[MMO] World of Tanks

[eLiu]

How the fuck is the valentine a LIGHT tank?! It has more armor than the Lee! Just ran into one in a 1v1 scenario playing my 38nA. And it was bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce. All repeated shots into its rear armor... which is the same thickness as the front/side armor, 60/65 hull/turret.

I guess in trade it seems really slow and the gun is wimpy. Guess it's time to get the mod elcs uses that shows enemy armor thicknesses so I don't get surprised again

And yeah. I hate the Lee. I'm almost at the point of having the Sherman... I'm tempted to abandon ship now but I feel like I should just bite the bullet and unlock the T1 too.

 

[Skott]

Well, once you get the M4 Sherman you'll be glad to be out of the Lee tank. The M4 stock Sherman however is not much better IMO. However once you get the 105mm gun on it its a somewhat decent tank of average quality. Far better than the Lee anyhow. The line starts to get really better once you go to the M4A3E8 Easy 8 and T-20. The Easy 8 is a fun tank although you do get thrown into some T9 battles at times which can be brutal. It can shoot and scoot though at least and the 90mm gun at least allows you to do some damage to the big boys. Get into a fight where the Easy 8 is top class and its a real fun fight for sure. I'll be keeping mine. I like it that much. I need to work on getting my T-20 Elited now and able to research the Pershing and then onto the Patton.

 

[eLiu]

Killed a KV with my T28! I was at 40% health, he was at 100%. Their team had 3 arty pieces left too; I was w/one arty piece. It was that dessert maps w/the the two bases on plateaus & the town in the valley in between.

KV assaults our base, i take some pot shots but i have to run off. Arty sees where I'm going and distracts the KV giving me time to get behind him. After that, it was driving around him (while weaving b/c all 3 enemy arties are trying to get me), drilling shots into the back of his turret Poor KV. He had the gigantic turret + 152mm derp.

Fucking awesome, haha. Tragically after I killed him & was trying to get to cover, the enemy arty got me.

 

[Skott]

My turn to play with the idiots and misfits tonight it seems. Sheesh! Anyway, a little more than 1/3 the way to researching the Pershing.

 

[eLiu]

lol I had my share of that too. Same map I was tlaking about earlier--our KV & T1 go charging into the middle of the map right at the beginning. They get tracked & raped immediately.

Or another game in that map w/the muddy swamp thing in the valley-ish region btwn 2 bases. I'm on the west-side w/some teammates. I'm holding 2 TDs and 1 Lee back w/my T28. My teammates are hiding behind rocks. As opposed to you know, FLANKING. Ugh.

That said, on the same map, I also got a match with a 38nA who knew what was going on. First time we ran into a hetzer. I kept him busy & 38nA flanked. Then a KV shows up and 38nA kept him busy while I flanked, then we both circled the sucker

Speaking of the KV, I've unlocked mine. I have like 8k in free xp & 600k credits in the bank... what's the best way to go about this? Get KV + all 75% crew for sure.

Then I heard the stock KV is godawful. So I could use free xp to fast-track suspension and a gun. But which gun? Upgraded 76mm seems decent--decent accuracy, decent rof, decent pen/damage. But elcs' site recommends the 122mm derp. What's the tradeoff here? I think so far I've enjoyed long range, accurate weapons more than derps (only real experience is M2 med's derp). But if the 76 is just terrible when paired w/KV, I'll go 122. Really want the 107 though.

 

[Elcs]

Speaking of the KV, I've unlocked mine. I have like 8k in free xp & 600k credits in the bank... what's the best way to go about this? Get KV + all 75% crew for sure.

Then I heard the stock KV is godawful. So I could use free xp to fast-track suspension and a gun. But which gun? Upgraded 76mm seems decent--decent accuracy, decent rof, decent pen/damage. But elcs' site recommends the 122mm derp. What's the tradeoff here? I think so far I've enjoyed long range, accurate weapons more than derps (only real experience is M2 med's derp). But if the 76 is just terrible when paired w/KV, I'll go 122. Really want the 107 though.

KV: A guide to... by Elcs/ElcomeSoft

 

[Skott]

lol I had my share of that too. Same map I was tlaking about earlier--our KV & T1 go charging into the middle of the map right at the beginning. They get tracked & raped immediately.

