all back after getting frustrated with the stock grind.
I've got a JagdTiger 8,8cm and an FCM50t. They are both fun to drive although both play very different. The JagdTiger 8,8cm makes a lot, lot more money for me than the FCM50t, although that could be my playstyle. FCM50t is like a very fat pregnant medium tank. This thing is absolutely huge. It is so big that a Tiger II sitting next to it looks small. It is quite fast, armor is not great. The gun has very good penetration, accuracy, and rate of fire, but pretty low-damage. As Supper's Ready says, it tends to end up as the top tier tank in most battles (although honestly it isn't necessarily as good as it's Tier VIII heavy brethren IMO). I haven't seen anyone directly bitch at me, but I can imagine a lot of people wondering why my "supposedly" heavy tank is not out in front, but you just can't play it as a heavy, the armor is quite weak. I think probably the best way to play it is as a fast mobile distance sniper (use mobility to get to wherever the action is, but stay at long distance and use your gun's high accuracy to snipe). It also does pretty well in urban environments in getting around people's flanks and accelerating out of cover and then scooting back (aim time is low). The JagdTiger 8,8cm has great armor but it is slow and turns poorly. The gun has very good penetration and accuracy and a high rate of fire, but has low-damage. It's actually almost identical to the FCM50t gun. I'm not quite sure why, but the JagdTiger makes a lot more money for me. I'd say maybe upwards of an extra 15-20,000 credits per match compared to the FCM50t while running premium.
Yeah, I get complained at a lot: "Why is a heavy going up the hill with the mediums?" "WTF FCM GET ON THE FRONT LINES". I always tell them I'm not a heavy, but I don't really have time to explain it to the slower among them that although the icon says "Heavy", much like the Superpershing is not a Medium, the FCM is not a heavy. It's amazing the amount of people who manage to get to tier 8 without knowing what any of the tanks do or play like.
Heh, I resemble that, I have no clue what most of the premium tanks play like beyond the Lowe and the T-59, as those are what I encounter most. And all the american TXX's blend together into one tank for me. On the other hand, I've played lots of tanks that aren't exactly what the icon says they are. I think I'll wait a little longer to see what the next special is with premiums, though the FCM sounds tempting.
It helps a LOT when you can identify a tank through your sniper sight, and know where the weak spots are. It's the main reason I played through so many different trees. I'd find a tank I didn't know how to kill, and then go grind it to find out.
My whole point was that you found it possible to dislodge the defenders because they are undisciplined idiots who never deploy or react properly and often get impatient and give you free shots. This doesn't happen against organized teams. Worse, in CW teams can control their composition, and the defenders don't have to advance. How do you defeat 15 T110E3s without any arty? What do you do if they can just circle the wagons and say, "come and get us"?
On the SEA server now, so not much use I guess, but use Wisbech. Just to brag, had a good run over CNY. Last 110 battles, win rate 62% compared to overall average 50%. Though to be fair, I would attribute at least half of the improvement to moving servers (lower lag), rest to playing better/ luck and the x5/x3 impact of CNY (causes many people to play carelessly with their lesser played tanks to try and get the increased daily bonus) Tank that surprises me - after 126 games am at 59.5% WR with Covenanter. It doesn't feel that good a tank, but my WR is basically the same as the Cromwell, which is considered (and is) a great tank. Even odder as the one inbetween (Crusader) am at 43%.
It's sad but that this gets the matchmaking the type 59 used to is one of the biggest factors that influences me wanting to buy it.
Why don't you play assault? I enjoy them as a change, yes, can be horribly imbalanced at times, but evens out (i.e. you are defender as much as attacker) I'm also in the camp that says arty adds more than it subtracts, but then again I only have played mid tier, were a few SU26/ Priests a side doesn't feel gamebreaking. Yeah, it annoying losing tank to an unseen one shot, but usually because you were doing something wrong (staying still to take "one more shot" for example) I think it encourages fire/ movement and an element of overwatch, rather than somewhat static duels. My most disliked gameplay is the "heavy tank peekaboo/ sidescrape/ brawl" Doesn't seem historic, and relies on the fact that gun barrels aren't properly modelled
Nice video. Are you saying this as someone who actually drove a S35? I ask because I didn't drive the Chi-Ha (my usual platoonmate wanted to skip it), but I can usually nail a Chi-Ha three times before it can even get a properly-aimed shot off.
Then only make the opt out option available to public battles. After all you're never going to get 15 of anything on the same team, due to the random nature and tier spread. I've never done Clan Wars or company battles, so I don't feel qualified to argue about that environment. But there is a reason why I'm not asking for the removal of artillery, only an option to play without it in random battles. Because when I came back to the game, and discovered all these new modes, I actually tried Assault for a few weeks. It was stupidly unbalanced, and I got fed up with it. One of the final straws was when I, in my Centurion Mk I, was the last tank alive against like 6 of the enemy, so after fighting till my last hundred hitpoints, I ran. Thanks to my delaying tactics I ended up "wining" that Assault match because the poor bastards could not cap in time. What kind of battle type allows this form of insanity? Still like Encounter though. Caveat emptor: no idea if the special matchmaking will stay that way.
See, that makes me LOL. The % of players who fail to push hard & cap at the end, preferring to snipe and get more damage points, is rather high... Having said that I have actually won on assault on Sand River (they were being so defensive that I managed to slip my medium up into the hills behind their cap, lighting up just about whole team)
I have a lot of the premium vehicles and I find that the Lowe is the most consistent money maker (about 50-70,000 per match on premium). Is the SEA server as bad as what they say? I was tempted to transfer but then tales of the truly awful game play drove me off. That and the communication issues- I hate getting on in the evening and seeing the chat fill up with Tagalog or rectangles.
