World of Tanks

[Zinegata]

I am loving the KV-1S so much. I think I'll call it the baby IS.

Gotta love the combination of excellent gunpower and mobility. I finally managed to get my win rate above my loss rate (the latter being thanks to a horrid run on the Mk III and M4A2E4) - fittingly with a last stand match wherein I held the line all alone against four enemy tanks and prevented them from capping the base.

[xthetenth]

You'll love the IS then. It's a solid tank even if it is similarly squishy to the KV-1S. You may have a bit of a problem stock because unlike the KV-3 the 1S doesn't have access to the 100 mm which makes the IS good stock.

[Zinegata]

I've played the IS in beta before actually (all the way up to the IS-3), and it was one of my top tanks.

I'm liking the KV-1S more as it's a tier lower and yet it "feels" almost the same as a true IS. Well, except for the KV-1S catching fire all the time.

Also, my Easy 8 is now fully upgraded and grinding to the next tank. So the question is: Slugger, or T20.

[xthetenth]

I've played the IS in beta before actually (all the way up to the IS-3), and it was one of my top tanks.

I'm liking the KV-1S more as it's a tier lower and yet it "feels" almost the same as a true IS. Well, except for the KV-1S catching fire all the time.

Also, my Easy 8 is now fully upgraded and grinding to the next tank. So the question is: Slugger, or T20.

T20 is a great tank. The Slugger is a good tank that leads to what all accounts call a great tank. I can tell you that the US medium tree from T20 to Patton is goddamn excellent. The T20 is this quick little bastard that can hide itself brilliantly because of its tiny silhouette and has a real punchy gun. It's just a great tank, and the Pershing and Patton are somehow better. The Slugger is okay, but it has sucky camo and not actually that much more armor. Good but not great and not as awesome when you get it right. It's a Wolverine only more, the T20 is the first of the true Trollwagons that end the american line.

[Mr. Coffee]

The Patton is a straight up Trollwagon. It's probably the best tank I've driven yet. Not the fastest thing on the field, but the combination of excellent armor, armor sloping, and sheer maneuverability combined with a 105mm gun that can pen the shit out of Tier Ten heavies makes it a flat out beast on the field.

[Zinegata]

I don't really plan on going higher than Tier 7 as it'd all but require a premium, but I'll keep the Patton in mind if I ever do. It sounds exactly like the way I like my tanks - excellent gunpower, great maneuverability, and even has my optional requirement of having half-decent armor.

As of now my planned "end-game" tanks are the T-29, the KV-1S, the VK3601, and the T20. If I'm feeling particularly grindy, I might extend and pick up the Patton, the Tiger II, and the T-54 (with no real need to go higher than the T-29 on the American line).

[xthetenth]

Got the T30, and wow... just wow. I wasn't all that impressed, until I realized that I was throwing down with 2500 damage a match and really got a feel for making the most of the shells (even though I'm a better shot in my T34 so far). My T34 was doing 1600 a match (yes I realize that's less HP than it has, but it's kinda an underpowered tank, so bite me) and my T32 was doing 1550 or so. Strangely enough, my Pershing does 2000 damage a match. That little bastard fucking rocks, that simple. I'll see if I can come up with a Patton.

Zinegata, if you feel grindy, the Pershing rules faces, just so ya know.

[Zinegata]

Stop tempting me to spend money to get some actual gold dammit .

But yeah, I've heard good things about the Pershing too. The only real problem is the Pershing to Patton transition. Apparently, the Pershing's best gun is not usable with the Patton, so you need to grind your Patton back to respectability. :/

[Mr. Coffee]

But yeah, I've heard good things about the Pershing too. The only real problem is the Pershing to Patton transition. Apparently, the Pershing's best gun is not usable with the Patton, so you need to grind your Patton back to respectability. :/

What are you talking about? The 90mm T15E2M2 gun is in the Patton's tech tree and is available for use on the Patton as soon as you upgrade the tracks. Between the T15 and the 105mm T5E1M2 gun the Patton isn't hard to get rolling with a good gun. I will say that the T15 is more accurate then the 105mm T5E1M2 gun, but the T5E1M2 gun makes up for it by having the third highest penetration of any gun in the US tech tree (218 pen, this thing will fuck up a Tier Ten).

