3141

or you could get a pzIII, a t28, a marder or a su85b. a good fun tier4 tank gets some really fun matches. no need to go any further up the trees imo.

3142

This is everything that is wrong with this game:

A T-34, which is a tier 5, kills a scout out of the gate and then pounds 24 shells into a KV-3, which scored 2 critical hits, and the rest were a collection of

“bounced off”
“we just dinged them”
“That one didn’t go through”
“ricochet”
“we didn’t even scratch him”
“we didn’t puncture their armor”

This was about 5 AP shells followed by 20 HE rounds. The KV-3 is a Tier 6 FFS - one above me. Oh, I get the sniper award. sigh.

This is stupid.

3143

Aren’t they like $40?

3144

Whatever 7,500 gold costs I guess which is $35 or so?

3145

You guys are a bunch of wusses.

I view taking down a heavy tank a tier or two above me as an interesting challenge. If all tanks were only as good as my tank, where’s the fun in that. You can think of these superior tanks as the equivalent of a boss monster – something that’s tough and challenging and provides some variety from the standard cannon fodder in a game.

Tman if you actually shot 24 shots into the front of a KV-3 you really need to learn some new tactics. Most tanks, including the KV-3 are vulnerable from the rear. Most of the T-34 guns can very reliably penetrate a KV-3 from the rear, and even the lowest T-34 gun should be able to do so with some frequency. This can often start a fire which will kill the tank straight out.

Ideally heavy tanks should be taken down with wolf-pack tactics with several mediums taking them on, and thus some getting shots in on the sides and rear. Sometimes your team does badly and you end up trying to take one on with a lower tier tank by yourself – such are the fortunes of war.

You can still sometimes take out a heavy by yourself with something like a T-34 if the fight is on the ground of your choosing. A KV-3 cannot take on a fast medium like the T-34 if it’s on open ground with plenty of maneuvering room around it. In a fast tank like the T-34 you can circle most heavies faster then they can turn their turret, and shoot them with impunity. This is situational and it isn’t easy, but it can be done.

Also the KV-3 is being moved up a Tier, which IMO is a good thing – it is over-armoured for its tier.

IMO the best way to deal with this situation is to delay the wolfpack of heavies while kicking the rest of their team’s ass elsewhere on the map. If they’ve got all three of their heavy tanks in the same area (and keeping in mind that a heavy tank is weighted at 1.4x a medium tank) that means that the rest of your team should be stronger than the remainder of their team. Which means if they place all three KVs together they should be much weaker across the rest of the map. Your team needs to delay the KVs, which are already slow, while kicking the ass of the enemy’s weaker tanks elsewhere on the map and then capping while the KVs are still stuck somewhere in the middle of the map.

Since most teams don’t coordinate very well, what do you as an individual player do when faced with 3 KVs? I think you’ve got a couple choices. If they are already being defended against, and you’ve got a fast medium, you can try to lead the charge elsewhere on the map. Alternatively you can try to join in and perform a fighting delay. Realize that you can’t really stop the KVs, but you can slow them down and hope that your team is smart enough to aggressively push elsewhere. With a Pzkw IV I would probably try to delay them, since you’ve likely got one of the few guns that can penetrate them (with a bit of luck) and you’re too slow to really displace to another map sector quickly.

I’ve actually had a surprising amount of luck performing delaying actions. I’ve had plenty of games where I and few other teammates are fighting a desperate battle against a superior enemy, we are losing ground and tanks, and then suddenly we win the game, because we were able to delay the enemy’s main spearhead long enough for our own spearhead to win through on another approach. We’ve probably all been on the other side, where all of our team decides to herd together and all head in the same direction, the herd is delayed, and our team gets completely rolled on another front and losses the game.

3146

Yeah, dude, I kind of agree with ydejin here. IMO there is something you are not telling us or something you missed.

It is not possible for the T-34 to shoot 20 HE rounds at the KV-3, hit with all of them and not damage it at all, so it doesn’t even appear in the “Damaged” section of the summary screen. It is simply not possible. You either didn’t shoot HE at KV-3 or the Summary screen somehow glitched.

Last week my Stug III took 30% off the IS-3’s health with HE rounds. Tier 4 against Tier 8. There is no way 20 HE rounds from T-34 wouldn’t damage a KV-3.

3147

Do any of you guys drive the IS-3?

I just got it yesterday and it kind of frustrates me a lot. Yes, it has more hps and better armor on the turret and, once upgraded, it’s slightly faster than the IS. But its hull has actually less armor and the gun is still the same crappy D-25T or whatever.

I don’t know but somehow going from the IS to IS-3 doesn’t feel like much of an improvement, it feels like things got worse actually.

Does it change with the last gun?

