World of Tanks Mark III

[The Infidel]

Be careful responding to trolls by shooting them. The new team damage system is very sensitive and results in an immediate 1hr account lockout.

Tonight when I have time I'm going to do a dissection on a game where my team did its best to lose for your education and edification. (spoiler: It was the enemy team who started off posting "zomg we have lost" in chat)

Yeah, I never teamshot anybody except by accident. That Leopard acted as if he wanted to get shot, stopping just in front of me and all that. When the Type 59 got attacked, I was close enough to help him, but I decided not to. (After all, he declared I was an asshole, and assholes don't help others, right?)

[Rekkon]

Sounds like my karma story. I drove halfway across Tundra to help a Type 59, driven by a member of an allied clan no less, who was fighting an E-75. I will not claim I saved him, but my reward was an "FU WT." Apparently he felt I stole his kill or something. A few minutes later we were basically the last two left and there was no saving the match. I drove away as 2-3 tanks rushed him. He then complained about me not helping him.

I have heard the new troll trick is to park in front of an arty and point your barrel in front of theirs to detonate the shell point blank when they fire.

[Argosh]

I had a "fun" experience a while back, on Malinovka. Someone shot me and my return shot set them on fire
It was a good game though, I went from -1 to 3 kills in the end.

[The Infidel]

National battles... What a great idea! Just took my E-75 out for a spin and we met all these french autoloaders... There was always too many with full ammo clips and my team lost big time. Damn! Time to turn off those battles.

[Simon_Jester]

I finally got a rammer for my Crusader, and the top tier 6pdr for that tank is now co-equal with the Soviet 57mm in the "antitank bandsaw" category.

Christ but that tank has good mad-minute potential if you can get into position to do it.

[Xess]

I finally got a rammer for my Crusader, and the top tier 6pdr for that tank is now co-equal with the Soviet 57mm in the "antitank bandsaw" category.

Christ but that tank has good mad-minute potential if you can get into position to do it.

Yeah, I've had that set up for a while. It made the Crusader one of my forever tanks.

[The Infidel]

8 kills with my T18. Fuck yeah!
That's what I'm talking about!

[Vendetta]

Don't let that fool you, the Chi-To is actually terrible.

Meanwhile, in soviet russia



Radley Walters medal only good enough for second class mastery. Carry harder noob.

[Simon_Jester]

Me, I'm just glad I actually had a non-sucky match in my Patton where I dished out more than my own tank's HP in damage. The grind to the 105mm is very frustrating, because until you get it, all your gun really has going for it is decent DPS... which requires you to expose yourself to enemy fire relatively more, rather than shoot-scoot-hide-shoot. Since the Patton has no meaningful armor and my terrain use skills only go so far... bleh.

[krakonfour]

I had the Patton. Did several hundred games wih it... but just couldn't finish the grind for three reasons:

It was too SLOW to be a medium. I was a noobier player back then but even so....
The gun just canno snipe. Low pen and low acc. There is no way for this tank to fully utilize its hulldown capability and DPM if it has to be nose-to-nose with the enemy.
The next tank, the Patton III, is just NOT worth it.

In oher news, I've nearly finished the KV-4 grind.

[Agent Sorchus]

Victory!
Battle: Himmelsdorf 2/20/2014 5:29:13 PM
Vehicle: IS-8
Experience received: 1,798 (x2 for the first victory each day)
Credits received: 31,509
Battle achievements: Master Gunner, Reaper, Mastery Badge: "2nd Class"

Hilarious match in my nearly stock IS-8. I was lending a fair amount of support in the railway, but I turn to engage a M103 only to find all my allies behind me to the side and in front of me are all dead our base is being capped. But I still had full HP cause no one was firing at me. So I dutifully put one more shot into the side of the M103 and pull back to base only to get attacked by a T69 who puts to rounds into me and then backs out cause I was pointed at him. I payed him no heed (cause I think he thought I was just going to sit there like a good heavy and let him reload his cylinder and wait for him to peek again) and continued back to base, one shotting a damaged T-34-2, and their arty as it crept up the rail alley. Back at base I go for the flank on their 704, only for it to be blown up just as I took my shot. And then who comes around the corner but my friend the M103. He promptly went nose on to me and charged. The charge wasn't successful and he was calling me a gold rounding nub. Here's a hint for him, don't expect me not to shoot you in the lower front plate if I can.

Reaper is one of my favorite medals/

[The Infidel]

Oh, Vendetta, you just had to up me!
If I ever see you on the battlefield, I hope you will be on my side.

[Vendetta]

I'm spoilering this because it's mega image heavy, I said I would dissect a game and this is the one I meant. It's a classic lemmingtrain story and may be of particular interest if you want to see terrain in action because this game is all about use of terrain on my part.

The replay is here if you want to watch the whole thing

On with the breakdown
Spoiler

Countdown is still going and the enemy Birch Gun is already unhappy, from the team balance you can see why, our team has a higher weight of better players and they're all clustered at the top of the tier list. (I checked the win chance on this replay, it would have been 68%). Little does he know how much chance his team has.

So the game starts and I go to the left flank because that's where you go on Steppes if you have gun depression and/or are a medium tank.



