World of Tanks Mark 2

[Zinegata]

WoT's pace is considerably slower than FPSs. Blazing away with your gun is generally a bad idea.

It really pays to learn concealment, positioning, and knowing when to shoot and and when to know you're overmatched and should run away.

Oh yeah, I get that. It's just that after I played through ME2/3 in a row, I got a reflex for hitting whichever key is reload the instant I stop firing. Which in WoT is just a source of endless frustration, well, when you have a semi-auto gun.

Later guns stop being autocannons, and thanks to crazy ammo costs you really have to fire each shot carefully. On the flip side, they're much more accurate to the point anyone without an 80% hit rate for their Tier 8-10 is really someone who isn't even trying (and yes, that hit rate already include misses for various good low probability shots /terrain clearing that people ought to take more).

[Imperial528]

Yeah, I just got a non-auto gun. Much better, imo.

In the match I'm playing right now, something hilarious just happened. Our T18 got stuck, so a BT-2 started ramming him to try and shake him loose. Next thing we see is "Doppel (T18) killed Faux_Pawn (BT-2)" Lol.

[Zinegata]

Yeah, I just got a non-auto gun. Much better, imo.

In the match I'm playing right now, something hilarious just happened. Our T18 got stuck, so a BT-2 started ramming him to try and shake him loose. Next thing we see is "Doppel (T18) killed Faux_Pawn (BT-2)" Lol.

LOL. BT-2s really do tend to be on the losing end of ramming matches. My epic match in a Rennault ended with me taking 60 hits and surviving... the most noticeable hit being a BT-2 that rammed my side in frustration and blew up .

[Skywalker_T-65]

I'm telling you...its still more funny that I rammed a Hetzer (in REVERSE) and killed it with my Stuart.

[Nephtys]

What a horrific round. A T92 missed my M103 by a whole tank's length, but took out 900+ hitpoints, the loader and my track. That's absurd. 7 Tier 8 Arty on one side, 5 tier 8 arty + 2 T-50-2s on the other.

[Vendetta]

Yeah, I just got a non-auto gun. Much better, imo.

In the match I'm playing right now, something hilarious just happened. Our T18 got stuck, so a BT-2 started ramming him to try and shake him loose. Next thing we see is "Doppel (T18) killed Faux_Pawn (BT-2)" Lol.

You can't push live tanks around anyway, so this was probably not a good approach to the problem


Of course, in 8.0 where you can push people around you shouldn't get stuck anyway because there aren't any non-pathable areas. I expect to see many many people driving off cliffs when it goes live as they try to do the "get as far forward as possible to shoot down at people below" business.

[xthetenth]

Yeah, I just got a non-auto gun. Much better, imo.

In the match I'm playing right now, something hilarious just happened. Our T18 got stuck, so a BT-2 started ramming him to try and shake him loose. Next thing we see is "Doppel (T18) killed Faux_Pawn (BT-2)" Lol.

You can't push live tanks around anyway, so this was probably not a good approach to the problem


Of course, in 8.0 where you can push people around you shouldn't get stuck anyway because there aren't any non-pathable areas. I expect to see many many people driving off cliffs when it goes live as they try to do the "get as far forward as possible to shoot down at people below" business.

I've killed myself from full on the test server doing that...

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah, my tank is going to die that way a few times. It'll really change certain maps in some ways, like Himmelsdorf. Suddenly, those holes in the edge of the hill stop being good sniper positions and start being hazardous death traps if you drive far enough forward to shoot out of them.

Another reason for russian bias is that WoT is full of magical prototypes and one-off experiments. ... Instead, nearly every US Vehicle has historical equipment as it's final gear.

I laugh. It isn't like many of the American high Level TD's weren't made up wholesale. The T28 prototype is based on naught but a random doodle that was in some tank design memo. This is just an idiotic argument, especially since the Russian stuff was built even if it never was deployed while we have doodles in the American tree.

I don't think it's so much the tanks being napkin design projects. It's the equipment.

The Panzer IV, for example, used to have that turret that let it mount the stock gun of the Panther and carry a 120mm turret front, even though they needed a "suspension upgrade" to increase the tank's load capacity by 33% just to accommodate it. Similar arguments apply to the T-34-100, except that doesn't even require a special turret upgrade.

