[MMO] World of Tanks

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LurkerPrime

Senior member
Aug 11, 2010
962
0
71
I went passed that next .5 percentage cutoff to make 64% over the weekend. If I can keep up my usual w/r of 75%, the number of games it'll take me to improve to the next % start to become staggering. I'll need ~1600 games to get to 65%, and then ~1900 to get to 66%. Oh how I wish I could just delete those first 5,000 or so games where I just fucked around and had absolutely no clue what I was doing.

Besides completely rage quitting Saturday morning after only 5 games, the weekend went decently well. The tier 8 grinding of my KV-4 and ACM48 are seeming to take an eternity. 70k or so away from the Foch and still 130k+ away from the ST-1. I also decided to grind to the 50-100 french heavy, and I'm on the tier 6 atm (ARL I believe). Only about 20k more xp to go there, thank god. The gun not only suffers from low DPM and alpha, but also takes an eternity to aim. I just hope the tier 7 is better.
 

Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
1
76
So what's the general attitude here for the MT-25? I only played one battle with it last night to get the x2 xp and won. Not sure if I'll play it much. Damn WG lowered the crews to 90% skill. I need to read up on it some.
 

PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
0
0
What is 30% off until Wed?

I believe everything in the batchat tree past tier 6 (french lights/mediums). Tier 1-4 should be 50% off like usual, but those go on sale often enough that's its not a big deal. Check wargaming's calendar, the dates are bit fuzzy to me but I believe its there until the 17th or 18th.

So what's the general attitude here for the MT-25? I only played one battle with it last night to get the x2 xp and won. Not sure if I'll play it much. Damn WG lowered the crews to 90% skill. I need to read up on it some.

It's the russian version of the little leopard, except at tier 6. It's sluggish, loses a lot of speed on turns, and accelerates somewhat slowly. They neutered the tank by giving it a radio man that has 0 skills (have to retrain everything) so you get a nerfed camo and no BIA if you had it originally. It turns like a cougar, weighs almost as much (25 tons: good for ramming little scouts) and retains the 57mm, but doesn't have the awesome derp that the cougar has. Did I mention it bleeds speed on turns?

It's huge. It's like the size of a PZIV, so it can't hide well. It's not a T-50-2, so if you're expecting something similar expect to be disappointed. It has decent view range though, but the tank is sluggish and isn't the kind of scout I want to drive.

I've actually already sold it and shoved the crew into my T-127. The T-71 is superior and can actually do good damage.
 
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Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
1
76
It's the russian version of the little leopard, except at tier 6. It's sluggish, loses a lot of speed on turns, and accelerates somewhat slowly. They neutered the tank by giving it a radio man that has 0 skills (have to retrain everything) so you get a nerfed camo and no BIA if you had it originally. It turns like a cougar, weighs almost as much (25 tons: good for ramming little scouts) and retains the 57mm, but doesn't have the awesome derp that the cougar has. Did I mention it bleeds speed on turns?

It's huge. It's like the size of a PZIV, so it can't hide well. It's not a T-50-2, so if you're expecting something similar expect to be disappointed. It has decent view range though, but the tank is sluggish and isn't the kind of scout I want to drive.

I've actually already sold it and shoved the crew into my T-127. The T-71 is superior and can actually do good damage.

I heard it was bad and nothing like the T50-2. Was just curious if had a place in the game at all. I'm guessing many ex T50-2 players will switch to the T71 since its quite good. I'm like 18k xp from the second 4502. I may as well grind that out. Now that arty is less impressive it shouldn't be bad.
 

boozie

Senior member
Oct 12, 2006
486
1
81
As a new player, I'm starting to feel like I need to focus on tanks that are good in the T4-T6 range and not drool over T10 beasts.

Can anyone give me general aiming tips? If I have a full front or full side exposed where do I want to center the crosshairs?
 

clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,395
13
76
I went passed that next .5 percentage cutoff to make 64% over the weekend. If I can keep up my usual w/r of 75%, the number of games it'll take me to improve to the next % start to become staggering. I'll need ~1600 games to get to 65%, and then ~1900 to get to 66%. Oh how I wish I could just delete those first 5,000 or so games where I just fucked around and had absolutely no clue what I was doing.

