World of Tanks - Free to play Panzer MMO

[scottishranger]

Ah so jealous that you use gold ammo on the konish. I used it for a while till I got my 88. I just couldn't deal with it's low damage. I feel like I have been grinding forever with my vk to get the tiger. Only need 100k more moneyz so i should have it by the end of the week. It'll be my first heavy tank! Can't wait to use her in action

[Sigurd]

Ah so jealous that you use gold ammo on the konish. I used it for a while till I got my 88. I just couldn't deal with it's low damage. I feel like I have been grinding forever with my vk to get the tiger. Only need 100k more moneyz so i should have it by the end of the week. It'll be my first heavy tank! Can't wait to use her in action

For the record... I don't use gold ammo on the konisch. But it does penetrate better than any of my other guns (well maybe not the BL-9), but it does near no damage. But a penetration is all you need if you sit back a while. It is great for harassment and taking out smaller tanks from great distances.

I had a game yesterday with my Type 59... I was one of three tanks left and I was capturing the enemy base. A E-75 with 3% rolled into view and was engaging me. I thought... This will be easy pie. I am at 86% and will only need one shot to take him out. He was quite agile and my shots to his flank bounced as he was just quick enough to deflect them. I was not successful shooting out his tracks. I thought.. well I'll just pin him down by going straight into his front. I pinned him against a building and he bounced a few shots on my 200mm sloped turret. But all my shots did nothing. I aimed as low as I could and heard at least 3 "dings" which to my understanding is a penetration or critical damage. But no % less on the tank. At the end he finally blew me out right before a GW panther came to my rescue and took him out with one shot.
I was like... [bad word], I can't kill a E-75 from the front?
I probably should have changed to HE shells as they do more damage.. but 3x lucky. That random function sucks.

And then there is the issue with 1%. I can't count the times where I have either with a BIG gun taken a small tank from 100% down to 1% or a half crippled tank from some obscure percentage down to 1%. It seems they get a lucky throw to see if I really blew them to smithereens.

[Husar]

I think you got that wrong, Sigurd, a "ding" is a bounce, so no penetration. The E-75 has a very well protected front, with 160mm on the upper glacis and (more than?) 120mm on the lower I think, but it's also sloped more than that of a King Tiger and doesn't seem to have any weak spots like a machine gun port (maybe a viewport but I usually don't get to study them for long ). Forget about the turret as well, that's 250mm or something.

Your gun has an average penetration of 175mm so yes, you have no chance to penetrate. HE may have actually killed him with 1 or 2 shots, it doesn't penetrate but it does a little damage anyway, which is better than bouncing with AP in this case.
The real atrocity here is not that you cannot penetrate the front of a heavy that is one tier higher, it's that the heavy with his beautiful tier 10 gun bounced on your puny little medium tank.

[Sigurd]

I think you got that wrong, Sigurd, a "ding" is a bounce, so no penetration. The E-75 has a very well protected front, with 160mm on the upper glacis and (more than?) 120mm on the lower I think, but it's also sloped more than that of a King Tiger and doesn't seem to have any weak spots like a machine gun port (maybe a viewport but I usually don't get to study them for long ). Forget about the turret as well, that's 250mm or something.

Your gun has an average penetration of 175mm so yes, you have no chance to penetrate. HE may have actually killed him with 1 or 2 shots, it doesn't penetrate but it does a little damage anyway, which is better than bouncing with AP in this case.

I checked the WoT forum and called it a "ding" because that seems to be the common phrase there. We, the germanic people, would rather call it a "ring" as an old ring door bell sound from when I was a kid. This should indicate critical damage done on the enemy tank. Sometimes the "ring" will take 50% off enemy tank HP and sometimes nothing. I can't find a rational answer to that other than there is some luck dice being rolled.
Or that I penetrate, but damage already damaged modules. Setting the engine or radio back to red from yellow/orange, killing the driver etc... nothing that actually damages health points.

And 160mm hull should be penetrated by a 175mm penetration average if angled correctly or if I shoot directly into the point of the V form where upper and lower glacis meet from point blank. I even saw the holes I made. I felt as if someone had "decided" that a Type 59 shall simply not kill a E-75 in a frontal brawl.

The real atrocity here is not that you cannot penetrate the front of a heavy that is one tier higher, it's that the heavy with his beautiful tier 10 gun bounced on your puny little medium tank.

Well.. My whole tank was under his barrel... In a real life situation, He should not be able to fire a single shot into my tank.

