World of Tanks Mark 2

[Temjin]

So yesterday (before the new patch), I had an awesome match in my Leopard.

It was an assault match on Erlenberg. I was on the defence. I was actually mid-tier in my Leopard, which is pretty rare for me. I decide to set up on the left hill to spot any enemies that try to sneak up behind it. I manage to spot a force of five or six tanks coming up from behind the hill before I'm forced off due to enemy fire. From there I did some half court scouting, spotting a couple for tanks hanging back and an arty that had come up too far. I didn't go after it though. I still don't know whether that was a mistake or not.

It was around this point where I realised our entire left side was collapsing. I head up to spot enemies for the two TD's before I decide to sneak up the hill to take the enemy in the rear. I destroy a T40 that never realised I was behind him. By that point, both our Left TD's are dead. I go over the hill and start engaging an M8A1. I track him before finishing him by ramming. A Pz38t finally notices me behind the now diminished group and turns to engage. I manage to track him with a lucky shot and stayed out of his turret traverse before killing him.

An AMX 40 is now all that's left of that original group. I run up behind him and get a lucky shot disabling his engine and causing a fire. As he's on the bridge, I closely circle around him keeping out of his turret traverse, managing to bring him all the way down to 3% health before an M37 destroys him.

It was a few seconds later I realised my team didn't have an M37...

End of the match was almost anti-climatic. At this point only a small handful of tanks on each side is alive. I manage to spot a KV, which the remaining KV and T34 on my team finish off leaving them with only two arties. I managed to engage one getting him to low health before the other one (the M37) got off a lucky shot finishing me off. The T34 destroys the arty I was fighting seconds later. The T34 and KV never manage to find the M37 before time runs out. We win.

[PainRack]

Today, I learnt that you can do everything right against a KV tank and it doesn't matter. Aimed at his tracks, aimed at the turrent gun mantle, circled him, caused him to miss shots, and even had a maneveur to disengage.

I think I did like 10 hp worth of damage in the 4 shots I bounced off him, before I decided to withdraw and he one shotted me just as my tank was moving behind the building.


I guess the lesson here is to not engage a KV tank at all. I could at least inflict more HP damage to the D1 or the T1.

[spaceviking]

What were you driving?

[PainRack]

What were you driving?

A M2 tank. I initially popped out in his rear to shoot him while he was engaging my team, well, just as I got there, the other guy died and I was left alone.



P.S How do I drop the skill/perk? The commander from the training tutorial was meant to be a TD crew but well........ he got dump into my medium tank instead. Sixth sense is probably useless in a medium tank so I'm wondering how to dismiss and retrain a new skill.

[PeZook]

I eat KVs in the E8 (well, poke them full of holes and live, usually), and even in the 105 Sherman I usually take a few shots before scooting away. It depends on what you drive.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I actually DO eat KV's alive (both 1 and 2's) in my VK-3601. I've actually coined it as my 'T5 heavy hunter' tank. I can also do quite a bit of damage against KV's in my own KV-1. It really does depend on your tank more than anything.

EDIT: Unless said 'T5 heavy' is a Churchill...then I run away screaming. Those things eat my 3601 alive unless I get the drop on them from long range with the L/70

[Simon_Jester]

What were you driving?

A M2 tank. I initially popped out in his rear to shoot him while he was engaging my team, well, just as I got there, the other guy died and I was left alone.

The M2 Medium is much too weak to cause any serious damage to a well armored Tier 5 tank. The M2 Light is even weaker.

That's pretty much true in general- if you are left in single combat against an enemy tank two tiers higher than you, you will almost always lose unless:

1) They screw up by the numbers (this is how I once killed a T20 with an M3 Lee, though I can't say that it was a solo kill).
2) They're already about to die (severe module damage nerfing their rate of fire or mobility, severe hit point damage making them easy to finish off, both)
3) Your reinforcements show up really freaking quick.

[Skywalker_T-65]

By the same token, some tanks are REALLY good at soloing other tanks, even ones two tiers above them. But that doesn't generally happen until T5 or later. For example:

With the 85mm KV-1 I managed to take down a T20, though like Simon I did get some help towards the middle of that battle.
With my 3601 (both long 75 and short 88) I've taken down T7 and T8 tanks (I managed to solo a Lowe somehow once...not quite sure HOW I did it though...)
A derp-gunned KV-2 can kill just about anything short of T9.

Those are odd ducks though...most tanks are supposed to AVOID AT ALL COSTS getting into a solo battle with tanks anymore than one tier bigger than them.

