Royal Equestrian Armored Division

I guess what really rubbed it in was that his first three shots on me penned, and I only had 11 hitpoints left when he bounced the three in a row.

Omg.

The AT 8.

I take back everything bad I've ever said about this tank. Because that 17 pounder is amazing. It just simply wrecks face. Sherman Firefly has that gun, right? I am jumping on that thing once they finally release it in the game (provided WG hasn't completely cocked it up). But yeah, AT 8 = awesome. Armor still the same as AT 2 but unsloped? Don't care. Cupola a weak spot? Big deal. It seems like 95% of the players I run into are too fucking dense to aim at the damn thing anyways. And even for those who do, I can still deal out a lot of pain to them first.

I'm contemplating keeping this one as well, because it, like the AT 2 before it, gives zero fucks. And it holds the current highest winrate in my garage with 61%.

And I just got Ace Mastery, Top Gun, Radley-Walters (my first!), Steel Wall, Master Gunner, and a new personal top-killstreak with it, all in one amazing game.

fuck...yes...:

It was damn close at the end, too. My last opponent was an Excelsior, and I forgot how fast those guys were supposed to be for heavies. He almost had me, too. But I managed the hold him in place as I was backing away, and tricked him into running into the edge of a building as he tried to circle me. Even if I had died, though, my teammate (an arty) popped up from right behind me. So if I bit the dust, arty would've TD'd the sonuvabitch. I'm definitely uploading that replay.

Speaking of the Excelsior, I'm considering getting one of those. They don't seem to be that bad, and with their speed, preferential matchmaking, and DPM, I'd bet they'd be devastating in a group.

Like TOGs, but with less HP and slightly less damage for more armor and speed. It looks fun.

In other news, I finally got the better 88 for my IP. And I even lucked out by getting 3rd class mastery shortly before I got the gun.

Spoiler:

Sadly, upon getting the gun, while I did quite well, all my subsequent teammates were complete blockheads.

It's quite true that arty is capable of completely crippling many same-tier tanks now, and that near-misses are much more common, though more damaging than before.

Once got 8 kills with the M2 Light Tank, but nothing that good. I'm no good at WoT, though.
I did get Mastery 1st Class with the M103 for breaking a defence put up by a bunch of 8s against our 8s. Over three thousand damage. I don't have masteries for most vehicles, since I had them before masteries were introduced, for the most part.

Anyone seen the new EU Special? It's...controversial.

Centurion MKI, Centurion Mk7/1 and FV4202 recieve 30% extra credits and are 30% cheaper to buy

Hell yeah!

Scoring 15 wins in a Centurion MkI, 15 wins in a Centurion Mk7/1 and 15 wins in an FV4202 will net you 500 free Gold

Sweet! Mini missions for gold! This is totally cool! Only...not so. Think about this for a second, who in their right mind will own a Cent 1, Cent 7/1 AND an FV? Who would own the tier 8, 9 and 10 tanks from the same nation, same medium tree and same basic tank all at once? How many players would genuinelly do that? Why not just have it be 45 victories combined between those tanks so if you're working hard even on just one you still have a shot? If that makes it too open and easy, just make it 60 victories, or 75 victories. They have 2 weeks to do it after all.

Lastly...this one isn't good.

Kill a single Centurion MkI, a single Centurion Mk7/1 and a single FV4202 to earn a free garage slot

All those Cent drivers already driving a hugely underpowered tank? Yeah, you just became public enemy number one, I'm afraid. Get ready for mass high tier zergrushes the moment someone spots you.

Also, I can't help but find it strange that this is the Centurion branch given this is the "Big and Heavy" bi-monthly special. Centurions are medium tanks in the game, small MBT's (Universal tanks as they were historically called) in reality and even considered a Cruiser tank when they were first designed. Heavy tanks they are not. This may have been better with Caernarvon, Conqueror and that abomination at the Tier 10 slot. But hey, I'm not complaining about more Centurion cash.

Other than that everyone will be hunting me. We should platoon up and use a Centurion player as bait for massive derp guns.