3148

The KV-5 does have ridiculous armor for its Tier. Thorn got into a fairly epic duel with one in his panzer IV, he played a great game of cat and mouse, detracking it as it came around a corner, etc. But he still could only barely scratch it, and it eventually cornered and killed him. (Granted, as frustrating as that is, tying up a KV-5 with a panzer IV for 5 minutes is a bit of a success)

3149

I had similar feelings when I first got the IS-3, but don’t worry you are just dealing with “stock syndrome” right now, and it does get much better.

-the upgraded turret traverses faster and will get you up to 1500hp, which is a little less than other tier 8 heavies, but that is how the Russian tanks go

-the upgraded gun makes a HUGE difference. I didn’t enjoy my IS because of it’s gun, which is inaccurate with bad penetration. The BL-9 is more accurate, to the point that you are a decent sniper which was very hard to do in an IS. Plus, it has much better pen and you will be able to reliably damage just about anything you face on the battlefield.

-the IS-3 actually can bounce a fair number of shots, but it’s armor is a bit peculiar. Because of the way it is angled in front, you will bounce a much higher percentage of shots if you are directly facing the shot. Angling your tank at 45%, which helps in most other tanks, will actually hurt your chances.

-with the upgraded engine you are faster than other tier 8 heavies, but not as fast as medium tanks. Use it to your advantage when possible.

3150

The KV-3 was broadside to me the entire time - so not even front armor. Something glitched? ya, this game glitched.

I lose count of how many rounds do no damage. I hit 25 out of 25 shots and do zero damage.

3151

The armor penetration indicator on the cross hair is either not working or I’m missing something. There are times that it is flashing green and my shots don’t go through three in a row.

3152

Alright, Ive got the T-43 and the IS-3, let me tell you my thoughts on russian tanks.

T34- I have had great experiences in this tank, but most of it is with the fast firing gun, the Zis-4. What I did was either snipe enemies with rapid fire, or play the peeking head out game with heavies. If you aim for their treads as they are going in or out of their hiding place, you can detread them with their turret stuck behind whatever they were hiding behind, but the front third of their tank is exposed. This is how I would fight things like the T-29. But note that your health is not great, so be fast on the draw. Dont be afraid to simply walk away from fights in your medium- any hits on your rear are death sentences when you get into higher tier battles(fire or ammo rack).

quick note: I would not go any higher than the mini derp gun on the T34-85: the sniper gun and turret seemed lackluster to me. On the whole, I am not a big fan of mediums, probably due to the propensity that they catch fire and die.

KV-3->IS->IS-3

so- the KV-3 gets a gun equal to the stock gun on the IS-3, and more hull armor than the IS-3… hm. I never noticed that. Well that explains some of the balance changes

The sheer speed difference of the IS and the KV’s is what felt like the big boon for me. The IS is still one of my favorite tanks in the game, although the IS-3 feels like an IS with just a tune up and a slightly improved gun. One thing about the russian heavies- I always felt that their crummier HP was offset by the fact that the treads were giant sponges of awsome, which they lowered a bit in the patch but it seems as though not entirely. I would not hit a KV-3 in the front bit of tracks, I would aim squarely for the middle of the tracks, and maybe a bit high, to try and avoid crippling his tracks again and again. I had a KV-3- the tracks are very similar to the KV, and they just absorb damage for you.

As for the IS line- play them as close range tanks and you will go far.

IS-3: This tier just breaks matchmaking. Since there are so few tier 9s and 10s- maybe 75% of my battles I am top tier in this tank. Only once have I been in the lower half(mass T9 platoons). Although I have figured out a few ways to fight lowes, as there are 3 or 4 facing me in pretty much every battle.
Never get into a sniping battle 1v1 with a lowe- you will lose.
Never aim for the turret of the lowe, you will never penetrate.
Most lowe drivers I fight arent that bad, for some reason I see a lot of terrible Tiger II drivers.
Side shots with the upgraded gun penetrate every time for me, great way to take them out. Otherwise just shoot above the left track- or even right into it if he is at an angle that makes it flat.

Russian Mediums vs. heavies
one really weird fact that I did not know until I was talking to my buddies about their tank HP.

IS, T7 heavy: 1100 hp.
Armor: 120/90/60 and turret: 100/90/90

T-43, T7 medium: 1100 hp.
Armor: 75/60/60 and turret 90/62/62

what throws me off is the health values: that extra 30 armor makes my IS last so much longer than a T-43 in any situation, even when the german stock medium has 100 pen.

Penetration
As for the penetration guage- I dont think it takes slope into account- for my IS-3’s gun has green at all times (with 225 pen) and I still have some bounces on lowes and high tier stuff. But I have never bounced a side shot or a subsystem shot.

My 3 top aiming sectors are:

  1. the top back of the tank where pretty much every tank keeps its engine [only able to shoot this from elevated positions, but I will still go for it if its a 50degree angle.

  2. side of the tank, easy to go through the tread with high pen guns.

