War Thunder

The mechs were pretty awesome, have to say. It would be nice to have a War Thunder of fictional machines :D

edited 4th Apr '15 9:43:49 PM by Morven

^ Mechwarrior Online?

Yeah, but lazy me would rather stick to the control scheme I know :D

Besides diesel punk mechs are way cooler. Ring of Red meets War Thunder.

I got the Zis SPG gun Tier I unit. It is quite fun. That thing even on the solid penerator makes a lot of nasty fragments and can fire the APHE shells.

You have no armor to speak of but your long range ability to drill enemy tanks even tough ones in one shot is quite nice.

edited 5th Apr '15 12:52:05 AM by TuefelHundenIV

Yeah, the ZIS-30 is a lot of fun. Its armor penetration at 1000m is enough to knock tanks out up through Tier IV if you're at the right angle, and through Tier II is capable at any angle. It's a good tank to learn sniping tactics in.

Not many of them in real life, I note; only about 100 were made.

edited 5th Apr '15 3:34:19 AM by Morven

...I somehow got 12 kills in an M3 Lee. How the heck did that happen, I have no clue.

Holy shit. How did you get that many without being flattened by artillery, bombers, or vengeful tanks?

As I said, I have no clue, but I have the replay if you want to watch.

Most likely it's enemy team's incompetence.

Combat start at 4 min 20 sec...or somewhere around there.

edited 6th Apr '15 7:39:23 AM by onyhow

Ony: Wow. Watched that replay. You got a bit mangled but not too badly. Those enemies were idiots. All of them had bad shot angles or guns too under powered for your armor at those ranges. No one moved around or used cover to flank you in close. They sat there and let you pop them.

I checked the armor on the M2. it is a pretty well armored vehicle for its tier.

Yeah. I panicked quite a lot when those SPAA started open on me, but other than that it's not that of a big deal...

After watching the replay a few times, I just realize that I have been basically spawncamping them...then again, if the enemy tanks were actually smart, those 2-3 Panzers that were bumrushing me should have just gone into city and go after my sides instead...I would have died. Instead, they came head on...bad idea.

Also, got the M 4 A 1 and the M 4 A 3 105...the derp is fun if the target isn't too heavily armored. Gotta get that HEAT shell fast.

BTW, how does the Battle Tier work for my vehicles? Does it count all vehicles you have, or just the vehicles you select for your first 3 crew?

edited 9th Apr '15 9:04:21 AM by onyhow

Just to disambiguate: Tier has nothing to do with anything except when a vehicle can be unlocked. Battle Rating is for matchmaking.

Whatever vehicle you field has the highest BR, that's the BR you fight at, +/- 1

I know, just misuse the term...so if I didn't field the A3 105 or the M 4 A 1 (keep both in garage and don't assign them to any crew) and just Field M3 Lee and the Lights, I'll only face 2.7 BR max right?

For Ground Forces, the highest BR of the vehicles assigned to a crew is the one used for matchmaking. Vehicles not currently assigned to a crew are not counted.

Tier also counts in that you get less vehicle research points if you're researching a vehicle more than 1 tier away from the one you're playing. You can research a Tier IV vehicle and get the full benefits while playing a Tier III, but you'll get reduced research points if you are researching a Tier V.

It does nothing for matchmaking, though.

edited 9th Apr '15 2:36:41 PM by Morven

^ Ah, that's very helpful! Thanks!

So I was in a match where the enemy basically just parked a Pz III and IV on a hill outside the spawn and plinked us as we spawned. The other spawn isn't much better. It is isn't until some arty and airstrikes drive them off do we get some room to move out. Pissed at being spawn plinked by the enemy I start playing peek a boom with the my M2. The Pz IV gets swatted by someone but the Pz III just won't quit camping the spawn. So I spend a fair number of my shells in a peek a boom duel with them. While repairing from a near miss two of this guys team mates try to camp our spawn directly. One manages to go off the kill and dies to incoming fir. The other tries to ram me. I get a lucky hit and wipe his entire tank in one shot. I did one last peak a boom and got a lucky plunging hit that killed the Pz III's last crew.

We still lost the match but I got credit for what I did. That is the other thing I like about War Thunder. Your team doesn't have to win to do well enough on your own.

So today I finally unlocked the StuG III Ausf. F :D

First game: AB, Poland. My brand new StuG, decked out in shark teeth and red eyes decal, rolled into the main street alongside a Marder. Upon hearing the echo of enemy fire just down the block, I turned toward a pile of rubble for cover.