Speaking of the Excelsior again...

that music in the first vid...you know it's gonna be a good time:

Hehehe, those Excelsiors have been surprising me lately. It looks like the ultimate ram-master. Many mediums have met their end against its careening mass.

Also, some leaks on three new tanks:

Durchbrucheswagen 2 



A-43 (Russian)



T-44-122 (Because god knows we don't have enough 122mm derp already without mediums getting them now too)

Ugh...I'd rather be seeing stuff like Japanese tanks...something besides the prototype parts bin.

Got 2nd class in my IP.

Spoiler:

Close game, too. Teamwork saved the day.

In all fairness Fuzzy the current T-44 can mount a 122.

Well, I was doing fine tonight. I came within a difference of 4 wins to pass get a positive win ratio.

Then fate kicked in with sheer bullshit. Decent games that I lost, idiot teams that failed, and pure bullshit bounces. Seriously, gold should never bounce on the lower glacis of meds or TDs that are tiers lower than I am.

My life's not fair...

Here's the AT8 battle:

I really do hate the gold rounds. I do feel it's an unfair advantage for those who pay because of the huge credit prices for them.
All I ever used gold for was free exp and a few slots(I've got 6 of them now...).
Good gameplay, better than I've ever done. Still puzzling why you took gold rounds out on a Matilda, though.
The cost would be huge for credit users for such ammo expenditures.

RoboRed wrote:Seriously, gold should never bounce on the lower glacis of meds or TDs that are tiers lower than I am.

My life's not fair...

Keep in mind, any penetration can be mitigated by poor shot placement.

Vergil wrote:In all fairness Fuzzy the current T-44 can mount a 122.

 That's a tier 8 tank though.

This is tier 7. This thing is going to be chasing down Tier 5 tanks that could normally dodge KV-1S. It's rumoured to be a premium too, so it's just more 122mm derp in a game already overflowing and often defined by it.

One way or another it's just disappointing. The Russian tree doesn't need anything more in it. Not when the French, German and British trees still lack tanks that actually existed and the Chinese tree is barely started. Yet they are still wasting time finding obscure Russian tanks to add in when the tree is not needing it at all right now. Not to mention the long promise but not yet delivered European Tree and Japanese Tree.

Ketchup wrote:I really do hate the gold rounds. I do feel it's an unfair advantage for those who pay because of the huge credit prices for them.

I hate them, too. But they're there, and I sometimes have to use them just because shit happens.

Good gameplay, better than I've ever done. Still puzzling why you took gold rounds out on a Matilda, though.
The cost would be huge for credit users for such ammo expenditures.

Approximate thought process at the time:
- "Oh, hai der. It's a Tilly. You need to die."
- *Matilda has resilient armor for its tier. Actual numerical thickness unknown.*
- *Aim for hatch/gap in mantlet*
- *Fire*
- *Shot "bounced"*

like hell it did. isn't that the penetration mark? Whatever...:

- "Damnit. Little shit must be more resilient than I thought."
- *T49 comes back for more. Is shot until dead. Matilda remains.*
- "Not taking your shit, Tilly."
- *switch to gold*
- *fire at Matilda until dead*

So looking back on the replay and on the facts...the first shot was taken with normal rounds at approx. 114m. Penetration loss at distance shouldn't be THAT bad. I did not know the armor of the Matilda at the time, all I knew is it had a history of bouncing shots on previous encounters. Its hull armor is 75/70/55. Its Turret armor is 75/75/75. I have no idea of the armor rating at the mantlet or if it is thicker than it appears. The pen on the 17-pounder is 171/239/38.

I wasn't going to spend my time square dancing with something two tiers lower than me that had a history of being resilient and obviously could still withstand a normal shot from me. And I was already taking track damage. It had to go. Thus, gold rounds. I still made a profit in the end, anyways. I use credits with gold rounds.

RoboRed wrote:Seriously, gold should never bounce on the lower glacis of meds or TDs that are tiers lower than I am.

My life's not fair...

Keep in mind, any penetration can be mitigated by poor shot placement.