Or another game in that map w/the muddy swamp thing in the valley-ish region btwn 2 bases. I'm on the west-side w/some teammates. I'm holding 2 TDs and 1 Lee back w/my T28. My teammates are hiding behind rocks. As opposed to you know, FLANKING. Ugh.

That said, on the same map, I also got a match with a 38nA who knew what was going on. First time we ran into a hetzer. I kept him busy & 38nA flanked. Then a KV shows up and 38nA kept him busy while I flanked, then we both circled the sucker

Speaking of the KV, I've unlocked mine. I have like 8k in free xp & 600k credits in the bank... what's the best way to go about this? Get KV + all 75% crew for sure.

Then I heard the stock KV is godawful. So I could use free xp to fast-track suspension and a gun. But which gun? Upgraded 76mm seems decent--decent accuracy, decent rof, decent pen/damage. But elcs' site recommends the 122mm derp. What's the tradeoff here? I think so far I've enjoyed long range, accurate weapons more than derps (only real experience is M2 med's derp). But if the 76 is just terrible when paired w/KV, I'll go 122. Really want the 107 though.

My KV experiences is from Beta. I haven't touched one in release nor do I ever plan to. I also used it without Premium which is just one more reason why I hated it so. Back then the KV was considered one of the worse tanks in the game. Its liked a little better now from what i hear. Anyway, onto the rest of my reply...

I always buy 75% crew. I never had a problem getting the credits for that feature so I would say save up your creds and buy 75% crew if you are buying a whole new crew with the tank. You may also want to save enough creds prior to buying the tank so you can at least get Vents and Gun rammer right from the start. This will help your leveling go a little easier. After you buy the tank you can save creds again while leveling it and get a spall-liner when possible. Or you could save up for all three right from the start. I do that with all my tanks now but I have a T-59 and a Lowe to farm creds so I can do that. Some people do not have that luxury.

I don't know if it has changed since beta but here is how I did it. I got suspension first. Second engine. Then second 76mm gun. Then Turret. Then the 107mm gun. Once you have the 107mm gun grinding is easier so I'd say take the shortest path to the 107mm gun that you can. After that its up to you. I got the next radio, 122mm gun, and the last engine but I tend to elite my tanks whenever possible. Just how I am. The line path has changed some though since beta. We didn't have the KV-1S. The KV went straight to the KV3 and then to the IS. There were no side branches to arty or Mediums. Everything back then was a straight line upward or downward depending on how you looked at the line on the tech tree window.

So, to summarize it I would save creds until I could buy tank, 75% crew, Vents, gun rammer all at once. Maybe even Spall-liner if it's not too expensive or take too long to save for. Then grind suspension, second gun (can skip and go straight for turret), turret, 107mm gun, second radio, and then whatever else you need or want to fill it out and move onto KV-1S, KV-3, or the S-51. That's how I would do it today if it were me.

Sorry about the long winded post. I do that sometimes.

Edit: I never tried the 152mm gun on the KV. Some people like the derp gun. Reload is long though. I did try the 122mm but I didn't like its slow reload and went back to the 107mm gun. Back then the KV usually stayed at base (as did the KV-3) to defend and guard arty because it was so slow compared to anything else in the game. So I did that a lot and basically sniped from a hidden/protected area. I know today KV and KV-3 rarely stay back at base anymore. Things have changed since beta.

 

[Genx87]

The 107mm is the best gun for the KV IMO.

 

[Possessed Freak]

The 107mm is the best gun for the KV IMO.

Meh, bagged an E100 in my derpy KV last night at 400m. Do that with the 107 In the same game I also took down a t54 from full (unfortunately after he raped our arty).

 

[PowerYoga]

How the fuck is the valentine a LIGHT tank?! It has more armor than the Lee! Just ran into one in a 1v1 scenario playing my 38nA. And it was bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce. All repeated shots into its rear armor... which is the same thickness as the front/side armor, 60/65 hull/turret.

I guess in trade it seems really slow and the gun is wimpy. Guess it's time to get the mod elcs uses that shows enemy armor thicknesses so I don't get surprised again

And yeah. I hate the Lee. I'm almost at the point of having the Sherman... I'm tempted to abandon ship now but I feel like I should just bite the bullet and unlock the T1 too.