Then a T-34 popped up and drilled a round straight into my gearbox.

A group of passing allied tanks killed the thing before it landed another hit, then went on their merry way to take the cap points from the open flanks. My StuG was crippled and exposed in the middle of the street, effectively a fat sack of free RPs for any halfway competent enemy player that happens to be passing by.

Fortunately, instead of staying on the move and actively screening their flanks, the enemy armour opted to bunch up as they emerged slowly from two intersections down the road - both of which I had a perfect view of. In just over a minute, I managed to knock out five tanks and mobility-kill two other. My luck ran out when yet another T-34 popped out of cover as I was reloading, but by then my teammates had wiped out the token force defending their cap and were crawling up the main street with vengeance. We won with a nearly full bar a few minutes later.

If there's one thing that beats playing the StuG F in AB, though, it's playing it in RB. The long 75mm gives you a great deal more versatility than the Ausf A's derp infantry cannon, allowing you to dictate the terms of the engagement. You can dart from cover to cover for risky but rewarding point-blank attacks or snipe away from a hull-down position. Shadows and vegetations are your best friends: Jungle and Eastern Europe in particular provide many low-lit spots where the short-ish StuG can blast many taller M3s and KVs before getting spotted. Throw in some rocks for hard cover and you'll find it a very irritating foe to dislodge.

TL;DR: StuG life is the life, yo.

That's exactly the fun of playing a TD, especially a low-profile one like the StuG.

edited 17th Apr '15 1:23:32 PM by Morven

Nice.

I hate KV-1's. It is worse then the Pz III and IV or T-34's in a match full of early tanks.

With my current Russian tanks only my Zis gun can penetrate some spots at a good angle. My other tanks not so much.

edited 17th Apr '15 1:58:01 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Welcome to the StuG life

KV-1s are really hard to kill at low level. Damn things are tough. Dog slow, but tough.

Had one roll up on one of our spawns. Its gun was hammering everything. It got worse when it was backed up by a T-34 and a Marder AT gun. That was not a very fun game. I at least did some damage to its front transmission line but that was it.

Speaking of oddly nasty tanks. The Pz II with 20mm firing the top line AP ammo is a very nasty animal. Its pretty well protected and I had little trouble perforating pretty much everything from the front or sides. Side shots were better as I could walk the firing pattern in circle over the turret or sides.

In terms of protection spawn points are already protected against artillery. They should be protected from enemies sniping into it or sitting in it as well. Make it so no shells can go in or out of it at least.

KV-1s stop being that much of a threat later on but early game they're monsters.

Bust a track and run away if you can or aim for the turret ring if possible. Not many things can take hits to the turret ring.

Speaking of, I just spent a game protecting this hapless teammate in a BT-7 with my KV-1. Worked pretty well until StuGs got to me.

edited 17th Apr '15 6:32:27 PM by LeGarcon

Turret rings are really hard to hit at anything but close range and against a mostly level target. Not a good place to be in early tanks vs a KV-1. The thing about those tracks is I almost never track someone despite clean hits to the track that is including head on shots with bursting or exploding ammo that should have a good chance of popping the track in the first place.

The KV's armor on the front is really good against early tanks which is why I am shocked I am running into it. Its gun eats pretty much everything in one or two shots tops. The other three tanks that are bad to run into are the Pz III and IV and the T-34. All of which have high levels of protection and weapons with good performance against most targets. Early game German tanks are pretty robust and a challenge to take on. I hate T-34's and am glad I can pen them at decent ranges with my Zis 30's best ammo.

The Auto-Cannon PZ II is pretty broken IMO. I was ripping everything even managed to pen a T-34 through the sides with it. I was looking at the German flak gun line it only gets worse later including the quad barrel 20mm.

Kind of fun fact there are small thin spots on the side of the T-34 you can pen with the US Dual .50 cal gun. Despite relying on lucky hits most players fall back when being flailed on by it. Especially if I get a lucky pen and head shot a crew member :p

edited 17th Apr '15 7:18:11 PM by TuefelHundenIV

It's the HVAP ammo that does it. No worries though, it becomes drastically less effective almost overnight.

Also killed my first Tiger tonight. I'm so proud of myself and my little T-34.

Yep. The HVAP is pretty nasty. I imagine from bigger guns it is even worse.