FAME News #Issue 7



Playstyle and an Analysis of Various Styles

Being a high-ranking member of a tank academy has many perks, such as endless garage slots, free premium tanks and being able to tell things happening before it happens (such as when my enemies will spontaneously explode in a hail of ammo rack fury, or how the future matchmaking system works). But the one perk that cannot be underestimated, and for practical purposes of this Mindset Question dialogue, is that I get unfettered attention from newcomers in SGTA (that’s the tank academy I founded) when I want to see their skills. This perk has some great advantages, it allows me to see how inexperienced players play, thus allowing me to stomp future inexperienced enemies with impunity, but it also allows me to seriously examine what common mistakes players make when they are confronted with different situations. Few in the game will have the consistent and real-time experimental guinea pigs (all students please use normal complaint procedures!) that I have when out on these testing trips, especially when I am hosting one of my infamous ‘Experimental Tank Companies’ (cue Roninrage exploding in the background under a hail of fire and death).

The topic I wish to discuss in this article will be specifically focused on what happens in a solo or ‘one-versus-one’ encounter in a battle. I recently hosted a special session with students in the academy on solo combat, which involved each student facing me in a solo encounter. The results were varied, with some achieving more success than others. But a few common traits were clearly visible for those who, like me, were specifically looking for it. I wish to engage on a rather important playstyle finding I’ve discovered in this article.

In my last article (‘Mindset Question: To Order or Not to Order, That is the Question’) I talked in highly sarcastic tones about, in essence, which choice to make in a complete list of 3 choices. The logic in this current article will remain roughly the same. The player, when in a battle engagement, has only 3 choices if I may generalize the choices greatly, the player can: play aggressively, play defensively or play with a mixed set of aggressiveness and defensiveness. Truth be told, it seems obvious that the third mixed option is the most realistic. However, in my various testing with students in SGTA and sample platoons and Tank Companies, I have reached a curious finding, which I will explain below.

 

The Aggressive Method

In my definition, a purely aggressive player is the type that seeks to attack the enemy regardless of the circumstances. The aggressive player will constantly be on the lookout for a weakspot in the enemy lines to exploit, or in the case in which there is no certain weakspot, the aggressive tanker will charge in through the most familiar path he/she knows on the map, making plans and improvising as he/she goes along. There is a common default consensus amongst people, but especially newcomers to this game, that aggressiveness equates to suicide. Aggressive playing tends to be viewed by many with frowns and head-shaking. The mindset to understanding this is quite simple, people who charge out of cover to engage a defensive player will take more hits and die even before reaching the enemy lines. This conception may be influenced by historical Japanese kamikaze charges or too much FPS charges by AIs such as Call of Duty in which the player kills the charging enemies with ease.

The perhaps unexpected reality is that aggressive playing has an almost undeniable link with a high victory rate, as observed by me in countless profiles and in-game experiences. With certain but few exceptions, purely aggressive players outshine defensive players in almost every sector except survival rate, average survival time, which aggressive players tend to fall behind on. A mixed result in an area of interest is that purely aggressive players achieve roughly the same amount of kills as defensive players. Despite all these, perhaps the most crucial piece of analysis I’ve gained is that aggressive players tends to define the chances of success for the entire team. A highly skilled aggressive player tends to either spot enough enemies in the initial stages of the game to bring almost certain victory to his/her team (through allied tanks taking out a large number of enemies in the initial stages), a poor aggressive player tends to do what is usually expected, a useless kamikaze driver who dies with no net contribution to the team. This concept of confirming the victory by aggressive players I will go into more detail later in this article.

 

The Defensive Method

The purely defensive player in my definition is a player who seeks to hold his position in an advantageous location, usually a spot he/she knows well. A resolutely defensive player will never take the initiative to go to the front lines but instead chooses to be amongst the second wave of allied tanks or simply become a ‘camper’ in the rear. More skilled defensive players may decide to relocate to a further back location if the enemy is pushing too far into allied front lines or push further in if allies has broken very far inwards enemy territory, however, usually defensive players tends to hold their initial position even when the enemy has pushed through the front line or the enemy lines has collapsed. As stated earlier, there seems to be a mostly common mindset that playing defensively equates to safety. That in the heat of a chaotic battle, staying behind the very front line will grant a longer survival time. Purely defensive players seem to have a common mentality that yearns for the greatest amount of effect on the battlefield with the least amount of effort, whether consciously or subconsciously.

Despite general stereotype, many purely defensive players do not have a lack of skills. I have seen more than a definitive amount of defensive players who possess substantial skills that, if their playstyle changes, can make a tremendous impact on the battlefield. What I tend to find many times is that, defensive players waste a lot of their skills waiting in the rear hoping for the enemy to pop into their line of fire, this puts greater strain on the rest of the team as a waiting player is a player who is contributing nothing to the team during the time he/she is waiting. Hence, defensive players tends to complain quite a lot about useless teams who die in less than 5 minutes. There are usually around 5-7 defensive players in a team, which means almost half of the team is at best not moving and at worst already disengaged from the team from the outset. What tends to happen is that the aggressive and mixed playstyle members of the team will be put under too much strain, who then dies. Leaving only the defensive players to fend for themselves. Defensive players, who rarely think about how to cover other defensive players, struggle against multiple enemies as they are essentially playing a one versus many situation, and ends up dying too in an unsatisfying slaughter.

Purely defensive players relies heavily on the skill level of friendly team members. Their performance increases dramatically as the level of skill on allied tanks increase. Thus for example, if the aggressive and mixed playstyle members of a team has very high levels of skill, then the defensive players will perform significantly better than if the former does not have sufficient skill. Because of this reliance on the rest of the team, defensive players’ performance varies; however, a consistent statistic that appears is that they have a high survival rate and a very low ‘distance travelled’ count.

