World of Tanks

[Furiously]

The T20 is the funnest of the American mediums. The Pershing packs a better punch.

[Mortriden]

I'm meh on the pershing over the T20, personally. People seem to love the shit out of the pershing, but I found for it's tier the T20 to be far more fun to drive. The T20 is a murder machine.

I don't think I do well with slower tanks. I didn't like the T29 much, I don't like the T28proto more than the T25/2.

I had exactly the opposite feeling.  The T20 was just full of fail for me.  Once I got the 90mm I at least felt like I could harm the enemy.  The Pershing was a brutal slaughter machine for me, able to bounce shots, drop huge damage, and get out of trouble if needed.  The maxed Patton is even better, it's like the Pesh or speed.  I really, really enjoy it.

[Furiously]

The T20 plays more like a light than a medium. You get in you get out.

[apocrypha]

T29 is one of my favourite tanks, especially so once I got the 105mm gun, although that was the first gun on any of my tanks where I started to really wince each time I bounced a shot. 1000 cr wasted! However, it is also the gun that taught me how to aim properly! E.g. my overall hit ratio is 55%. I'm up to 63% with the T29 and on the IS-3, which I got a couple of months after that T29 I'm up to 74%.

The T20 I've not quite got used to yet, but then I've only played 21 games in it so far. High top speed but low acceleration feels weird, but I haven't got the 2nd engine yet so maybe that'll improve it.

In other news I am now 2/3rd of the way to the IS4. Totally loving the IS3, despite the less than stellar barrel depression. The ability to make other tanks turn around and run away makes me grin like a 9 year old. At the rate I'm going I'll have the IS4 over the weekend, but I don't think the IS3 is ever leaving my garage.

[Merusk]

Hating the T20 so far.  Fucker is slooooow... but it's also Stock - I only got the 1.3 million to buy it last night.  Did a match on the new "omg zones of fire" city map and took a few hits that impressed me because I lived, so I could just warm to it if the engine upgrade helps.

Though I'm up against a lot of T9-T10 tanks now and feel like fodder more than a useful member.

[angry.bob]

All the upgrades make a big difference if I remember right. I had my camoflage almost maxed out with a camo net and binoculars and sniped with it. It's not a tank that can take a lot of hits, but it's fast enough to get into good spots to snipe from.

[apocrypha]

Had a few games in my T20 yesterday, now fully upgraded, and it's better than stock for sure. Still feels fragile though as you say. I think it might be a problem with tier 7 meds in general. I've also got a fully upgraded VK3002DB, which I like, but it also dies very, very fast, and a Panther which is just a pure sniper. Couple of games away from the XP for a T43 but not got the credits for one so I can't pass judgement on how that plays yet.

Thing is that at tier 7 the heavies really start to dominate. T29, IS, Tiger/Tiger(P) - none of the mediums can go toe-to-toe with them. Tier 7 feels like the point where the roles really seperate - meds become support for the heavies unless they're in a coordinated pack.

[Amarr HM]

My experience with all the Tier 6-8 mediums you really need to play ultra-cautiously for the first portion of the game. This could mean just picking up a position to spot and let arty/bigger tanks rack up your XP.

It's really not until the enemy team is halved, should you consider breaking through their ranks and do some damage on your own. T20 is absolutely no different to it's counterparts in this regard, it'll never bounce a shot but at least you won't get ammo racked every fifth game like the Russian meds or catch engine fire like the Germans meds.

[Amarr HM]

I quite liked the T20 it's definitely more fun than the T-43.

[apocrypha]

My experience with all the Tier 6-8 mediums you really need to play ultra-cautiously for the first portion of the game. This could mean just picking up a position to spot and let arty/bigger tanks rack up your XP.

It's really not until the enemy team is halved, should you consider breaking through their ranks and do some damage on your own.

I wish I was better at following this kind of advice. I play far too aggressively often and it gets me killed a lot. 

[Nebu]

I would love it if someone would write a strategy guide for people like me that enjoy the game but aren't up on the subtleties. I tend to be far more aggressive than I should be. 

[Amarr HM]

One of the great things about this game is there are absolutely no surefire strategies to win or succeed, this is due to the multitude of parameters that define how a game is played out. There are also your own personal objectives, do you want to keep your average XP high or do you want to just let loose and have fun?

If you want to improve your stats and also win games you will need to practice massive amounts of caution (unless you are a light scout of course) in the majority of games. I could definitely pass on a few rules of thumb in that regard, there are definite rules of thumb which you should only break if you are sure you know what you are doing. The knowing will only come with game-time or watching other good players finish out games, which is what I used to do in beta. My clan-mates used to give me crap in beta because I'd always stick around after we'd all died to watch better players in action when the match was over.