Besides completely rage quitting Saturday morning after only 5 games, the weekend went decently well. The tier 8 grinding of my KV-4 and ACM48 are seeming to take an eternity. 70k or so away from the Foch and still 130k+ away from the ST-1. I also decided to grind to the 50-100 french heavy, and I'm on the tier 6 atm (ARL I believe). Only about 20k more xp to go there, thank god. The gun not only suffers from low DPM and alpha, but also takes an eternity to aim. I just hope the tier 7 is better.

must admit that is impressive to me.. i haven't seen a 60% ever in a pub match (not true see a 62% once).. rarely do i even see anything over 55% Im working on 53% myslef.. but im under 2k games.. so 5k before I know what im doing? Actually seems fairly accurate.. I'm still a bit to gung ho yet, im still in the smaller tanks (tier 4 and 5) and get matched with the one shot boys (tier 7+).. massively annoying, last night i was one shotted (front, not rear or sides) in 4 of 9 matches.. makes scouting .. sad.. not a problem im paperbag.. but geez.. give me a tank that can match up -front- for at least 1 shots.. so i can attempt to scout.. this weekend about killed my want to play.. i went 2 for 26... in pubs.. friggin.. hell.. just nice to know I "should" improve with time.. I do feel better when i see 10K game and a win ration under 50%.. im not that bad..
 

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,247
207
106
As a new player, I'm starting to feel like I need to focus on tanks that are good in the T4-T6 range and not drool over T10 beasts.

Can anyone give me general aiming tips? If I have a full front or full side exposed where do I want to center the crosshairs?

Bolded is very true. It will take forever to get your first t10 and you don't want to hate the game until then.

Aiming:
First, go into your settings and enable the server reticule. That helps all the time, but especially when you're having some lag problems.

There are hitzone skin mods, they highlight weak points and are very handy for new players (and for veterans that simply suck). Another less cheat-ey mod is this contour mod. It replaces the usual tank silhouettes on the right and left of the screen with useful information such as their actual name, tier, armor thickness, HP, and best gun's penetration. Over time you will memorize a lot of those values, but new stuff is being added all the time so I still find it very helpful. I use the Standard FSR version, but each version has its uses.

Where you want to aim depends a lot on what you're targetting, but in general you should aim for center of mass on their hull. From the front, especially with heavies, you will want to hit the lower portion of the hull. The lower front plate is always the weakest point, and penetrations there often kill drivers or damage engines as well. But, the most important thing to consider when taking a shot is the angle of impact. For example, a Stug can shoot through the 127mm side of a t29's turret, but only if it is almost completely flat to the shooter.

If your target fills ~80% of your reticule, then you can consider where you want to place your shot. Basically, engines are in the rear, ammo is under and in the turret, and crew are at the sides of the turret. At low tiers, engine hitboxes are huge so I aim for those. Most other times I penetrate turrets whenever possible since nothing throws your game off by having a dead gunner or loader.

Last, stay zoomed in, keep your mouse still, and watch where your shot lands whenever possible. That will help you get a feel for how much you need to lead your shots at different ranges (which are visible when you mouse over a target). You do need to lead shots but you don't really need to compensate for bullet drop, the game engine does that for you.
 
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PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
0
0
I heard it was bad and nothing like the T50-2. Was just curious if had a place in the game at all. I'm guessing many ex T50-2 players will switch to the T71 since its quite good. I'm like 18k xp from the second 4502. I may as well grind that out. Now that arty is less impressive it shouldn't be bad.

It's nothing like the T-50-2. If I wanted to drive a slower heavy scout, I would pick the german line instead of the russian line. As of right now the 2 roles overlap and the german line is superior because of HEAT/HE 105. It's even got more armor, as much as that matters on a scout.

There's no role for the MT-25 really. The MT-25 is just mediocre all around.

As a new player, I'm starting to feel like I need to focus on tanks that are good in the T4-T6 range and not drool over T10 beasts.

Can anyone give me general aiming tips? If I have a full front or full side exposed where do I want to center the crosshairs?

Focus on the line you want to eventually go down. You will eventually get to tier 9/10 tanks, so its never too late to look and choose.

In general, learn about tank weak spots. Lower glacis, big flat pieces of armor, protruding tumors, hatches, machine gun ports and such are all good spots. Some tanks are weird, like the AT series have seriously heavy armor even on the flat armors.

Once you get general spots down, learn where critical modules are. I like to learn ammo rack, engine and fuel tank spots first. Also, most tanks have the engine in the back, so whenever possible, putting a few rounds into the backs of tanks will light them up easily. It also damages the engine so they're forced to repair or be cripped for the rest of the fight.