In fairness the FCM50t is a relatively new addition. I took a couple months off, and when I came back, there it was. I wouldn't know anything about it, except I looked it up because I wanted another premium to complement my JagdTiger 8,8cm. I still have absolutely no idea on the strengths and weaknesses of the new Chinese tanks, nor do I have any idea about the new US line they added. In fact, when I see their numbers/names, I'm never really sure if it's a Chinese tank or a new US tank. Speaking of which, any opinions on the new US line? They upper tier mediums in the line look pretty interesting, although I don't know how they play.
The new US T9/T10 tanks have the chassis of a T110E5 and the turret of an AMX50B. So, autoloader with 250+ frontal armor. They are pretty slow, though.
So the patch notes for the 8.4 test are out now. Thoughts? Of particular note to me: I personally felt they absolutely got Dragon Ridge perfect with the last re-balance. It has actually been my favorite map for a long while. I also had no issues with Serene Coast and felt it was pretty well balanced, and fun to play on. I am quite sad to see these re-worked. It's about time they made a tutorial of some kind. Hopefully it turns out to actually be useful. i may even turn Assault mode back on, as those were the two worst assault maps of the bunch.
The biggest problem with Dragon ridge is early sniping from the bowl as tanks head up the road. You'd think people would learn to dip down to avoid it, but I'm betting that is an overwhelming advantage from that side that doens't exist from the other side. Also, Dragon Ridge is horribad for Arty. BTW - I love this map as the fight should be in that little town. and rewards aggressive playstyles. Serene Coast, similar problem is that South side has a nice sniper pltaform where they can snipe left or right and dip behind rocks. On the North side, if you go out on that ridge, all you have is a rock or two to hide behind - and you're pretty much trapped. North side seems to be very exposed in going down to the beach unless they take the long way around, whereas South side can take the side-cutoff and get into position fairly easily w/out being seen. Most map adjustments have been to take away the sniping potential from one side. I'm suprised they havne't fixed Malinivoka but I guess they figure that both sides can get hit.
8.4 test is out. The tutorial is very basic, perfect for teaching the young'un or significant other what this game is actually about without them getting called an unwashed cunt-dick-ass-pig in seven different languages. It teaches "this button moves the tank. This one fires the gun. Hide in a bush. Fire at the side or rear of big tanks." It does teach by letting-do though, so that's something. Seems the games' looks got a bit of polish. The new tanks are... new? Havent really played much with 'em. I think i'll just ease my way on up the english td tree when the patch hits live.
That sounds pretty good for new players. A lot of people don't know about weak spots, or even that the game has a camo mechanic. Hopefully this will result in better educated lower tier players.
Heh, that's funny because what got me to try the game was the Wiki that describes the battle mechanics.
Sniping on Malinovka is stupid unless the opponent is incredibly stupid. Usually, fast lights across the middle just result in two-thirds of the north team never leaving base and getting bottled up and smashed. I don't feel that Serene Coast favors the south team at all; the north team has a corresponding advantage on the east side of the map. The problem with Serene Coast is that it's ludicrously unsafe to advance on ANY side, thus resulting in miserable stalemates. This map is worse without arty, but I didn't mention it previously because quite frankly, it's unplayable no matter what the team compositions are and desperately needs to be removed or reworked.
Malinovka is all about the hill in the north east. It hasn't been a problematic map since most people have figured this out -- and yet the "campinovka" moniker persists. Serene Coast is truly terrible. I've had a hugely disproportionate amount of draws on this map. Dragon Ridge is one of the best maps they ever introduced, so of course it has to be removed -- meanwhile, that unimaginative shoebox Ensk is still here.
For anyone wondering why I love Serene Coast, this is why. I do that or something near that every single time I get this map with this tank. I don't usually manage to get anything but arty, but I ALWAYS get at least one arty, and usually a scout medal.
Yep, another vote for Dragon Ridge, I like it, especially if playing a medium. Malinovka is one dimensional - as you say, all about the hill. Plays better as an encounter map. Personally, like Live Oaks best. Aggression can really pay off (wait for people to get focused on the town, waltz around them, kill arty, cap) Bugger, 8.4 patch notes out, have been amassing XP on the wrong Churchill for the TD crossover. Oh well, only about 12,000 XP... Unfortunately, almost all the UK TDs look to be assault tanks, rather than TDs, with the exception of T2,3 and 10.
I never seem to get dragon ridge when I want it, like I get it when I'm in my AMX 40, which may be slower than my KV-1. So far, I hate my AMX 40 now worse than my Panther, I have the free xp to skip it, so it's tempting, as the next tank looks like lots of fun
Now I feel like a cad after watching Adekan's replay (which was great btw), I didn't realize that was Serene Coast so all my previous comments are invalid on Serene Coast. I agree with Supper's Ready that it does result in far too many draws - although I did get top gun on it last night . (For the record, my previous comments were South Coast)
Haven't noticed it being any better/ worse than NA was for game play tbh. Anecdotally, platooons matter less to the outcome of a battle- which may be the comms issue. On NA, I would make a point of checking what the platooned tanks were doing, on SEA I don't bother. The main drawback is fairly low numbers, 2,000-9,000 is the range I've seen. From dunnunder & godzone the ping improvemebt may not be worth it, from here it definately was.
Great time playing platooned with you guys, and chatting in TS ( after the robot voice issue sorted itself, at any rate ). Hit me up any time for another run.
