World of Tanks (Vol 2)

World of Tanks (Vol 2)

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Beati Dogu

8,862 posts

138 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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Good job. You must have played it constantly to get that.

tank

RobDickinson said:
It plays more like a medium. The gun is terribly unreliable, long time to aim and a lot of misses, no bigbig pen or damage.

It does most things below average and nothing well
Are we talking the same tank here? Because the T25/2 I know has a very quick 1.7 second aim time, decent 0.36 accuracy and the same 240 alpha damage as the Tiger 1's 88mm at the same tier.

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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With tasty, but diabolically named "Here Comes The Tanks"(sic) event, all tanks get a daily triple, and British tanks get 5 additional triples after the first triple of the day, but this operation can only be used 5 times. I used it yesterday to finish the Bishop off, putting around 18,000xp on in a few matches, and did the same today with my new Bert. It's a slouch at first, but with that top engine on it really flies! A shame then, that it gets the same gun as the Bishop with a slight ROF increase, but it's showing it's weakness more now. I did get a tasty one shot on a full-health Leopard earlier, but in the same match I perma-tracked a Tiger II, hitting him 8 times for only 500 or so damage. I did make a load of "damage to tracked target" XP, but it shows how much you need your team to help out with those tougher targets.

I did have a great match on Erlenberg also where I managed to get into the Bert spirit, constantly moving and shooting, following the team advance and nailing sitting ducks who were in traditional "arty safe" positions. This is a good tank, if a bit niche! Now that I've got my Bert sorted, I can take a leisurely grind up to the Crusader 5.5, and focus my attention on turning my VK30.01P into a Tiger P. The Maus awaits.

bstb3

3,990 posts

157 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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Beati Dogu said:
Good job. You must have played it constantly to get that.

tank
Thanks smile It has been pretty much the only tank I've played this month, since getting it. Had the occasional outing in the T-34-85 when I donked out early in a game, or took a break. It was never the intention to do the 3 marks thing, I just wanted to train the crew up some, but then I got the 2nd mark and thought it was worth a shot as I've never gotten 3 before.

I suspect it won't see much action for a while now, and the KV3 will keep until a discount event. It's been a nice little statpadder too, just checked and it's been running at 3300 WN8 or so for me, which was nice.

Mastodon2 said:
I used it yesterday to finish the Bishop off
hehe

Fv304 is a cracker though (even for an evil spg wink). Very fun to play, but as you are discovering its not a one shot monster. Keep an eye out for Japanese tanks though, it eats them up. Su100's too for some reason, they must havy a very thin roof.


Also the T25/2 I found actually a decent tank too. It's not in the Hellcat league, but not far off, it just has to fight tougher tanks. It's a bit like the getting Comet after the Cromwell I guess. Seems disappointing but in isolation its actually decent.

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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bstb3 said:
hehe

Fv304 is a cracker though (even for an evil spg wink). Very fun to play, but as you are discovering its not a one shot monster. Keep an eye out for Japanese tanks though, it eats them up. Su100's too for some reason, they must havy a very thin roof.
hehe

Yeah the Bishop turned out to be pretty good in the end, not easy to use though as the gun arc was ste. The FV304 is a right old larf, but even the Bishop, and the Birch gun before it, are chippers, not sledgehammers. One-shots are relegated to low tier lights, SPGs and lower tier open top TDs only, the lack of one-shot power just diminishes with each higher tier. I do seem to get a lot of fire starting in these things though, I dealt about 1000 damage to a TOGII* the other night by nailing his engine deck, letting the fire burn 800hp off him and then hitting him again to finish him, securing the match.

I'd like one day to grind up to the M53/55 and see why it's considered so ridiculous, to the point where the majority of 53/55 players on the Xbox WOT forum don't even bother with their T92s. I suppose being enclosed rather than open, having a considerable mobility advantage and a higher ROF just make it easier to use than the T92. It's good fun catching an M53/55 though, and putting HE rounds into that school bus box on the back.

Someone on the Xbox WOT forum saw one on the back of a truck recently and got a photo, this thing is fking huge



Looks like an M53, from an uneducated guess at the size of the gun.

defblade

7,392 posts

212 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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My take on arty:

It never needed nerfing, just restricting to one or two arties per team in each game.

Enough to make you think a little, but not enough to make everyone camp for fear of 3, 4 or 5 shells whistling down the second you try and move.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

253 months

Sunday 23rd November 2014
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Beati Dogu said:
Are we talking the same tank here? Because the T25/2 I know has a very quick 1.7 second aim time, decent 0.36 accuracy and the same 240 alpha damage as the Tiger 1's 88mm at the same tier.
Hmm it seems longer.

The Tiger I get on with well (though have a lower win rate than the t25/2!).

It seems far more accurate, perhaps the faster ROF and much more pen helps, misses , which happen all too often in the t25/2 , are more costly.