 

Mixed Playstyle Method

Mixing the aggressive and defensive playstyle is a very hard thing to do and indeed a very rare occurrence in World of Tanks. The vast majority of player in this game who achieves beyond a 56% win rate uses the mixed playstyle method. The distinction between an aggressive and defensive player to a mixed playstyle player is that the mixed player can switch between the aggressive and defensive styles, whether consciously or subconsciously, and perhaps more importantly, the mixed playstyle player knows when to switch between the playstyles under different circumstances.

Ask people which playstyle in the 3 given is the best and they will undoubtedly tell you the mixed style is better. But then ask them why they think this is so, and many will struggle to give you a good and robust reason. Sure, knowing how to attack and defend is better than only knowing how to either attack or defend, but why is that so?

I have attempted to answer this since I began my World of Tanks experience. After a long search, I am finally confident enough to bring an assessment to the table. This is my personal opinion and obviously people are free to object to it, but thus far I have seen this theory put to the test and passed with flying colours.

The reason why mixed playstyle players are rather successful is that they feed off the failings of the other playstyles. This assertion may be so subtle on the battlefield many will not believe it, but it is in fact quite real. The aggressive player will usually end up scouting the enemy tanks, but will not have enough time stay still to gain many hits or due to their tank choice, be simply incapable to deal a great amount of damage. A mixed style player capitalizes on this and follows the aggressive player, however, when the enemy tanks have their sights trained on the first or nearest tank they see (the aggressive player), the mixed style player stops or slows down to shoot at distracted targets. One common trait about mixed players relative to aggressive players is that they are usually the last people getting shot at, or seemingly always the player who gets the ‘easiest time’ as nobody on the enemy team seems to care where they are or what they do. This is not due to luck, but rather to the skill of the mixed player to place themselves in a situation, both psychologically (in relation to the enemy tanker’s mind) and physically (in relation to their location on the map), as seemingly the smallest threat, when in reality they are the largest threat to the enemy tank.

Comparing with defensive players, mixed playstyle player compensates on the lack of spotting abilities of the defensive player and temporarily switches to an aggressive mode. However, most mixed style players do not care for the circumstances of the defensive players and tends to spot and kill the enemies according to their own situation. Any kills gained by defensive players in this instance is usually by chance that their location offers them the shot. In short, the mixed style player gains the damage which the aggressive player fails to deal, but also gains the damage the defensive player is unable to deal. Combining these two factors, it makes the mixed player a deadly adversary which always ends up getting the most damage and kills, thus their excellent statistics in their profiles. However, the most important aspect of the mixed player is that he/she is still dependent on the aggressive player, but not the defensive player.

 

Detailed Analysis

The consequences of the mixed player’s dependency on aggressive players are quite substantial. In short, this makes the aggressive player the most tactically important part of the team, as the performances of both the mixed and defensive players depends on how well they play aggressively. However, unlike the defensive player, the mixed player can still compensate for the lack of an aggressive player by temporarily becoming aggressive themselves, but this reduces the overall efficiency of the team as then there is no primary damage dealer, as the mixed player has turned temporarily into an aggressive player, a vacuum where the mixed player was, now exists.

The impact of this finding on defensive players may seem quite damning. This effectively means that defensive players are the only players that is not necessary within a team to make it effective. However, in reality, this argument does not hold. All too common is the occasional mistake made by the aggressive and mixed players that a few enemies slip past the front lines (especially when later on in the battle, a front line cannot be defined clearly). Those enemies who slip past the aggressive and mixed players have huge potential in their hands. We all know the horrific consequences if an enemy tank somehow managed to get behind your tank, stops and starts shooting. Those infiltrated tanks (which are effectively the enemy team’s mixed playstyle players… as enemy aggressive players will usually just scout, but not shoot) will deal massive amounts of damage. In situations like these, the defensive player’s time to shine has come. Whether those infiltrated tanks decide to turn around and shoot at allied advancing tanks or simply try to capture the base, the defensive tank will prove the most useful, as it is they who will either track that infiltrated tank or simply ambush it and then destroy it. Defensive tanks struggle against enemy aggressive tanks merely because usually the element of surprise is on the enemy aggressive tanks at the start of the game, when defensive tanks has not yet got into their positions. But the defensive tanks are the bane of the mixed playstyle tanker. Why do you hear highly skilled players complaining about ‘campers’? Well… because it is usually that they got ambushed by the defensive players and died as they didn’t suspect them to be there, which seems to most people like a cowardly way to kill an enemy, especially to the killed person, but in the end the defensive players has just performing their role well, nothing else.

Overall, and with as little confusion made here as possible, it can be said that the aggressive players are the most tactically important part of the team, as they are the people who the mixed and defensive players depend on to improve their own performances, as mixed and defensive players’ performance increases proportionally to the aggressive player’s performance. The mixed players are the main damage dealers, hence usually the players who wins the match as the team must kill the enemy tanks (no point spotting them all if nobody is going to kill them). Defensive players are tactically the least important, but in reality their role is usually misunderstood but not unimportant. Defensive players are effectively the counter to the enemy team’s mixed players, and in cases in which enough time is given, defensive players can also counter enemy aggressive players. The role of the defensive player is to, in effect, protect the allied aggressive and mixed players and prevent the enemy team from capturing the base. It can also be added that part of the roles of the combination of aggressive and mixed players is to search and destroy enemy defensive players, but rarely will you see only an aggressive player or only a mixed player challenging and defeating a defensive player, at least not with some sort of help by other players.

 

Conclusion

Theoretically, the argument I’ve put forward holds rather well. However, practically, the reality is somewhat different, as hardly anybody, if any at all, knows what their roles are on the battlefield. Even fewer put their roles into practice. Obviously, the roles you can perform depend on your skill level and another important factor is your tank choice. However, all too often you can see a slow heavy tank playing aggressively or a fast light tank playing defensively. This shows that those players do not know their roles, which can seem quite obvious to most people. But let’s say… what do you expect the driver of a Pershing to do? Or perhaps a balanced tank like the Type 59, which combines good armor with respectable speed, manoeuvrability and firepower. Players of balanced tanks such as the Type 59 and the Pershing has the most potential on their hands, they can play one of any of the three playstyles mentioned earlier. How well they do is then only dependent on their skill and knowledge of their roles.