[rajpoot]

Finally bought a KV3. Lost spectacularly in the first match despite being at the top tier, when I waded in amongst enemies, and realised too late that no one was backing me up. Killed two low tier mediums and an arty, after which went down in an eye blink when atleast five other shot me together.
The stock gun's pretty useless. I remember suing it with T28 when fully upgraded but it seemed OK then. But now after using 122mm with KV it feels very dull.

Anyway I still got to play KV, since I want to jump back into arty. 127320 XP needed. I'll probably be at it for a very long time.

[Sigurd]

Finally bought a KV3. Lost spectacularly in the first match despite being at the top tier, when I waded in amongst enemies, and realised too late that no one was backing me up. Killed two low tier mediums and an arty, after which went down in an eye blink when atleast five other shot me together.
The stock gun's pretty useless. I remember suing it with T28 when fully upgraded but it seemed OK then. But now after using 122mm with KV it feels very dull.

Anyway I still got to play KV, since I want to jump back into arty. 127320 XP needed. I'll probably be at it for a very long time.

Heh,

Good luck... I just crunched through 168 000 xp or so to get the IS4.. and I need 24 000 to get the suspension and similar to get the upgrade turret and then 63 000 to get the S70 130mm tier X gun.
And with a normal account that means I need to play the Type 59 every other game to pay for the expenses.

So, I kinda went back to the German Medium line... and have promptly sold my VK36 and exchanged it with a VK3002DB.
I didn't train the VK36 crew for the first run as I was able to put them into the VK3002 even though their experience percent was red. I just had to try it out.
Their experience was 96% from the VK36 and I was a little worried that they wouldn't be able to perform well. I won that game and I didn't experience any lack of skill in the crew. I guess you can use untrained crew on a tank, but they will not get new experience on it.

This tank is kinda... I have all guns researched, but can't use the best because I need to get a new turret... which incidentally is 5000 kg heavier than the one currently on it, which means I need new suspension too. arghh which means I need to grind about 25k xp with the PzIV gun.

[Husar]

This tank is kinda... I have all guns researched, but can't use the best because I need to get a new turret... which incidentally is 5000 kg heavier than the one currently on it, which means I need new suspension too.

I think that is the case with a lot of german tanks.

arghh which means I need to grind about 25k xp with the PzIV gun.

It's not like the short 88mm is much better than the PzIV gun.
It has less penetration, does a lot more damage but also comes with a significantly lower rate of fire. Better if you like to hide of course but out in the open the 75mm may actually do more damage per minute with a higher penetration, so...

[rajpoot]

I just found out that I'm using the USA client so I'm probably connecting to US servers. (Which is probably why I could find Sigurd when I searched for him)

Anyway which of you guys connect to US servers? I found Beskar in a game the other day but no one else.

[scottishranger]

I dooo! Scottishranger ingame

[Husar]

I'm on the EU server, since it's in Germany, I get a pretty good ping.

[Sigurd]

I just hope that there will be an option for us to play with whomever we want. I participated in two public tests after the Beta and had the pleasure to play with both Russians and US players in the same games.

I didn't experience any significant performance issues. And I noticed that the Americans were more "talkative" when playing. The Russians had Cyrillic letters even if they tried to speak English to us, so any communication with them was pointless.
I noticed that the devs have had polls asking if we liked to play with people from the other clusters.

My general experience is that there are better players (read: harder opposition) on the EU servers than on the public test servers. However, with all the new play modes that are in the pipeline, I would welcome a little tw.org gaming.

[scottishranger]

Question... I now have the funds to buy a tiger but with that change my 100%vk crew will be next to useless in it. My dilemma is that with the 7.0 patch coming out soon should I wait until the vk becomes a heavy tank (which means that less of the crew experience will be lost) or should i just buy my tank now? decisions decisions

[rajpoot]

So err...when exactly is that big KV, KV3, IS4 split scheduled to happen? 7.0 patch?

[Husar]

Nope, sometime next year is what they said.

[rajpoot]

Ahh that's a really long time...Guess I'll have to keep my tanks. Hopefully I'll also get the IS4 by then.

Anyway made four kills in a match, first time. Managed to kill a Lowe with my KV3 (107 mm gun) another two mediums above my tier and a KV3. Best score till date. Thanks to the 3x XP deal, got 3000 for that one match.

Still can't figure out how to make the jump from KV back to the arty line. Su 51....I doubt if any non premium player ever got it. I mean 1,27000 with a KV is just ridiculous.