Its not stealthy, doesnt have armour, needs to be closeish to the action , no derp, no fast rof, relatively poor pen. Perhaps the t8 gun with its whole 10 extra pen will change it.

bstb3

3,990 posts

157 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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Decided to give up on trying to get the Ace Tanker badge in the AT7 & moved up into the AT15 yesterday. First impressions are somewhat mixed, the gun handling is brilliant, so much flexibility in it's movement compared to the AT7, it actually feels like it can almost shoot round corners. It's great at fighting in close quarters when you can hide behind something and poke round corners at things - so easy to catch people out as they come round the corner, keeping them perma tracked with the high ROF and whittling them down 220 HP at a time. In the right situation it can hold 2/3 tanks up at a time easily that way.

But the armour and crew layout, ye gods...

So far moving up the AT line it has been a case of using them as assault tanks, their armour largely standing up frontally apart from the 'shoot me here' cupola. The AT15 seems to have lost that somewhat - the tier 9 and 10's seem to have little or no problem penning frontally with regular AP, and the weak spots seem even easier to pen for lower tiers. The gun mantlet in particular seems to be made of cheese, quite possibly Brie, which is a bugger as you kind of need to expose that. On top of that the top machine gun port weakspot, which most people have been trained to shoot by all the earlier AT's, also seems to be the location of one of the loaders so most times you get hit there you lose him.

So it seems relegated to being a hide in bush & snipe type TD on many maps, which is ok as the gun rocks against tier 8 and down at distance, but then beats the point of the armour and subsequent penalty you take in mobility as a result.

Frustrating tank, and a long way to go to the Tortoise, but hey ho. tank






pat_y

1,029 posts

200 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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Finally got fed up with the IS-8 and my complete inability to play it effectively, sold it and bought into the SU-152. I really love my SU100 and even though it is probably not as good a package as the hellcat, i still get on well with it. Anyway the SU-152, immediately free XP upgraded the gun to the top one and went about trying it out. I cannot get on with it at all It is awful, terrible armour and painfully slow, the gun is quite good i suppose but as soon as i'm spotted, i'm toast.
I am trying to get to the mighty ISU-152 which seems to destroy all before it, but i'm not sure i can live with the SU for long enough.
Am i being to negative about it? Is there a specific tactic i'm missing with this TD?
The crew are not 100% yet, so perhaps i'm expecting too much, can any other owners current or previous offer their thoughts?

Beati Dogu

8,862 posts

138 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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The best gun on the SU-152 (and the ISU-152 until you get the BL-10) is the stock 152 mm gun. The others are just terrible with such a slow and unmanoeuvrable TD. Definitely research them on the SU, but don't use them at all.

bstb3

3,990 posts

157 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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It's a pity you didn't get on with the IS8, but I can get where you are coming from. It's an odd tank, neither well armoured enough for a heavy but still too big and slow firing for a med. It's somewhere in between, a half breed if you will. Best treated like a French heavy really, let the other heavies go first and then back them up, when it becomes very dangerous.

Anyway, SU-152. Only gun I found particularly worthwhile was the 152mm derp. It's slow firing and inaccurate, but can absolutely wreck tanks. To get the most out of it ammo choice is crucial. I've seen people say only play it with HE, and whilst that will work you can get more out of it with more proactive ammo selection. If I remember right I played it with an even split of shells between AP, HEAT and HE. Take HE shells for heavily armoured targets (remember the AP and even HEAT penetration is not massive), AP for softly armoured targets and HEAT for those not sure / 'must get a pen' moments. It's an approx. 15 seconds load time so you always need to be thinking ahead.

In terms of playing it, its not particularly great in one on one situations - especially against mobile tanks - so look to avoid those. If you have to engage one on one you must make sure you get the first hit in, else it can be game over. Armour wise it's not bad, but not great. Only look directly at a tank to shoot - you will almost certainly be spotted when firing so fire and immediately angle the front by 30 degrees or so to maximise the armour effectiveness. The shell travel time on the 152mm is quite long too, so shooting at moving targets is best avoided (but epic when it comes off).

For equipment I went Binocs, rammer and gun laying drive. With hindsight vents might have been a better option than the GLD, but only if you get a crew up to BIA which it sounds like you wont have yet. Camo net is ok as an alternative to the GLD if you want to play very passively as you will have plenty of time to aim.

First set of perks were, I think, camo on commander until he can be retrained to sixth sense, clutch braking on driver, then camo or repairs on everyone else (personal choice - I went with camo).

It can be a great tank, and its one I actually miss playing after having written this, although once you get to the ISU-152 and especially the BL-10 you won't look back.


TL/DR: Use the 152mm but ammo choice is crucial. Don't get into one on ones, binocs, rammer and GLD for equipment. Get sixth sense as soon as you can. Enjoy it, its brutal. wink

pat_y

1,029 posts

200 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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Thanks Guys, your feedback is really helpful on this. I am using a Camo net (bought a pile of them last time they were on offer). didn't really consider playing HE to be honest, all the other tanks i've tried to play DERP/HE have been so innacurate that you have to be very close to hit the target, not a good idea in a slow turning TD. Now that you've pointed out about the AP penetration, trying to pick off T29 or 34's or most other TD's is not very sucessful, i'm seeing lots of bounced shots and failed penetration.
Clutch braking sounds like a good suggestion, i usually head for sixth sense as the first skill to learn for everything, has saved me many times.
I will keep going with it for a while and perhaps try to maintain as much distance from the frontline as possible (cue all the 'camper' jibes).

