Lots of little tweaks, more machine guns added. Other nice things. Couple more vehicles.
Mostly I'm excited that the Maus is in this update. Like what else do you need?
Oh really when?Wow. Maybe it'll be allowed to be awesome in the absence of nearly all its weaknesses and flaws, instead of being useless while fighting better designed tanks from twenty years later like WoT
edited 24th Feb '15 12:14:27 PM by Rotpar
But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you.I have been playing this recently. My PC and the game decided to play nice. So far I am liking it better then World of Tanks. II still have my two Russian Reserve Tanks and have unlocked my first non-reserve tank. I am trying to get a crew for my new tank but I can't seem to figure out how that bit works. I am not ready to trade in my reserve tanks quite just yet so I won't switch the crews over.
The damage models are rather interesting. Especially the fragmenting. I am a little disappointed but the lack of detailed HE spalling models. It may be a limit of the engine though. As for splinters HE shells can produce splinters and fragments capable of penetrating armor but you don't usually see that from small shells to any great effect.
I was almost surprised at how easy it is burn down a tank. While they seem to catch fire a bit easily even transmissions fluids will go up in a nasty way with a hot splinter or shell fragment. While the transmissions are tough they are not tank armor tough. The model could use some tweaking but it isn't super bad. I think it is mostly because I am still in early tanks against early tanks burn down from transmission doesn't seem to be that common. There was a map where I was down in a little valley in a hull down sand bag pit firing up at tanks. I got several transmission hits through the track wells with no brew ups. I have seen it more often in videos though.
The game plays like a faster paced Wo T. Matches don't drag on and so far don't feel like slug fests like Wo T does. Especially when you get a good penetration into a crew compartment and the internal fragmentation models are kind of cool. I have to admit the kill cam is almost like cheating but at the same time it is pretty fun. Like sniper elite with tanks.
edited 27th Mar '15 5:17:34 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?The spalling thing is a known limitation that I know they want to fix; right now HE shell fragments are a little overpowered to try and mimic the effects without having to change the engine.
New crews have to be bought; I forget how many you start with now. You only really need three for tanks, because that's the maximum number you can spawn in an arcade match, and you're unlikely to be able to use more in Realistic either. The reason to have more is so that you have choices on respawns depending on how the battle is going. The first new crew may be purchaseable with earnable currency; after that, I think, you need premium currency. I can't remember exactly what takes what because I've been playing this for over a year and spent too much on it, and so I have a ton unlocked.
Russian and American starter tanks are best. German starter guns suck, so you may find them frustrating until you unlock the first Stu G, get its HEAT ammo, and go to town with it.
Transmissions catching fire as easily as they do is unrealistic and people have complained at length about that. There's no historical evidence for transmission fires being that common, because there's no light oil there and transmission cases are big and solid. Maybe they'll fix it eventually.
I like it compared to Wo T because, as you say, it's fast-paced and it's not hit points, it's actually about realistic damage to tank components and 1-hit kills are common, especially once you get into the bigger guns. Which is realistic; real-life tanks were never impregnable against comparable opposition, and it was always a tradeoff between armor, speed, affordability and transport concerns.
Russian tanks are great if you like speed and hard-hitting guns (esp later on); German if you like long-distance accuracy; American are kinda in the middle, the most balanced faction so far.
A brighter future for a darker age.I vote the Kugelblitz as being one of the most FUN vehicles to drive in this game. And it's great in a supporting role; I find that I do very well accompanying something like an IS-2 or Tiger II and basically keeping the enemy distracted while the big guns reload, blinding them and giving them issues. I'm not going to kill something at 6.7 BR unless I'm very lucky (planes excepted) but I'll get SO many assists.
And if the enemy brings out a plane, they're so dead. Kugelblitz is the best AA in the game, IMNSHO.
A brighter future for a darker age.Morven: I will concede that the transmissions seem a bit too fragile for splinters and fragments in the modeling. Though on transmission fluid fires trans fluid goes up pretty easily. Of the non-fuel fluids in engines some of the coolants(this seems to be determined by additives), lubricants, and even transmission fluid are surprising fire hazards.