Unfortunately, I appear to be alone here. Yep, half our team is lemmingtrain, the other half can't bear to leave the base circle because it's just so shiny. I tuck into my favourite starting spot on this flank, this spot gives you a decent line of fire down the map and lets even a relatively large tank go completely turret down where needed. If you have tanks in C8 you also get BVR shots on tanks passing F9/F0. This spot is one of the key reasons why Steppes had to be rebalanced, and it's still a good place to start if you spawn north.

As I'm alone on this flank I don't advance, and it's a good thing I didn't.



Suddenly, KV-1S. I snap a shot at his turret without really aiming (a quick note on crosshair, this is Jimbo's Crosshair, it has a second ring at half the diameter of the full reticle, due to the way the standard deviation on accuracy works 70% of shots will go there), this shot does nothing, I don't stay exposed, I duck down behind the ridge, he goes behind the rock.



Then he grows a friend.



Where I was sitting is good at shooting tanks that can't advance, but with nothing in front of me there's nothing stopping them just coming around the side, I am not going to be useful there. I leave.

Note the hellcat going the wrong way. Two minutes ago that might have been the right way, now it's not.



On my way back I get an opportunity to pick off a Lee. No-one driving a Lee is enjoying themselves, so put them out of their misery so they can go back and choose a better tank.



My first stop is this ridge at the near end of the base, it's not great cover but for a smallish tank it's enough to go hull down against that KV-1S.



Not that one that went around though, so I retreat further.



All the way around here, in fact. Note that now I am now effectively behind the cap circle. As previously discussed the cap circle is amazingly shiny and this will prove useful in the minutes to come.



The Hellcat who took up the position I originally retreated from dies. He put two shots in which is a thing, but it's literally a fraction of the potential of the Hellcat because he took a bad position.



Nashorn goes next, he had given up a reasonable position and gone into a bad one.

It is now functionally me vs. two KV-1Ss at our base.



I snap a shot out against this one as he comes over the ridge, chipping away a bit of health.



I moved back down into cover after my snap shot, the lemmingtrain looks like it's doing OK, right?



I actually carry on around the south of my ridge, because there were two KV-1S and one of them looked like he might come that way, and I don't want to get surprised, I try and spot him coming but see nothing, so I take some opportunist shots at the enemy Nashorns, nothing goes in.



Whilst I'm doing that, a funny red bar appears at the top of the screen, after a moment's consternation at this frightening new UI element I realise the implications, one of the KV-1S has succumbed to the lure of the shiny circle and is capping, I peek the ridge, can't get a good angle, so I reposition to where these bushes are for the shallower dip.



He's spotted an arty though, and is looking the wrong way. That gives me ample opportunity to put one into his side.



Note I didn't actually know whether he'd fired, so I back off. Also I notice his friend has appeared.



I sneak another one at his lower plate.



Then I leave. He was coming towards where I was shooting him from, so let's not be there any more, eh? I go round to the other edge of the ridge.



I come around and get this side profile, try and get clever and shoot for the drive wheel but the shot goes wide and bounces off his front armour. However, he makes a terrible error, he fires at something.

He has a 13 second reload, that means I can take at least four shots before he reloads.




So he's dead and the arty has joined in against the other one. The other KV-1S fired as well, so I have a little more time.



I put one into him.



Then I drive back along the ridge so I have absolute minimal exposure and finish him off with easy cupola shots.



Now, anyone notice what's happened in the last minute whilst I fought those two?

Yep, the lemmingtrain has done what lemmingtrains do and crumbled at the first hint of resistance and this 68% win chance game is all of a sudden looking pretty balanced.



Our KV-1 finishes off the enemy one (stock gun vs. derp gun, a duel for the ages), but himself gets chewed up by dpm from the Matilda BP. We're down to two lemmings now, and they're suddenly not very happy about their situation, in fact they're clinging to a rock for dear life, don't expect them to move.

I set off south but the enemy tanks are closing in.



The Birch Gun is spotted as I make my way in, but I don't get to bring justice to the scumbag. Oh well, next time arty, next time.



The Japanese tanks are not terribly quick, and it becomes evident that I am not going to get there in time.



And indeed I don't, not only do I not get there in time my lemmings have inflicted barely any damage on the opponents, so it's now me and arty vs. two full health mediums.




I catch the rear of the Matilda BP, put my DPM to work on him and retreat down the ridge as he manages to get his gun on me.



He puts one into me, but I put four into him and he's done. My position on the ridge keeps the 3002D from joining in, so instead of a 2vs1 fight this is two 1vs1s.



I peek up, trade a shot with the 3002D. In theory I could sit here and have a DPM race with him, I have a solid DPM advantage and about even health but the 3002D has some cheeky angles and my advantage isn't so big I can afford bounces.



So I pull back down. I have arty support he doesn't. He comes out of his rock to come after me.



I pop him with another as he comes



A third, trading for a second hit from him. If I'd tried a DPM race this would be basically three to three now.



He knows no fear or common sense though, so he charges right over the ridge, takes another shot from me as he does so, and rams himself to death getting a final 230 damage on me.

