Unless they’ve said something since they published the new tech trees (game.worldoftanks.eu/news/full-tech-trees-revised-and-improved), the KV-2 and KV-1 will both be T5 tanks. The KV-2 is just a sideways branch from the KV-1. You are probably thinking of the preposterously armoured KV-3, which is getting bumped up from T6 to T7.
As has been mentioned earlier, the first upgrade should probably be the 122mm HE thrower so you can actually do some real damage. Assuming your weight limit can take it without a track upgrade - always calculate first! After that, the KV-2 turrent and the 107mm. If the dreadful speed is too much to bear, you could get the engine upgrades first, but it’s pretty expensive. The first one doesn’t even come with a horsepower increase, IIRC. If you’re sitting on a pile of credits, training the driver, gunner and loader would help a bit with the KV’s weaknesses.
Dave47
3762
D’oh, good catch! But I still stand by my statement that the KV is crazy-good. Even without fielding a derp gun it can punch far above its weight class.
Is the first engine upgrade seriously just a 5% reduction to fire chance or was there something hidden that I couldn’t see? I skipped it until I could afford both.
I’ve done a few upgrades to my KV and added a 152mm gun. It is more enjoyable to play now but it still is slow.
Of all the vehicles I have played in WoT–and there have been many, I have fourteen active at present–I have had more fun playing the SU-26 than any of my other vehicles. It isn’t because it gets a lot of kills and with its short range it is sometimes a pain in the neck repositioning frequently, but playing it is a hoot.
Just the fire chance reduction. I also waited until I could get them both.
Dejin
3766
KV is an interesting tank in that it’s one of the few tanks that actually has trouble damaging itself when stock. I watched a KV vs. KV battle once, and discovered that the stock KV gun can’t penetrate KV armour without a bit of luck. Unfortunately the KV on our side had a stock gun and the enemy’s KV had a 107mm. Our KV bounced 5 shots before it died :-(
Once you get a good crew the KV ain’t that slow. You can fit the non-consumable consumable that lets you OVERDRIVE for a bit if you need to get somewhere fast.
Now the KV-3, that’s slow. I prefer my Kv-1S to it because although the KV-3 is a complete and utter monster as the top tank in a battle if there’s not too much arty, the KV-1S with the 122mm gun is good in any battle if you play it smart as an ambush tank and go for the sides of the bigger heavies. You’re fast enough to follow t-44s and t-54s and have enough hitpoints to take a couple of hits.
KV-3 is too slow to be more than a bulletsponge against anything bigger than a tier 7, you’re not going manage to flank anything, ever.
I’ve had about 50 fights in my T-44 and had the ammo rack blown up 4 times (yes, I am counting, since I’ve heard about this perceived issue), 2 of which happened when I was at about 30% health anyway. Either I’ve been lucky so far (but IMO 50 games is a quite respectable number and allows to draw some conclusions) or the issue is not as severe as some people tend to think (or maybe as it used to be in the past versions of the game). Unless my stats change for the worse, I don’t see myself installing Wet Ammo Rack. Being one-shotted once in about 25 games is IMO not a big deal - (un)lucky (and just as fatal) arty shots happen more often.
I heard an opinion a couple of days ago that T-44 was so good during the beta days that a lot of people complained about it and the devs stealth-nerfed it in release. Just my luck, I remember hating these buggers and, of course, by the time I got one, they suck now. :) Oh well, at least T-54 still seems to be ok.
It’s quite a change to play mediums after playing HT’s and TD’s for so long. I haven’t gone through the med line from the beginnig - I jumped from KV-1S right into T-43. My two main vehicles at the time were IS-4 and Ferdinand, man, what a change. It felt like Indy racing sometimes. :) I got a bit used to it now but I was still longing for a more damaging gun. I hoped 122 mm would be it but it looks like I will have to replace it by the trusty 100 mm - 122’s disadvantages seem to way outweght its advantages. I’ll still try the 122 with the top engine (have like 9K exp to go) but I don’t think it’s going to improve much.
As for the KV, it’s a quite unique - in many ways - tank. I loved it. I kept it waiting for the patch that’s going to split it into two tanks and I still play it from time to time (most recently, I played it a bit during the Prokhorovka double credit day). On the other hand, my friend, who actually used it to grind out the S-51, hated it from day 1 and to the day it became elite. For some people, KV is just too slow and clumsy.
Did you start with the stock turret or did you buy the upgraded turret with free XP? I found (in beta) that with the stock turret i’d die almost every other game from ammo rack hits, but with the upgraded turret it was far less, like maybe 1 in 8-10 games. Also, the T-44 was never as good after they fixed the tank warping at range. It’s a lot less scary when most of the team actually has a chance at hitting them, though they are mobile and do bounce a lot of shells.
Thesper is right, if bothered by the speed, one could buy the overdrive cosumable thingy. In addition, there might be a module (torsions?) available to increase the weight allowance, which should, in theory, speed up the tank. Maybe, I’ll check it out but not sure, since I am not that bothered with the KV’s speed (or rather lack of thereof :)).
Also IIRC you can turn the overdrive consumable thingy on and off and you should to avoid damaging the engine. I never used one actually, gotta try it on the T-44 maybe.