I thought the valentine tank was the whole reason that sparked Rommel to turn the 88 laterally to fire at them? Or was it the matilda?

Either way one or the 2 have ridiculously thick armor that no german anti tank weapons could effectively damage them at that time... hence the 88.

 

[eLiu]

I thought the valentine tank was the whole reason that sparked Rommel to turn the 88 laterally to fire at them? Or was it the matilda?

Either way one or the 2 have ridiculously thick armor that no german anti tank weapons could effectively damage them at that time... hence the 88.

Ah yes... forgetting my tank history. It was both actually. Germans had trouble penetrating either of those tanks. That said, the RL valentine didn't have 60mm of armor on all sides--no way at a weight of 16t. The Churchill was a problem for German guns too; i think its thickest armor was 80 or 90mm. Still I guess I should be more careful around those buggers when I run into them. 60mm on all sides (on a light tank...) is ridiculous. Really not sure that it counts as a light. Valentine was an infantry tank--given the doctrine at the time of its design, that meant fairly heavy armor, not very fast moving (b/c it only needs to keep up w/infantry).

Elcs: Yeah I've read your page, but you don't say anything about the upgraded 76mm vs the 122mm. I mean clearly that's b/c you find the 122mm superior but I was wondering why & whether the upgraded 76mm is even passable. So far I've enjoyed accurate/high pen guns more than howitzers.

Skott: Well I hope I enjoy the KV more than you did I've been kinda looking forward to getting this thing. It's such a huge PITA on the battlefield (my other tanks: Lee, T28, SU-26, PzIV); so I've curious to see what bouncing every damn incoming shot feels like, lol.

 

[Visaoni]

Elcs: Yeah I've read your page, but you don't say anything about the upgraded 76mm vs the 122mm. I mean clearly that's b/c you find the 122mm superior but I was wondering why & whether the upgraded 76mm is even passable. So far I've enjoyed accurate/high pen guns more than howitzers.

Skott: Well I hope I enjoy the KV more than you did I've been kinda looking forward to getting this thing. It's such a huge PITA on the battlefield (my other tanks: Lee, T28, SU-26, PzIV); so I've curious to see what bouncing every damn incoming shot feels like, lol.

I went through the KV grind pretty recently, and I never touched the second 76mm. I would strongly recommend the 122mm on the way to unlocking the 107mm. I remember being able to do virtually nothing with the stock 76mm, and the upgraded one doesn't look much better. With the 122mm you will at least be able to damage most everything, which means more exp and therefore faster grinding. The reload isn't horribly long like the 152mm, and the shells are cheaper, which makes it much more forgiving than the 152mm when you miss.

I think my upgrade path looked like this. Suspension, 122mm, turret (don't mount without 107-/152 mm), 107mm, engines, KV-3, 152mm. The radio got thrown in there somewhere, doesn't really matter as long as you get the 107mm straight off the bat. The 152mm really needs 100% crew and equipment to really shine, although I sometimes run my KV with the 152mm, despite just having 100% crew.

Speaking of equipment, if you start saving up to put equipment on tier 5 tanks and above, especially before you even buy the tank, you will be doing some serious credit farming. I'm pushing up the Russian and American heavy lines for free slots/tanks when the tree changes roll in, and despite being at tier 7 on both lines, I've yet to see enough spare money to buy equipment by the time I unlock the next tier. A few times I've had to wait to buy the next tier because I needed a few more credits. I don't run premium, and I don't have any premium tanks.

 

[eLiu]

I went through the KV grind pretty recently, and I never touched the second 76mm. I would strongly recommend the 122mm on the way to unlocking the 107mm. I remember being able to do virtually nothing with the stock 76mm, and the upgraded one doesn't look much better. With the 122mm you will at least be able to damage most everything, which means more exp and therefore faster grinding. The reload isn't horribly long like the 152mm, and the shells are cheaper, which makes it much more forgiving than the 152mm when you miss.

I think my upgrade path looked like this. Suspension, 122mm, turret (don't mount without 107-/152 mm), 107mm, engines, KV-3, 152mm. The radio got thrown in there somewhere, doesn't really matter as long as you get the 107mm straight off the bat. The 152mm really needs 100% crew and equipment to really shine, although I sometimes run my KV with the 152mm, despite just having 100% crew.