Sides armors are always weaker than fron, including the turret. However, take the angles into account. "exposed" side armor, if angled well, are pretty much auto-bounce to any guns that don't overmatch. That's called "sidescraping", and is a more advanced concept that you should worry about in later tiers (7+). Just watch out for KV players doing that, KVs are notoriously good side scrapers for the tier.
 

LurkerPrime

Senior member
Aug 11, 2010
962
0
71
As a new player, I'm starting to feel like I need to focus on tanks that are good in the T4-T6 range and not drool over T10 beasts. Can anyone give me general aiming tips? If I have a full front or full side exposed where do I want to center the crosshairs?

Frontal Shots: The two most common places to shoot a tank that will almost always pen is either the commanders cupola (part sticking out of the top of most turrets), or the lower glacias. Machine gun ports are also usually weakspots. The more important thing to learn though is, is it even necessary to aim at these places to pen? This really just takes practise and learning. The aiming reticle does help slightly, if the reticle isn't green, don't even bother shooting, also the color doesn't take into account any angle, so green only really means anything if its a flat surface facing you, if its highly angled, then you can still easily bounce.

Side shots: If you have a full broadside view of an enemy (and he's not moving),
I usually aim for the back 1/3 of the tank. The engine and gas tank are located there on almost every tank. With a 15-20% chance of causing a fire, and no one carrying extinguishers at tiers 4-6, if you light them on fire, it'll either end in a kill, or a severly crippled tank. If they are moving, don't worry about hitting certain parts of the tanks, learn to lead the target by taking into account his range, speed, your projectile speed (slightly different for different guns, unless you are using a derp, then its a lot slower), and your ping time. This should be learned naturally by playing, however it is a skill most players severly lack.

Other: As a new player I highly recommend downloading and installing the hit skin mods. Warning, most people think they are ugly, and dislike them. However as a learning tool, they are invaluable, as they highligh weakspots on tanks, and color parts of the tanks for the engine, gas tanks, ammo rack. After you play with them enough and are "trained" where the vulnerable areas are on most tanks, you can then remove the mod.

must admit that is impressive to me.. i haven't seen a 60% ever in a pub match (not true see a 62% once).. rarely do i even see anything over 55% Im working on 53% myslef.. but im under 2k games.. so 5k before I know what im doing? Actually seems fairly accurate.. I'm still a bit to gung ho yet, im still in the smaller tanks (tier 4 and 5) and get matched with the one shot boys (tier 7+).. massively annoying, last night i was one shotted (front, not rear or sides) in 4 of 9 matches.. makes scouting .. sad.. not a problem im paperbag.. but geez.. give me a tank that can match up -front- for at least 1 shots.. so i can attempt to scout.. this weekend about killed my want to play.. i went 2 for 26... in pubs.. friggin.. hell.. just nice to know I "should" improve with time.. I do feel better when i see 10K game and a win ration under 50%.. im not that bad..

In all honestly, try not to wait till 5k games to start caring like I did. At 53% and 2k games, your actually well above the learning curve at this point. Try your best to get out of tier 4, its the worst tier in the game, especially for any of the light "scout" tanks. Not only are tier 4 tanks almost universally horrible, MM destroys them, since they are usually put in tier 5/6 games. As tier 2s never see tier 4s, and most tier 3s end up in the tier 2/3 games, essentially almost always leaving tier 4s to get raped in higher tier matches.

Since you are still somewhat new (yes 2k games is still somewhat new), I would recommend you NOT going up any of the ligh tank trees, and staying away from french tanks for right now. Russian heavies are the most forgiving, and are great brawling tanks, and is a great line for anyone to go down.

Also the reason you probably haven't seen a lot of 60+%ers is that most usually play tiers 6-10 (except the exclusive seal clubbers that stick with tiers 1/2), so once you start playing higher tiers consistantly, you will run into them more often. Just hope that they are on your team.
 

boozie

Senior member
Oct 12, 2006
486
1
81
Great thanks for all the feedback everyone. One thing I'd like to point out is the skin mods that I can find are only for high tier tanks so it doesn't do me any good in T4-T7.

In all honestly, try not to wait till 5k games to start caring like I did. At 53% and 2k games, your actually well above the learning curve at this point.