Talorc
3771
Are there any thoughts on the “superior” artillery line? The few times I have been next to a M7 Priest they seem to fire very fast.
I’ve almost finished the wespe to get hetzer, but it is very slow to reload, and then narrow the circle to fire.
I used the German line in beta through the Hummel; only got to the SU-5 in the Soviet line. My arty right now is the US M41, the one after the M7 Priest. With the upgraded cannon it’s a good artillery piece. It doesn’t fire as quickly as the Priest’s 105, but it does somewhat more damage, and it’s not terribly slow to fire really. It does take forever for the aiming circle to zero in, even with a good crew, and some movements are really disruptive to aiming, so tracking crossing targets can get iffy. Overall though I like the US arty line so far.
In beta I loved the Wespe, hated the Grille, and was so-so on the Hummel. The flat trajectory of the Hummel’s guns put me off a bit, but it seems to be far and away the favorite general purpose arty piece. In higher tier matches, the GW Panthers are ubiquitous, though I’m seeing increasing numbers of GW Tigers, Obj. 212s, and M40/43s out there too.
What’s fallen by the wayside it seems are the S-51/SU-14 pieces. The battlebus with the moon cannon must have been either nerfed or superceded by the higher tier guys big time, because it’s nowhere near the terror it was in beta.
kedaha
3773
What would people recommend for equipment on a Tiger II? Have EGLD and a rammer, and wondering if I should go for vertical stabilizer or spall liner? People seem to recommend the stabilizer with it’s top gun.
I think I liked the rammer, stabilizer and wet ammo rack when I had the tank in beta.
Funny I was going on here to post the same question. I just bought the Tiger 2 last night and ATM have the Rammer, Improved Ventilation and Enhanced Gun Laying Drive. I’m thinking of replacing EGLD with either Vertical Stabilizer or Spall Liner.
Also it looks like the best research path seems to be (Tracks–>Turret–>Guns) or is better to get the short 105mm before the Turret?
I was exaggerating of course, but it was happening to me often enough to make me install WAR. I wanted to get a 3rd equipment slot in release, hoping that the ammo rack was “stealth fixed”, but it just kept on happening (second turret) and I got fed up. Perhaps I’m really unlucky with that tank.
There was a small nerf in the beta, but I have a hard time recalling what it was.
The main thing was, as Nathan mentioned, the warp-fix. Before that time, the T-44 was an infighting terror. It was quite the readjustment in playing the thing when suddenly everyone could hit it from way out at range, but it was still a good tank.
Heh, in the beta I did the same thing (KV --> S-51), only did it with the 152mm derp gun version, and loved every second of it.
If you’re talking about the speed governor, be very careful with it. It will damage your engine every second of use (and IIRC that damage rate got increased in one of the recent patches). You may not break it yourself, but it will weaken the module enough so that an enemy shot will break it far easier.
One other problem is that you give up another, very valuable consumable slot for it. Do you give up the ability to put out a fire in a second (manual fire extinguisher)? Do you give up the ability to repair your gun or ammo rack? Or the ability to heal your loader or gunner? It’s a tough decision to make for 10% more horsepower that damages your engine constantly.
Before I sold my own Tiger II, it had a Vertical Stabilizer, Rammer and Binoculars.
No Camouflage Net because the crew already started with nearly 100% camouflage skill.
Every tank should have a set of binoculars, unless played exclusively as a brawler. Or so goes my playing doctrine. :)
Tman
3777
That’s because they suck.
I graduated from my SU-8 to the SU-14 and even with a 100% crew, with vent, it’s really frustrating.The aiming time is so long, the accuracy is so bad, and the maps are so small, and it’s so friggen slow, it’s no fun to play.
It does generate about 200 more damage per round, but it doesn’t feel that way. I think I have more hours in my SU-8 since upgrading to the SU-14. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to finish this grind. It’s the most un-fun tank I’ve enountered.
Oh - and the number of times I draw Himmelsdorf with this tank is making me think that the developers really don’t like my posts on their forums.
Himmelsdorf as arty is horrible, yeah.
The stock turret is a Porsche. You want to be well rid of that as soon as you can, unless they buffed it significantly since the beta. It seems like everything with Porsche or § in its name in this game is awful. The Henschel turret should boost your survivability quite a bit.
You describe the SU-14 though. S-51 is a completely different beast and it’s great. Far, far better than the Hummel (being one tier higher that’s understandable, but that’s my highest point of comparison with another faction).
S-51 can even be useful on Himmelsdorf, because it can actually move. :)
That said, I’m sure the GW-Panther is better than S-51 simply by virtue of being highly mobile and having a semi-turret. Which makes the Panzer IV -> Hummel -> GW-Panther option very attractive.
And by “quite a bit” he means you go from being easily penetrated, from the front, by tier 5 vehicles, to even tier 9 guns having trouble penetrating your turret from the front.
The stock turret on the Tiger II, just like the stock turret on the T32, is a cruel joke. But once fully upgraded both vehicles are substantially better than the IS-3 (if you’re like me and have come to hate Russian guns’ aim time)