[Broken]

At this point I'm trying to decide on my next grind. Next week when the patch hits I'll instantly have the E-50 and E-75. Once I get all my modules for the E-75 I might grind up to the E-100 but have not decided especially with the reports that this tank has the mudguard problem that has plagued the Maus and the pre-order US heavy. I could grind the hummel, but its 100k to the GPanther and while I dislike arty its been made abundantly clear that the devs see no problems with it and don't appear to see any reason to change it. So might as well make other players besides myself suffer from it.

My other options would be to grind the Russian medium line from basically the beginning, grind the IS line (researched but not bought the IS yet), grind the Russian arty tree (just researched S-51 via KV, but not bought one yet), grind my Pershing up to a Patton (already have a T9 medium), or grind the US's heavy tree (120k xp to T34). Due to garage slot limitations and the fact I'm not buying any more gold, I can do one of these grinds until the Russian patch hits and my KV and KV-3 shit out a couple more slots. Just looking for input while I try to decide. I could go for the IS-4 and enjoy the feeling of a T10 tank that's weighted by the match-maker as a tier 9. But the US heavy tree is tempting with the T10 replacement and possible free slot via T34. Decisions, decisions.

[xthetenth]

What are you talking about? The 90mm T15E2M2 gun is in the Patton's tech tree and is available for use on the Patton as soon as you upgrade the tracks. Between the T15 and the 105mm T5E1M2 gun the Patton isn't hard to get rolling with a good gun. I will say that the T15 is more accurate then the 105mm T5E1M2 gun, but the T5E1M2 gun makes up for it by having the third highest penetration of any gun in the US tech tree (218 pen, this thing will fuck up a Tier Ten).

You should also be able to pick up enhanced suspension items to take the pain off of not being able to mount the Pershing's top gun immediately, and by that point they look real cheap next to the cost of the tank. You can just take them off when you're done. Unfortunately all they do is add load capacity, but that's good for when you're grinding it out. The 90mm M3 is actually still a reasonably solid gun too if you can get flank shots, and the Patton doesn't drive that badly even out of the box.

At this point I'm trying to decide on my next grind. Next week when the patch hits I'll instantly have the E-50 and E-75. Once I get all my modules for the E-75 I might grind up to the E-100 but have not decided especially with the reports that this tank has the mudguard problem that has plagued the Maus and the pre-order US heavy. I could grind the hummel, but its 100k to the GPanther and while I dislike arty its been made abundantly clear that the devs see no problems with it and don't appear to see any reason to change it. So might as well make other players besides myself suffer from it.

Try to make sure you have a panther in your garage for the free Panther and Panther II they're handing out and the free garage slot. The real problem with arty though is that it's frustrating to play. Counterbattery was the most fun part of it and now it's gone. I sold my M41 a bit after they killed it and it's only in retrospect that I get why. Platooned counterbattery is just plain fun. Point and click tank shooting? Not so much. If you want to make other players suffer, just shoot for the engine and cackle maniacally when they light on fire. Or you could go for ammo rack shots, but they're rare. I only know of two I made. One was earlier today after I got lit on fire twice for the kill while I had an IS-4 at my mercy. Annoying, that.

My other options would be to grind the Russian medium line from basically the beginning, grind the IS line (researched but not bought the IS yet), grind the Russian arty tree (just researched S-51 via KV, but not bought one yet), grind my Pershing up to a Patton (already have a T9 medium), or grind the US's heavy tree (120k xp to T34). Due to garage slot limitations and the fact I'm not buying any more gold, I can do one of these grinds until the Russian patch hits and my KV and KV-3 shit out a couple more slots. Just looking for input while I try to decide. I could go for the IS-4 and enjoy the feeling of a T10 tank that's weighted by the match-maker as a tier 9. But the US heavy tree is tempting with the T10 replacement and possible free slot via T34. Decisions, decisions.

