World of Tanks: Catch All

I added you, too, BlackSheep. Moondragon, I'll add you when I get on tonight.

I've been sticking to the American line (I'm finding that it makes researching to elite much more efficient). I've got a T3 arty and TD, and T2 light and medium tanks. I've been grinding on them to get the good American radio.

I'm eastern time zone, but I tend to play late.

Toanstation wrote:

I added you, too, BlackSheep. Moondragon, I'll add you when I get on tonight.

I've been sticking to the American line (I'm finding that it makes researching to elite much more efficient). I've got a T3 arty and TD, and T2 light and medium tanks. I've been grinding on them to get the good American radio.

I'm eastern time zone, but I tend to play late.

Just send me a message online next time and we'll toss you in one of our platoons or I can play with ya. I don't have too much little stuff, but I have some.

I gave up on arty a while ago. I got so frustrated by never being able to hit anything, and even when I hit, I could barely make back the money I spent on the shells. But I think my next foray into artillery will be the french line. I'm grinding 140k of AMX12t xp required to jump over into Lorr. 155 50 line.

I also finally jumped into American line this past week. In parallel to the new British line. From the American lines, I want M24 Chaffee. That little fire cracker causes me so much trouble when I'm scouting. Same happened with VK2801, and I'm not disappointed. In my second outing with that little German beast, I claimed a T34. I'm also hoping to work up the heavy American line to T29/T32. I guess that's just one of those must have tanks in this game, like IS/IS-3.

I'm still stuck on M3 Lee though. As much as I dreaded it, I'm not too bummed about it. It's a weird tank for sure. And when put into a higher tier battle gets harvested pretty quickly. But the gun on it is pretty good. And the armour can resist many tanks of the same tier. As a testament to the tank, I got a Top Gun achievement with it a couple of days ago. So, I'm quite willing to run M5 or M3 Lee when we group.

I'm also trying to get through Matilda in the British tree, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I may just have to buy my way out of it with generic XP. The Howitzer gun on this thing is really a joke. It's basically an artillery gun, but you don't get artillery sights for it. About the only redeeming quality is that I can shoot over the hills at people, while they can't shoot me back. But there isn't much point to it since I can't damage anybody worth a damn. I think I'm averaging 15hp per hit.

I played a fair amount last night with my T82, enough to unlock the M8A1. I'm really enjoying rolling TDs in a support/sniper role.

I know what you mean about arty. I did okay with the T57, but when I moved up to M37, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. And I can't bring myself to spend the inordinate silver per round for HEAT rounds.

Toanstation wrote:

I played a fair amount last night with my T82, enough to unlock the M8A1. I'm really enjoying rolling TDs in a support/sniper role.

I love that little guy; its the only low tier tank I kept.

TigerBill wrote:
Toanstation wrote:

I played a fair amount last night with my T82, enough to unlock the M8A1. I'm really enjoying rolling TDs in a support/sniper role.

I love that little guy; its the only low tier tank I kept.

M18 might be my favorite AT gun by far. The M10 Wolverine can be quite fun too, but it takes some getting used to. The Arty I know is a pain -- the Hummel and GWPanther were my favs, though my buddy swears by the S-51. That thing is ridiculous -- I was once one shotted by one of those while riding around in my E-75. What's worse was that it was from the front.

I'm on as RobearGWJ.

On as armedbushido

Has GWJ ever formed a Tank Company?

Not to my knowledge. I've got a wide range of tanks up to T5 or so, I'd love to hear of one.

I'm currently working my way through the American TDs, with occaisional diversions in the American SPG line. I'm up to the T49 (tier 5) and the M7 Priest (tier 4). My username is Toanstation, and you're welcome to send me an invite if you're looking to platoon.

Robear wrote:

Not to my knowledge. I've got a wide range of tanks up to T5 or so, I'd love to hear of one.

Well I now you have to be Premium to start one, which I am. I am just not sure what all it entails...

Or, I have noticed some are already in a Tank Company - looking for any recommends.

Thanks Toan. Does one create a platoon on the fly? Or is it like a guild?

Platoons are like a group - you can have two in a platoon, three if the person who creates it is a premium. Tank Companies are like a guild...

Actually, Clans are like guilds. Tank Companies are like raid groups. Tank Companies use a different matchmaking. A company is one of four levels, with increasing limits for both individual tank tiers and total tiers. A tank company is matched against other companies of the same level.

Have I mentioned yet how much I love ELC? That tank is just pure bottled fun. (except when you miss 5 driveby's in a row... grrr....)

This past weekend saw ELC's get 40% credit boost and 3 day premium for only 300g. With the two combined, I had a $55,000 run with my ELC. That is nuts.