With regards to the IS-8, you are absolutley spot on. Not really heavy enough to roll with the big boys, still effective in the right situation but not on the frontline as a brawler. I still use my IS-3 as a mean 'big scary T8' and it's one of the best tanks i have ever had.

Beati Dogu

8,862 posts

138 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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I think clutch braking is essential for turretless TD as it also makes it possible to defend yourself at close range or angle your armour quickly. Some TDs, like the Hetzer with clutch braking, will rotate faster than many turrets do. That's one of the things that made the American tier 2 T-18 so over powered in WoT. It used to be able to turn on a six pence, making it impossible to circle. The turn rate is one of the things they nerfed recently, so it's not so invulnerable any more.

Clutch braking is handy on turreted TDs and heavy tanks too, because if you turn the turret and the tank at the same time you can catch a few people out. Unlike many tanks of the era, the real Tiger tank could turn on the spot like this, although they'd generally only do it in an emergency as it overstressed the transmission and tracks.

On light tanks it's really not needed and makes them extremely twitchy and hard to drive. I quite like it on mediums though as it makes them even more snake hipped.

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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Don't worry about being called a camper, the SU-152 is neither quick nor well armoured enough to be anywhere near a fight. It's a good tank, but it's extremely situational. With the right team, on the right map it is brutal.

I ran mine using the 152mm gun only, mainly shooting HE but with some HEAT and AP on board. As mentioned, the AP and even HEAT pen is not great, and when shooting at tier 9s I often found that HE was the best choice, as it could do a little damage and leave the target de-tracked for the rest of my team to pounce on.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

253 months

Monday 24th November 2014
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Thats the think with td's you can feel seriously isolated from the game. find a good spot but no enemy come past you the game is won or lost far far away and you can have minimal impact. Yes you can crawl across the map try to find a new spot or follow the rest but often by then the game is over one way or another.

Beati Dogu

8,862 posts

138 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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HEAT shells from the SU-152's derp gun have 250 mm pen, so unless you hit tracks or spaced armour it will pretty much get through. I find HE to be completely unreliable from any gun, so I just fired HEAT with the SU & ISU 152. You don't fire that often, so you need it to count. AP is so bad I never carried any.

RobDickinson said:
Thats the think with td's you can feel seriously isolated from the game. find a good spot but no enemy come past you the game is won or lost far far away and you can have minimal impact. Yes you can crawl across the map try to find a new spot or follow the rest but often by then the game is over one way or another.
With the slow ones that can happen. I've had games with the FCM Pak 40 where we've won so easily I've not even fired a shot. That is rare though.

bstb3

3,990 posts

157 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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I didnt remember the HEAT being so high, but I bought back the 152 tonight, and it is smile

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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I've still got my ISU-152 sitting there, doing nothing. The monster derp gun of tier 7 becomes a pea shooter at tier 8, and the 122mm guns are not suited to the lumber ISU either. I'm about 35,000xp away from the BL-10 and I just can't bring myself to play it. It's tempting to just load up on HEAT and prem-spam my way through it, using the SU-122-44 to offset the losses and double up on crew training. So many things on the "To do" list!



Here is a quick snap of a match I've just had in the VK30.01P. Assault, attacking on Karelia. I set up on the hill with my camo net and binocs and started shooting - the binocs didn't do much as I only made 298 spotting damage, but I did 2,883 damage, and took 4 kills, 2x T32s, a T71 and a VK36.01H, netting another Lehväslaiho's Medal for the collection. This didn't get an Ace Tanker, but I think it would have scored a class 1, but I can't get another one of those as I picked one up on Thursday when I bought this thing. The camo net evidently did little as I dodged a lot of fire, but didn't take any hits. I can't wait to leave this thing behind and get into the Tiger P.


Z06George

2,519 posts

188 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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RobDickinson said:
Thats the think with td's you can feel seriously isolated from the game. find a good spot but no enemy come past you the game is won or lost far far away and you can have minimal impact. Yes you can crawl across the map try to find a new spot or follow the rest but often by then the game is over one way or another.
As someone who plays the T28 and now T95 TDs I can relate to this big time! I tend to play slightly riskier and position myself where I know there'll be some traffic, although I have a bit stronger frontal armour than your TD so you would probably have to rely on the power of your gun a bit more than I would. As others have said clutch braking is everything!

cirian75

4,245 posts

232 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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good games last night, me and 2 of my fellow CIRC2 buddys got a brothers in arms and a crucial cont last night

13 kills between us, was much fun.

2 E75's and me in the ST-I, I did over 4000k damage smile

Beati Dogu

8,862 posts

138 months

Tuesday 25th November 2014
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Good work. I'll get the ST-I in a while. I already have it unlocked.


BTW, all tier 10 will be discounted in December & Jan, so don't buy any until then.

There's loads of other specials coming up too.


http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/11/19/decemberjanuary...