I'm at 54% with 250 games :p. All credit goes to my T40 with 62% win rate. My 105 derp gun (hey look i know things!) is a lot of fun at T4. When I'm the top tier, that tank is just a beast. My transition to the Wolverine hasn't left me with that feeling (40% over 27 games) as I really struggle with armored tanks (also can't decide between 105 vs 45).
 

stag3

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2005
3,624
0
76
So what's the general attitude here for the MT-25? I only played one battle with it last night to get the x2 xp and won. Not sure if I'll play it much. Damn WG lowered the crews to 90% skill. I need to read up on it some.

sell it, it's a pos. HUGE HUGE HUGE downgrade from the t-50-2 and gets put in tier 9 if not X matches from what i remember. and with the arty nerf, scouts are less effective now
 

stag3

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2005
3,624
0
76
yea my w/r is horrible due to fucking around a LOT back when it first started. suicide scouting, type59 rushing and dying in 10 seconds since you still earned 30-40k credits LOL. and playing super aggressive and not stopping for anything.

now i'm playing patiently
 

Binky

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,046
4
81
Great thanks for all the feedback everyone. One thing I'd like to point out is the skin mods that I can find are only for high tier tanks so it doesn't do me any good in T4-T7.
That will be generally true of all skin mods, and probably most of the websites showing where to shoot. However, if you review those websites, you can learn a lot about the typical vulnerable areas and these are similar between tanks.

In general, shoot the back and sides, avoid shooting anything angled if possible, and if you must shoot the front of a tank, consider aiming for the bumps/humps/dimples (commanders hatch, machine gun ports, etc).

Oh, and remember that shooting your gun while hidden will probably reveal your position. So taking a shot with no chance of penetrating is often worse than no shot at all.
 

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,247
207
106
I've tried defending it, but I am seriously starting to hate the A Panther. By any definition it is a shit scout, but it gets the scout MM. Playing it like a medium works fairly well... unless it's in yet another t10 match, most t9 matches, or I run across an enemy with decent situational awareness.

Given its MM, its view range is mostly useless, its camo is complete trash, its pen is barely adequate, DPM is lackluster, its hull traverse is just sad, and its power-to-weight would be pretty good if it were medium. Compare it with the t71 and it comes up short in every single area except armor/ramming ability and a slight edge in gun depression.

I think it would be pretty fun if its battle tiers were 7-9 or even 8-9, but 8-11 is just immensely idiotic. So, if you're having a good time in your t10 and you see an A Panther drive off a cliff, under a river, or just suiscout, now you know why.

In other news, I just dealt 3.7k damage and absorbed 3.7k potential damage in a Tiger P. It's good to know I can at least count on it.
 
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PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
0
0
People call it fail panther for good reason. It wasn't viable in WW2 on paper and there's no way in hell its viable in game either. I see maybe 1 every other day, and mostly during weekends only because people want to do doubles or get crew exp i guess. I mean the gun is good.... for a tier 6. But anything it can do the WZ series can do better, plus those things pack a punch.

The other day I got a 6.7k damage, 5k absorbed game in my E-75. We lost, and I got more exp than everyone, including the winning team. So I guess I was the winner theoretically. Only other person pulling their weight was a unicorn IS-6, dealing over 2k damage before the T95 on the other team shattered him. Sad, because I died to a swarm of IS, T43s that I could've fended off if I could only reload the gun faster.

very sad, but not entirely unexpected. The 12.8 just reloads so damned slowly. I also lost every single game in my E-75 that day, like 6 of them, so I guess MM was rigged against me for winning so much the day before. :awe:
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
That will be generally true of all skin mods, and probably most of the websites showing where to shoot. However, if you review those websites, you can learn a lot about the typical vulnerable areas and these are similar between tanks.

In general, shoot the back and sides, avoid shooting anything angled if possible, and if you must shoot the front of a tank, consider aiming for the bumps/humps/dimples (commanders hatch, machine gun ports, etc).

Oh, and remember that shooting your gun while hidden will probably reveal your position. So taking a shot with no chance of penetrating is often worse than no shot at all.

I think a lot of us have played passive scouts where we just can't resist taking that easy shot at a tank we can't pen, and getting exposed.

Boom.

Next game, we'll try to not shoot.

But it's right there, so close... now with tracking bonuses, it's much more tempting.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
I heard it was bad and nothing like the T50-2. Was just curious if had a place in the game at all. I'm guessing many ex T50-2 players will switch to the T71 since its quite good. I'm like 18k xp from the second 4502. I may as well grind that out. Now that arty is less impressive it shouldn't be bad.