When it comes down to who is a better player in World of Tanks, I do not judge by looking at statistics that often, as they are a construct of how good or bad your team ultimately is. A highly capable player within a collection of players who performs the wrong role with the wrong playstyle in the wrong tank will get steamrolled by a group of players who presses all the right buttons. Rather, to truly judge a player, it is in my opinion necessary to platoon with the player and see if he can perform his role suited to his playstyle well, thus my constant pestering of the students in SGTA to platoon and participate in team battles. There is nothing wrong with being a defensive ‘camper’ as long as he/she knows where to position him or herself, that he/she can shoot the tank that needs shooting and that he/she knows what needs higher priority (such as stopping the enemy capturing the base in most circumstances). To judge based on statistics is short-sighted and simply not giving the person the credit he/she deserves if he/she knows his/her roles. In fact, to judge based on statistics usually tells me that the judge him or herself do not understand what is important, but just pretends that he/she does by passing judgment and hoping nobody questions the supports under their ill-based reasoning.

By Ding760

FAME News #Issue 6



FAME News #Issue 5



To Order or Not to Order? That is the Question.

It is an age-old question, whether you or any sane person should try to help your team, with some much needed advice and suggestions, to push your team forward to a closer grasp of victory.

There are obviously 2 opposing opinions at play here, one side which argues that without the gleaming salvation of the word of a saviour (that’s you), the clueless 14 insignificants on your team would simply waste away into the depths of the oblivion of stupidity. At the other side, one can argue that any such acts of compassion in the form of giving advice to your teammates, is simply a waste of time. As the 14 mindless zombies would much rather jump down a watering hole than follow any logical and intelligent orders from you! Hence we have a debate, should we, as sensible emissaries of the All-Knowing Tank God, even bother to help our teammates on the fields on battle in the form of advice?

 

Holier Than Thou…

Let us begin with the ‘we should’ argument. Any compassionate individual would only be too happy to offer his/her generous hand in aid in the form of advice. After all, you have the better stats, and you have the most valuable tank, so what could possibly be the problem with your team following your suggestions?

The truth, as my sarcastic tone infers, is that you don’t know it all. Why? Because in the end, if those ‘other’ 15 mindless fools with insignificant stats can manage to kill you through the sheer force of numbers, then it means you don’t know it all. If you did, you would have never died right? Because you know all there is to know about survival and battle tactics! In reality, no matter how much you believe you know about a situation on the battlefield, the overwhelming chances are that you don’t actually know everything. You only have 2 eyes and 1 monitor to look through to see the fine details in the carnage of battle. Hence the input of information coming into your brain is limited to exactly that, because of this, your judgment can only be formed based on that limited information, and in turn, excluding a lot of other missing information. This results in an often poorly judged and unpractical solution to a problem that is simply not comprehended by the vast majority of players who are screaming orders to their allies akin to that of Sergeant Bane.

So we get it! We don’t quite grasp the real situation, so what? Our infallible solutions cannot possible be worse than what those fourth-world people are already attempting to do! Well… I can’t argue with an explanation like that! Especially if you are already convinced your own solution is of a higher quality. But hey! As long as I can die for a greater cause such as not ruining the games of you and those 13 other far superior players on my team then that must be OK then! Um, but let’s go back to the little known secret called reason for a minute. Those 13 other players, what do they consist of? Oh, right, yeah, they are the 13 other players you’ve just bossed around so that your gameplay may go more smoothly and you can get to a ‘critical location’ in which you yourself can fire indiscriminately at the nearest moving target.

OK, let’s stop here for a moment, a lot of sarcasm and overly powerful words were used, many comedians and Ilosz wannabes will cry, but did I make my point? Well, yes and no. Yes, refers to the fact I did convey the message that your own suggestions are, naturally, your own. It does not take into account the situations or difficulties other players has to face, and hence becomes either too unpractical or well neigh impossible for the other player to carry out successfully (which you will probably blame them later on for being useless due to their failure). Another point made earlier was that the ‘please don’t ruin the game for the rest of us’ argument commonly used simply does not work. As the vast majority of times what really happens is that the person giving the commands is the person who is truly ruining the games for everyone else, with their endless misinformed waffle and insults. But if looked at from another perspective, I did not fully make my point, perhaps the most powerful point I wanted to make was through my ill-hidden sarcasm. Which means to say that your thoughts are only your own, it has nothing to do with me and I’ll be damned if I (or the majority of the playerbase) gives 2 cents for what you deem to be ‘the right choice’. Hell… if I didn’t believe Obama when he was elected that he was going to stop droning people… then I am probably right about your judgment too.

In the end, one common trait for all ‘command whores’ out there is that they will either save the game by themselves regardless of your commitment to the Hivemind Programme, and follow it up by waving a ‘I’m The Man’ flag while cruising through a parade. Or alternatively, they will lose the battle regardless of your contribution and then blame you for the inevitable loss. The final conclusion? Don’t be a douche, stop ordering the peasants around, because you’re not always right. Mind… BLOWN!

 

 

The Lost Cause

The other extremity is the argument that we shouldn’t help these mindless keyboard warriors. Because let’s face it, the psychological and financial value of the energy I expand typing the orders is worth more than the results I’m going to get from doing it, which, if simplified, means you get nothing from them, as nobody will do anything you just said.

Truth be told, out of around 10 battles, you will inevitably get 1 special match in which somebody replies with the Oh so revered ‘Affirmative!’. You jump in joy and hold a celebration in honour of this milestone, but did it actually change anything? Did the battle swing in your favour because of this compliance to your will? Did the Messiah finally come to save the suffering masses from their own stupidity? Generalized conclusion? Probably not, but that battle definitely had a flavour to it, when 2 strangers team up together to give the enemy an ass-whopping the likes that hasn’t been seen since Bruce Lee tore the bullet-proof vest from Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon. So it’s been confirmed that when you do give some advice, and people follow them, it might not change the winning result ultimately, but it sure feels a hell of a lot sweeter, even in defeat.

