Elcs, thanks for your hard work in putting together the FAQ/User guides on your blog. Much appreciated.
Edit: So, the 6.4 patch was intended to be the release patch, but didn't happen in time, is that right? WoT HAS been released and I don't have to worry about an upcoming wipe, right?
too late to get in on this?
well I decided to start down the russian heavy line while also continuing my progress down the german heavy line. Right now I have the tier 6 VK3601 which I think sucked pretty bad at first (first tank I have that I could actually lose credits on), but now that I have unlocked some upgrades, got a camo net and my crew is over 90% things are looking better. It'll probably be a great tank once I get the second engine unlocked and get a rammer and some other enhancement (crew vents maybe). It would be nice if the german tanks had guns with more pen and damage to match some of the russians.
On the otherhand I got to the KV on the Russian line, and honestly, compared to the german tanks, its beast. I got more bounced shots in one fight than I think I've ever had on my german tanks. Its stock gun does decent damage for its tier, but the upgraded guns available just look beast for its tier. The only issue I forsee is that the upgraded turret for the KV only has a turn speed of 14 degrees/sec, and I'm sure the upgraded guns probably require that turret.
I think I'm going to fully outfit the KV and the VK3601 before moving on to the next tiers. I probably also wont sell either of those tanks. I always regret moving on to another tier at first, since a new non-upgraded tank always seems to pretty much suck until you get enough xp to unlock the essentials (tracks/better engine).
The German line gets better in terms of firepower. The tiger can lay down some good cover fire, but its not meant to be a front line tank.
As for the KV-2 turret...the KV is the first (but certainly not the last) that teaches you how to effectively use the Russian heavy line. You MUST (MUST!!!) turn the tank as well as the turret to track close targets. Even other heavies can move faster than the KV-2 turret if you don't turn the tank as well. You will learn to love/hate the KV, but with the 107...its a beast credit machine.
I've already trained myself to turn my tank with the turret in order to track targets. I also turn my front towards enemies in an open firefight so that they have to shoot at my most heavily armored area and it also helps prevent getting tracked.
I look forward to getting the bigger guns on the KV and turning it into a credit machine, since I'm sorely lacking credits since I just recently bought the KV (with 75% crew) and right before that I bought the VK3601 (also with upgraded crew) so that cost me right around 1.2M total.
I shot the rabbit ears on the t-34 a few times with my KV-3, did about 20% damage each time...
This is the most frustrating part of the game for me. I love my T29 to death with its beastly 105mm, but I can't stand it when people go for the ears and get full damage because it has no armor value. Its a bug that really needs to be fixed IMO. To have to resort to "wagging" my turret from side to side is just incredibly dumb.
I had a game last night where I was top tier and the other team's Tiger quit at the start. I was happily charging through the left flank when two arty started perma tracking me. They never did much more than 1 or 2% hp damage, but the little guys swarmed in and were hitting my ears. I was able to 1 shot some of them, but the reload time was too much to handle them all. Of course my teammates who were so eager to follow me into battle retreated when the swarm surrounded me. I felt like a Maus that I've seen in some youtube videos that gets surrounded but takes a few minutes to kill.
Welcome to the world of the JagdTiger. It has the same bug: the armor value of the gun mantlet is set to zero. This is especially insulting because it *should* be the most heavily armored part of the tank. Regardless, just about anyone can pen a JT from front on by firing at the gun.
So... HE at the gun mantlet of the JagdTiger?
Re: Tiger/KV/German Heavies...
I had more success playing the KV/107mm in a similar way to the play style which should be adopted by German tanks. The KV can't turn, its turret doesn't traverse and it can be ventilated quite easily by anyone who knows what they are doing and given enough room.
Taking the above into account I found it more appropriate to snipe, lay down cover and keep people guessing. A good mobile sniper with camo and probably a net and binocs could be pretty fun.
I love fighting KVs with the KV-2 turrets in my T-34 or T-34-85. If I have enough room and the KV is alone, it's probably dead unless I was heavily damaged already.
Even at distance, as long as I shoot for the side of the turret, I know I'm going to do some good damage.
I've definately been one of those people in a pz3 circling a KV for a good 2+ minutes till I finally killed him. Once he's been tracked he doesn't stand a slight chance of ever getting you in his reticles. It gets even better if you damage his turret then you dont even have to move your tank except every 30sec. I'm sure its only a matter of time before I suffer that fate in my KV, although it would require me breaking my rule of staying with the group (unless of course my entire group but me is dead).