Now I would dare say there are a few catches to this. If the transmissions historically were less likely to be penetrated by the splinters and fragments in the first place outside of certain circumstances then the transmission burn downs should be rare in regards to splinters and fragments. The kinds of hits that can go through transmission are also likely to pass through other materials just as likely to brew up and start a fire as well.
The other catch is fragment and splinter heat. Most of that heat is going to come from either mechanical friction heating (metal on metal interaction), incendiary additives, and/or explosives. While the penetration of metal by metal generates mechanical heat it doesn't usually get hot enough to cause spontaneous ignition in all but the most sensitive materials like shell propellants or explosives in shells. I would argue though that the HEAP/AP-HE type shells are more likely to produce the hot fragments and splinters that are more likely to start a fire. However going back to the sturdiness of the transmissions chances are still good those fragments might not penetrate the transmission casing sufficiently to ignite the fluid. I would argue though a penetrating explosive type shell hitting the transmission case and exploding it would like start it on fire. But that requires a direct hit with the shell pretty much exploding in or almost in the transmission.
So more or less I agree with the assertion the transmissions fires are too common the way the game is modeled currently.
On the Spalling model. It almost seems like they could pull it off using a variation on the fragmentation model for the AP ammo's but maybe they don't go that route to keep them from being overly similar to other ammo types.
@training and crew:Ahh I haven't completed all the tutorials yet but I am not far from it though.
I swapped one of my Russian Reserve tanks for the T-60 I think it was? One of the first non-reserve tanks you can unlock and it has an AA Auto-cannon. I have found even with the base ammo I can give most ground enemies a bad day or at least give them harassing damage. If I can get on a flank or better yet behind them I can do some real damage. I want the AP ammo for it though. The downside is that nasty reload time.
Who watches the watchmen?Seconding the early German tanks being crap thing. Once you get their HEAT shells they're serviceable but you won't be seeing useful main guns until tier 2 at least.
American ones aren't as bad but you won't get anything bigger than the 37mm cannon for a while and most early shells lack explodey bits.
edited 28th Mar '15 2:32:17 PM by LeGarcon
Oh really when?Anyone got tips for a newb? Just started out and is a bit confused on how research work and such (is vehicle research and module research run concurrently and the research point gotten from battle get applied to both at once?) Also, what nation should I go for normally? Kind of started with US right now...also a bit confused on how the crew system works.
edited 31st Mar '15 7:53:25 AM by onyhow
Give me cute or give me...something?Tanks or planes, or both?
Your research points get simultaneously applied to both module research and vehicle research. For module research, if you use more than one vehicle in a match each vehicle gets only the module research that's due to its actions (so thus it's shared out among the vehicles you used). If I remember right, if your vehicle has all modules ("spaded" because of the symbol), the unused research points get added to the vehicle research.
US is a pretty good nation to play in both tanks and planes, so you'll be doing fine there. In planes, most American fighter aircraft aren't great turners and do better in "boom and zoom" type attacks — making a diving pass at an opponent and then climbing out of range again.
Crews, basically vehicles need to be given to a crew that needs training on that vehicle. They can then operate it. The crew earns crew XP when used in combat that can be used to upgrade its skills and abilities. This will take forever. Upgraded crews do better at all kinds of things, from surviving hits better, better aim, faster responses, etc. I don't know how you can train to take bullets better, but WT crews can learn to survive bullets.
Specific questions?
A brighter future for a darker age.I am not very big on the planes side of the game.
Learn the weaknesses of other tanks. Things like grills, gaps between road wheels in tread wells, hatches, vents, etc usually are thin spots. I think vision slits and MG ports are also soft spots I Haven't had much time to test it.
Remember not all ammo performs or shoots the same. Shots arc over longer distances and have a travel time. Even an intial miss or deflection can still kill or disable a tank. For example I dropped an HE shot out of my 45mm short of an American M2 to the side and it landed pretty much right next to it. The fragments penetrated the tread well and killed the crew. Same for a shot that delfected of the body and into the turret.
