4161

I got some bad news for you…

But yeah, the Lee is terrible. But so is the T1 heavy. The M6 is passable with the 90mm and after that its good times until the T34 which is the biggest POS in the game. Its a bad sign that when it goes premium it will keep its biggest gun and drop a tier.

I finally got my Patton the other day. I officially want to kill whoever decided to make stock vehicles that are within 0.XX of their capacity. The Panther was a nightmare because of it and the Patton is too. Just give me enough to mount the gun from the Pershing or at least mount 3 pieces of equipment. 23k XP with a glorified T20 is a lot.

4162

Agreed. “I’d like to put my camo net on my new vehicle.” “I’m sorry, that puts you over the weight limit.” “Arrrgh!!!”

4163

I loved the T1 heavy in beta. It does almost as well as the KV in my experience. You trade hitting power for rate of fire but it’s solid with a capable gun. I had many top gun awards in that tank.

4164

Really, care to share some tips?? My record in the KV is:

Battles: 131
Wins: 62 (47%)
Defeats: 68 (52%)
Survived: 27 (21%)
Destroyed: 89 (so avg of 0.7 per battle)
Max destroyed: 5
Hit: 54%
Avg Xp: 432
Max Xp: 1548

Its my most played tank, and above my average XP, but nothing amazingly special. The gun is good (107mm) but not a one shot wonder on T6+ vehicles.

My “amazing” tank is the VK3061(H). I’ve played enough battles now that the win / loss ratio is starting to not feel like statistical noise/luck:

Battles: 36
Wins: 26 (72%) !!!
Defeats: 10 (28%)
Survived: 10 (28%)
Destroyed: 49 (so avg of 1.36 per battle)
Max destroyed: 6
Hit: 66%
Avg Xp: 717
Max Xp: 1,383

Way superior to the KV.

4165

You can always buy that module thingy that increases the allowed weight.

I think stock vehicles’ terrible performance is the developers’ plot to make you spend gold to convert experience. My friend got the E-75 the other day and, in its stock config, it’s so slow, it makes T-95 look like a Ferari. :)

4166

I first experienced this in the JgPz IV “I CANT PUT A CAMO NET ON MY SHINY NEW TD??!!??”

4167

Not available on the Patton.

When I had mine as stock, I gave up after a dozen or so games and used accumulated free XP to get those tracks.

Oh absolutely. But they also did give us an alternative with the 5% XP to free XP conversion that accumulates naturally. Before I took a break from playing, I managed to accumulate 44,000 free XP without spending a single gold on it and just by playing. You get 50xp for every 1000 you earn, so it accumulates surprisingly quickly.

But yeah, if you haven’t stockpiled it this way, the developers want you to spend gold. The drawbacks of a F2P model and so on and so forth.

4168

Yup. That’s the reason.

And it works. After moving from the Tier 7 T-29 to the Tier 8 T-32, the stock suspension not only prevents you from loading up on modules, it even prevents you from loading up on the 105 mm gun you unlocked during the previous tier. And the stock T-32 turret has no armor. So you’re driving around in a Tier 8 heavy with the gun and turret of a Tier 6 heavy.

It took me about three battles before I decided to spend gold to convert experience. That said, I really don’t see why people would bother unless they were specifically moving up towards Clan Wars.

4169

Unfortunately, it also makes folks stop playing. Though I’m sure they’ll adjust it if the metrics don’t work out.

4170

Does your KV have 100 percent crew yet? I find that the 107 is much scarier with the accuracy of a veteran gunner, especially combined wtih a the faster reload time module, binoculars and a spall liner to help against HE damage. (Which in a game where tier 5 is top tier, is about the only damage that can hurt the KV)

4171

Well, I’m not planning on Clan Wars (unless I find by sheer happenstance a reasonable clan that wants me I guess), but I did the “shell out for gold and transfer exp” thing for my T32, and for several other tanks anyhow. Why? Dunno, but I think it’s just because I’m a leveling/progress whore :).

4172

Is there no way to at least immobilize it like a TD? The jerkiness when trying to snipe with it but moving because you aimed a bit too far left or right is annoying.

4173

I seem to remember you can. Just press X while in sniper mode.

Nope. I was wrong. And, yeah, it really does suck.

4174

Just a minor note: the gunner’s skill level does not affect gun accuracy, only aim time.

Gun accuracy is fixed, and the only way to affect it is for the gunner to be wounded or the gun to be damaged.

4175

Yep, me too. :)

4176

They did, but I moved them up to the KV-3 to keep working on their secondary skill. The current crew is ~ 80%. Maybe that is it. Also no modules either (Sooo expensive on a heavy tank. Most of my mediums and TD’s are loaded up though)

4177

The difference between a crew at 80 and one at 100+ is pretty profound, it seems. Subtle stuff like a few seconds faster response here, better acceleration there, faster engagement speeds, stuff like that. I’m not sure how it all comes together, really, but I definitely get a lot better performance out of my better crews.

My Tiger, for instance, which is on that long grind to Tiger II, has a lousy 80 skill crew. That simply reinforces the tank’s utter mediocrity, even with the long 88. My IS has a 100 crew and is markedly better in just about everything, even accounting for the fact that the IS is probably a better tank all around. My Panther, another Tier VII but this time a medium, has a very good crew, which really helps immensely. My best crew is probably either my M12, because by the time you grind out a higher tier arty your crews are aces, or my T32–because the grind to the horrid next tank is long and frankly I don’t want to get there!

4178

Tip #1: The KV will mostly be a rolling coffin until you unlock the 107.
Tip #2: You are not the tip of the spear. Hang back, pick off tanks from range.
Tip #3: Play conservatively: find cover, preferably near allies… your barn-like turret makes you a shot magnet. The best thing to do is lurk behind cover until enemy tanks are all reloading and then peek out to smack something
Tip #4: When you are the heaviest tank on the field you can be a little more cavalier (watch for enemy KVs and Su-85s with 107s, or other derpy tanks) but you still dont want enemy tanks to be able to get close and circle you, so the name of the game is still to hang back a bit and snipe deliberately.

These are pretty generic tips admittedly but it does work quite well. Having a 100% gunner is huge as the 107 has a very slow aim time. If you can get a rammer on sale that could be a good investment but as a rule I would not bother with mods. Save consumables for ammo rack/gun/loader/gunner crits.

Also dont worry about win percentage too much; my win percentage in the KV is horrible as it takes into account all the terrible horrible battles I had just grinding up to the upgraded components. However now I would say it is one of the tanks I am more fond of playing. I had a similar problem with the Tiger; I had a terrible losing streak with the stock tiger that I never really recovered from, and yet the upgraded Tiger is one of my favourite tanks to play.

4179

Also keep in mind that the KV has shit for visual range, so its good to have friendlies in the area so you aren’t sniped to death by things you can’t see yet.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter since you can just take the hits while you close into spotting range, but against something that can hurt you, that can be the end of you.

4180

I’m definitely enjoying Tier 5. The KV rules, The SU-85 is pretty good even stock, and the Ram-II isn’t bad. Hopefully some day I’ll be able to grind past the A-20 and M3 Lee to get to the next Tier in those lines too.