Upon further review:
1st failure - front/side of turret - Pz4 S - valid, angled side
2nd failure - upper glacis as target was *just* hitting bump - SU-100M1 - valid, bump made angle too wide (lucky bastard)
3rd failure -

Spoiler:

This one, I am dubious about. 24m, upper glacis, unobstructed surface.

Let's look at the stats. My gun's pen: 203/237/44. Max front armor of SU: 90. It's angled, so it's thicker than that.

Spoiler:

Looks to be maybe ~45 normal. Let's be generous and bump it up to around 50. He was slightly pitched up at the moment of fire. According to the wiki, that would take his effective armor thickness up to 155.57%, making it 140.013.

That's still substantially less than 237. I declare bullshit.

Oh, and there was a 4th failure before I died. Was aiming for Panzer's lower glacis, shot went wide and obliterated his tracks.

I was more sharp than I intended, I apologize.

The Matilda, in the few encounters I've had with them, are quite variably resistant.

Two Vickers HV shots didn't penetrate frontal armor while he was making me into a pincushion in the Cromwell from a fairly long range(200-300 meters? I don't know) while he was obstructed by a bush. That was amazingly terrible, but I got him in the end.

Conversely, today in the Lee, I got four kills including one Matilda. Penetrated the turret front(the same place it bounced the 17 pounder) and side once or twice, all shots going through. Weird.

The two tanks destroyed in that timeframe were not very smart. They could have rushed you or simply ran. Instead, they traded shots with a high-ish-armor, higher-tier TD.

I can't really comment on bounces. Facehugging is always finicky, and where the top and bottom glacis meets is very variable in terms of effectiveness from tank-to-tank. The M103 has a weak spot most don't exploit there.
Had a moment, netting a Spartan, when I bounced a Leopard shot off of the one place that seems to bounce more often than any other on the M46: the driver's and RO's hatches. It was glorious, he was probably as confused as I was.

Regarding cost, are you using a premium account? Those help a lot, I usually barely not break even in the M103, and the M46 never makes money. And these are with credit AP shells.

Yeah, I got a year's worth of premium as a birthday gift.

The Matilda is unusually resilient, but it's more because of how its laid out. A partially side on Matilda is actually tougher than other tanks would be due to the spaced armour. When nor perfectly horizontal, the side armour is almost always harder to penetrate than the frontal armour. I've done a ton of Matilda duels and the frontal plate is almost always easiest to penetrate due to the flat band across the middle that isn't spaced like the rest. Aim for there or for the flanks of the turret. The mantlet is...weird. It absorbs shots in strange ways I'm not quite sure about the mechanics of.

Also, WG revealed the contents of 8.7

New snow map

New German TD Premium, the tier 7 E-25

New Chinese HT Premium, the tier 8 112

New British SPG Line:

Tier 2 - Loyd Gun Carrier (It never carried an arty gun in reality, why not use the Gun Carrier Mk1?)
Tier 3 - Sexton I, now no longer premium
Tier 4 - Birch Gun (Despite being from the 1920s)
Tier 5 - Bishop
Tier 6 - FV304
Tier 7 - Crusader 5.5inch SPG (No idea why it's above the FV304)
Tier 8 - FV207 (See rant below)
Tier 9 - FV3805
Tier 10 - Conqueror GC (COMPLETELY made up. This wasn't even a prototype. This wasn't even planned. There were no vague mentions. This is 100% made up fantasy)

The FV207...why? That's a failed design challenge based on the FV200 chassis that never caught on. Why not use the ones that, y'know, actually existed? Like the FV3805 in this tier than its successor the FV3806 after it? Why resort to making stuff up when a perfectly good and logical tank already exists?

Why put the Loyd Carrier in with a made up gun when a perfectly good tier 2 SPG already exists?

Why put a COMPLETELY made up tank in the tier 10 spot when the Abbot exists?

So once again, WG has completely neglected to do any research into British tanks and has botched the entire tree with made up rubbish. Do we need any further indication that they don't give a damn about the UK's representation in the game? Really?

And it's x3 weekend day! The day where the entire playerbase that happens to end up on my side spends half an hour beating themselves stupid with a brick before playing!