[Sigurd]

Question... I now have the funds to buy a tiger but with that change my 100%vk crew will be next to useless in it. My dilemma is that with the 7.0 patch coming out soon should I wait until the vk becomes a heavy tank (which means that less of the crew experience will be lost) or should i just buy my tank now? decisions decisions

I am not sure the VK36 will be a heavy in v7.0. Can't see that it mentions that it will become a Heavy. I am however downloading the public test patch, and I will have a look.
It does mention that they will nerf the konisch and that it will be mountable on the Tiger I during the test.

You can run the Tiger I with your VK36 crew, but they will not receive experience on it. I think you can train your VK36 crew to drive a heavy tank, but they might not bring with them that much of their experience as they would when training them for a higher tier Medium.
Is this what you ask? Should you wait until VK36 becomes a heavy before retraining them?

[Sigurd]

The VK36 is still a medium in 0.7.0

First look at the new patch

There is an option for buying commo for your tanks. Since there is no English texts yet (and you shouldn't use 0.6.7 as that will screw up your game) and I tried a hotfix posted on the forum that don't work.
Apparently there is two types of cammo and you can either buy it permanently for gold or a month/week for credits. you can also buy horns.. which apparently works as I heard some strange noises in game.

What I find the big update are better graphics and new tank sounds. I have the horrible russian voice right now, so I don't understand what is going on. But I can hear a new turret sound when you traverse.
shooting your gun now is amazing. Esp the larger guns. The BL-9 gets discharge flames in three directions when firing and a lot of smoke.

here is a few pics from a discharge:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yeah.. I got cammo on and this is a new map.
Also new in this game is the "head up display"
Notice the new tank rooster. Also there is some new features on the mini map.
When the first enemy tank is discovered it flashes white around its red mark. Also stuff being called out is displayed on the map with orange circles around tanks. I don't know what they are yet as it is all in Russian.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

There are also some new tanks in the game. They can be bought for gold in the test.

I noticed esp. some new Russian tanks and the PzIV hydraulic. I will get the PzIV to show you in a later post.

[Sigurd]

As promised:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It is a premium tank in the test and I can't get new modules. I don't know... first game was a tier 8 one and I died under Ferdi fire.
Without remembering where the traverse numbers are, I think they are quite high. The thing could move its turret with a speed I can't remember having experienced before.

Also... new to the game are cool sounds when you cap or your base is being captured. It sounds like air raid sirens when your base is being captured.
The graphics are notable better in game.

[Sigurd]

Quadruple post...

Ok... the turret sound isn't the turret turning. I guess it has something to do with loading consumables... it is not consistent.
Also... amazing horn sound. I bought a sound for my Is4... it sounds like a ship's horn. But I don't think the other players can hear. I was blocked by an IS and I just lay on the horn. He seemed to not budge.

[scottishranger]

The VK36 is still a medium in 0.7.0

Ah thank you that solves my dilemma haha.

And thanks for the patch updates. It looks so good! Cant wait to start playing it

[Husar]

To address some of your points Sigurd and add some myself:

1. Getting english text requires you to just move a single folder, I just wrote over the other one and got english texts, at least for stuff that was there before, new things like camo descriptions just show some programming text but that isn't worse than kyrillic.

2. the strange noises may be from people capturing a base, they removed the progress bar and replaced it with an alarm sound and air sirens that can be heard across the whole map, makes it a bit harder to know how far it's progressed though. (oops, you mentioned that)

3. I find the graphics look a little crisper, artillery impacts look a little more realistic, but haven't noticed the big gun and explosion(other than artillery) effects that much, just the smoke.

4. The new tanks are only in the test version, the Pz IV and new SU-85I are only in for testing and will later be reserved for some special purpose that I'm not sure about.

5. The other new tanks are for the box version of the game, I suppose that means only people who buy a box in a store get them via a code or so once the test is over.

6. The sound you heard after turret traverse is a new indicator that your gun has reached maximum accuracy.

7. I kinda like the russian voices, they sound like true old intercom conversation.

8. I was surprised how nice all the russian players seem, they keep asking where people are from and having nice conversations, back on the normal server a guy started a long argument with me because I didn't charge out into the open, calling me an idiot and using a lot of other swearwords... (ok, I don't know what they're saying in russian but the atmosphere does seem a lot more friendly in general)

9. The new tank rosters start out enlarged and become smaller when the battle starts but you can always switch to different modes within the battle now.

10. There are supposedly some new options apart from new graphics effects but hard to find out without a proper english translation.