Another option is to actually play with some of the top players, make sure they are on their A-game (not drunk) to pickup a few pointers. If they are a similar play-style to you then even better.

[UnsGub]

I would love it if someone would write a strategy guide for people like me that enjoy the game but aren't up on the subtleties. I tend to be far more aggressive than I should be. 

That is what makes the game great.  All strats work.  You need to find you playstyle and play in full platoons.

Game gives the first shot advantage to the defender, but camping does not work.

Agressiion will win all the time, but is hard to execute.

Reading the battle as it happens and responding with a retreat or push is critial.

[kildorn]

T20s are nice because they passively light up things all over the place, have an okay gun that won't miss past point blank range (looking at you, russians), and are fast enough to relocate rapidly.

For all the mediums, you cannot rely on bounces ever. You'll bounce hilarious and random shit, but there will always be a gun on the field that can fuck you up. You peek, hit and run, and generally provide flanking fire support from the medium locations (hills and whatnot) for the first part of the game, and then hope you don't have a damaged engine for the second half, where you're on murder patrol, hunting all the things that are hard to pen frontally, or the 15% health IS3/4 crew that always seems to be alive.

The issue high tier meds tend to have is that in the low tiers you can circle heavies and keep ahead of the turret. In higher tiers, you're never going to stay ahead of it so you need to run in and have an exit path in mind if you're not sticking around for a long fight.

[Amarr HM]

Totally what unsgub just said.

A single example could be, you start a game with a plan to support the attacking maniacs use them as meatshields & then pull back quickly when they die (good early strat for meds and weak heavies). But the game starts and your whole team decides to sit in base, what do you do? Two options, push up a bit and give spots for your team from a safespot (if you know one) or just sit with them in base. Anything else will likely end up with you dying quickly and alone.

Another strat for arty is never have a spot that you go to always pick your spot based on where your team is. Think of it like a game of chess and you are the king, make sure you are always surrounded by pawns on the minimap.

[kildorn]

I love when I see arty go left while the team is making a hard right push. Of course you're going to get spotted and murdered, you picked a spot nobody was protecting to sit in!

[UnsGub]

Writeup on all the main points to winning.

[Ginaz]

Its pretty easy to be a decent player in this game.  I consider myself to be average yet according to the player effeciency calculator I'm "good", borderline "great", with a rating of 1480.  Its not hard to play smart but you wouldn't know that from watching others.  My big problem is I'm too aggressive and like go out front, often on my own because the rest of the team is either camping or they all went one way.

[Engels]

Ginaz, based on the few times you've platooned up with your fellow chickens, I can assure you you're a great player. I'd love to see a FFA match between you, Amarr HM and Abagadro. F13 has some truly superlative players.

[Nebu]

Ginaz, based on the few times you've platooned up with your fellow chickens, I can assure you you're a great player. I'd love to see a FFA match between you, Amarr HM and Abagadro. F13 has some truly superlative players.

I aspire to play like those guys.  Dare to dream and all that.

[Furiously]

I thInk the game rewards aggression to it's downfall. It's not a strategy game it's a game about shooting as much as you can and not dying. The rewards for capping or playing strategically are way too small. It's still damn fun. I am lucky and get to play with some strong players who allow my playstyle to mostly work.

[Amarr HM]

I wouldn't wholly agree with that. If the enemy team is stacked with TDs, aggression will lose more often.

[Furiously]

There's aggression and there is suicide. Turning and running is a perfectly valid tactic. I just need to remember this.

[UnsGub]

I wouldn't wholly agree with that. If the enemy team is stacked with TDs, aggression will lose more often.

TDs are very limited.  Their spots are very predictable and they are going to give up areas of the map.  One just uses movement aggression against them to out flank them or get them to move.  Once someone has side\rear\art shots on a DT it dies quickly.

[Amarr HM]

If you start a match and rush straight into a group of TDs without knowing their positions, you will get raped. Better to bide time to figure out which areas on the map they have seceded eg. proceed with caution. Perhaps after that aggression could work if you can break through, but then there is T30s and they don't mind being flanked too much.

[Tmon]

There's aggression and there is suicide. Turning and running is a perfectly valid tactic. I just need to remember this.

A person I platoon with frequently likes to say "How dare you use your mobility to influence the game."  He's really good at determining when it's time to switch our push to another axis or stop pushing and fall back to a defense.  I tend to develop tunnel vision and lose track of the big picture or to get frustrated and try to will the team to victory by charging into the lead.  This works just often enough that I keep doing it, especially if I've made the mistake of playing for too long a stretch.

[kildorn]

Oddly, afk hostiles are my worst enemy. Because I tank count like nobody's business to figure out if a flank is secretly weak or not. And if I haven't seen the Batchat I'm a little worried. Turns out, he's been at base afk the whole time while I scan the map trying to find him :P

[Tmon]

own afks are worse, too many times people see a green dot at base and assume it will stop cap.  What they didn't notice was that, that particular dot hasn't moved the whole game. 