I haven't played my MT-25 yet. Still pissed at them about the T-50-2. But my subsitute has been the ELC. Fixed turret, but has some of the same fun.
 

Lonbjerg

Diamond Member
Dec 6, 2009
4,419
0
0
People call it fail panther for good reason. It wasn't viable in WW2 on paper and there's no way in hell its viable in game either. I see maybe 1 every other day, and mostly during weekends only because people want to do doubles or get crew exp i guess. I mean the gun is good.... for a tier 6. But anything it can do the WZ series can do better, plus those things pack a punch.

The other day I got a 6.7k damage, 5k absorbed game in my E-75. We lost, and I got more exp than everyone, including the winning team. So I guess I was the winner theoretically. Only other person pulling their weight was a unicorn IS-6, dealing over 2k damage before the T95 on the other team shattered him. Sad, because I died to a swarm of IS, T43s that I could've fended off if I could only reload the gun faster.

very sad, but not entirely unexpected. The 12.8 just reloads so damned slowly. I also lost every single game in my E-75 that day, like 6 of them, so I guess MM was rigged against me for winning so much the day before. :awe:

The Panther is fine...use it as a 2nd line sniper...it can also brawl...I did a 1 vs 1 on a map...vs a Leopard (not the scout)...I came away with a damged track...he ran off with less than 100 hp..and he wan't a low stat n00b.
Will find the replay when I come home.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
As a new player, I'm starting to feel like I need to focus on tanks that are good in the T4-T6 range and not drool over T10 beasts.

Can anyone give me general aiming tips? If I have a full front or full side exposed where do I want to center the crosshairs?

Some good advice was posted - I'll add a couple things.

Beware trying to shoot on the move. The crosshairs are a lot larger, and there are a lot of bumps on the ground that totally screw up your shot.

Some advice you probably won't hear a lot but I think is good: learn when to use autoaim.

Here are the main times I've used it:

- trying to make that shot way off in the distance where one little pixel means a miss? Let the computer hassle it, right click the stationary enemy and the shot is likely to hit.

- circle strafing - if you're having to pay so much attention to driving that stopping to aim is causing problems, you can just auto aim the tank, drive in circles and boom when loaded.

Those are the two main situations - but it's a big help in those. One disadvantage is that it'll only aim for the 'middle' of the enmey - no targetted shots. But on a distant enemy, you can't target anyway, and in circle strafing you should usually be hitting the side and read anyway that pens close up just fine.

Another tip: learn when shooting blind is a good idea.

You're following a tank getting ready to shoot when he's not lit anymore. Was he moving in a steady slow line? Then you might be able to estimate a blind shot. Or are you dealing with a location that the enemy is near where he's very likely to be behind that one bush? Why not shoot it just in case if there's a good chance he's there?

A tip on AVOIDING getting shot - most players don't zig zag, which is great for avoiding getting shot on medium to faster tanks, especially fast tanks.

I wish I could upload a sample video of my t-50-2 zipping to 10 enemies and shots flying left and right and not getting shot.
 

PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
0
0
The Panther is fine...use it as a 2nd line sniper...it can also brawl...I did a 1 vs 1 on a map...vs a Leopard (not the scout)...I came away with a damged track...he ran off with less than 100 hp..and he wan't a low stat n00b.
Will find the replay when I come home.

eh, the leopard is an exception because it has no armor. A PZ38NA can blow it up. Try doing that to anything else at tier 10 and you'll get worked. Yes you can get side shots or whatnot, but that's not the point.

If you're using A.Panther as a 2nd line sniper, why not use a different tank like the T-71, which can do what the fail panther does but better?

Or... just use a real medium tank. The T-54 can scout just as well... and brawl 100 times better.

It can do certain things, but that doesn't mean there's nobody else doing it better. The WZ-131 can 2nd line snipe as well, and it does it a whole lot better. The game is about filling roles, and the fail panther fails at its assigned role of a light.

What is the 'A Panther'? You mean the Leopard PT A?

You have me on ignore, but its the "Aufklärungspanzer Panther", the tier 7 german scout.
 

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,247
207
106
PowerYoga's post is exactly right. Why drive it, hell, why have it in game at all, when so many other things will fulfill the same functions in better ways? That is actually my favorite argument against lights getting "scout mm" in general, but it especially applies to the auf panther.
 
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