If we were going to play that game for the Americans, the M4A3E8 would probably need a 'turret upgrade' so it could be refitted with some of the modifications the Israelis made (like using an AMX-13-90 turret for more firepower) or special prototypes (retrofitting a 90mm gun in to see if it could be done).

The tank performs adequately without this, for a number of reasons, it's not a concrete source of bias- but it's annoying, in a vague way. Every tree has prototypes, but the American hardware seems a lot more likely to be limited to what they actually put in the tank for its 'famous' tanks.

[wautd]

Heh... a teammate in his Panzer IV got stuck and I was the only one willing to give him a bump. Offcourse, I was in a dinky, lighter T49 with 2% health left, but we all got out OK.

[Imperial528]

Just had a pretty good match in my new M3 Stuart. I spent most of it protecting one of our artillery guys since we had enough people defending at the front lines. Then they have one vehicle left, an M37, so I start driving out to go find him.

I see him, he sees me, we both miss. Second shot, I take him down a bit, but I can tell that he's trying to immobilize me (shells landing near my treads). So I rammed him head-on, bring him down to just 4%, and bam, get him point-blank.

Would've had barely a scratch on me, too, were it not that a team arty had already started firing and tracked me. Or maybe he thought I stole his kill. Still, it was annoying.

[Vendetta]

I see him, he sees me, we both miss. Second shot, I take him down a bit, but I can tell that he's trying to immobilize me (shells landing near my treads). So I rammed him head-on, bring him down to just 4%, and bam, get him point-blank.

At that level against a moving target he's probably got his circle slap bang on top of your head, arty at low levels is pretty inaccurate.

[LaCroix]

Of course, in 8.0 where you can push people around you shouldn't get stuck anyway because there aren't any non-pathable areas. I expect to see many many people driving off cliffs when it goes live as they try to do the "get as far forward as possible to shoot down at people below" business.

I can't wait for that - and for a stupid guy ramming a rock at full speed killing himself. Game will get much better if physics are accurate, as well...

[Esquire]

Started the game a couple days ago. I just got a Panzer III medium - wow, is it different from the IIIA I was using before! Anybody have any tips for larger tanks?

[Simon_Jester]

Reload times get slower- for pretty much any 75mm gun it's 4-5 seconds, for anything larger it gets proportionately slower. Take your first opportunity in a vehicle with a five or six second load time to get the hang of 'peekaboo'- the exercise of moving back and forth behind cover (or 'below' a ridgeline in hull down position)- to protect yourself.

Also, get used to your armor helping you against at least some opponents, which Tier 2 and 3 armor rarely does. But make sure to realize just what tanks and guns your armor is useful against; if the enemy's gun reliably breaks 100mm of armor and you only have 50mm protecting you, it won't do you a lot of good and you need to rely on cover and mobility.

[Skywalker_T-65]

You know what I find hilarious now? The 'Russian guns are horribly inaccurate' thing. The single most Sniper medals I've gotten in any tank are from my KV-1.

[Simon_Jester]

The 57mm is obviously an excellent sniper gun, one of the few Russian guns designed for the role. The 85mm is also effective. It's not long-range accurate but it is effective.

Also remember that Sniper isn't actually awarded for long range shots. It's awarded for hitting frequently and doing lots of damage. So a point-blank fight in which you unload a dozen shells into the enemy and do 1500 damage can net you Sniper quite easily...

[Skywalker_T-65]

I know that. I was talking about long-range hits, not close range ones. If that were the case, my most would be from the III/IV.

[xthetenth]

Sniper medals aren't gained from accuracy, they're gained from close range shooting and being able to survive to get 10 shots out. If you snipe it significantly lowers your chances at a sniper medal. That and scout are the two most counterintuitive awards in the game.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Which is odd in that I get a lot of Sniper medals when I get longer-range hits...odd...

Maybe I'm just misremembering (a definite possibility when I'm playing so many matches they start to blend together )

[Nephtys]

Russian Guns aren't actually that horribly inaccurate. There's several sorts of stats that govern accuracy. French, Russian and US guns aren't too far apart, with German guns being notably more accurate. But suffering other failures in general.

