World of Tanks

[StarshipTitanic]

When does the T-34-85s become fun to use? Because I bought one and I make almost no money. Good thing I saved my T-34 for money making and fun. The 57mm ZiS is like a machine gun with a trained crew and the rammer. It's everything I wish light tanks were.

[wautd]

Historically, was the KV1 notorious for loosing its tracks? Or is it a coincidence that every game that includes the mechanism will have the KV1 loose its tracks when you spit on it?

When does the T-34-85s become fun to use? Because I bought one and I make almost no money. Good thing I saved my T-34 for money making and fun. The 57mm ZiS is like a machine gun with a trained crew and the rammer. It's everything I wish light tanks were.

I got a pretty much fully upgraded T-34-85 and high experienced crew and I can guarantee it's still not fun. I'd keep the T-34 with the 57mm if I were you.

[Exonerate]

When does the T-34-85s become fun to use? Because I bought one and I make almost no money. Good thing I saved my T-34 for money making and fun. The 57mm ZiS is like a machine gun with a trained crew and the rammer. It's everything I wish light tanks were.

Never
The 34-85 is sort of in an odd place, it doesn't have the acceleration of the T-34 or the benefit of placement into the lower tier matches. I've still got my T-34 in the garage as well but sold the 34-85 as soon as I unlocked the T-43, which in my opinion, is much more fun to play. If you haven't already, I suggest spending the credits to upgrade your crew, because it will make your experience much less frustrating.

I think EVERY tank gets detracked with alarming frequency. The game designers in their infinite wisdom decided to add in a game mechanism to counter tanks that rely on mobility to stay alive but apparently thought it unnecessary to make one to counter high armor/HP tanks.

[Agent Sorchus]

Historically, was the KV1 notorious for loosing its tracks? Or is it a coincidence that every game that includes the mechanism will have the KV1 loose its tracks when you spit on it?

This is why I buy a small repair kit, I only use it when I have been tracked and still have a chance to live. It would be a waste to use it if you are about to die, but to get away from arty after having been detracked by a medium who can barely hurt you? Yes please.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

They have their de-tracking design bass ackwards.

Currently, lights/mediums get their tracks blown off if the wind changes direction. I can't count the number of groan-worthy incidents where by some magic a high-power shell blows through my tank, causing a shitload of HP damage... and also somehow blows off both tracks. Lights and mediums need every scrap of mobility they can get just to compete with heavies, but lose it even if the enemy isn't even aiming at their tracks.

Conversely, I've pumped round after round specifically into heavies' tracks to little effect. Aiming exclusively at tracks usually means you won't cause any HP damage, which is fine when your gun can't penetrate their armor anyway. Shooting out heavies' tracks should be the means by which smaller, lighter tanks can hope to compete with heavies, especially the insane post-war fantasy wank gigatanks which have no equivalents in the other trees.

[Stark]

Decent hit-locating system would also let them balance the suspensions too; some of the better suspensions are horrible to repair, make the track more vulnerable, etc.

I'm sad the transmission on the Tiger doesn't burn out in 15m.

[StarshipTitanic]

They have their de-tracking design bass ackwards.

Currently, lights/mediums get their tracks blown off if the wind changes direction. I can't count the number of groan-worthy incidents where by some magic a high-power shell blows through my tank, causing a shitload of HP damage... and also somehow blows off both tracks. Lights and mediums need every scrap of mobility they can get just to compete with heavies, but lose it even if the enemy isn't even aiming at their tracks.

Conversely, I've pumped round after round specifically into heavies' tracks to little effect. Aiming exclusively at tracks usually means you won't cause any HP damage, which is fine when your gun can't penetrate their armor anyway. Shooting out heavies' tracks should be the means by which smaller, lighter tanks can hope to compete with heavies, especially the insane post-war fantasy wank gigatanks which have no equivalents in the other trees.

Good, so it's not just me. I thought the 76mm gun on the A-20 would at least detrack mediums and heavies so I'd have some chance of escape. Do we know or have any hint that wartime chronology will ever have an impact in matchmaking?

I'm sad the transmission on the Tiger doesn't burn out in 15m.

Then you must be happy that matches only last 15 minutes.

[Stark]

Are you stupid? Remember how you have to pay for repairs? I'm glad you accept that the game makes no real attempt to reflect characteristics of tanks beyond 'turret speed' and 'poorly researched armour number'.

What they need is to go more gamey and add smoke, tactical aid, and other player stuff to keep it interesting. Fixing the balance is probably not going to happen any time soon.

[StarshipTitanic]

Are you stupid?