Speaking of equipment, if you start saving up to put equipment on tier 5 tanks and above, especially before you even buy the tank, you will be doing some serious credit farming. I'm pushing up the Russian and American heavy lines for free slots/tanks when the tree changes roll in, and despite being at tier 7 on both lines, I've yet to see enough spare money to buy equipment by the time I unlock the next tier. A few times I've had to wait to buy the next tier because I needed a few more credits. I don't run premium, and I don't have any premium tanks.

Ok yeah that's the upgrade path suggested by Elcs as well. I'll be doing that too. Good to know about the 76 being too sucky. I guess I'll just live with the howitzer gun till I can get the 107.

I'll have like 600k when I buy the KV, so that'll be tank, suspension/gun, 75% crew, and maybe enough left for a piece of equipment. The rest of my garage is a T28, PzIV (sniper gun), Lee, 38nA, SU-26. PzIV is like a money making machine for me... I get at least 10k/round and if we win/i made a big contribution, then as much as 25k. T28 can easily net me 10k profits as well. Lee not so much... more like 4-7k, but still I'm getting a good bit of money out of it b/c of how long its taking to grind out the T1 and M4. I bought 75% crew for the PzIV + rammer + vents, and a few 75% crew members for the Lee & T28.

But once I got the PzIV i haven't found $ to really be an issue. I mean I can't afford the 500k equipment by any means but I can buy 75% crew & cheaper equipment no problem.

 

[PowerYoga]

Once you get the KV with the 107 or the 152 you'll be rolling in money with every round. You can safely sell the t-28, I've never found the tank to be very good for the tier it gets tossed in. punchy gun but craptastic armor. Much better use of a garage slot with any other tank...

I don't honestly remember what I did with my kv. Suspensions, box turret, 122mm is all I remember. I believe I got the 107 before the 152 though, but back then the tier spread is quite a bit lower and the 107 is incredible at lower tiers.

I wouldn't put too much 500k gears on your tier 5/6s unless you want to spend 10 gold dismounting them, but if you DO want to keep the KV (and grind toward the s-51 on it... 90k exp i think) I'd recommend putting a rammer and vents on it.

 

[Visaoni]

I wouldn't put too much 500k gears on your tier 5/6s unless you want to spend 10 gold dismounting them, but if you DO want to keep the KV (and grind toward the s-51 on it... 90k exp i think) I'd recommend putting a rammer and vents on it.

90k? No. It is quite a bit more. I forget exactly, but probably in the 120-130k range. I am grinding it out (slowly, with doubles), but I'm not bothering with equipment on it. After the tree change I'm not sure how everything with play out with the KV-1 vs KV-2, so I'm waiting until then to drop any serious money.

I just got the top gun (105mm, I think) on my T29, and it is really nice. Punches bigger holes in more people than the 90mm. However, with shell costs, it really reduces the credit making ability of the T29. With the 90mm it actually makes a pretty good amount of credits, however it seems like the upgraded gun eats up the majority of the income. I just got it though, and still need the upgraded turret, so perhaps I'll get better with it and be able to start earning a moderate amount of credits with it.

Unlike the IS, the T29 actually does pretty well without the top gun. I may need to start switching between the 105mm and 90mm in order to keep making a good amount of credits without specifically grinding credits on my KV/KV-3 (which I currently just do doubles on).

 

[Elcs]

http://worldoftanks.eu/news/595-gustav-line-breakthrough-special/

EU Server special period (I'd expect the same on your side of the pond)

Personally I am sad-face that there are no cheap garage slot sales but it's a chance to buy back my Panther (to try out), Tiger (cuz it's good) and Slugger (because I bought and sold it when I hadn't got enough money).

Starting from 5:30AM UTC November 24th, until 5:00AM UTC November 28th, enter the game to taste the following opportunities:

• Buy the following vehicles at half-price:
  • Panther,
  • PzKpfw VI Tiger,
  • StuG III,
  • M7 Priest,
  • M4A3E8,
  • M10 Wolverine,
  • M36 Slugger
  • Premium vehicle RAM-II

• Get the doubled credit income from the following vehicles:
  • Panther,
  • PzKpfw VI Tiger,
  • StuG III,
  • M7 Priest,
  • M4A3E8,
  • M10 Wolverine,
  • M36 Slugger
  • Premium vehicle RAM-II

• Enlarge your barracks purchasing the bunks at half-price;
• Train the crew for Tank Academy at half-price;
• Purchase a vehicle with the trained crew, paying half-price for each 100% trained crew member;
• Retrain the tank crew for Tank Academy at half-price.