But the odds of that happening, it’s simply not worth it, you say! Well… you may be right, but do you think there is a point to playing a game, nobody helping each other, resulting in a loss, then grumbling about it later in your attic thinking what would have happened if you had said something? Is this really a satisfying method of approaching the problem? Is not saying anything really the right way purely because of the inaction of the majority of the audience?

Well, let’s put it this way, I deliver a passionate speech to a crowd of 100. When I finish, the general expectation is that while the crowd may give a half-hearted applaud at the end, the majority will not be able to tell you around 99% of what you just said, but there is always the one, one person out of the 100 who can accurate tell you what you just said, both pleasing and surprising you in the process as most likely you yourself cannot regurgitate what you just said. That one person matters, because it is that person who makes this game very much bearable and exciting, someone who can respond to your requests and someone who can carry out action based on logic without fail, or die trying.

The argument that trying to advice the masses is a fruitless endeavour has its merits as with all things, but it is not strong enough to warrant a positive consent from me. As you develop your game, and develop the skills necessary to communicate with random strangers, you become more believable. Also, as you continue in this pursuit for recognition by your fellow teammates, your knowledge of advising itself improves, giving you the ability to be a one-tank consulting machine.

 

The Middle Path is Best

This is an opinion piece, and henceforth, everything written or otherwise decreed here will be optional or mandatory at your convenience. But personally, I advocate a middle path between the extremes. Throughout my experience, both summarily executing someone via imbecilic comments and not helping at all proves to be an unsatisfactory solution to the problem of lacking teammates. What I found was that, at least for me, helping my teammates on occasions when there is no other option but to make known your suggestion upon them is best. This way, you give valid advice, which is essentially to offer alternatives the player may not have thought of, without imposing your will upon that player. But it is not enough just to simply tell them what you want them to do, but also to give your reasoning. Even toddlers do not respond well to parents when they are not given a reason to an order, and likewise, those rolling babies on tracks do need reasons as to why you believe your breastfeeding of alternatives would make any more sense than their kamikaze charge. Hence, give your suggestion, then immediately explain the reasoning.

This is not to say you should go into overkill with your suggestions. One suggestion is enough, which actually requires logical and comprehensive thought and analysis (wow!) before handing it to that crucial player for decision. Blasting all your dozens of suggestions onto them will probably hurt them more than the enemy tanks killing them with puny shells. This basically means they will not consider any of your suggestions and ignore you completely. Therefore, give one suggestion after thinking about it yourself, then offer it to them with the whole package, everything from reasoning to humour included! Think that whole process of carefully thinking and analysing your own suggestion beforehand is too much? Well too bad! If you want to get heard, then you better have something good to say. Because if not, I will have more reasons to blame you for the defeat than the enemy team as between you and the enemy team, only one is supposed to be killing me painfully, you just successfully made it two.

My message (hidden in all that sarcasm) is that give only constructive advice. Baseless and poorly thought out advice is worth nothing. Thinking you are the Sun Tzu (how DARE you!) or Steve Jobs in terms of intellect probably will convince most people the exact opposite. Belief in the supposed fact that you are always right will only alienate yourself more from your audience. Hence, as the writer of this esteemed piece, I hereby command you to follow my suggestion! As if you don’t follow it, you are just a loser who has no intelligence or logical thought in your entire body! Sounds ridiculous right? What gave me the right to accuse you of such a heinous crime against humanity? EXACTLY! So do as I say and stop being an ass! Yes, yours truly has officially created the first opinion piece which no matter if you agree or disagree with me, I’m always right! Why am I right? Because I’m just better than you! Get my point now?

Need Chaffee crew trainers?

Crew training on your US lights or scouts going to slow? Well besides playing your lights on crew xp bonus events and missions. There are other ways to get it going faster. The US low tier premium tanks don't just offer a wast income bonus for the average player. As a good round on those is 10 to 20K. But also serves as a good crew trainer for your US light tanks with no need of re-training. The most common reason why people buy them.


But sadly the low tier premium US lights don't offer all the crew positions on each tank. So some crew members will go a tad slower if you only buy one. With the exception of the T71 sharing the exact same crew slots as the M22 Locust. Chaffee and T21 crews don't all fit in any of the low tier Premium lights sadly. So some of em like the Radio operator and Loader will only get one run. And the rest will get 2. You do also have the gift tanks that offers more crew slots for a wider training option. But still some will go faster then others. But the commander and driver will get in all of em. IMO the two most important positions of a scout tank anyway. As sixth sense is vital to get going. And I can't drive a scout with no offroad driving at 100% as it makes the job so much easier. But the lack of crew slots does have its benefits. When the Gunner of you Chaffee is in the M22 he can also select loader skills as his new skills. If you want to have safe stowage on the loader, but do want the other skills to. You can put em in the M22 and use the gunner to train loader skills once a new skill is unlocked. Or the commander to train radio operator skills so you can have both the view range bonus and the radio range bonus going both as a 2nd or 3th skill just to name a few to get other skills going faster that you also want. So you can tailor it to your taste and style faster if need be.


So yes. Even tho you don't buy em as income machines. They are effective crew trainers for your US scout tanks, especially when there are crew events going. And they are fun to play to. Even though they offer a bit different play styles then some of the scouts do. So here I will review the US low tier premium lights and even the WG gift tanks just to give my thought on em and how I like to play em to get the most xp out of it for my play style anyway. These will be methods that worked for me, but might not work well for you, so keep that in mind when reading.