First is the 'Accuracy' stat, which gives the circle in which 95 percent of shells will fall.
Then, there's the 'Aim Time' stat, which indicates how many seconds for the aiming circle to be 70 percent aimed.

Now, hidden stats.
Shell Dispersal. How far off center your shells are likely to fly. Later American Guns besides the 76/90mm have shockingly bad dispersal to compensate for their amazing aim time. French high-tier guns have surprisingly good Dispersal, despite bad accuracy or slow aimtime.
Turret/Move dispersal. How much extra dispersal you'll have when firing on the move, turning the hull or turret. These vary from tank to tank.

Basically, American Tanks have OK Accuracy, Great aim Time, Bad Shell Dispersal. Good on-move Dispersal modifier.
Soviet Tanks have Eh Accuracy, OK Aim Time, OK shell Dispersal. OK on-move Dispersal Modifier.
French Tanks have Eh Accuracy, Bad Aim Time, Good Shell Dispersal. Bad on-move Dispersal modifier.

[PainRack]

How do you guy complete the training mission research all modules/tech for Tier 1 tank? Is it a grind through every single light tank that you have?

[Jub]

You should just need to research every thing you can for one of them. That includes all the other tanks that branch off from that starter tank.

[Vendetta]

Sniper medals aren't gained from accuracy, they're gained from close range shooting and being able to survive to get 10 shots out. If you snipe it significantly lowers your chances at a sniper medal. That and scout are the two most counterintuitive awards in the game.

Sniper is gained from accuracy, it just doesn't care about range. You need 85% accuracy for the match and to have fired at least ten shots with a minimum 1000HP combined damage potential in that match.


In other news, I must have royally pissed off a guy on my team earlier. I'd been trundling around on Himmelsdorf with him following me not really doing much half the match, and when I stopped to kill an enemy in their base circle (a non-mover) he parked in front of me and started shooting. So I drove around the back and finished my kill.

At this point, he snapped and did nothing but shoot at me for the entire rest of the match. Trouble was he was in a D1 with the 13.5mm, and I was in an H35, so there was literally no way he could penetrate at any point on my armour....

[xthetenth]

Russian Guns aren't actually that horribly inaccurate. There's several sorts of stats that govern accuracy. French, Russian and US guns aren't too far apart, with German guns being notably more accurate. But suffering other failures in general.

First is the 'Accuracy' stat, which gives the circle in which 95 percent of shells will fall.
Then, there's the 'Aim Time' stat, which indicates how many seconds for the aiming circle to be 70 percent aimed.

Now, hidden stats.
Shell Dispersal. How far off center your shells are likely to fly. Later American Guns besides the 76/90mm have shockingly bad dispersal to compensate for their amazing aim time. French high-tier guns have surprisingly good Dispersal, despite bad accuracy or slow aimtime.
Turret/Move dispersal. How much extra dispersal you'll have when firing on the move, turning the hull or turret. These vary from tank to tank.

Basically, American Tanks have OK Accuracy, Great aim Time, Bad Shell Dispersal. Good on-move Dispersal modifier.
Soviet Tanks have Eh Accuracy, OK Aim Time, OK shell Dispersal. OK on-move Dispersal Modifier.
French Tanks have Eh Accuracy, Bad Aim Time, Good Shell Dispersal. Bad on-move Dispersal modifier.

From my understanding all shells follow the same distribution (the listed accuracy value is two standard deviations, the circle is three, and that explains the very rare out of circle shells). What dispersion is is how wide the circle opens when you move, turn your turret or whatever. American tanks are freaking amazing at it, and have good aim time, Germans are relatively good by sheer virtue of being slow and have good aim time for their generally large caliber, the Russians have none of that except for the high tier mediums to some degree, and the French have relatively slow aim time but high pen or an autoloader, and bad dispersion. I personally don't think I've seen many guns that don't tend to cluster around the middle. My experience shooting tends to agree.

I'm pretty sure I've seen an official source mentioning that it's a pretty standard whatever the two dimensional version of the normal distribution is.

[PainRack]

I don't know whether or not to be sick........

I got into a pissing match with Stuart, a Tier 3 light tank with my PzJg 1 Tank destroyer. My 5cm AP round actually BOUNCED OFF! WTF?????