Use the great offers at full and save more to get more, and good luck on the battlefield.

 

[Skott]

Well, if the garage slots are half price I'll go ahead and buy four and proceed to buy the T-50-2 and the M36 Slugger and keep two slots for future growth. Heck, maybe buy six even. I know I'll use them eventually as I move down the various tank lines.

Edit: Oh, wait... bunk slots? nah, forget that! Damn. Does anyone actually buy those?

 

[Ruptga]

How the fuck is the valentine a LIGHT tank?! It has more armor than the Lee! Just ran into one in a 1v1 scenario playing my 38nA. And it was bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce. All repeated shots into its rear armor... which is the same thickness as the front/side armor, 60/65 hull/turret.

I guess in trade it seems really slow and the gun is wimpy. Guess it's time to get the mod elcs uses that shows enemy armor thicknesses so I don't get surprised again

And yeah. I hate the Lee. I'm almost at the point of having the Sherman... I'm tempted to abandon ship now but I feel like I should just bite the bullet and unlock the T1 too.

Don't punish yourself like that, get the E2 through the sherman. Sherman >>>> Lee, and E2 >>>>> T1

 

[PowerYoga]

We get this instead. Too bad I think I'm gonna be missing most of this because I'm currently without access to a good computer.

http://worldoftanks.com/news/860-tanksgiving-special-coming-november-24th/

Between November 24th @ 11:30AM UTC and November 28th @ 11:00AM UTC, all World of Tanks NA players will have access to:

5x experience for the first victory each day, on all of your tanks
50% off all Gold ammo
Double credit income on the following tanks:
America
M4A3E2
M4A3E8
Germany
StuG III
JagdPz IV
Russia
SU-5
SU-8
50% off the following Premium tanks:
M22 Locust
T-15
T-127

Be sure to feast on these discounts and bonuses while they last! They’ll be returning to normal on November 28th, 2011.

 

[Nintendesert]

Blah. Those are shit tanks! Turkey comas instead now.

 

[Elcs]

Blah. Those are shit tanks! Turkey comas instead now.

I like the T-127 (a monster at tier 3 if you angle the front armour and avoid TD's) and the M22 Locust is pretty darn fun too

Well, if the garage slots are half price I'll go ahead and buy four and proceed to buy the T-50-2 and the M36 Slugger and keep two slots for future growth. Heck, maybe buy six even. I know I'll use them eventually as I move down the various tank lines.

Edit: Oh, wait... bunk slots? nah, forget that! Damn. Does anyone actually buy those?

I bought myself Bunk Slots. Needed them because I have several 100% crews (KV and KV-3, Panther and a 96% SU-85 crew) and not enough credits/garage slots to accomodate the tanks.

 

[Visaoni]

I bought myself Bunk Slots. Needed them because I have several 100% crews (KV and KV-3, Panther and a 96% SU-85 crew) and not enough credits/garage slots to accomodate the tanks.

Eh, isn't that problem more or less solved with extra garage slots so you can actually keep those tanks around in the first place?

 

[Elcs]

Eh, isn't that problem more or less solved with extra garage slots so you can actually keep those tanks around in the first place?

Only if you don't sell them because you need the slots for a tank you want more. Plus the only reason I had my KV and KV-3 around so long was because of this patch which was due several months ago to redo the Russian Heavy tree.

 

[eLiu]

Don't punish yourself like that, get the E2 through the sherman. Sherman >>>> Lee, and E2 >>>>> T1

You sir are a genius. GOODBYE LEE! Hello Sherman!

Also, I really wanted the 50% off crew training! It was in Elcs post but I guess they decided not to do that?

 

[Elcs]

Also, I really wanted the 50% off crew training! It was in Elcs post but I guess they decided not to do that?

I posted the event goodies for the EU server.

You're stuck with the (for once) poorer NA server event