Light tank crew skills setup: 
This setup goes for all my scout tanks so I'll just have it here early on. Tho the order does variate on play style and such for each tank. The skills are usually the same. But this is my preferred setup. Your opinion or experience may vary form mine. But this is how I like to get going on my Scout crews. The skills listed as the first 2 are the skills I think should be first. Skills not mentioned here for each crew are what I consider to be less important for a scout tank. And are skills you can pick as you go after that. BIA is not important for an passive scout. But might be a game changer for an active scout. But still not a priority for me either way on scout tanks.




Passive scout:
Commander: Sixth sense, Recon, Mentor, BIA

Gunner: Camo, Designate Targets, repair,  BIA

Driver: Off road driving, Camo, repair, BIA

Radio Operatior: Situational awareness, Camo, Signal boosting, BIA

Loader: Camo, Repair, Safe stowage, BIA


Camo makes all the difference at times. And off road driving is vital to get to the good spotting points fast on maps with lots of swamps and other soft surfaces. Radio operatior don't get camo for me early on. Due to the view range bonus and the ability to keep targets spotted for longer when they move out of your view range that I find more important. The TD's behind you will thank you for it.



Active scout: 
Commander: Sixth sense, Recon, Mentor, BIA

Gunner: Snap shot, repair, camo,  BIA

Driver: Off road driving, smooth ride, repair , BIA

Radio Operatior: Situational awareness, Repair, Signal boosting, BIA

Loader: Repair, camo, Safe stowage, BIA

For the active scout some of the same rules apply for me. But camo is less important since if you move all the time around on top of hills and down again ect. The time form when you should have been spotted and form when you was spotted is so small its not worth it early on. Unless its a hybrid scout. Skills for shooting on them move is more valid as hits and runs are more likely. And repair is more in focus since getting de-tracked is something that will happen more often in an active scout. And nothing sucks more then getting stuck in an open field for to long with 1 track less with 10 seconds to repair it. And if you are more active and driving around. Signal boosting to help your fellow SPG's is not a bad thing either when you get to the other side of the map. But you rarely go outside of their radio range 90% of the time anyway.

T2 Light tank

Info and crew:
The T2 Light tank is priced at 750 gold at tier II. Housing a crew of 3 inc Commander that also works as the gunner & loader, driver and radio operator you do get the 3 most important crew skills IMO to train in a scout tank. Commander with its 6th sense and recon. Driver with offroad driving and radio operator with skills for view range and radio range. So you will get those trained faster with this tank.


Specs:

Getting some air is not uncommon in it. So watch the tracks.

With 150 hit points that is around the normal range for a tier II tank it can take a few hits form its fellow tier II tanks. But derp will most likely kill it off. So you can still afford to play it more aggressive in tier II games. And its 265 HP engine and 7.6 tons makes it a fast and agile light with a top speed of 72 Km/h. But that speed you won't see that often. A more normal speed on flat medium ground is 62-65 Km/h that it gets to really fast. Hill speed is not as fast, but still really good, but you can and will get to key points early in it. There is mot much that can beat a T2 Light to the center hill on Mines for instance. Having a traverse speed of 47 and a turret traverse speed of 39, you can dance around slower tanks and non turreted TD's you face with ease. With those specs and some hidden, it does not bleed much speed when turning. And can keep moving about at high speeds. Hull armor is nothing big to boast about. 17 on the hull head on and 16 on the turret all around. So don't expect to bounce anything. Even form stock tier 1 tanks. Its view range is at 260m and its radio range is 325, so on some of the bigger maps. Half the map will be blank as the radio range is so low. So not an ideal scout if that's what you are used to. Its really not that of an effective scout on some of the smaller low tier maps even. Its camo value while stationary is 15% and 11,4% while moving. Not as good as most scouts, but still good enough to remain hidden if needed. So it can be used as a scout, but not recommended.







Weapon and ammo:
Its armament is a 20 mm gun. doing 108 rounds pr min and with 1200 rounds at 9 to 15 damage pr round. Having 15 shells in a clip with 3 rounds pr burst. Its damage potential is big at 1235 pr min and a reload time on a 100% crew at 7,5 seconds. But the pen is so low that not all rounds will do damage even at close range on most targets, even soft targets to. It can use both AP "30 pen" and APCR "41 pen" ammo. The gun is not accurate. Sniping with that gun, even with APCR at distances of 100m or more, you will have 0 pen and the spread will be to big to be effective anyway. At 50 meters the spread is still big, but enough that most rounds will hit the target. The gun is best used at 20m or closer, so that most of your rounds will hit. At that range a full clip is enough to kill of most tier II tanks. But crews skills is recommended it fire on them move to increase accuracy. As its a bit though to get hits if you fire on the move at medium distances or more.




Equipment suggestions:
As for equipment and such. I got Vents and camouflage net and binoculars. Spall liner is an option but it adds lots of weight. It can also use GLD and Optics. But they cost 500 000. A bit to much for that tank. As for consumables I got Medkit, repair kit ofc and octane gasoline. Fire extinguisher is not really needed. Chance of engine fire is still 20%. But based on my experience with it. You can ditch it for other consumables if need be.




Play style:
Its so fast and agile that you don't lose speed when turning to avoid fire. And with the small size and speed. Your a hard target to hit. To make the most out of the gun you should be using it at ranges form 30 meters and closer. As mentioned above, its a waste of ammo to snipe with it as you can't even pen a Medium I at 100m+. So to make the damage most effective with one clip. Get up close and drive around em. The dpm at tier 2/3 battles is good and you can kill most tanks you face alone within seconds. Reload is still quick, but doing hit and runs is the best option. So it can't kill 2 tanks with one clip form above half health. It works great on urban maps as an active scout and hit and runs on both weak and full hp targets. But on the more open low tier maps you need to keep moving. On Malinovka you can move to E5 near the center lake and try to spot the enemy base if that's to your liking. But its usually better to go hill or below it and support and push. The map where this tank excels is Karelia & Mines that are so small maps that you can get around fast and do some damage and get away while you support your team mates push. Its not really a scout. Its more like the AMX lights. So if you have both AMX scouts and US scouts, you should feel right at home in it. You can ofc play it with a scout setup and try to be the team spotter. But with the low view range, even with a good crew and equipment. Its still hard to spot targets at long range on most maps.