[Nephtys]

Painrack, Don't drop Sixth Sense. It's actually the best single skill in the game. In fact, in high level play, it's downright mandatory. Esp for US Medium tanks, that rely on skirmishing and breaking contact once detected, before the enemy can aim and engage.

Also, KV-1s are well armored for their tier. Using an M2, just don't engage. You can't penetrate him reliably at any angle. Go somewhere else with your speed, and do something else. KV-1s and T1HTs are juggernauts at their tiers currently.

[xthetenth]

... Awww, I was kinda hoping they fixed the M103's habit of losing modules like no tomorrow

BTW, xthetenth, when I get the M26 should I probably immediately get the better 90mm gun? Can I use it without turret or suspension upgrades?

I personally went for the engines immediately. Being able to outrun a T32 is more important for a medium than 20mm of penetration (better to be able to get to mediums and kill them than be marginal against heavies), and I think they can be used without suspension. The 90mm I know fits on without the turret, pretty sure it will with modules without the suspension. 450 kg for rammer/vstab/vents, 200kg more for the gun, so it should fit in for sure, but the turret won't, and the turret front is made of armor because it's the howitzer version's turret and the howitzer barrel wasn't enough to balance the turret.

Also, goddamn, 8.0.

Get in a battle on Erlenberg. Friend says "you guys know the river's passable?" Ten seconds later two enemy tanks have killed themselves.

And seconding nephtys, don't drop sixth sense. I used to get repair on everybody. Now I get sixth sense on the commander and repair on everyone else. It's that good. I feel naked driving a tank without it. The only tank I use a lot that doesn't have it is the Type 59, and that I'm aggressive enough with I know when I'm lit, and I'd still consider dropping skills for it.

[Vendetta]

What were you driving?

A M2 tank. I initially popped out in his rear to shoot him while he was engaging my team, well, just as I got there, the other guy died and I was left alone.
.

The M2 basically has nothing that can penetrate a KV-1. It's one of those situations where you should basically turn around and go the other way and let someone else deal with the problem because the KV-1 might as well have godmode with his 70mm minimum armour.

On the other hand, if you have the 75mm howitzer you're basically death to any lights or arty you see, so make them your business. (I reckon you could make the M2 Medium a pretty profitable tank, and training your crew to max out at least their primary would let you retrain them to 90% for the M3 Lee and blunt the edge of it's problems. (Poor traverse, poor view range).

The M2 Medium is much too weak to cause any serious damage to a well armored Tier 5 tank. The M2 Light is even weaker.

Being a Tier 2 light, the M2 Light will only ever meet Tier 2 and 3, and will never meet heavies, and it's actually really good in those tiers, it's fast, has a solid gun (the same as the Lend Lease Stuart), and good armour for a Tier 2 (if not the same as a French pocket heavy).

[PeZook]

Those are odd ducks though...most tanks are supposed to AVOID AT ALL COSTS getting into a solo battle with tanks anymore than one tier bigger than them.

I tend to engage everything I see in the E8, but that's because the 76.2 fires so fast and is so accurate and quick to aim that it costs me literally nothing to annoy some juggernaut as I pass him/withdraw - and if he takes his gigantic gun off the more worthwhile target he's fighting in order to try and swat me, then it's a win for the right team. I had at least one case where my fly bites managed to confuse a Tiger II enough that he was torn apart by the guy he was fighting - since those high tier gun battles are kinda ruthless mathematics, not getting in one more shot can mean fiery death.

I do die a lot, though, and I am having serious problems reliably tracking people, whatever I'm driving.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I tried something similar back when I was running my T-28. Needless to say, the guy I was shooting at (a VK) ignored me and kept shooting at the KV-1S he was fighting...and I got owned by some other tank I didn't notice.

[Esquire]

I love the new physics so much. I managed to park myself just below a ridge on one of the hillier maps in my T-28 and pump rounds into the underbellies of the heavies and TDs using the ridge to snipe from... If they went far enough over the edge to shoot me, a friend in a TD would just shoot them through the top of the turret. We picked up six kills between us, including most of the enemy heavy tanks.

[Vanas]

I'm pleased to report that the new physics is indeed fun. It'd be nice if I could occasionally be on a team capable of wininng. Anything. At all. Fucking Ever. In Anything. But hey.

The Black Prince really, really, really, really needs horsepower. But is somehow great fun.

[Vendetta]

The Black Prince really, really, really, really needs horsepower. But is somehow great fun.

Just to spread some confusion, the Matilda Black Prince and the Black Prince are different tanks. The Black Prince is a development of the Churchill and will be the British tier 7 heavy when the British tech tree is introduced.