Mind your shot angles try and get your shots to land as squarely as possible. Even small angles can deflect a well aimed shot.
Go Hull down where possible when capping or holding a position. It is better to dash to cover to cover then to linger in an open area. If you have to shoot on the move come to rapid stop and aim quickly and fire off then get rolling after the shot. Better to minimize time stopped in fluid battle then to sit there waiting for the enemy.
Always try and flank capture points and watch for being flanked. Often going around the backside of a position means you have a good chance of running into enemy tanks coming in that way so watch out. Other then distracting the enemy from defending the front line flanking or coming from behind usually gives you nice clean shots at the sides and backs. Since they are focused frontward they usually don't notice you until it is too late.
If you have a shot from the rear aim for the back of the turret or the hull just below it. Don't try to shoot through the engine if you can help it. The engine and equipment in the rear can absorb a lot of punishment. You stand a good chance of killing crew and even disabling their gun if you put it through the hull below the turret in back or through the back of the turret. If your shot doesn't hit crew move or aim bit more to the side of that aim point and tray again.
On fast moving targets lead the target by about a tank length and half if it misses cut it down to a tank length. For slow tanks about a half length lead and take your time. A hasty shot will almost always miss at anything but close range.
Use the right ammo for the right target in the right situation. This one is mostly trial and error and personal preference. I prefer straight AP Ammo at longer ranges, tough targets, or against bad shot angles. I like the Bursting Penetrators at shorter ranges. I have found at long range AP hits tend to get the job done but you need steady aim at the right spot. The ammo that produces the most fragments after penetration though makes one hit kills more likely. You are more likely to hit and kill crew, start fires, and set off ammo.
Never underestimate the other tank. Some can be surprisingly tough like the American M2 front angles. While playing a day or so ago I saw two pretty much blast everyone out of two cap points before someone flanked them and plinked them.
When aiming at the side of a tank the general best target area is a line through the center of the turret ring vertically and a centered line through the tank horizontally. So basically picture a cross that sits below the turret but is centered on the body through the side. The chances of crew being in that space is very high and you will either kill or injure them with fragments or penetrating hits. Crew placement inside will vary widely typically there is at least one man in that space. Adjust fire as needed to hit more crew. If you keep penning that spot as the crew shift to take the dead mans place you can sit there and pen kill the crew one shot at a time in some cases.
Who watches the watchmen?Good stuff, Tuefel! I'd also say: move in between shots. Never sit still while reloading; you're a harder target on the move. Learn to use cover. Beware high ground; in a tank, high ground just makes you a target for everybody. With Russian tanks, beware cresting a rise; your gun probably won't point down (depress) enough to shoot at things over it. Germans and especially Americans have better luck with that, but that's a tradeoff; Russian tanks are normally lower-profile and can hide easier.
A brighter future for a darker age.Eh, since I play both WOT and WT, the balloon Sherman thing isn't interesting to me...the mech? Hell yeah. Shame I didn't know about setting up weapon switching when the event was live (set it up later when I got the Lee), so when I play mech I tend to waste the 45mm rounds.
Give me cute or give me...something?

No, pretty much all tanks have APHE of some kind (armor-piercing but with an explosive charge to burst after penetration). It's the default round of most later-tier tanks. It's just that the heavy armor of later tier tanks makes it often necessary to use some variety of solid AP shot because of their greater penetration values, and those rounds trade off damage after penetration for greater penetration.
The rounds that are worst modeled are HE, because spalling damage is not modeled and instead the damage is modeled as a bunch of high-velocity shards, which have excessive penetrating ability compared to real-life shrapnel from a HE round in an attempt to make up for not modelling spalling.
One valid complaint about War Thunder's damage models for tanks is that transmissions do not catch fire in real life. Gear oil / transmission fluid simply does not light like that. Plus, the transmission cases are generally really tough, solid castings. They can be disabled due to a solid hit, but they don't burn.
A brighter future for a darker age.