Advantages: 

• Fast rate of fire
• Can do lots of damage in a short time
• Fast and agile 
• Small size
• Don't bleed speed
• Big ammo storage

Disadvantages:

• Lack of armor 
• Poor view range
• Long reload time
• Poor sniper 
• Low pen
  

Conclusion:
Is it worth it? Yes it definitely is. Its high speed and gun is what makes it fun. And the multiple ways it can be played. It offers both fun for new players that don't have high tier lights yet, but wants a moderate income machine. Its easy to play and not as easy to master right away due to the low pen. But a great way to learn the basics of fast lights and the value of flanking. And it will offer both fun and valuable crew training solutions for more experienced players. Its definitively a tank all US light tank lovers should have.

M22 Locust 

Info and crew:
Priced at 900 gold its definitively worth it. This time at tier III and housing a crew of 3 and the exact same crew setup as the T71. Commander, Gunner and Driver. With the commander as a radio operator and gunner as the loader to.


Specs:

Urban maps with a medium tank playstyle is where it can do really well

At 250 hit points its got more then its tier III counterpart the M3 Stuart. 192 HP engine and at 6.92 tons. Its a fast and agile tank to. With a top speed of 64 Km/h. Tho 56-59 is the normal expected range on most surfaces. Its got a moderate hill climb speed tho and the time to get to its top speed on a medium flat surface is fast. 40 traverse both on hull and turret. So you can still dance around TD's and slower tanks. It has minor bleed on speed when turning. But not enough to lose much speed overall. You will hardly notice it. Armor is way less then on the M3 at 25 hull head on and 25 all around the turret. But unlike the M3 your armor is not flat. Its at an angle. So you can have some more effective armor then most. I'm not saying its bouncy. But vs most auto guns you will face at that tier. You will absorb much of the damage if you follow the target with the front of your hull at a slight angle. But don't expect it to bounce much of the normal cannons. With a view range of 330 and a signal range of 395 it can be played as a scout effectively if you want that since its camo values are 20.4% while both stationary and moving, so not far off from the high tier scouts and 6,12% when shooting. So you can still shoot at medium to long ranges with little fear of being detected with adequate cover.


Weapon and ammo:
The gun is good for its tier. Its the same 37 mm M6 gun found on the M3 Stuart to. Doing 30 to 50 damage pr shot and got 42 to 70 mm of pen on a low/high roll. So gold is not really needed for it. And 26.2 rounds pr min it gets a potential damage of 1093 pr min. Gun is fairly accurate at long range, so can be played as a support tank if need be. Supports both AP, APCR and HE at 56/78/19 average pen on each.


Equipment suggestions:
As for equipment Vents ofc and camo net and binoculars as I don't really know if I want to play it like a scout or medium until I see the map and MM setup. It can use spall liner and wet ammo rack. But first adds weight and the 2nd one is not really needed tbh. The rest like GLD and optics and tool box is at 500 000. Again a bit to much for that tank. Consumables its Med kit, repair kit and Octane gasoline again. As this tank hardly gets set on fire to and the bonus to turret traverse and speed is always nice.


Play style:
As for its play style. It can be played both as a scout and like a medium. Its fast and can relocate to most areas of the map to either spot or provide cover. In most cases its better to let the bigger tanks do their job. And flank or support form the 2nd line and use its dpm. It can also with the right crew skills and equipment be played as a hidden sniper, flanker as its camo value is good. But I normally play it as I do my mediums and distract, support and flank more then I scout. But its a versatile multi-role tank. And should fit most play styles and thus should fit most of you. Regardless of you taste in roles, it can do it all really well and is the tank I recommend of the two so far if you need a crew trainer.


Advantages:

• Good sniper
• Good pen
• Fast 
• Excellent camo values
• Good traverse speeds
  

Disadvantages:  

• Moderate speed loss when turning
• Lacking armor
• Slow up hill

Conclusion: 
Is it worth it? Yes it is, but for scout and light fans I recommend the T2 Light more. But overall for most people its definitely the one to go for of the two due to the universal role of the tank at times. Great little tank for new players to learn the basics both staying hidden and the general role and rule of medium tanks, and due to the good pen on the gun new players will find it easy to get damage done. Old players will be right at home in it regardless of taste and style. Its not hard to master and it rewards you well as soon as you do.

T1E6

Info and crew:
A WG gift tank form Christmas 2012. If you don't have it, missed out on it or sold it and want it back. Well it was in the gift store in a 15K gold bundle during the Christmas sale in 2013. So it might come back again. But if you do have it and just kept it as a collectible, but never use it and still got US scout tanks. I'll do my best to give you some pointers at it. Its a tier II Light and it houses a crew of 3. Commander, driver and loader. Commander also works as the gunner and radio operator on this tank. So no, sadly it can not train a full crew of any the current US scouts. But it still houses the Commander and driver to get those skills going faster. Gunner is not really an important part of a scout tank crew. But if you toss camo skills on him. You will get that bumped up faster to.

Steep hills should be avoided if possible. But the hill on mines is not the worst hill with min speed loss.

Specs:
Sitting on 160 Hit points that is a little above the normal for a tier II tank. The reason is simple. No sloped armor and slow speeds. Its not the most agile tier II light in the game. It bleeds speeds when turning at times and it weights 9 tons with a 244 HP engine and a top speed of 48 Km/h. But on a flat urban map you will see that speed often. But it turns well and its not bad at getting away form danger if need be. But on maps like Mines with variated ground surfaces. 38 to 41 is to be expected on most flat surfaces. Hill climb is painfully slow. So avoid big hills if you can if you want to get to choke points fast. Should also avoid soft surfaces like swamps in an open area. As its soft terrain ground resistance is really bad. Tho crew skills can help to counter that. Its still not good. Armor is mostly flat and not at an angle. Its looks is close to the T1 US Light tank on the hull, but only with a more centered turret. Armor on the hull is 15mm on the front and 12 on the turret. 6 on the side, rear on both the hull and turret. So don't expect to bounce anything besides what the exposed tracks might eat. Its view range is 260 and radio is at 325. So its not ideal as a scout either on the more open maps. But got enough view range to get an early warning on the urban maps. But still if you want to scout in it. It can work to with a good crew with all the view range skills added. But you need to get closer then you are used to in most cases.