Nah, I just wanted to see if you'd take my snarky one-liner and predictably try to divine a chronically misinformed opinion that you could flame. I was not disappointed.

Smokescreens would be nice. And they could get rid of the red outlines so tank skins would matter more and you wouldn't have to buy "+25%" camo nets.

[wautd]

Are you stupid?

Smokescreens would be nice.

On top of that, I miss clouds of dust, or sprays of water and mud when driving trough a stream or swamp. You're driving a steel beast, but you wouldn't notice that on the environment (well, apart from driving over trees and some buildings).

[Zinegata]

Played the Sherman Easy 8 again. Still a very sweet tank, but I'm beginning to see some of its problems.

First of all, I made a mistake regarding the gun's power: The 76mm gun is actually a little weaker than the German 75mm L70. So while it shoots faster, it is a little weaker.

Also, I notice people may be getting the stock Sherman mixed with my tank (the Sherman Easy , so lemme do a quick comparison...

The Easy 8 has about 50% more life, is a bit faster, and has a faster turret traverse. So all of the stats are better, unlike the T-34/85. Plus, the extra life does tend to mean that you can often survive one direct hit from a heavy.

The Easy 8 doesn't have the 105mm though, which does seem to be a lot like the 152mm KV gun in some respects. So you really are stuck with "plinking" and will never get one-shot killing power.

The Easy 8 does have a better 76mm gun, which shoots faster than a stock Sherman's 76mm option.

As for matchups... can't really say (I don't have a stock Sherman). I'd say I tend to face a good number of heavies about half of the time, but I noted before with proper shoot and scooting you can really chew up some heavies.

It's not as good a moneymaker as the Sherman though. On a NON-premium account I tend to make 12K a match, with 2-4K for repairs.

[Zinegata]

So - very - short on money. But having fun, nonetheless.

First and most important thing for making money; do not spend gold on anything but premium time. If possible, buy the time in at least one week chucks. I don't know how much if any gold you get as a nest egg as a new tester, but eventually you can save enough gold to go "permanent" premium where you get more gold in the month then it costs to buy the monthly premium.

As for making money, I'm not certain. It used to be suicide scout in light tanks for quick and easy cash, but with the removal of warping tanks, little scouts often get nuked without scouting much. Arty is another go to money-maker, but they did a few changes to it as well recently so sure how they alters its money-machine effect. I'm currently working through the T-43 and KV grinds, so not been in a light or arty recently.

How can you make more gold? I get a daily gold stipend (about 150 a day I think), but it's not enough for a perma-premium.

I also tend to spend my gold on freeing up XP, as it lets me skip a lot of crappy tanks while I grind using the ones I find to be fun (i.e. Hummel).

[Slacker]

150 gold a day in the space of 30 days equals 4500 gold. A month of premium is less than 4500 gold.

[Master of Cards]

Whats the money making set up for the Sherman (not Easy ? I'm not having so much fun with it.

[Zinegata]

Okay, just noticed the monthly option and feel really stupid.

Sherman I think you can go with either the 76mm gun (for plinking) or the 105mm (for high-damage shots to side)

[Thanas]

So...what would be a good progression to go from the Loltraktor?

[D.Turtle]

I would go down the german medium line to at least the Pz 4, or better the VK3601. Those are both very good, fun tanks and good money makers. At that point you can decide what path you want to take.

Of course you can always go for arty, as that is a very cheap and easy path to take.

I wouldn't go down the TD tree, as that is a very expensive and one-sided tree.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

So...what would be a good progression to go from the Loltraktor?

PzII -> PzIII Ausf A -> PzIII

The Ausf A sucks, but thankfully it doesn't last long and makes way for the most excellent PzIII. From there, it's up to you whether you want to go for Tigers or Panthers (PzIV for the Tiger path, PzIII/IV for the Panther). Personally I'm going for both.

[Zinegata]

So...what would be a good progression to go from the Loltraktor?

I would say it'll depend on your preferred "career path". Having an end goal in mind will help a lot in getting you the good tanks with minimal grind.

Basically, your end goal should be to get one of the following:

a) Scout Tank (Panzer Mk III or Panzer II Leopard)
b) Medium Tank (Mk IV, VK series, or Panther)
c) Heavy Tank (Tiger II or a Super-Heavy)
d) Artillery (Hummel)
e) Tank Destroyer (Jagdpanzer IV or heavier)

If you're undecided though, the Mk II is the best, because it eventually branches to everything except the Tank Destroyer.

How do you envision yourself playing the game? I ask so we can give good advice on what tank class you should eventually go for.