[apocrypha]

Got my IS-4 

I now have under 100k credits left and it's almost completely stock, so now I've got to see if I can XP up to the top gun before 0.7.3 hits. Not holding my breath on making that one.

[Nebu]

I know this will get me laughed at, but my recent return to the game has me wondering if there are fewer new players.  I'm finding that the people I play against in the lower tiers are much better shots and much better in terms of strategy than they were a year or so ago.  Am I just rusty or has the skill of the average player improved?  I did pretty well my first time playing this game and find that I'm getting tracked almost all the time now by a single shot.  It's quite frustrating... almost like people are using aimbots.  The Matchmaker isn't making me enjoy the game either.  Being the lowest tier tank every match is making me stabby... bounce bounce bounce.  I had one match where I registered 15 of 17 hits for no damage.  WTF am I supposed to do with that? 

[angry.bob]

I got the IS-7 thursday and have only used in half a dozen games. Jesus, the thing costs a ton to repair. So much in fact that I've only used it a half dozen times. My T34 on the other hand is delightful. I'm trying to decide what 3rd crew skill I'm going to go with for it.

[apocrypha]

I know this will get me laughed at, but my recent return to the game has me wondering if there are fewer new players.  I'm finding that the people I play against in the lower tiers are much better shots and much better in terms of strategy than they were a year or so ago.  Am I just rusty or has the skill of the average player improved?  I did pretty well my first time playing this game and find that I'm getting tracked almost all the time now by a single shot.  It's quite frustrating... almost like people are using aimbots.  The Matchmaker isn't making me enjoy the game either.  Being the lowest tier tank every match is making me stabby... bounce bounce bounce.  I had one match where I registered 15 of 17 hits for no damage.  WTF am I supposed to do with that? 

I think the increasing ubiquity of the stats mod is leading to some experience people playing more low-tier matches in an effort to boost their ratings. I've seen some accusations on the forums made at some people playing Marder II's and low-tier premiums a lot to do this.

It does also feel like the increased bouncing is leading to lower incomes at higher tiers so people are using low tiers to make money. I did that this week - was over a million short of the IS-4 cost when I finished the XP for it, so I played tier 5 and 6 tanks for a few days. Made *way* more credits that way than playing anything higher. Plus, finally elited my KV. Now if only I could afford an S-51....

[Brolan]

I know this will get me laughed at, but my recent return to the game has me wondering if there are fewer new players.  I'm finding that the people I play against in the lower tiers are much better shots and much better in terms of strategy than they were a year or so ago.  Am I just rusty or has the skill of the average player improved?  I did pretty well my first time playing this game and find that I'm getting tracked almost all the time now by a single shot.  It's quite frustrating... almost like people are using aimbots.  The Matchmaker isn't making me enjoy the game either.  Being the lowest tier tank every match is making me stabby... bounce bounce bounce.  I had one match where I registered 15 of 17 hits for no damage.  WTF am I supposed to do with that? 

I think the increasing ubiquity of the stats mod is leading to some experience people playing more low-tier matches in an effort to boost their ratings. I've seen some accusations on the forums made at some people playing Marder II's and low-tier premiums a lot to do this.

It does also feel like the increased bouncing is leading to lower incomes at higher tiers so people are using low tiers to make money. I did that this week - was over a million short of the IS-4 cost when I finished the XP for it, so I played tier 5 and 6 tanks for a few days. Made *way* more credits that way than playing anything higher. Plus, finally elited my KV. Now if only I could afford an S-51....

Yup, the stats mod is a blight on the game.  Now we have people bitching about other peoples stats at the beginning of the game instead of paying attention to what they are doing.

[kildorn]

For money, there's something really up with it and it will fuck up the MM sooner or later.

A decent round with no misses on my T32 or T28P is 40k. A bad/moderate round with my Hellcat is 37k. One of these also costs nothing to repair/rearm.

[Abagadro]

I know this will get me laughed at, but my recent return to the game has me wondering if there are fewer new players.  I'm finding that the people I play against in the lower tiers are much better shots and much better in terms of strategy than they were a year or so ago.  Am I just rusty or has the skill of the average player improved?  I did pretty well my first time playing this game and find that I'm getting tracked almost all the time now by a single shot.  It's quite frustrating... almost like people are using aimbots.  The Matchmaker isn't making me enjoy the game either.  Being the lowest tier tank every match is making me stabby... bounce bounce bounce.  I had one match where I registered 15 of 17 hits for no damage.  WTF am I supposed to do with that? 

They've tweaked the game mechanics a fair amount since you were playing as well so that could have something to do with it.