Weapon and ammo:

The gun is strong enough to take on most tanks.

The gun is a tier one 37 mm semiautomatic gun that got 5 rounds and got a reload time of 7 to 5 seconds depending on crew. And a rate of fire on about 42 rounds pr min doing 23 to 38 damage pr shot and having 25 to 41 mm of pen on a low/high roll. The gun is not a sniper gun tho if you shot it fast. First round is usually close with an accuracy of 0.51. But the aim time is 1.9 seconds and you shot one round every 0.5 seconds if you hold down the trigger. Then the 4 next shots will def miss at distances of longer then 100 meters. At a distance take your time with each shot as the pen and core accuracy will get the job done, but the DPM suffers form it then. GLD and crew skills like the snap shot skill to increase the base accuracy when swapping targets at a distance. Its best used on small closed and narrow sections of a map or urban maps where you unload your clip and pull back and hide. The gun supports both HE and APCR besides the AP shells. APCR giving it 40 to 66 pen on a low/high roll.


Equipment suggestions:
As for equipment? well I got Vents and small spall liner on mine due to all the low tier lights ramming me all the time with it and a GLD to speed up the aim time even tho its pricey. Even at close range it helps. Camo and Binoculars are ofc valid options to if you prefer it. But since the gun is more effective close up. I hardly get to use em as I move around all the time.


Play style:
Its not a strong tank and should seek help by going in a group and staying a bit back. Going alone in this thing is never a good idea. To get the most out of it you should hope for a more closed map. Find a group of tanks to follow and support em. Or find some cover overlooking the open to send shells down range form as it still can be a good sniper if you take the shooting slow. The turret is dead center in the hull. So you will expose much either way when you pop out to shoot some one. So keep that in mind. The best dpm you get by going up close. The clip is usually not enough to kill off most tier 2 tanks in one clip. But if they have taken 1 hit before. Its an easy quick kill. As the pen and damage close up is really good.


Advantages:

• Auto cannon 
• Lots of damage in a short time
• Big hit point pool for a tier II tank

Disadvantages:  

• Flat armor
• Low speed
• Poor hill climb speed
• DPM drop when sniping

Conclusion:
Was it worth keeping it? Well yes it kinda was. Tbh I don't use it that much. But if you really need crew trainers. Don't sell of WG gift tanks. Not really worth it. The tank is not the best tier II tank around. Its got lots of weak points. But if you do get up close and spam that ammo. Its really rewarding and fun. But open maps is the devil and kills off some of that fun at times. And it suffers form it. But its not a bad tank on open maps either. It can be a good support tank if you take time with each shot instead of just unloading the clip fast.

T7 Combat car

Info and Crew:
Yes. Like the VIC it was not well revived amongst the players when it came. On paper it looks bad, but can be a good tank if you play it right. Its a tier II tank with special MM. So it only sees tier 1/2. Its always top dog. Well I say top dog, but its always in a tier II battle. It houses 4 crew slots. Commander that also goes as the gunner. Driver, Radio Operator and Loader. So a wider option for crew training to get those important view range skills going.

Its not an agile tank. But the gun makes up for it up close. Best played on urban maps.

Specs:
It got 150 hit points and is rather heavy for a tier II light at 9.9 tons.
Sitting on a 262 hp engine it still does not get that big of a speed. Top speed at 38 Km/h and its slow getting there to on most surfaces. It should avoid soft surfaces like swamps and deep water like the plague. As it has one of the worst soft ground resistance stats of the US lights. Its good on hard and medium surfaces tho like Grass, roads and sand. Hull traverse is 44 that is good, but turret is only at 24 that is way slower that most tier II lights. Its mostly flat armor at a small angle. The hull got some slope going. Slopes aside. It only gets 16 effective armor on the hull and 13 on the turret. So don't expect to bounce anything at all. With a 280 view range and 325 it can be used with binoculars and camo nets to use it as scout since its only tier II matches it will come in. And there are hardly tanks with 300m view range anyway.


Weapon and ammo:

Getting on the enemy's flank to get the best effect.

The part that can make this tank fun is the gun. Its a 50 cal MG. It got 50 rounds in it. Each shell got the potential of doing 6 to 10 damage and giving 24 to 30 pen on a low/high roll. So T18's can't be effectively killed head on at all. But form the rear you can kill em in less then 2 seconds. So if you face other low armored tanks, you can kill two of em real quick with one clip. But the reload is long. Longest of any tier II tank at 20 to 25 seconds depending on crew. So make sure you can kill em if you are alone in that thing. Or go in a group. A 3x T7 toon is actually fun. When you all just spam rounds on multiple targets in a group. AP is the only ammo type for it. So no gold n00b tank. But still can get the job done. But it needs to get in close. As pen loss on the gun is really bad. So sniping in it is a waste of time and effort as 99.99% of the shots will just bounce off even the weakest of targets Even when you have the flank or rear at 70+ meters as shown in the picture above. Even then all rounds will not pen and do damage. So get as close as you can for the best effect.


Equipment suggestions:
As for equipment. Vents ofc to reduce that long reload. But sadly there is not much worth in the rest of it besides camo and binoculars that you can take off and add for free. GLD is not really needed as you need to be close for most targets. Spall liner can be handy, but only if you feel like your crew needs it more then the tank. Optics if you really do play it as a scout. But its still not worth it at that price.