GWJ doesn't have a clan or a company. Honestly, we're so far behind everyone that starting a clan would be tough. It takes some commitment and a lot of people on, especially since you should fill 15 for a fight. Unless you've got a tier 10 or top tier spg, getting into those fights are hardly worth it. I've been up against 15 Maus before in a clan fight.

I'm still moving into Tier 6, myself. T10 is gonna take a while.

Robear wrote:

T10 is gonna take a while.

You don't know half of it.

When you break into T8, even beyond the HUGE costs of purchasing a tank and mods for it, the actual cost of running the tank itself is unsustainable. Repair costs for T8+ are in excess of 10k per battle, with shells costing in excess of 1k a pop. I've had games in my IS-3 where I survived with most of my health, have shot 8 tanks, killed 4, and the game ended up costing me 5k or more. I used to think it was really cool to be at the top of the tank list for a match. But now I dread it. Every shot from IS-3 at a VK3001 or Sherman, is a loss for me. But if I let them shoot at me, it's a loss again.

I can only imagine how much more expensive it would be to run T10 tank. This is why a lot of people buy premium tanks. They are the money grinders. You have to play with your Lowe, or T34, just to make the cash to play with the rest of the T8+ tanks. Premium subscription is good as well, but it's very unsustainable. Without premium, T5-6 is the golden zone for money making. Repair costs and ammo costs are low enough, that most of the cash you make in the game goes into your pocket.

Huh. Good to know. I only have two Premiums, I think - the Churchill and that Pz 38NA or whatever the variant is. They do make money. And of course I use Premium, but it is a money pit.

So I guess I'll not rush out of T5-T6 for a while.

Robear wrote:

Huh. Good to know. I only have two Premiums, I think - the Churchill and that Pz 38NA or whatever the variant is. They do make money. And of course I use Premium, but it is a money pit.

So I guess I'll not rush out of T5-T6 for a while.

I've got over 500 games in a Lowe and the Type 59 is getting there, but that is one fun tank to run. On a Premium account, running a T8-T10 isn't necessarily cost prohibitive.

Edit: and I just have to say, the E-100's gun sounds like the world ending.

So is there a way to use free experience without spending gold?

Edit - Oh, I see I misunderstood. Actual free experience just goes in the pool, you pay gold to convert locked xp to free. For some reason I read convert as "lock free xp to a tank". Go figure...

BlackSheep wrote:

GWJ doesn't have a clan or a company. Honestly, we're so far behind everyone that starting a clan would be tough. It takes some commitment and a lot of people on, especially since you should fill 15 for a fight. Unless you've got a tier 10 or top tier spg, getting into those fights are hardly worth it. I've been up against 15 Maus before in a clan fight.

Just to provide a counterpoint.

I'm in a clan built around another community. Actually, it's split between 3 clans because of the clan size limit of 99. All 3 clans participate in CW. It's not unusual for my clan to field less than 15 tanks, and we've never fielded all tier 10s. We don't have any requirements for CW participation, and I've personally run as low as a tier-4 light tank or arty (the tier-4 light tank match was particularly effective for me). We don't play to win (although, we do try), and we just play to have fun.

Finally realized that the Tech Tree could be viewed, and thus that I had not started on the path to the T-34. Got my first one this weekend.

I also got a cool achievement - as an arty guy, I killed the last enemy tank with my last shell (direct fire, naturally, at close range). Turns out you get a medal for that.

BlackSheep wrote:

I've got over 500 games in a Lowe and the Type 59 is getting there, but that is one fun tank to run. On a Premium account, running a T8-T10 isn't necessarily cost prohibitive.

Edit: and I just have to say, the E-100's gun sounds like the world ending.

Aw man... I would love to get my hands on a Type 59. But I guess they may bring them back with Chinese tree release.

Have anybody else's sounds changed with this last patch? My explosions went back to sounding like mud splats rather than true explosions.

I also got lucky... I was away this weekend, only to log in at around 1AM on Monday and find out that the next tier of tanks I'm ready to get into were on sale. So, scored myself a Jumbo Sharman (E2) for 450k. Schwing!

Speaking of which, what's up with the turret upgrade for that tank? Why is the "upgraded" turret less than half the armour of the stock turret?

Toanstation wrote:
BlackSheep wrote:

GWJ doesn't have a clan or a company. Honestly, we're so far behind everyone that starting a clan would be tough. It takes some commitment and a lot of people on, especially since you should fill 15 for a fight. Unless you've got a tier 10 or top tier spg, getting into those fights are hardly worth it. I've been up against 15 Maus before in a clan fight.

