World of Tanks Mark 2

[Mr Bean]

It might be hilarious, but that thing is just begging to get derped by a KV-2. One penetrating hit to its flank would take off 900 hp. It might even give KV-2 drivers a justification to actually keep AP shells on hand. With 110mm penetration and horrible accuracy they're normally not worth the bother, but with a 75mm-armoured target the size of a barn to shoot at, that might change.

My only hope is that the strong reception of the TOG will finally let us get the Ratte in as a Tier 10 special event tank. Even without that I hope the TOG will have a brick pattern as a camo option, I want to pretend to be a barn.

[xthetenth]

I just realized something about the TOG. It should be impossible to circle the thing to death.

[Darth Wong]

I just realized something about the TOG. It should be impossible to circle the thing to death.

Yeah, but you can still oval the thing to death.

[Mr Bean]

Yeah, but you can still oval the thing to death.

The armor is all around and it's a powered turret so you might do well to ram it then go sideways because it can spin fast enough to make ovaling it impossible.

More and more I want this thing if only to act as a giant mobile wall that happens to have a turret on top. I'm just imaging this on a map like Steppes or Cliff, sideways on a hilltop as my entire team takes cover behind me.

[Darth Wong]

If its turret traverses quickly, then its biggest enemy would be arty and high alpha-damage (read: Russian) heavies. A KV-1S could blast it for ~400 dmg, pop back to reload, then pop out again to hit it again for ~400 dmg. Even if it takes a shot on the chin each time it pops out, it would still win. It's not as if the TOG is going to chase it down and corner it.

Frankly, the best thing a TOG2 could do for its team is to die in a well-chosen location so that his teammates can use his massive wreckage for cover.

[xthetenth]

It might actually see use on Erlenberg defense in clan wars because it should be able to block the nearest bridge at such an angle that it really doesn't want to come unstuck. Maybe for a few very specialized Himmelsdorf strats as well.

Then again I got the most damage on the team as Gandalf Maus the last time we played Erlenberg, so a big gun definitely has its virtues.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I'm already learning to do that, and indeed am doing that, in my T-150

[ryacko]

Wargaming will still add ahistorical weakspots for the TOG-2 anyway.

There is only one place you can pen a KV-5 with a Ram-II. The top of the rear, where the engine is. Imagine it will be the same.

[Darth Wong]

Wargaming will still add ahistorical weakspots for the TOG-2 anyway.

There is only one place you can pen a KV-5 with a Ram-II. The top of the rear, where the engine is. Imagine it will be the same.

What are you talking about? A tier-5 Ram-II should not even find itself in the same match as a tier-8 KV-5. Besides, the KV-5's R2D2 vulnerability is well known.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Maybe he meant a KV-1? Or a KV-3? Would a Ram-II even see the latter?

[Darth Wong]

Maybe he meant a KV-1? Or a KV-3? Would a Ram-II even see the latter?

A tier-5 Ram-II could encounter a tier-7 KV-3, although I think premium vehicles tend to get preferential match-making so it might not happen too often. A Ram-II would obviously be seriously outmatched by a KV-3, but if the TOG2 only has 75mm of armour, then it won't be anywhere near as tough as a KV-3. Its only defense is that it has so many hitpoints that it will take a long time to kill (unless it runs into high alpha-damage enemies).

[Mr Bean]

Wargaming will still add ahistorical weakspots for the TOG-2 anyway.

There is only one place you can pen a KV-5 with a Ram-II. The top of the rear, where the engine is. Imagine it will be the same.

Maybe later but the Beta files breakout (Once again thank xthetenth for that website) shows the TOG-2 is pretty much a few 60mm spaces spots on the tracks but pretty much 70mm all around except the engine deck... not that anyone will be able to angle down to shoot that.

[ryacko]

Wargaming will still add ahistorical weakspots for the TOG-2 anyway.

There is only one place you can pen a KV-5 with a Ram-II. The top of the rear, where the engine is. Imagine it will be the same.

What are you talking about? A tier-5 Ram-II should not even find itself in the same match as a tier-8 KV-5. Besides, the KV-5's R2D2 vulnerability is well known.

Must have been before MM was changed.

The R2D2 cannot be penned by a Ram-II, unless using premium ammo.

[montypython]

It's not necessarily making a kill (although that's always nice to have) insomuch as wanting to make it out of a battle more or less in one piece that I'd like to get better at. I've been making use of cover as much as possible, although Vendetta's point about the wooden barricades was a good observation I just noticed in my last battle, particularly as the opposition could start shooting at me before I was able to spot them.

You're mostly not going to survive, because there's no way to restore health even if you come out on top in an encounter unless you can do so with no damage at all (like enemies are shooting someone else) you're still going to be damaged, and that means eventually you will die.

Just make sure you do enough damage before you die to make it worthwhile. (You are rewarded far more for damage than kills in WoT, if you do damage to someone you still get that as XP, even if they survive the battle as a whole)

Yeah, one thing I always go out of my way to do is to assist my team as much as possible, such as damaging/distracting the opposition, supporting an advance or scouting ahead if my tank's got good speed (upgraded T1 Cunnigham's pretty quick) even though I still go boom, for seeing my guys snag a victory by capturing the flag despite being down to only 2 tanks for example really puts a smile on my face.