Play style:
Its a big wide target so not an easy tank to miss for most. So open fields should be avoided. But its a slow tank to for a tier II light. So not easy to avoid getting shot either. Not the ideal assault tank. But a great support/flanker tank. At that role its not as bad as most wants it to be. It got the most damage potential of any tier II tank with an autoloader in a short amount of time. It shoots really fast and got plenty of shells in a clip to deal with multiple weak targets. But if there is a medium or some of the TD's there. You need help form your team mates. If they go first and take the heat, you can flank and get the side/rear armor. And really dish out the damage. Its not the ideal head on brawler as the lack of pen makes it do little damage on most tanks. French low tier and the T18 should not be taken on head on. But if it sees the side or rear of a big pile of campers. The damage will come really fast. Its good on most maps really. But like the last gift tank. Its usually a bad idea to go alone. Its bad as a 2nd line support or sniper to as you can't effectively pen anything at 75+ meters away even on a really high roll. Sitting on the side on Province and shooting across the map is a waste of time and effort. But its to slow in most cases to get down and dirty fast with it. So best played in a toon or as a flanker support on urban maps really. What about as a scout. Well, its view range is not bad. And with a good crew then yes. I have played it as a scout to test it. I got my ace badge on Provice going center, using buildings and bushes as cover and spotted the ridge line. And did it just as well form one hill to the next. I've gotten 500 to 900 base xp with it and not fired a single shot just to get crew training going. So its valid to play both passive and aggressive. I have not played it that much yet. But enough to find it fun at times and with the special MM is not hard to find it either. But that's just me. It might not if your play style at all. But even so. A win on it will give your crew a boost anyway on big XP or crew events. So why sell it?


Advantages:

• Rapid fire gun
• Massive clip
• Most damage in a short time then any tier II tank
• Limited MM so it only sees tier II battles

Disadvantages:

• Worst ground resistance of any tank on soft surfaces
• Slow speed. 
• An even worse hill climb speed
• A wide target
• Longest reload of any tank you face
• Low pen
• Lack of alternative ammo types

Conclusion:
Its not a good all rounder. But it can get the job done. Both on getting kills and getting good crew XP in many ways. It takes some getting used to ofc. But if you mix your medium tank skills with the scout's hit and run skills. It will reward you well.

Horten Ho.229: A forward looking project from the past

At young Age

Horten 4

           Production of this heavy fighter line, began sooner, than we would expect even in such an enormous project like the creation of the Ho. Family. Walter Horten started developing his idea, when he was in his teenager years, it was a very similar construction possibly made from wood. They both became involved in flying clubs, during this period. Alexander Lippisch, led the Hortens away from the dominant design trends toward experimenting airframes, building models and then filling their parents' house with full-sized wooden prototypes. The first Horten glider flew in 1933, which was called the Horten 4. Both of them were still under the age of 18, but the full sized prototype already included the later so-called “Horten guidelines” and was the starting point of their legendary career. The glider was a simple construction with big wings and an unusually tiny height. They were concentrating minimizing aerodynamic to reach outstanding characteristics, thus every unnecessary parts were left and they only focused on components, which provided the construction better flying capabilities. After the successful beginning, the Horten brothers built their first airplane that had engine, in 1937. It was named as Horten 5, this type was wholly differently implemented as propellers raised it into the skies, had great aerodynamic and big wings, that helped it to reach such a high speed as it’s rivals. Hortens were later described ambitionists, maniac and their ideas are bizarre or sometimes not accomplishable by other German scientists. Germany’s waffenarm grew in outrageous scales at the time, corporation pushed out ideas faster, than ever, but Hortens were not asked by any corporation, it seemed like Germany does not hunger for this evolutionary vision. They joined the Luftwaffe in 1939 and served as pilots until the outbreak of the war, from that point they were asked to be consultants in several projects, this opportunity allowed them to finish works on their idea and realize Ho. 229, parent of the modern stealth fighters.

Horten Brothers

Horten 5, a Ho 229 Protoype

Blueprint of a Ho.229

In 1941 Luftwaffe showed great interests in the airframe project, so they were absolved from military service to oversee the possibilities for an ideal fighter constructed in this way. Reimar analysed, what roles could it fit in. After a short time, they dropped the traditional engine and started in this new invention. The Hortens concluded that the low-drag flying wing design could meet all of the goals (set by a proposal for a bomber): by reducing the drag, cruise power could be lowered to the point where the range requirement could be met. They put forward their private project, the H.IX, as the basis for the bomber and other variants. The Horten brothers submitted a proposal for a two-seat version of their Horten H.IX intended, among other roles, for service as a night fighter. Shortly thereafter this small company received specifications from the TLR for an “all-weather day and night fighter”. As an “immediate solution” the night fighter variant of the two-seat multi-purpose aircraft had a decided advantage over such types as the Ar234P-5, Do335B-6 or Me262B-2 in that it would be built almost entirely of tubular steel and plywood and so at appreciably less cost. The Hortens had also listed other advantages in their original submission, besides cost effectiveness. They also mention higher speed, lower wing loading, good climb capability and, not least, considerably extended endurance, each and every one of particular import for a night fighter. The only prototype of the two-seater variant that was ever built, was later captured after the capitulation of the Third Reich. Under even halfway normal circumstances the chances of series production would have been not bad. Göring was one of the few people, who believed in the brother’s work.

At the Hangars, an unfinsihed Ho.229

Historical Battle Leaks

On January 19 some screenshoots were shown about historical battles.

On the first screenshot is the reblanced amount of ammunition, that can be carried. Ammunition is fully connected with reality and it is strictly defined by developers.

The second screenshot shows the selection of historically accurate vehicles, though it seems to be bugged and the layout is unhistorical :)

World Of Tanks Blitz USA Models

So today I will show some of the vehicles avilable in Blitz, which still has not yet reached Beta Stage.
Enjoy the great mobile graphics!