[FSTargetDrone]

Played a half-dozen matches so far since 8.0 went live and man is it going to take some getting used to the significantly more pronounced bouncing when coming to a stop and aiming, as well as the increased recoil. Shooting is a bit trickier with that, but I had a good run in my M4 with 8 kills in whatever the map is called (recorded as XXXXfjord.wotreplay). The animation for the tanks' suspensions going over obstacles looks much better now.

Some of the maps looks like Thomas Kinkade barfed all over them but the dust effects on the desert maps looks great.

Detailed reports are really nice after the battle.

Be sure to remap your controls before starting. They put the "attack my target" (changed to "Requesting Fire on XXX") back up on F2 (could it be any less convenient?) and I had to mess with stuff during the battle. Also, many of the marker settings seem to go back to defaults. Remember to turn off the distracting dead tank icons if you hate them as much as I do.

[Vanas]

Oh, I'm aware of that. But there's only one for now... and chances are, the Black Prince proper will also need more engine.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Most likely it will. And really, a Matilda (of any variety) should be a slow lumbering beast.

As for myself...I'm in the middle of the LONG wait for the over a gig of updates inherent in 8.0. Once that's done I'm so looking forward to taking my ELC out...that is going to be so FUN!

[The Vortex Empire]

Played a half-dozen matches so far since 8.0 went live and man is it going to take some getting used to the significantly more pronounced bouncing when coming to a stop and aiming, as well as the increased recoil. Shooting is a bit trickier with that, but I had a good run in my M4 with 8 kills in whatever the map is called (recorded as XXXXfjord.wotreplay).

You can actually disable the recoil and bounces from impacts in the game settings.

[FSTargetDrone]

Played a half-dozen matches so far since 8.0 went live and man is it going to take some getting used to the significantly more pronounced bouncing when coming to a stop and aiming, as well as the increased recoil. Shooting is a bit trickier with that, but I had a good run in my M4 with 8 kills in whatever the map is called (recorded as XXXXfjord.wotreplay).

You can actually disable the recoil and bounces from impacts in the game settings.

Really? Clearly I missed that. Thanks!

[Skywalker_T-65]

Its official...I LOVE 8.0!! This is SO much fun to mess around with the physics! Just got to be careful about cliffs in my ELC though...

[Zinegata]

By the same token, some tanks are REALLY good at soloing other tanks, even ones two tiers above them. But that doesn't generally happen until T5 or later. For example:

With the 85mm KV-1 I managed to take down a T20, though like Simon I did get some help towards the middle of that battle.
With my 3601 (both long 75 and short 88) I've taken down T7 and T8 tanks (I managed to solo a Lowe somehow once...not quite sure HOW I did it though...)
A derp-gunned KV-2 can kill just about anything short of T9.

Those are odd ducks though...most tanks are supposed to AVOID AT ALL COSTS getting into a solo battle with tanks anymore than one tier bigger than them.

Soloing a higher-tier enemy tank is generally a bad idea. I wouldn't try soloing an E-75 with a KV-2 for instance.

But what a lot of low-tier tank drivers need to realize is that they can still do good damage to a higher-tier tank, and that damage adds up in the long run. The key is doing this while the high-tiers are busy killing each other.

Take for instance a case where you're in an Easy 8, intervening in a battle between two Tiger IIs. Just pump two shells into the enemy Tiger II, and you've almost guaranteed that your ally Tiger II will beat it. Pump more, and you'll have a largely undamaged allied Tiger II while the enemy loses a Tier 8.

If the enemy switches their fire towards you, don't fret - just hide. Even if you take a hit you'll survive, while your allied tank gets a free shot on the enemy tank which should guarantee its win.

WoT really often boils down to minor tactical advantages - who gets an extra shot off, who gets an extra bounce, and who gets an extra hit / miss. All of these little things will eventually add up to give one team or another an advatage in a match,

[Skywalker_T-65]

I don't think its a particularly good idea myself. Just pointing out that SOME tanks can do it, if you're really good and REALLY lucky. All my examples were extreme luck (still not sure how I took down that Lowe...). I would advise not fighting anything bigger than you unless you have some backup nearby. Or else you are helping someone else fight them.

[Zinegata]

I don't think its a particularly good idea myself. Just pointing out that SOME tanks can do it, if you're really good and REALLY lucky. All my examples were extreme luck (still not sure how I took down that Lowe...). I would advise not fighting anything bigger than you unless you have some backup nearby. Or else you are helping someone else fight them.

It's probably truer to say that a low-tier can solo a high-tier depending on their respective HP. A full-health Easy 8 can and should take out a Tiger II at 20% as long as the Easy 8 driver isn't a complete sissy .