World of Tanks

[xthetenth]

The German B2 still has its friendly matchmaking:

The current matchmaking chart for 7.1.

[Simon_Jester]

Well, the B2 is a premium tank; there's not much point to owning it in the first place if you can't take it into battle and get a fairly reliable profit out of it, which means you can't be too heavily overmatched by the things you go up against.

Whereas the B1 is simply another Tier 4 tank; if it's overmatched in some fraction of the battles it runs into, that isn't the end of the world. Pretty much every non-premium tank in the game ends up heavily overmatched now and then.

[Zinegata]

Having begun the grind, I must say: Gunpower on the low-tier French tanks suck.

[xthetenth]

Yeah, till tier V heavy and tier VI light, the gun is megameh. It gets better. Way better.

[Zinegata]

Yeah, till tier V heavy and tier VI light, the gun is megameh. It gets better. Way better.

Yeah, I noticed the Vanquisher option for the Leman Russ .

Is the AMX-12's 75mm that bad though? Seemed like it was onpar for other Tier 5 zippy tanks like the III/IV or the M7.

[xthetenth]

Oh, the gun's on par. That would be much more of a consolation if it didn't have some of the worst depression and even worse elevation. A gun that only works well on a flat plain isn't much of a gun.

[Scottish Ninja]

Hmm - what would be best to fill the third equipment slot on the T-34-85? I've already vents and rammer but debating what else to put in.

[Nephtys]

Nothing's really necessary on the T-34-85. It's pretty solid with just Rammer alone. Perhaps coated optics, a repair box, or similar misc do-dads. If you have those laying around, no need to go and buy them just for that tank.

[Simon_Jester]

If the repair box feels superfluous, you can always move it to another tank- one of the advantages.

Since I find sitting there tracked one of the most annoying things in the game, I like my toolbox.

[Gervasius]

Hmm - what would be best to fill the third equipment slot on the T-34-85? I've already vents and rammer but debating what else to put in.

Get gun-laying drive if you have credits to spare. Less time zeroing in = less time exposed to enemy fire before retreating back into cover. Toolbox is also useful, and you can carry it from one tank to another.

[Thunderfire]

I am driving a AMX40 now. A light tank that feels like a heavy. It is pretty nasty when it is top tier. First match 5 kills and a steel wall award. Like most low tier french tank it in almost impossible to kill a tank of the same type.

[Hawkwings]

I'm working through the first French heavy, the B1. It's the most well-armored, least well-armed medium tank I've played. I do have enough free experience to get the BDR G1 B. Should I? I have about 13k xp to go.

[Nephtys]

I'm working through the first French heavy, the B1. It's the most well-armored, least well-armed medium tank I've played. I do have enough free experience to get the BDR G1 B. Should I? I have about 13k xp to go.

It's also something like 10 tons too light for it's chassis. I suspect they left it that way for the future potential of activating the hullgun.

Won't THAT be fun?

[S.L.Acker]

The B1 would actually be decent if it could use it's hull weapon. At least then combat in it wouldn't consist of both sides bouncing shots while praying that a round eventually drives into a weak point.

[Alkaloid]

Dammit France, if I want to chip 2% of my enemies health, I'll start lobbing HE at tanks two tiers higher than me, not punch an AP shell through a light tank on the same tier. That said, your armour is better than I had been led to believe, and apparently made by cross breeding tanks and hi bounce balls, so kudos for that.

[xthetenth]

I'm working through the first French heavy, the B1. It's the most well-armored, least well-armed medium tank I've played. I do have enough free experience to get the BDR G1 B. Should I? I have about 13k xp to go.

I'd vote to keep it to upgrade the BDR so it's got a good gun from the start, but I'm weird and operate on a scale where 13k isn't a big deal. This may or may not apply to you. I don't think the BDR is a huge upgrade out of the box, but it can pen things. It's up to you to decide how much you want that ability.

[Nephtys]

13k isn't a big deal. But I kinda DO want to play a few of these lower-tier tanks. I've got a lot of free XP stored up from money-making on the Slugger, M4 and E8.

But well. Not sure what sort of niche a somewhat hitpoint-heavy, yet not that well armored undergunned box is supposed to serve.

[Simon_Jester]

Just in general, I try to use free experience to unlock upgrades- it's a better return on investment than pouring thousands of XP to buying new tanks.

Think about it. Every tank (except premiums) sucks when it's stock. Most tanks are pretty fun in upgraded configuration if you know how to play them. Playing a properly upgraded tank long enough to earn 5000 or 10000 XP is more fun than playing an un-upgraded one you just researched.

So it's better to use your upgraded Tier 5 tank to earn the XP to buy the Tier 6 tank, then use the free XP to buy upgrades for the Tier 6 so you can enjoy that benefit right away, than to do it the other way round, blow all your free XP buying the tank and then have nothing left for upgrades. Because then you have to earn those XP in matches using an un-upgraded Tier 6 against the kind of opponents the matchmaker throws at a Tier 6 tank, instead of using an upgraded Tier 5 against the weaker opponents a Tier 5 sees.

[xthetenth]

Victory!
Battle: Mines Tuesday, January 10, 2012 4:42:10 PM
Vehicle: AMX 40
Experience received: 2,912 (x2 for the first victory each day)
Credits received: 18,922
Battle Achievements: Steel Wall, Top Gun

Vive le France! Quack Quack, suckas!

So I was driving my full upgraded rubber ducky with Seffs, and I was waddling around behind him as he blew up things and eventually got splodinated in his panzer III. So then I picked a panzer III or III A off the hill near their base (they had the base with the single high rocky hill), slapped an M3 Lee into sense from behind good cover while he tried desperately to hurt me and failed terribly, then went nose to nose with another rubber ducky which I killed in three shots to the driver's slits, then I trundled down into the river, picked off a Panzer III of some description off at range, and finally waddled up onto the hill on the far side of the river in search of more things to quack at, when I found myself face to face with a Marder II and a Panzerjäger I. Luckily other people were there to weaken them for when I quacked one shell at each, killing both, getting the second one about half a second before the match ended from us capping. More importantly, in a tank with 300 hp, I recieved hits that would have dealt over 1000 HP in damage and only took two that did damage for about 40 HP.

[Hawkwings]

Ten shots, 7 hits, 7 kills. Granted, some of them were already softened up by the advancing forces, but Reaper 7! My second Top Gun in two days in the M7 Priest, which has become my favorite vehicle.

I just recently bought an M41 as well. I got so used to the Priest's fast reload that the M41 is just painful to play right now.

[xthetenth]

The damage is great to have though. A good shot from that can wreck something's day.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

What I miss from the Priest isn't so much the rate of fire, but the big ammo bins. I used to get so many kills by dropping rounds into likely looking bushes, weather someone had been spotted there or not. Just can't do that when you only carry 18-22 shells, especially if they cost 1100 credits each.

[Thunderfire]

@Hawkwings it is easier to post a Link if you want to show us your stats.

http://wot-news.com/index.php/stat/single/us/Hawkwings

[Simon_Jester]

Wow. So it sounds like they're going to stop selling Type 59s soon...
1) Grab 'em while you can, if you want to, and
2) I wonder what effects this will really have?

[The Vortex Empire]

Nothing good, because there are already plenty of people who will keep playing their Type 59s, and I bet since they won't be available we'll see a spike in Type 59 use since people will buy them all at once.