  3. if it is not an american heavy, back/left side of the turret. Looking through the schematics of the tanks, ammo for most of them are stored there.

http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/3688-tank-blueprints-and-schematics/

If I have to shoot a tank in the front(me in a lighter tank, mediums or a lower tier), and I know it has heavy armor, I shoot for one of two places.

1.aim for ports and holes you see in the front armor, usually good at killing driver, gunner, something.

  1. Looking at the front of the tank, I shoot for the spot just above and to the right of one of the treads-shoot it maybe a quarter of an inch off of the tread- this is how I kill hetzers from the front in a crummier tank.

If you must shoot them somewhere else, just go for luck shots on the turret if you cannot penetrate their front armor.

EDIT: I dont know if my next to tread shot has any context, or is any better than shooting things in the front- I seem to be pretty lucky shooting things there.

3153

Heh, in over 3000 matches, this has never happened to me. You must be really (un)lucky. :)

3154

It isn’t common for me either, but this round it exemplified a lot of what is wrong. When I reached the end of the match and saw those stats, I just had to post it because it was quite ludicrous.

The T-34 is actually a good all around tank. I have been very successful in it. It snipes well, it’s view distance is rather good (with the upgraded turret), and it has reasonable speed and maneuverability. The best part is the ZIS cannon that has a very high ROF. And those magical 1 in 20 games where you’re at the top instead of the bottom? You can really rack up a lot of kills.

I’ve done upwards of 15% damage against an IS-3 when shooting them from the side - but this KV-3 on this day, well nellie, I just don’t know what to say. It would have been unpostworthy if I had missed 50% of my shots - same result, but when you see 25/25 hit for 100% hits with zero damage, you gotta post it.

3155

You must have been able to track him repeatedly. I once was plinking away at a Lowe I managed to keep him tracked probably 80% of the time. I did get some penetrating hits on the rear hull also, but I am sure most shots bounced or hit the track only.

In theory you could NEVER penetrate a KV3’s side armour. It could happen. It’s just an unlucky streak.

3156

Yeah, most likely that’s what happened - all your shots went into his tracks. External modules, like tracks or a gun, can get damaged without affecting the tank’s hps (if the shell manages to miss/not penetrate the tank’s “body”). But 25 shots in a row… that’s some streak. :)

Oh and about never penetrating the armor. This could happen with the AP rounds, not with the HE. HE rounds do some damage even when they don’t penetrate.

3157

You don’t get experience or credits for purely module damage, do you?

3158

I assumed you did get experience, but if you don’t that might explain why I’m getting so little experience in the games where I use the (IMO very sensible) strategy of aiming for the treads of bigger tanks and then trying to escape behind a building to await rescue.

While we’re on the subject of experience gain, when artillery hits a tank that the arty can’t see, is the 50% experience split amongs all the tanks who can see the target, or does it all go to the closest tank, or what?

3159

Yeah, all true. Ordinarily I would’ve fallen back or tried to kill time with cover, but where I was positioned it was pretty much stand and deliver or run and get it at a 90 degree angle - this is just over the bridge from South-side Erlenberg, and there were enemies in the centre of the map too.

My real gripe is just that it isn’t fun being massacred fair and square when you only get one fair and square match out of 4 or 5 queues. As someone above said, they need to adjust the automatcher patience for the non-Russian server pops.

3160

I actually like the T-34-85; fully upgraded to elite status in Beta it was my prime money maker, with a 100%+ crew. It’s fast, hits reasonably hard, and has good survivability for its tier, in most cases. I do think the upgraded turret is worthwhile for its cost. Then again, I like mediums better than heavies in most cases, though they are frustrating.

My current focus though is on my T29 and my SU-152. On the T29, I’m on the long grind to the 105, then the even longer grind to the T32 or whatever is next. Once it gets the tracks, engine, and turret, even with the 90 it’s a solid tank all around. Stock it’s a horrible, slow, dog.

The SU-152 is a letdown at first (as usual) from my tricked-out SU-100 (which I kept, because I like it). The default gun is a good derp cannon, but slow reloads combined with abysmal, truly wretched lack of mobility in the chassis makes this TD a TurD at first. One-shotting people is fun but you only get one shot usually before youg et pounded, and you don’t have the survivability overall of the KV series. But I like TDs so I’m persevering, heading to the ISU and one day the Object.

I use a Ram-II to make money, as it’s a hellaciously fun little tank with a veritable machine gun of a 6lb cannon. I’m working a P up to the DB on the German line, heading to a Panther one day, and my arty is a M7 Priest still, about 20k from the M41. Arty grinding is dismal. Oh, and occasionally I tool around in an elite T-34 building up the crew so that when I get my T-54 I can transfer them in. Long term planning, you know!

EDIT: BTW, my in-game handle is now TANSTAAFL. I changed it so it wasn’t so close to one of my email addys.