Fuck this. 

Well, I decided to try and get one last battle in. Played AT 8. Got a team that ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING and got a win. With x3, it was just enough so that my commander finally has Sixth Sense.

My life just got a little easier.

Sorry for not being around again,  Robo. Made another last minute decision to go somewhere yesterday.

It's fine. I wasn't on the ts except for the morning a little bit until I ragequitted and spent my time watching Equestria Girls and other stuff.

...Why?...I'm getting thrown into so many easily-winnable tier 6 games with my AT8, and the rest of the team just completely falls apart. Why?

Well, looking at the special I'm glad I was coming back from my holiday today and going to TankFest tomorrow. So I get to avoid getting a bullseye on my Centurion and get to drool over actual Centurions (amongst other things) as well. Also maybe WG will be there giving out codes. Who knows.

RoboRed wrote:...Why?...I'm getting thrown into so many easily-winnable tier 6 games with my AT8, and the rest of the team just completely falls apart. Why?

God dammit how am I supposed to refuse that

You can't. It's the power of Twilie. Bad pubbies make Twilie cry.

Good god she must be sobbing right now then

They could run a second dam in Ponyville with her river of tears.

Btw, could you PM me the password to the TS? I finally got around to reinstalling the mobile app.

RoboRed wrote:They could run a second dam in Ponyville with her river of tears.

Btw, could you PM me the password to the TS? I finally got around to reinstalling the mobile app.

 ;_;

aye sir

Every goddamn game my team is consisted of retarded chimps. Usually two or three of them will try to hold a flank with me, but the others just drive to their deaths or run away and get blown up in the process.

What a fantastic night. Playing with a few folks from the READ clan page in various groups but ending off with a fantastic run of Tier 8 games.

One particular we got in a Centurion 1, Centurion 7/1 and FV4202.

Enter game.

Immediately shout COME AT US, BROS! to all the people going OMG MUST KILL despite it not having started yet. Fully intend to do this again during the hunt just to drive the enemies mad with hunting all three of their targets in one platoon.

Actually dominate the game with hull down sniping at everyone who tried to come for us. A proper British Centurion platoon showing them what Centurions can do. Underpowered, maybe, but not in that game. Oh what a feeling. We even had runs of Caernarvon, FV215b 183 and FV4202, Matilda trains and more. Absolutely Britting it up and getting some epic games (and some fail games naturally) along the way. But laughs were had.

Best one was taking the Pz 1 C as a trio and just completely stomping enemies under a storm of Mauser rounds. One highlight being us running right by them and making a crazed ram attack on their artillery just for the sheer hell of it. Or taking tier 5 tanks into a tier 8/9 game (scout matchmaking) for laughs and actually doing all right in it.

Haven't enjoyed WoT that much in weeks. Absolutely fantastic set of games. Teamspeak really livens it up.

In the news however...

A second new map unveiled, based around the Great Wall of China.

"- SerB states that Soviet RPG-7 can penetrate Abrams, it happened in Iraq and one of the crewmembers was wounded, Americans then tried to blame some “secret gun”, but it was just a RPG"

Serb is trolling the Americans. While what he says is true it's certainly some very dodgy humour, especially given it involves poking fun about men being seriously injured. Not funny.

VK3601 confirmed to be changing to a heavy sometime in the near future.

"- SerB on why there is no British autoloaded arty on tier 10: “Oh well, evil Zlobny conjured up something else, happens."

I don't know where this autoloader nonsense kicked up. The British never had one. Just like this Conqueror GC never existed either. At least they're admitting it here.

"- it’s possible HESH will recieve its own mechanism, but SerB doesn’t see it as an important issue, it has low priority"

Good to know British tanks actually working is a "low priority" for you then, Serb.

And lastly, 8.7 test server may start in 2 weeks. (Bear in mind, that's for the Russian server)

I believe the "secret gun" he's referring to is an EFP, and they are quite real. And deadly.

 Side note: The Abrams in question took the RPG hit in the exhaust grill, after which the crew evacuated safely.