[Mr Bean]

I'd disagree with Zinegata here and agree with Brother-Captain Gaius

Go for the Panzer III, it's the best light/medium tank, a decent money earner and of the early Tier tanks it has the best cost/benefit ratio. Go to the Panzer III, get it to vet status (All upgrades bought) then bank your excess experience to get to the tank you want. You only have to buy a few upgrades to climb the upgrade tree for most tanks. The other route to make money is the Artillery route because Artillery easily makes money and experience if you know what your doing. The German Strumpanzer II and the Soviet Su-26 are both good money makers once upgraded and cheap to operate.

However again the Panzer III route shows it's benfits because after the PIII is the PIV which lets you go for Tiger's OR Panthers or the Hummel.

On the Soviet side you have no option either work you way down the T-34 tree for the best medium tanks in the game and the heaviest tank destroyers or work the artillery tree for artillery, or work the heavy tree for heavies.

The allied method is simple, get to the M3 Lee, that lets you get to the best heavies, mediums and artillery. (M2 Light to M2 Medium to M3 Lee and your set work towards the tank you want)

These upgrades paths also benefit from at the moment being filled with mostly great tanks.

[Zinegata]

Dude, I'm not dissing the Panzer III.

But depending on your career path, there may be other better money-earners. You don't need to get a Panzer III for instance if you plan to have an artillery career.

Besides which, not everyone likes driving Scout-class tanks . I would say it is better that you at least grind in a way that you enjoy.

[D.Turtle]

The thing is, at the beginning (heck even later) you don't know which path/tank fits you best - thats why its best to go a route where you can easily change directions. Thats why you go either for the Pz 4 in the German tree (everything easily reachable except TD) or, as Mr Bean said, go for the M3 Lee in the American tree.

Everything else pigeonholes you into mostly one path.

Note: Many of the upgrades of the Pz 3/4, Pz 4, VK3001H, VK3001P, VK3601H overlap - so its very easy to move up the other branch. However, the Pz4 and VK3601 are very effective, while the VK3001s aren't.

[Thanas]

How do you envision yourself playing the game? I ask so we can give good advice on what tank class you should eventually go for.

I generally am not good at high speed stuff, because I am going to play on a new laptop with a new keyboard layout and a new mouse. So I'd rather be able to take a few hits and duke it out. Other than that - I definitely want to play the Tiger, the Panther and the Jagdpanzer at some point. Can I go down one thread and then - with the hopefully saved cash - buy a high level TD when I went down the heavy tier? Or do I have to start at a low level one again?

[xthetenth]

How do you envision yourself playing the game? I ask so we can give good advice on what tank class you should eventually go for.

I generally am not good at high speed stuff, because I am going to play on a new laptop with a new keyboard layout and a new mouse. So I'd rather be able to take a few hits and duke it out. Other than that - I definitely want to play the Tiger, the Panther and the Jagdpanzer at some point. Can I go down one thread and then - with the hopefully saved cash - buy a high level TD when I went down the heavy tier? Or do I have to start at a low level one again?

You pretty much have to start at a low level, unless you just save your free xp up, then you should be able to get to the hetzer at the very least. I'd say to not use your free xp while you get to the Tiger. Then play the low level td's till you get to the hetzer, just to get a feel for the things and because they're pretty fun, and then use your free xp to get through the hetzer. That thing is one of those annoying awkward things that gets matched horribly and can't fight well enough to be worthwhile.

[Mr Bean]

How do you envision yourself playing the game? I ask so we can give good advice on what tank class you should eventually go for.

I generally am not good at high speed stuff, because I am going to play on a new laptop with a new keyboard layout and a new mouse. So I'd rather be able to take a few hits and duke it out. Other than that - I definitely want to play the Tiger, the Panther and the Jagdpanzer at some point. Can I go down one thread and then - with the hopefully saved cash - buy a high level TD when I went down the heavy tier? Or do I have to start at a low level one again?

You don't have to even own the tank to research upgrades for it. Open up the tech tree and see the upgrade path in each tank. For example in the M2's case you have to spend 105 points on the turret and 730 points on the tank tank, you don't have to research the guns, the chassie or the radios to upgrade into the M3 Lee.

You have two kinds of experience, general and tank specific. You get general experience in much smaller amounts than tank specific (1/10th as much) but you can use gold to turn tank specific experience into general experience assuming the tank is in the vet status vet status is of course reached when you upgrade all benefits in one line of tanks.

Also note the experience upgrades scale. You might get 500 experience on a great run with the Lol-trackor. That same run (4-5 kills and win the match) will give you 1200 experience in a Tier 5 tank or 2400 if you have premium running. Plus an extra 150-250 of general experience. Tier 7 is closer to 2500-5000 a great run plus doubling, so the higher you go the better the rewards.