Which Russian tier 6 heavy do you have? If it's the KV-1S, go for the KV-13 and into the mediums that way. It's a really solid tank. The Patton is freaking brilliant, it's got all the agility and potential to be the most annoying thing on the map of the Pershing only more so. The T34 is probably a really good call, the M103 looks really amusing and the T34 is actually a solid tank and will turn into a Loewe equivalent (hooray credits!). Can you sell a tank to do more than one? I'd be tempted to go with the US tree, it's an awesome set of tanks and the T34, which isn't great but isn't too bad either. If you can and want, I'd recommend grinding the IS-4 and T34, but the IS-4 might be too far off considering the patch which moves it is likely the next one.

I'm currently grinding for the T30 and IS-4 with the Patton as a third, but that's really waiting till Coffee turns his T20 into a Pershing for serious grind. One thing you might want to keep in mind is that the T-43 is just not a very good tank, and the T-44 is going to suck stock. Tier VIII with only 150 or so pen? Sounds real nasty to me. I personally think the Patton is the better tank just because it's capable of making itself a far worse target with judicious use of terrain, and that gun has stupid throwdown. Then again, for clanning, actual damage isn't necessarily the point of a medium.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

Man, I wish I had a better video card, but all of my money goes to bills right now. Arty is still the only thing I can play effectively, and as much as I like it, it does get boring. I'm trying to grind my way up to a Russian heavy through the T-28, but it makes me want to scream, I get about 7-10 frames per second when I'm sitting still, 3 when I'm moving, and if I get shot at, it drops down to one frame per second. This makes it next to impossible for me to get an aimed shot off, unless I'm sitting perfectly still, and even then I have trouble getting my sights on the target. I count it as a good match in that tank if I actually hit something before dying horribly, forget about kills. I'm open to the idea that I might be doing something wrong, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of my problems would go away if the game ran smoother for me.

[Ægen]

Haven't really played much, in tier 2 medium US, and tier 2 arty US, and the PzIII atm, have no idea were I really want to go though.

[xthetenth]

Haven't really played much, in tier 2 medium US, and tier 2 arty US, and the PzIII atm, have no idea were I really want to go though.

Try random tanks. Get something to tier V for the cash flow, panzer 4's a decent choice that doesn't lead through anything too stupid, and just try things. Something will stick. Or if you're really unlucky you'll be like me and everything will stick and you'll end up doing something like going up all the US trees, the Russian medium, heavy and TD trees, and the German E series heavy tree and maybe the mediums. Yep, I'm actively going up 6 trees and have considerable progress on 8.

This goes for anyone, if you want to platoon up, I'm the same name in there, feel free to throw me a PM or platoon invite. I might be grinding stupid large tanks but I have one for most occasions sitting in my garage (read 2, 5 and 7-9). Plus, hilariously mismatched tank pairs are funny.

[Zinegata]

But yeah, I've heard good things about the Pershing too. The only real problem is the Pershing to Patton transition. Apparently, the Pershing's best gun is not usable with the Patton, so you need to grind your Patton back to respectability. :/

What are you talking about? The 90mm T15E2M2 gun is in the Patton's tech tree and is available for use on the Patton as soon as you upgrade the tracks. Between the T15 and the 105mm T5E1M2 gun the Patton isn't hard to get rolling with a good gun. I will say that the T15 is more accurate then the 105mm T5E1M2 gun, but the T5E1M2 gun makes up for it by having the third highest penetration of any gun in the US tech tree (218 pen, this thing will fuck up a Tier Ten).

I've been reading up on the Patton and people have pointed out that it's stuck with an incredibly shitty gun until you upgrade the tracks. Hopefully I'll have 22K lying around to avoid this, but I'd really rather not do another run like my short 122mm saga with the KV-1S.

Also, funnily, just got 3 kills on the KV-1S in an excellent win. And I died two seconds before we won. By fire. Again.

[xthetenth]

I've been playing around with this excellent stat analysis tool for WoT and I've discovered some funny stuff about my stats. For starters, my T1 dealt 111% of its damage received, and the M6 99%. Yep, I took less damage in those two than I dealt. Take that doubters of the T1 chassis!