If anyone does manage to put together a SDN clan, I'd be game to join.

[Skywalker_T-65]

This is an annoying match:

Defeat
Battle: South Coast Monday, November 26, 2012 9:47:46 PM
Vehicle: T57
Experience received: 167
Credits received: 4,391

Got three kills, and could have gotten a top-gun probably since the other arty sucked. But my team fell apart, and my game lagged like crazy, conspiring to make me lose.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

From watching my roommate play, I've decided that the T-50's official theme song is Yakkety Sax.

[Darth Wong]

It's fun to go Tokyo drifting in a T-50-2 (I still have the crew for my old T-50-2 in case I ever want to use it again, even though I sold the tank itself). However, I realized that I prefer the playing style of mediums and heavies, and I didn't really like the mental pressure I put on myself in the scout role, knowing how important it is to the success of the team. I guess it's odd because I often do scout in my Patton, but it feels like there's less pressure on me because it's not my primary job; I can also do other things.

[rapidsquirrel]

I finally got the top gun for the Tiger, and I must say Wow, that changes everything. The ability to reliable penetrate things is wonderful. Plus since it's an 8.8cm, the ammo is so much cheaper then my KV-3's 122mm. Makes me wonder if I should start running the KV-3 with it's 100mm instead, probably won't. Now all I need is 9K for new tracks and 25K for a new engine for the tiger and it might be one of my favorite tanks (kind of like it's little brother the VK3601).

[Darth Wong]

I finally got the top gun for the Tiger, and I must say Wow, that changes everything. The ability to reliable penetrate things is wonderful. Plus since it's an 8.8cm, the ammo is so much cheaper then my KV-3's 122mm. Makes me wonder if I should start running the KV-3 with it's 100mm instead, probably won't. Now all I need is 9K for new tracks and 25K for a new engine for the tiger and it might be one of my favorite tanks (kind of like it's little brother the VK3601).

Yeah, the Tiger has a nice sniper gun, with good penetration and accuracy, albeit limited damage. Unfortunately, a lot of Tiger drivers get upset that its durability under fire falls short of what they expect from its historical reputation (which they often forget was forged against T-34s and Shermans: both mere tier-5 tanks in this game and much less formidable opposition than tanks of its own tier).

In contrast, the KV-3's 122mm gun fires very expensive shells and has poor accuracy, but its high alpha totally makes up for that. The KV-3 is George Foreman, not Sugar Ray Leonard; without the big haymaker doing 390 damage per shot, it's not really a KV-3. But with only 175mm penetration, it does behoove you to know where the weak spots are on enemy tanks (for example, learning not to bother trying to punch through a Tiger-P's main hull armour, and learning to shoot at the headlights on a Ferdinand). The nice thing is that the KV-3's heavy armour allows you to take your time, let the gun settle, and take careful aim. With more lightly armoured tanks, you might be afraid to expose yourself for long enough to let the gun settle.

[xthetenth]

The KV-3 wants the 122mm badly. Similar DPM to the 100 if not better, and the aim time isn't as much a concern on such a slow tank because a significant fraction of your time is pulling out and backing up again. Pulling out of cover less frequently is also a huge boost.

[Skywalker_T-65]

The KV-3 is my next in-line tank, so good to know

[Vanas]

Back to the TOG II* for a moment. Missing around with it, there's been a lot of talk about it's giant, glaring, boxy weaknesses, but let's go the other way.

Oh god, that fire rate. At the moment, it puts more rounds downrange than the T7 it shares a gun with. That is fairly terrifying.
It accelerates rather well for it's vast bulk and with a little clutch braking is suprisingly nimble for an aircraft carrier, which combined with it's fast turret traverse should make it... interesting.

Sure, it's going to be blown away by fucking KV-2 and KV-1S, but then again, so does everything else at this tier. At least it can take a hit.

On a side note, the Baby Tortoise is both adorable and fun. Slow as anything (except the TOG II*), but made of armour and an utterly absurd fire rate.

[Darth Wong]

The funny thing about shell costs is that you first start seeing shells in the 1k per shot range at tier 6 and tier 7, but the one saving grace is that this price inflation doesn't continue after that. Even at tier 9, shells still tend to cost around 1k per shot. My most expensive shells cost 1650 per round, but those are on the Object 704's big-ass 152mm BL-10 so they're worth it. The shells on my IS-8 and ST-I's 122 mm M62-T2 are only 1065, which is only marginally more than the shells for the KV-3's 122mm 122 mm D-25T which cost 1025.

[xthetenth]

It's pretty much a sudden ramp for the express purpose of making tier 8 about where you don't want to grind normal tanks for money. That way grinding money without a high tier premium means that you're going to be staying out of the top tiers and filling up the middle tiers with people so the game doesn't get too lopsided. After tier 8, the repair costs are where they really hit you.

[Skywalker_T-65]

That is precisely why I'm keeping my 3601 around. That thing can net me 20k creds on a DEFEAT if I play well.

EDIT: Of course, I'm still going to get hit HARD when I hit tier-8, either with the Panther II, Tiger II, or KV-4.