Just to provide a counterpoint.

I'm in a clan built around another community. Actually, it's split between 3 clans because of the clan size limit of 99. All 3 clans participate in CW. It's not unusual for my clan to field less than 15 tanks, and we've never fielded all tier 10s. We don't have any requirements for CW participation, and I've personally run as low as a tier-4 light tank or arty (the tier-4 light tank match was particularly effective for me). We don't play to win (although, we do try), and we just play to have fun.

Yeah, I've been in three different clans now. The latest one was by far the best, but it was mostly a mismanaged piehole of sadness and Female Doggoing. Light tanks can match up with anything in the game anyway -- I've got a buddy who constantly runs a Leopard in tier 9-10 fights. Since their roles are different, they can be highly effective in someone's hands that knows what the hell they're doing. Keep it up Toan! Glad to see you're still playing!

Just got my first T1 the other day - my first upgradeable Heavy - and after all those times seeing T1 at the top of the list, now I'm experiencing it near the bottom. That's a pretty bitter pill.

Any advice on increasing the longevity of slow, relatively undergunned tanks? Because that's my understanding of Heavies right now... I go in, I shoot a bit, I die. Seems like every time I move a Wolverine is chewing me up.

Also, at what tier do I think about adding a module to a tank? IE, what tier tanks will be worth keeping as money-makers for the long term?

Robear wrote:

Just got my first T1 the other day - my first upgradeable Heavy - and after all those times seeing T1 at the top of the list, now I'm experiencing it near the bottom. That's a pretty bitter pill.

Any advice on increasing the longevity of slow, relatively undergunned tanks? Because that's my understanding of Heavies right now... I go in, I shoot a bit, I die. Seems like every time I move a Wolverine is chewing me up.

Also, at what tier do I think about adding a module to a tank? IE, what tier tanks will be worth keeping as money-makers for the long term?

In the T-1 you are more of a support tank. Let other heavies take the lead and stay under cover. The T1 is a tough grind, to be honest, I free xp'd my way to the M6 to avoid it. One way around the issue of grinding modules is to free xp upgrade all tanks when you get them and only grind for the next level. I never play a stock tank. I'm playing the game to have fun!

The best credit grinding tanks are t5-6. I still have my M4, M18, KV-1, KV-1S, 3601 and others for that purpose. You really don't need equipment at t5 and lower, you just don't play that many games in them. So, I usually get equipment for the branches I'm currently grinding at t6 and just transfer the equip to each tank as I level. Then I buy equipment for my favorite and premium tanks at 50% off sales. This is the most expensive part of the game so I only equip tanks I know I will play often.

TAZ89 wrote:
Robear wrote:

Just got my first T1 the other day - my first upgradeable Heavy - and after all those times seeing T1 at the top of the list, now I'm experiencing it near the bottom. That's a pretty bitter pill.

Any advice on increasing the longevity of slow, relatively undergunned tanks? Because that's my understanding of Heavies right now... I go in, I shoot a bit, I die. Seems like every time I move a Wolverine is chewing me up.

Also, at what tier do I think about adding a module to a tank? IE, what tier tanks will be worth keeping as money-makers for the long term?

In the T-1 you are more of a support tank. Let other heavies take the lead and stay under cover. The T1 is a tough grind, to be honest, I free xp'd my way to the M6 to avoid it. One way around the issue of grinding modules is to free xp upgrade all tanks when you get them and only grind for the next level. I never play a stock tank. I'm playing the game to have fun!

The best credit grinding tanks are t5-6. I still have my M4, M18, KV-1, KV-1S, 3601 and others for that purpose. You really don't need equipment at t5 and lower, you just don't play that many games in them. So, I usually get equipment for the branches I'm currently grinding at t6 and just transfer the equip to each tank as I level. Then I buy equipment for my favorite and premium tanks at 50% off sales. This is the most expensive part of the game so I only equip tanks I know I will play often.

Ditto this. I also skipped around the T1, but I went through the Sherman Jumbo line (M4A3E2) to the M6, which I completely xp'ed out of to get to the T29, which is a very stout tank. There's a ton of really good 5-6 tier tanks out there that you can conssitently grind money with. My best ones were that Jumbo Sherman, the 3601, the Wolverine, the JgpPanther and Stug. I'd say when you start to get really good at what you're doing, the T7 tanks that are upgraded are worth a look (mostly) as money makers as well since there are some out there that can really stand their own in larger fights and do damage to even Tier 9s that might be running about that offer you a ton of extra xp and credits. The Tiger, the IS, T29, and KV3 can all stand up pretty well on their own.

Thanks for the advice, guys.