My Lee? 128% My T18, which is my best? 207% Tank destroyers are obviously stupidly good at dealing more damage than they take, but strangely, my Lee is right at the very top of my list of tanks in that stat. I also confirmed the huge role spotting plays in xp gain, since my IS spots a lot better than my T29 and got more xp/match despite doing less damage per round, taking more in comparison and generally being less killy. Unfortunately I think I've got test server data in my file, so I can't compare the average xp on my IS-3 and T32 as easily, but they're about dead even on the normal server. The T32 is just a bit more capable at dealing damage and gets a much better rate of 128% to 106%, and gets more kills per game (I obviously stole more kills per match too), and it seems to take less damage per match, but spots less per match. Remember kids, getting spots and keeping them while your allies shoot them generates good xp.

However the one true outlier tank is my T34. That vicious little bastard put out 149% of the damage it took. I actually dealt more average damage than its total reserve of HP. This goes so far to explaining why I have a 70% victory rate in that thing and nearly as many battle heroes in it as my Sherman, which has four times the battles. The Sherman confirmed my opinion of it as an awesome tank too, at 129% and also putting out more damage than its HP pool on average. Both of those naturally put my Pz 4 to shame.

[Highlord Laan]

And another match where my EZ8 goes up against Panther II's and IS4's with GW Panther cover with nothing by a few more EZ8's, a pair of T43's and a couple M6's for backup. The matchmaker balance is totally correct, really.

[Zinegata]

High-tier enemies is always an issue for the Easy 8, but there should be other Tier 6s in the enemy team you can pick on too.

[Highlord Laan]

High-tier enemies is always an issue for the Easy 8, but there should be other Tier 6s in the enemy team you can pick on too.

For the past couple days, not really. It's been "everyone play their T8+" weekend.

[Bluewolf]

Well I got the 105mm gun for the T29, not as big as I was expecting damage wise but I am not complaining about the extra damage I can incur. With a 79% accuracy rate, I am not wasting too many shots and I hope to improve it further. Now its' learning where to actually these tanks tio make my shots count more.

[xthetenth]

Well I got the 105mm gun for the T29, not as big as I was expecting damage wise but I am not complaining about the extra damage I can incur. With a 79% accuracy rate, I am not wasting too many shots and I hope to improve it further. Now its' learning where to actually these tanks tio make my shots count more.

Okay, it's time for the grand list of things the US 105 can pen mark 1

American heavies: hull front, sides rear (except for the T34 rear turret, counterweight for the gun there).

T8 and below mediums and Patton, aim hull and you'll rarely bounce.

T7 and below, most everywhere works but the mangled on the jagdpanther and T25, Porsche tiger front hull is iffy for after patch.

Turret is a bad idea if it isn't rear or maybe side unless noted otherwise (it won't be)

IS-3, hull if it isn't square at you, and bottom nose plate if it is.

IS-4, driver's hatch on front (maybe), sides square on (not the gas tanks), rear.

IS-7 sides if square, rear.

King tiger, Ausf A lower front, sides, rear. (LSR, you'll see this a lot)

Ausf B, E-75, sides, rear, low front if you're desperate.

Maus, rear maybe.

E-100 turret sides, all rear.

T-54 front hull if square, side, rear.

E-50 probably the same, maybe lower hull is viable too.

ISU anywhere

Obj. 704 not the front unless desperate, never the mantlet.

Ferdinand, Jagdtiger LSR

T28, T95 LSR but the lower hull is tiny and an iffy proposition to pen.

Arty anywhere.

[xthetenth]

Patch coming tomorrow, should be a good sale event thursday (anniversary of its launch (in Russia) iirc) as well, so you guys going for early E series might want to waitfor day 2 just in case.

[xthetenth]

The patch is live, platoons for two people (hooray!) and all the german tanks are in. The new map is pretty cool in my book, it's got the open/city divide of westfield without that map's giant hill split and a nice city fight to be had.

Also, the first thing they're giving for their anniversary is a free day of premium. There's going to be more though.

[LaCroix]

Quick question: If someone creates a clan, but runs out of premium, does the clan stay active?

[xthetenth]

Quick question: If someone creates a clan, but runs out of premium, does the clan stay active?

It should, there's no reason for it not to. Why?