11. There are now indicators that show whether camo and goggles are active, they appear next to your consumables on the bottom of the screen and get a green outline when the module is active, I tried it with the camo net on my Ferdi. Finally I can stop worrying about not being properly hidden after movement.

12. I fear I might spend too much money on camo once the actual patch comes.

[Sigurd]

To address some of your points Sigurd and add some myself:

1. Getting english text requires you to just move a single folder, I just wrote over the other one and got english texts, at least for stuff that was there before, new things like camo descriptions just show some programming text but that isn't worse than kyrillic.

Yeah that was the hotfix from the forum.. didn't work for me. All Russian still. I took all the text files from 0.6.7 except the two you shouldn't overwrite and dumped them in the LC_MESSAGES folder.
I am interested though, what datetime you have on the 0.6.7 files. I notice that even the two that shouldn' be transferred has the same date as those from the 0.6.7.
I renamed the original WoT game folder World_of_Tanks_old, but I am unsure if the patch did something to it anyway.

3. I find the graphics look a little crisper, artillery impacts look a little more realistic, but haven't noticed the big gun and explosion(other than artillery) effects that much, just the smoke.

I noticed how obstructive even an artillery miss is. A shell landed between me and the enemy and for a few seconds I couldn't see anything because of the dust/smoke. I bet they couldn't see me either, but my advance was haltered just enough for them to seek cover.

6. The sound you heard after turret traverse is a new indicator that your gun has reached maximum accuracy.

Ah.. nice to know

9. The new tank rosters start out enlarged and become smaller when the battle starts but you can always switch to different modes within the battle now.
10. There are supposedly some new options apart from new graphics effects but hard to find out without a proper english translation.

Yeah.. there is supposed to be some reporting tool in there. If you right click a player in the rooster, a small menu pops up. No clue what it says. But you can supposedly report abuse/TK.

The PzIV Hydraulic is a crap tank BTW... it has near no armour and the gun is a weak 75mm. I don't know if the extra shields on the turret has any real effect. I die quite violently when playing it since it is thrown into tier 8 games.

[rajpoot]

I don't get it, do camo and horn have practical uses or are they just for show? I mean once a tank's position is revealed, unless it's behind cover, no amount of bushes stop the vehicle outline from appearing when you're aiming at it. Does camouflage affect that?

[Husar]

I don't get it, do camo and horn have practical uses or are they just for show? I mean once a tank's position is revealed, unless it's behind cover, no amount of bushes stop the vehicle outline from appearing when you're aiming at it. Does camouflage affect that?

I think camouflage gives some advantages in certain terrain, they also wanted to include some "module" or "item" that changes your camouflage to a fitting one for the map you're on. I haven't seen that one and cannot comment on the camouflage effects as nothing in that menu is really translated/finished yet. I suppose the effect is/will be similar to that of the camo net in that it reduces the distance at which the enemy spots your tank. The idea behind this is that visibility of enemy tanks in the game is not up to the players' eyes but is calculated by the game using the visibility and camo values of the tank being spotted(or not) and the vision range, crew experience and spotting devices of the other tank to determine when the tank is spotted, at which point it's fully visible with the outline and all that. The camo value is also affected by shooting, moving etc. and there are differences depending on whether you got a big gun, small gun etc. AFAIK.

[rajpoot]

OK.......I'll probably have to see others using it before I can gauge how useful it'll be for me.

On a different track, managed to single-handedly turn the tide of a battle today. Took 30 hits, and survived.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Sigurd]

On a different track, managed to single-handedly turn the tide of a battle today. Took 30 hits, and survived.

I hope that gave you a Steel-Wall medal...