68% chance to win game comes down to two mediums and a bottom tier arty. Sure, the prediction was accurate in the end, but only because I kept my head and didn't go full potato.

You never go full potato.

[The Vortex Empire]

If there's one thing pubs are bad at, it's anything involving cap circles. If it's a bad idea to cap, they don't hesitate to cap and quickly get picked apart in the open. If it's a good idea to cap, rare as that may be, they don't cap. If your own base is being capped, they ignore it.

[Simon_Jester]

Very enlightening. I wish I had your knack for judging terrain and deciding where to go on maps reliably, including "try this sweet spot."

I must disagree on one point of detail. I actually had a lot of fun in my Lee, despite its frustrations.

[Darth Yoshi]

As someone who greatly enjoys driving my Lee, I take umbrage at your base libel. Otherwise, an excellent breakdown.

[The Vortex Empire]

The Lee is garbage. Weak armor, below average hit points for the tier and class, very tall, awkward, low gun placement, poor camo for the tier. I'd take a PzIII or Matilda over it any day.

[Darth Yoshi]

That may be so, but the fact remains that I enjoy driving it.

[Simon_Jester]

The Lee is garbage. Weak armor, below average hit points for the tier and class, very tall, awkward, low gun placement, poor camo for the tier. I'd take a PzIII or Matilda over it any day.

I didn't say it was a good tank, it's a terrible tank in a lot of ways. I said I had fun in it. "Fun" is an intangible commodity, the most variable of all soft stats.

I like my Matilda much more, so much so that I maintain a stable of Matilda variants. The Panzer III is no doubt a fine tank but I derive no particular enjoyment from it.

I think the Lee might be a lot more interesting if they ever got around to implementing multi-turret tanks. The 37mm turret gun (maybe upgunnable to a 57mm?) would make the thing actually effective- hell, come to think of it, with a good 37mm stock gun upgradeable to one of the US's 57mm AT guns given a turret upgrade it'd be a pretty good medium tank all by itself.

Scratch my previous idea, THAT is what they should do with the Lee. Instead of making the main armament be the sponson gun, focus on the turret! The B1 has a purely cosmetic sponson gun, why can't the M3?

Hm. What could they use for a turret upgrade... maybe take some inspiration from the T6 prototype tank? The idea of a fully operational T6 (with cosmetic 75mm hull gun) driving around with the 75mm M3 as top gun... it's weird, but no weirder than some of the bastardized German prototypes like the Panzer III/IV

[Vejut]

So, I've been playing alot of T32 recently, and I'm having a heck of a time on Karelia assault on offense, at least on north side. It seems really easy for the enemy to bottle you at A9, at which point you get hammered by artillery if you try to break out. Is the B7-8 passage less of a shooting gallery than it looks, or am I doing something wrong? Admittedly, could probably just turn around and head down the 1 line, use the coated optics and my stupid high view range, but I've been being put on the far north side of spawn and its a much longer drive to get to the west passage.

Also, I've got a vertistab and coated optics on this thing, wondering what to use for the third. Main choices would be a rammer, or a laying drive, because really, it seems like I bounce in and out more than I stand, and it'd help get me in and out of there faster, but more dps is more dps, so any comments?

[The Vortex Empire]

Rammer/VStab/Optics.

And my advice for assault is to turn it off, because as a gamemode it is extremely imbalanced.

[Vejut]

Eh, its a nice change, and I'm not good enough that I notice, most of the time.
Still up in the air on the nation battles, only had two so far--one vs Germans on steppes, where the US side I was on pushed up the valley from south faster than the Germans could push up through the rocks on north, partially aided by our better view range, and one that looked like it was going to be really bad on Windstorm or whatever the new one is called, US south vs Soviets, where their mid portion was 5-6 ISU-152, vs a bunch of 6s and 7s on our side. They fumbled it, and we got 2-3 on cap, while I and a couple others shot up their IS-3 on our cap enough to give us the lead in the cap race, but both felt a little off.

Also, did anybody notice they've changed Erlenburg? Somebody must have noticed that map was already basically an encounter map, because the south spawn on the last round I played was moved to the other side of the river, and the cap points moved towards the A4 and J-something.

[Vendetta]

Yeah, I think the new Erlenberg is significantly better. As in it is not a 15 minute camp-a-thon every time now.

New Redshire is fun as well, much more of the map is usable and it's a much more mobile fight.


If only Serene Coast would fuck back off, it feels almost impossible for north team to establish map control, I think it's even less balanced than it used to be.

[Imperial528]

I find Redshire much more competitive now, though I still don't favor seeing it; in my experience, the mobile meatshields that the matchmaker deems "teammates" haven't realized what to do with it yet.

Serene Coast is now much, much worse. The map's design now encourages camping even more. It's been a few patches since it was re-released and I've found that it only gets worse every time it's played.

[Vendetta]

Yeah, Serene Coast now appears to be "north team camps A line, south team pushes as far as D and then takes them to bits". I've tried pushing up to the north side of the hill, but you get no support doing it so you just get killed when the enemy have pushed far enough around the entire rest of the map to get at you.



I quite like new redshire.