On a different note.
I really like the Panther. In a match on Malinkova (starting North), we were hit by 5 type 59 in the rear who had smashed any opposition we had thrown at them. We were a few tanks sniping across the field. I had the /L 70 version of the 75mm and were helping a bravado disposing of a T95 and reducing the HP of a IS when they hit us. I thought they would handle it.. but noticed that people started dying fast (a raptor attack by T59s would do that).
I was in the field (south west corner) ducking the odd shot when a T-34 85 snuck around the Ferdi that pounded the Types. I left my engagement and went straight for the t-34. The Ferdi left his hideout and drove with the T34 on its tail. I soon caught up and we smashed the T34 between us (he rammed the Ferdi and I rammed the t34). What happened next is a haze. The types no longer worked like a machine... maybe they argued with the KV and the IS accross the field to come over, but together we disposed the lot. It was only me and the Ferdi left on our team and 6 of them including 4 Type 59s. They should have made piecemeal of us. Instead the Types kept firing on the Ferdi front as the biggest threat doing minimal damage while we pounded them to dust. There were no shots coming across the field from the KV and IS (the IS was near death at this point as I had reduced his HP to well into the red area). when the Types had all died.. there was a moment of silence as I returned to my spot on the right side of our field and started crossing. I saw the KV and it apparently didn't see me. I had the long range gun and it took about 4 well placed shots to take it out. (It was hiding behind a building and the Ferdi couldn't get to it) I moved closer to the enemy side when the IS popped out from behind a building... I moved straight for the south west corner and the IS continued out on the field to get a clear shot at me... Needless to say.. he drove straight into the cross hairs of the waiting Ferdi across the field.

What a sweet victory. But nonetheless very noobish of the enemy to fail that superior endgame. I suspect the Types were all new players using auto aim on the Ferdi.

[Sigurd]

It seems the test v.1 is going to end before I am able to play again.

I'll post a picture of the tank I played last:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In addition to support the game development by participating in test releases, you get to test out tanks you want. If you think they are horrible, you just discontinue the progress towards them in the Public server. I wanted to test the E-50 to see if this tank would be something to get in the future.
I didn't get that far as this was a rather short test run. There will be a test v.2, but I am rather slow in my progress as I can't play as long as I would want in one sitting. I might want to test the IS7 with its new setup.
In test 1 I found the IS7 near impossible to fight head on. Even with my IS4 and the S70 gun. I didn't use gold ammo (except in the last game when I realized that everyone else did) as I wouldn't have that in the public server anyway.

With the panter I had around 25 rounds with gold ammo every game to hasten the progress, and that thing just rocked. I think I am going for the right Medium which fits my playstyle. The ordinary panther was amazing and the Panther II was mind blowing. I realize that I am better in that tank than in the Type 59. I hope this is still true with no gold ammo.

And I think I figured out what the "turret sound" is. Having the cammo module on, the sound came every time the cammo icon went green.
I think it is a sound that tells you that you are now cloaked. It didn't correspond to my aim being fully focused.

[Husar]

And I think I figured out what the "turret sound" is. Having the cammo module on, the sound came every time the cammo icon went green.
I think it is a sound that tells you that you are now cloaked. It didn't correspond to my aim being fully focused.

No, you're wrong!

- Added indicator for equipment that affects visibility (camo net, binocular telescope) showing whether it provides bonus or not.

- Added sound notification when the gun is fully aimed.

http://overlord-wot.blogspot.com/201...0-finally.html

[Sigurd]

No, you're wrong!
http://overlord-wot.blogspot.com/201...0-finally.html

Hmmm... but I did multiple tests yesterday with both the Is4 and the Panther II.
I could have a bugged game client, but I don't have a sound indicator on gun aim. I tried it several times by moving the cross-hairs off an enemy to warp the aim and return the cross-hairs back and wait for the circle to stop shrinking. Nothing...

However... when I sit camping, the sound corresponded exactly with the cammo icon switching to green. I moved a little and the cammo icon went dark and the sound came again exactly when it went green again.

So from my tests.. the sound should have happened when I moved my gun from target to target. It didn't.
In stead it conformed to me going out of "invisible mode" by moving or shooting and re-entering "invisible mode" by staying still.

It could be a bug.. as in.. programmers not getting the parameters right.
Maybe I should report it?

[Husar]

I noticed that every time I moved my gun the sound came when the reticle stopped shrinking, just like the blog says.

I can test it again when the client is back up sometime tomorrow.

There are quite a few oddities with the game in general though, like when I open the Steam overlay the game client think I'm moving my mouse to the lower right and my turret or entire tank (with TDs) starts spinning around like crazy, only stops when I change zoom or go to sniper mode after exiting the overlay.
To open the menu, I have to do a left mouse click before pressing Esc, else nothing happens.

So I wouldn't be surprised if this is different for me and you as well.

Maybe I should also do a complete reinstall instead of an upgrade when 7.0 comes out, might fix these problems.

As a sidenote, the game also has that "Updates" folder where it stores the downloaded update files, last time I deleted everything in there it was 4.4 GB or so.
The files are more or less superfluous so there's no need to keep them AFAIK (as long as you have no problems downloading the full client in case of a new installation).


edit: Oh yes, since we're talking about number of hits received:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: